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If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: After the War: A Southern Tour - May 1, 1865 to May 1, 1866 - -Author: Whitelaw Reid - -Release Date: August 18, 2017 [eBook #55381] -[Most recently updated: January 18, 2021] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Richard Tonsing and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AFTER THE WAR: A SOUTHERN TOUR *** - - - - -Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this - file which includes the original illustrations. - See 55381-h.htm or 55381-h.zip: - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/55381/55381-h/55381-h.htm) - or - (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/55381/55381-h.zip) - - - Images of the original pages are available through - Internet Archive. See - https://archive.org/details/cu31924028782781 - - -Transcriber’s note: - - Enclosed italics font in _underscores_. - - Superscripts are denoted by a carat before a single superscript - character or a series of superscripted characters enclosed in - curly braces, e.g. M^r. or M^{ister}. - - - - - -[Illustration] - - -AFTER THE WAR: A SOUTHERN TOUR - -MAY 1, 1865, TO MAY 1, 1866. - -by - -WHITELAW REID. - -[Illustration: Decoration] - - - - - - -Publishers: -Moore, Wilstach & Baldwin, -25 West Fourth Street, Cincinnati. -New York, 60 Walker Street. -London: -Sampson Low, Son & Co. -1866. - -Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by -Moore, Wilstach & Baldwin, -In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United States for the -Southern District of Ohio. - - - - - PREFACE. - - -With the exception of the unhealthy summer months, I spent the greater -part of the year following the close of the Rebellion, in traveling -through the late Rebel States, passing first around their entire coast -line; and, on subsequent trips, crossing by various routes through the -interior. - -I have sought, in the following pages, to show something of the -condition in which the war left the South, the feelings of the late -insurgents, the situation and capacities of the liberated slaves, and -the openings offered, under the changed condition of affairs, to capital -and industry from without. - -A couple of months, this spring, spent on the great cotton plantations -of the Mississippi Valley, enabled me to make a closer study of the -character of the average plantation negro than tourists have ordinarily -found practicable; and the concluding chapters are mainly devoted to -these observations. - - * * * * * - -A further word of explanation may be needed as to the part of the volume -describing the journey of Mr. Chief-Justice Chase. After the -inauguration of President Johnson, Mr. Chase determined to visit the -Southern cities, to learn as much as possible, from actual observation, -of the true condition of the country. The Secretary of the Treasury was -then about to send a revenue cutter to the New Orleans station, and on -board of her a special agent, charged with the duty of examining the -agencies, and carrying into effect the directions of the Department in -the several South Atlantic and Gulf ports. He tendered the use of this -vessel to the Chief-Justice, and orders were issued by the President and -the Secretaries of War and of the Navy, to the officers in the naval, -military, and civil services to afford him all facilities that their -respective duties would allow. - -It was under these circumstances that the Chief-Justice made his -Southern journey. He had the best opportunities of information, and -communicated his views, from time to time, to the President. As a member -of the party on board the cutter, I thus enjoyed considerable, though, -in some respects, more limited opportunities of observation. - - * * * * * - -A small portion of the material in the following pages has previously -appeared in the journal with which I was connected, but it has all been -rewritten. - - W. R. - - LIBRARY OF THE HOUSE, } - Washington, May, 1866. } - - - - - CONTENTS. - - - PAGE. - - PREFACE. iii - - CHAPTER I. - Why, and How the Trip was Made. 9 - - CHAPTER II. - A School of Unadulterated Negroes—An Ancient Virginia Town under - the Dispensation of Sutlers. 13 - - CHAPTER III. - “Beauties of the Sea”—First Views of Cracker Unionism. 21 - - CHAPTER IV. - Newbern and Beaufort—Black and White. 28 - - CHAPTER V. - Fort Fisher. 37 - - CHAPTER VI. - Wilmington—Unionism—Blockade Running—Destitution—Negro Talk—Land - Sales. 42 - - CHAPTER VII. - Charleston Harbor—Could Sumter have been Stormed—Negroes and Poor - Whites. 57 - - CHAPTER VIII. - Charleston, Now and Four Years Ago. 65 - - CHAPTER IX. - “Unionism”—Black and White, in Charleston and Through South - Carolina. 75 - - CHAPTER X. - Port Royal and Beaufort. 87 - - CHAPTER XI. - Among the Sea Islanders. 94 - - CHAPTER XII. - Business, Speculation and Progress Among the Sea Island Negroes. 122 - - CHAPTER XIII. - Pulaski—Savannah—Bonaventure. 131 - - CHAPTER XIV. - White and Black Georgians—The Savannah Standard of Unionism. 142 - - CHAPTER XV. - Florida Towns and Country—A Florida Senator. 158 - - CHAPTER XVI. - Orange Groves and an Ancient Village—The Oldest Town and Fort in - the United States—Northern Speculations. 168 - - CHAPTER XVII. - Dungeness, and the “Greatest of the Lees”—Cultivation of the - Olive—Criminations of the Officers. 174 - - CHAPTER XVIII. - The Southern “Ultima Thule” of the United States. 180 - - CHAPTER XIX. - A Remarkable Negro Story—One of the Strange Possibilities of - Slavery. 189 - - CHAPTER XX. - Among the Cubans—The Impending Downfall of Cuban Slavery. 194 - - CHAPTER XXI. - Scenes in Mobile—The Cotton Swindles. 202 - - CHAPTER XXII. - Mobile Loyalists and Reconstructionists—Black and White. 217 - - CHAPTER XXIII. - New Orleans and New Orleans Notabilities. 227 - - CHAPTER XXIV. - The Beginning Reaction—Northern Emigrants and New Orleans - Natives. 236 - - CHAPTER XXV. - Among the Negro Schools. 246 - - CHAPTER XXVI. - Talks with the Citizens, White and Black. 259 - - CHAPTER XXVII. - A Free-labor Sugar Plantation. 268 - - CHAPTER XXVIII. - The “Jeff. Davis Cotton Plantation”. 279 - - CHAPTER XXIX. - Vicksburg to Louisville. 288 - - CHAPTER XXX. - General Aspects of the South at the Close of the War. 295 - - CHAPTER XXXI. - Mid-summer at the Capitol. 304 - - CHAPTER XXXII. - Richmond, after Six Months of Yankee Rule. 315 - - CHAPTER XXXIII. - Lynchburg—The Interior of Virginia. 328 - - CHAPTER XXXIV. - Knoxville and the Mountaineers—Glimpses of Southern Ideas. 339 - - CHAPTER XXXV. - Atlanta—Georgia Phases of Rebel and Union Talk. 355 - - CHAPTER XXXVI. - Montgomery—The Lowest Phase of Negro Character—Politics and - Business. 365 - - CHAPTER XXXVII. - Selma—Government Armories—Talks among the Negroes. 380 - - CHAPTER XXXVIII. - Mississippi Tavern Talks on National Politics—Scenes in the - Interior. 390 - - CHAPTER XXXIX. - Mobile Temper and Trade—Inducements of Alabama to Emigrants. 400 - - CHAPTER XL. - Phases of Public Sentiment in New Orleans before Congress met. 407 - - CHAPTER XLI. - Cotton Speculations—Temper of the Mississippians. 414 - - CHAPTER XLII. - Memphis—Out from the Reconstructed. 425 - - CHAPTER XLIII. - Congress takes Charge of Reconstruction. 429 - - CHAPTER XLIV. - Southern Feeling after the Meeting of Congress. 439 - - CHAPTER XLV. - Political and Business Complications in the South-West. 448 - - CHAPTER XLVI. - The Sugar and Rice Culture in Louisiana—Profits and Obstacles. 457 - - CHAPTER XLVII. - A Cotton Plantation—Work, Workmen, Wages, Expenses, and Returns. 475 - - CHAPTER XLVIII. - Among the Cotton Plantations—Rations and Ways of Work. 492 - - CHAPTER XLIX. - Plantation Negroes—Incidents and Characteristics. 503 - - CHAPTER L. - Further Illustrations of Plantation Negro Character. 525 - - CHAPTER LI. - Payments, Strikes, and other Illustrations of Plantation Negro - Character. 546 - - CHAPTER LII. - Labor Experiments and Prospects. 558 - - CHAPTER LIII. - Concluding Suggestions. 574 - - Appendix. 581 - - - - - AFTER THE WAR. - - - - - CHAPTER I. - - Why, and How the Trip was Made. - - -The most interesting records of the great revolution just ending have -seemed to me to be those portraying the spirit and bearing of the people -throughout the South, just before and at the outbreak of the war. -Stories of battles, and sieges, and retreats, are kaleidoscopic -repetitions of deeds with which all history is crowded; but with what -temper great communities plunged into this war, which has overwhelmed -them, for what fancied causes, to what end, in what boundless -self-confidence and overwhelming contempt of their antagonists, with -what exuberance of frenzied joy at the prospect of bloodshed, with what -wild dreams of conquest, and assurance of ill-defined but very grand -honors, and orders, and social dignities—all this, as faithfully set -down by the few who had opportunities to observe it, constitutes the -strangest and most absorbing contribution to the literature of the -Rebellion. - -So I have thought that what men now most want to know, is something of -the temper and condition in which these same communities come out from -the struggle. By the side of the daguerreotypes of the South entering -upon the war, even the hastiest pencil sketch of the South emerging from -the war may possess an interest and attraction of its own. - -Therefore, when early in the month of April I was invited to accompany a -small party, bound on a voyage of official inspection and observation, -from Fortress Monroe around the whole Atlantic and Gulf Coast to New -Orleans, and thence up the Mississippi, I congratulated myself upon the -opportunity thus afforded of seeing, under the most favorable -circumstances, the Southern centers which had nursed and fed the -rebellion. Means of communication through the interior of the South are -so thoroughly destroyed, and Southern society is so completely -disorganized, that it is only in the cities one can hope for any -satisfactory view of the people. Even there the overshadowing military -authority, and the absence of all accustomed or recognized modes of -expressing public sentiment, as through the press, the bar, public -meetings, the pulpit, or unrestrained social intercourse, combine to -render the task of observation infinitely more difficult than at any -previous period. - -But all the more, on these accounts, the Southern cities are the places -to which we must first look for any satisfactory idea of the Southern -condition; and a trip which embraces visits to Norfolk, Newbern, -Beaufort, Wilmington, Charleston, Port Royal, Savannah, Fernandina, St. -Augustine, Jacksonville, Key West, Mobile, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, -Natchez, Vicksburg, and Memphis, with visits to plantations all along -the route, and occasional trips into the interior, ought not to fail in -furnishing a good view of the gradual beginnings to crystallize again -out of the chaos to which the war had reduced one-third of the nation. - -The trip would have been begun some weeks earlier, but for the deed of -horror in Ford’s Theater. But, as Secretary McCulloch well said, the -wheels of Government moved on without a perceptible jar; and the -arrangements of President Lincoln were only temporarily delayed by the -accession of President Johnson. An ocean-going revenue cutter was -ordered around from New York to Fortress Monroe for the party, and early -on the morning of the first of May, the cutter “Northerner” was -announced as in readiness to convey us to the Fortress. - -In the afternoon an officer was good enough to bring me the following: - - EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, May 1, 1865. - - Permission is granted Whitelaw Reid, Esq., to proceed by sea to New - Orleans, Louisiana, and return by sea or inland to Washington, - District of Columbia, and to visit any port or place _en route_ in - the lines of national military occupation. - - [Signed,] ANDREW JOHNSON, - President of the United States. - -I had not supposed a pass necessary; but as the rest of the party went -on official business, it had been thought best to cover my case with a -document, about the scope and authority of which no question could be -raised. At that time passes to visit many of the Southern points were -still eagerly sought and procured with difficulty. The War Department -was the place to which, in general, application was to be made, and the -speculative gentry who mostly wanted such favors, stood in wholesome awe -of the downright Secretary. A pass so nearly unlimited as mine was an -unheard of rarity, and before the afternoon was over, two or three who -had in some way found out that I had it, were anxious to know if “five -hundred or even a thousand dollars would be any inducement” to me to -part with it! - -By nine in the evening the last of the little party had entered the cozy -cabin of the “Northerner.” There were the usual good-byes to the friends -who had driven down to the Navy Yard wharf to see us off; playful -injunctions from young officers about laying in supplies of cigars at -Havana, and from fair ladies about bringing back for them parrots and -monkeys, pine apples and bananas; some consultations among the officials -of the party; some final messages and instructions sent down at the last -moment by the Government: then fresh good-byes; the plank was pulled in, -and we steamed out into the darkness. - -Everybody compared supplies with everybody else; it was found that there -were books enough in the party to set up a circulating library, and -paper enough for writing a three-volume novel; the latest dates of -newspapers had been laid in; the last issues of the magazines, and even -a fresh number of the old _North American_ were forthcoming; while -Napoleon’s _Cæsar_, in all the glory of tinted paper and superb -letter-press, formed the _pièce de résistance_ that bade fair to master -us all—as Horace Greeley used maliciously to say the old _National -Intelligencer_ mastered him, when he couldn’t get asleep in any other -way! - - - - - CHAPTER II. - - A School of Unadulterated Negroes—An Ancient Virginia Town under the - Dispensation of Sutlers. - - -Our steamer for the voyage was to be the revenue cutter “Wayanda,” a -trim, beautifully-modeled, ocean-going propeller, carrying six guns, and -manned with a capital crew. While Captain Merryman was making his final -preparation for a cruise, much longer than he had expected when the -telegraph hurried his vessel around from New York, we retained the -little “Northerner” for a trip up to Norfolk—only delaying long enough -at the Fortress to drive out and see a great negro school, established -by General Butler. - -The wharves were crowded by the usual curious throng of idle spectators, -laborers taking care of supplies, soldiers on duty, and a very sparse -sprinkling of ladies. Rebel soldiers by scores were mixed in the groups, -or could be seen trudging along the sidewalks toward the Commissary’s. - -Everywhere were negroes—on the sidewalks—driving the wagons—in the huts -that lined the road. All the slaves of the adjoining counties seem to -have established themselves at the Fortress. As we crossed the long, -narrow isthmus, contracting at last to an attenuated causeway, which -separates the Fortress from the main land, and came out into the ancient -village of Hampton, the negro huts thickened into swarms, and fairly -covered the sites of the old aristocratic residences which the Rebels -fired early in the war when compelled to evacuate the place. Bricks, two -centuries old, imported by the early colonists from Great Britain, for -the mansions of the first families, were built up into little outside -chimneys for these cabins of the Freedmen; and here and there one -noticed an antique Elizabethan chair, of like age and origin, converted -to the uses of a portly negress. - -To our right, down on the water’s edge, rose a high, narrow -residence—the former home of John Tyler; near it was another, somewhat -less pretentious, as well as less uncouth, which had formerly been -occupied by S. R. Mallory. Both find loyal and benevolent uses now at -the hands of the Government. Near them was a long colonnade, with -spacious piazzas, fronting a many-windowed brick hospital, which one of -our party was observed closely scrutinizing. “Upon my word,” he -exclaimed, after a moment’s reflection, “that is the old Chesapeake -Female College, of which I have been, from the foundation, one of the -Trustees.” Pale-faced men in blue occupied the chambers of the -boarding-school misses; and sentries, pacing to and fro, kept a stricter -guard than strictest duenna of boarding-school ever achieved. - -To our left extended a stretch of marshy meadows and half-cultivated -fields. In their midst was one little field cultivated above all the -rest. White boards, with a trifle of modest lettering on each, dotted -its surface, and the grass grew greenest over long, carefully-smoothed -hillocks. A file of slow-paced soldiers, with arms reversed, was -entering the inclosure; behind them followed an army wagon, with five -rude pine boxes piled upon it; beyond, quietly, and, as one loved to -think, even sadly, regarding the scene, was a group of paroled Rebel -soldiers; while, as we turned, in passing, to catch a last glimpse of -the mourners in blue by the open graves, there was seen away behind us, -rippling in the breeze above the fort, the old flag for which these dead -had died, and against which these Rebels had fought. - - * * * * * - -We found the school-house (a barn-like frame structure), a little -removed from the cluster of negro huts, and took the school fairly by -surprise. Passing up a long hall, wide enough for double rows of desks, -in the center, with seats for about ten or twelve boys in each, and an -aisle on either side, with benches for the class recitations against the -walls, we came to an elevated platform, from which led off, in opposite -directions, two other precisely similar halls. The fourth, completing -the cross, was designed for girls, and was yet unfinished. Down these -three long halls were ranged row after row of cleanly-clad negro boys, -from the ages of six and seven up to sixteen or seventeen. - -All seemed attentive; and though the teachers complained that the sudden -entrance of visitors always led to more confusion than usual, there was -certainly no more than one would expect from any school of equal extent -anywhere, or under any management. The rolls contained the names of -three hundred and seventy-four pupils, of whom about two hundred were -present. The Superintendent, who seemed an earnest, simple-minded man, -enthusiastically convinced that he had a “mission” here, spoke of this -as about the average attendance. The parents, he said, were themselves -so uncertain, and so little accustomed, as yet, to habits of regularity, -that they could not well bring up this average to a better point. It -seemed to me surely not so far behind our ordinary public schools at the -North as to suggest any unfavorable contrasts. - -These children had all been slaves, and nearly all had accompanied their -parents on their escape from the plantations of the Peninsula, and of -the upper counties of North Carolina, to the Fortress. The parents had -generally been field hands, and one noticed among the children very few -faces not of pure African descent. Such masses of little woolly heads, -such rows of shining ivories, and flat noses and blubber lips, I had -never seen collected before, unless in a state of filth utterly -unbearable. The teachers were all convalescent soldiers from the -hospitals, moving noiselessly about among the benches in their hospital -slippers and cheap calico wrappers—as they themselves had often seen -moving about among their hospital cots the angels of mercy from the -North. Who shall say they were not doing as beneficent a work, or that -the little negroes might not well follow them with as longing and -affectionate a gaze? - -Several classes were called up to exhibit their proficiency. Doubtless -the teachers selected their best scholars for the test—I think even -Northern schools sometimes do that—but there can be little opportunity -for deception in the reading of an unlearned lesson in a book, or in -answers to questions in mental arithmetic, propounded by the visitors -themselves. It was strange to see boys of fourteen or fifteen reading in -the First Reader; but stranger to observe how intelligently scholars in -the First Reader went about their work, and with what comparative -rapidity they learned. I passed among the forms and conversed with a -good many of the soldier-teachers. They all united in saying that on an -average the raw negro boys admitted to the school would learn their -letters and be able to read well in the First Reader in three months; -while some of them, who were originally bright, and who were kept in -regular attendance, made considerably more rapid progress. - -An advanced class, composed of the little negro “monitors” who had been -longest in the school, was summoned to the platform to read a lesson in -the Fourth Reader. One or two of them read very badly; one or two quite -well, and with an evident understanding of what was said. The best -reader in the class was the smallest boy, an ebony-faced urchin, whose -head looked as a six-pound round shot, coated with curled hair from a -mattress, might. The Superintendent exhibited his manner of calling out -the classes through the whole school to recite, the military style in -which the boys were required to march to their places at the word of -command, and the general adherence to military forms, even in such -minutiæ as distributing slates, removing the stools for the monitors, -returning books to their places, and the like. - -Then came a little address from the Dominie of our party, a former South -Carolina lawyer and heavy slaveholder; and we finally took our leave, -the little urchins eagerly handing up their slates, as we passed, to -have us see their penmanship; and laboriously tracing out, in school-boy -characters, their oddly-sounding names, to show us how readily they -could write. - -This school is kept up at little or no expense to the Government, save -the original cost of erecting the rough board structure in which it is -held. The parents of the children have been, to a considerable extent, -employed by the Government as laborers in the Quartermaster’s -Department; and, meantime, the convalescents from the hospitals have -prepared the sons, in some measure, for the new order of things. Still -there is more dependence on charity than could be desired, especially -among the parents. Negroes need to be taught—just as slaves of any race -or color would need to be taught—that liberty means, not idleness, but -merely work for themselves instead of work for others; and that, in any -event, it means always work. To teach them this, do not gather them in -colonies at military posts, and feed them on Government rations; but -throw them in the water and have them learn to swim by finding the -necessity of swimming. For the present, these collections of negroes are -an inevitable result of the war; and that would be a barbarous -Government indeed which would not help in time of distress the men whose -friendship to it has brought them into distress; but it must be the -first care of the authorities to diminish the charity, and leave the -negroes, just as it would leave the white men—to take care of -themselves. - - * * * * * - -On arriving at Norfolk, we were met, at the shabby-looking old wharf, by -General Gordon, commanding the post. Carriages were in waiting, and we -were rapidly whirled past the tumble-down warehouses, through streets of -stores from which every former proprietor had gone, by the old English -brick church, whence the former pastor had departed, past elegant -residences of prominent rebels, in whose parlors sat the wives of Yankee -officers, and through whose superb gardens we were invited to wander, -and pluck at will great bending bunches of flowers that, at Washington, -were still scarce in the hot-houses. - -From the gardens we turned toward the country to see the old line of -fortifications (planned, curiously enough, by a nephew of one of our -party), by which the Virginians, in the first months of the war, had -been confident they could hold Norfolk forever against the Yankee scum. -Negro soldiers manned the lines the rebel engineer had traced; but wild -flowers covered the embankments, and we plucked azalias of exquisite -fragrance from the crumbling embrasures. It was not less strange that -another member of our party, then foremost in the Cabinet, had -undertaken the search hereabouts for a landing for our troops, after the -officers had given it up; and had actually chosen the point where they -were safely debarked, and whence they had turned these long lines, and -reduced Norfolk—“Merrimac” and all—without a blow. - -The wild flowers filled the moist evening air with their perfume as we -drove back through the negro quarter. Every hut exhibited the tender -tokens of mourning for the good, dead President, which were missing on -many aristocratic residences. There were no evidences of suffering or -destitution among these people; and it was not from their windows that -the lowering glances were turned upon the General, and the well-known -features of the anti-slavery leader by his side. - -Norfolk ought to do, and will do a fine business—whenever it has any -country to do business for. It must always be the great shipping point -for the Virginia and North Carolina coast; the heaviest vessels can lie -by its wharves, and between it and Hampton Roads is room for the navies -of the world. But, thus far, there is scarcely any business, save what -the army has brought, and what the impoverished inhabitants who remain -are themselves able to support. Sutlers have sat in the high places -until they have amassed fortunes; but the merchants whose deserted store -rooms they are occupying are paroled and ruined Rebel officers. No trade -comes or can come from the interior. The people have no produce to -spare, and no money with which to buy. And the very number of -able-bodied men in the country has been sadly reduced.[1] - -Everything is controlled by the military authority; and while there may -be a genuine Union sentiment that warranted the attempted elections of -Congressmen, one may still be permitted a quiet suspicion of the -independent and disinterested patriotism of the voters. Just as we were -pushing off, Mr. Chandler, a nervous, restless, black-haired Virginian, -came hobbling out from his carriage. He was a claimant for a seat in the -last House, which was refused; and was the leader of the Virginia -delegation to the Baltimore Convention, whose admission to that body his -fluent and impassioned rhetoric secured. Naturally he is a warm -supporter of the Pierpoint State Government, believes that “the loyal -men of the State constitute the State,” and doesn’t see why the fact -that they are few in numbers should prevent their exercising all the -powers of the State. Just now he and the few really loyal men, like him, -are very bitter against the Rebels, whom they wish to have excluded from -any participation in the ready-made State Government, which they hope -soon to have transferred from Alexandria to Richmond, and extended over -the State. But they frankly admit themselves to be in a very small -minority; and it remains to be seen how long a minority, however loyal, -can govern, in a republican country. - ------ - -Footnote 1: - - Calculations, seemingly accurate, have placed the number of dead and - disabled Virginia soldiers at 105,000, or nearly one-tenth of the - entire free population of the State. - - - - - CHAPTER III. - - “Beauties of the Sea”—First Views of Cracker Unionism. - - -On our return to the Fortress, the “Wayanda” was ready; there was a -hurried transhipment in the dark; not a little dismay at the straitened -proportions of the cabin; an assignment of state-rooms, which gave me -the D. D. of the party as chum; and so—amid the Doctor’s loud groans and -lamentations over confining a rational human being in a straight jacket -of a bed like that—to sleep. - -There was a very hasty toilette next morning, and a very undignified -rush for the fresh air on deck. We had started in the night, were well -out on the ocean, a pretty heavy sea was running, and the mettlesome -little “Wayanda” was giving us a taste of her qualities. Nothing could -exceed the beauty of her plunges fore and aft, and lurches from port to -starboard; but the party were sadly lacking in enthusiasm. Presently -breakfast was announced, and we all went below very bravely and ranged -ourselves about the table. Before the meal was half over, the Captain -and the Doctor’s were left in solitary state to finish it alone. For -myself—although seasoned, as I had vainly imagined, by some experiences -in tolerably heavy storms—I freely confess to the double enjoyment of -the single cup of tea I managed to swallow. “For,” said the Dominie, -argumentatively, “you have the pleasure of enjoying it first as it goes -down, and then a second time as it comes up.” - -To keep one another in countenance as we held our uncertain positions on -the rolling and plunging deck, we combined to rehearse all the old jokes -about sea sickness. One gave a definition of it, which, like many -another indifferent thing, has been unwarrantably fathered on the late -President. “Sea sickness is a disorder which for the first hour makes -you afraid you’ll die, but by the second hour makes you afraid you -won’t!” Another recited Artemus Ward’s groaning lamentation over Point -Judith, to the effect that he “never before saw a place where it was so -hard to keep inside one’s clothes and outside one’s breakfast!” “Sure, -it isn’t say sick yez are,” pleasantly suggested an Irish engineer, -among the officers, who looked provokingly happy amid all the -pitching—“it isn’t say sick yez are; but yez mighty sick of the say!” “O -si sic omnes!” punned the Chief Justice. How the rest stood it I don’t -know; but that was the last straw, and drove one unfortunate of the -party to his state-room, and a basin and towel. - -Toward evening the sea calmed down, and one after another emerged on -deck. The air was delightfully bracing; the moon sent its broad streams -of light, shaking across the waters; the revolving light of Hatteras -shone out—guide and safeguard to a hundred eyes besides our own—and so -with calmest weather, and a delicious beauty of scene that no words need -be vainly employed in efforts to describe, we spent half the night in -watching the passage of the ship by the most dangerous part of the -Atlantic coast. Next morning, at breakfast, we were steaming under the -guns of Port Macon into the harbor where Butler and Porter rendezvoused -for Fort Fisher. - -As a boat’s crew slowly pulled some of our party through the tortuous -channel by which even the lightest gigs have to approach the single -landing of Beaufort, the guns of the naval force began to thunder out a -salute for the Chief Justice. “How many guns does a Chief Justice -receive?” inquired one, as he counted the successive discharges. “You’d -a great deal better ask,” reprovingly hinted the Doctor, “how many guns -a Baptist minister receives!” “Well, how many, Doctor!” “Oh, just count -these up, and then you’ll know!” With which church-militant suggestion, -we rounded to at a crazy old wharf, climbed up a pair of rickety steps -that gave the Doctor premonitions of more immersion than even he had -bargained for, and stood in the town of Beaufort, North Carolina. In -front of us was the Custom House—a square, one-story frame building, -perched upon six or eight posts—occupied now by a Deputy Treasury Agent. -A narrow strip of sand, plowed up by a few cart wheels, and flanked by -shabby-looking old frame houses, extended along the water front, and -constituted the main business street of a place that, however -dilapidated and insignificant, must live in the history of the struggle -just ended. Near the water’s edge was a small turpentine distillery, the -only manufacturing establishment of the place. - - * * * * * - -The landing of a boat’s crew, with an officer in charge and a flag -fluttering at the stern, seemed to be an event in Beaufort, and we were -soon surrounded by the notabilities. A large, heavily and coarsely-built -man, of unmistakable North Carolina origin, with the inevitable bilious -look, ragged clothes and dirty shirt, was introduced, with no little -_eclat_, as “the Senator from this District.” “Of what Senate?” some one -inquired. “The North Caroliner Senate, Sir,” “Umph, Rebel Senate of -North Carolina,” growled the Captain, _sotto voce_; “you make a devil of -a fuss about your dignity! North Carolina Rebel Senate be hanged! A New -York constable outranks you.” But the Senator didn’t hear; and his -manner showed plainly enough that no doubts of his importance ever -disturbed the serene workings of his own mind. The Clerk of the Court, -the Postmaster, the doctor, the preacher and other functionaries were -speedily added to the group that gathered in the sand bank called a -pavement. - -“How are your people feeling?” some one asked. “Oh, well, sir; we all -went out unwillingly, you know,” responded the legislator, fresh from -the meetings of the Rebel Senate at Raleigh, “and most of us are very -glad to get back.” “Have you no violent Rebels yet?” “Yes, quite a good -many, among the young bloods; but even they all feel as if they had been -badly whipped, and want to give in.” “Then they really feel themselves -whipped?” “Yes, you’ve subjugated us at last,” with a smile which showed -that the politician thought it not the worst kind of a joke after all. - -“And, of course, then you have only to submit to any terms the -conquerors may impose?” “No, sir—oh, ah—yes, any terms that could be -honorably offered to a proud, high-minded people!” The rest of the -dignitaries nodded their heads approvingly at this becoming intimation -of the terms the “subjugated” State could be induced to accept. It was -easy to see that the old political tricks were not forgotten, and that -the first inch of wrong concession would be expected to lead the way to -many an ell. - -“What terms do you think would be right?” The County Clerk, a -functionary of near thirty years’ service, took up the conversation, and -promptly replied, “Let Governor Vance call together the North Caroliner -Legislator. We only lacked a few votes of a Union majority in it before, -and we’d be sure to have enough now.” “What then?” “Why, the Legislater -would, of course, repeal the ordinance of secession, and order a -convention to amend the Constitution. I think that convention would -accept your constitutional amendment.” - -“But can you trust your Governor Vance? Did not he betray the Union -party after his last election?” - -“Yes, he sold us out clean and clear.” - -“He did nothing of the sort. North Caroliner has not got a purer patriot -than Governor Vance.” And so they fell to disputing among themselves. - -I asked one of the party what this Legislature, if thus called together, -would do with the negroes? - -“Take ’em under the control of the Legislater, as free niggers always -have been in this State. Let it have authority to fix their wages, and -prevent vagrancy. It always got along with ’em well enough before.” - -“Are you not mistaken about its always having had this power?” - -“What!” exclaimed the astonished functionary. “Why, I was born and -raised hyar, and lived hyar all my life; Do you suppose I don’t know?” - -“Apparently not, sir; for you seem to be ignorant of the fact that _free -negroes in North Carolina were voters from the formation of the State -Government_ down to 1835.” - -“It isn’t so, stranger.” - -“Excuse me; but your own State records will show it;[2] and, if I must -say so, he is a very ignorant citizen to be talking about ways and means -of reorganization, who doesn’t know so simple and recent a fact in the -history of his State.” - -The Cracker scratched his head in great bewilderment. “Well, stranger, -you don’t mean to say that the Government at Washington is going to make -us let niggers vote?” - -“I mean to say that it is at least possible.” - -“Well, why not have the decency to let us have a vote on it ourselves, -and say whether _we’ll_ let niggers vote?” - -“In other words, you mean this: Less than a generation ago you held a -convention, which robbed certain classes of your citizens of rights they -had enjoyed, undisputed, from the organization of your State down to -that hour. Now, you propose to let the robbers hold an election to -decide whether they will return the stolen property or not.” - -“Stranger,” exclaimed another of the group, with great emphasis, “is the -Government at Washington, because it has whipped us, going to make us -let niggers vote?” - -“Possibly it will. At any rate a strong party favors it.” - -“Then I wouldn’t live under the Government. I’d emigrate, sir. Yes, sir, -I’d leave this Government _and go north_!” - -And the man, true to his States’-Rights training, seemed to imagine that -going north was going under another Government, and spoke of it as one -might speak of emigrating to China. - -Meantime, the younger citizens of Beaufort (of Caucasian descent) had -found better amusement than talking to the strangers in the sand bank of -a street. One of them wagered a quarter (fractional currency) that he -could whip another. The party thus challenged evinced his faith in his -own muscle by risking a corresponding quarter on it. The set-to was at -once arranged, in the back-yard of the house in front of which we were -standing, and several side bets, ranging from five to as high as fifteen -cents, were speedily put up by spectators. - -One of our party, who joined the crowd at the amusement, reported that -half-a-dozen rounds were fought—a few “niggers” gravely looking on from -the outskirts of the throng—that several eyes were blacked, and both -noses bruised; that there was a fall, and a little choking and -eye-gouging, and a cry of “give it up;” that then the belligerents rose -and shook hands, and stakes were delivered, and the victor was being -challenged to another trial, with a fresh hand, as we left the scene of -combat; and so closed our first visit to a North Carolina town. - ------ - -Footnote 2: - - North Carolina, by her Constitution of 1776, prescribed three bases of - suffrage: - - 1. All FREEMEN twenty-one years old, who have lived in the county - twelve months, and have had a freehold of fifty acres for six months, - may vote for a member of the Senate. - - 2. All FREEMEN, of like age and residence, who have paid public taxes, - may vote for members of the House of Commons for the county. - - 3. The above two classes may, if residing or owning a freehold in a - town, vote for members of the House of Commons for such town: - provided, they shall not already have voted for a member for the - county, and _vice versa_. - - By the Constitution, as amended in 1835, all freemen, twenty-one years - of age, living twelve months in the State, and owning a freehold of - fifty acres for six months, should vote, except that - - “No free negro, free mulatto, or free person of mixed blood, descended - from negro ancestors to the fourth generation inclusive (though one - ancestor of each generation may have been a white person), shall vote - for members of the Senate or House of Commons.” - - The last clause would seem to have looked to amalgamation as a pretty - steady practice, for such zealous abolition and negro-haters. Under - the Constitution of 1776, free negroes, having the requisite - qualifications, voted as freely as any other portion of the voting - population. - - - - - CHAPTER IV. - - Newbern and Beaufort—Black and White. - - -Shortly after our arrival in the harbor, the military authorities had -provided a special train for us—that is to say, a train composed of a -wheezy little locomotive and an old mail agent’s car, with all the -windows smashed out and half the seats gone. By this means we were -enabled, an hour after our visit to Beaufort, to be whirling over the -military railroad from the little collection of Government warehouses on -the opposite side of the harbor, called Morehead City, to Newbern. - -The whole way led through the exhausted turpentine forests of -North-eastern North Carolina, which the turpentine growers have for many -years been abandoning for the more productive forests of upper South -Carolina. Here and there were swamps which Yankee drainage would soon -convert into splendid corn land; and it is possible that Yankee skill -might make the exhausted pineries very profitable; but, for the present, -this country is not likely to present such inducements as to attract a -large Northern emigration. - -The poorer people seem to be quietly living in their old places. Where -the paroled rebel soldiers have returned, they have sought their former -homes, and evince a very decided disposition to stay there. Throughout -this region there is, as we learned, comparatively little destitution. -The ocean is a near and never-failing resource; and from Newbern and -Beaufort (both of which have been in our possession during the greater -part of the war) supplies have gone through the lines by a sort of -insensible and invisible perspiration, which it would be unkind, to the -disinterested traders who follow in the wake of an army, to call -smuggling. - -Passing the traces of the works thrown up at the point where Burnside -had his fight, we entered the remarkable city of log cabins, outside the -city limits, which now really forms the most interesting part of the -ancient town of Newbern. Before the war, it had between five and six -thousand inhabitants; now, these newly-built cabins on the outskirts, -alone, contain over ten thousand souls.[3] Yet, withal, there are few -old residents here. The city proper is, to a considerable extent, -deserted by its former inhabitants, and filled by Union refugees from -all parts of the State; while these squares of crowded cabins contain -solely Union refugees—of another color, but not less loyal. - -Within a few days back, however, men, whose faces have not been seen in -Newbern for nearly four years, are beginning to appear again, with many -an anxious inquiry about property, which they think ought to have been -carefully preserved for them during their hostile absence. Sometimes -they have kept an aged mother, or an aunt, or a widowed sister, in the -property, to retain a claim upon it; and in these cases they seem to -find little difficulty in quietly resuming possession. But, in more -instances, they are forced to see others in an occupancy they can not -conveniently dispute, and to learn of fortunes made from the property -they abandoned. - -The hotel keeper, for example, has returned. He finds here a Yankee, -who, seeing the house deserted when we occupied the city, and being told -by the officers that they wanted a hotel, determined to keep it. The -Yankee has paid no rent; he has been at no expense, and he has made a -sum reckoned at over a hundred thousand dollars, by his hotel keeping -and a little cotton planting which he was able to combine with it. -Naturally, he is in no haste to give up his rent-free establishment, and -the Rebel owner has the satisfaction of contemplating the Yankee in -possession, and calculating the profits which might have gone into his -own pockets but for the frantic determination, four years ago, never to -submit to the tyrannical rule of the Illinois gorilla. Returning -merchants find sutlers behind their counters, reckoning up gains such as -the old business men of Newbern never dreamed of; all branches of trade -are in the hands of Northern speculators, who followed the army; half -the residences are filled with army officers, or occupied by Government -civil officials, or used for negro schools, or rented out as “abandoned -property.” - -Yankee enterprise even made money out of what had been thrown away long -before the war. In the distillation of turpentine a large residuum of -the resin used to be carted away as rubbish, not worth the cost of its -transportation to market. The mass thus thrown out from some of the -Newbern distilleries, had gradually been buried under a covering of sand -and dirt. A couple of Yankee adventurers, digging for something on the -bank of the river, happened to strike down upon this resin, quietly had -it mined and shipped to a Northern market. I am afraid to tell how many -thousands of dollars they are said to have made by the lucky discovery. - -The negro quarter has been swelled to a size greater than that of almost -any city on the coast, by accessions from all parts of the State. They -came in entirely destitute. The Government furnished them rations, and -gave the men axes, with which they cut down the pine trees and erected -their own cabins, arranging them regularly in streets, and “policing” -them as carefully as a regiment of veteran soldiers would do. Every -effort was then made to give them work in the Quartermaster’s -Department, to keep them from being simply an expense to the Government; -but the close of the war necessarily cuts off this source of employment, -and the General commanding is now looking with no little uneasiness to -the disposition to be made of this great collection of negroes, for -scarcely a tithe of whom can the natural wants of the town itself supply -employment. - -Some have rented a large rice plantation in the vicinity—contrary to the -currently-received theory that no human being, white or black, will work -on rice grounds except when driven to it—and they are doing exceedingly -well. Others could go further into the interior and do the same, if they -were sure of protection; but till some understanding with the planters -is reached, and the _status_ of the Rebel planters themselves is -defined, this is almost impracticable. Something, however, must be done -to disperse this unwholesome gathering at Newbern, or the tumor, thus -neglected, may do serious injury. - - * * * * * - -A dispatch from General Sherman (on his way north from Savannah, and -forced by bad weather to put in at Beaufort) had reached Newbern, while -we were there, expressing a very earnest desire to see Chief Justice -Chase; and on the return of the party, General Sherman’s vessel was -lying at the wharf, opposite the railroad terminus, awaiting us. Nervous -and restless as ever, the General looked changed (and improved) since -the old campaigns in the South-west. He was boiling over with pride at -the performances of his army through the winter, and all the more -indignant, by consequence, at the insults and injustice he imagined -himself to have received, in consequence of his arrangement with -Johnston. “I fancied the country wanted peace,” he exclaimed. “If they -don’t, let them raise more soldiers.” - -The General complained, and, doubtless, with some truth, if not justice, -that the Government had never distinctly explained to him what policy it -desired to have pursued. “I asked Mr. Lincoln explicitly, when I went up -to City Point, whether he wanted me to capture Jeff. Davis, or let him -escape, and in reply he told me a story.” - -That “story” may now have a historical value, and I give it, therefore, -as General Sherman said Mr. Lincoln told it—only premising that it was a -favorite story with Mr. Lincoln, which he told many times, and in -illustration of many points of public policy. - -“I’ll tell you, General,” Mr. Lincoln was said to have begun, “I’ll tell -you what I think about taking Jeff. Davis. Out in Sangamon county there -was an old temperance lecturer, who was very strict in the doctrine and -practice of total abstinence. One day, after a long ride in the hot sun, -he stopped at the house of a friend, who proposed making him a lemonade. -As the mild beverage was being mixed, the friend insinuatingly asked if -he wouldn’t like just the least drop of something stronger, to brace up -his nerves after the exhausting heat and exercise. ‘No,’ replied the -lecturer, ‘I couldn’t think of it; I am opposed to it on principle. -But,’ he added, with a longing glance at the black bottle that stood -conveniently at hand, ‘if you could manage to put in a drop -_unbeknownst_ to me, I guess it wouldn’t hurt me much!’ Now, General,” -Mr. Lincoln concluded, “I’m bound to oppose the escape of Jeff. Davis; -but if you could manage to let him slip out unbeknownst-like, I guess it -wouldn’t hurt me much!” - -“And that,” exclaimed General Sherman, “is all I could get out of the -Government as to what its policy was, concerning the Rebel leaders, till -Stanton assailed me for Davis’ escape!” - - * * * * * - -A heavy gale blew on the coast all day Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and -neither General Sherman’s Captain nor our own thought it wise to venture -out. Meanwhile, delegations of the Beaufort people came off in little -sail-boats to visit the “Wyanda,” bring us flowers and strawberries, and -talk politics. Since their last demonstrations, a few days ago, they had -toned down their ideas a good deal; and the amount of their talk, -stripped of its circumlocution and hesitation, was simply this: that -they were very anxious to re-organize, and would submit to anything the -Government might require to that end. They said less against negro -suffrage than before—frankly said it would be very obnoxious to the -prejudices of nearly the whole population, but added, that if the -Government insisted on it, they would co-operate with the negroes in -reorganization. “But the poor, shiftless creatures will never be able to -support themselves in freedom. We’ll have half of them in poor-houses -before a year!”[4] Nothing could overcome this rooted idea, that the -negro was worthless, except under the lash. These people really believe -that, in submitting to the emancipation of the slaves, they have -virtually saddled themselves with an equal number of idle paupers. -Naturally, they believe that to add a requirement that these paupers -must share the management of public affairs with them is piling a very -Pelion upon the Ossa of their misfortunes. - - * * * * * - -My room-mate, the Doctor, appointed me a “deacon for special -service”—even he had absorbed military ways of doing things from our -neighbors—and I arranged for his preaching in Beaufort, Sunday morning. -The people were more than glad to welcome him, and he had a big -congregation, with a sprinkling of black fringe around its edges, to -appreciate his really eloquent discourse; while the trees that nodded at -the pulpit windows shook out strains of music, which the best-trained -choristers could never execute, from the swelling throats of a whole -army of mocking-birds. An old Ironsides-looking man, who had occupied an -elder’s seat beside the pulpit, rose at the close, and said he little -expected to have ever seen a day like this. Everybody started forward, -anticipating a remonstrance against the strong Unionism and anti-slavery -of the Doctor’s sermon, but instead there came a sweeping and -enthusiastic indorsement of everything that had been said. He saw a -better day at hand, the old man said, and rejoiced in the brightness of -its coming. How many an old man, like him, may have been waiting through -all these weary years for the same glad day! - -At other times there were fishing parties which caught no fish, though -General Sherman sent them over enough fine ocean trout to enable them to -make a splendid show on their return; and riding parties that got no -rides, but trudged through the sand on foot, to the great delectation of -the artist who sketched, _con amore_, the figures of gentlemen -struggling up a sandy hill, eyes and ears and mouth full, hands clapped -on hat to secure its tenure, and coat tails manifesting strong -tendencies to secede bodily, while in the distance, small and -indistinct, could be perceived the ambulance that couldn’t be made to -go, and underneath was written the touching inscription, “How Captain -Merryman and Mr. R. accepted Mrs. W.’s invitation, and took a ride on -the beach at Fort Macon.” - -At last the gale subsided a little, and we got off. Another salute was -fired as we steamed out; the “Wayanda” returned a single shot in -acknowledgment, and all too soon we were among the breakers, pitching -and writhing, fore and aft, starboard and larboard, diagonally crosswise -and backward, up to the sky and down, till the waves poured over the -deck, and the masts seemed inclined to give the flags and streamers at -their tops a bath. But for some of us, at least, the seasickness was -gone. _Io Triumphe!_ - ------ - -Footnote 3: - - The census of 1860 gave the population of Newbern at, whites, 2,360; - blacks, 3,072; aggregate, 5,432. The Newbern people are now setting - forth, as a reason for inducing emigration, that the city is the - largest in the State, and has a population of between twenty and - thirty thousand. The increase is mainly made up of negroes. - -Footnote 4: - - And yet an official report, since published in the newspapers, shows - that out of three thousand whites in Beaufort last winter, between - twelve and fourteen hundred were applicants for the charity of - Government rations. Out of about an equal number of negroes, less than - four hundred were dependent on the Government! The secret of the - disparity was, that the negroes took work when they could get it; the - whites were “ladies and gentlemen,” and wouldn’t work. - - A Richmond letter, of June 30th, in the Boston _Commonwealth_, - testifies to the same feeling among the Virginians. Describing the - charities of the Sanitary Commission, it says: - - “The most fastidious, though not too dainty to beg, were yet - ludicrously exacting and impatient. They assumed, in many ways, the - air of condescending patrons. ‘Do you expect me to go into that dirty - crowd?’ ‘Haven’t you some private way by which I could enter?’ ‘I can - never carry that can of soup in the world!’ they whined. The sick must - suffer, unless a servant was at command to ‘tote’ a little box of - gelatine; and the family must wait till some alien hand could take - home the flour. The aristocratic sometimes begged for work. Mr. - Williams, of the Sanitary Commission, when asked by a mother to - furnish work for her daughters, said: ‘If they will serve as nurses to - the suffering men in your own army hospitals, I will secure pay for - them.’ ‘My daughters go into a hospital!’ exclaimed the insulted - mother. ‘They are ladies, sir!’ ‘Our Northern ladies would rather work - than beg,’ quietly remarked Mr. Williams. Another mother begged Mr. - Chase, of the Union Commission, to give her daughters ‘something to - do.’ ‘Anything by which they can earn something, for we have not a - penny in the world.’ ‘They shall help me measure flour,’ said Mr. - Chase. ‘My daughters are ladies, sir,’ replied the mother.” - - - - - CHAPTER V. - - Fort Fisher. - - -On the morning of the 8th of May we came in sight of a long, low line of -sand banks, dotted with curious hillocks, between which the black -muzzles of heavy guns could be made out, and fringed with a perfect -naval _chevaux-de-frise_ of wrecked blockade runners, whose broken hulls -and protruding machinery gave an ill-omened look to the whole coast. As -we were closely studying the bleak aspect of this entrance to the great -smuggling _entrepôt_ of the Southern Confederacy, the glasses began to -reveal an unexpected activity along the line of the guns, which our -signal shot for a pilot by no means diminished. Our ship drew too much -water to cross the bar, excepting at high tide, and we were, -consequently, compelled to go over in the Captain’s gig to the pilot -boat—a proceeding that the rough sea made very difficult and even -dangerous. Leaving those who could not venture the transhipment, to roll -wearily among the breakers till evening, we headed straight through the -narrow and difficult channel for Fort Fisher, and learned that we had -been mistaken for the Rebel pirate “Stonewall,” and that the guns had -been shotted ready to open fire the moment we should show signs of a -disposition to run in.[5] - -Ah! that weary day at Fort Fisher! To see a fort is naturally supposed -to be not the most formidable of undertakings; but to see Fort Fisher -means a ride of miles over the bleakest of sand bars; means the climbing -of great heaps of sand, under the hottest of suns; means a scrambling -over irregular chasms and precipices of sand, where the explosions have -destroyed at once every semblance of fortification and every foot of -solid earth—means all this, prolonged for hours, under the penalty of -the consciousness that otherwise you would be pretending to see Fort -Fisher, when you were doing nothing of the sort. - -We began by climbing Battery Buchanan, near the landing, and inside the -main line of works. Trenches, embrasures, casemate and barbette guns, -bomb-proofs, gabions, riflemen’s pits, all in sand that no rifle -projectiles could breach, and bombardment could only render stronger, -seemed to assure absolute impregnability to this work alone, except -against regular siege operations. Yet it was but protection for one -flank of the long line before which Weitzel turned back, and which no -soldiers but ours would ever have stormed. To this battery (so called, -although a perfect and very strong fort in itself) the Rebels made their -last retreat, after that long, hand-to-hand fight through the sea front -of the fort, which stretched far into the night, and seemed doubtful to -the last. But Battery Buchanan, though impregnable, as a flank to the -sea line, is itself commanded by the last work of that sea line; and so -when the Mound Battery fell into our hands, its guns had only to be -turned, and Buchanan fell almost without a struggle. - -The Mound Battery is a vast heap of sand, uplifting its guns and -embrazures from a flat and desert beach against the sky, and commanding -perfectly the whole northern entrance to the river. It contained one of -the finest specimens of heavy ordnance ever seen in this country, the -famous Armstrong rifle, presented by British sympathizers to the -Confederacy. - -Imagine a long line of batteries, connected by traverses in the sand, -separated by huge hillocks of sand, and fronted by deep trenches in the -sand, stretching away almost interminably along the coast toward the -North, and ending in another strong work, which was supposed to protect -that flank as perfectly as Buchanan did the other; put in magazines and -bomb-proofs, at convenient points, and a very heavy armament; then -conceive muzzles of the guns knocked off, guns dismounted, carriages -shattered, the parapets plowed with shells, a great crater in the sand -where a magazine had exploded, all shape and symmetry battered out of -the works, and only their rude strength remaining; and you have Fort -Fisher. - -The ground was covered with showers of musket balls. Behind every -traverse could be found little heaps of English-made cartridges, which -the Rebel sharpshooters had laid out for the convenience of rapid -firing, as they defended line after line of the successive batteries, -along which they were driven. Fragments of shells lay everywhere over -the works. Behind them were great heaps of shells, bayonets, broken -muskets, and other fragments of iron, which were being dug out and -collected to be sold for old iron. Hundreds on hundreds of acres were -under negro cultivation, producing this valuable crop. - -No man, I think, will ride along the coast line, which, by an -inconceivable amount of labor, has been converted into one immense fort, -without sympathizing with the officers who refused to assault it, and -marveling at the seeming recklessness which success converted into the -splendid audacity of the final attack.[6] - -The pilot boat was again placed at the disposal of our party, after some -hours spent at Fort Fisher, and we ran over to Fort Caswell, one of the -main defenses of the other entrance. It was originally a regularly-built -brick fortification, with casemate and barbette guns, salients, ditch -and interior castle, pierced with loopholes, for a last defense with -musketry. Like Fort Macon, at Beaufort (and like Sumter), this has been -converted into an infinitely stronger work, by having earthen -fortifications thrown up outside and against it. The Rebels blew it up -after the surrender of Fort Fisher, and we shall probably be making -appropriations, every Congress, for the next dozen years to rebuild it. - -The labor here, as well as the vast amount involved in the construction -of Fort Fisher, was all performed by slaves, impressed from time to time -by the Rebel authorities. Both works were completed—Wilmington had grown -rich on the profits of blockade-running; Nassau had risen to first-class -commercial importance, and the beach under these guns was strewn with -the wrecks, which spoke more loudly than could any balance sheet, of the -profits of a business that could afford such losses—before our Congress -had done disputing whether the Constitution, and a due regard for the -rights of our Southern brethren, would permit us to use negroes as -teamsters! - ------ - -Footnote 5: - - The Stonewall seems indeed to have produced about this time an - excitement along the whole coast, amounting, in some places, to panic. - The naval officer at Key West, for example, issued orders to - extinguish the lights in the light-houses along the coast, lest the - Stonewall should run into some of the harbors and destroy the - shipping. - -Footnote 6: - - The joint Committee of Congress on the Conduct of the War, after - examining Generals Grant, Butler, Weitzel and Terry, and Admiral - Porter, as well as the Rebel commander of the Fort, and after a - careful inspection of the fortifications themselves, have, in a report - published since the above was written, reached substantially the same - conclusions. They attach no blame to any one for the failure to - attack, in the first movement upon the Fort. - - - - - CHAPTER VI. - -Wilmington—Unionism—Blockade Running—Destitution—Negro Talk—Land Sales. - - -General Hawley, commanding at Wilmington, had come down to Fort Fisher, -on hearing of the arrival of our party, accompanied by General Abbott, -General Dodge, and a number of prominent citizens of North Carolina. -They were all transferred to our vessel, and, with the tide in her -favor, and under sail, the “Wayanda” astonished us all by steaming up -the river at the rate of fourteen knots an hour. Captain Merryman, -however, insisted she could do as much any time, only it wasn’t always -convenient to get her best speed out of her! And, of course, we were -bound to believe the Captain. Do we not make it a point of patriotic -duty to believe all the brilliant reports of the running capacity -displayed by our iron-clads and double-enders? - -Blockade runners had been sunk for miles up the river, and in some -places the hulls and machinery still formed a partial obstruction to -navigation. Torpedoes, fished out by the navy, lay here and there along -the banks, and a few, it was said, were still in the channel, unless, as -was hoped, the tide had washed them away. - -Among the North Carolinians accompanying General Hawley, were a couple -of gentlemen from Raleigh—Mr. Moore, a leading lawyer there, and Mr. -Pennington, the editor of the Raleigh _Progress_—who had come down to -Wilmington to see Chief Justice Chase. Another gentleman in the company, -introduced as “Mr.” Baker—a tall, slender man, of graceful manners, and -evident culture and experience—had been through nearly the whole war as -Colonel of a North Carolina Rebel regiment. - -Strangely enough, Colonel Baker claimed to have been a Union man all the -time, from which some idea may be had of the different phases Unionism -in the South has assumed. His father had been a Unionist of unquestioned -firmness; but the son, returning from Europe in the midst of the -secession enthusiasm, found the social pressure of his circle too much -to withstand. “I was forced,” he naively said, “to raise a regiment in -order to retain my influence in the community!” And, with equal -_naïveté_, he added, that if he had not thus retained his influence, he -could now have been of no use in aiding to compose these difficulties! -He pointed out a fine rice plantation on the bank of the river, which he -had owned, but about his title to which, now, he seemed to have some -doubts. He claimed, and other Wilmingtonians agreed with him, that the -rice grown here is superior to that of South Carolina and Georgia, and -that its culture, in spite of the latitude, is quite as profitable.[7] - - * * * * * - -The gentlemen from Raleigh and Colonel Baker seemed each to be a -representative of a different phase of North Carolina Unionism. The -editor had always opposed secession till it was accomplished. Then he -was compelled to go with the current, but as soon as the first fury was -over, and the reaction began, he became openly anti-Davis, and as much -anti-war as he dared. He was an enthusiastic admirer of General Sherman; -thought the censure by the Northern press, of his arrangement with -Johnston, very unjust; was anxious now for the speediest possible -restoration of civil authority, and believed the people stood willing to -acquiesce in whatever basis of reorganization the President would -prescribe. If he had his way, he would have no negro suffrage; even that -would be preferable to remaining unorganized, and would be accepted by -the people, though it would cause great dissatisfaction. - -The lawyer, on the other hand, insisted that none would revolt, with -more loathing, from the bare idea of negro suffrage, than the best Union -men in the State, who had suffered the most for their devotion to the -Government and opposition to the war. “It would not even be -satisfactory,” he insisted, “to leave the negroes, like other non-voting -classes, to take care of themselves. To leave them absolutely without -any control, save such as the law extends to white people, also, would -be unendurable. Either you must take pity,” he exclaimed, “on those of -us who, for four years, have endured everything for the sake of the old -flag, and send the negroes out of the country altogether, or you must -place them under the control of the Legislature.” “What policy toward -them would the Legislature be apt to adopt?” “It ought to provide -against vagrancy; adopt measures to require them to fulfill their -contracts for labor, and authorize their sale, for a term of years, for -breaches of order.[8] Either do that, and so protect us against an -intolerable nuisance, or colonize them out of the country.” - -The Colonel was not so emphatic in favor of this virtual re-enslavement -of the negroes, nor so peremptory in his condemnation of negro suffrage; -but he thought it would be wise to conciliate as much as possible, and -to avoid deep-seated prejudices. It was easy to see that he was looking -to what would be the least unpopular with the people of North Carolina; -and, indeed, I heard later in the evening, that he was not unwilling to -ask them to send him to Congress. - -Clearly enough, few Union men in the South, who have political -aspirations, can be safely expected to advocate justice, much less -generosity, to the negro, or severity to the Rebels. The latter are sure -to be voters—many of them now, after carelessly taking oaths of -allegiance—all of them some day; and politicians are not likely to make -haste in doing that which they know to be odious to the men whose votes -they want. - -At a dinner party at General Hawley’s, and subsequently at a little -party, later in the evening, we saw and heard a good deal of the -feelings of the people. The women are very polite to Yankee officers in -particular, but very bitter against Yankees in general. Negro troops are -their especial detestation; and for the monstrosity of attempting to -teach negroes to read and write, they could find no words to express -their scorn. A young officer told me that he had been “cut” by some -ladies, with whom he had previously been on very cordial terms, because -they had seen him going into one of the negro schools! The men of North -Carolina may be “subjugated,” but who shall subjugate the women? - -Governor Vance has been very unpopular, and the people seem to take -kindly enough to the idea that his authority will not be recognized. -They say he was a Union man in feeling and conviction, but that Jeff. -Davis, alarmed by the dissatisfaction in North Carolina, sent for him -about the time of his last election, and persuaded him that he could be -the next President of the Confederacy! The Presidential idea was as -baneful in Rebeldom, as it has proved to so many Northern statesmen, and -Vance was destroyed. - - * * * * * - -Every Northern man in Wilmington lives in the very best style the place -affords, no matter how slender his visible resources. I was the guest of -a civil officer whose salary can not be over two thousand dollars. His -home was a spacious three-story double structure, that would have done -no discredit to Fifth Avenue. You approach it through a profusion of the -rarest shrubbery; it was in the most aristocratic quarter of the city, -was elegantly furnished, and filled with servants—all on two thousand -dollars a year, less the Government tax. But this is modest and -moderate. The officer at least made the one house serve all his -purposes. Another—a Colonel on duty here—is less easily satisfied. He -has no family, but he finds one of the largest and best-furnished double -houses in the town only sufficient for his bachelor wants, as a private -residence. Another house, equally spacious and eligible, is required for -the uses of his office! And, in general, our people seem to go upon the -theory that, having conquered the country, they are entitled to the best -it has, and in duty bound to use as much of it as possible. - -These houses are generally such as were shut up by their rich Rebel -owners on the approach of our troops below the city. The proprietors -have retired to adjacent country places, to be out of harm’s way till -they see how Rebels are to be treated, and already they are making their -calculations about returning in the fall, with a coolness almost -disconcerting to their self-appointed tenants. Mrs. General Hawley tells -a piquant story of a visit from the wife of a runaway Rebel, whose showy -but uncomfortable house the General has seized for quarters and private -residence. The lady made herself as agreeable as possible, spoke of the -General’s occupancy and her own absence, much as people who had gone off -to the sea-shore for the summer might speak of renting their town house -till their return; intimating that she wouldn’t hurry the General -commanding for the world, and hoped that he would remain with his family -until it was entirely convenient to remove, but suggested that she and -her husband thought they would probably return in a couple or three -months, when, of course, they supposed their house would be ready for -them! Confiscation seemed to have no terrors for her; or, if it had, -they were dexterously concealed under an air of smiling and absolute -assurance. - -The loosest ideas prevail as to the execution of the -“abandoned-property” act of the Thirty-seventh Congress. Deserted -houses, not absolutely needed for military purposes, can be rented for -handsome sums, and to whatever amounts can be thus realized the -Government has an equitable as well as legal claim. But here, and report -says everywhere throughout the South, are evidences of the old clashing -betwixt War and Treasury Department officials; and between them, the -revenue the Government ought to derive from the abandoned property, is -sadly reduced. - -The practice of regarding everything left in the country as legitimate -prize to the first officer who discovers it, has led, in some cases, to -performances little creditable to the national uniform. What shall be -thought of the officer who, finding a fine law library, straightway -packed it up and sent it to his office in the North? Or what shall be -said of the taste of that other officer who, finding in an old country -residence a series of family portraits, imagined that they would form -very pretty parlor ornaments anywhere, and sent the entire set, -embracing the ancestors of the haughty old South Carolinian for -generations back, to look down from the walls of his Yankee residence? - - * * * * * - -One sees, at first, very little in the mere external appearance of -Wilmington to indicate the sufferings of war. The city is finely built -(for the South); the streets are lined with noble avenues of trees; many -of the residences are surrounded with elegant shrubbery; there is a -bewildering wealth of flowers; the streets are full, and many of the -stores are open. Sutlers, however, have taken the places of the old -dealers; and many of the inhabitants are inconceivably helpless and -destitute. While I was riding over the city with Captain Myers, a young -Ohio artillerist, a formerly wealthy citizen approached him to beg the -favor of some means of taking his family three or four miles into the -country. The officer could only offer the broken “Southron” a pair of -mules and an army wagon; and this shabby outfit, which four years ago he -would not have permitted his body servant to use, he gratefully accepted -for his wife and daughter! - -Struggling through the waste of sand which constitutes the streets, -could be seen other and more striking illustrations of the workings of -the war: a crazy cart, with wheels on the eve of a general secession, -drawn generally by a single horse, to which a good meal of oats must -have been unknown for months, loaded with tables, chairs, a bedstead, a -stove and some frying-pans, and driven by a sallow, lank, long-haired, -wiry-bearded representative of the poor white trash, who had probably -perched a sun-bonneted, toothless wife, and a brace of tow-head children -among the furniture; or a group, too poor even for a cart, clothed in -rags, bearing bundles of rags, and, possibly, driving a half-starved -cow. These were refugees from the late theater of military operations. -They seemed hopeless, and, in some cases, scarcely knew where they -wanted to go. - -Few of the old residents of Wilmington are believed to have profited by -the blockade running. It was always considered a disreputable business, -in which a high-minded Rebel would not care to be thought concerned; and -so it fell chiefly into the hands of foreigners, and particularly of -Jews. A few prominent Richmond people were believed to be deeply engaged -in it—Trenholm, Governor Smith, Benjamin and Jeff Davis are all -named—but wherever the profits went, they did not go to a general -diffusion of property among the Wilmingtonians themselves. - -Jay Cooke was under the impression that there must be a great deal of -gold throughout the Southern cities, and especially in this center of -blockade running, that ought to be available for the 7.30 loan; but the -testimony here goes to show that the wealthy people have most of their -gold abroad, and that they do not have a great deal of it anywhere. -Undoubtedly nothing would more tend to tie these people to the Union -than such a cord as a United States bond, connecting their pockets with -national permanence and prosperity, but they seem now hard enough -pressed to buy the necessaries of life; and money for investments in -national securities, is not likely to flow northward, for the simple -reason that it is not in the country. - - * * * * * - -Negroes are already beginning to congregate here from the surrounding -country. They do not wish to trust their old masters on the plantations; -and, without any definite purpose or plan, they have a blind, but -touching instinct, that wherever the flag is floating it is a good place -for friendless negroes to go. Others are hunting up children or wives, -from whom they have long been separated. Quite a number have been -located on plantations, and these are working better than could be -expected; but the uncertainty of their tenure of the land, the constant -return of the old proprietors, and the general confusion and uncertainty -as to the ownership of real estate, under the confiscation and -abandoned-property laws, combine to unsettle both them and the -Superintendents of Freedmen, who are trying to care for them. - -The native negroes of Wilmington, however, are doing well. They are of a -much higher order of intelligence than those from the country; are -generally in comfortable circumstances, and already find time to look -into politics. They have a Union League formed among themselves, the -object of which is to stimulate to industry and education, and to secure -combined effort for suffrage, without which they insist that they will -soon be practically enslaved again. A delegation of them waited on Mr. -Chase; and certainly looked as well and talked as lucidly as any of the -poor whites would have done. There are a very few of the whites who -encourage them; but, in general, the bitterest prejudice against these -black Unionists, is still among those who have been the only white -Unionists—the often-described poor white trash. - -The Wilmington negroes have no faith in the ready assent to the -proposition that slavery is dead, which all the old slaveholders give. -They say—and the negro refugees, all, and some of the whites bear them -out in it—that in the country slavery still practically exists. The -masters tell them that slavery is to be restored as soon as the army is -removed; that the Government is already mustering the army out of -service; that next year, when the State is reorganized, the State -authorities will control slavery. Meantime, the negroes are worked as -hard as ever—in some cases a little harder—and they have no more -protection from the cruelty of the whites than ever.[9] - -“I tell you, sah” said a very intelligent negro, who had been reciting -the present troubles of his people, “we ain’t noways safe, ‘long as dem -people makes de laws we’s got to be governed by. We’s got to hab a voice -in de ‘pintin’ of de law-makers. Den we knows our frens, and whose hans -we’s safe in.” - -The war, according to these negroes, had, in some respects, made slavery -harder for them than before. They were naturally trusted less, and -watched more. Then, when provisions became scarce, their rations, on the -large plantations, were reduced. On one, for example, the field hands -got no meat at all, and their allowance consisted of a peck of unsifted -corn-meal and a pint of molasses per week. On another, they got two -pounds of meat, a peck of meal, and a quart of molasses per week. Before -the war, they had double, as much meat, and a peck and a-half of meal. -Thus fed, they were expected to begin work in the fields at daybreak, -and continue, with only the intermission of half an hour at noon, till -dark. - -In some cases the negroes, understanding that they are freed, have -refused to work without a contract for wages. Some of them have been -promised their board, and a quarter of the corn crop; others three -dollars for a season’s work; others a dollar and a-half or two dollars a -month. But the town negroes, especially those of the League, say they -have but little faith that the contracts will be kept. - - * * * * * - -Further conversation with the people led me to think that, in the main, -they might be divided into three classes. One, embracing, I think, a -majority of the people, is thoroughly cowed by the crushing defeat, has -the profoundest respect for the power that has whipped them so badly, -and, under the belief of its necessity, will submit to anything the -Government may require—negro suffrage, territorial pupilage—anything. A -smaller class are Union men, if they can have the Union their way—if the -negroes can be kept under, and themselves put foremost. And another -class are violent and malignant Rebels, enraged at their defeat, and -hardly yet willing to submit to the inevitable. - -The loss of life has been frightful. Half the families are in mourning. -I hear of a Danville regiment, twelve hundred strong, of whom less than -fifty survive. Not less than eighty thousand arms-bearing men of the -State are believed to have been killed or disabled. This, and the -disorganization of the labor system, have naturally left thousands of -families through the State utterly destitute. Mr. Pennington, the editor -of the Raleigh _Progress_, predicts great distress next winter. In fact, -the Government is already issuing rations to thousands of destitute -whites. - -As yet, notwithstanding their poverty and destitution, few of the large -landowners have put their estates in the market. No such feeling exists -here, however, as in Virginia, where the farmers are said to hold on -with a death grip to their lands, and to consider it discreditable to -sell to a Yankee. Many of the most violent Rebels here will sell at -exceedingly low rates, in order to get out of the country, where -everything reminds them of their mortifying defeat and disgrace. And of -those who remain, large numbers will be forced to sell part of their -lands, to get means for living comfortably on the remainder.[10] The new -blood, likely thus to be infused into North Carolina, will be its -salvation; and the capital which is now seeking openings for trade, will -presently find vastly more profitable returns from investments in lands. - -General Hawley, General Abbott and their wives, the Collector, the -Treasury Agent, a party of staff officers and others, pursued us with -kindness till our vessel had absolutely pushed off from the almost -deserted wharf, which, four years ago, was crowded with the keels of a -thriving commerce, and even a year ago bustled with scores of -adventurous blockade runners. Trade, indeed, follows the flag; but for -trade you must have money; and of this there is far too little in the -exhausted country to bring back business into its old channels, as -speedily as Northern speculators are imagining. - -Some of the officers and their wives came down with us in the river -steamer, to the bar, whither the “Wayanda” had returned to await us; and -kindly good-byes and fluttering handkerchiefs could still be heard and -seen after the vessels had each begun moving. At the North we think -little of loyalty; here loyal men, and especially those in the service -of the Government, seem drawn toward each other, as are men who serve -under the same flag in a foreign country. - ------ - -Footnote 7: - - The farther north you can grow any grain, or other crop, and _mature - it_, the better it is—according to the theory of the North Carolina - planters. The rice crop is more profitable here, they claim, than on - the best plantations about Savannah. - -Footnote 8: - - In other words, call them freedmen, but indirectly make them slaves - again. The same idea seems to pervade the State, and, indeed, the - entire South. Colonel Boynton, a very intelligent and trustworthy - officer, writing from Danville, North Carolina, on the 21st of June, - said: - - “The belief is by no means general here, that slavery is dead, and a - hope that, in some undefined way, they will yet control the slaves, is - in many minds, amounting with some to a conviction. They look for its - restoration through State action—not yet comprehending that the - doctrine of State sovereignty has been somewhat shattered by the war. - Here, as in Richmond, the people, instead of grappling with the fact - that the war has liberated the slaves, are very busy proving the utter - worthlessness of the negroes, and treating them with additional - cruelty and contempt—neither offering them fair inducements to work, - or working themselves.” - -Footnote 9: - - Numerous instances were told, while I was at Wilmington, but the - following case, related by Colonel Boynton, occurred farther in the - interior: - - “Here in Salisbury, two prominent men are on trial by a military - court, for killing a negro, and one of the wealthiest, most refined - and respectable young ladies in all this section, is under twenty - thousand dollars bonds to appear and answer for shooting a negro woman - with her own hands. Miss Temple Neeley is considered one of the belles - of the State. The family is very wealthy, aristocratic, and all that, - and stands at the very top in this section. Her mother was flogging a - little negro child, when the mother of the child interfered to protect - it. Miss Neeley stepped up, and, drawing a revolver from her pocket, - shot the negro woman dead, firing a second ball into the body. She was - arrested, and will be tried by a military court. The papers here are - defending her, and trying to stir up the old feeling toward the - slaves, and excusing her under the black laws of the State.” - -Footnote 10: - - On the 1st of August a single real estate firm in Raleigh advertised - no less than _sixty-three_ different tracts of North Carolina lands - for sale at low rates, and on easy terms. Here are a couple of - specimens: - - “We offer for sale one of the finest rice plantations in the State of - North Carolina, known as ‘Lyrias,’ and situated on the north-west - branch of Cape Fear river, three and a-half miles above Wilmington. - This plantation contains 275 acres, 250 of which are cleared, and 25 - are river swamp lands. There is also an upland settlement attached, - with a dwelling-house, all necessary outhouses, comfortable quarters - for fifty laborers, and an excellent well of water. - - “The rice lands, with the exception of about 20 acres, are of a clay - soil, of unsurpassed and inexhaustible fertility, and capable of - producing rice, corn, wheat, oats, peas and hay. - - “It is every way susceptible of being also made a good stock farm, for - cattle and hogs, and an excellent market garden. - - “The entire plantation is in _good order_. It has on it two commodious - barns, 100 by 40 and 75 by 60 feet, respectively. Also, a steam engine - of ten-horse power, together with a powerful pump, or water elevator, - worked by the engine, which throws out _two thousand gallons_ of water - per minute. Also, a threshing machine, in a building 25 by 85 feet.” - - “All that really baronial estate, known as William S. Pettigrew’s - ‘Magnolia Plantation,’ for sale cheap.—1,000 acres improved!—Over 600 - acres in a high state of cultivation!—50, or over, bushels of corn per - acre!—Rich alluvial soils, suitable for farms and vegetable - gardens!—Only ten hours from Norfolk!—Water transportation from the - barn.—The far-famed ‘Scuppernong’ grape is a native of this county, - and grows in a luxuriant abundance unsurpassed in any country. The - residence, barns, out-buildings, groves, etc., etc., are _very - superior_. Good well of water, etc., etc. - - “This very large, and really magnificent estate, contains seven - thousand acres of those rich alluvial Scuppernong river lands; one - thousand acres already _drained_, and most of it in a high state of - cultivation, and the whole of the rest can be easily and effectually - drained; thus opening up large plantations scarcely surpassed in - fertility by the Mississippi bottoms, which they greatly exceed in - proximity to markets, having cheap and easy carriage, almost, if not - quite, from the barn door to Norfolk, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New - York, Boston and the whole world! - - “Sea-going vessels can now come within a few miles of the barn door, - and by deepening one canal, this desirable result can be obtained.” - - - - - CHAPTER VII. - - Charleston Harbor—Could Sumter have been Stormed—Negroes and Poor - Whites. - - -We steamed into Charleston Harbor early in the morning; and one by one, -Sumter, Moultrie, Pinkney, and at last the City of Desolation itself -rose from the smooth expanse of water, as the masts of ships rise from -the ocean when you approach them. Where, four years ago, before the -fatal attack on this now shapeless heap of sand and mortar, the flags of -all nations fluttered, and the wharves were crowded with a commerce that -successfully rivaled Savannah, Mobile and every other Southern city save -New Orleans, and even aspired to compete with New York in the Southern -markets, only transports and Quartermasters’ vessels were now to be -seen, with here and there a passenger steamer, plying to and from New -York for the accommodation of Yankee officers and their wives! The -harbor itself was dotted with insignificant-looking iron clads, mingled -with an occasional old ship of the line, and, in ampler supply, the -modern “Yankee gunboats,” of the double-ender type, which formed so -potent a cause for alarm in the councils of the privates in the Rebel -armies. - -The elegant residences along the battery front retained the aristocratic -seclusion of their embowering shrubbery, creepers and flowering plants; -but even through these gracious concealments which Nature cast over -them, the scars from the Swamp Angel could everywhere be seen. Pavements -had been torn up from the principal business streets, to build the -batteries that lined the shore; and great embankments, crowned with -Tredegar guns, shut out the prospect from many an aristocratic window. -The unfinished Custom House was among the most conspicuous buildings, -the white marble blocks lying scattered about it, as they were left by -the workmen four years ago. “We’ll never finish it,” the fervid -revolutionists said, as they began the war. “We’ve paid Yankee tariffs -long enough; now, hurrah for free trade with our friends of France and -Great Britain!” But the Custom House stands, and next winter Mr. -Fessenden will be reporting to the Senate an item in the military -appropriation bill for its completion. - -Admiral Dahlgren and Fleet Captain Bradford came alongside in the -Admiral’s gig, soon after our arrival; and while our boatswain was -piping his whistle as the Admiral came over the ship’s side, the guns of -the “Pawnee” began a salute for the Chief Justice. The Treasury Agent -and some other officials soon followed, and the Admiral took the party -under his charge, transferred us to a comfortable and speedy little -harbor steamer, and started toward that first goal of every man’s -curiosity—Sumter. - -The rebellion has left its marks on the pale, thoughtful features of the -Admiral, not less than upon the harbor he has been assailing. The -terrible death of noble young Ulric Dahlgren, a martyr to the barbarism -of slavery, might well grave deep traces on a father’s face; but the -climate here, and the labors of the past have also been very trying, and -one can readily believe, what used to be rather sarcastically urged by -the Admiral’s enemies, that his health did not permit him to keep up in -gunnery with General Gillmore. - -We passed a little sailing vessel manned by blacks. The Admiral told us -that they had brought it down one of the rivers, the other day, and he -had allowed them to keep it. They earn a livelihood bringing wood to the -city. Recently there have been a number of outrages perpetrated on the -blacks inland, by their late masters and some of the returning Rebel -soldiers. Greatly infuriated, the blacks came to him begging for arms. -“I have never before doubted their orderly disposition,” he said, “and I -am not sure that anybody would remain orderly under those -circumstances.” - -The Charleston city negroes were represented as unexpectedly -intelligent. “Out of two hundred and seventy-four laborers at work on -the streets,” said one of the city officials who had joined us, “one -hundred and seventy-four are negroes—the rest whites. Of the negroes, -over a hundred (or over four-sevenths) can read, while scarcely -one-seventh of the whites have made the same advancement!”[11] Captain -Bradford gave a significant illustration of the progress of some ideas -among the less intelligent negroes of the country. They had again and -again asked him, he said, what good it did them to make them free, -unless they were to own the land on which they had been working, and -which they had made productive and valuable. “Gib us our own land and we -take care ourselves; but widout land, de ole massas can hire us or -starve us, as dey please.” - -A huge mass of iron was pointed out as we passed, not unlike the plates -of the famous “Merrimac,” or like the gunboat “Benton,” on the -Mississippi. It was one of the Rebel iron clads, sunk just before the -evacuation of the city. They had injured it very little, and our -authorities are confident of making it one of the best iron clads in the -service. Enforced self-reliance, had, indeed, gone far toward making the -South a nation; for here were fine engines, worthy of our most extensive -Northern shops, which had been manufactured in Georgia within a year. -Before the war, such an undertaking as making engines for a great -steamer, in the South, was scarcely dreamed of. Near the iron clad lay -some of the cigar-shaped torpedo boats—an invention never very -successful, and now, let us hope, with its occupation, wholly gone. - -The obstructions in the harbor, which so long kept the iron clads under -Dupont and Dahlgren at bay, still stretched in a long line, unbroken in -parts, across from Sumter toward the land on either side. Plenty of -torpedoes were supposed to be still in the harbor—Captain Bradford -himself had been blown up not long ago by one of them, to the serious -discomposure of his personal effects, in cabin and state-room, but -without actual physical injury. - - * * * * * - -But for two things, a stranger might have supposed Sumter a mere pile of -mortar, stones and sand, which only culpable lack of enterprise left to -block up the harbor. From the center of the rubbish rose a flagstaff, -with the stars and stripes floating at the top; and near the water’s -edge, uninjured casements still stood among the debris, with black -muzzles peeping out, as from the lower deck of an old ship of the line. -Closer inspection showed, also, some little howitzers and other light -pieces, placed on what was once the parapet. - -The sun fairly parboiled us, and, coming into this tropical heat so -suddenly—for the night before, on the deck of the “Wayanda,” at sea, we -were wearing overcoats—it was so oppressive as to produce a sickening -faintness on some of the party; but we patiently followed everywhere, -clambered over the shapeless sea wall, inspected the sand gabions, -worked our way into the snugly-protected little out-looks for the -sharpshooters, ran down the inside of what had been the walls, and dived -into the subterranean regions where the casemate guns stood all the time -of the bombardment, uninjured, but not deigning to waste their -ammunition in useless replies. The contracted but comparatively -comfortable quarters here remain almost as the Rebels left them. A long, -damp hall, with a few cots still standing in it, was the place for the -garrison, where they slept in comparative indifference to the explosion -of shells overhead; a rather more airy hall still contained the old, -split-bottom arm-chairs, which the officers had collected; on another -side were the hospitals, and—ghastly sight—there, on a shelf, were half -a dozen coffins, which had been all ready for the reception of the next -victims to Gillmore’s shells! - -Fresh from Fort Fisher, which had been stormed, it was natural that one -should look on Fort Sumter with surprise, when told that it could not be -stormed. The officers say the garrison would have retreated to the -casemates, from whence they could have made the occupation of the -interior area of the fort impossible; but surely the men who swarmed -over that northern end of Fort Fisher, and fought through the whole -afternoon and far into the night, from traverse to traverse, down to the -Mound battery, would have needed little time to establish themselves -here. They say, too, that the fire from the Rebel works on Morris Island -would have rendered Sumter untenable, but that fire could not have been -more powerful than ours had been from James Island. Yet the Rebels did -not find Sumter untenable on account of our fire. Whether an assault -upon Sumter—necessarily bloody beyond precedent—could have been -justified by the maxims of war, is a question; but that such men as took -Fort Fisher could have taken Fort Sumter, if aided by a proper naval -force, seems to me clear. - -It is said that the Rebels had a similar idea—long in fact before Fort -Fisher had been attacked. It was one of the strange personal -complications of this war, that the regular Rebel officer who had -command of Sumter when our terrific bombardment began, had no faith in -its defensibility, and had been replaced by a young nephew of the very -Dominie of our party, who has been walking with us over the ruins. The -Doctor is as glad as any of us that the fort is reduced, but his eye -kindled as Admiral Dahlgren gave the tribute of honest admiration to the -splendid bravery and tenacity of his Rebel nephew. - -From Sumter we steamed off to Sullivan’s Island, and in a few moments -were clambering among the mazes of the Rebel works. Here, four years -ago, the first fortifications of the war were thrown up. Here the -dashing young cavaliers, the haughty Southrons who scorned the Yankee -scum and were determined to have a country and a history for themselves, -rushed madly into the war as into a picnic. Here the boats from -Charleston landed every day cases of champagne, _pâtés_ innumerable, -casks of claret, thousands of Havana cigars, for the use of the -luxurious young Captains and Lieutenants, and their friends among the -privates. Here were the first camps of the war, inscribed, as the -newspapers of those days tell us, with such names of companies as “The -Live Tigers,” “The Palmetto Guards,” “The Marion Scorpions,” “The Yankee -Smashers.” Here, with feasting, and dancing, and love making, with music -improvised from the ball room, and enthusiasm fed to madness by -well-ripened old Madeira, the free-handed, free-mannered young men who -had ruled “society” at Newport and Saratoga, and whose advent North had -always been waited for as the opening of the season, dashed into -revolution as they would into a waltz. Not one of them doubted that, -only a few months later, he should make his accustomed visit to the -Northern watering places, and be received with the distinction due a -hero of Southern independence. Long before these fortifications, thus -begun, were abandoned, they saw their enterprise in far different -lights, and conducted it in a far soberer and less luxurious way. - -The works stretched along the sandy shore of Sullivan’s Island almost as -far as the eye can reach. They consist of huge embankments of sand, -revetted with palmetto logs, and were evidently planned throughout by a -skillful engineer. Coupling these with the works on the other side of -the harbor, and with Sumter, one readily believes them to constitute the -strongest system of harbor defenses on the coast. Strolling around one -of the works, we came upon a little slab, near a palmetto tree, under -the shade of the embankment, “To Osceola, Patriot and Warrior.” It is -the grave of one of the last of the Florida chieftains, who died here in -confinement, and for whom some white enemy, but admirer, had done these -last tender honors. Shall the latest warriors of this island ever find -similar admirers? - - * * * * * - -After our fatiguing trip, the Admiral spread out, on our return to the -flag-ship, a lunch of oranges, bananas, pine-apples, and other tropical -fruits, brought over from Havana. At the end of his table hung the only -Union flag, or trace of anything resembling it, which the naval officers -have been able to find anywhere in South Carolina or Georgia—a long, -narrow strip of coarse bunting, containing two stripes, red and white, -and a few stars in a ground of blue—taken from a deserted cabin near -Savannah. - -New York papers, only five days old, had just arrived. In the midst of -the wonders which the war had wrought here, it was scarcely surprising -to see even the New York _Herald_ out vigorously for negro suffrage! - ------ - -Footnote 11: - - The ignorance of the poor whites in South Carolina is proverbial. But, - as a negro acutely pointed out, “Dey haven’t learned, because dey - don’t care; we, because dey wouldn’t let us.” A little before the time - of this visit, James Redpath, acting as Superintendent of the schools, - reported nine public day and five night schools, under the - superintendence of his bureau, with the following average attendance: - - At Normal School 620 - At St. Philip School 1,100 - At Morris Street School 822 - At Ashley Street School 305 - At King Street School (boys) 306 - At Meeting Street School (boys) 256 - At Chalmers Street School (girls) 161 - At St. Michael’s School (boys) 160 - Night Schools for adults contain 500 - - - - - CHAPTER VIII. - - Charleston, Now and Four Years Ago. - - -In the afternoon, the General commanding the post was waiting with -carriages for the party, at the wharf, when Admiral Dahlgren set us -ashore. The wheels cut deep into the sand, throwing it into our faces -and filling the carriage with it, till we began to realize what it meant -to have taken up the pavements to get stone for the fortifications. - -“Shall we go first to the statue of Calhoun?” asked the General. “It is -scarcely necessary—here is his monument,” said some one (in imitation of -the old eulogium), pointing around the destroyed parts of the city. -Later in the ride we did pass an old statue to William Pitt, which the -English-loving cavaliers of Carolina had erected in the old Colonial -days. During the Revolutionary war, a British ball broke off one of its -arms. When we entered the city it was found that the other was also -gone. - -A foreigner, who visited Charleston in May, 1861, spoke of these streets -as “looking like Paris in the revolution—crowds of armed men singing and -promenading the streets; the battle blood running through their veins; -that hot oxygen, which is called ‘the flush of victory,’ on the cheek; -restaurants full; reveling in bar rooms, club rooms crowded, orgies and -carousings in taverns or private houses, in tap rooms, down narrow -alleys, in the broad highways.” This is the anniversary of that mad era; -but the streets look widely different. There are crowds of armed men in -the streets, but they move under the strictest discipline and their -color is black. No battle blood mantles the faces of the haggard and -listless Charlestonians one meets—it is rather blood born of low diet -and water gruel. For the flush of victory we have utter despondency. The -restaurants are closed and the shutters are up; the occupants of the -club rooms are dead, or in prison, or in exile; there is still carousing -in taverns, but it is only by the flushed and spendthrift Yankee -officers who are willing to pay seventy-five cents for a cobbler. - -Of the leaders of those days, scarcely one remains to receive the curses -which, even in the midst of their hatred of the Yankees, the people pour -out upon the men who converted their prosperity into desolation. Then -they were singing— - - “With mortar, paixhan and petard, - We send Old Abe our Beauregard.” - -But Beauregard is a prisoner, given leave, by “Old Abe’s” parole, to -humbly enter his home at New Orleans, from which the loving wife, whom -he deserted for secession, has gone out forever. Huger is dead. Barnwell -Rhett is in exile, and the very journal by which he fed and nurtured the -germs of the Rebellion, has passed absolutely out of existence—no new -editor daring to revive so ill-omened a thing as the Charleston -_Mercury_.[12] Governor Pickens, who announced in one of his early -proclamations that he was born insensible to fear, has lived to learn -his mistake, and has vanished into the dim unknown of “the interior.” -Governor Aiken, who, (like that political eunuch, Alexander H. -Stephens,) weakly yielded his convictions and eased his conscience by -blockade running, instead of fighting, has, for some unknown reason, -been arrested and sent to Washington. Governor Manning, Porcher Miles, -Senator Chesnut, Barnwell, have all vanished into thin air before the -Ithuriel touch—nay, rather before the mere approach of negro bayonets. -The merchants, too, whom Southern independence was to make the cotton -factors of the world, have disappeared. Their direct line of steamers to -Liverpool failed to get beyond the blockading fleet, and long before the -politicians had given it up, these men were hopelessly ruined. Trenholm, -indeed, pushed a precarious but lucrative trade in blockade running, and -succeeded better in managing his own funds than he did those of the -Rebel Treasury Department; but he is now an absconding member of the -Jeff. Davis Cabinet, and will be fortunate if he escape arrest. Rose and -Minor are gone. - -One name, of all that were so prominent in Charleston four years ago, -should never be taken on loyal lips save with reverent regard—that of -Mr. Petigru. He remained faithful to the last; but his eyes were not -permitted to see the old flag waving again, and his wife is to-day in -Charleston, living on Government rations! She has stated her destitution -frankly, however, to General Gillmore, commanding the Department, and -some small part of the nation’s debt to her husband will yet, it is -hoped, be paid in the tenderest care for herself. - -“There are twenty thousand people here in Charleston,” said the haughty -representative of an ancient Carolinian name, “and only six families -among them all!” Judging from what one sees on the streets, one could -very readily believe the paradox which, in Carolina lips, becomes no -paradox at all. There are plenty of resident Irish on the streets; the -poorer class of natives, too, begin to venture out; but, in the course -of the whole afternoon’s driving about the city, I did not see a single -one whom I should have supposed to belong to a leading family. My -companion had spent the greater part of his life in Charleston, and, in -his own language, knew everybody in the town; but he failed to see one -whom he recognized as having ever held any position in politics or -society. - -The extent of the damage by the bombardment has, I imagine, been -generally overrated at the North. The lower part of the city was -certainly not an eligible location for a quiet residence; but it is an -error to suppose that most of the houses, or any considerable number of -them, have been destroyed. The shells generally failed to explode, and -the marks on the houses are rather scars than serious breaches. Roofs -are injured, walls are weakened, windows destroyed and floors more or -less ripped up; but still the houses stand, and can, with comparatively -little outlay, be repaired. The General’s headquarters are established -in the midst of the bombarded district; but the elegant house which he -occupies shows no mark whatever. Most of the other officers who have -taken houses are in the same quarter, and I observe that they have the -same passion, as at Wilmington, for getting the very best establishments -in a place. - -The General drove us through the Arsenal grounds, and past those of the -Military Academy, where, of old, the martial spirit of South Carolina -had been fostered. The drives and walks had been bordered with spherical -case, round shot and shell; and here and there, at the corners, little -ornamental effects were produced by the erection of small pillars, made -of our long rifle projectiles, flanked by a few broken bayonets. It was -thus the Charlestonians amused themselves during the progress of the -bombardment. - - * * * * * - -Passing through the shabby suburbs, which would hardly comport with the -dignity of a first-class Northern village, we came out upon the track -where, of yore, all the beauty and fashion of Charleston was wont to -congregate—the Race Course. Of late years it has been used for a -different purpose. Here, without shelter, without clothing, and with -insufficient food, were confined the Yankee prisoners; and in a little -inclosure, back of the judges’ stand, may be seen their uncounted -graves. Sympathizing hands have cleared away the weeds, and placed over -the entrance an inscription that must bring shame to the cheek of every -Southern man who passes: “The Martyrs of the Race Course.” Near it was -an elegant cemetery, carefully tended, glorious with superb live-oaks, -and weeping with the long, pendent trails of the silvery Spanish moss; -but into this consecrated ground no Yankee’s body could be borne. Negro -soldiers were strolling through it as we passed, and some were reading -from showy tombstones, to the dusky groups around them, the virtues of -the—masters from whom they had run away to enlist! - -Occasional vehicles were seen on the road, bringing in black and white -refugees. The country is in such confusion that many seek the safe -shelter of the cities, solely from the blind instinct that where there -is force there must be protection. Such wagons and such horses were -surely never seen. Each rivaled the other in corners, in age, in -protuberance, and shakiness, and general disposition to tumble down and -dissolve. They all bring in saddening stories of destitution in the -country. Still I am inclined to think that these stories are -exaggerated. There is little evidence of actual suffering in the -country; and in the cities none who want have any scruples in calling -upon the hireling minions of the tyrannical Washington Government for -rations. Next winter is the dead point of danger. There is a smaller -breadth of cereals sown in the South this year than in any year since -1861, and by fall the stock on hand is likely to be exhausted. Now the -suffering is only individual; then it promises to be too nearly general. - -On the other hand, the reports from the North-west, or mountain region -of the State, indicate little prospect of suffering. “I tell you,” said -a South Carolinian, from Greenville, “the South could have continued the -war for ten years, if it had had your Northern gift of perseverance. We -were neither exhausted of men nor of provisions; it was only that the -flame of enthusiasm had burnt out. I have myself traveled, within the -past month, through sections of South Carolina, from Greenville to -Columbia, and thence north-east and north-west, so as to know accurately -the condition of the crops in one-half the State. There is no trouble -about starvation. The people are not suffering, except in such isolated -cases as you will always find, and there is a larger breadth of grains -planted than ever before. With reasonable care there ought to be no -starvation this winter.” - - * * * * * - -There was a little party in the evening, in the fine old mansion of a -noted Charleston banker, but there were few South Carolinians there, -excepting the house servants who had remained to wait on the new -occupants. Admiral Dahlgren, Major-General Saxton, two or three -Brigadiers and Brevet Brigadiers, and their wives, made up the bulk of -the company; and the talk was of the army and navy and the policy of the -Government. A gentleman was introduced as the editor of the Charleston -_Courier_, and I was not a little surprised to find that redoubtable -Rebel personage greeting me with the warmth of an old acquaintance. He -turned out to be a former _attaché_ of a leading New York paper, who had -often reported to me in Washington, when I had been in temporary charge -of its bureau there. - -Persons writing from here in the spring of 1861, said there was no -feature of the feeling among the leaders more marked than their scarcely -disguised hostility to the freedom of the press. I had been reading over -some of those letters, of four years ago, in the morning; and it sounded -curiously, like a continuation of the old strain, to hear the editor’s -lamentations over the impossibility of making a newspaper where you -could express no opinions, and couldn’t always even print the news. -“Here, yesterday, for example, was a reconstruction meeting. The call -for it was sent to me. I published that, and then sent phonographers to -make a full report of the proceedings. There was a big row; the whites -ordered out the negroes; then the latter got re-enforced, and came back -to maintain their ground, whereupon the whites left. The speeches on -both sides were racy; there was a good deal of excitement. I had a -splendid report of the whole thing, and it was capital news. I had it -all in type, when an order came to make no allusion whatever to the -meeting. This morning everybody thinks the _Courier_ is behind the -times, because it didn’t know anything about the reconstruction -meeting!” - -After the party, the Dominie told me of his explorations among his old -friends in Charleston. - -I ought, perhaps, before this, to have explained that my genial room -mate, whom I have been rather irreverently terming the Dominie, is Rev. -Dr. Fuller, of Baltimore, now a noted Baptist clergyman, formerly a -leading South Carolina lawyer and planter. He still owns large -plantations on the sea islands, and, down to the date of the -emancipation proclamation, had on them between two hundred and two -hundred and fifty slaves, who came to him by inheritance, and whom, -under the laws of South Carolina, he was unable either to educate or -emancipate. Governor Bradford said to him once: “Mr. Lincoln’s -emancipation idea has been an expensive one to you, Doctor. It must have -cost you over a hundred and fifty thousand dollars.” “Yes, I presume it -did; but then, Governor, it took over a hundred and fifty thousand -pounds of iron off my conscience!” So great had been the change since he -held his public discussion with President Wayland, on the rightfulness -of, and Scriptural warrant for, slavery! - -All the Doctor’s connections were with the South, and nearly all his -relations, who have not been killed, are living here. It was his nephew -who held Fort Sumter to the last; a near relative of his laid out the -fortifications at Fort Fisher; another was the Rebel engineer at -Norfolk. Last night he found a granddaughter, of perhaps the most -prominent member of the first Congress, living on Government rations! -Another, equally destitute, bears a historic name, and is the -granddaughter of one of Washington’s most confidential friends and -intimate advisers in the Revolutionary war. - -It has been naturally supposed that the bitterest drop in all the bitter -cup of humiliation for these haughty South Carolinians, must be the -necessity of accepting alms from the Government they had been seeking to -overthrow. But the ingenious high priestesses of secession regard the -matter in no such light. The Dominie found a number of them living -solely on Government rations. He hastened to offer them assistance. -Their Northern relatives had already repeatedly volunteered similar -offers, but they refused them all, and persisted in living on the bacon -and hard bread issued by the United States Commissary. They explained -that they preferred to make “the Washington Government” support them. It -had robbed them of all they had, and now the very least it could do was -to pay their expenses.[13] Every penny of cost to which they put it was -so much got back from the fortunes of which it had robbed them, by -waging this wicked war for their subjugation! Doesn’t somebody think it -a shame that these repentant South Carolinians should be treated with so -little magnanimity as the Government is displaying; and that Northern -Abolitionists should quit watching them critically, and “mind their own -business?” Already, a few of the South Carolinians talk thus; and in a -few months, if freedom of expression is allowed them, we shall see much -of the old vituperation of the Government and of the North. - ------ - -Footnote 12: - - A proposition has since been made to re-establish it, as an organ of - the freedmen—to be edited by negroes! - -Footnote 13: - - The same idea prevailed among some of the Richmond Rebels. A Richmond - letter to the Boston _Commonwealth_, dated 30th June, describing the - scenes at the points where rations were gratuitously issued to the - destitute, says: - - “‘We are all beggars, now!’ I heard one of them say, apologetically. - But most of the high-born were coarse and imperious. ‘This is not - begging,’ one of the most inveterate beggars said. ‘It is taking from - the United States Government a very small portion of what it owes us.’ - ‘As long as the Yankees have taken possession of Richmond, of course - it’s their place to feed us,’ more than one said. To the few who gave - thanks, and to the many who cursed, all the Commissions gave largely, - for several weeks.” - - - - - CHAPTER IX. - - “Unionism”—Black and White, in Charleston and Through South Carolina. - - -A very few Union men could be seen. Perhaps it would be more accurate to -say, a few could be found less treasonable than the majority of South -Carolinians. - -“To be frank with you,” said one of these men, a sallow-faced country -lawyer, from the mountain district, “to be frank with you, we were all -Rebels. The North has never understood, and I doubt if it ever will -understand, the absolute unanimity with which, after the war was begun, -we all supported it. While there was any use in it, we resisted -secession; but after the State seceded, our district, which was always -strongly Union, sent more and better volunteers to the war than any -other.” - -“You mean, then, that after secession was accomplished, the former -Unionists became more violent Rebels than the rest; and that, -practically, not a soul in the State remained true to the Union, except -the negroes?” - -“Well, I suspect you’re a little mistaken about the negroes. They’re -very ignorant, and most of them were, and are, governed by their -masters’ notions.” - -“What security have we, in restoring political power to a community -disposed toward us as yours was, and still feeling as you now -represent?” - -“Oh, our people are impulsive, and they are always decided, one way or -the other!” - -“Suppose Representatives should be admitted to Congress, and South -Carolina should thus be clothed with all her old power. You who, before -secession, were the Union men, will be the only voters now; but in two -or three years, of course, everybody will vote again. Will not you -original Union men be again outnumbered by the original secessionists?” - -“I don’t believe we ever were outnumbered. I don’t believe there ever -was a majority for secession in South Carolina.” - -“The poll books tell a different story.” - -“Yes; but remember we had been fighting secession for thirty years, and -had got tired of it. Men said these restless spirits will never be quiet -until they have tried secession. If we don’t let them try it now, -they’ll keep us in a constant turmoil until we do. It is bound to come -some time, and we may as well spare ourselves further trouble and let it -come now.” - -“In other words, then, men said, let the Union be destroyed, with -whatever attendant horrors, rather than one should be bothered to keep -up this perpetual struggle.” - -“Well, not exactly that. You must remember there was a tremendous -pressure. I myself had my house surrounded by a hundred and fifty armed -men, one night, before the election, because they thought I was a Union -man. There was no making head against the current.” - -“By your showing, then, the rebel element was resistless before the -passage of the secession ordinance, and universal after it. As you -frankly say, you were all rebels. We have incurred an enormous debt in -subduing you, and we know that there is a small party at the North -openly, and a larger one secretly, desirous of repudiating that debt, in -order to shake off the burden of heavy taxation. Now, if South Carolina, -and other States occupying her position, are restored to power in the -nation, what security have we that all you rebels would continue voting -for heavy taxation to pay the debt incurred in whipping you? Would there -not be very great danger of your uniting with this minority at the -North, and thus securing a national majority in favor of repudiation?” - -“Well, our attention has never been called to that subject, and we were -not aware that there was likely to be any portion whatever of your -people favorable to repudiation. I can’t say, however, what our more -violent people would do. There has been very little comparison of views; -and all our efforts must first be given to getting our civil authority -and power restored, without considering what questions may come up back -of that.” - -“With what political party at the North, then, would your people be more -likely to affiliate?” - -“Of course with the Democratic. We have understood all along that it -sympathized more with us than any other; that it was more opposed to the -war, more disposed to leave us alone with our slaves, more ready for -favorable terms of peace.” - -“And if any considerable portion of that party were to propose -lightening the taxes by repudiating (in reduction of interest or -otherwise) part of the debt incurred in subduing you, you would be very -apt to unite with them?” - -“I don’t know but we would; but I can’t say; for, as yet, we are giving -no attention to anything excepting reorganization!” - -Recurring to his admissions concerning the bitterness of the original -secessionists, I asked: “What security will we have, if political power -should be fully restored to South Carolina, that the secessionists may -not regain control of the State Government, and prove as pestilent as -ever, if not in the field, then in Congress, and in the old expedients -of obnoxious State legislation?” - -“Oh, a barrel of cider never ferments twice.” - -I asked about the popular feeling toward Jeff. Davis, curious to see if -the hatred to him, of which we have heard at the North, really exists -among any class in South Carolina except the negroes. My Union man -replied: “There is a very general feeling of great kindness to him, and -great sympathy for his present misfortunes. One party in the South -assailed his administration very bitterly; but the feeling was not, to -any extent, a personal one. He is greatly admired and loved by our -people.” - -“Was the South exhausted of men when the rebellion broke down? Was it -really impossible to re-enforce Lee’s army, and, if so, what citizens -have you now for re-organizing State government except the rebel -soldiers, unless, indeed, you reckon the negroes?” - -“The South never was exhausted of men, sir; there were plenty of them -everywhere. Disaffection, weariness, indisposition to the long strain of -an effort that took more than four years to accomplish its purpose; that -was what broke down the Confederacy. There were plenty of men all the -time, but they dodged the conscripting officer, or deserted at the first -chance they got. Of course, our losses by death and disabling wounds -have been terribly great; but the race of arms-bearing men in South -Carolina is not extinct.”[14] - - * * * * * - -On the afternoon of our last day’s stay in Charleston, a meeting, in one -of the negro churches, afforded me the first opportunity of the trip to -see large masses of negroes together. It was called a week or two ago by -General Saxton, who stands in the light of a patron saint to all these -people; but it was doubtless swelled by the hope that Chief Justice -Chase, whom General Saxton had earnestly invited, might consent to be -present. He had emphatically refused, the evening before, and had -forbidden any announcement of his name; but had finally said that, if he -could go unheralded, he would like to see the negroes together. - -The church is of the largest size, and belongs exclusively to the -negroes, who have their own negro pastor, occupy pews in the body of the -building, and send the poor people to the galleries, very much after the -fashion of their white brethren. The pavement in front was crowded, and -the steps were almost impassable. A white-wooled old deacon saw my -difficulty in forcing my way up the steaming aisle, and, crowding the -negroes and negresses aside with little ceremony, led me to a seat -almost under the pulpit, where I found, perhaps, a dozen whites, all -told. Among them was Colonel Beecher—a brother of Henry Ward Beecher—and -at the table sat the inevitable reporter. If the people of Timbuctoo -were to have a great meeting to consider the subject of their rights, -and were to give a week’s notice of it, I believe some gentleman with a -pocket full of sharpened lead pencils, and a phonographic red-ruled -note-book under his arm, would come walking up at the last moment and -announce himself as the special reporter for some enterprising American -journal. - -A Major-General, in full uniform, occupied the desk and was addressing -the crammed audience of negroes in a plain, nervous, forcible manner. It -was an odd sight, but General Saxton certainly adorns the pulpit. Ladies -would call him a handsome man; and his black hair and luxurious English -whiskers and mustache would be their especial admiration. He looks—to -judge of his intellect by his face and head—narrow, but intense; not -very profound in seeing the right, but energetic in doing it when seen; -given to practice, rather than theory; and, withal, good and true. He is -the first regular army officer who was found willing to undertake this -work of caring for and superintending the freedmen; and he has done it -faithfully, under all manner of slights and obloquy from brother -officers, who thought his work unworthy of West Point. And yet he -undertook it, not from any special love of the negro, but because he was -ordered. “I would have preferred being in the field,” he said simply, -last night, “but I was ordered to do this thing, and I have tried to do -it faithfully, till the Government gave me something else to do. I was -educated in its school and for its service, and I thought it my business -to do whatever it required.” The Government has rarely been so fortunate -in selecting its agents for tasks that required peculiar adaptability. - -The audience was a study. Near the pulpit sat a coal-black negro, in the -full uniform of a Major of the army, with an enormous regulation hat—be -sure there was no lack of flowing plume, or gilt cord and knots—disposed -on the table beside him. At every emphatic sentence in the General’s -speech he shouted, “Hear, hear,” and clapped his hands, with the unction -and gravity of an old parliamentarian. Near him were two others in -uniform, one a mulatto, the other scarcely more than a quadroon, and -both with very intelligent faces, and very modest and graceful in their -bearing. One was a First Lieutenant, the other a Major. - -Around them was a group of certainly the blackest faces, with the -flattest noses and the wooliest heads, I ever saw—the mouths now and -then broadening into a grin or breaking out into that low, oily, -chuckling gobble of a laugh which no white man can ever imitate. Beyond -them ranged all colors and apparently all conditions. Some, black and -stalwart, were dressed like quiet farm laborers, and had probably come -in from the country, or had been field hands before the war. Others, -lighter in color and slighter in build, were dressed in broadcloth, with -flashy scarfs and gaudy pins, containing paste, or Cape May diamonds. -Others looked like the more intelligent class of city laborers; and -there were a few old patriarchs who might recollect the days of Denmark -Vesey. On the other side of the church was a motley, but brilliant army -of bright-colored turbans, wound around wooly heads, and tawdry -bandanas, and hats of all the shapes that have prevailed within the -memory of this generation, and bonnets of last year’s styles, with -absolutely a few of the coquettish little triangular bits of lace and -flowers which the New York milliners have this year decreed. Some of -them wore kid gloves, all were gaudily dressed, and, a few, barring the -questionable complexion, had the air and bearing of ladies. - -They were all enthusiastic, the women even more than the men. Some of -the ancient negresses sat swaying to and fro, with an air of happy -resignation, only broken now and then by an emphatic nod of the head, -and an exclamation, “Dat’s true, for shore.” The younger ones laughed -and giggled, and when the great cheers went up, clapped with all their -might, and looked across to see how the young men were doing, and -whether their enthusiasm was observed. Ah, well! Who is there who -doesn’t want to know whether his world, be it a big one or a little one, -is noticing him? - -But the noteworthy point in all this enthusiasm was, that it was -intelligent. Bulwer makes Richelieu relent toward a young man who -applauded his play at the proper places. General Saxton had equal -occasion to be gratified with his auditors. On taking his seat, he was -followed by the gorgeous Major (who turned out to be the same negro -about whom Lord Brougham raised that beautiful little diplomatic muddle -with United States Minister Dallas, at a meeting of the Royal -Geographical Society in London). The Major was not happy in his remarks, -and elicited very little applause, till, suddenly, he was astounded by a -thundering burst of it. He began acknowledging the compliment, but the -tumult burst out louder than ever; and the orator finally discovered -that it was not for him, but for Major-General Gillmore, commanding the -department, who was advancing up the aisle, escorting Chief Justice -Chase. - -Presently General Saxton introduced the Chief Justice, and the whole -audience rose and burst out into cheer after cheer, that continued -unintermittedly till we had counted at least nine, and possibly one or -two more. The negroes may be very ignorant, but it is quite evident that -they know, or think they know, who their friends are. The little “talk” -that followed was like its author, simple, straightforward and weighty, -till, at the close, it rose into a strain of unaffected eloquence that -almost carried the excitable audience off their feet. “’Tisn’t only what -he says,” whispered an enthusiastic negro behind me to his neighbor, -“but it’s de man what says it. He don’t talk for nuffin, and his words -hab weight.”[15] - -After more tumultuous cheering, the audience called for Gillmore, till -the great artillerist absolutely blushed in his embarrassment. _His_ -speeches for Charleston were made from the muzzle of the Swamp Angel. - - * * * * * - -I spent the evening in the Charleston _Courier_ office. The old library -remained, and _Congressional Globes_ and arguments on the divine right -of slavery stood side by side with Reports of the Confederate Congress, -and official accounts of battles, while on the wall was pasted one of -the most bombastic proclamations of the runaway Governor. Several of the -old _attaches_ of the concern remain, among them a phonographic reporter -and the cashier. The circulation of this most flourishing Southern paper -in the seaboard States, had dwindled down to less than a thousand. “We -wrote our reports,” said the phonographer, “on the backs of old grocery -bills, and in blank pages torn out of old account books.” “We deserved -all we got,” he continued, “but you ought not to be hard on us now. The -sun never shone on a nobler or kinder-hearted people than the South -Carolinians, and this was always the nicest town to live in, in the -United States.” - -Encountering a so-called South Carolina Unionist, from the interior, I -asked about the relations between the negroes and their old masters. “In -the main, the niggers are working just as they used to, not having made -contracts of any sort, because there was no competent officer accessible -before whom the contracts could be approved. A few have been hired by -the day; and some others have gone to work for a specified share in the -crops. In a great many cases the planters have told them to work ahead, -get their living out of the crops, and what further share they were -entitled to should be determined when the officers to approve contracts -came. Then, if they couldn’t agree, they could separate.” - -“Have there been no disturbances between the negroes and their former -masters, no refusals to recognize the destruction of slavery?” - -“In our part of the State, none. Elsewhere I have heard of them. With -us, the death of slavery is recognized, and made a basis of action by -everybody. But we don’t believe that because the nigger is free he ought -to be saucy; and we don’t mean to have any such nonsense as letting him -vote. He’s helpless, and ignorant, and dependent, and the old masters -will still control him.[16] I have never been a large slaveholder -myself—for the last year or two I have had but twelve, little and big. -Every one of them stays with me, just as before, excepting one, a -carpenter. I told him he’d better go off and shift for himself. He comes -back, every two or three nights, to tell me how he is getting along; and -the other day he told me he hadn’t been able to collect anything for his -work, and I gave him a quarter’s provisions to get started with.” - -“I had to give him,” he significantly added, “a sort of paper—not, of -course, pretending to be legal—certifying that he was working for -himself, with my consent, in order to enable him to get along without -trouble.” There was a world of meaning in the phrase, “To enable him to -get along without trouble,” though he was as free as the man that gave -the paper. - -I asked what they would do with the negroes, if they got permission to -re-organize. - -“Well, we want to have them industrious and orderly, and will do all we -can to bring it about.” - -“Will you let any of them vote?” - -“That question has not been discussed. Nobody could stand up in the -State who should advocate promiscuous negro suffrage. It is possible -that a few might be willing to let the intelligent negroes vote—after -some years, at any rate, if not now.” - -“I believe you let the sandhillers vote. Don’t you know that these -disfranchised negroes of Charleston are infinitely their superiors, in -education, industry, wealth and good conduct?” - -“Well, they’re pretty bad, it’s true—those sandhillers—but there isn’t -the same prejudice against them.” - - * * * * * - -The moon lit up, with a softened effulgence, all the beauties, and hid -all the scars of Charleston, as, late at night, I walked, through its -desolate streets, and by its glorious shrubbery, to the landing, and -hailed the “Wayanda.” A boat shot out of the shadow for me; and before I -had joined the Doctor, below deck, the anchor had been hoisted and the -vessel was under way. - ------ - -Footnote 14: - - This man now holds an office under the National Government in South - Carolina. - -Footnote 15: - - This was Mr. Chase’s single “speech” during the entire trip. Ten - minutes, or less, of familiar and fatherly talk to helpless negroes, - advising them to industry, economy and good order, telling them he - thought they should vote, but didn’t know whether the Government would - agree with him, and advising that, if the right of suffrage should be - refused them, they should behave so well, educate themselves so fast, - and become so orderly and prosperous, that the Government should see - they deserved it; this was what subsequently became, in certain - Northern newspapers, “Chief-Justice Chase’s endless stump speeches, - and shameless intriguing with old political leaders, in his - electioneering tour through the South.” The speech is given in full in - the appendix (A). - -Footnote 16: - - The disposition to “control” the negroes after the old fashion, - subsequently developed itself in Eastern South Carolina, to such an - extent that the military commandant considered the following order - necessary: - - “HEADQUARTERS NORTHERN DISTRICT, D. S., } - CHARLESTON, S. C., June 24. } - - “General Orders, No. 62. - - “It has come to the knowledge of the district commander that, in some - of the contracts made between planters and freedmen, a clause has been - introduced establishing a system of _peonage_—the freedman binding - himself to work out any debt he may hereafter incur to his employer. - All contracts, made under authority from these headquarters, will be - understood as merely temporary arrangements, to insure the cultivation - of the ground for the present season. Any contract made under the - above authority, which contains provisions tending to _peonage_, will - be considered null. The officers having charge of contracts, will - examine them carefully; and when they are found to contain such a - clause, will notify the planters that new contracts must be made, in - which the objectionable feature will be omitted. Contracts will be - simply worded. Whilst acknowledging the freedom of the colored man, - such expressions as ‘_freed by the acts of the military forces of the - United States_’ will not be permitted. The attempt to introduce - anything into the contract which may have the appearance of an - intention, at some future day, to contest the question of the - emancipation of the negroes, will be reported to the commander of the - sub-district, who will examine into the antecedents of the person - making the attempt, and report upon the case to district headquarters. - - “By command of - “Brevet Major-General JOHN P. HATCH.” - - - - - CHAPTER X. - - Port Royal and Beaufort. - - -At daylight we were steaming into the broad sheet of water which Dupont -first made famous, and which our sailors have since come to consider the -finest harbor on the Southern coast. Admiral Dahlgren had evidently -prepared the naval authorities for our arrival. Within a few moments, -the numerous vessels were dressed in all their colors, the sailors -manned the yards, and a salute was fired from all the men of war in the -harbor. A few minutes later a deluge of naval officers set in, till the -quarter deck of the “Wayanda” overflowed with the dignitaries, and the -indefatigable boatswain grew weary blowing his whistle as they came over -the ship’s side. - -Everybody seemed possessed with the mania of speculation. Even these -naval gentlemen were infected by it; and we saw no civilians or army -officers who were not profoundly versed in the rival claims of Hilton -Head, Bay Point and Beaufort. That a great city must spring up -hereabouts, has been laid down as an axiom. This is the best harbor on -the coast, while that of Charleston is positively bad, and that of -Savannah is contracted, and not easy of access. Situated midway between -the two, the speculators insist that it ought to fall legitimate heir to -the trade of both. Besides, the Carolina sea-coast must have a seaport, -and Charleston is so utterly ruined, they argue, and so odious to the -nation that Northern trade and capital would discriminate against it, in -favor of its younger rival. And the most flourishing part of South -Carolina to-day is made up of the sea islands, cultivated by the -freedmen, all whose trade already centers here. Therefore, for these -reasons, and many more, which your speculator will set out in ample -array before you, if you only listen, it is necessary and fated that a -great city should grow up on the waters of Port Royal harbor. - -But where?—that is the rub. Not at Hilton Head, say some, for there are -hurricanes there, every dozen years or so, that blow everything flat, -and even now, in rough weather, shipping can hardly live at the wharf. -Not at Bay Point, rejoin the Hilton Head landholders, for it is low and -unhealthy. And not at Beaufort, some ten or fifteen miles up Broad river -from here, they both agree, because it is so far off. - -And so, while they make it quite clear that an immense fortune is to be -realized here by the purchase of real estate, they leave one in the most -provoking uncertainty as to the precise point at which the fortune is -located. It is very clear that you can treble and quadruple and -quintuple your money here in two or three years—if you don’t lose it all -by investing in the wrong place! But, alas, what good did it do -Archimedes to know that he could move the world, when he couldn’t find -the place to fix his lever? - -Hilton Head has taken a start, however, and quite a village of frame -houses line the shore—wide, roomy cottages, occupied by army officers, -and mostly built for them by the Government, under a liberal -construction of the regulations about providing the officers with -quarters, making up the street fronting on the water. Back of these are -warehouses and other Government buildings; and a row of two-story -houses, ambitiously entitled “Broadway” or some other high-sounding -name, by the occupants, has received, from the unfortunates who are -compelled to frequent it, the more expressive designation of “Robbers’ -Row.” It is the street of the sutlers! - -General Gillmore had arrived from Charleston in advance, and he had -carriages in waiting for us when we landed. Captain James, of his staff, -had provided horses for those who preferred to ride, and the delights of -a gallop along the superb beach were not to be overrated. The sun was -intensely hot, and the horses were in a lather, almost in a moment; but -the Captain said they were used to it, and that they really seemed to -stand as much fatigue and rough usage here as at the North. - -Half an hour’s ride brought us to an extraordinary collection of cabins, -arranged in long streets, and teeming with little woolly-headed, -big-stomached picaninnies, in all stages of primitive costume. This was -the village of Mitchelville, so named in honor of General Ormsby M. -Mitchel, who died here shortly after he had begun his work, but not -until he had impressed the grateful negroes with a firm belief in his -friendship. The population is made up entirely of freedmen, and is -regularly organized, with a Mayor and Common Council, Marshal, Recorder -and Treasurer—all black, and all, except the Mayor and Treasurer, -elected by the negroes themselves.[17] The Common Council requires every -child, between the ages of six and fifteen, to attend school regularly, -except in cases where their services are absolutely necessary for the -support of their parents, of which the teacher is made the judge! -General Mitchel was one of Cincinnati’s contributions to the war. But is -Cincinnati behind Mitchelsville? - - * * * * * - -As we passed up Broad river, in the afternoon, a straggling collection -of old two-story frame houses, with faded paint and decayed boards, but -with the inevitable wide halls and spacious verandahs, rose among the -islands on the left. Of old, it was the very center of the aristocratic -country residences of the wealthier South Carolinians; to-day, it is the -capital, if I may so call it, of a new community of South Carolinians, -liberated by the war, and settled on the famous sea-island plantations. - -“Here,” says some one, “secession was first plotted,” and he points out -houses which had been the residences of the Barnwells and the Barnwell -Rhetts. Near here, another tells, is the plantation where the -“_South-Side View_” was taken; and there are negroes in the village who -tell of the rustic seat in the bough of a great live-oak tree, where Dr. -Nehemiah Adams wrote the book, and of the appetizing claret cobblers -they bore him to cheer him up, from time to time, in his work. Could the -good Doctor return now, he would scarcely find the blacks so -affectionately attentive, but he would be pleased to see that the -plantation is in a much higher state of cultivation than when it -elicited his eulogies. - -General Saxton had carriages waiting for us at the wharf, and, after a -short drive through the sandy streets, we were taken to see the -dress-parade of a regiment of negroes, commanded by a brother of General -Howard. The men marched from their camps, by companies, into line with -as steady a tramp and as soldierly a carriage as the average of other -troops, and, however lacking in beauty the individual negro may be, the -bitterest negro hater would have been willing to admit a thousand of -them looked handsome. Yet these men were scarcely a month from the -plantations! They had made little progress in the drill beyond the -manual of arms and the formation of the regimental line, but what they -did know, they knew thoroughly. They were all coal black, and seemed -larger and more muscular than the negro troops raised farther north. - -General Saxton has, within his present district, over a hundred thousand -negroes. He claims that all are now absolutely self-sustaining, save -those swept in the wake of Sherman’s march. Even the rations issued to -these are charged to them, and the thrifty negroes make all haste to -quit leaning on the Government, lest their debt should swell to too -great proportions. Most of the older-settled negroes, who were -originally dependent on Government support, have already repaid the -advances thus made them, and many have, besides, accumulated what is, -for them, a handsome competence. - -The astonishment of our Doctor at the changes he witnessed, among these -scenes of his earlier life, is unbounded. His old slaves have been -greeting him very enthusiastically; and many a hand-kissing, or worse, -has “Massa Richard” had to endure; but he sees among them manliness of -bearing, and a sober cheerfulness wholly novel to his experience of -negro character; and he begins to suspect that perhaps, after all, there -were characteristics of the negro nature which all his former -familiarity with it had not disclosed. Withal, he says, that he never -saw the slaves of Beaufort so well clad, or seemingly so comfortable. -General Saxton rather proudly responds that the peasantry of no country -in the world is better behaved or more prosperous. - ------ - -Footnote 17: - - The following are the main points of the military order under which - Mitchelville is organized: - - “I. All lands now set apart for the colored population, near Hilton - Head, are declared to constitute a village, to be known as the village - of Mitchelville. Only freedmen and colored persons residing or - sojourning within the territorial limits of said village, shall be - deemed and considered inhabitants thereof. - - “II. The village of Mitchelville shall be organized and governed as - follows: Said village shall be divided into districts, as nearly equal - in population as practicable, for the election of Councilmen, sanitary - and police regulations, and the general government of the people - residing therein. - - “III. The government shall consist of a Supervisor and Treasurer, to - be appointed by, and hold office during the pleasure of the Military - Commander of the District, assisted by a Councilman from each council - district, to be elected by the people, who shall also, at the same - time, choose a Recorder and Marshal. The duties of the Marshal and - Recorder shall be defined by the Council of Administration. - - “IV. The Supervisor and Councilmen shall constitute the Council of - Administration, with the Recorder as Secretary. - - “V. The Council of Administration shall have power: - - “To pass such ordinances as it shall deem best, in relation to the - following subjects: To establish schools for the education of children - and other persons. To prevent and punish vagrancy, idleness and crime. - To punish licentiousness, drunkenness, offenses against public decency - and good order, and petty violation of the rights of property and - person. To require due observance of the Lord’s Day. To collect fines - and penalties. To punish offenses against village ordinances. To - settle and determine disputes concerning claims for wages, personal - property, and controversies between debtor and creditor. To levy and - collect taxes to defray the expenses of the village government, and - for the support of schools. To lay out, regulate, and clean the - streets. To establish wholesome sanitary regulations for the - prevention of disease. To appoint officers, places and times for the - holding of elections. To compensate municipal officers, and to - regulate all other matters affecting the well-being of citizens, and - good order of society. - - “VIII. Hilton Head Island will be divided into School Districts, to - conform, as nearly as practicable, to the schools as established by - the Freedmen’s Association. In each District there shall be elected - one School Commissioner, who will be charged with supplying the wants - of the schools, under the direction of the teacher thereof. Every - child, between the ages of six and fifteen years, residing within the - limits of such School Districts, shall attend school daily, while they - are in session, excepting only in case of sickness. Where children are - of a suitable age to earn a livelihood, and their services are - required by their parents or guardians, and on the written order of - the teacher in such School District, may be exempt from attendance, - for such time as said order shall specify. And the parents and - guardians will be held responsible that said children so attend - school, under the penalty of being punished at the discretion of the - Council of Administration.” - - - - - CHAPTER XI. - - Among the Sea Islanders. - - -The most degraded slaves in the South, it has been commonly testified by -Southerners themselves, were to be found in South Carolina and on the -sugar plantations of the South-west. Of the South Carolina slaves, the -most ignorant and debased, beyond all question, were those on the sea -islands about Port Royal. Engaged in unhealthy work, to which none but -the coarsest of fiber were likely to be subjected, and steeped in the -normal ignorance of the rice swamp and the cotton field, they were -likewise isolated on their islands, and shut out from that mysterious -transmission of intelligence, concerning their own interests, which -seemed to permeate, like a magnetic current, all large communities of -negroes. - -They were mostly of the pure Congo type; there was no mixture of white -blood; intelligent mechanics and “smart niggers” generally were too -valuable to be sent here; their masters were absent a great part of the -year, and they were left to the humanizing control of the overseers; -their provisions were, in many instances, grown elsewhere and sent to -them, so that there was not even this diversion of a different culture -from the never-ending monotony of the cotton and rice fields. They -received, once a week, a peck of corn, and, once a month, a quart of -salt, _and on this they lived_. When the hardest work was required, they -received a little molasses and salt meat in addition; and, for a part of -each year, a bushel of sweet-potatoes was allowed each week, _in place -of_ the corn. Whatever more than this they received, they owed to the -generosity of unusually kind masters. They herded together in cabins, -twelve by eighteen or twenty feet, sometimes floored, but oftener -floorless; they got enough of the coarse negro cloth to make, by close -cutting, two suits a year, and at Christmas they had three days to -themselves. The other three hundred and sixty-two were given to cotton -and rice. Marriage was unknown among them; breeding was enjoined as the -first of duties; purity, delicacy and education were alike impossible. -If any system of compulsory labor could make brutes out of intelligent -men, would not this do it? If any system could fail to make brutish men -more brutish, surely it would _not_ be this one! - -When the “great confusion” (as they call the sudden flight of their -masters on Dupont’s arrival at Hilton Head) came, the house servants, -who, by contact with the whites, had necessarily gained some -intelligence, were all taken off to the interior. This utterly debased -cotton and rice-planting community of Congoes was left; and it is this -community, almost unmixed, which now cultivates the sea islands under -the supervision of General Saxton. There were some five thousand of them -here before the war. I am told that not five hundred of the old stock -are now missing from their accustomed places. - -The moral of what I have written is plain. If the “negro-elevation” -effort of the Abolitionists is to fail anywhere, it would be likely to -fail here. If it succeed among these degraded people, it would be likely -to succeed anywhere. The experiment has been tried, amid constant -uncertainties and discouragements, for three years. The results, -whatever they may be, are of the first importance. - - * * * * * - -When Generals Gillmore and Saxton, therefore, proposed to take our party -through Lady’s and St. Helena Islands, without any previous notice to -the blacks; to show us the crops, the villages, the negroes at church -and on their plantations, I prepared myself for any disappointment. The -morning was a beautiful one; and, although the rays of the unclouded sun -were intense, a fresh breeze from the ocean made the trip by no means -uncomfortable. On steaming up to Beaufort we found carriages, in -waiting, on the opposite side, at the upper end of Lady’s Island. Some -little cabins, surrounded by unfenced fields of cotton, remarkably free -from weeds, stood near the landing; and a few picaninnies watched our -debarkation, while their fathers, cleanly clad and respectful, stood by -the carriages. - -The sandy road led off among the cotton fields down the island. On -either side were old wire fences, constructed by the former proprietors, -sometimes running along fine avenues of trees, in the stems of which the -wires are deeply imbedded, and sometimes propped up on crazy posts. Here -and there could be seen frame houses, containing three or four rooms, -the old residences of the overseers, or, indeed, sometimes of the -planters themselves; for Southern “mansions” were generally inferior, in -every particular, save high-sounding titles, to Northern “cottages.” -Rude pine-log cabins, sometimes with the bark removed in a rough attempt -at hewing, dotted the fields. They were, occasionally, large enough for -two rooms, and were nearly always surrounded by a few growing garden -vegetables, separated in no way however, from the rows of cotton that -extended up to them. - -Sometimes, for half a mile, the road passed through a splendid avenue of -live-oaks, the pendulous Spanish moss, from the limbs, sweeping across -our carriage tops, while the whistle from the mocking-bird came from the -upper branches. Then the avenue faded away into a thicket of dwarf -live-oaks, trespassing for several yards, each side of the road, upon -the cotton fields, and mingling presently with cotton-woods, bayonet -plants and other like species of the palmetto, yellow pines and a -clambering growth of grape-vines and honeysuckles. Through this -undergrowth could still be seen the long rows of cotton stretching along -on either hand out of sight. - -The fences by the roadside soon faded out, and for miles scarcely any -were to be seen. Little stakes, here and there, would mark the -boundaries of individual possessions; but besides these, there would be -no divisions in fields of two or three hundred acres of cotton. Then -would come a tract, equally as large, lying fallow, and covered with a -luxurious growth of dewberries that tempted more than one of our party -to delay the progress to church while we went “berrying.” In other -places great tracts were observed in which the furrows of cotton, -cultivated years ago, could still be plainly traced, although the ground -was now covered with a dense growth of pines. Since the flight of the -slaveholders, however, some of this has been reclaimed; and more land is -now under cultivation, both on Lady’s Island and on St. Helena, than -when they fell into our hands. - -The cotton was still small, but the rich sandy loam seemed to suit it -well, and gentlemen familiar with the cotton culture, who accompanied -us, said it could not look better. The fields were beautifully clean—it -is rare that a Western corn field shows as careful culture—and the women -and old men, who now do most of the work on these islands, had carefully -hilled it up with the hoe, till, in places, it could hardly be -distinguished from the ridges heaped for the sweet-potato plants about -the cabins. We did not pass a field, in our twelve miles drive out and -as many back (partly by a different road), that would not bear a -favorable comparison with the average of Northern farming.[18] Since the -Government has been offering large bounties for volunteers, most of the -young men from these islands have gone into the army, filling up such -regiments as that of Colonel Howard, which we saw at Beaufort, and all -this work has, therefore, been done by the weaker and more infirm -classes of the population. General Saxton has not encouraged it, but the -negro women still work freely in the fields. The withdrawal of the young -men from the islands has been, in some respects, an advantage. They tell -of such sights as the uncles and aunts, gathered in to tie and whip some -young scapegrace who persisted in neglecting his crop, and whom they -feared, they would, therefore, have to support next winter. No whipping -is needed now; the crops are cultivated better than before, and when -young scapegrace comes back from the army, he will be found to possess a -manliness that will scarcely require the further stimulus of the lash. - -A long, wooden bridge, spanning one of the little estuaries that cut up -these islands, led us across into St. Helena. By this time the roads -were alive with a gaily-dressed throng of blacks, of both sexes and all -ages, wending their way, on foot, on horseback, in carts and wagons, and -even, in a few cases, in Northern trotting buggies, to the Central -Church. Noticing their cheerful, contented air, their gay chat, their -cleanly appearance and _repartie_ among themselves, their respectful and -cordial greetings to the passing Generals, and the manifest tokens of -prosperity evinced in modes of locomotion, personal adornment and the -like, one could clearly believe General Saxton’s renewed declaration, -that, in all substantial respects, considering their peculiar -difficulties, they would contrast not discreditably with any peasantry -in the world. - -As we turned off from the main road, which runs the whole length of the -island, and began to pass through the gates, which made a sort of -private way among the cotton fields to the church, the throng increased, -till the roads were alive with the church-going freedmen. Every little -group stopped as we came up; every old negress gave us a droll bob of -the head; the men touched their hats, soldier fashion, or lifted them -altogether from their heads, and the young women made, in many cases, -not ungraceful courtesies. “Dere’s General Saxby,” we could often hear -energetically whispered among the groups, and there was no mistaking the -pleased expression which the name summoned to every countenance. “Are -not negroes likely hereafter, as heretofore, to be controlled by their -old masters?” some one asks. “We’s know our frens, massa,” was the -emphatic answer of a coal-black plantation hand, the other day, when I -put some such question to him. Clearly, these people, on St. Helena, -“know their friends.” - - * * * * * - -Presently a group of negroes, with many a respectful scrape of the foot -and tug at the hat, threw open the last gate, and, under a refreshing -canopy of trees, we drove to the old country church, which, time out of -mind, has been the central worshipping place for both whites and blacks -of St. Helena. Overflowing all the church-yard, flooding the road, -through which our carriages could hardly be driven, and backing up -against the grave-yard, were the negroes, gay with holiday attire, -many-colored kerchiefs, and the best their earnings (and the sutler’s -extortions) would permit them to buy. The woods, back of the church, -were filled with carts and wagons; the horses were unharnessed, tied to -the trees and fed; their owners were gathered in groups about the carts, -discussing the condition of the cotton crop, or the price Sam had paid -for “dat new mar;” and how much “Aunt Sukie was gittin’ down to Bufor’ -for dem dis year’s pullets.” - -The interior of the plain, low brick church was deserted, the deacons -having decided that there was not room for the throng in attendance—an -event, as we afterward learned, of almost weekly occurrence. Three times -in the week these people had filled the “praise meetings” on their -respective plantations, and already there had been another such meeting -on Sunday before they started to church; yet, here was a great throng, -which the church could not contain, and still the roads, for miles in -each direction, swarmed with those yet coming. We have been told that -emancipated slaves would be disorderly vagrants, and, doubtless, there -is ground for some apprehension, but this Sabbath scene does not tend to -increase it. - -Within the church were traces of the slaveholding era, as one finds in -the Silurian stratification fossils that tell the story of a past age. -The doors were on each side, near the middle of the building, and -connected by a broad aisle. Above this, toward the pulpit, were the -square, high-backed pews for the planters of the island—when they chose -to occupy them. Back of the aisle were rude benches, which the poor -whites, or, in their absence, the negroes, were privileged to take; and -in the long galleries on either side (approached by stairs that were -built for the steps of giants), were benches exclusively devoted to the -negro population. The pews still stand with open doors, nearest the -pulpit; but the men that filled them come no more. Some are North, many -fill unknown graves, or trenches on battle-fields, the rest are in that -unexplored region, whence come no sounds but those of sorrow, “the -interior.” And to the right of the pulpit, in a shady little inclosure, -still carefully preserved, are the moss-grown marble monuments, which no -filial hands come now to garnish or adorn. The graves of their fathers -have passed under the guardianship of the alien race. - -While our party stood looking about this scene of the past, a -white-wooled deacon came, with the politeness, if not the grace, of an -old-world master of ceremonies, to summon us to one of the present. “De -people is gathered, sah, and was ready for de suvvices to begin.” There -was a not unnatural sensation as the Major-Generals, the Chief Justice -and the ladies of the party, were led through the crowd to a little -platform under the live-oaks; but it was when Rev. Dr. Fuller—“ole massa -Richard”—made his appearance, that the wondering stare brightened and -eyes grew moist, and ancient negresses could be heard vehemently -whispering “Bress de Lod, bress de Lod!” “Hebenly Marster!” “Gra-a-ate -King!” No word had been sent of our coming, and it was but within the -last half hour that the old slaves of Dr. Fuller had heard that he was -to address them. There was no way of estimating the number of these -“Fuller slaves” in attendance—he had owned between two and three -hundred, but probably half of them were now at Beaufort. Every adult -negro in the assemblage, however, seemed to know him. - -[Illustration: _The Talk at Dr. Fuller’s Plantation.—Page 102._] - -The scene was a striking one. In front of us was the old church; behind, -the new school-house. Half a dozen superb live-oaks spread their gnarled -branches over us, the silvery, pendulous streamers of Spanish moss -floating down and flecking with the sunlight the upturned faces of the -great congregation of negroes, while the breezes made mournful music -among the leaves, and the mocking-birds sent back a livelier refrain. -The little valley between the platform and the church was densely packed -with negroes, all standing, and, as the Deacon told us, “eagah fur de -Wud.” They clustered, too, about the platform, leaned over the railing, -behind, and at the sides, and spread away in all directions, among the -carts and wagons, that formed a sort of outer line of works, shutting in -the scene. The coats were of every color, and cut, and age. There were a -few straw hats on the heads of the younger females, and cotton gloves, -gaudy calico dresses and crinolines were abundant; but the older ones -clung to the many-colored handkerchiefs, wound turban-wise about the -head, and affected gowns that clung closely to their _not_ graceful -figures. Altogether they were dressed as well as the average of -day-laborers’ families at the North would be, but in a taste that even -such Northern families would pronounce barbarous. - -A quaint old African, clad in cotton checks, and bowed with many years -of cotton hoeing, stepped out on the platform, when all the party had -been seated. Leaning, like a patriarch, on his cane, and gently swaying -his body to and fro over it, as if to keep time, he struck up, in a -shrill, cracked voice, a curiously monotonous melody, in which, in a -moment, the whole congregation were energetically joining. For the first -time I observed, what had often been told me (though I had never before -realized it), that the language of these sea islanders (and I am told -that, to some extent, the same is true of the majority of plantation -hands in South Carolina), is an almost unintelligible _patois_. -Listening carefully to the swaying old leader, I found it impossible, -for a time, to make out his meaning; and the vocal contortions to which -the simplest words seemed to subject him, was a study that would have -amazed a phonetic lecturer. The words were those of an old song, which -our soldiers found them singing shortly after the fall of Bay Point: - - “Ma-a-a-assa Fullah a sittin’ on de tree ob life; - Ma-a-a-assa Fullah a sittin’ on de tree ob life, - Roll, Jordan, roll. - Ma-a-a-assa Fullah a sittin’ on de tree ob life, - Roll, Jordan, roll. - Ma-a-a-assa Fullah a sittin’ on de tree ob life, - Ro-o-oll, Jordan, roll, - Ro-o-oll, Jordan, roll, - Ro-o-oll, Jordan, roll.” - -And so on, with repetitions that promised to be endless. The grateful -negroes had cherished the memory of Dr. Fuller, who had abandoned his -lucrative legal practice to preach to them; and, long after his -departure to the North, had still kept his name green among them, by -thus associating it with their ideas of heaven. But, as freedom came, -and no Dr. Fuller with it, they gradually forgot the old benefactor, and -substituted the name of the new one. To them, General Saxton was law, -and order, and right; he secured their plantations; he got them rations -till they were able to support themselves; he decided disputes, defended -privileges, maintained quiet, and was the embodiment of justice; and so -it gradually came to pass that “General Saxby,” as, with a ludicrous -persistence, they still call him, took the place of “Ma-a-a-assa Fullah” -in the song. The presence of the good Doctor recalled their old love, -and they gave him the first place; but they could not depose their later -favorite and greater benefactor; and so, after interminable repetitions, -we came to the second stanza: - - “Gen-e-ul Sa-a-axby a sittin’ on de tree ob life, - Gen-e-ul Sa-a-axby a sittin’ on de tree ob life; - Roll, Jordan, roll. - Gen-e-ul Sa-a-axby a sitiin’ on de tree ob life; - Roll, Jordan, roll; - Gen-e-ul Sa-a-axby a sittin’ on de tree ob life; - Ro-o-oll, Jordan, roll, - Ro-o-oll, Jordan, roll, - Ro-o-oll, Jordan, ro-o-oll!” - -The patriarchal old African, swaying on his cane before the -congregation, threw the whole power of his lungs into the harsh tones -with which the concluding “ro-o-o-oll” was given, and then followed the -great feat of the African reception to the visitors. Wherever we had -been, the negroes seemed to know something of Mr. Chase. Their ideas -were very vague, but they thought that, in some way, he was a great, -large friend of theirs, who had done something or another for them, -what, they scarcely knew, and was to be held beside “Linkum” in their -esteem. So now, with a droll look of intelligence toward the crowd, and -particularly toward a group of open-faced, enthusiastic young fellows, -who seemed to be the main dependence for promptly supplying the volume -of sound, the antique leader struck out in harsher tones, and more -indescribably bewildering difficulties of pronunciation than ever: - - “Me-is-ta-ah Che-a-ase a sittin’ on de tree ob life, - Me-is-ta-ah Che-a-ase a sittin’ on de tree ob life, - Roll, Jordan, roll; - Me-is-ta-ah Che-a-ase a sittin’ on de tree ob life, - Roll, Jordan, roll. - Me-is-ta-ah Che-a-ase a sittin’ on de tree ob life, - Roll, Jordan, roll, - Roll, Jordan, roll, - Ro-o-oll, Jordan, ro-o-oll.” - -The chorus was sung with a vehemence that pierced the ears, and swayed -the leaflets of the live-oaks above our heads; while picaninnies crowed, -and their mothers smiled, and there was a general bustle in the crowd, -and all fixed beaming eyes—who has not admired the deep, liquid ox-eye -of the Southern negro?—upon the embarrassed Chief Justice, whom they -were establishing, in all his avoirdupois, on the identical limb where -Doctor Fuller and General “Saxby” were already perched. And then a -plain, bald-headed, middle-aged, black preacher, who had, doubtless, a -few years back, been at least “a twelve-hundred-dollar nigger,” came -reverently forward and commenced a prayer. The congregation devoutly -bowed their heads, a few interrupted with an occasional “Amen,” or -“Glory,” but the most kept respectful silence. The prayer was simple, -full of repetitions, abounding in Scripture language, not always -appropriately used; and, on the whole, I was in doubt whether either -speaker or congregation understood all of it. There was no mistaking the -sincerity of the devotion; but it seemed to be mainly emotional, rather -than intellectual, and might, therefore, well give rise to inquiries as -to what effect this abounding religion had on the matter of stealing -sweet-potatoes, or taking care of their wives and children, during the -week.[19] - -When Doctor Fuller came to speak to them, there was less cause for doubt -on this subject. They evidently understood him, and undoubtedly meant to -obey his instructions. When, for example, he told them that at the North -their enemies were declaring that they would be idle and dissolute, and -asked if they were going thus to bring shame upon those who had -befriended them, there was an emphasis of response, and an earnestness -in the looks men and women gave each other, that spoke both for their -understanding and their intentions. “I know that new machinery will work -a little roughly,” said the Doctor, “I am not surprised that, at first, -there were some blunders and faults; but it is time you had got over -that. If a man who has been shut up for a long time, in a dark room, is -suddenly brought into the light, it dazzles his eyes, and he is apt to -stumble. Well, then, what will you do? Put him back in the dark again?” -“No, no,” energetically exclaimed the crowd, with many an earnest shake -of the head. “What then?” “Tell him what to do,” suggested some. “Lead -him a little while,” whispered others. “GIVE HIM MORE LIGHT!” at last -exclaimed the Doctor; and it was curious to watch the pleased noddings -of the woolly heads, the shaking of the turbans, the sensation, exchange -of smiles, and other indications that the Doctor’s solution of the -difficulty was thoroughly understood, in its application to their own -condition. - -Mr. Chase followed, in a few words of calm advice, as to the necessity -of industry, economy, study and the like. When he added that, for his -own part, he believed, too, that the best way to teach them to swim in -the ocean of suffrage, was to throw them in and let them take care of -themselves, the emphatic nods and smiles, and cries of “yes,” “yees,” -showed that the figure was not thrown away upon them. - -More singing followed, in which they were led by a white teacher, from -one of the schools, and the ordinary hymns of the church were used. The -great volumes of sound rang like organ peals through the arches of the -oaks. Once the teacher asked to have the children gathered in front of -the platform, that they might sing “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land -of liberty,” etc. Mothers passed up their little four-year olds, decked -in all the cheap finery they could command; fathers pressed forward and -made room for sons and daughters, whom they followed with eyes of -paternal pride; and there was a general smiling, and bustling, and -eagerness to show off the shiny-faced, large-eyed little creatures. When -they were once collected, it was just about as difficult to keep them -still as it would be to silence so many parrots. - -Presently one of the Northern ministers, who have devoted themselves to -working among these freedmen, made them such a sermonizing talk as seems -to be the common mode of instruction. There was something too much, -perhaps, of glorification over the fact that at last the slaves were -free from the clutches of the wicked and tyrannical slaveholders; but, -in the main, the address was judicious, and seemed to be in a vein to -which the negroes were accustomed. At the request of different members -of the party, he asked several questions, such as: - -“You all seem to be better dressed than when your masters ran away. Now -tell us if you are able to afford these clothes, and how you get them?” - -“Yes,” “Bought ’em wid our own money,” “Bought ’em down to Hilton Head,” -“Got ’em at Bufor,” and a further medley of confused answers came back -from the open-eyed, open-mouthed crowd. - -“You bought them? Well now, you know at the North people think you are -starving beggars, dependent on the Government? Is it true? How many of -you support yourselves without any help from the Government? All that -do, hold up their right hands.” - -In an instant every adult in the crowd held up a hand, and not a few of -the boys and girls, supposing it to be some new play, held up their -hands, too! - -“Now, before your masters ran away, you all say that your wives were not -as attentive as they should be to the wants of the household; that they -required a great deal of beating to make them do their work; that they -didn’t mend your clothes and cook your meals. Perhaps freedom has made -them worse. All who say it has, hold up your right hands.” - -There was a deal of sly chuckling among the men; the women too, affected -to make light of it, though some bridled up their turbaned heads and -stared defiance across at the men. Not a hand, however, was raised; and -as the preacher announced the result, the women laughed their oily -gobble of a laugh. - -“Well, now, I’d like to have the women tell me about the men. Are they -as good husbands as when they were slaves? Do you live as well in your -houses? Do they work as well, and make you as comfortable?” - -There was a great giggling now; the ivories that were displayed would -have driven a dentist to distraction, and many a stalwart black fellow, -who had no notion of being a dentist, did seem to be distracted. But -every woman’s hand was raised, and the good preacher proceeded to -announce the result and moralize thereon. - -“Then,” he said, “I am asked, by our distinguished guest, to put a -question that I’m afraid you’ll laugh at. You know your old masters -always said you were much happier in a state of slavery than you would -be in freedom, and a good many people at the North don’t know but it may -be true. You’ve tried supporting yourselves now for some time, and a -good many of you have found it pretty hard work sometimes. Now, I want -as many of you as are tired of it, and would rather go back and have -your old masters take care of you, to hold up your right hands.” - -It was fine to notice the start and frightened look, and then the sudden -change that came over their faces. The preacher had warned them not to -laugh, but they did not look as if they wanted to laugh. They were more -disposed to get angry; and the “no, noes” were sufficiently emphatic to -satisfy the most devoted adherents of the old system, who used to be -constantly declaring that “the slaves were the happiest people on the -face of the earth.” - - * * * * * - -But there remained a scene that showed how, if not anxious to return to -their old masters, they were still sometimes glad to have their old -masters return to them. Dr. Fuller rose to pronounce the benediction, -and all reverently bowed their heads—the proud mothers and their hopeful -children, likely plantation hands, gray-headed and gray-bearded -patriarchs, like one who stood at my elbow, and, black though he was, -looked so like the busts we have of Homer, that I could hardly realize -him to be merely a “worn-out nigger”—bowed all together before God, the -freedmen and the Major-Generals, the turbaned young women from the -plantations, and the flower of Northern schools and society, the -woolly-headed urchins, who could just remember that they once “b’longed -to” somebody, and the Chief Justice of the United States. - -The few words of blessing were soon said; and then came a rush to the -stand, “to speak to Massa Richard.” Men and women pressed forward -indiscriminately; the good Doctor, in a moment, found both his hands -busy, and stood, like a patriarchal shepherd, amid his flock. They -pushed up against him, kissed his hands, passed their fingers over his -hair, crowded about, eager to get a word of recognition. “Sure, you -’member me, Massa Rich’d; I’m Tom.” “Laws, Massa Rich’d, I mind ye when -ye’s a little ’un.” “Don’t ye mind, Massa Rich’d, when I used to gwine -out gunnin’ wid ye?” “How’s ye been dis long time?” “’Pears like we’s -never gwine to see ’ou any more; but, bress de Lord, you’m cum.” “Oh, -we’s gittin’ on cumf’able like; but ain’t ’ou gwine to cum back and -preach to us sometimes?” So the string of interrogatories and -salutations stretched out. “I haven’t liked him much,” said an officer -of our cutter, standing near, whose rough-and-ready oaths had sometimes -provoked the rebuke of the Dominie, “but I take back every harsh -thought. I’d give all I’m worth, or ever hope to be worth, in the world, -to be loved by as many people as love him.” - - * * * * * - -Leaving the crowd still thronging about the Doctor, we drove out beyond -the church half a mile, to a village of cabins, which the negroes have -christened “Saxtonville.” It contains a single street, but that is a -mile and a-half long. Each house is surrounded by its little plat of -potatoes and corn. Back of the house, stretching off to the timber in -the distance, is the narrow little parallelogram of land, called the -plantation, averaging from thirty to forty acres, planted in cotton, -and, in nearly every case, in the highest possible state of cultivation. -Poultry swarmed about the cabins, but no swine were to be seen, and no -fences were needed to divide one plantation from another. - -Returning, we found the roads alive again with the gaily-dressed groups -of freedmen, going home from the “meetin’,” and full of animated talk -about the great things they had seen and heard. There was constantly the -most deferential courtesy. The old women seemed delighted if they could -secure a recognition, and not a man of the hundreds on the road passed -without lifting, or, at least, touching, his hat. Whenever we approached -a gate some negro near us would run ahead to open it; but there was no -servility in the air with which he did it. He seemed rather, in bearing -and attitude, to say, “I’m a man, and just as good before the law as you -are; but I respect you, because you are all friends of ours, and because -you know more than I do.” These people can never be made slaves again. -They have tasted too long of freedom to submit to be driven. But, -perhaps, their danger is in a not very dissimilar direction. They are -grateful and confiding; and they _may_ prove easily led. - -An old negress, whom we passed after we had crossed back to Lady’s -Island, followed us wearily, on foot, through the broiling sun, many -miles, down to the landing. “I want to see Massa Richard—I used to -b’long to him,” was her only explanation. The dumb expression of grief -on her rude features, when she found him gone, and realized that she had -probably missed her last chance of seeing him, haunts me yet. - - * * * * * - -Returning from St. Helena, Doctor Fuller was asked what he thought of -the experiment of free labor, as exhibited among his former slaves, and -how it contrasted with the old order of things. “I never saw St. Helena -look so well,” was his instant reply. “I never saw as much land there -under cultivation—never saw the same general evidences of prosperity, -and never saw the negroes themselves appearing so well or so contented.” -What has been said, from time, about the improved condition of the -emancipated Sea Islanders, has been said by Northern men, with limited -opportunities for previous observation; but this, it must be noted, is -the testimony of an old planter, re-visiting the slaves emancipation has -taken from him, whose interests and prejudices would alike make him a -critic hard to please. - -But, it should be added, that the islands about Beaufort are in a better -condition than those nearer the encampments of our soldiers. Wherever -poultry could be profitably peddled in the camps, cotton has not been -grown, nor have the negroes crystalized, so readily, into industrious -and orderly communities. What has been done on the more secluded of -these sea islands, may be taken as a fair evidence of what may be -expected (when not more than the average discouragements are -encountered) of the most ignorant and degraded of the Southern slaves. -With such negroes as we saw at Charleston, the progress would be -incomparably more rapid. - -The question about the slaves being self-supporting, is a question no -longer. On St. Helena, and wherever else they have had the opportunity, -the negroes have bought the titles to their little farms—or -“plantations,” as they still ambitiously style them. They have erected -their own cabins, secured whatever cheap furniture they contain, and -clothed, themselves far better than their masters ever clothed them. All -who have been established more than a year, have paid back to the -Government the rations drawn in their first destitution. They have -stocked their plantations, paying the highest prices, and often bidding -against white men, at the auction sales of condemned Government -property. I saw one man who had paid three hundred dollars in cash for a -condemned Government horse, and plenty who had paid prices ranging from -a hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars. A single horse only, is -needed to cultivate one of their little places; and the instances have -been rare in which, after a year or two of work, the negro was not able -to command enough money to secure it. Their purchases at the trade -stores have been so liberal that the military authorities have -occasionally been compelled to interfere, to prevent what they thought -extravagance. Cloth they sometimes buy, in their new-born thrift, by the -piece, to secure a lower price; flour they are able to get by the -barrel, as an industrious Northern mechanic does. In the houses, chairs -have made their appearance; dishes and knives and forks are no longer -the rarities they were when our troops arrived. And, for whatever they -have thus bought, be sure they have paid twice or thrice the New York -price. - -To some extent this prosperity is delusive; as for the matter of that, -the prosperity of the whole country, during the same period, has been -delusive. The soldiers paid them three or four prices for their -vegetables, eggs and poultry; and when their cotton was ready for market -it brought, in some cases, nearly ten times the old price. Naturally -they are prosperous. It is more important to observe that they exhibit -the industry which deserves prosperity, and, in most cases, the thrift -which insures its continuance. Their money has been spent for articles -they needed for stocking their farms, clothing their families, or, in -some way, bettering their condition. It has not always been spent -economically, but they may learn to make better bargains with the Yankee -traders, by-and-by; and, for the present, it is sufficient to know that -they have enough left to establish a National Bank with their savings, -and that in this Bank _one hundred and fifty thousand dollars worth of -United States bonds have been bought by the freedmen_! This last -statement seemed to me utterly incredible; but General Saxton vouches -for it, and explains that when the young negroes from the islands -volunteered to enter the military service, they each received (precisely -like other volunteers) three hundred dollars bounty, of which, in nearly -all cases, at least two hundred were, of their own motion, given to -their families, used in stocking the farms, or invested in Government -bonds. - -Withal, they work less, and have more time for self-improvement, or for -society, than when slaves. It is the common testimony, on those islands -where white men have bought the plantations, and employed the negroes as -laborers, that the old task, which the slave worked at from sunrise to -sunset, is now readily performed by the freedman in six or seven hours. -Still, the exports from the sea islands will not be as great as during -the existence of slavery. Then, they were mere machines, run with as -little consumption as possible, to the single end of making money for -their masters. Now, as it was in the West Indies, emancipation has -enlarged the negro’s wants, and, instead of producing solely to export, -he now produces also to consume. Then he ate with his fingers from the -hominy pot, in the fire-place; now he must have plates, knives and -forks, with a table on which to spread them. Then he wore the scant -summer and winter suits of negro cloth; now he must have working suits -and Sunday suits, and each must be cut with some vague reference to -prevailing fashions, and made up by hands that, under the old _regime_, -would have been busy beside his own in the cotton field. - -These are undeniable evidences of progress in physical well-being. When -it comes to mental culture, less can be said. Of the crowd at the St. -Helena church, not one in twenty of the adults can read, though they -have had three years of partial and interrupted opportunities. But, on -the other hand, not one in twenty of the boys and girls was unable to -read. They do not seem so anxious themselves to get “white folks’ -larnin” as at Charleston and other points to the northward; but every -parent is painfully desirous that his children should learn; and many of -them are known to take private lessons at home from their children. The -latter learn rapidly; they tell the same story everywhere here, just as -it has been told down the whole coast from Fortress Monroe. Experienced -teachers say they can see no difference in the facility with which these -and ordinary white children at the North learn to read. But this is -comparatively valueless as a test of negro intellectual capacity. -Reading, writing, memorizing, whatever is imitative, or may be learned -by rote, will be rapidly acquired; and no schools have yet advanced far -enough to show what the average negro mind will do when it grapples with -higher branches that require original thought. - -Nearly thirty thousand negroes have been settled by General Saxton, (as -he informed us over his hospitable dinner table, on our return from St. -Helena,) on these islands and adjacent plantations of the main land. Of -these, seventeen thousand are now self-supporting. Between twelve and -thirteen thousand of those who have come in latest from the interior -still draw rations, but all do it with the distinct understanding that -they and their farms will be held responsible for the re-payment; and -the experience of the Government with the others shows that this debt -may be reckoned a safe and short one. None have been forced to come, and -the locations upon the plantations have all been made to the -satisfaction of the negroes themselves. - -General Saxton found a charming wife among the bright Yankee teachers -sent down to these schools, and he has established himself in the house -of a runaway slaveholder, condemned by the Government authorities, and -legally sold to the highest bidder. Two thousand dollars thus gave the -General a home among these people, and put him in possession of a fine, -airy, large-windowed, many-porched Southern residence, stripped of -furniture (which has been sold by the Treasury Agent as abandoned -property), and, like the lands on which the negroes are located, with -still a worrying doubt about the security of the title. Rebels, who have -abandoned their houses, may, some of these days, return, get pardon, and -propose to take possession. Barnwell Rhett’s house, for example, is next -door; suppose he should profess repentance, for the sake of getting back -his property, precisely what is there to prevent this fervently-loyal -Major-General from having the prince of all fire eaters for a neighbor? -In Beaufort, as at Hilton Head, there are wonderful efforts to create a -flame of speculation; but capital is timid, and looks sharply to the -guarantees of title deeds. - - * * * * * - -In the evening, there was another immense meeting of negroes in the -outskirts of Beaufort. It was again found that no church would hold -them, and so God’s first temples—it must have been live-oak groves -Bryant thought of, when he wrote the well-known lines—were again sought. -Crowding through the throng that obstructed all the approaches, and -ascending the platform, one was struck with the impressiveness of a -scene as peculiar as that in the morning on St. Helena, and yet widely -differing from it. Great live-oaks again reared their stately pillars of -gray, and spread their glorious canopy of green, beside and above the -platform; negroes, old and young, again spread out in a sea of black -humanity before us; but for the rows of carts, and the old -meeting-house, and the moss-grown gravestones that shut in the view on -St. Helena, we had here the serried ranks of two full regiments of -negroes. Black urchins clambered up into the live-oak boughs, above our -heads; black girls adjusted their scarfs, and fidgeted about the front -of the platform; white-wooled, but black-faced, old men leaned against -the railing; the mass of the congregation in front were women, and, as -for the young men, they were clad in blue, and they stood in ranks -outside the rest. - -The faces seemed somewhat more intelligent than those on St. Helena. -There were more house-servants, and all had been brightened by the -contact with business in the town. A keen-eyed lady on the platform -called my attention to the owner of a particularly showy turban, and lo! -beneath its dazzling colors looked forth, in befitting black, the very -face of Mrs. Gummidge, the “lone, lorn creetur’” of David Copperfield’s -early acquaintance. To the very whimper of the mouth, and watery -expression of the eyes, and last particular of desolate and disconsolate -appearance, it was Mrs. Gummidge’s self, as Dickens has made her -immortal. But this was not a common expression. Chubby-faced, -glittering-eyed youngsters, of the Topsy type, and comfortable, -good-natured Aunties, at peace with themselves and the world, were the -prevailing characters. Beaufort was more stylish than St. Helena, and -many a ludicrous effort was made in willow crinoline, tawdry calico and -cotton gloves, to ape the high-born mulattoes whom the traveled ones had -seen in Charleston, and occasionally at Hilton Head. - -The sermonizing, singing and speech-making, need hardly be described. -Given the occasion and the circumstances, and what weary reader of the -papers can not tell, to the very turn of the climax and the polish of -the peroration, the nature of the speeches? But it was worthy of note -that the orators found the audience to their liking; and, on the point -of intelligence, your popular orator is exacting. “I have been in the -habit of addressing all sorts of people,” said Doctor Fuller, “but never -felt so intensely the inspiration of a deeply-sympathizing audience.” -Two or three humorous little sallies were caught with a quickness and -zest that showed how understandingly they were following the speaker; -and, at times, the great audience—greater than Cooper Institute could -hold—was swaying to and fro, now weeping, then laughing, in the -agitation of a common passion the orator had evoked. They seemed to know -all about the Chief Justice, and clamored for him, till, as he stood up -for a moment, the thunder of the cheers swayed the Spanish moss that -hung in pendent streamers above our heads, and made the leaves of the -live-oaks quiver as if a gale were blowing through the branches. “If I -had only known you were coming,” whispered a superintendent, “we might -have had two or three marriages here, under the live-oaks, to conclude -the exercises of the day!” - -But it was when the “exercises” were over, that the real interest of the -occasion was brought out. Not less than a hundred of Doctor Fuller’s -former slaves were in the audience. The moment the benediction was -pronounced, they made a rush for the platform, and the good Doctor found -his path blocked up at the steps. “Lod bress ye, Massa Rich’d; was -afeard ’ud never see ye agin.” “Don’t you know me, Massa Rich’d? I’m -Aunt Chloe.” “’Pears like ye wa’n’t never comin’, no more!” And all the -while a vigorous hand-shaking and hand-kissing went on, the former -master standing on the steps, and looking benevolently down into -upturned faces that fairly shone with joy and excitement. - -Presently one of the Aunties, whose happiness was altogether too -exuberant for words, struck up a wild chant, and in a moment half a -hundred voices had joined her. She stood with clasped hands and beaming -face, balancing from one foot to the other in a sort of measured dance, -sometimes stopping a moment to shout “glory,” and then resuming with yet -more enthusiasm; while the former slaves still kept crowding up, feeling -the Doctor’s hair, passing their hands over his shoulders, clustering -lingeringly about him, and joining with deep-throated emphasis in the -chant. Soon other women had approached the swaying leader, two or three -clasped hands, there was the same animal, half-hysteric excitement, the -same intoxication of the affections, which we had witnessed in the -morning on St. Helena; while, meantime, a few middle-aged negroes, who -gave no other marks of excitement than a perfectly gratified expression -of countenance, quietly engaged the Doctor in conversation, told him -something of their life since they had become freemen, their hardships -and their final prosperity. The women kept up the singing; more and more -negroes were joining the circle about the former planter, as we pushed -through and left them to themselves. Long lines of soldiers were -marching away, their glistening bayonets setting the red rays of the -sinking sun to flickering in grotesque lights and shades over the -shouting and dancing slaves. Under the trees on the outskirts stood a -group of interested spectators, officers, traders, agents of different -departments of the Government; a few ladies wonderingly looked on; the -breeze was fluttering the flags over the platform; and the late slaves -were still singing and kissing their former master’s hand. It was our -last sight of Beaufort. - - * * * * * - -A lead-colored little steamer lay at the wharf to take us down to Hilton -Head; a short, heavy-set, modest-speaking, substantial negro, a little -past middle-age, came to say that the vessel was ready, and awaited our -orders. It was the “Planter,” and the negro was her Captain, Robert -Small—lionized over much, but not spoilt yet. The breeze over the island -was delicious; not a film of mist flecked the sky; and down to the very -meeting of sky and water, we caught the sparkle of the stars, brilliant -with all the effulgence of tropic night. - ------ - -Footnote 18: - - I subsequently, however, saw several badly-neglected cotton fields. - The very intelligent correspondent of the Boston _Advertiser_ (Mr. - Sidney Andrews,) writing from Beaufort, in July, likewise found - ill-tilled plantations. He says: - - “Some of the cotton and corn fields, through which we passed, were in - a decidedly bad state of cultivation, others better, but hardly any - quite satisfactory, until we reached the plantation to which our - journey was directed. Then the appearance of the crops suddenly - changed; the fields were free from weeds, the cotton plants healthy, - and the corn fields promising a heavy yield. Everything bespoke thrift - and industry. We passed through a most beautiful grove of live-oaks, - with its graceful festoons of gray moss—under the shadow of the trees - a roomy log cabin, in which a colored preacher was addressing an - audience of devout negroes, for it was Sunday—until, at last, we found - the ‘mansion,’ surrounded with live-oaks and magnolia trees. The - estate had, before the war, belonged to one of the wealthiest planters - of that region, who had gone to parts unknown as soon as the blue - jackets threatened their descent upon Beaufort. It struck me as - singular that a man of such wealth, as he was reputed to possess, - should have lived in a house so small and unpretending, as in the - North would be considered as belonging to a forty-acre farm; but such - was the case.” - -Footnote 19: - - The correspondent of the Boston _Advertiser_ gives the following Sea - Island incident, which occurred in July: - - “While we were conversing with the lessee, we observed a negro woman, - with two children, leaning against the railing of the Verandah. Her - countenance wore so sad a look that we asked for the cause. The story - was mournful enough. She had been sick. Another woman had come into - her house to attend to her work. Her husband, Tony, had taken a fancy - to the other woman. After awhile, he had gone away and ‘married her.’ - She had insisted upon his remaining with her. He had done so, for some - time, and then gone off again to live with the other wife. Where was - her husband? ‘He was in the meeting-house, yonder, praying.’ Of - course, they had been slaves, had but recently left the ‘old - plantation,’ where such things were little more than matters of - course. The vices of the negro are the vices of the slave. When ‘Tony’ - will know what it is to be a freeman, he will know, also, that it will - not do to have two wives, and to go praying, while one of his wives, - with her and his children, are standing by the side of the - meeting-house, weeping over his inconstancy.” - - - - - CHAPTER XII. - - Business, Speculation and Progress Among the Sea Island Negroes. - - -Whatever may be the end of the wars for the “great city,” which -everybody assures us is to be built hereabouts—at Hilton Head, _or_ at -Bay Point, _or_ up the river, at Beaufort—it is certain that, thus far, -Hilton Head has the start in business. Wading through the sand here, one -finds, at the distance of a square or two from the landing, a row of -ambitious-fronted one and two-story frame houses, blooming out in the -most extravagant display of fancy-lettered signs. The sutlers and -keepers of trade stores, who do here abound, style their street -Merchants’ Row. The luckless staff officers, who have made their -purchases there, preferred to call it “Robbers’ Row,” and there was the -inherent fitness in the title which makes names stick. - -The counters in Robbers’ Row are piled with heavy stocks of ready-made -clothing, pieces of coarse goods, hats and the like; and the show-cases -are filled with cheap jewelry, and the thousand knick-knacks which -captivate the negro eye. It was a busy season for the negroes, but still -a number were in the stores making purchases. “There, my fine fellow, -that fits you exactly. Now, when you get one of those cheap cravats, and -an elegant hat, together with a pair of new boots, which you _must_ -have, and this elegant pair of check pants to match your coat, you’ll -look like a gentleman, won’t he, Auntie?” The uncouth, coarse-limbed -plantation black eyed the trader suspiciously, however, and felt the -coarse check coat, with which he had been furnished, as if he were -afraid so fine a fabric would fall to pieces at his touch. But -“Auntie’s” pleasure in contemplating her husband thus gorgeously -arrayed, in something becoming his style of beauty, was unbounded; and -the reduction in the family purse, that day wrought, must be set to her -account. Substitute straight hair for wool, and change the complexion -somewhat, and the scenes here become reproductions of others, familiar -long ago. They, however, were witnessed far above the head of -navigation, on the Mississippi, at a lonely trading post, among the -Chippewas, kept by a thrifty half-breed. Of the two races, the -Sea-Island negroes evince decidedly the superior judgment in selecting -articles, with some reference to their usefulness. - -Of course, at all these stores, just as at the Indian trading posts, the -customers are swindled; but there is the consolation that the swindle is -regulated and limited by law. A military order has been found necessary -to curtail the extravagant profits of the traders, and protect the -negroes; and, in most cases, they do not now probably pay over two -prices for what they buy. Kid gloves, I found, were only five dollars a -pair, and a very good lady’s riding guantlet could be had for six -dollars. From these, the average scale of prices may be guessed. - -This, however, is only of late date. The prices that were charged, and -the profits realized, here in the earlier months, and even years, of the -occupation, seem fabulous. One man, for example, has accumulated what -would be regarded a handsome fortune, even in New York, who had to work -his passage down here as a deck hand. He was a bankrupt merchant, -honest, but penniless. He believed the fall of these islands would open -a field for handsome trade, and came down, as a sailor, to see for -himself. Returning, he told his creditors what he had seen; and they had -faith enough in him to make up for him a stock of goods, which he sold -out immediately, at such profit as to enable him to make subsequent -purchases on his own account. He has paid off every dollar of his -indebtedness, and is a wealthy man. Numerous stories of the kind are -told; and it may be safely concluded that whoever would endure the dirty -work involved in following the army as trader, has had almost unlimited -opportunities before him. - -Speculation now busies itself about something more permanent. In spite -of the fact that vessels find it hard to ride at anchor near Hilton Head -during a storm, every effort is to be made to stimulate on its site the -growth of a city. A newspaper is already published, which dilates on the -magnificence of its future, and rebukes everybody who doesn’t call the -place Port Royal (the name generally given to the great sheet of water -constituting at once its harbor, that of Bay Point, and of one or two -other places farther in), rather than Hilton Head. An immense wooden -hotel is up, and nearly ready for the furniture, which is all stored -here in advance, ready for the shoal of visitors expected with the -return of cool weather. A railroad is projected nearly due north to -Branchville, a distance of seventy to eighty miles, where it would -connect with the whole railroad system of the South, and make Beaufort -and Hilton Head absolutely independent of Charleston and Savannah. -“Charleston can never have the trade of this coast again, you know; the -North hates it too much, and, in fact, the port never ought to be opened -again; and if we can only get this railroad connection, our harbor is so -much finer than any other on the coast, that we will inevitably have the -greatest city south of Baltimore.” Boston capitalists are said to stand -ready to advance the money for the railroad, but where, in the absence -of State Government, to get the authority to build it, is the question; -and General Gillmore tells me he was appealed to, the other day, to know -if he couldn’t declare it a military necessity. - -That these glowing anticipations of Port Royal greatness will be -realized, at least in part, is unquestionable. The harbor is one of the -very finest on the coast—incomparably superior to either Charleston or -Savannah. The Sea Island soil produces the best cotton in the world, and -the negroes already have it in a state of more thorough cultivation than -was ever before known. The increased wants of the freedmen will -stimulate trade, and small farmers will not be able, as the planters -were in old times, to go to Savannah or Charleston and buy supplies at -wholesale. Whatever the fortune of South Carolina, the Sea Islands must -henceforth be flourishing. Whether negroes will not, by and by, prefer -to trade with persons of their own color, remains to be seen. Real -estate ventures must be further complicated, also, with the -probabilities that the whole sea-coast of South Carolina (if not the -entire State), will speedily become one vast negro colony. Already, the -only inhabitants on the Sea Islands are negroes, and the same race is in -a majority for many miles inland. Compulsory colonization has always -been a failure; but is it not probable that there will be a natural -tendency of negroes to places where flourishing negro communities are -already established, and the local government is mainly in their own -hands? - -Some of our party, who remained at Beaufort after the meeting, gave -amusing accounts of a negro wedding. It seems that the good -superintendent’s remark—if he had only known we were coming he would -have had two or three weddings for us—was no idle boast. Scarcely a -Sunday passes without a marriage, and the young volunteers, who imagine -their monthly pay a pretty good “start” for a family, are especially -given to matrimonial ventures. - -Many of the Sea Islanders, while in slavery, came well up to the -description of Brigham Young, whom Artemus Ward pronounced the “most -married man” he ever saw. But polygamy is a practice not permitted by -the beneficent Government to the poor negroes now—only white people, in -distant localities, can be indulged in so doubtful a luxury—and herewith -arises one of General Saxton’s chief embarrassments. It would often -happen that, in the course of being transferred from one plantation to -another, a negro would have successively three or four, or even half a -dozen wives. Now that he is restricted to one, which should it be? -Moralists and theorists would answer, “the first;” General Saxton, with -the instinct of a sound political economist, says “the one that has the -most children.” As for the rest, they must hunt up other husbands. - -The negroes really seem to appreciate the dignity and solemnity of the -marriage institution; and they have a great anxiety to enter its bonds -fashionably. At the Beaufort wedding, just referred to, the bride wore a -calico dress whose colors were as glowing as her own was swarthy; her -hands were covered with white cotton gloves; and as for her head, neck -and shoulders, a true history will be forever at a loss to tell how they -_were_ clad, for over her head was cast, in flowing folds of portentous -thickness, a gauzy sheet, supposed to represent a white veil. It -shrouded the features in unnatural pallor; it suggested no hint of neck, -and but the remotest suspicion of shoulders, and it was only gathered -into terminal folds somewhere in the region of what should have been the -waist. - -From beneath this effectual concealment, the bride made haste to give -her responses. The poor girl had been cheated out of her marriage, a -week before, by some unexpected order to the regiment which claimed the -services of her soldier-intended, and she was determined to have “de -ting trou wid, dis time.” When the minister asked if he would have this -woman to be his wife, she hastily exclaimed, “Oh! yes, massa, I’ll be -his wife;” and when the irrevocable words were said, the huge veil -disappeared with wondrous rapidity before the ardor of the kiss. But -they got, on their marriage certificate, the signatures of a couple of -witnesses which the highest born in the land would be proud to possess. - -It has been seen that, among the Sea Islanders, the course of true love -runs very much as it does elsewhere. The course of justice seems to be -sometimes as tortuous. Take, for example, the story of a stolen hen in -Mitchelville, and what came of the theft. - -Mitchelville, it must be remembered, is the negro village on Hilton Head -Island, regularly organized with negro officers, and enjoying its -Councilmen and Supervisor, whom their constituents insist on styling -Aldermen and Mayor. The “Aldermen” are enjoined, among other things, to -settle disputes concerning claims for personal property and the like. -Before one of these Aldermen came a disconsolate negress. Her hen had -been stolen, and Gawky Sam was the boy who did it. The boy was summoned, -the evidence heard, the case clearly made out, and two dollars fine -imposed. But here stepped in another Alderman, who, re-hearing the case, -added another dollar to the fine. Before the money was paid, still -another managed to get the case before him, and he imposed a fine of -five dollars. By this time, the Supervisor (“Mayor”) heard the story, -and summoning all the parties before him, inquired: “Uncle Ben, why did -you fine de boy two dollars?” - -“Well, sah, de case was clar; de hen was a mity fine, fat un, and I -reckon she worf about a dollar. Den, sir, nobody oughtub be ’lowed to -steal for less dan a dollah, nohow. So I made him pay de wuf of de hen -to the owner, and a dollah for stealin beside.” - -“Well, ’Cl’erklis (Anglice, Uncle Hercules), why did you make de fine -tree dollah?” - -“Well, de hen war wuf a dollah, easy. Den de boy ought to pay a dollah -for stealin’, anyhow. But den, sah, dat hen war a layin’ eggs, and if -dat Gawky Sam hadn’t done stole her, de eggs she’d a laid ’ud a been, -wuf’t least ’nuther dollah by this time!” - -And the third Alderman, it was found, had proceeded upon the same basis, -but had reckoned the hen more fertile of eggs, or allowed for her having -a longer time in which to produce them; and he had made the boy pay for -three dollars’ worth of eggs that the hen would have laid for the owner, -if she hadn’t been stolen! - -What new versions of law and justice the Mayor would have given, alas! -were lost to the jurisprudence of the Sea Islands, and the case came to -an ignoble ending; for Gawky Sam’s father had grown frightened at these -successive additions to the fine, and the hen had been hastily carried -back to the coop whence she was originally stolen. The Mayor, -accordingly, imposed a fine of a dollar for the crime of the theft, and -peace reigned again among the Aunties of Mitchelville. - - * * * * * - -Ludicrous as was the solemnity of these proceedings, they were, -nevertheless, of value, as showing inherent ideas of justice. In the -days of slavery every negro believed it right to steal, for was he not -stolen, bodily, from himself? And from taking “Massa’s” property, it was -no very hard step to taking that of other people. But with freedom have -come better practices, and already we are assured that theft is -comparatively rare. - -Whoever has read what I have written about the cotton fields of St. -Helena will need no assurance that another cardinal sin of the slave, -his laziness—“inborn and ineradicable,” as we were always told by his -masters—is likewise disappearing under the stimulus of freedom and -necessity. Dishonesty and indolence, then, were the creation of slavery, -not the necessary and constitutional faults of the negro character. May -it not be reasonably hoped that the other great sin of the slave, his -licentiousness, will yet be found to have its origin in the same system, -and its end in the responsibilities of educated freedom? - -Mrs. Stowe, in one of the most striking passages of _Uncle Tom’s Cabin_, -suggests a comparison between Eva and Topsy, the one, the child of -refined and educated parents, and coming of a race in which refinement -and education had bettered the blood from generation to generation; the -other, born of ages of oppression, barbarism, bestial ignorance and sin. -The comparison might be pushed to a conclusion Mrs. Stowe does not draw. -How _can_ the brain, thus cramped and debased from father to son, at one -bound, rise to the hight of the Anglo-Saxon mind, which these -generations of culture have been broadening and strengthening? -Enthusiasts tell us that the negro mind is to-day as good as that of the -white; but I doubt if ten or fifteen years of education on these Sea -Islands will prove it. They seem to me, in some cases, to have as _much_ -intellect as the whites; but it is in the rough, is torpid, needs to be -vitalized and quickened, and brought under control. Things which require -no strong or complex intellectual effort—how to read, how to manage -their farms, or bargain for the sale of watermelons—they learn quickly -and well. An average negro child will learn its letters, and read -cleverly in the First Reader, in three months. The average of white -children do little, if any, better. But the negroes who are to make -rapid progress in the higher branches, or who are to be proficients in -skilled labor, have not yet been found abundantly on the Sea Islands. - -So their moral faculties seem to me to be torpid, like their minds. -Their religion seems rather a paroxysm of the affections than an -intelligent conviction; and it is only beginning to lay hold upon the -realities of their daily lives. Their affections, whether toward God or -toward their neighbors, are unquestionably lively, but of doubtful -depth. One sees, however, scarcely a trace of revengeful feeling toward -their old masters. If good passions are shallow, so, too, are bad ones. -Nor do I see any element whatever out of which a negro insurrection -could now, or ever could have been, evolved. The enterprise which risks -present pains and dangers for future good is not now a characteristic of -the Sea-Island negroes. If it come at all, it must come—as it has _not_ -yet, to some of the most cultivated peoples in the world—with the -education and aspirations of comparative freedom. - -[Illustration: _Forts at Savannah.—Page 131._] - - - - - CHAPTER XIII. - - Pulaski—Savannah—Bonaventure. - - -From Hilton Head to Savannah, an inner passage among the Sea Islands is -practicable for all vessels of light draught. General Gillmore, who -accompanied us to Savannah with his staff, took our whole party on board -his headquarters boat, a spacious side-wheel river steamer; and, about -the middle of the afternoon we pushed off from the Hilton Head wharf, -and were soon steaming rapidly along Scull Creek. On either side was the -lush vegetation and low, flat scenery of the islands. Cultivated -plantations were nearly always in sight; but they were mainly given over -to the negroes, and but few of the former residences of the planters -could now be seen. A magnificent beach on our left extended, apparently, -half way from Fort Pulaski to Hilton Head; and the staff officers talked -appetizingly of gallops along its entire length. During the whole -afternoon we did not see one white man on the plantations; nor, -probably, would we if we had searched them carefully. They have all fled -to the misty, undefined “interior,” and abandoned the islands to the -“niggers.” - - * * * * * - -It was something to be shown over Fort Pulaski, by the one who had -revolutionized gunnery in reducing it. General Gillmore pointed out——by -the way, I have neglected to tell what the hero of Pulaski is like. -Fancy a fine, wholesome-looking, solid six-footer, with big head, broad, -good-humored face, and a high forehead, faintly elongated by a suspicion -of baldness, curly brown hair and beard, and a frank, open face, and you -have him. A quick-speaking, quick-moving, soldierly man he is, an -accomplished engineer, one of the finest practical artillerists in the -world, and, withal, a man whose ideas are not limited by the range of -his profession, wherein he forms a notable contrast to some other -regular officers one might name. - -The garrison of Pulaski—apparently a company, with, I believe, a young -artillery Captain in command of the post—were on the look-out for the -party, and a salute was firing from the barbette guns of the fort before -our vessel had rounded to, at the rickety and almost inaccessible wharf. -The low, flat ground on which the fort is situated, is grassy and firm -as a well-kept lawn; and as the sinking sun, lit up with sloping rays -the distant woods and the rippling river, gilded the burst columbiad -(which had been set upright over the graves of the soldiers killed in -the bombardment, and with its terse inscription, constituted a monument -as beautiful as unique,) flashed from the bayonets of the slow-pacing -guard on the parapet wall, and brought dimly out beyond the wood the -spires of Savannah, one could readily credit the declaration of an -engineer officer on General Gillmore’s staff, who had been stationed -there for a month or two, that it was the pleasantest place he had found -on the whole South Atlantic coast. An hour’s conflict with the -mosquitoes, however, would be apt to cause a hasty retraction (and -retreat.) - -The General led us first around the outer moat to the face fronting -Tybee Island, from which he had bombarded it. The breaches have all been -thoroughly repaired, but with a different-colored brick; and the -pock-marked appearance of the casemates sufficiently attested the -efficiency of the fire. Inside the fort there was nothing to see, save -that with mosquito-nets, instead of doors and windows, with ample -supplies of ice, and by the aid of the thick walls of the fort, our -Yankee officers have learned to make garrison duty in the South quite -endurable. Beside Sumter and Fisher, Fort Pulaski is contemptible; and -the main interest now attaching to the place is, that it taught us, as -General Gillmore tersely expresses it, “how any brick or stone fort can -be rapidly breached at 1,650 yards distance,” and that, “with guns of my -own selection, I would undertake to breach a brick scarp at 2,000 -yards.” The fort is now stronger and better every way than when seized -by the Rebels; but, as a protection to the harbor of Savannah, against -an attack of iron-clads, or the advance of an army, with rifled -artillery, it is nearly valueless. Like our other brick and stone forts -on the coast, however, it may be made the basis of a powerful defense. -Heap up earthworks on the outside, and, so long as its garrison could be -provisioned, it would be impregnable. - - * * * * * - -A sunken vessel lay in the channel, off the fort, and the narrowness Of -the passage showed how utterly impossible the fall of Pulaski had made -blockade running for Savannah. Realizing the fact, its defenders had -taken little pains to keep the river open; and their cribs of logs, -firmly bolted together and filled with stones to obstruct the passage of -our iron-clads up the stream, had so nearly destroyed the navigation -that, even at the time of our visit, after weeks of work in removing -them, since the city fell into our hands, our Captain was afraid to -attempt the passage in the dark, and we had to lie at anchor, half a -mile above Pulaski, all night. - -Everybody was awakened, next morning, by the announcement that Jeff. -Davis was alongside. If the officer who came hurrying through the cabin -to tell it, had said the Prince of Darkness was alongside, in the bodily -presence, no one would have been more surprised. Admiral Dahlgren had -told us of close watch kept along the west coast of Florida for the -fallen Chief, and General Gillmore had, only the day before, been -expressing rather faint hopes that, possibly, the vigilance of the land -and naval forces in that distant quarter might be rewarded with success. -That, in the midst of these expectations, Jeff. Davis should be quietly -brought up and lashed alongside our boat, before anybody but the crew -was awake, and while we were peacefully steaming up to Savannah, was -quite enough to move our special wonder. - -The Colonel in charge of the prisoner had been directed to report to -General Gillmore, and await orders, which were promptly given. It was -thought best, under all the circumstances, that there should be no other -intercourse between the boats. The story of the capture, in a -semi-female disguise, was fully told by the captor; and so, fresh from -this final illustration of the absolute collapse of the rebellion, we -landed, in the gray morning, at the Savannah wharves. To our left, -across a narrow and rather turbid stream, stretched away to the sea a -level marsh, flat as a Western prairie, and green with the lush -vegetation of the rice swamp; on the right were rows of fine warehouses, -that for four years had known neither paint nor repairs; wharves, -through the broken planks of which a careless walker might readily make -an unwelcome plunge into not over-cleanly water; and, back of the -warehouses, high stone walls, up which, at infrequent intervals, rude -staircases conduct the pedestrian to the level of the city proper. - - * * * * * - -To the Northern reader, Savannah, Charleston, Wilmington, Richmond, have -always seemed important names; and while never unconscious that none of -them were New York, or Boston, or even Baltimore, yet he has nearly -always associated with them the idea of large population, fine -architecture and general metropolitan appearance. Nothing better -illustrates the pretentious policy of this latitude, which has been -always successful in being accepted at its own valuation. Savannah, for -example, which is a scattered, tolerably well-built town of twenty -thousand inhabitants, about the size of Oswego or Utica, in New York, or -Dayton or Columbus, in Ohio, has aspired to be the “metropolis of the -South Atlantic coast” and by dint of their perpetual boasts, Georgians -had actually succeeded in making us all regard it very nearly as we do -Cincinnati, or Chicago, or St. Louis. A Savannah shopkeeper was -indignant, beyond description, at a careless remark of mine. I had asked -the population of the place, and, on being told, had answered -wonderingly, “Why, that isn’t more than a thousand ahead of Lynn, the -little town in Massachusetts, where they make shoes and send Henry -Wilson to the United States Senate.” The shopkeeper swept off the -counter the articles he had been showing me, and, with an air of -disdain, said he would like to count profits on goods by the arithmetic -Yankees used in estimating the population of their nasty little -manufacturing holes. - -But the people in general were exceedingly polite, though one could now -and then detect the sullen air which showed how hard it was to bear the -presence of the Yankees. It was evident that they felt conquered, and -stood in silent and submissive apprehension, awaiting whatever course -the victors might see fit to pursue, and ready to acquiesce, with such -grace as they might, in whatever policy the Government should adopt. -Surely, now is the golden opportunity for a statesman to shape and mold -these Southern institutions as he will. Shall it not be improved? - -The little squares at the intersection of the principal streets, with -their glimpse of sward, their fountains, live-oaks, magnolias and -pride-of-India trees, make up, in part, for the absence of the elegant -residences, embowered in luxurious shrubbery, which form so attractive a -feature of Charleston. One strolls from square to square, seeing here -children and their nurses playing under the trees, and there groups of -negroes idly enjoying the shade; and scarcely realizes, till he sets -foot again in the unpaved streets, and sinks in the burning sand, that -he is in the heart of a “great Southern metropolis,” the chief city of -“the Empire State of the South.” A little shopping for some members of -our party showed that the old merchants still had certain lines of goods -in abundance. Jewelry stores had large remnants of the stocks laid in -during the winter of 1860-’61; coarse dry goods were plenty, and so were -what, I believe, are technically called “wet groceries.” Execrable soda -water gurgled at almost every corner; large and gay-looking drug stores -seemed to laugh at our impotent blockade on calomel; and what the native -traders could not supply in the way of the fashions for the last four -years, a dozen sutlers’ establishments, already in full blast, were -ready to furnish. Rebel currency had wholly vanished; and small pieces -of gold and silver were gradually making their appearance, particularly -in the hands of persons from the interior. - -The streets of Savannah present the most striking contrast to those of -Charleston. There, scarcely a white inhabitant of the city was to be -seen. The merchants, the small shopkeepers, the _restaurateurs_ were all -gone, and, where the soldiers had not taken possession, shutters, barred -and bolted, closed in their establishments. Here, on the contrary, the -town had been taken, inhabitants and all. The difference is about that -between having a watch and a watch case. As a smart sailor from the -Wayanda said, “this town isn’t dead; it’s wound up and running.” The -stores were all open; business of every sort progressed precisely as -usual. Save that the schools were filled with negroes, and the rebel -newspapers had been succeeded by loyal ones, and guards in blue, instead -of gray, stood here and there, it was the rebel Savannah unchanged. The -streets were filled with the inhabitants, dressed somewhat antiquely, -but giving no signs of suffering; little knots gathered in the public -squares, or around the saloons and shops, to discuss the news and their -prospects; and curious eyes followed us at every corner, as if to say, -“There go some more of the Yankees.” Every house was occupied; the front -windows were open as usual; and the ladies seemed to have no particular -prejudice against being seen—old clothes and all. - -Some of us went to the hotel, nearly opposite the plain, square shaft -erected in honor of Pulaski, and, as an experiment, tried their -breakfast. As an experiment it was quite successful; as a breakfast, -very poor; but we had a dozen rebel officers as neighbors, and passed -salt and broke bread with them as indifferently as though they were not -yet wearing the very uniform and side arms that proclaimed their -treason. The furniture of the hotel had grown shabby with four years’ -use; dishes had been broken and forks stolen, and there had been no -means of supplying the loss; even napkins were scarce, but negro waiters -were abundant, and as polite as ever. The bar was doing a thriving -business; swarthy and ringleted cavaliers in gray were pledging each -other in bumpers of liquors altogether too strong for the climate, and -old acquaintances were producing their hoarded rolls of greenbacks to -“treat” the returning braves. “Well, Colonel, you don’t come back -victorious, but I’m d——d glad to see you, any way. Your old friends are -proud of you. Come and have a drink.” “Sorry about that ugly wound, -Captain. A hand is a bad thing to lose, but it wont hurt you among the -ladies of Savannah. There are plenty that you can persuade to give you -one. What’ll you drink?” - - * * * * * - -Whoever goes to Savannah must see the city cemetery. There is nothing -else to show; so we all made the most of what there was, and drove -heroically through the sand to Bunoaventua. From a street of well-built -frame houses we plunged square off into the squalid country. Elegant -suburbs and fine country residences seem a thing unknown. The shell road -was once the pride of Savannah, but its glory, too, was departed; and -our carriage wheels powdered us with sand, till, chameleon like, we had -taken the hue of our surroundings, and seemed clad in Confederate gray. -The few houses to be seen were forlorn-looking shanties, belonging to -the poor white trash, with rotten steps and doors awry, and foul -passages and oozy back yards. Here and there we met a creaking cart, -drawn by an ox or a broken-down horse, laden with rickety pine -furniture, and guided by the lank, lantern-jawed, stubby-bearded, -long-haired owner. He was “toting” his goods in from some house which -Sherman’s “bummers” had burned or plundered. If his “woman” trudged on -foot behind him, be sure she assuaged the fatigues of the journey with -great quids of tobacco and profuse expectoration; while the ragged, -frowzy children were kept busy with the vagaries of the cow. The Yankee -soldiers “had taken his corn, and spiled his crop, and he’d heern that -the Government was a givin’ out rations in Savannah.” - -But our drivers presently left the main road, for one which led through -sandy barrens, covered with a stunted undergrowth, and seemed to be -better in that the sand was a little firmer. Here and there a brilliant -flower enlivened the barren scene; but the expected profusion of glowing -colors we had all been led to look for about Savannah was wanting. At -last, after a ride, which, in the melting sun and abounding sand, -entitled one to a sight of something beautiful, we reached a rustic -gate, and decayed lodge by its side; and, passing through, were at once -in a scene for the possession of which New York might well offer a large -fraction of what she has expended on her Central Park. - -The finest live-oak trees I have yet seen in the South, stretched away -in long avenues on either hand, intersected by cross avenues, and arched -with interlacing branches, till the roof over our heads seemed, in -living green, a graining, after the pattern of Gothic arches, in some -magnificent old cathedral. It is the finest material in the country for -the elaboration of the most beautiful cemetery. But, as in most places -in the South, everything has stopped where nature stopped. One of the -Tatnalls, probably an ancestor of the Commodore of our navy, of Chinese -and Rebel note, long ago selected this site for his residence, builded -his house, and laid out the grounds in these stately avenues. The house -was burned down during some holiday rejoicings. An idea that the place -was unhealthy possessed the owners, and, with a curious taste, what was -too dangerous for men to live in was straightway selected for dead men -to be buried in. We would hardly choose a malarious bottom, or a -Northern tamarack swamp for a burying ground, beautiful as either might -be, but what matters it? After life’s fitful fever, the few interred -here sleep, doubtless, as sweetly beneath the gigantic oaks in the -solemn avenues, as if on breeziest upland of mountain heather. - -Even into this secluded gloom have come the traces of our civil wars. -The only large monument in the cemetery is that bearing the simple -inscription of “Clinch,” and within it lie, I am told, the bones of the -father-in-law of “Sumter Anderson,” as in all our history he is -henceforth to be known. Some vandal has broken down the marble slab that -closed the tomb, and exposed the coffins within. - -This very barbarism, with the absence of the rows of carefully-tended -graves, and the headstones with affectionate inscriptions that mark all -other cemeteries, increases the impressive gloom of the lonely place. -The sun struggles in vain to penetrate the Gothic arches overhead. Here -and again a stray beam struggles through, only to light up with a -ghostly silver radiance, the long, downward-pointing spear point of the -Tillandsia or Spanish Moss. The coolness is marvelous; the silence -profound—or only broken by the gentle ripplings of the little stream by -which the farther side of the cemetery is bounded. Everywhere the arches -are hung—draped, perhaps, I should better say—with the deathly festoons -of the Spanish Moss, slowly stealing sap and vigor—fit funeral work—from -these giant oaks, and fattening on their decay. Drive where you will, -the moss still flutters in your face, and waves over your head, and, lit -with the accidental ray from above, points its warning, silvery light -toward the graves beneath your feet; while still it clings, in the -embrace of death, to the sturdy oaks on which it has fastened, and -preaches and practices destruction together. Noble and lusty oaks are -these; glorious in spreading boughs, and lofty arches, and fluttering -foliage, but dying in the soft embrace of the parasite that clings and -droops, and makes yet more picturesque and beautiful in decay—dying, -even as Georgia was dying in the embrace of another parasite, having a -phase not less picturesque, and a poisonous progress not less subtly -gentle. - -Some day, when Georgia has fully recovered, this spot too, will feel the -returning tide of her generous, healthy blood. The rank undergrowth will -be cleared away, walks will be laid out among the tombs where now are -only tangled and serpent-infested paths; shafts will rise up to the -green arches to commemorate the names of those most deserving in the -State, and the Tillandsia, still waving its witchery of silver, will -then seem only like myriad drooping plumes of white, forever tremulously -pendant over graves at which the State is weeping. - - - - - CHAPTER XIV. - - White and Black Georgians—The Savannah Standard of Unionism. - - -The difference between Savannah and Port Royal negroes is the difference -between the child and the man. Young men, fresh from Massachusetts -common schools, do not surpass raw Cornish miners more; average Yankees -do not surpass average Mexicans as much. Naturally, in listening to the -negro delegations that called on Mr. Chase and General Gillmore, I heard -the best talkers they have; but there is a general air of intelligence -and independence among them, here, which comes only of education and -knowledge of the ways of the world. Train the children of the present -Port Royal negroes steadily in common schools, and let them mingle, till -middle age, with their superiors in life, learning to see for themselves -and take care of their own interests, and you will then have about what -the Savannah negroes are now. There are eight thousand five hundred of -them, who belong to the city proper; and, of these, about a thousand -have been free since long before the war, while many of the rest, being -sons and daughters of their masters, or, otherwise, house servants, have -had advantages not possessed by ordinary slaves. Besides these, there -are large numbers here who have escaped from their masters in the -interior, and these may always be set down as the most intelligent and -enterprising on their respective plantations. - -A delegation, headed by one or two preachers and a school-teacher, -called on Mr. Chase, by appointment previously sought by one of their -number. Some of them were jet black; none of them were lighter than -mulattoes. The spokesman was a mulatto preacher, of more than usually -intelligent features, and with the quiet bearing of a gentleman. The -courtesy with which they approached and addressed the Chief Justice -could hardly have been surpassed by any of the accomplished counselors -of the Supreme Court; indeed, politeness seems to be a speciality of all -negroes, and, among the cultivated ones, it takes on a deferential grace -which no Anglo-Saxon may hope to exceed. - -The spokesman said they had called partly to pay their respects and -express their gratitude to one whom they recognized as foremost and most -potential among the living in their deliverance; but mainly to inquire -what the Government was likely to do with them, and what they themselves -ought to be doing to secure the rights of which they thought they had -been unjustly deprived. Especially they desired to know what their -prospect was for being permitted to exercise, in common with all other -native freemen, the elective franchise. - -“Suppose you _were_ permitted to vote,” said the Chief Justice, “what -guarantee would the Government have that you would know how to vote, or -that your influence would not be cast on the side of bad morals and bad -politics?” - -“Oh, Mr. Judge,” ejaculated a little black fellow, “we know who our -friends are!” - -“I am not so sure about that. You don’t know the positions of many of -the leading men here, and some of them, by professing to be your -friends, might easily deceive you.” - -“No, sir; I ’sure you we knows our friends,” responded the same -coal-black speaker. - -“Perhaps you in the cities may. I am not disposed, myself, to doubt it. -But here is a great mass of ignorant field hands from the plantations. -They are scattered all over Georgia, and they don’t have the advantages -or the opportunities of learning which you have. What is to prevent them -from voting just as their old masters may tell them?” - -“Oh, we’ll tell them how to vote, sir; we have means of reaching them; -and _they’ll follow us sooner than they will their old masters or any -white man_.” - -“Possibly; perhaps even probably. But neither they, nor even you, are -familiar with political history, the organization of parties, the -antecedents of parties or of leaders; and you are very liable to be -deceived. How do we know that, in your ignorance, you will not be -tricked into voting the slavery ticket, under some pleasant and -deceptive name, rather than the freedom ticket?” - -“Mr. Judge, we always knows who’s our friends and who isn’t. We knows -the difference between the Union ticket and the Rebel ticket. We may not -know all about all the men that’s on it; but we knows the difference -between the Union and the Rebel parties. Yes, sir; we knows that much -better than you do! Because, sir, some of our people stand behind these -men at the table, and hear ’em talk; we see ’em in the house and by the -wayside; and we _know_ ’em from skin to core, better than you do or can -do, till you live among ’em as long, and see as much of ’em as we have.” - -“I have no doubt of your competency to take care of yourselves in -Savannah,” said the Chief Justice; “but what your friends at the North -are afraid of, is, that your people in the interior will not know how to -tell whom to vote for, for the present at least, and that in their -bewilderment they will vote just as their old masters tell them they -ought.” - -“I tell you, Mr. Judge,” said the preacher, “we can reach every colored -man in the State; and they would rather trust intelligent men of their -own color than any white man. They’ll vote the ticket we tell them is -the ticket of our friends; and, as fast as they can, they’ll learn to -read and judge for themselves.” - -“Sir,” he continued, “the white population of Georgia is five hundred -thousand, and, of that number, fifty thousand, or one in ten, can’t read -and write. Give us three years to work in, and, among our younger -adults, the proportion who can not read and write will be no greater. -But, sir, these whites don’t read and write because they don’t want to; -our people don’t, because the law and public feeling were against it. -The ignorant whites had every chance to learn, but didn’t; we had every -chance to remain ignorant, and many of us learned in spite of them.” - -Another delegation consisted of blacks from the country, wearing coarse -negro clothes instead of broadcloth, less graceful in their bearing, and -less cultivated in their talk. Their old masters were abusing them, were -whipping those who said they thought they were free, and were doing all -they could to retain them in a state of actual, if not also nominal, -slavery. Some were endeavoring to earn a living by hauling wood to the -country towns, and they complained that their old masters went with -cunning stories to the military authorities and contrived to have them -stopped. Others had tales of atrocities to tell, whippings and cutting -off of ears and the like, for the crimes of going where they pleased and -assuming to act as freemen. All the negroes knew that the North had -triumphed in the war, and that they were by consequence free; but the -white masters didn’t yet seem to understand it. Some of these men -appeared patient enough under their wrongs; others bore themselves -angrily, and were full of revengeful thoughts. A slave insurrection is -not probable; but where whites and negroes are alike unarmed, and the -negroes are nearly or quite equal to the white population, there may be -such a thing as goading the patient bearer of burdens into revolt. If -so, let the masters beware. On the levees of the Mississippi any man can -loose the floods of half a continent; but it takes many men to confine -them again. - -Few of the negroes, and, indeed, few of the whites, spoke of any settled -arrangements between the late slaves and the late masters, on the basis -of the freedom of the blacks, and their consequent right to wages. -Wherever any bargains had been made, they seemed to be such as would -virtually establish the Mexican peonage instead of Southern slavery. -Negroes were hired at nominal monthly wages, “with board;” and whatever -debts they incurred in getting their clothing were to be subsequently -“worked out” at the same rates. The result was, of course, certain to be -that the masters would encourage the negroes to run in debt; and, this -done, would hold them forever by a constantly strengthening chain.[20] - -I saw none of the negroes, either residing in Savannah or from the -country, who had any desire to be colonized away from their present -homes. Ask them if they would like to live by themselves, and they would -generally say “Yes” (as they did to Secretary Stanton); but further -inquiry would always develope the fact that their idea of “living by -themselves” was to have the whites removed from what they consider their -own country. Admiral Dahlgren’s observation at Charleston (that the -negroes couldn’t see what good it did them to make them free, unless -they were to have the land to which their slave labor had given all its -value), is confirmed here, as it was at Port Royal. The more intelligent -negroes generally think it would be better for their people to be freed -from contact with the whites; but their idea of accomplishing it is, not -to remove the blacks, but to have the whites remove from them. They -believe in colonization; but it is in colonization on the lands they -have been working. From the bare idea of enforced, or even voluntary, -removal to other sections, they utterly revolt. - -No one, who saw or conversed with the leading Savannah negroes, would -doubt their entire capacity to support themselves. They were all -well-dressed, in clothes bought by their own earnings; many of them were -living in large and well-furnished houses; some owned their own -residences, and not a few had quite handsome incomes. In short, the -negro has shown in Savannah, just as in more northern cities, that in -proportion as he advanced in intelligence, he advanced also in the arts -of money getting, and gathered about him those substantial evidences of -prosperity which all governments regard as the best guarantee for the -good behavior of the citizen. - -The negroes have been holding meetings here, marked, apparently, by more -than their usual discretion, and, indeed, so wisely conducted as to -elicit from one of the Savannah papers this eulogium: - - A more orderly, decorous audience never assembled within the walls - of an edifice, than these enthusiastic people, whose sincere - gratitude was depicted in every emotion. We rejoice that these - people understand, perfectly, that freedom does not mean idleness, - but perseverance and industry. - -A correspondent of one of the newspapers is reminded, by their bearing, -of certain passages of Scripture, and copies out, and the paper gravely -quotes, in its editorial columns, as follows: - - For the Lord our God, He it is that brought us up, and our fathers, - out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage, and which did - those great signs in our sight, and preserved us in all the way - wherein we went, and among all the people through whom we passed. - (Joshua xxiv: 17.) - - And when thy sons asketh thee, in time to come, saying, what mean - the testimonies, and the statues, and the judgments, which the Lord - our God hath commanded you? - - Then thou shalt say unto the son: We were Pharaoh’s bondmen in - Egypt; and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. - - And the Lord shewed signs and wonders, great and sore, upon Egypt, - upon Pharaoh, and upon all his household before our eyes. - - And He brought us out from thence, that He might bring us in, to - give us the land which He sware unto our fathers. (Deut. vi: 20, 21, - 22 and 23.) - -The newspapers which make these Scriptural applications, however, it -must be remembered, are the productions of the Northern editors who have -come down in the wake of the army, or of Southern journalists who have -stood ready to change with the tide. - -This evening several of these gentlemen called on me, on board the boat. -One, of unkempt hair and clothes, and glittering eye, that even opium -could have made no brighter, and air at once of the gentleman and the -seedy Southerner, has already a wide Northern acquaintance. Who has not -read of “Doesticks,”—his adventures at Niagara, and his multifarious -encounters with a single glass of ale? “Doesticks” turns up in the flesh -in Savannah; and Mr. Mortimer Thompson assures us that he finds it pay -down here very well, if it “were not for this cursed blockhead of a -Commanding General!” Alas! how that ghost still stands in the way of the -enterprising journalist! Even Punch, with all his gibes, is overawed -before our conquering Northern Mars; and Doesticks groans under the -oppression of the uniform of the “Commanding General.” His circulation -is good, he avers (and there lurks no fun, for a wonder, beneath the -word), every Rebel takes the paper, because every Rebel wants to know -the news from the Yankees; and there is a better chance than ever -before, to spread Yankee notions among this people, _if_ it weren’t for -that cursed Commanding General! Advertising is good; Savannah merchants -and Northern sutlers compete for the trade of the army and the city; -news is plenty; there is no trouble about selling papers and coining -money; _if_ it weren’t for the perpetual interference of that blockhead -of a Commanding General! Northern men could succeed, even better as -journalists here than Southerners, because they have more industry, know -more about their business, and could make better papers, _if_ it weren’t -for that Commanding General! I believe, from a hint Gillmore has given, -that the Commanding General is about to be changed; and, from the bottom -of my heart, I congratulate Doesticks on it. - -Communication with the interior is yet very uncertain. The mails are all -stopped; the railroads broken up; the highways blockaded by sentries -that imitate the fly-trap—let you in but won’t let you out. There is no -scarcity of news here from the interior, but Savannah is, as yet, a -focus which receives all these diverse rays of intelligence and reflects -none back again. The town is full of black and white refugees from all -parts of Georgia; both races are daily coming in large numbers, some for -supplies, some to find what the policy of the Government is likely to -be, some to go North. What the negroes tell, in the way of trouble with -their masters, and petty persecutions that seem designed, since their -freedom can’t be taken away, to make freedom very unpleasant for them, -has already been partly recited. The whites are, of course, discreetly -silent on such subjects, though I have heard one or two refer rather -significantly to the “uncommon amount of whipping it takes now to keep -the plantation niggers in order.” But they are full of complaints of -their own, telling how lazy and worthless the negroes are, how Sherman’s -soldiers desolated the country, and how unsettled every one feels. - -There is apparently no apprehension among them of guerrilla warfare; in -fact, they scout at the idea. Question them as to everything for which -the war was fought, the doctrine of secession, the rightfulness of -slavery, the wrongs of the South, and they are found as full of the -sentiments that made the rebellion as ever; but every man has apparently -schooled himself into saying, with an air of utter frankness: “We’re -whipped, and we give it up. There will be no more fighting of any sort; -no guerrillas; no resistance to the Government; and we all accept the -death of slavery as inevitable.” Ask them what should be done with them, -now that they’re subdued, and they say: “We’re wholly in the hands of -the Government, but would like to have our State Governments restored as -soon as possible.” Ask them what should be done with the negroes, now -that they’re free, and the bolder ones answer, “Put them under the care -of the State Legislature;” while all seem to insist upon some sort of -apprenticeship, or other legal restriction that will practically keep -them as much slaves as ever. I have found no Georgian who, now that his -slaves can no longer be made to work for him, expects to work for -himself. In fact, working for themselves does not seem to be, in any -event, of success or of failure, of loyalty or of rebellion, a part of -their philosophy of life. Work is for “niggers”—not for white men. - -Nor do they seem to entertain any idea of selling off part of their -lands, in order to get money to stock and till properly the remainder. -Some of them think selling their lands, inherited from their fathers, -would be dishonorable; others affect to believe that nobody would buy; -while it is quite evident that, as long as they can help it, none of -them mean to sell. - -“What would be the sense of my selling?” asked one. “Suppose I did; what -then could I do for a livelihood? I don’t know how to do anything to -make money, and I wouldn’t go at it if I did. I’m no book-keeper or -counter-jumper. I never learned a trade; I have no profession. I own -these lands, and, if the niggers can be made to work, they’ll support -me; but there’s nothing else that I know anything about, except managing -a plantation.” - -By-and-by, however, necessity will begin to pinch them more and more. -Then, unless they succeed, in some way, in cheating the Government and -making emancipation a sham, many of them will throw their lands into the -market, rather than honestly attempt to work them with free labor. When -that time comes, Northern capital will have such an opening as rarely -coffers twice in one capitalist’s lifetime. - - * * * * * - -A large number of leading citizens of Savannah, and gentlemen gathered -here from different parts of the State, waited on the Chief Justice and -General Gillmore during our visit. One, a fine-looking old gentleman, of -rubicund visage and silvery hair, with two sons holding high rank in the -Rebel army, wanted to remonstrate against the admission of the negroes -to the public schools. He was painfully polite, but, in spite of his -calmness, the deep feeling under which he labored could not be wholly -concealed. “Sir, we accept the death of slavery; but, sir, surely there -are some things that are not tolerable. Our people have not been brought -up to associate with negroes. They don’t think it decent; and the -negroes will be none the better for being thrust thus into the places of -white men’s sons.” - -Accompanying this old gentleman, and one or two of the other Savannah -magnates, was Mr. Charles Green, a noted British merchant, of many -years’ residence here. Mr. Green is among the wealthiest inhabitants; -has made more money out of the war than any one else, unless Savannah -rumor greatly belies him; lives in one of the finest houses; was the -first man to greet General Sherman and offer him the hospitalities of -his residence—in short, is at once a British and a Savannah institution, -and is, withal, a gentleman of culture and refinement. His cordial -courtesies had to be declined; but it was interesting to see, in the -short interview in which he tendered them, how completely the old -prejudices of the section retained their influence. Mr. Green was Doctor -Russell’s host during the much-abused _Times_’ correspondent’s stay in -Savannah, and in those days it does not appear that he differed very -widely from other secession-loving Britons in the South. But it is -amazing what difference success or failure makes in the soundness of a -principle! - -Mingling freely with a crowd of fifteen or twenty gentlemen, who called -a little later, all Georgians, and all but two or three residents of -Savannah, I made some effort, by comparison of their various views, to -get at the nature and standard of Savannah Unionism. Some of them, -indeed, made no profession of being Union men, and said they only called -to indicate their entire disposition to submit, without opposition, to -whatever the Government might do, and to pay their respects to the man -whom they recognized as the ablest in our public life, and, by virtue of -his management of the finances, their real conqueror. But the most were -all desirous of being considered now warm Union men. They were all ready -to submit to anything. They were helpless, they said, but surely the -Government would be magnanimous. They knew slavery was gone; but the -Government ought not to permit the slaves to become vagabonds. If they -must have the negroes living among them, they ought to have some power -to make them work. The Rebel soldiers and officers were always spoken of -with warm kindness; and it was evidently only in exceptional cases that -active service for the Rebellion had made any of them think less of a -returning Rebel neighbor. They hoped civil government would be -re-established as soon as possible, and the military restraints removed. -Of course, confiscation would be abandoned, now that all had submitted; -and it would be very hard if the majority of the old voters were not -still permitted to vote. Judge Wayne, of the Supreme Court of the United -States, had returned within a few days, and settled down in his old -house, among his old neighbors. They were glad to welcome him back, and -hoped his coming was a token of the kindly feeling of the Judiciary -toward them. They knew they would not be betrayed in returning like -repentant children, and asking for protection in their rights. - -This last phrase was reiterated so often that at last I exclaimed to one -of them: “But what rights have you?” - -“Our rights as a sovereign State under the Constitution.” - -“Your people, then, do not realize that, having rebelled from the -Constitution, and abjured all rights under it, they can not, with a very -good grace, after failing to destroy it, come back and demand the right -to enjoy it.” - -“Why, of course, the Constitution stands. We only went out from under -it. It would be strange, if, when we come back under it, we should find -its protecting power gone.” - -“You do not regard any of your rights, then, as destroyed or imperiled -by your rebellion?” - -“Why should they be? The right to hold slaves has been destroyed by the -military authorities; but, unless the Constitution is destroyed, we have -all the powers under it we ever had.” - -And, in short, they consider that they have the absolute right to State -Governments, the old suffrage, and, in a word, the old _status_ on -everything, slavery only excepted. Yet, withal, there is a curious -submissiveness about them, whenever there is talk of the power of the -conquerors. The simple truth is, they stand ready to claim everything, -if permitted, and to accept anything, if required. - - * * * * * - -In the evening a stroll through the streets gave some other phases of -the city life. As has been said, the place was full of returning rebel -soldiers. At every corner their friends, and particularly their female -acquaintances, were greeting them with a warmth that seemed in nowise -tempered by contempt for their lack of success. Many a stalwart fellow, -in coarse gray, was fairly surrounded on the sidewalk by a bevy of his -fair friends; and if without an arm or a leg, so much the better—the -compliments would rain upon him till the blushes would show upon his -embrowned cheeks, and he was fairly convinced that he had taken the most -gallant and manly course in the world. - -Very pretty it was, nevertheless, if one could only forget what these -men had been doing, to see the warmth of their welcome home; to watch -little children clinging to the knees of papas they had almost -forgotten; to observe wives promenading proudly with husbands they had -not seen for years; to notice the delighted gathering of family groups -around some chair in the piazza, long vacant, but filled again by a -crippled soldier, home from the wars, with only his wounds and his glory -for his pay. - -The bearing of the rebel soldiers was unexceptionable. My companion was -a staff officer, in undress uniform, and without arms. At times, for -squares, there would be no sentry in sight; so that it was not the mere -vulgar fear of immediate arrest that made them respectful. Occasionally -I observed them look curiously and rather admiringly at the elegant -texture and easy fit of the uniform, so unlike their own; often they -straightened up to a thorough soldierly bearing, and even sometimes -respectfully saluted as they passed. - -Indeed, nothing was more touching, in all that I saw in Savannah, than -the almost painful effort of the rebels, from Generals down to privates, -to conduct themselves so as to evince respect for our soldiers, and to -bring no severer punishment upon the city than it had already received. -There was a brutal scene at the hotel, where a drunken sergeant, with a -pair of tailors’ shears, insisted on cutting the buttons from the -uniform of an elegant gray-headed old Brigadier, who had just come in -from Johnston’s army; but he bore himself modestly and very handsomely -through it. His staff was composed of fine-looking, stalwart fellows, -evidently gentlemen, who appeared intensely mortified at such -treatment—wholly unmerited, by the way, since they had no clothes save -their Rebel uniforms, and had, as yet, had no time to procure others—but -they avoided disturbance, and submitted to what they might, with some -propriety, and with the general approval of our officers, have resented. -What these men may become, under a lax rein, can not be said; but, -supposing themselves under a tight rein, they are now behaving, in the -main, with very marked propriety. - -Half a dozen pretty women were keeping up a busy chatter, all to -themselves, in an ice-cream saloon, where we sat down for a few moments. -“I’m going North, in a few days,” said one, “to buy some clothes.” “But, -Laura, you musn’t do that; you’ll have to take the oath to get a pass; -and, you know, you’re just as much of a Rebel as ever you were.” “Yes, -of course,” with a pretty shrug of the aforesaid Laura’s pretty -shoulders, “but, then, one must have clothes, you know!” Of old, it was -discovered that sermons might be found in running brooks. May not -Generals and higher authorities, who believe in hard swearing as a means -of grace, take a lesson in statesmanship from an ice-cream saloon? - ------ - -Footnote 20: - - General Carl Schurz, who subsequently examined these contracts - critically, said they substantially renewed the slavery of the - freedmen who entered into them - - - - - CHAPTER XV. - - Florida Towns and Country—A Florida Senator. - - -On our return from Savannah to Hilton Head, a few hours were spent in -sending letters home, and preparing finally to cut loose from any -Northern communications till we should reach New Orleans. General -Gillmore decided to accompany the party through the whole of his -Department. There was a final plunge in the bracing surf; a good-bye to -the Dominie, who declared he couldn’t stay longer away from his -congregation, and so went back on the “Arago;” a parting dinner, at -which we were regaled with the sayings, doings and endurings of Jeff. -Davis and party. It seems that the Sea Island negroes heard of General -Gillmore’s dispatch, which mentioned Mr. Davis’ capture and coming, and -so were prepared for his arrival. They lined the shore in vast numbers, -and, as soon as his vessel had approached within what they supposed to -be hearing distance, the affectionate creatures—otherwise known, while -in slavery, as the happiest people on the face of the earth—of their own -motion struck up the song— - - “We’ll hang Jeff. Davis on a sour apple tree,” - -with such a thunderous volume of sound, that there was no possibility of -Mr. Davis’ remaining ignorant of their amiable intention toward the one -whom they regarded as typifying the whole race of their kind and -benevolent masters. - -When we had all mustered on deck, next morning, the ancient town of -Fernandina, Florida, was rising from the water on our right, with the -quaint old fort beside it, and the new town in the distance. A -medium-sized, plain frame house was pointed out as the residence of -Senator Yulee, and, among the rambling, forsaken-looking wooden -buildings of the place, it really had a Senatorial look. Fernandina, -Florida, had always sounded in the North like a name of consequence. I -find that it means a straggling village, which, in New York or Ohio, -might have a post-office, but certainly could not aspire to the dignity -of a county-seat. - -But it has, according to the pilots and to the Coast Survey, the best -harbor on the whole Atlantic coast, south of Fortress Monroe. There are -over twenty feet on the bar, and the anchorage is safe and ample. -Whenever the country back of it becomes anything, Fernandina must be a -considerable place. - -Whether Florida should ever have been a State in the Union, is a grave -question but whether it should be one now, is, as it seems to me, no -question at all. The total free population of the State, at the outbreak -of the war, was seventy-eight thousand—a little more than a third as -much as the city of Cincinnati, and only a few thousand over the present -population of Cleveland or Albany. Giving such a constituency, scattered -over a peninsula of swamps and everglades, and outlying barren islands, -two Senators to balance the votes of Messrs. Wade and Sherman, or Sumner -and Wilson, or Morgan and Harris, is very much like erecting Cleveland -and Albany into independent governments, and saying they shall exercise -equal powers in Congress with the States of Ohio and New York. Giving -these Senators now, when their constituents have nearly all been in the -Rebel army, and when, vehemently protesting against negro suffrage, they -shut out all possibility of loyal votes, would be putting a reward on -treason that we can hardly afford to pay. - -One fails to understand how contemptibly small is the population -scattered over this great expanse of territory, till he looks at the -sizes of the principal towns. I have spoken of Fernandina as a village. -Its population is less than fourteen hundred, all told; its white -population less than eight hundred; and yet it is one of the largest -towns in the State! Here is a table of the population of all the other -“principal places:” - - White. Total. - - Apalachicola 1,379 1,904 - Jacksonville 1,133 2,118 - Key West 2,241 2,832 - Pensacola 1,789 2,876 - St. Augustine 1,175 1,914 - Tallahassee 997 1,932 - -The citizens of Fernandina had recently been having an election for -Mayor, and the old ways had been destroyed by the participation of -negroes in the election. The violent Rebels of the place were all away -in the Rebel army; the loyalists were very glad to be re-enforced by the -negroes, and so they had been the first in the United States to exercise -the right of suffrage. The Mayor elect, a M. Mot, was an enthusiastic -little Frenchman, devoted to the idea that Fernandina might rival the -olives of Seville, and that the olive oil of Florida might yet be fully -equal to that of old Spain. He had not been sworn in, and so the -Chief-Justice performed the ceremony in the little wooden building at -the water’s edge—used for the custom house—in the presence of half a -dozen witnesses. The little Frenchman may not make a fortune from his -olive oil, but he enjoys the pre-eminence of being the first officer -elected in the United States by universal loyal suffrage, and of having -his election recognized by the highest judicial authority of the nation. -The chances of the olive, however, seem to be also good. M. Mot came on -board with a little bottle of oil, which he displayed in great triumph. -“Bettare oleeve oil dare vas nevare.” And he seemed quite right. The old -inhabitants say that every few years the frosts are likely to nip his -olives; but we saw orchards of them growing beautifully in the open air, -which had never been injured. If he should succeed, he will have added -no inconsiderable element to the productive industry of Florida. - -Fernandina has been held by our troops for a long time, but for over a -year the Rebels were just across the Bay, and the pickets of the -opposing forces were often separated by only this narrow sheet of water. -Mr. Hallett Kilbourn, the Government purchasing agent, has thus found -his area greatly circumscribed. He boasts that he has bought enough to -pay the expenses of his office, but beyond this his operations are not -likely to extend. Rebels are beginning to return, and disputes as to -property are already common. Men who find that the Government, while -they have been fighting to overthrow it, has used their property, -complain bitterly of the injustice with which they are treated; and -through the very importunity of their complaints, they are not unlikely -to carry some of their claims. - -A little negro school here, displayed the same rapid progress in the -lower branches which has been observed all along the coast. Here, too, -the negroes seemed deficient in love for the old masters, to whom we -have been told that they were so much attached; and when informed of -Jeff. Davis’ capture, spontaneously struck up the same song as at Hilton -Head— - - “We’ll hang Jeff. Davis on a sour apple tree.” - -Leaving Fernandina, and steaming up the St. Johns’ river, we saw -something of the cracker “plantations.” The native forests generally ran -down to the water’s edge, but here and there, little lawn-like -inclosures, extended back to clumps of trees, in the midst of which -shabby frame houses could be seen—the “mansions” of the Floridian -planters. Cultivated fields were rare, and the country seemed rather -used for grazing than for any more strictly agricultural purposes. -Pelicans were seen occasionally in the water, quite near the boat, and -immense stories were told of the alligators one did not see. Scarcely a -white man appeared along the whole route, and even the negroes were seen -infrequently. - -Starting from Fernandina at noon, we were at Jacksonville an hour before -sundown. A few brick warehouses and stores make up the street fronting -on the water, and a huge billiard saloon seems as much of an institution -as the stores. Everywhere the sand was almost bottomless, and walking, -for even a square or two, was exceedingly uncomfortable. A negro guard -paced along the wharf; negroes in uniform were scattered about the -streets, interspersed with a few Rebel soldiers, and a very -neatly-policed negro camp occupied one of the vacant squares. These -negroes are fine, stalwart men, better in physique than those at -Savannah, and, in fact, rather superior to the lusty fellows at Port -Royal. They seemed to speak a worse patois than the Sea Islanders, and -words of Spanish, in the mouths of some of them, testified to their -being genuine sons of the soil, with a lineage running back in a -straight line to the days of the Spanish occupation. There was scarcely -a mulatto among them. - -Within a few moments after our boat touched the wharf, a Tax -Commissioner of Florida, and a curious, squatty military officer, with -certainly the most extraordinary squeaking voice ever heard on a parade -ground, came on board. The officer was General Israel Vogdes, an old -West Pointer, standing high in the technical points of his profession, -and more than fair in its practice. He commanded the post, and proved as -agreable in all other respects as he was vocally atrocious. He had -established his headquarters in the best house in town; and the staff -whiled away their leisure hours in the runaway Rebel’s billiard room, or -over his books. - - * * * * * - -Here, in the evening, came ex-Senator Yulee—a Hebrew, who, like Belmont, -has changed his name. When he represented the Territory of Florida in -the House, he was known as Mr. Levy. When Florida was admitted as a -State, and he had married into the family of old “Duke Wickliffe,” of -Kentucky, he turned up as Senator, under the name of Yulee, and remained -in that body till, in 1861, he resigned to enter the Rebellion. Now, -with his property in Fernandina confiscated, his office, influence, -means of livelihood all gone, the ex-Senator comes out of the Rebellion, -and out of the interior, where he has been hiding, to have an interview -with the Chief Justice, whom, as fellow-member of the Senate, he had -treated as “outside of any healthy political organization.” - -Mr. Yulee was, of course, polite and plausible, but it was amusing to -see how ignorant he was that during the last four years anything had -happened! Slavery was dead—that much was hastily admitted—but what other -change the causeless Rebellion could have, or ought to have wrought, he -didn’t see. That there was any modification of the old order of -things—that Southern men were not to be heeded whenever they stamped -their feet—that every Rebel had not the same rights under the -Constitution with every loyal man—were things which, in his seclusion in -the interior, had never occurred to him. He had been appointed a -Commissioner to see whether the Administration would not permit the -Governor and Legislature to resume control of the State, and dispense -with further military interference! While we were at Hilton Head, -General Gillmore had issued an order overturning the effort of the -fugitive South Carolina Governor to continue his control of his State; -and Senator Yulee had just heard of it. He was greatly disturbed, and -begged Mr. Chase to tell him whether it could be possible that the -Administration would sustain Gen. Gillmore, and thus, by refusing to -recognize the only constitutional authorities of the State, plunge them -all into anarchy again! - -But worse horrors remained for the sanguine Senator to encounter. He had -not recovered from the shock of learning that, instead of being again -clothed with the authority of the State, he and his fellow conspirators -stood a better chance of being dealt with for treason, when the negro -question came up. He was desirous that the State officials should -control the freedmen. It was suggested that the freedmen, being in some -sections in the majority, and in all having the advantage of loyalty, -might better control the State officials. “Why, they’ll all starve. They -are shiftless, improvident, idle, and incapable of taking care of -themselves.” The experiences of Port Royal were recited. He was -incredulous. He didn’t know what the Port Royal negroes were like; but -it was exceedingly strange if any negroes could save enough during the -summer to support them through the winter. - -His desire to be polite, and to avoid committing himself to any -unpleasant declarations, made the ex-Senator very cautious; and toward -the close he seemed too much surprised and bewildered, by what he heard, -to have much to say. He came down to Jacksonville, seeing no reason why -he should not run up to Tallahassee, help the Governor engineer the -State back into the Union, and, through the elections, patch up some -policy for “taking care of the negroes,” and then prepare to resume his -seat in the United States Senate at the beginning of the next session. -He returns to the country, assured that neither he nor the Governor will -be recognized as State officials, and somewhat alarmed lest they may be -recognized as traitors.[21] - -Meanwhile, one of our party, who had been strolling about the town, came -in with a curious case. A returned Rebel soldier had found a pretty -little cracker girl, scarcely fourteen years old, and not yet -emancipated from short dresses and pantalets, to whom he had taken a -violent liking, and whom, by promises of toys and a new dress, he had -induced clandestinely to marry him. The poor girl’s mother was -distressed, took the girl away, and refused to recognize the marriage. -The Rebel soldier came into town, found the girl and her mother here, -and seized upon the child, vowing that she must straightway come home -with him, or he would kill her. The people of the town did not seem to -think the affair unusual, or requiring any attention; nobody was going -to interfere, and the fellow was about to force away the child from her -mother. Perhaps the incident is as good an illustration of the Florida -cracker stage of civilization as could have been found. - - * * * * * - -General Vogdes procured horses, and a party, including one of the -Florida ladies, went out riding, just as the sun was going down. The -roads were bad; where there was no sand, there were stumps and mud -holes; and the country, wherever we rode, was flat, uninteresting and -unimproved. Returning, we found the straggling little town had put on -new attractions. The trees that belt all its streets had hidden the -omnipresent sand; the moonlight, glimmering through the foliage, -concealed all the shabbiness and doubled all the beauties of the -dilapidated, but shrubbery-embowered houses; the air was delightfully -balmy—more than realizing all that has been said of the Florida climate; -and, in short, we kept riding about for an hour, by moonlight. Then, how -to get back was the question. My companion lived in the town; surely she -ought to know its dozen streets, but she didn’t. “There’s our house, -just beyond that clump of trees!” We rode up, and found it wasn’t. -Protracted searching ensued; then, “Oh, here it is; I know it by the -piazza.” But when we rode up, it was found the moonlight and shadows had -been deceptive. At last she heard a familiar voice: “Beckie, is that -you?” “Laws, missus, what you doin’ out heah. Thort sure yous gwine home -an hour ago.” “Beckie, I’m not lost, but I can’t see in the shade, and -have just got turned around a little. Which way is our house?” “Haw, -haw,” in chorus from half a dozen African females. “Laws, Missus, to -think of yous a gittin’ lost in Jacksonville! Why, chile, deres de house -right round de cohnah, whar it alius was!” - -“Right round de cohnah” we started; but somehow we didn’t get there. -I’ve done a good deal of horseback riding, in a good many out-of-the-way -places; on prairies where there wasn’t a landmark; in pine woods, where -there were so many I couldn’t see; through the labyrinthine mazes of -roads cut in the forests by the several advancing brigade trains of a -great army; through unfamiliar swamps, without a road, under heavy fire, -where I was compelled to rely on my pocket compass, to know how to get -out from the sweep of the batteries; but I never got lost before. That -sensation was reserved for enjoyment at the village of Jacksonville, and -within the corporate (and sandy) limits of the same, in the State of -Florida. We rode blindly around, for about two hours, till General -Vodges sent out soldiers to look for us. When, at last, we cantered up -in grand style, we strenuously declared that the evening was so charming -we couldn’t think of coming in sooner. - ------ - -Footnote 21: - - Senator Yulee was arrested, a few days after this interview (under - orders forwarded before the authorities knew anything of his meeting - with Mr. Chase), and was confined in Fort Pulaski, to await the - process of Floridian re-organisation, in which the Government did not - propose that he should share. - - - - - CHAPTER XVI. - - Orange Groves and an Ancient Village—The Oldest Town and Fort in the - United States—Northern Speculations. - - -From Jacksonville, we steamed down the coast to St. Augustine. “The -oldest town in the United States,” managed, in the good old times, to -secure handsome gratuities from the national authorities. A long granite -wall, splendidly built, by Government contractors, lines the whole water -face of the village, and gives wharfage for a place of twenty, instead -of a paltry two thousand inhabitants. Toward the upper end of the harbor -stands the quaint Spanish fort, the oldest fortification on our -sea-coast, “bastioned on the square,” as the engineers describe it, with -Spanish inscription by the old drawbridge,[22] and Spanish coat of arms -over the gate, and rusty Spanish guns still standing on the parapets; -Spanish dungeons beneath, with rings to which men were chained, and -French inscriptions, penciled more than a century ago, in solitary -despair, on the dungeon walls, and still telling their own story of the -sufferings of the times. - -Climbing the old look-out tower of concrete shells, which stands nearly -perfect yet on the sea face of the fort, one sees a collection of -curious little antique houses, built so closely together that the -streets between them can hardly be made out, a widening circle of -orchard-like spots of green in the midst of seemingly waste expanse, a -tumble-down collection of old grave stones, and beyond all, the -dark-green line of the forests. This is St. Augustine, with its Spanish -streets, and orange groves, and relics of three hundred years of growth -and decay. - -Even to this quaint old Sleepy Hollow of the extreme South the war has -penetrated with its changes. On the Plaza del Armas, where, of old, -Spanish soldiers, in cumbrous accouterments, had trained their -firelocks, and marched beneath the Red and Orange, with the arms of -Spain, and where, later, Spanish monks, to the tolling of the bell, that -still remains, had formed their long processions, and solemnly moved out -in stately show, to pronounce the doom of God alike upon sacrilegious -invaders and the pagan infidels, who inhabited the country; this very -Plaza was surrounded by long rows of stalwart negroes, black as ebony, -splendidly armed, and drawn up in handsome regimental lines for dress -parade. There is an island, not far off the coast of Florida, where the -Spanish colors still float, and where this spectacle of soldiers made -from slaves might prove suggestive. - - * * * * * - -When St. Augustine was laid out, the theory of those days was that, -without excessively narrow streets, it was impossible to have a cool -town in these low latitudes. The narrower the streets, they argued, the -more perfect the draught through them; and so it comes that, from the -projecting second-story balconies on the one side, in the main street of -St. Augustine, you can almost step to the similar balconies on the other -side. In the street itself there is no room for sidewalks, and I am not -even sure that carts can pass each other.[23] Behind each house is a -luxuriant garden; great masses of flowers hang over the walls or depend -from the trellises; and, through the open doors, one gets glimpses of -hammocks, swinging under vine-clad trees, and huge, but airy, -Sleepy-Hollow chairs. Curious little piazzas jut into the narrow -streets, and dark Spanish faces, with coal-black brows and liquid eyes, -look out from the windows. - -One such, a pretty Madame Oliveras, whose husband has gone to the Rebel -army, and concerning whose fate, on his (now daily expected) return, his -fond wife is prettily anxious, displays a tempting array of palmetto -work in her rag-carpeted little parlor—toy baskets, hats, napkin rings, -fans and the whole catalogue of palmetto fancy work—drawing numerous -greenbacks from the Yankees, and evoking, in consequence, much warm -politeness from the grateful grass widow. There are not many Rebels -here, she thinks; but the fact that any number of wives, like her, are -expecting returning husbands, “now that paroles have been given,” -remains unexplained. Of course the Government will never think of -interfering with their little plantations; surely, they meant no harm, -and knew no better than to fight for their State, as they were told! - - * * * * * - -Passing through an old cemetery, where obelisks of granite, without a -word of inscription, have stood for nearly three hundred years; where -old tombs have fallen to pieces in the lapse of time, and human bones -protrude amid the decaying masonry; while, over all, the rich vegetation -of the semi-tropical climate throws a kindly concealing veil of beauty, -we come out into groves of exquisite fragrance. The ground is covered -with oranges, and the fruit is still clinging to the trees in bunches -that bend down and almost break the branches. The oranges are of a size, -and especially of a flavor, never found at the North; and the -deliciously dreamy, luxuriously indolent retreats one finds amid these -orange groves, and in the pleasant cottages of the owners, make St. -Augustine seem a town of another continent and century. - -One of the orange groves was pointed out as that purchased by Major John -Hay, late the President’s private secretary. It had been sold for unpaid -taxes by the Land Commissioner—the taxes having remained unpaid for the -sufficient reason that the owner was away in the Rebel army—and Major -Hay had secured it by an investment of some five hundred dollars. Last -year, as an enthusiastic Floridian explained, the orange crop was worth -two thousand five hundred dollars! But, unfortunately for my dormant -enthusiasm, Hay had told me of his financial success in Florida before I -left Washington. “Incidental expenses” had required him to advance -another sum about equal to the original purchase money, and while the -orange crop might, for all he knew, have been a very fine one, he had -never seen an orange or received a penny from it! The Floridian pointed -out beautiful little groves that were soon to be sold, and dilated on -their advantages; but the party produced no purchasers. - -There is great uncertainty, of course, about the titles in these tax -sales, and many people find it difficult to regard the transactions as -very creditable to the Government. There is no doubt, however, that, if -the titles stand, investments made in the lands about St. Augustine must -be profitable. The exquisite climate will always make the place a resort -for debilitated people, and particularly consumptives from the North; -and the orange crop, although occasionally injured by the frost, is so -nearly certain that, for those who can have it properly attended to, it -must, at the present prices for investments, prove unusually profitable. -At the rates now ruling, the gross returns of a single year’s crop will -nearly pay for the land. Whoever purchases, however, will here, as -elsewhere through the South, have to bear the odium among the returning -Rebels, who will soon make up again the bulk of the population, of -having taken advantage of their misfortunes and helplessness to get -possession of their property for nothing. Under such circumstances, let -the climate be never so delightful, and the profits never so inviting, a -sensitive man might still find residence in St. Augustine unpleasant. - - * * * * * - -The negroes here seem to have a vague idea that they are free; but -little change in their relations to their old masters is perceptible. In -the back country they remain, as usual, on the little cracker -plantations, and neither masters nor negroes succeed in more than making -a rude living. - -Little boys were “playing marbles” in the streets with green oranges, as -we returned to the wharf, and a crowd of people, who had seen no other -opportunity for months to get North, were begging permission to go on -board our boat, and return with us to Fernandina. - ------ - -Footnote 22: - - “Reynando en Espana el Fernando Sexto y Siendo Gov^{or} y Cap^o de - Es^a C^d Sa^{to} ang^o de la Florida y Sus Prov^a el mariscal de Campo - D^n Alonzo Fern^{do} Hereda Asi Concluio Este Castillo El Anod 1756 - Diri^g endo Las obras el Cap Ingru^{ro} Dn Pedro de Brazos, y Garay.” - - “Don Ferdinand the Sixth, being King of Spain, and the Field Marshal - Don Alonzo Fernando Hereda being Governor and Captain General of this - place, St. Augustine, of Florida, and its provinces, this fort was - finished in the year 1766. The works were directed by the Captain - Engineer, Don Pedro Brazos y Garay.” - - The Fort first erected was called San Juan de Pinos. The same name - attached to the present Fort at the commencement of its erection. - Subsequently it was called St. Mark; and finally, upon the acquisition - of Florida by the United States, Fort Marion. Don Juan Marquez Cabera - commenced the construction of the present Fort in 1681. The Apalachian - Indians were employed upon it for more than sixty years. The first - Fort was built by Don Pedro Melendez de Avila, in 1565. In the same - year, the foundation of St. Augustine was laid. It is thus, by more - than forty years, the oldest town in the United Slates. - -Footnote 23: - - This is a specimen of Spanish sanitary precautions, but those of - Anglo-Saxon origin in the South were little better. Till within a very - recent period, Southern physicians have held that it was unhealthy, in - low latitudes, to pave the streets of a city, because the dust and - sand were needed to absorb the unhealthy moisture! And to this day New - Orleans is the only Southern city that can be said to be paved at all. - - - - - CHAPTER XVII. - - Dungeness, and the “Greatest of the Lees”—Cultivation of the - Olive—Criminations of the Officers. - - -When Nathaniel Greene, one of the best and most trusted of Washington’s -Generals, retired to civil life, it was with an estate seriously -embarrassed by his patriotic sacrifices. During his brilliant campaign -in the Southern Department, the battles of the Cowpens, Guilford -Court-House and Eutaw Springs, destroyed the British power in Georgia -and the Carolinas. At its close there was only left to Washington the -easier task of concentrating all his forces upon Cornwallis in Virginia, -and so ending the war. But in carrying on this campaign, General Greene -had been compelled to exhaust his private means in his efforts to clothe -and feed his army. Congress voted him thanks and medals; North and South -Carolina and Georgia voted him waste lands. He died in Georgia. -Congress, enlarging its bounty, then voted him a monument. The grateful -people whom he saved, had actually forgotten where they buried him; the -monument was never built; and to this day “no man knoweth the place of -his burial.” - -His wife removed to one of the Georgia land grants, a little island on -the extreme Southern border of the State, but a few miles from -Fernandina. Here she married again, builded, planted olive trees and -died; and when they came to put a head-stone to her grave, they -inscribed it to the memory of “Catharine Miller,” widow of the late -Major-General Nathaniel Greene. Poor Miller was never mentioned, and -General Greene, whose grave was not worth a head-stone, had a name good -enough to lend special honor to the monument of his re-married and then -wealthy wife. - - * * * * * - -Our last trip along the upper coast of Florida was to steam over to this -little island, given by Georgia to Greene, and passed subsequently into -the hands of Rebels, who have now deserted it to the negroes. - -Landing at a tumble-down dock, and climbing the bluff, we came to a -corn-field, cleanly cultivated by the negroes, skirted a little wood, -giving wide berth to a black-snake in the path, and then, through some -tangled shrubbery, suddenly came out in front of what had been intended -for a fine mansion. It was built of shell concrete, and but partly -finished, when the family deserted it at the approach of the national -forces. Since then the negroes have been too busy supporting themselves -to give much thought to house building, and now the mansion of their -“masters” is likely to remain unbuilt forever. - -But no neglect could destroy the magnificent shrubbery. Beneath the few -spreading live-oaks, were superb oleanders, as large as Northern -apple-trees, and in full bloom. Great bayonet plants reminded us that we -were still in the spiteful land of the Palmetto. Cactus reached above -our heads, cloth of gold roses, mimosa and a score of Southern flowering -shrubs, to which our Northern amateur florists could give no names, made -up a tangled mass of luxuriant loveliness all about the house. Beyond -these stretched the rows of olive trees. “Here you can make _beaucoup de -l’argent_,” exclaims our enthusiastic little French Mayor of Fernandina; -and straightway whips you out a bottle of oil from his vest pocket to -prove it. The happy dreamer imagines olive oil the Philosopher’s stone, -and is sure that now, with these olive trees of Dungeness, and the young -ones he is planting at Fernandina, the future of Florida is secure. And, -indeed, so far as being able to grow olives and make oil is concerned, -it is. The orchard here has received no attention since the flight of -the Rebel owners, but the olive crop this year, in spite of the neglect, -will be good, and the trees look vigorous and hardy. - - * * * * * - -Through a wilderness of forest trees and dense undergrowth, a blind path -led to a little cleared eminence, shut in by a wall of the same shell -concrete—the family grave-yard. Conspicuous among the dozen moss-covered -monuments is that of Mrs. General Greene, already referred to. Near it -is another, inscribed to the foremost of Greene’s Generals, beside whose -grave, we may well stop thoughtfully and long: - - “Sacred to the memory of - GENERAL HENRY LEE, - of Virginia, - Obilt 25 Mar. - 1818, - Ætat 63.” - -It is the grave of Henry Lee—“Light-Horse Harry,” of the -Revolution—greatest of the partisan leaders of those days, Governor of -Virginia, inmate of Spottsylvania jail, and noblest of the “Virginia -Lees.” Four years after the wife of his old commander had died here, he -returned from the West Indies, poverty stricken, neglected and dying, -sought this island, the former home of his chief, and was buried in the -burying ground of the Greenes. One gratefully remembers that the -injuries of which he is believed to have finally died, were received in -a gallant defense of the freedom of the press, against the assault of a -Baltimore mob upon a Liberal newspaper office. - -Long, coarse grass grows rank over these historic graves; lizards play -about the chinks of the dilapidated tombs; the outer wall is partly -broken down; but the peaceful solitude of the graves is not disturbed, -and the spot is controlled, if by an alien, at least by a loyal people. - -While a few of us lingered beside the slab, above the remains of “Legion -Harry,” the rest of the party had completed their explorations of the -lonely little island; and the boat was whistling loudly for our return. -The “last of the Lees” had done nothing to honor the neglected grave of -the greatest of them; but Yankee hands still delayed the steamer to -arrange lovingly a chaplet of flowers on the rude tombstone. - - * * * * * - -At Fernandina there was talk among the traders of a large quantity of -resin, eighteen hundred barrels, some of them said, which had been -bought by a well-known _attaché_ of the State Department, and out of -which, if their stories were true, he was likely to make a fortune. He -had paid 42 cents a barrel for it, they said, and could sell it in New -York for twenty-five dollars. I fancy this must be grossly exaggerated, -although a Government official was my informant; but these irregular -bargains, made by persons having special facilities, with the distressed -holders of produce in the interior, have often disclosed marvelous -profits, and the most unscrupulous use, by the buyers, of the advantages -of their positions. To drive as hard bargains as the Yankees, is likely -to be thought henceforth, in these regions, something more than a good -figure of speech. - -On the other hand, there are constant dissentions here, and charges -against each other of improper practices among the Government officers -themselves. The military men abuse the Treasury agents roundly, accuse -them of enormous speculations on their own account, and the most -unwarranted system of spying into the operations of others.[24] - -[24]The tax Commissioners, and other civil functionaries, fare little -better; while the military men, according to the stories of the -civilians, believe the modern substitute for glory to be—“loot.” - -All accounts, both here, at Jacksonville and at St. Augustine, agree -that the country contains little more than is needed for the sustenance -of the inhabitants. Trade may come by and by, when Florida begins to be -used again as a grand national sanatarium; but for a year or two, the -openings for business with the Floridians are likely to require very -little of the capital now looking for Southern investments. - -There was a parting tune from the band as we left General Gillmore’s -boat, kindly good-byes with General and staff officers. Altogether the -pleasantest party met, thus far, on the trip. The “Wayanda” fired a gun -as she began hoisting her anchor, and we were off for a sail of five -hundred miles, along what used to be considered the most dangerous coast -of the United States. - ------ - -Footnote 24: - - An account in the Port Royal _New South_ of an April-fool performance - at Fernandina (said to be a literal record of an actual occurrence), - is greatly gloated over by the military authorities, as a specimen of - what they call the meanness and imbecility of the civil officials. It - illustrates, at least, the state of feeling between the services. The - account sets forth that a Mr. Goodrich had brought into Fernandina, - from Nassau, a small schooner, in ballast. The Collector had - suspicions of intended contraband trade. He was stimulated by - pretended disclosures, to the point of bringing Mr. Goodrich before - the Provost Marshal for an examination. The _New South_ proceeds: - - “Mr. Wells testified that Mr. Goodrich had, in a season of friendly - confidence, exhibited to him, at his house, a pipe of whisky, which he - admitted having brought on shore from his schooner, after dark, and - without the knowledge of the Collector of the Customs, the said pipe - of whisky being ignored in the vessel’s manifest; and that Goodrich - further disclosed that he had two more pipes in the house, that would - be brought into requisition when this was exhausted. - - “Mr. Goodrich admitted that he had no witnesses to examine, and very - little to say in his defense, but he would like to interrogate the - witnesses who had testified against him. Permission being granted, the - following conversation ensued: - - “_Mr. Goodrich_—Do you swear positively, Mr. Wells, that you saw the - pipe of whisky? - - “_Mr. Wells_—I do, solemnly. - - “_Collector_—That’s conclusive—I don’t think it worth while to waste - time; I’ve decided to seize the vessel. - - “_Mr. Goodrich_—I insist on my right. Were you permitted to satisfy - yourselves that the pipe contained whisky? - - “_Witnesses_—We were. - - “_Collector_—I think, Mr. Provost Marshal, this case is a clear one. - - “_Mr. Goodrich_—I’ll make it clearer, sir. Gentlemen, would you - recognize that pipe of whisky if you saw it again, so as to be able to - swear to it? - - “_Witnesses_—We should. - - “_Mr. Goodrich_—(taking an old Briar Wood from his pocket). Was that - the pipe? - - “_Witnesses_—(emphatically)—That’s the identical pipe. - - “_Collector_—(with very long face and very large eyes)—What do you - say? - - “_Witnesses_—That’s the pipe that Mr. Goodrich had whisky in. - - “_Collector_—(rushing out of the office)—Go to ——. The rest of the - sentence was lost in the distance.” - - - - - CHAPTER XVIII. - - The Southern “Ultima Thule” of the United States. - - -Along the Florida coast there were occasional glimpses of solitary -light-houses and barren beaches; once we got aground where there ought -to have been deep water, and were pleasantly assured that, if we had to -take to the land, we would be among the everglades, with no chance of -finding any inhabitants but moccasin snakes, and possibly a stray -Seminole; for the rest, we had schools of porpoises plunging about our -feet, the superb phosphorescence of the waters, and fine fishing—each -haul of a dolphin or a Spanish mackerel from our stern line creating as -much sensation on deck as one would have expected from the _Stonewall_. -And so, with favoring breezes and the most delicious weather, we coasted -among the keys, and finally steamed into the harbor of Key West. - -The United States District Attorney, pleasantly known in Washington, -where he occupied a responsible position in the Treasury Department, -during the dark days of the war, as “Plantz, of Florida,” came aboard -the “Wayanda” as soon as she touched the wharf. He was full of the -glories of Florida, and the hopes of the re-organizing State; but, in -this climate, there were things more important than politics. “It’s your -sacred duty, you know, to take care of your health in this tropical -country; and there’s nothing so good to begin with as our acclimatizing -drink, which is the greatest of all the institutions of Key West.” -“Champerou,” it appeared, was the name of this acclimatizer. Its -concoction appeared a miracle of the powers of combination. Curacoa was -taken as the base; Absinthe, Maraschino and other _liqueurs_ were added, -with sugar and eggs thrown in, till an analytical chemist would have -been hopelessly puzzled by the compound. But it proved acclimatizing; -and I observed that even the natives still thought it wise to take -prudent precautions—such as a glass of Champerou—against the effects of -the climate. - -As a coaling station at the entrance of the Gulf, and the location of -the United States civil officers for the Southern District of Florida, -Key West had attained such importance before the war as to have -attracted, according to the census of 1860, a population of two thousand -eight hundred and thirty-two. Notwithstanding the departure of many -rebels, the town has increased during the war to a population of about -three thousand five hundred. It is neatly built, and better paved than -most Southern places of like size. There is a street of good-looking -frame business houses; a large hotel offers naval officers and others, -who happen in port, a variation from ship fare; and a club house, -sustained by the civil, military and naval services, supplies many of -the comforts that would hardly be expected on this last desolate sand -bank of Florida, and extreme Southern possession of the United States. -Yet it took all the familiar sights and conveniences to enable one to -realize that it was an American town. Bananas were for sale in the shops -nearly four months earlier than we expect at the North the unripe, -leathery fruit, which is all Northern people can get for the banana; -limes, and sapadillos, and “sour sops,” were the common fruits of the -season; the houses were here and there hedged in, not with arbor vitæ, -or box, or even Cherokee rose, but with great, branching, luxuriant -cactus, as high as a man’s head; for shade trees in the front yards, -they had the palm-like cocoa. - - * * * * * - -The Spanish Consul sent down his carriage, and the supply of other -vehicles in the little island was pretty well exhausted in providing -conveyances for the party. Our drive took us around the whole island. -Spots of dark green constantly dotted the water near the beach—the -uninhabited “keys.” Some of them did not seem to be more than half an -acre in extent; others would make nice little farms, but for snakes, and -sharks, and storms, in which the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico would -combine in washing over the crops. The stunted shrubbery (which, my fair -companion in the ride told me she had learned, after a year’s residence, -to call the “Forests of Key West”), was, apparently, no where more than -ten or twelve feet high. Wild cocoas were abundant. Gigantic, and not -attractive looking, cactus covered the rocks, and forbade strolls out of -the beaten track. Tamarinds, hibiscus, sugar-apples, pawpaws, (totally -different from the Northern tree of that name,) sapadillos, lime trees, -buttonwoods, mastics, with lignum vitæ, gum elemi and sal soda plant, -made up a vegetation as varied as it was novel to Northern eyes. - -Old salt vats, where, before the war, the slaves, in the rude, shiftless -way which slavery perpetuated, made salt enough for the consumption of -Key West, by letting in sea water and evaporating it, lined the coast -for perhaps a mile. - -Elsewhere there was nothing but the dwarfed vegetation to be seen, till -we came to what had been spoken of at the outset as the main feature of -the ride around the island—“Old Sandie’s farm.” A rude fence separated -this from the surrounding waste land, but the soil was equally stony, -and apparently sterile; and it was hard to see how any exertions could -make it productive. So everybody in Key West had always thought, and -till “Sandie” came the islanders didn’t grow their own vegetables. - -The carriages drew up at a little hut with two rooms, which was -announced as “Sandie’s house,” and “Auntie” (his wife), who came to the -door, led us to a little, open “lean-to,” which she called a piazza. - -Presently there came hurrying up a stalwart negro, with the _physique_ -of a prize fighter; body round as a barrel, arms knotted, with muscles -that might have belonged to a race-horse’s leg, chest broad and deep, -with room inside for the play of an ox’s lungs. So magnificent a -physical development I have never seen, before or since. The head was -large, but the broad forehead was very low. Above it rose the crisp, -grizzled wool, almost perpendicularly, for a hight quite as great as -that of the exposed part of the forehead; and the bumps above the ears -and at the back of the head were of a corresponding magnitude. The face -was unmistakably African, glossy black, with widely-distended nostrils, -thick lips and a liquid but gleaming eye. This was Sandie himself, an -old man—“now in my sebenty-tree yeah, sah,” he said—yet the strongest -man on the island, the richest of the negroes, the best farmer here, and -with a history as romantic as that of any Indian whom song and story -have combined to make famous. - -He was a native of Maryland; had bought himself for three thousand two -hundred dollars from his master, and had earned and paid over the money; -had removed to Florida, and been engaged at work on a railroad, where he -had already accumulated what for him was a handsome competence, when his -little house burned down, and his free papers were lost in the fire. A -gang of unprincipled vagabonds at once determined, there being no -accessible evidence of his freedom to be produced against them, to seize -him, sell him in the New Orleans market and pocket the proceeds. He -frustrated their attempt by whipping the whole party of six; then -hearing that they were to be re-enforced and were to try it again, he -deliberately proceeded to the public square, accompanied by his wife, -cut the muscles of his ankle joint, plunged a knife into the hip joint -on the other side, and then, sinking down on a wheel-barrow, finished -the work by chopping off with a hatchet the fingers of his left hand! -Meanwhile, an awe-struck crowd of white men gathered around, but made no -attempt at interference. Finally, brandishing the bloody knife, Sandie -shouted to the crowd that if they persisted in their effort to sell a -free man into slavery after he had once, at an extortionate price, -bought himself out of it, his right arm was yet strong, and he had one -blow reserved, after which they were welcome to sell him for whatever he -would bring. - -That the essentials of this story are true, there is unquestionable -evidence. The fingers on his left hand are mutilated, and the scars on -the hip and ankle are still fearfully distinct, while besides there are -still white eye-witnesses to testify to the main facts. Sandie’s -powerful constitution brought him through; he was confined to bed six -months; then he began to hobble about a little, and at the end of the -year was again able to support himself. - -[Illustration] - -He showed us through what he proudly called his plantation. Ripe -sapadillos hung from the trees; and a particularly large “sour-sop” was -pointed out as specially intended for our dinner. He had a little patch -of tobacco; green cocoanuts rested at the tops of the palm-like stems, -and tamarinds were abundant; the African cayenne pepper berry was -hanging on little bushes, and one or two of the party, who had been -promiscuously experimenting on Sandie’s fruit, came to grief when they -reached it, and were heard complaining that their “mouths were on fire.” -Plucking two or three berries of another kind, Sandie handed them to the -Chief Justice, “Take dem home and plant ’em in your garden, and you’ll -hab you own coffee aftah while.” “But coffee won’t grow, Sandie, where I -live.” “Don’t know bout dat, sah. Dat’s just what dey told me heah; but -you see it does. I didn’t know no reason why it shouldn’t, and so I try. -Now, you just try, too!” - -Finally, he asked for a picture of his guest, and the Chief Justice -handed him a one-dollar greenback. The scene that followed was curious. -Old Sandie, bareheaded and with his shirt thrown loosely back from his -brawny bosom, stooped down, spread the bill out on one knee, and gazed -from it to Mr. Chase and back to the bill again for some moments, in -perfect silence. “Now I knows you,” he broke out at last, “you’s Old -Greenback hisself. You mout come heah fifty yeah from now and I’d know -you just de same, and tell you all about sittin’ in dis yeah piazza -heah.” - - * * * * * - -In curious contrast with such impressions as Sandie’s farm and story -might leave, was the talk of another old man, like Sandie, “in his -sebenty-tree yeah,” and, like him, hale and hearty; but white, a native -of Connecticut, and, till the war, a slaveholder. He was the -harbor-master; and in the intervals of shouting at the negroes to hurry -up putting coal in the “Wayanda,” he wiped his brow and denounced “the -niggers.” The ungrateful creatures he had owned, had expected to live -with him and work for themselves after the emancipation, but he had told -them that if, after his care of them all their lives, they didn’t mean -to work for him now, they could just pack out of his house at once. They -were all saucy and worthless; wouldn’t work a bit more than enough to -keep soul and body together; charged two or three prices always, and -still would rather steal than work any day; would dance all night and be -good for nothing next day; were fearfully licentious; and, in short, -were an unmitigated nuisance. The island was over-populated with -runaways, too, from the main land, and before long there would be any -amount of suffering among them. Sandie was a great liar and swindler, -but managed—the black scoundrel—to make a better appearance than the -rest. It might, perhaps, be true, that he had once bought himself and -gone through some of the subsequent persecutions he was so fond of -talking about; but, for his part, he had his private doubts about the -whole story. If these worthless vagabonds were to be allowed to have a -share in the future government of the State, no man could tell what a -miserable future was before the whole community. - -On the other hand, Judge Boynton, the United States District Judge, -District Attorney Plantz, and numerous other gentlemen, declared that -there was no unnecessary crowding of negroes from the main land; that -they were quite as industrious as could be expected, and that all who -were on the island could find work at remunerative prices. That they -make money the village itself attests. In driving about it, we passed -dozens of new frame houses, built and occupied by negroes, who had -bought, with their own earnings, the lots on which their dwellings -stood. As to the general character of the negroes, the common testimony -seemed to be that their behavior would compare favorably with that of -any other class of the laboring population. - -Key West is so directly dependent upon the Government, that its public -sentiment is hardly a fair reflex of the feeling of the South -Floridians. Yet, as it practically manages the politics of the lower -half of the peninsula, it was worth notice that a large proportion of -the inhabitants seemed still to sympathize to a marked extent with the -fallen Rebels. All were looking eagerly forward to reorganization, and -it was plain that the contest then would lie between the new-comers and -the old citizens. Ranking themselves among the former were likely to be -the “Conks”—i. e., natives of the Bahama islands—who make a considerable -part of the business population. All regarded slavery as dead; the old -citizens thought the negroes ought to be put under State control, and -thus practically re-enslaved; the new-comers wanted emancipation -honestly carried out, and were willing for negro suffrage. - - * * * * * - -There were all manner of courtesies by the military and naval -authorities, salutes from the fort, drives about the spacious and airy -barracks, calls from Consuls and others, shells from Mr. Howe (the -Collector of the Port), beautiful pressed seaweeds, Florida crabtree -canes, dinners, fruits, etc. The visit was a delightful one, but it -wouldn’t bear repetition. It’s a very pleasant thing to stand on the -southernmost point of land on the continent over which the flag of the -Union floats, but once is enough. And so good-bye to “Plantz, of -Florida,” Judge Boynton and all the rest. May my feet never again be -turned to their homes, but may their’s be often turned to mine! And -every one of them get honors and profits from Florida. - - - - - CHAPTER XIX. - - A Remarkable Negro Story—One of the Strange Possibilities of Slavery. - - -The story of “Uncle Sandie,” given in the preceding Chapter, seemed to -me one of the most remarkable exhibitions ever made public of the -results which inhere, as possibilities, in the system of slavery. On a -subsequent visit to Key West, Sandie was persuaded to repeat his account -of his self-mutilation at length, and the following phonographic report -of it was taken down from his lips. I have endeavored to preserve -throughout his exact language. - -It is only needful to add that Sandie is at once one of the wealthiest -and one of the most respected citizens of Key West. He has contributed -largely to the erection of a handsome church for the negro congregation, -of which he is the leading spirit; and in the management of his private -affairs, even the Rebel residents admit that he displays singular -prudence and skill. Since the war, his remarkable history has attracted -many visitors—among whom were some of our most distinguished naval -officers—and brought him many attentions that might readily have turned -the head of a less judicious person; but Sandie pursues his quiet way, -modest as ever, and still industrious and money-making. - -When the following report of his story was made, he appeared in the -village in a faultless suit of broadcloth, with a well-brushed silk hat. -But for his color, he might have been thought a superbly-developed -prizefighter, transformed in some way into a quiet preacher. The -production of the note-book startled him a little, but rubbing his head -a moment, as if to recall the dates, and standing, hat in hand, under -the cocoas, he began. - -“I left Maryland on de 2d day of October, ’39. My wife went wid me. She -was free, and we came to Florida. I got to work at Port Leon, on de -railroad. Dere I worked nine yeahs to buy myself. I got six hundred -dollahs, and de yeah’s findin’. Lily, my wife, got fifteen dollahs a -month. My massa charged me thirty-three hundred and fifty dollahs for -myself, which Lily had to see paid. - -“She made herself a slave to go wid me. After we had paid de money, and -got our papers—dat tuck us nine yeahs—and we had sumfin over, de town -cotch fire and burnt my papers, and pretty smart money. All de money was -burnt, ’cept a little silver and gold. Afterward, when dey found de -papers was burnt, den they come upon us to sell us to New Orleans. Dey -come one night after I’d been out fishin’. - -“I was settin’ stripped off, washin’ my feet. Fifteen men rapped at de -do. I said, ‘Cum in,’ and tole ’em to take a seat. Dey tole me a hog had -been stole dat mornin’, and dat I had bought one, and dey wanted me to -go up to de Squire’s, and tell him where I bought it. I sed I had -thirty-nine head Buckshire hogs, and didn’t want no more hogs, so, of -cose, I hadn’t got no more. Den dey axed me if I was against goin’ to -see de Squar, and let him know I didn’t buy any. I tole him yes, I -wasn’t against dat, and started in my shirt sleeves, and bare head, to -go and see him. - -“Wen we got to de street whar it turned off to de Squire’s, de fellows -took me toward de jail. I tole ’em dat wasn’t the way to de Squire’s, -and dey said de Squire would be at de Cou’t House, dat was near de jail. - -“Den dey ax me ef I was aginst bein’ tied, and I tole ’em no. Den dey -brought out a new Manilla, good tyin’ rope, and placed my hands behind -me, tied my hands, and lashed my arms wid de slack, clean up to de -arm-pits.” Den dey said, “Sandie, we got you fixed.” - -I looked over my shoulder and said, ‘What you about with your rascally -tricks?’ Dey sed, “We gwine to sell you to New Orleans; one-half goes to -us, and one-half to your guardian.” Dey sed dey’d take me to jail, and -de next mornin’ to de railroad, and would send me to New Orleans. - -“Sez I, ‘I ain’t gwine,’ and I wouldn’t move for ’em. Den de man behind -tuck a club and broke my head heah (showing a deep scar about three -inches long, on the side of his head), and ax me again would I move. I -wouldn’t, and another at my side struck me till he broke my head in -another place (showing another scar under the wool). De blood run down -my face, and I licked it in on each side wid my tongue. - -“Den I gave an Injin yell, tell dey heerd me down at ——’s plantation, -five miles off. Den I straightened up, and stooped down and broke de -cord into five pieces. Den I cotch one man by de breast, and made an -instrument ob him, and swung him around and beat de oders ober de head -and breast wid his heels. I beat dem down on de ground, and frowed him -hard ober de palins. - -“Den I went back to de house and tole my wife. I tole her not be -accited, but just mind me. I axed her for my box ob needles, wid de -crooked needles and de lances. It was about nine o’clock wen I was in de -contuct. Dis was about ten. - -“After she got dem, I axed her for de stickin’ plaster, and she began to -’spicion, and sed I was mad. I tole her not, as she tought, not mad dat -way. Den I put de needles and de stickin’ plaster into a box and went to -bed. Lily she cried all night. Next mornin’ was Thursday. When I got up -I call for her and for de box. We went togedder, and to de public squar; -and I gave free yells, so dey cud be heard all ober town. Every body -gathered around de squar. Wen de people was all standin’ roun’, but some -little distance off, I tole ’em I didn’t want dis (putting his hand on -his right leg), nor dis (left arm), nor dis (left leg), but did want dis -(right arm). - -“Den I libitly run my knife froo de heelstrings and cut em out; Den I -stoop down on de wheel barrow, wid my needles, and seew it up, and stuck -de stickin’ plaster on it. - -“Den I tuck a knife and drove it into my right hip heah (showing over -the hip joint a very ugly scar, nearly eight inches long), and dey sed I -work de knife back and forward four times, but I don’t know zactly how -many times. But I cut hole ten inches long, and four inches deep, till -my leg hung useless. - -“My wife Lily she freaded de needles; and den held de lookin’ glass, so -I could see to make long stitches, and sew it up, and stick on de -stickin’ plaster. - -“Den I set down, and chopped my hand as hard as I cud wid de hatchet, -and cut one finger clean off (holding up the left hand, with the -shockingly mutilated fingers). Dat little finger I tuck up and put in my -mouf, and smoked it for a cigar, till de blood from it run down my lips. -Dat I sewed too, and den tole ’em if that wouldn’t do, I would cut open -my belly, and pull out de entrals before ’em. But dat I wouldn’t go down -to New Orleans for a slave agin, for I was free. - -“Dey den tuck me—not de whites, dey not come near me, afeared, but de -brack people—and wheel me home on de wheel-barrow, wid de utensils. - -“I was down sick two months. After dat could go about on crutches. - -“My ole massa was Wm. Eggleston, of Cambridge, Maryland. I waited on -him. I never worked in de field, not I, till I was thirty year old. Wen -he die, my young massa gave me my time for $83 a yeah. Dat was about $40 -more dan common people paid. I couldn’t get along fast at dat in -Maryland, but de Company (the Railroad Company) offered me $600 and -findin’, if I’d cum to Florida, and work on de Railroad. Dat look to me -big as de moon. Lily and me made nuff to buy ourselves in nine yeahs, -and considerable beside.” - - - - - CHAPTER XX. - - Among the Cubans—The Impending Downfall of Cuban Slavery. - - -The absence of certain officers compelled the officials of our party to -make a delay of nearly a week at Key West, which we improved by steaming -across to Cuba. Looking back now over the delightful days spent in the -“Ever Faithful Isle,” I recall, out of all the pleasant memories, one or -two only of which it seems needful here to speak. The bull fight in -Havana, with which the pious Spaniards closed their celebration of -Ascension Day; the witchery of dark-browned, liquid-eyed Senoritas; the -fashion and beauty of the evening fulldress display on the -volante-crowded drive around the Plaza del Armas, and to the -Captain-General’s country palace; the mysteries of shopping before -breakfast, with clerks bringing out the goods into the street to your -volante; the delicious absurdity of doing business in English or French -with a shopkeeper who knows nothing but Spanish; the tropical scenery of -the interior, the glorious palm groves, the lordly sugar plantations, -the miseries of the slaves and the profits of their masters—have not all -these been faithfully written down in every book about Cuba for the last -dozen years? - -But, after a tour of many hundred miles among emancipated slaves, it was -a noteworthy sensation to be plunged again into the midst of a system of -slavery as bad as the worst form which our nation ever suffered. The -slaves seemed spiritless, where the emancipated negro had only been -purposeless. The one was without hope, where the other had been -disturbed only by the vague universality of his hopes. Both were polite, -for courtesy seems native to the African disposition; but the courtesy -of the freedman was cheerful, while that of the slave was only patient -and submissive. - -In Charleston and Savannah, however, we found the negroes in their -churches. In Havana they were congregated, on a holiday, among the -whites at the bull fight, while the flag of “most christian” Spain -floated above this entertainment she had provided for her humble -subjects, and Spanish bayonets guarded the entrance and preserved order -throughout the assemblage. Our emancipated negroes had everywhere been -striving for school-houses, and eagerly seizing every opportunity for -learning to read, while the aspiration of every parent was that his -children, at least, might acquire ‘white folks’ larnin’; these Cuban -slaves knew so little about education that they seemed to have no -special desire for it. - - * * * * * - -And yet it was not easy to tell how much of this apathy was reality, and -how much of it was only cunning. Unless intelligent Cubans are greatly -deceived, and, indeed, unless the keen-scented Spanish police are -themselves at fault, many of the negroes are beginning to form secret -societies among themselves, with a view to organization for a struggle -for freedom. Their masters believe them to be well acquainted with the -essential facts in our own great conflict, and the whole slave community -is said to be fermenting with ideas engendered by American emancipation. -With slavery summarily wiped out over an extent of adjacent country -equal to a dozen Cubas, it is natural that they should begin to look for -their own day of jubilee. - -Meanwhile, the elements of revolution exist among the people far more -conspicuously than in the days of Lopez and the “fillibusteros.” The -antagonism between the Creoles and the Spaniards is greater than ever, -and betrays itself in many unexpected ways. At Matanzas I was -expressing, to a vivacious Creole lady, my surprise at the numbers of -well-dressed and apparently respectable people who attended the bull -fight in Havana, and cheered the matadors in a frenzy of delight at the -brutal bloodshed. “You didn’t see a Cuban there,” she exclaimed, -“unless, perhaps, some ignorant negroes, who, of course, can not be -expected to be better than their masters. Such gloating over -cold-blooded barbarity doesn’t belong to the Creoles; you find it only -among the native-born Spaniards.” - -The same aversion came out again and again. This municipal regulation -ought to be amended. “But our Spanish masters never learn anything.” -That institution is far behind similar ones in the United States. “But -how could you expect anything better while we have to import officers -from Old Spain to govern us?” The Custom House rules are needlessly -vexatious. “But we shall manage things better when Creoles control -Cuba.” An adjacent sugar planter wouldn’t make so bad a neighbor. “But -then, you know, he is a Spaniard.” A certain ball would be pleasant to -attend, but the Spaniards are to have the management of it; and sundry -young men are quietly “cut” by their fair Creole friends for presuming -to go. - -Where a class, regarded with such feelings by the people, is held in -power by influences from without, and exerted at a distance of thousands -of miles, revolution is only a question of time. Some very intelligent -Creoles now profess to believe it comparatively near. The downfall of -our rebellion has given a fresh impulse to liberal ideas, and stimulated -the feeling of resistance to the Spanish authorities. The swarms of -secret societies among the Creoles have sprung up anew. Even on the -north coast they are said to be abundant; but it is among the wealthy -and isolated young planters of the south, removed from the -embarrassments of commerce, and with ample leisure for intrigues, that -they find their especial development. Here, the monotony of plantation -life is relieved by plots against the Spaniards; and the possibility of -growing sugar by free labor is set over against the necessity for the -present constant importation of negroes from Africa, in defiance of the -remonstrances and active efforts of Christendom. - -Heretofore the Spanish authorities have had a short and simple method of -quieting the rumors of rebellion. Arms were deposited under guard at -various points throughout the island, and the significant declaration -was made, that Spain would rather lose slavery than lose Cuba. Visions -of armed negroes, drunk with their new-found liberty, and eager to -please those who had conferred it by butchering their enemies, have -crowded before the eyes of the Creoles and paralyzed their plans. But -they have even an army of nearly two hundred thousand slaves in the -United States, as orderly, as well disciplined, and, in the main, as -efficient as any other troops; and they have naturally concluded that -such allies are as available for their purposes as they were for ours. -Convinced that their hope of success lies, therefore, in a hearty -alliance with the slaves, they are said to be ready for the abolition of -slavery, and anxious to encourage and hold communication with the negro -secret societies. - -Meantime the Spaniards, alive to the dangers which our success has -brought to all slaveholding countries, and fully aware of the wishes, if -not of the plottings of the Creoles, are themselves looking to the -slaves as allies for the coming struggle. The Captain-General, himself, -declared within the week of our visit, that the time could not now be -far distant when Spain would voluntarily decree the emancipation of her -slaves. - -The negroes thus stand between two chances of freedom. An attempt at -revolution, therefore, is certain to insure their emancipation; and that -side will probably be successful, which secures their confidence, and -thus their aid. Whether a rising of the Creoles, such as many of them -now hope to bring about at some not very distant period, would or would -not be successful, may admit of doubt; but it would seem that in either -event, slavery in Cuba—the cruelest system of slavery now in -existence—is henceforth doomed. Our Proclamation of Emancipation bore -wider blessings than they knew who signed it. See appendix (D.) - - * * * * * - -All along the coast we had been hearing of the “Stonewall,” and, truth -to tell, there seemed to have been no small panic about her.[25] She had -recently been surrendered to the Spanish authorities, and was lying in -the harbor of Havanna. Our party went on board and inspected her. -Captain Merryman gave it as his opinion (and the Spanish naval -authorities agreed with him), that a single one of our first-class -wooden ships of war could have sunk her. The Rebel game of brag had been -played in her case, even more conspicuously than usual, and an abortion -of wood and iron that could neither sail, steam nor fight, and was only -fit for decoying unarmed and unsuspecting merchantmen under her guns, -had been magnified into an iron-clad, before which our whole -South-Atlantic squadron was to be swept away! - - * * * * * - -Blunders in foreign languages are the common entertainment of all -travelers; but one of our party at Matanzas achieved a success in this -line, which may fairly be considered uncommon. The Vice-Consul-General, -the Consul at Matanzas, and some Cuban ladies, together with our own -party, had gone out to the Valley of the Yumuri. Altogether we had six -or seven volantes. Returning in the evening, mine happened to be the -last in the procession. My companion had a theory of his own about the -Spanish language, to wit: that all you had to do to make a Spaniard -understand you was to add an “o” to every English word. Seeing one of -the gleaming bugs, which strangers put in little cages, and carry off as -curiosities, lit on the shoulder of our volante driver, he conceived -this a good opportunity, and straightway shouted, “_Catcho buggo_.” Some -word, faintly resembling one or the other of these, as we were afterward -told, means, in Spanish, “faster.” The poor Cuban, perched on the back -of the forward horse, eight or ten feet in front of us, looked around in -astonishment, only to be met by the renewed exclamation, “Buggo, -_buggo_, I say!” Ahead of him were six volantes, filling up the narrow -road; we were at the top of a steep, stony hill, nearly two miles long; -the road sides were precipitous, and even the track was filled with -obstructions; but behind was the savage looking “Americano,” shouting, -“Buggo, buggo.” So with a crack of the whip over the horse in the -thills, and a cruel plunge of the spur into the heaving flank of the -free one, away we went, past the nearest volante, and over the stones -down the hill; looking back to see how his passengers appreciated his -performance, the driver found one of them laughing immoderately, and the -other still screaming “Buggo, buggo.” Greatly encouraged he gave the -horses an extra lash, and whirled by the next volante, and the next, and -the next. The example was contagious, the rest whipped up, and meantime -we dashed ahead, careening over the sides of the hill, bounding off the -great stones in the track of the wheels, jolting and clattering along at -break-neck pace, past every volante; past amazed muleteers, coming in -with their burdens of forage; past groups of countrymen, lassoing their -young cattle; past the sword-bearing farmers, riding out from town to -their country homes; past astonished negroes, and stupidly staring -coolies on the roadside; across the bridge and into the narrow streets -of the town; nearly running over some of the stately Senoritas at the -Plaza del Armas, astounding the grave Spaniards, upsetting coolies that -loitered about the crossings, raising such a racket as apparently -Matanzas hadn’t seen for a twelve-month, and finally drawing up, seven -volantes in succession, with unprecedented clatter, and whirl of dust, -at the door of the “Leon d’ Oro.” - -The moment we stopped, my persistent companion pounced upon the poor -volante-driver, exclaiming “Buggo, buggo, I say.” - -Of late, the cave near Matanzas has been much talked of, and all -American tourists are urgently advised to visit it. They will find much -that is beautiful, and some lofty passages deserving to be called grand; -but whoever has seen our own great caves in the West will be apt to come -away from that of Matanzas disappointed. - ------ - -Footnote 25: - - A panic which absolutely led to the extinguishment of the lights in - sundry light-houses along the South-Atlantic coast, to prevent the - dreaded pirate from running in and destroying our fleets. - - - - - CHAPTER XXI. - - Scenes in Mobile—The Cotton Swindles. - - -Spring had ripened into fervid summer, as, after days of exquisite -sailing on the Gulf, we steamed past the forts where Farragut added the -latest laurels to our navy. Our pilot proposed taking us directly up the -river, but presently the Wayanda’s keel plowed deep into the oozy mud of -the channel, and admonished us that Mobile is an inland city, to which -ocean-going vessels may not always venture to ascend. - -A boat’s crew was sent forward, and even it had a perilous passage among -the torpedoes which still lined the channel. Meantime we surveyed the -greenish mud of the river from all its possible aspects, and through the -long hours of a hot morning were taught the force of those early hopes -which, in 1861, led the Mobilians to believe that their torrid weather -and abounding mosquitoes would surely prevent the Yankees from making -any successful movement against the forts. - -Here, through all that braggart spring, from day to day, resounded the -boasts of the young soldiers, who still thought war a sport like -horse-racing or dueling.[26] - -The first volunteer companies, eager for Yankee scalps, and carrying -pine coffins among their camp equipage, in which, they had told their -wives and sweethearts, when they started, that they meant to bring back -the corpses of Lincoln and his Cabinet, were hurried here to possess the -forts, before “old Harvey Brown” should send over some of his regulars -from Fort Pickens. Here Colonel Hardee experienced the difficulty of -making gallant Southerners conform to his own tactics; and here, amid -their champagne, the brave fellows murmured at being kept ditch-digging, -when they wanted to be led at once against the cowardly Yankees. Here -John Forsyth, at once Peace Commissioner and professional inflamer of -the Southern heart, (now desirous of renewing his old vocation,[27]) -took Dr. Russell and other foreign visitors to show them model -fortifications and model soldiers. By and by there was need for more -serious work to the northward, and the young volunteers, their champagne -and _patés_ ruthlessly thrown out of the wagons, were taught on Virginia -fields the beginnings of real war. - -At last a light side-wheeler came steaming down the river for us, and -presently we were joined by General Gordon Granger, and the whole array -of city officials, representing the Yankee Government in the city. Among -them was a keen-looking, suspiciously-elegant cotton agent, shirt and -fingers ablaze with diamonds, and face wreathed in smiles, to meet the -gentlemen whom he supposed all-powerful at the Treasury Department. He -was enamored of the South; thought it would be best now not to irritate -her, and especially that there should be no more offensive abolitionism -than was absolutely necessary. He doubted very much the policy of -talking about negro suffrage, and was sure he could do better for the -Government in cotton by conciliating the Southern character. Besides, -the negroes ought to be under some rigid control any way. If left to -absolute freedom, they would not work, and the country would be ruined. - -Secretary McCulloch once said: “I am sure I sent _some_ honest cotton -agents South; but it sometimes seems very doubtful whether any of them -remained honest very long.” This man, who greeted us with such bright -smiles and smooth-spoken talk, has since been fined two hundred thousand -dollars and sentenced to twenty years’ imprisonment for cotton stealing! - -With attention about equally divided between the dangers of our -tortuous, torpedo-lined passage, and the “thunders” of the salute to the -Chief-Justice, we finally reached the tumble-down wharves. Planks had -been torn up for squares along the levee to make fire-wood, and the bare -sleepers were rotting from exposure; elsewhere the decayed planks -rattled ominously under carriage-wheels, and disclosed here and there -ugly holes that might prove dangerous to unwary walkers. Half the -warehouses and shops along the levee seemed closed; a few transports -only lay at the landing, and anchored off in the stream were portions of -Farragut’s famous fleet; but of the commerce that once made Mobilians -dream of rivaling New Orleans, scarcely an indication remained. - -When one entered the city, however, save in the universal torpor of -business, and the presence of soldiers at every corner, few traces of -the war were to be seen. The shrubbery was as glorious as ever—a little -more luxuriant indeed, since the pruning-shears had perforce been idle -for a year or two. Lovely country villas still lined the shell-road, -which was once the glory of Mobile. There were hedges of Cherokee rose, -and arbors of Scuppernong grapes, groves of orange-trees, and everywhere -the glossy leaves of the magnolia, gleaming and shimmering in the -sunlight, as the wind stirred them. A better hint that the war had -wrought its changes was to be gathered when one came to pay the bill for -an hour’s drive. The craziest, ricketty vehicle, with a single seat, -cost ten dollars. - -Everywhere the Rebel soldiers clustered on the corners, or mingled in -the throngs about the bar-rooms and hotels. They still wore their -uniforms, for the best of reasons—they had no other clothes to wear; but -nothing could have been more unexceptionable than their general conduct. -“I tell you, sir,” exclaimed one of our Generals, in a burst of -enthusiasm, “I tell you, they are behaving splendidly. In fact, sir, -these Rebel soldiers are an honor to the American name.” - -“You’ve whipped us,” said one of their officers, with whom I had been -carrying on a desultory conversation, “and you did the work thoroughly. -I think too much of the bravery of our army and of my own honor to admit -that we would have surrendered if we had _not_ been thoroughly whipped. -Of course, then, we’ve had enough of it. If we hadn’t, we’d have fought -on. As we had, we mean to d——n politics, try and get some clothes, and go -to making money.” - -Nearly all the old inhabitants of Mobile were in the city when it fell, -and very few had yet procured the means, even if they had the desire, to -leave. Stores that had been closed for months, or even years, were being -reopened, in the hope that the antiquated stocks of goods might bring in -some trifle in a currency no longer worthless, to supply the wants of -the family. A large furniture store was pointed out, where the owner had -sold enough to supply himself with the immediate necessaries of life, -and had then closed again, declaring that he wouldn’t sell another -article till fall. His explanation gives a curious glimpse into the -condition of the people. Everybody, he said, wanted to buy, and nobody -had any money. When they began to sell their lands or their cotton, and -get money, he was ready to resume business; but till then, it would ruin -him to have his store open. If he refused credit, he would make all his -old customers enemies; if he gave credit, he would soon be bankrupt. To -save himself from destruction, there was absolutely no way but to bolt -his doors and put up his window-shutters! - - * * * * * - -Cotton was beginning to come out, but the enormous frauds which have -since made the very name of cotton agent odious were then only in their -infancy, and there is no reason to suspect that at that time the Mobile -agent already referred to, who subsequently gained such a disgraceful -notoriety, contemplated any other rascality than a swindle of the “Rebel -holders,” that should still seem technically honest in the showings to -the Government. - -But the germ of all the difficulties had already made its appearance. -There were, as the officials believed, in Mobile itself, six thousand -bales, and in the adjacent country not less than one hundred and twenty -thousand, which captured records showed to be the property of the Rebel -Government. Much of this was soon in the hands of private parties, who -professed to have bought it from the Rebel authorities in good faith, to -have given adequate compensation for it, and therefore to be now its -legitimate owners. What was to be done in such a case? Or again: -Planters had subscribed large amounts of cotton to the Rebel loan, under -the same species of coercion by public sentiment which filled the Rebel -ranks with men who had sturdily voted against secession in all its -stages. The authorities had never removed the cotton; the former owners -had been compelled to take care of it; they had steadily kept possession -of it all the time, and they now claimed this possession to constitute -ownership, arguing, plausibly enough, that their compulsory contracts -(by subscription) with the Rebel Government had never been carried out, -and that now it ill became the United States Government to undertake -their enforcement. In other ways, and by all manner of side issues, the -subject had become so inextricably complicated that the immediate -representative of the Treasury Department in our party was at his wits’ -ends. - -Naturally, Mr. Chase’s opinion had great weight, and it was freely -given. He thought it wiser and better for the department over which he -had presided, and which was now administered by one of his own most -trusted appointees, to wash its hands of the whole business. Here was a -quantity of cotton promised under compulsion to the Rebel Government. -They never came to take it; in most cases it was never actually in their -possession; it was now in the hands of its old owners. It would better -comport with the dignity of a great and successful nation to leave it -among this impoverished people, rather than enter into a confused -scramble against ready swearers and men who felt that they were being -cheated out of their all, in order to gather up and auction off the -beggarly effects of the bankrupt Confederacy. In any event, the -Government would be apt to realize very little from the effort, and it -would lose far more in a wasted opportunity for diffusing good feeling -and promoting the revival of industry than it would gain in cotton. - -Weeks, indeed, before this, while the party was at Key West, Mr. Chase -had foreseen, from the indications along the Atlantic coast, the -troubles in store, and had suggested what seemed to him the wisest -policy for avoiding them. He would have had the President issue a -proclamation setting forth substantially: - -1st. That all present holders of cotton sold or subscribed to the -Confederate Government, but never delivered, should be recognized as its -lawful owners, on the ground that the consideration for the stipulated -transfer had failed. - -2d. That a general amnesty should be accorded to all persons willing in -good faith to take the required oaths, and aid in the re-establishment -of civil government; and that the Executive influence should be given -for the repeal of all confiscation laws. - -3d. That this (which should be done, in order to show the Rebels now -returning to their allegiance, that the Government was magnanimous, and -not mercenary, as well as to relieve the general distress, and aid in -the revival of industry and the return of prosperity,) must be -accompanied or preceded by the adoption of fundamental laws in the -States thus generously dealt with, which should permit no distinction of -rights based merely on color; that thus the principal source of trouble -in the future might be avoided. - -Time will show—indeed, most men will agree that it has already shown—the -wisdom and statesmanlike sagacity of the views thus early presented to -the consideration of the President. That they would have been gladly -accepted by the South, every man who saw the temper of the Rebel States -in the May and June following the surrender is well assured. How much -political embarrassment and pecuniary corruption their adoption would -have saved can only be told by those who have probed to the depths the -festering corruption of the cotton agency system, and who can forecast -the issues of the present Congressional and Executive complications. - -I speak advisedly in saying that every Rebel State would have promptly -reorganized under such conditions, and that the majority in Congress -would have as promptly admitted their representatives. - -But, so far as the political points were concerned, they had already -been adversely decided at Washington. As to the question of cotton, Mr. -Mellen, in whose charge the entire matter was placed, without -controverting the views above suggested, was unable to accept and act -upon them. His instructions contemplated making the most out of the -captured cotton. To give it away would at once be denounced as a corrupt -waste of great sums of the public money. It was replied that this cotton -was not the same as public money or even public property now in hand; -that it was not actually captured; was scattered over hundreds of miles -of territory; was only known by uncertain records to have been -subscribed to the Rebel Government; could not be found without -protracted search, nor without protracted examinations in each case, -which opened up boundless opportunities for bribery and wholesale -frauds; in short, that no effort could be made to collect this cotton -which would not end with little profit and less credit to the -Government. - -Mr. Mellen earnestly desired to do the right thing. Much abused as he -has been, I have never seen an official charged with such weighty -responsibilities, and so liable to slanderous accusations, whatever -course he should take, who seemed more earnestly and sincerely bent on -simply finding out his duty, and then doing it with his whole mind and -heart. But as to the general policy of making the most out of the -effects of the Rebel Government, whatever might be his own opinions, his -instructions left him no discretion. - -The work of cotton seizure therefore began. Before these records of -Southern travel are finished, there will be ample opportunity to tell -how it ended. - - * * * * * - -Alabamians had as yet scarcely recovered from the shock of the -surrender, and few in the country adjacent to Mobile had formed any -definite plans for the future. Some thought of going to Brazil; some -wanted to plunge into Mexican broils; a few wanted to get away from the -“sassy free niggers” by going North. Scarcely any seemed to regard their -chance of cultivating their lands by free negro labor as hopeful, and -the most had a vague, uncertain idea that in some way or another they -would have to give up their lands. Still there were scarcely any sales, -and prices had found no settled standard. Some would take one-tenth of -what used to be considered the value of their estates; others would be -satisfied to sell their plantations for the cost of the buildings which -stood upon them. Nearly all were without faith in greenbacks. If they -sold at all, they must get something for their lands. They didn’t want -much, but what they did want must be in gold. - -There was general uncertainty, however, as to whether they had any right -to sell, or whether the titles they might execute would be valid. They -were not willing to believe it possible that an attempt would be made to -enforce so absurd a piece of legislation as the Yankee confiscation law, -but still there was no telling! - -Communication with the interior was still very difficult. They could -reach Selma and Montgomery by a week’s steamboating, and the Tombigbee -would take them to Demopolis, but trips were rare; and though Mobile was -the necessary political and business heart of the State, this heart’s -circulation was yet so impaired, that it neither strengthened nor was -strengthened thereby. What was said at Mobile, therefore, was not, as -formerly, the concentrated thought of the State, gathered there through -all its converging lines of approach, but rather the thought of those -who were accustomed to speak for the State, at a period when almost -completely isolated from their constituents. - -Railroads were not in running order, nor likely to be for some months. -The war had destroyed their rolling stock. Some were left without cars; -nearly all without good locomotives. Bridges were burnt; rails were torn -up and twisted for miles and miles; the companies themselves were -utterly impoverished; and unless they could get unlooked-for aid, most -of them would have to go into liquidation. - - * * * * * - -To the courtesies of a serenade, drives, rides, dinners, and innumerable -calls, the officials added a review of the entire military force in and -about Mobile, in honor of the Chief Justice. - -The Mobile men gathered about the corners, or sullenly contemplated the -pageant from their windows, but scarcely a lady could be seen. They had -neither smiles nor glances, just then, for the garrison of the -conqueror. One needed indeed to be sanguine, as he watched the scene, -and especially as he studied the bearing of the inhabitants, not to -think of Warsaw. - -General Granger, a fine, soldierly-looking person, with face browned by -many a campaign, and a history through the war, from its very inception -down to his last action, at the head of the land forces co-operating -with Farragut in the attack on Mobile, that makes soldiers always ready -to follow where he leads, took his station, with the Chief Justice by -his side, and a showy staff surrounding them, at the crossing of the -principal streets. Regiment after regiment marched past, whose banners, -as they drooped low in salute, showed names of nearly every battle in -the war. One came up with swinging, steady tramp, but with ranks sadly -thinned, though often recruited. Its tattered and stained standards were -crowned with the name of the first great conflict of the West. In their -young, fresh beauty they had waved where Lyon fell. - -Infantry, artillery, and cavalry streamed by, and then came the sight -which brought curses to the mouths of nearly all the onlookers. The -negro troops marched very handsomely, and made, perhaps, the best -appearance of any regiments in the column; but every citizen seemed to -consider their appearance as a personal insult to himself. That the -“miserable runaway niggers” behaved so handsomely only aggravated the -offense. “There’s my Tom,” muttered a plethoric old citizen, while the -natural red of his face inflamed to purple. “How I’d like to cut the -throat of the dirty, impudent good-for-nothing!” - -But no such voices reached the party surrounded by the glittering staff. -The subjugation was as yet too fresh and real. One had to mingle with -them to find how sore they were at the degradation of being guarded by -these runaway slaves of theirs. To be conquered by the Yankees was -humiliating, but to have their own negroes armed and set over them they -felt to be cruel and wanton insult. Yet they scarcely dared still to -speak of it above whispers, and their combination of rage and -helplessness would have been ludicrous, but for its dark suggestions of -the future. - -The review occurred early in the morning, and the heat did not seem -oppressive to us, quietly remaining about the hotel; but a portion of -our party who were out riding found it intense, and in the course of the -day there were several deaths in the suburbs, chiefly among Northern -men, from sun-stroke. But the general testimony of Northerners in Mobile -is to the effect that they find but little difference between people -from the different sections in their capacity for enduring the heat. -Only its long continuance, they say, and not its intensity, makes the -Southern summer dangerous to Northern men. - -General Andrews, three or four years ago a briefless young lawyer in a -remote Minnesota village—such have been the rapid promotions the war has -offered—showed us through the portions of the city destroyed, only a -week or two before, by perhaps the most destructive explosion that ever -devastated any American city. How it originated will be forever a -mystery. Every one who might explain it perished. There were large -quantities of ammunition stored near the upper end of the landing, and -in the heart of the cotton warehouses. One of the concealed torpedoes -left by the Rebels may have been touched; Rebels may themselves have -stealthily arranged a system of wires to explode it; a percussion shell -may have been dropped; some reckless dare-devil may have been smoking a -cigar. However it occurred, there was a sudden roar in the midst of the -busy throng of workmen and soldiers, and one common, instantaneous -destruction overwhelmed them all. - -Over four-fifths of the entire storage of the city was destroyed. A -hundred mules were buried in a single corral. Days afterward corpses of -here and there a hapless soldier began to be dug out by those who cared -to risk exposure to the scattered shells still hourly exploding. Even -when we drove down into the ruins we heard now and again a dull, heavy -thud, like the stroke of some ponderous weight against the solid earth. -It was a shell buried far beneath the rubbish of fallen houses, and -fired by the heat that still smouldered across whole squares. - -Long before we reached the scene of complete destruction, we came upon -houses shattered, bottom stories bereft of superstructure, door and -window-frames driven in, gable-ends standing up alone, without the roofs -they were raised to bear. The streets were filled with the rubbish. Here -was a little fragment of a wall, twenty bricks, perhaps, lying sidewise -as they fell, still fastened by the unbroken mortar; there the whole -outer course of a gable-end dropped flat, and paving the street. Other -walls would still be standing; but six or eight feet from the ground the -outer course of bricks had been abruptly started outward an inch or -more, and thence upward the wall imitated the direction—but by no means, -as we momentarily witnessed, the security—of the leaning towers of Pisa. - -All this passed, we came to the scene of actual explosion. Here, for -eight or ten squares, was one waste of broken brick and mortar, still -smouldering and smoking, and still—horrible thought!—roasting beneath -this parched debris its human victims. Solid warehouses, chimneys, -cotton-presses, machinery, all had been flattened as a whirlwind might -flatten a house of card-boards. - -It was a sickening sequel to such a scene to listen, as we afterward -did, to the descriptions by our surgeons in the old United States -hospital, of the condition in which the Rebels had left it, filthy to -the last degree, full of neglected sick men, destitute of medicines, or, -indeed, of the commonest hospital comforts. Several of the surviving -victims of the explosion had been brought here, who all seemed to -attribute it to Rebel torpedoes, fired by design. - -Among the soldiers who filled the other wards, it was curious to watch -the recognition of the Chief Justice, by his likeness on the one-dollar -greenbacks. Finally he entered into conversation with a soldier in one -of the outer hospital tents, who told him he was from Ohio. “Ah, so am -I.” “Are you? from what part?” asked the soldier. “Don’t you know Mr. -Chase, your former Governor?” suggested General Andrews. “O yes; but, -Governor, you must remember we haven’t seen any of them greenbacks o’ -your’n for so long, we’ve kinder forgot the look o’ your features!” It -seemed the paymaster had neglected him. - ------ - -Footnote 26: - - One of the best private libraries I have ever seen in the South - belongs to a wealthy young Kentuckian, who has had a handsome - catalogue of it printed. The books are classified for enumeration - under subjects. Under the head of “Sports” were set down, first came - others on the laws and usages of dueling! I was assured that the - classification was intentional, and in accordance with Southern - ideas., some works on gunning, fishing, cock-fighting, etc. Among - these - -Footnote 27: - - He was subsequently permitted to renew it. Shortly afterward, copying - and indorsing the foolish falsehood that Chief-Justice Chase had given - it as his opinion, since his Southern tour, that the negro race would - speedily root out the whites throughout the Gulf States, he thought it - wise and in good taste to say: - - “The Judge, before he made his recent tour through the South, believed - that every white man within these States was too lazy to work, and, - instead of going out in the morning to get the meat that was desired - for dinner, would seize a young negro and pitch it into the - dinner-pot, to be served up for the post-prandial meal. By diligent - inquiry he found out that this was not true; and so he agreed to make - a compromise between his prepossessions and the facts he discovered in - his journey. The result is announced in the telegraphic report which - we reprint above. We do not eat little negroes, as he believed, but we - are so lazy that he seems to be fearful that, as we do not eat them, - we are bound, from our demoralized condition, to be presently eaten by - them. Well, this is what he has been teaching for many years—the right - of the negro to eat the white man. - - “But why should a sensible man deal with such folly? The expression of - it shows with how little wisdom the world is governed, and shows, - moreover, how little wisdom there is in the fanatical hosts of which - Judge Chase is the most conspicuous member; and yet this man was feted - and caressed in his travels through the South, by Southern men and - Southern women.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXII. - - Mobile Loyalists and Reconstructionists—Black and White. - - -The political situation in Mobile, in the early days of June, might be -briefly summed up. They were anxious for a re-establishment of civil -government that would release them from suspense about confiscation. -They expected severe punishment for their rebellion, as far as civil -rights were concerned, but were disposed to put the best face possible -upon affairs, ask for a good deal, and take whatever they could get. - -One day the Mayor called, together with his city council—a group of -fine-looking gentlemen, several of them past middle age. The Mayor -himself was a Northern man, who, years ago, had removed to Alabama and -identified himself with her interests. Of course, therefore, he joined -in the war against the Yankees, and professed no love for them now; but, -say what he might, he couldn’t help looking like the shrewd Yankee he -was. They were all “ready to accept the new order of things.” That is, -they knew they had to submit, and they preferred, by putting a good face -on it, to continue in their offices. That anybody wanted “acceptance of -the new order of things” to have a wider significance, I failed to -discover. The negroes were free; but to expect them to work, or even to -behave themselves, without coercive measures, was preposterous. Slavery -being destroyed, the Mobilians awaited the lead of the United States in -discovering some new mode of constraining service. The idea of service -without constraint never entered their heads. - -Among the callers was a fine, courteous, florid-faced old gentleman, -with gray locks carefully collected behind into an antique queue, who -began his talk about “this unfortunate class of our population,” by -going back to the foundations of things. “You know they are the -descendants of Ham, sir, and that service in some form is their -heritage. It would be flying in the face of Providence to attempt -changing that. Now, sir, there are foolish fellows among them, who, -since they have been made free, want to rise from that sphere to which -they have been appointed. Of course, they’ll fail; we have no uneasiness -on that score; but we are the friends of these people, and we are sorry -to see them expose themselves to so much misery in making attempts that -we know from the outset must be abortive. Isn’t it better to have the -laws in some way take the matter out of their hands and make them work?” - -I told the old gentleman of what we had seen at St. Helena. He utterly -refused to believe that free negroes could be self-supporting. General -Saxton had helped them, and stood in the place of a master to them. No -negroes were going to work steadily and successfully without the aid of -Anglo-Saxon organization and direction. - -Negro suffrage seemed to all the most revolting of possibilities. They -were not willing to think their conquerors could mean to inflict such -degradation upon a gallant people. In fact, they wouldn’t—no, they -didn’t really think their population _could_ he brought to endure it! - -Herein was observable a marked change of tone since our visit to the -cities on the Atlantic coast. There they were just as vehement in their -protestations against negro suffrage, but they ended in entreaties that -the conquerors would spare the infliction of such disgrace. Here came -threats. Everywhere else it was manifest that if the restoration of -civil authority depended on negro suffrage, then negro suffrage would be -accepted. Here, for the first time, we were told the people would not -stand it! The explanation is simple. They were just beginning to get a -knowledge of the North Carolina proclamation, and to imagine that the -President was willing to concede to them more power than they had dared -to hope. It was the old maxim illustrated once more. They had been -offered an inch; they were soon to be seen clamorous for ells. - -A “reconstruction meeting” was called for the evening on which we left, -and men were busy consulting on plans to be pursued. The upshot of the -whole matter was that they meant to resist negro suffrage just as far as -they dared, and to seek a reconstruction that should let them back with -as few changes as possible. - -All this was natural. It required small statesmanship at Washington, or -anywhere else, to comprehend it. They were powerless; they wanted to -make the best arrangement they could, but were sure to take, because -they must take, any they were offered. Down to the time when the terms -of the North Carolina proclamation came to be understood, we had found -the South like clay. The Washington potters could mold it to their -liking; it was only to be hoped they knew of what fashion republican -vessels should be shaped. But the moment they heard of that -proclamation, the late Rebels began to take courage on the question of -suffrage, and to suspect that they were not so helpless as they had -imagined. Even yet, however, the golden moment was not wholly past. - -Less bitterness was observed than might have been expected. The most -heated manifestations were those of the returning Rebel soldiers against -some who had tempted them into the ranks. Here and there one heard of a -case in which returned soldiers had attacked or even hung citizens for -failures to keep their promises about supporting the families of those -who had volunteered. Northerners in Mobile had an idea that the presence -of our soldiers alone prevented such scenes in the city itself, and they -professed, on what authority I scarcely know, to enumerate at least -twenty cases of the kind in adjoining counties. But proofs were not -wanting of the spirit in which, to the very last, the conflict against -the Government had been waged. One of our officers, whose duty led him -to search for a quantity of Rebel manuscripts, by lucky accident -discovered in time a torpedo planted among them, and so arranged that -his movement of the papers would have been sure to explode it. The -spirit of unconquerable hate, after the battle was fought and lost, -could hardly go further. - - * * * * * - -“Where do you come from?” one of the party happened to ask a negro who -had been employed for some trifling service. “From Charleston, sah. I -b’longed to Massa Legree, uncle to the great lawyer.” Massa Legree had -proved worthy of the name which an Abolition pen has made immortal. He -had sold this man into Alabama fifteen years ago, and the gray-wooled -fellow said that since then he had neither seen nor heard from wife or -child. “But I’s much ’bliged to all the good gemmen and ladies as has -helped us to freedom. We’ll all s’port oursel’s now, and I’s hope soon -to hab money enough to go back and look for my old ’oman and babies.” -The poor man seemed to have no comprehension of the fact that his babies -of fifteen years ago were scarcely to be considered babies now. - -He was right about their supporting themselves. During the preceding -month the military authorities had issued rations to the destitute -Mobilians, white and black alike. To the master race no less than -fifty-nine thousand rations had been given away by the Government they -had been trying to subvert. Among the negroes only eleven thousand and -eighty (or less than one-fifth as many,) had been needed. In June the -number of destitute negroes had decreased till they were drawing only -one-tenth as many rations daily as were required by the whites. A -stranger might have concluded that it was the white race that was going -to prove unable to take care of itself, instead of the emancipated -slaves, over whose future, unless brightened by some vision of -compulsory labor, their late loving masters grew so sad. - -The explanation was a simple one. The negroes had gone to work: it was -the only way they knew for getting bread, except when the morals of -slavery had taught them to steal, and for that there was now small -chance. The whites had nobody left to go to work for them, and that was -the only way to get bread _they_ knew. - -Throughout the city the negroes found plenty of employments. In the -country they were already talking of clubbing together and working -plantations. But I heard of no movement of this kind that promised -success. They had been accustomed to obey a common master; relieved from -his control, each one now wanted to set up for master on his own -account, and “boss” the rest. There was little doubt that they would -make enough to keep from starving; but there was no prospect of their -doing much more. Large cotton crops were not to be expected from any -plantation which negroes controlled. - -An evidence or two appeared of the “war of races” which the mourners -over dead Slavery were predicting. Some negroes were heard of, at -Montgomery, who had come into the city with their ears cut off by their -former masters, in punishment for their assertion of their freedom. Of -course, such things were far from general; but the fact that they ever -occurred gave point to the occasional croakings about negro -insurrections. “Negro insurrections,” forsooth! We need new dictionaries -to help us understand one another, when knocking a man down for trying -the playful liberty of cutting your ears off becomes “insurrection!” - - * * * * * - -Mobile houses showed the straits to which the people had been reduced. -The pianos all jangled, and the legs of the parlor-chairs were out of -tune quite as badly. Sofas had grown dangerous places for any but the -most slow-motioned and sedate. Missing bits of veneering from the -furniture illustrated the absence of Yankee prepared glue. The glories -of fine window-curtains had departed. Carpets had in many cases gone for -army blankets. - -We saw curious rough earthen mugs, that looked as if they had been dug -out of Pompeii, where they had been badly glazed by the heat of the -lava. These were specimens of home manufacture, to take the place of -broken glasses, and had been sold at several dollars apiece, Confederate -money. “It didn’t make much difference what they asked; it was about as -easy to pay ten dollars of that stuff as one. But look out that your own -greenbacks don’t soon get in the same fix.” A Rebel songster was a rare -prize, presented by a Mobile lady to one of our party. Its cover was of -wall paper, over which the title was printed; and the paper for the body -of the book was scarcely whiter. - -Dinners were a sad trial to the old hospitable and luxurious -entertainers. They had fine wines left, but champagne must be taken in -plain tumblers, and enough to go around the table of one size or shape -could hardly be mustered, even with energetic borrowing. Sets of -dishes—whatever, in fact, was breakable—had undergone like disasters. - -“But we’re all poor alike,” said a sprightly young friend of Madame Le -Vert’s. “It makes no difference to us here. Nobody can do any better; -so, what is the use of being unhappy about it. I wear this palmetto hat, -for example, made in Mobile. It doesn’t look like the elegant straws of -the Northern milliner-shops; but everybody has to wear palmetto, and so -I’m in the fashion. This silk may be very old-fashioned, and I’m sure -the style in which it’s made is; but how were you going to do any better -in Mobile? These gloves are not Jouvin’s best, but find me any Mobile -lady that has them. And as for shoes, we’ve all learned not to despise -calf-skin, or even something a good deal stronger.” And the little foot -gave a stamp that certainly never came from a New York gaiter boot.[28] - -A wretched officer, who had been listening, had the heartlessness to -add: “And when we came here, a dozen of you could sit in a church pew, -where it is now crowded with only four or five.” It was true; even -crinoline had been added to Mobile wardrobes in less than a month. Most -of the dresses still gave ludicrous evidence that they had been made -with reference to less expansive underclothing. - -Madame Le Vert herself, with a few other Mobile ladies, made up a -pleasant party to accompany us down the river to the forts, under whose -guns the Wayanda was lying. The noted little lady seemed to have gone -bravely through the war; though at its close she was reduced to quite as -great straits as the rest. She steered discreetly clear of dangerous -complications; scrupulously said “Confederate” in place of “Rebel,” and -“Federal” in place of “Yankee,” and could hardly consider her literary -labors ended till she, too, had contributed her book about the war. - -All were bitter about the sudden collapse of the Confederate currency. -It had gone down until a dollar was worth only four or five cents, but -still it was worth something, “and Heaven knows,” ejaculated a lively -young person, “there was enough of it, such as it was.” But there was no -time for such conversions as were possible. There were opportunities for -buying real estate with it; Jew brokers were ready to buy up currency -and give gold; provisions might at least have been secured with it. But -hundreds of widows and orphans still had nearly their whole possessions -in Confederate currency; while General Maury assured them they need not -be uneasy; that he could hold Mobile against a six-months’ siege from -the whole army and navy of the United States. Till the last week, and -almost to the last day, the confidence of the most was unshaken. Without -a word of warning came the surrender, and in an hour thousands were made -penniless. - -“You ask,” said one, “why so many white people are drawing rations. You -have the reason. Negroes had nothing, and lost nothing. We had what -passed for money; your entrance turns it into waste paper in our purses. -Of course, therefore, we are destitute.” - -All this was plain; but the good Mobilians saw only in part. The negroes -had gone to work; the whites too often were listlessly awaiting events, -and talking of selling their houses or lands to get bread. The fresh -tide of Northern enterprise will soon sweep rudely enough against these -broken remnants of the _ancien régime_, and wash them under. The “old -families” seem, in many cases, exhausted of force and energy. They had -enough originally to gain position; they have not enough left now to -retain it; and it waits the grasping hand of the coming parvenues. “New -men” will soon be the order of the day, in Mobile and in many another -center of Southern aristocracy. - ------ - -Footnote 28: - - Colonel Boynton, writing of his experiences in the interior rural - districts of North Carolina, three months later, found, in spite of - Wilmington blockade-running, a destitution far beyond that of Mobile. - - “Everything has been mended, and generally in the rudest style. - Window-glass has given way to thin boards, and these are in use in - railway coaches and in the cities. Furniture is marred and broken, and - none has been replaced for four years. Dishes are cemented in various - styles, and half the pitchers have tin handles. A complete set of - crockery is never seen, and in very few families is there enough left - to set a table in a manner approaching gentility. A set of forks with - whole tines is a curiosity. Clocks and watches have nearly all - stopped. Clothing, including hats, bonnets, and ladies’ and children’s - shoes, are nearly all homemade. Hair-brushes and tooth-brushes have - all worn out; combs are broken, and are not yet replaced; pins, - needles, thread, and a thousand such articles, which seem - indispensable to housekeeping, are very scarce. Even in weaving on the - looms, corn-cobs have been substituted for spindles. Few have - pocket-knives. In fact, everything that has heretofore been an article - of sale at the South is wanting now. At the tables of those who were - once esteemed luxurious providers, you will find neither tea, coffee, - sugar, nor spices of any kind. Even candles, in some cases, have been - replaced by a cup of grease, in which a piece of cloth is plunged for - a wick. The problem which the South had to solve has been, not how to - be comfortable during the war, but how to live at all.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXIII. - - New Orleans and New Orleans Notabilities. - - -Crossing from Mobile to New Orleans was going from the past of the South -to its present. Till within a few weeks, Mobile had been among the -latest strongholds of the rebellion; for some years New Orleans had been -held by the national authorities, and had been changing under the -operation of Northern influences. Mobile showed us the last of the old -South; New Orleans the first of the new. - -Before the Wayanda had reached the old battleground where what we would -now call a sharp skirmish added the 8th of January to our public -holidays, and gave the country one of its most famous Presidents, she -was met by a tug containing a number of the officials, and some of the -prominent lawyers of the city, come down to welcome the Chief Justice. -Among them were natives of the South, and gentlemen whose interests were -all wrapped up in New Orleans. But a day or two, before the city papers -had published Mr. Chase’s remarks to the Charleston negroes, and much -angry comment had been excited by this “desecration of the judicial -ermine” and the sanction given to the claims of the negroes for -suffrage; yet nothing could have exceeded the cordiality of his -reception. His host was a young sugar-planter, born here, and inheriting -large estates and many slaves from his father. Fortunately for the young -man, much of his boyhood had been spent abroad, and when, at the age of -seventeen, the sudden death of his father recalled him from St. -Petersburg and made him a millionaire, he was measurably free from the -ideas which slavery steadily instilled. When the Emancipation -Proclamation came, his plantations were in the exempted parishes; but he -was clear-sighted enough to see the inevitable end, and sagacious enough -to recognize it as already practically accomplished. He gathered his -slaves together, told them that henceforth they might consider -themselves free, and proposed a bargain for their services, if they were -willing to remain at their old places. They stipulated for rations, and -an average of between eight and ten dollars wages per month, which was -promptly paid. They have been working steadily ever since, and Mr. May -now states that, in spite of the demoralizing effects of the war, to say -nothing of the actual ravages of guerrillas, his principal plantation -has been as profitable under the free-labor system as it was formerly, -when labor cost him nothing. - -Like most of the wealthy sugar-planters, Mr. May keeps up his town -house, and, indeed, spends the greater part of his time in the city, -where, for a year or two past, official duties have required his -presence. At the age of twenty-three, he holds the position of United -States Treasurer, appointed thereto mainly for the reason that he was -the most responsible loyal Southerner then to be found in the city. Even -he had served for a season in the Rebel service—to have stayed out of -it, he says, would have been to have sacrificed his property—but he -contrived to get back as soon as New Orleans fell, and was among the -very first to present himself before General Butler to take the oath of -allegiance. - -We had been at his house scarcely an hour, and had just gathered about -the table, at lunch, when a compact, little, big-chested, crop-headed, -fiery-faced officer, in Major-General’s uniform, was shown in. He was -altogether the most modest, bashful, and embarrassed little fellow we -had seen on the whole trip; conversing under restraint, sitting uneasily -on his chair, and flushing redder than ever when a lady addressed him. -They tell a ludicrous story of his having taken a splendid bouquet to -the theater, one evening, to give to a lady whom he knew he should see -there. He held it nervously through half the performance; started once -or twice from his box to pass around to the one which the lady occupied, -but speedily returned, bouquet still in hand, his heart having each time -failed him on the way. Finally, summoning one of his staff officers, he -directed _him_ to carry the bouquet over to Miss ——, with General -Sheridan’s compliments. Yet, as one looks at the developments on the -back of his head, it is easy to understand the tremendous energy and -intense love of fighting for the sake of fighting, that have made “Phil. -Sheridan” the most famous cavalry officer of the war, if not of the -century. - -He had but recently assumed command of the Gulf Department, and had been -busily occupied with the affairs of Texas. He was by no means satisfied -with the situation in the Lone Star State. There had been no real -surrender. The officers had availed themselves of the chance for -paroles, and the men had gone off, arms in their hands, half expecting a -renewal of the war, with the Mexican frontier as a base of operations, -and, at any rate, too far from being well whipped to become very quiet -or orderly citizens. He did not say in terms that there had been bad -faith on the part of Kirby Smith and the other Confederate officers, but -it was evident that he more than suspected it. - -Some talk that followed of cotton speculations in Texas, possible and -proposed, disclosed pretty plainly a fact which had often been hinted at -and as often denied in the newspapers. Either Kirby Smith, or some -person assuming to speak for him, had been in indirect communication -with our authorities on the subject of closing out the war in the -Trans-Mississippi Department, by a big exportation of Confederate cotton -on private account. “I’ve known for a long time that he was for sale,” -said one, “but I have always doubted whether he was worth the price -proposed.” - -Among the stream of callers that filled up the afternoon was an old -gentleman, whom, but for the half-modernized clothes, one might have -taken for Dr. Franklin, as he is shown in the marble statue at the -Capitol. The countenance had the same strong cast; the thin gray locks -hung down, long, over the straight, collarless Quaker coat in the same -way; the broad-brimmed hat, the cane, the general aspect of venerable -but hearty old age, were all as we have them in the statue. This was -Jacob Barker,[29] a Northern Quaker, whose term of residence in New -Orleans counts further back than the lives of most of her citizens, and -who had, nevertheless, apparently passed the prime of a prosperous -business career before he emigrated to the South. Mr. Barker is now -between eighty and ninety years of age. He has many ships carrying his -trade to foreign and domestic ports. His children approach old age -around him, and yet he may be seen almost every day, during business -hours, behind the counter, in his old-fashioned little bank on Camp -Street, counting money and waiting on customers, like a bank clerk of -twenty. - -Long ago Mr. Barker sympathized with the generous views of his sect on -the sinfulness of slavery. It is even of record that he joined a party -once in New York harbor, which steamed out in one of his own tug-boats -to a vessel about to sail for Charleston, and rescued a runaway slave -she was to carry back to his South Carolina owner. How Southern business -has molded Northern consciences may be seen in the fact that, for a -generation past, Mr. Barker has been as Southern in his views as the -majority of the depositors in his bank; and, indeed, it seems scarcely -known in a Rebel community, whose highest confidence he enjoys, that so -devoted a Southern politician is not, after all, a Southern man. - -We were joined at dinner by three gentlemen who might be taken as -conspicuous representatives of the Southern bar, as well as of diverse -phases of Southern Unionism. The eldest, a fine old gentleman, whose -youthful spirits and ruddy face perpetually contradict the story of his -thin gray hairs, is generally held to be the finest civil lawyer here, -which is equivalent to pronouncing him the finest civil lawyer in the -United States.[30] As long ago as during the administration of General -Jackson, his prominence was such that, when it was plausibly argued that -a vacancy on the Supreme Bench ought to be so filled as to give that -tribunal of last resort at least one Judge learned in the civil law, Mr. -Roselius was at once suggested. New Orleans lawyers still tell that he -might have had the place if he would; but that the emoluments of the bar -are here too great to be exchanged for the honorable beggary of the -Supreme Court. - -The next was in every particular a contrast to this genial, rosy-faced -Nestor of the city bar. He was tall, thin, sallow, cadaverous. His -habitual expression seemed saturnine; he had less to say; indulged in -fewer compliments; told fewer stories. This was Mr. Thos. J. Durant, the -leader of the Radical Free-State party in the State, and an orator whom -Northern men pronounce not unworthy of mention in the same connection -with Wendell Phillips. - -Judge Whittaker, the third of the party (reported to be now an aspirant -for the Supreme Bench, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Judge -Catron), though an emigrant to New Orleans from South Carolina, looked -rather like one of the free-and-easy Kentucky lawyers in the mountain -districts. His collar was carelessly turned down; his tall, -loose-jointed figure matched well with his careless toilet, and his -hearty ways, and irregular features, lit up with a smile of Western -rather than Southern cordiality, all bespoke a different origin. - -These three men stand in the foremost rank of Louisiana lawyers, and -typify various grades of Louisiana Unionism. Mr. Durant is an intense -Radical. In Boston he would be an Abolitionist of the Abolitionists. He -speaks at negro meetings, demands negro suffrage, unites with negroes in -educational movements, champions negroes in the courts. The resident -Rebels hate him with an intensity of hatred due only to one whom they -regard as an apostate; but all are glad to avail themselves of his legal -abilities, and he is daily compelled to reject business he has no time -for. Judge Whittaker is far more cautious. He may be as innocent as the -dove; but, at any rate, under all his hearty, warm manner there is a -good deal of the wisdom of the serpent. He was always a Union man, but -he took pains not to make himself personally offensive to the Rebels, -and was not disturbed by them during their control of the city. Now that -the Union cause has triumphed, he would move very slowly. Negro suffrage -may become necessary, but he would wait and see. If there were any -possible way of avoiding it, he would avoid it. Mr. Roselius is at once, -through age and by temperament, still more cautious. His conservative -tendencies led him to oppose secession; the same tendencies lead him to -want now a return as nearly as possible to the old condition of -affairs—the veritable _status in quo ante bellum_. Slavery, of course, -can not be restored, nor would he desire it; but he would have the -abolition of slavery work just as few attendant changes as possible. -Above all, treat the returning Rebels well; dine them, and wine them; -tell them it’s high time they would quit making fools of themselves, and -that you’re glad to see them back. - - * * * * * - -In the cool of the evening, Mr. May drove us out to see the city. It -recalls no other town in the South; reminds one more of Havana than of -any of them, and is very much unlike even it. “A town where all their -drains are above ground; where a cellar would be a cistern; where the -river is as high as the roofs of the houses, and where, when you die, -instead of burying you like a Christian, they tuck you away on a shelf, -and plaster you in with lath and mortar—that’s New Orleans.” Such was -the description once given by an energetic Yankee, and it conveys as -accurate an idea as whole pages might. He should have added that it is a -town where half the inhabitants think of Paris as their home, and feel -as much interest in the Tuilleries as the White House; that of the other -half, the most are cotton factors or commercial men of some sort, with -principles not infrequently on sale with their goods; that it is at once -the most luxurious, the most unprincipled, the most extravagant, and, to -many, the most fascinating city in the Union—the only place that, before -the war, could support the opera through an entire winter; the only -place where the theaters are open on Sunday evening; where gambling is -not concealed, and keeping a mistress is not only in no sense -discreditable, but is even made legal. What Boston is to the North, -Charleston and Richmond are, in a diminished sense, to the South; what -New York is to the North, New Orleans is, in an exaggerated sense, to -the South. - -The city itself showed no traces of war. Mounted orderlies dashed along -the streets; and in front of a few palatial residences guards in uniform -paced slowly to and fro. But the superb shrubbery of the Garden District -had not suffered as had that of Charleston. The spacious and airy wooden -residences in the upper part of the city never looked more attractive; -below Canal Street, the quaint, projecting roofs, and curious -green-barred doors and windows of the French quarter remained as in the -days when Napoleon sold out to the United States, and the inhabitants -woke up to find their allegiance transferred. Even the levee began to be -crowded again, and business seemed quite as active as could have been -expected in June. - - * * * * * - -In the evening our host took me down to the office of the principal -newspaper of the city. It has been started since the national -occupation, on the ruins of old Rebel papers; is, in shape and size, a -_fac simile_ of leading New York journals, is crowded with -advertisements, and is paying a net profit of eight to ten thousand -dollars a month. Yet, with such a start, its proprietors, though strong -Unionists, are afraid to take any decided political stand. Its main -rival, the Picayune, was already appealing to the returning Rebels, and -there was danger, they thought, of their being “cut under.” It was the -old, sad story of making principles as little offensive as possible, and -softening them away, point by point, to conciliate imperious patrons. -“You call our course hard names,” said one of the proprietors. “But look -at our condition. We have the largest circulation and the business lead. -The interior is just being opened up to us, and we want to occupy this -new field in advance of any rival. If we denounce Rebels, or advocate -negro suffrage, we lose what we have here, and throw away, at the same -time, all chance of extending our circulation in the country; for, the -moment we say anything particularly displeasing to the Rebels, the -Picayune stands ready for the chance, and steps into our business. No, -no. Our only chance is to make a good _news_ paper, and politically -drift with the tide!” - ------ - -Footnote 29: - - Since elected Congressman from one of the New Orleans districts, in - the hope that his position and age might help to secure the admission - of himself and his colleagues. The House, however, proved - unimpressible, and he soon gave up an effort after such barren honors, - and returned. - -Footnote 30: - - Throughout the English-settled portion of the United States, the - British Common Law is the basis of all our jurisprudence. But the - French and Spanish settlements in Louisiana have left it the legacy of - the Civil Law, and so made the practice of law in its courts a matter - requiring special study, and presenting special perplexities. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIV. - - The Beginning Reaction—Northern Emigrants and New Orleans Natives. - - -To be waked up in the morning by a negro, pushing your musquito-bar -aside to hand you a cup of coffee in bed; to have him presently return -with a glass of iced Congress water, an orange, and the morning papers, -and to be notified that he’ll come back after awhile to tell you when it -is time to get up, are traces of the old style of living in New Orleans, -to which our host scrupulously adhered. Slavery was doubtless very bad; -but it did one thing we shall never have so well done again—it trained -the best personal attendants to the last possibility of perfection. -Under their careful ministrations the most industrious might be excused -for an occasional languid lapse into seductive indolence. No wonder some -ambitious young writer made the discovery, after Banks’s discomfiture on -the Red River, that New Orleans has been the Capua of our Northern -armies. - -The morning papers began to present an altered tone. A month ago they -sang only the softest strains in honor of the military management, -laughed at the rags of the Confederacy, and had no squeamishness in -speaking of Rebels and the rebellion. Now there were pleasant notices of -the returning Confederate braves; rejoicings at the revival of the old -appearance of things; hints about Yankee innovations which would soon be -forced to disappear. The old papers, which had helped fan the flames of -secession, and had only been permitted to continue their publication, -after the surrender of the city, under the most comprehensive promises -of good behavior, went even further. Mr. Lincoln already began to be -referred to as a hard master, whose unconstitutional courses a -Southerner like Mr. Johnson could not follow; and the demands of the -“Radicals” (whom a few weeks before they had been praising), were -denounced in terms quite equal to those of the old invectives against -the Abolitionists. - -Everywhere one observed the same signs of reaction. The returning Rebel -soldiers seemed to have called into active utterance all the hostility -to Northerners that for nearly four years had lain latent. Men quoted -the North Carolina proclamation, and thanked God that there had suddenly -been found some sort of a breakwater against Northern fanaticism. There -were whispers that Governor Wells (who had been nominated as -Lieutenant-Governor on the ticket with Governor Hahn, under the Banks -military reorganization, and who, on Hahn’s election as Senator, had -succeeded to the Governorship), was about going over to the planting -(that is, to the Rebel) party. He had got all he could out of the -Free-State party; as his old friends returned, and as the North Carolina -proclamation emboldened him, he naturally drifted to the side where his -sympathies had always drawn him. But a day or two before, this -sallow-faced little official, who, but for the necessities of the Banks -reorganization, would never have risen from the obscurity of his remote -Red River plantation,[31] had received a young Northern officer, settled -in New Orleans, and an applicant for an office which he thought he could -fill. The Governor had already begun the free appointment of Rebel -officers, but a Northern officer who had been wounded on the loyal -side—to the success of which side alone he owed his position—presented a -different sort of a case. - -“The truth is, sir, that we’re very much obliged to you for all you -Northern gentlemen have done; but now that you are successful, you had -better go home. Louisiana must be governed by Louisianians!” - -The bubbling of the political caldron was at its hight. General Banks -had removed Mr. Kennedy, the Mayor of the city. In turn, he had himself -been superseded, and now it was rumored that the representations of his -creature, the Governor, who had betrayed him, having been listened to at -Washington, his humiliation was to be made complete by the restoration -of Kennedy. Such was the reward already being reaped for the -proscription of Durant, Flanders, and the other genuine Union men of the -State, in the mongrel military reorganization. - -Carondelet Street, during these days, presented a curious scene. -Sometimes it was impossible to approach within a couple of squares of -the Provost-Marshal’s office, so great was the throng of returning Rebel -soldiers, applying for their paroles. It was a jolly, hand-shaking, -noisy, chattering crowd. Pushing about among them could be seen women, -sometimes evidently of wealth and position, seeking for their brothers -or husbands. Nothing could exceed the warmth with which they all greeted -the ragged fellows in gray, and every few moments one found his own eyes -growing dim as he watched the touching embrace of dear ones from whom -for four years they had been parted.[32] “Registered enemies,” too, were -returning; there was a general reunion and rejoicing, and amid it all, -the men who had been fleeing before Sheridan, or surrendering under Lee, -soon found it easy to forget how badly they had been beaten, or how -generously their treason had been treated. - -I do not think the Northern men who had come into New Orleans since its -surrender, and who now so largely controlled its business, were doing -much to promote a healthier tone of public feeling. Most of them were -engrossed in trade. Scarcely any, officers or civilians, would hesitate -to join with the Southerners in talk against the Abolitionists and the -Sumnerites. Nearly all of them fell readily enough into the current -abuse of niggers and nigger-lovers. And it seemed too prevalent an idea -that, in order to secure profitable business, a man must either sink -politics altogether, or fall into the old habit of pandering to the -prejudices of those with whom he traded. Clearly, the days of Northern -flunkeyism had not entirely passed away. - - * * * * * - -New Orleans had proved a rich harvest-field to a crowd of new men and -miscellaneous adventurers from the North. Hundreds had accumulated -fortunes since the occupation of the city. Here is a single case: A -gentleman, unfortunate in previous business ventures, and without a -thousand dollars in the world, came to New Orleans, to see if something -would turn up. The sugar-planters had all ostentatiously proclaimed that -the Emancipation Proclamation had demoralized their labor and ruined -their business. Some, through spite, others because they believed it, -were absolutely abandoning the cane as it stood in their fields, on the -ground that the negroes couldn’t be trusted to make the sugar. This -gentleman saw his chance. First purchasing the matured cane from the -owners for a trifle, to be paid out of the returns of the crop, he went -to the negroes, told them he was a Northern man, and would pay them -fairly for their work, if they would go ahead and make the sugar. In -this way he soon had a dozen or more plantations running again; and in a -few months, the end of the sugar season brought him a hundred and thirty -thousand dollars net profit! - -Subsequently the same man took to purchasing cotton, on a system of what -seemed utterly reckless speculation. He would buy a hundred thousand -dollars’ worth, ship it to New York, and check against his bills of -lading for its full value. This money he instantly invested in another -lot of cotton of equal amount, which he likewise shipped and checked -against; then reinvesting, shipping again, checking again, still making -fresh purchases, each with the money thus procured, and so building up -his commercial house of card-boards. It thus happened that he sometimes -used his hundred thousand dollars a dozen times over, before the returns -were half in from his earlier shipments. So enormous became the ventures -of this man, who started two years before on nothing, that he had on the -ocean, exposed to the perils of ocean navigation, at one time, seven -hundred thousand dollars’ worth of cotton! - -Few of these Northerners had yet made permanent investments in the -South. Plantations had not begun to come into the market. Southerners -had hardly had time to look about them and decide what to do. But it was -already evident that, provided they could make titles which were good -for anything, plenty of them would soon be anxious to sell. Northern -capital and energy were likely to have still finer openings within a few -months, than any that the confusion of a captured city and the chaos of -constantly shifting military government had afforded. - - * * * * * - -Among the earliest callers, the day after our arrival, were General -Canby and General Banks. The former is a plain, rather heavy-looking -regular, giving you the impression of a martinet, though officers of -excellent judgment speak highly of his abilities. He knows nothing about -politics, tries to confine himself to the purely military duties of his -department, and says he told the Secretary of War he didn’t feel fit to -undertake the management of the complex questions arising out of the -political relations of his department. - -General Banks was fully sensible of the treachery which the person he -had made Governor was contemplating; still, he seemed to think that if -his reorganized government could only have been recognized by Congress, -the evils that were then upon the state would have been in some way -averted. Now he saw no remedy but in negro suffrage, and for this he was -disposed to give hearty co-operation. He had doubts as to whether the -General Government would have power to insist upon it; but, in some way -or another, not only justice to the loyal blacks, but absolute safety to -the loyal whites and to the nation, required it. - -A call by the members of the New Orleans bar in a body, to pay their -respects to the Chief Justice, gave one an opportunity not often -afforded to see the lawyers of this leading city together. They were a -fine-looking body of men, mostly of marked Southern accent and manner, -very courteous, and, on the whole, impressing a stranger as of much more -than ordinary ability. Many of them were by no means as loyal as they -might be; and a few were in sore trouble about the test oath, which -prevented their practicing in the United States Court. - - * * * * * - -In the evening we were taken to a fair held by the Catholic -negroes—mostly of the old Louisiana free-negro stock. By one of the -curious revenges of these avenging times, the fair was held in the -elegant residence of no less a person than ex-Senator and ex-Minister -Pierre Soulé. He who had so often demonstrated negro inferiority and the -rightfulness of slavery was now an exile, seeking a precarious -livelihood by the practice of the law in a foreign language, in the City -of Mexico; while the inferior negroes were selling ice-cream from his -tables and raffling fancy articles in his spacious parlors, for the -benefit of the slave children’s schools! - -Nowhere else in the world could that scene have been witnessed. There -were elegantly dressed ladies, beautiful with a beauty beside which that -of the North is wax-work; with great, swimming, lustrous eyes, -half-veiled behind long, pendent lashes, and arched with coal-black -eyebrows; complexions no darker than those of the Spanish senoritas one -admires in Havana, but transparent as that of the most beautiful -Northern blonde, with the rich blood coming and going, under the olive -skin, with every varying emotion; luxuriant flowing tresses, graceful -figures, accomplished manners—perfect Georgian or Circassian beauties. -Yet every one of these was “only a nigger.” Many of them had been -educated in Paris, and more than one Parisian wardrobe shimmered that -evening under the radiance of Mr. Pierre Soulé’s chandeliers. Some of -them were wealthy; all were intelligent, and some conversed in the -foreign tongue in which they addressed us, with a vivacity and grace not -often surpassed in Washington ball-rooms. But they were only niggers. -They might be presented to the Empress Eugenie; they might aspire to the -loftiest connections in Europe; but they were not fit to appear in a -white man’s house in New Orleans, and the Chief Justice was eternally -disgraced (according to the talk of the city next day), for having so -forgotten dignity, and even decency, as to enter a parlor filled with -niggers that were trying to play lady and gentleman! - -These people were not always outcasts. Under the great Napoleon they -were citizens of the French Empire. It was only when the flag of the -free came to cover them that they were disfranchised; only when they -were transferred to a republic that they lost their political rights. -Hitherto they have held themselves aloof from the slaves, and -particularly from the plantation negroes; have plumed themselves upon -their French descent, and thus isolated from both races, have -transferred to Paris an allegiance that was rejected at Washington. - -“But now,” as one of them very frankly said during the evening, “we see -that our future is indissolubly bound up with that of the negro race in -this country; and we have resolved to make common cause, and rise or -fall with them. We have no rights which we can reckon safe while the -same are denied to the fieldhands on the sugar plantations.” - -Among the negro men present were several who, whether in complexion, -clothes or conversation, would never have been suspected in any mixed -company at the North of being other than intelligent and polished -ornaments of the Anglo-Saxon race. Mingled with these were others of -darker hues, ranging down to mulattoes, and even darker still; and among -them were several negro officers whose behavior Generals Butler and -Banks had highly praised. A group of beautiful ladies, apparently white, -was suddenly invaded by a quaint old chocolate-colored dame, with high -bandana wound about her head, subscription-book in hand, and the most -extraordinary squeaking tones, calling for the taking of shares in her -raffle. She was the grandmother of two of the young ladies! Madame -Mottier, a mulatto, or quadroon, in whose education I think Boston had -some hand, seemed to be the inspiring divinity of the fair, to whom all -looked for direction or advice. She is teacher in a colored school. - -By and by Mr. Pierre Soulé’s piano, under quadroon fingers, began a -march, and manly voices—albeit not from Rebel throats—swelled the -chorus. And so we left them: negroes raffling fans and picture-frames -and sets of jewelry in the Soulé parlors; negroes selling ice-cream in -the Soulé dining-room; negroes at his piano; negroes in his library; -negroes swarming amid his shrubbery; and yet as handsome, as elegantly -dressed, and in many respects almost as brilliant a party as he himself -ever gathered beneath his hospitable roof. - -Remembering how eagerly they had been buying portraits of Mr. Lincoln, I -could not fail to recall, as we drove back, what I had seen in a picture -gallery during the day, where there were no obnoxious “niggers” about. A -picture of Lincoln hung side by side with one of Wilkes Booth, and above -the two was a large, handsomely finished portrait of Robert E. Lee! - ------ - -Footnote 31: - - And who subsequently thought it in good taste for him, of all men, to - refer, in a public speech, to the Chief Justice of the United States, - as “the political adventurer who has recently been among us!” A very - intelligent correspondent (“V. H.”) of the Cincinnati Commercial, - writing from the Governor’s home, gives the following account of him: - “Governor Wells does not seem to have much honor in his own parish. He - was sheriff here once, and defaulter to a large amount. His brother, - Montford Wells, has since been sued as one of the securities upon the - forfeited bond. Montford and Jeff., both brothers of J. Madison (the - Governor), married sisters—heiresses. The joint weddings—runaway - matches—were a ‘spree,’ the gay young couples chartering a steamboat, - and with a large party of merry guests, setting off from Alexandria, - firing a salute, as a note of defiance to the grim, gray old guardian, - who had presumed to threaten the course of true love (despite the - adage, about to run so smooth down Red River), with vain opposition. - Jeff.’s wife has been for some time in the Insane Asylum, and, since - the death of Jeff. himself, Montford has been trying to get possession - of the estate, in his wife’s name, and for the interest of his insane - sister-in-law. J. Madison (the Governor), however, had interfered, as - the representative of his brother Jeff. Why, I can’t understand, for - Montford is older than the Governor.” - -Footnote 32: - - Bankrupt in all but honor, the paroled soldiers of the Confederacy can - only tender to the ladies of New Orleans their undying gratitude for - the cordial welcome which has greeted their advent in the city, and - pray that God will bless the “ministering angels,” who have lifted - from their hearts the dark cloud of gloom and despondency, and turned - its “silver lining” outward, brightened with their smiles. Congregated - here only for a brief space, they will soon be widely scattered, - perhaps never to meet again. They are returning home with blighted - hopes and ruined fortunes; all but honor, and the will which can never - be conquered, lost in the terrible struggle through which they have - passed. Many of them will be voluntary exiles from the fair Southern - land which gave them birth; but wherever their wandering fate may - lead, they will bear with them, among treasured relics of the past, a - remembrance ever more dear and sacred of the noble women of New - Orleans, who have had courage to believe that misfortune may exist - without guilt, and, refusing to worship the rising sun, have turned - aside from the prosperous and the powerful, to bestow their prayers, - their tears, and their smiles upon them.—_N. O. Picayune, June 17._ - - - - - CHAPTER XXV. - - Among the Negro Schools. - - -In the good old times, before the advent of Farragut and Butler, the -statutes of Louisiana declared teaching slaves to read and write a -“crime, having a tendency to excite insubordination among the servile -class, and punishable by imprisonment at hard labor for not more than -twenty-one years, or by death, at the discretion of the court.” When -asked, therefore, to visit the negro schools of New Orleans, I was not -unduly sanguine in my expectations. Reverend and Lieutenant Wheelock, a -keen, practical Yankee preacher, acting as secretary to the “Board of -Education for Freedmen,” instituted by General Banks, was guide. - - * * * * * - -The first school-house to which we were conducted was an old store-room, -the second story of which had been used as a hall for the Knights of the -Golden Circle, and still bore on its walls the symbols of that hollowest -and most insolent of Southern humbugs. Rude partitions divided the -store-room, and separated the three different grades of the primary -school. - -[Illustration: _Negro Schools of New Orleans.—Page 246._] - -In the first we were received by a coarse, ill-dressed, rude-looking -man, who evidently sprang from the poor white trash. Ranged along the -wall as we entered were a dozen or more boys, reading as boys do read, -in the Third Reader—with many a pause and many a tracing of hard words -with a great fore-finger that blurs everything it touches. Among the -class was a bright, fair-haired boy, who would have been called handsome -anywhere. Seated behind the little desks were some large, coarse girls, -seemingly eighteen or twenty years of age, conning their spelling-books. -The hot air was languidly stirred by the hot breeze from the street -windows, which brought in with it the sound of boys at play on the -pavement; and one did not wonder at the noise and general inattention -that prevailed. - -The next room was ruled by a woman as coarse and slatternly as became -the neighbor of the man whose school we had just left. A little fellow -made some noise to displease her as we entered, and she bowled him -against the wall as one would bowl a ball down a ten-pin alley. Children -were at work mumbling over charts hung against the wall, and professing, -with much noisy show of industry, to be spelling out simple sentences. -But their zeal did not prevent surreptitious pinches, when the -slatternly school-mistress’s back was turned, nor a trade of “five -alleys for a bright-colored glass one,” on the sly. I think such scenes -are not unknown even in model Northern schools. - -The teacher in the third room was as great a contrast to the two we had -just seen as was her school to theirs. She was smart, bright, looking -for all the world like a Lowell factory girl of the better class; and -her pupils, though by no means quiet as lambs, were in fine order. Their -faces had evidently been washed systematically; long labors had forced -upon their comprehension the advantages of clean aprons and pinafores; -and they appeared attentive and noisily anxious to learn. This teacher -seemed capable of giving an intelligent opinion as to the capacities of -her scholars. She had taught at the North, and she saw no difference in -the rapidity with which whites and blacks learned to spell and read. -There were dull scholars and bright scholars everywhere. Some here were -as dull as any she ever saw; others were bright as the brightest. And -she called out a little coal-black creature, who had been in school -eight days, and was apparently not more than as many years old. The eyes -of the little thing sparkled as she began to spell! Eight days ago she -had not known her letters. From spelling she went to reading, and was -soon found to have mastered every sentence on the charts hung about the -walls. - -The more advanced scholars were found in the old hall of the K. G. -C., up stairs. Here, where once schemes for taking Cuba, or -perpetuating slavery in the South, were discussed, forty or fifty -boys and girls, lately slaves, stood before the platform where the -knights had ranged themselves for initiation, and peacefully recited -their lesson in the Fourth Reader! Where once the Knight Commander -sat, stalked now a loose-jointed, angular oddity from one of the -Middle States—narrow-headed, and with ideas in proportion, which he -seemed in nowise fitted to impart. Nigger school-teaching was -manifestly not the respectable thing to do in New Orleans; and the -Board seemed to have been put to sad straits sometimes for teachers. -The reading was bunglingly done, but the teacher didn’t read so very -much better himself. On spelling the class did better. In geography -they had learned by rote the answers to the common questions; and -they could point out with considerable accuracy, on the outline -maps, New Orleans and Louisiana, and the Mississippi River and the -Gulf of Mexico. But one woolly-headed urchin brought his teacher to -grief and wrath, by selecting Cuba as the proper location for -Iceland; matters were nowise improved by the further transfer of -Asia to the exact latitude and longitude of San Francisco. Yet, with -all the allowances, it was a fair average school. Boys and girls, -ranging in age from twelve to twenty, read the Fourth Reader -passably; some of them had a fair conception of geography, and they -had even made an entrance on the mysteries of grammar. Arithmetic -seemed to be all plain sailing till they reached long division. Here -the process became too complicated, and they were sure to blunder in -the multiplication of the divisor by the dividend, or to add where -they should subtract, or to bring down the wrong figures at the -wrong time. Was it the fault of the stupid teacher? or was their -previous progress due to their imitative faculties, and did they -fail now simply because they had reached a point where reasoning -powers of their own were needed? It is the question which touches -the marrow of the whole discussion about the average negro capacity; -but the time has been too short and the experiments have been too -incomplete as yet to furnish satisfactory data for its solution. - -The next school to which we were conducted was kept by a middle-aged -negro, in gold spectacles, and with amusingly consequential air. His -assistant—what would not the Opposition journals have given for such a -fact during the late political campaign?—was an English girl, young and -lame, who seemed to have gone to work here, “among the niggers,” very -much as she would have gone to work among the pots and kettles, simply -because a living was to be earned, and this way to earn it happened to -offer. The negro principal had a short, sharp way of dealing with his -pupils; and strap and ferule lay convenient for immediate use beside the -books upon his table. He explained that many of his pupils were -“contrabans,” from the plantations, or negroes that had been “refugeed” -from the Red River country; and their experiences in slavery had been -such that they knew no motive for obedience but the fear of punishment. -“Coax ’em and they’ll laugh at you; you’ve got to knock ’em about, or -they won’t think you’ve got any power over ’em.” The theory seemed to -have made a pretty good school, whether by virtue of the ferule or in -spite of it. - -The children were having their noon recess when we entered, and the -school-room was perfectly quiet. At the sound of the bell they came -trooping noisily to the door, and in a few moments the black tide had -overflowed all the desks. A Fourth Reader class was called up, which -read well—quite as well as the average of such classes anywhere. Now and -then one noticed a curious mouthing of the words and a quaint -mispronunciation that the forms of the ordinary negro dialect would not -account for. In these cases the children were of French parentage, and -were learning a language as well as the art of reading. “The children -are taught exclusively in English,” the Board of Education say -sententiously in their report. “Bound by the strong ligament of a common -tongue, they will never foster the subtle enmity to national unity that -lurks in diversity of speech.” - -The exercises in arithmetic that followed disclosed the same slower -progress in this than in other branches, which had already been observed -in the schools previously visited. A few questions of a miscellaneous -nature showed that the scholars were by no means destitute of general -intelligence; and especially that they had a very keen appreciation of -the fact that they had once been slaves, but were so no longer. - -We were treated to a special performance before we left—reserved for the -closing of the school, except upon grand occasions. An astonishing -youth, with wool growing down almost to his eyebrows, beneath which -gleamed cunning eyes that alone relieved the face from an expression of -utter stupidity, took his place in the aisle in front of the teacher’s -desk. The hum of the school suddenly hushed, and all eyes were fastened -on the droll figure. The woolly head gave a bob forward, while the body -seemed to go through contortions caused by some inward pain. As the head -ducked down the second time and came up with snapping eyes, the opening -of the song was ejected, and the shrill voice was soon drowned in the -roar that joined in from the whole open-throated throng. - -Such singing may never be heard elsewhere. The nearest approach a -Northern reader is ever likely to make to it is when he hears the -enthusiastic chorus at some noisy camp-meeting about the time the -“power” is supposed to be “coming down, coming down.” The song was -nothing—a rhyming effort of the gold-spectacled teacher himself, I -believe, rudely setting forth the joy of the slaves at the great -deliverance, and ending in a refrain of thanks and prayer for “Honest -Abe.” But the negroes, too, have learned to worship the rising rather -than the setting sun. “Honest Abe” was very well in his way; but if the -schools were to be continued and the teachers paid, there would be more -present need of help from his successor. And so the song had been -already patched; and the refrain came thundering in for “Andie J.” After -all, there is a good deal of human nature in negroes! - -Some rickety, tumble-down buildings on an out-of-the-way corner had been -secured for another school, which we next visited. A motherly old -negress here had her brood of little ones gathered about her, learning -in concert the alphabet from the chart which she held in her lap. Up the -row and down it she led them with the little pointer, which looked as if -it might be chosen a double duty to perform. Now one was singled out to -name a letter selected at random from some other chart; then the pointer -flitted from top to bottom and back to middle of the alphabet, and the -shiny-faced urchins eagerly shouted the responses, or winced as the -pointer descended threateningly near some naughty hand that was -wandering into foreign pockets. - -In another room, a bright, lady-like young quadroon, who was similarly -occupied, smiled a pleasant greeting as we entered. She had been at the -fair at Pierre Soulé’s. With ample means and a pleasant home, she -volunteered to do this work of duty to her race; and the neat, orderly -school-room, with the quiet ways and clean faces of her little charge, -not less than their prompt answers, told her success. - -In one of the rooms in this building a row of picaninnies, ranging from -four to fourteen, stood up to recite in the First Reader. At their head, -painfully spelling his way through a sentence as we entered, was an old -man of sixty, with white wool and a wrinkled face. He wore a pair of -huge brass-rimmed spectacles; but they would not stick on his -bullet-shaped head without further contrivance, and so he had tied a bit -of packing-cord into the ends of the brass temples, and around his head. -I asked the old man what he wanted to learn to read for. - -“Reckon if it’s good for white folks, good for me too.” - -“But you’re so old, uncle, one would think you wouldn’t care for such -things any more.” - -“Reckon if it’s good for chil’en, can’t be bad for old folks.” - -Subsequent talk showed that the old man had a Bible, and wanted to learn -to read it, and, further, that he believed, as soon as he could read, he -would be entitled to vote. Precisely what good that would do him he did -not seem to understand; but he worked away industriously over his -well-thumbed First Reader, and scarcely gave a second look to the -visitors, at whom the children were staring with all their eyes. It was -a trifling thing, doubtless, and the old man may have been very silly to -be thus setting himself to children’s tasks, in the simplicity of his -desire to learn what he knew white folks had found good for them; but to -me there seemed nothing more touching or suggestive in all the sights of -New Orleans. - -We saw no other old men in the schools, and few young ones beyond the -age of twenty; but the teachers said the cases were quite numerous in -which the more intelligent scholars were instructing their parents at -home. In all such instances the parents were sure to enforce regular -attendance on the part of their children, and the influence of the -school became reflex, first on the scholars, from them to the families, -thence back to the school again. - -The few schools spoken of above may be taken as a fair specimen of the -system in operation in New Orleans in June, 1865. It was soon destined -to give way to the reaction of public feeling, which already began to -influence the affairs of the department. But it had now been carried on -for fourteen months. Few, even of the most advanced, had, at the -beginning, been able to read the simplest sentence. Now there were -classes in geography, grammar, and arithmetic, and a very fair -proportion of the fourteen thousand seven hundred and forty-one scholars -could read quite intelligently. The gate of knowledge had been opened to -them; there was little likelihood that hereafter a General commanding -would be able to stop the spread of these dangerous arts of reading and -writing, by an official notification that the opening of schools for -negro children would be very hazardous and unwise.[33] - -So rapid was the progress that, on the 1st of January, 1865, the -scholars had advanced so far as to be thus classified: - - Writing on slates, 3,883; writing in copy-books, 1,108; studying - grammar, 283; studying geography, 1,338; studying practical - arithmetic, 1,223; studying mental arithmetic, 4,628; reading, - 7,623; spelling, 8,301; learning the alphabet, 2,103. - -And from the beginning of the experiment down to the 1st of June, 1865, -there had been a regular increase of eleven hundred and fourteen -scholars and fourteen teachers per month. Two thousand new scholars had -come into the schools in May alone; in April there had been fifteen -hundred. The expense of this entire system was about one-half what it -cost to support a single regiment in the field. This expense was to be -met by a tax on the property within the lines of military occupation; -General Banks’s order explaining, for the comfort of dissatisfied -tax-payers, that henceforth labor must be educated in the South in order -to be valuable, and that if they didn’t support the negro schools, they -would find it hard to secure negro labor. - -Judging, both from personal observation and from the testimony of the -teachers and the Board of Education, I should say that the negro pupils -are as orderly and as easily governed as any corresponding number of -white children, under similar circumstances. There is, I think, a more -earnest desire to learn, and a more general opinion that it is a great -favor to have the opportunity. There is less destruction of books, less -whittling of school furniture, less disposition to set up petty revolts -against the teacher’s authority. The progress in learning to read is -exceptionally rapid. I do not believe that in the best schools at the -North they learn the alphabet and First Reader quicker than do the -average of these slave children. The negroes are not quicker-witted, but -they are more anxious to learn. In writing they make equally rapid -progress, and where the teachers are competent they do well in -geography. Arithmetic presents the first real obstacles, and arouses -painful inquiries as to the actual mental capacity of this -long-neglected race. - -But, up to this point, the question of negro education is no longer an -experiment. In reading and writing I do not hesitate to say that the -average progress of the children of plantation hands, as shown in every -negro school from Fortress Monroe around to New Orleans, is fully equal -to the average progress of white children at the North. - -The experiment of high schools is about to be tried among them, under -the auspices of a voluntary organization, mainly made up and sustained -by themselves. Its constitution was adopted a fortnight or more before -our visit, and such men as Thomas J. Durant were uniting with the -negroes in an effort to get the enterprise properly started. - - * * * * * - -On the Sunday after our visit to these schools, we were taken to see a -Sunday-school, made up largely of the same scholars, although conducted -under the auspices of Mr. Conway, a business-like preacher, in charge of -the Freedmen’s Bureau in the city. The building into which we were -conducted had been, in former times, a medical college. Ranged upon the -seats, which arose, amphitheater-like, half-way to the ceiling, sat row -after row of closely-crowded, smiling, black-faced, but bright-eyed, -Sunday-school scholars, as clean, as smiling, and as prettily dressed as -one would see almost anywhere in our Northern rural districts. On the -higher benches, where the larger scholars sat, were a few young ladies, -tastefully attired in white. At that distance, one had difficulty in -seeing that their faces were not of the pure Anglo-Saxon tinge; but, -neat and pretty as they looked, they were only niggers, and nigger -Sunday-school teachers at that. - -A graduate of Amherst met us as we mounted the platform once occupied by -the demonstrator of anatomy. He was a sober, sedate figure, in -professional black, and, with his dignified ways, might have been taken -for a Southern Doctor of Divinity, if you did not look at his face. That -was as black as his coat. His son, a handsome, graceful young fellow -(always barring the black face and the kinky wool), took his seat at the -piano. The sober representative of Amherst rapped on the table, and -tapped the little bell, till the children slowly and gradually mastered -the almost irrepressible torrent of whispers and laughter. But the -bell-taps sounded clearer and clearer; silence at last reigned. A hymn -was read; the young negro at the piano softly touched the keys for a -moment, and then the whole rich, joyous nature of the children gushed -into a volume of melody that rose and swelled till the very air of the -old lecture-room was vocal with praise. It was like listening to the -grand peals of Plymouth Church itself. - -There followed a little address, with, perhaps, a trifle too much of -talk about their liberty, and too little of how it should be made -profitable; too much about the prejudices against them, and too little -about the means for an improvement which should conquer prejudices; too -much about the faults of their masters, and too little about their own. -But this seems to be the general strain; and perhaps, after all, it may -be necessary, in some such way, to gain the confidence of the children -before you can instruct them. Occasional questions kept alive the -interest, and the lustily shouted answers showed an intelligence that -plainly took in the full meaning of the speech. - -“What great man freed you all, and was then taken home?” - -Surely, if the murdered President could but have been present, beside -his old associate, at that scene, he would have thought the shouts that -brought back his name the sweetest praise the lips of mortals ever bore -him. - -“Are you really free now?” - -“Yes, yes.” - -“What would you do if anybody should now try to take your freedom away?” - -It was fine to watch the play of surprise and apprehension across the -animated faces. “We’d fight,” exclaimed a sturdy fellow, twelve or -fourteen years old. “We wouldn’t let them,” said many more. “The -soldiers would stop it,” murmured the most. That, alas! seemed still the -main hope of these submissive, long-enslaved people. They had not -reached—not even the oldest of them—the conception of organized effort -to protect themselves. “The soldiers would stop it.” That was all. - ------ - -Footnote 33: - - General Emory so admonished Rev. Thomas Conway, months after our - occupation of the city. The idea seemed to be, that the Rebel - population could not have their feelings agitated by efforts to teach - their negroes, without great danger of popular disturbances! - - - - - CHAPTER XXVI. - - Talks with the Citizens, White and Black. - - -One morning we were interrupted at lunch by a message that Mr. Durant -had called with the party for whom he had made the engagement yesterday. -Remembering that Mr. Durant had promised to bring around some of the -“ancient freedmen,” as they were called—that, is the free negroes of -French descent—I went out a few moments afterward to witness the -interview. A group of gentlemen stood about Mr. Chase in the library, -and one, a bald-headed, gray-bearded, vivacious, youngish-old man was -making an animated little address. - -I felt sure that here was a mistake. Imagining that some other party had -got into the library by accident—some delegation of Rebel lawyers, -perhaps, to remonstrate against the test oath—I turned into the parlors -to hunt up Mr. Durant and his French negroes. But they were nowhere to -be found; and returning to the library, I saw in the furthest corner Mr. -Durant himself, listening to the talk of the bald-headed old spokesman. -Even then it was hard to realize that these quiet, well-bred gentlemen, -scarcely one darker than Mr. Durant himself—many of them several shades -whiter—were negroes, to be seen walking with whom on the streets of New -Orleans was social disgrace. Before their call was concluded, old Mr. -Jacob Barker was shown into the parlor. The eminently respectable and -conservative old banker looked more like a negro, in point of -complexion, than any one out of the twelve or fifteen in Mr. Durant’s -party. - -Every man of them was well educated. All spoke French fluently; the -English of all was passable, of some perfect. Some of them were -comparatively wealthy, and all were in easy circumstances. They simply -asked the Chief Justice to represent to the President, in their behalf, -that they paid heavy taxes to support schools for the whites, and could -get none for themselves; that they paid heavy taxes to support city and -State governments, and were without voice in either; and that they -desired to ask whether this accorded with Mr. Johnson’s well-known ideas -of genuine democracy? They had been citizens of an Empire; when the -Republic bought Louisiana they were disfranchised. Now that the Republic -was beginning a new life, could it longer refuse them such rights as the -Empire had accorded? What answer can legislators give who profess to -believe the Declaration of Independence, and who cheerfully confirm a -full-blooded Indian in a conspicuous position on the staff of their -Lieutenant General? - -One pleasant afternoon, when the June sun was a little less fervid than -usual, and a moist breeze blew across the lake, we drove up the levee, -past elegant country places, embowered in shrubbery and half concealed -from the road by luxuriant hedges of Cherokee rose, to the residence of -Mr. Roselius, to keep an engagement for dinner. Our genial old host came -running out to greet us, hurrying like a boy down the high steps, which, -after the prevailing fashion in this moist climate, lead directly from -the paved walk to the second-story veranda. A dozen or more gentlemen -were in the parlor. Among them I remember two or three noted New Orleans -lawyers, one or two sugar-planters who had been absent in Europe during -the war, and a Spanish officer, fresh from some one of the perpetually -recurring South American revolutions. One noticed here, as at most of -the formal dinner parties given during our stay, and at my subsequent -visits to the city, the absence of all ladies save those of the host’s -household. Indeed, except in peculiar cases like this, the prevailing -idea of a dinner in New Orleans seems to have for its leading feature -copious libations of a great many kinds of the choicest wines—to be -licensed by the earliest possible retiracy of the hostess. - -Among Mr. Roselius’s guests that evening was a modest-looking little -gentleman, of retiring manners, and with apparently very little to say; -though the keen eyes and well-shaped head sufficiently showed the -silence to be no mask for poverty of intellect. It was Mr. Paul Morphy, -the foremost chess-player of the world, now a lawyer, but, alas! by no -means the foremost young lawyer of this his native city. “If he were -only as good in his profession as he is at chess-playing!” said one of -the legal gentlemen, with a shrug of his shoulders, as he spoke in an -undertone of the abilities of the elder Morphy, and the hopes that had -long been cherished of the son. They evidently looked upon the young -chess-player as a prosperous banker does upon his only boy, who persists -in neglecting his desk in the bank parlor and becoming a vagabond -artist. - -The gentlemen just returned from Europe expressed their astonishment at -the fortunes that had been accumulated by shrewd adventurers during -their absence. Men whom they had left the masters of Carondelet Street, -they found in a state of genteel beggary. New names had arisen, unknown -to their four-year old memories of the city. “By the way, Mr. Durant,” -said one, “how does it happen that you haven’t profited more by your -chances—become Governor, or Senator, say, if you didn’t care for any -more money?” - - “I should have blushed if Cato’s house had stood secure - And flourished in a civil war,” - -was the ready and only response. - -Political subjects were scarcely alluded to; but, after the party had -rejoined the ladies, or strolled out among Mr. Roselius’s olive and -orange-trees, it was easy to see that the feeling of the Unionists was -by no means sanguine. Some insisted that the Rebels were certain to -resume control at the first election; others hoped for better things, -but frankly added that there was no security save in the interference of -Congress. “Let this election go on,” said Mr. Durant, “and a Legislature -will be chosen which wouldn’t hesitate at sending John Slidell and Judah -P. Benjamin to the Senate again! Perhaps policy would prevent the choice -of just those men; but the only change would be in the substitution of -persons with the same principles and less ability. If you don’t get -brilliant and artful Rebels, the lack of genius will be made up by -malignity.” - - * * * * * - -Remembering that this Legislature subsequently did elect Mr. Randall -Hunt, I have recalled with special interest the impressions left by the -conversation of that gentleman, one morning, when he came to breakfast -with the Chief Justice, to whom he is remotely related by his marriage -into the family of the late Justice McLean, of the Supreme Court. - -Mr. Hunt is in the prime of life, though his constitution seems somewhat -broken, and his nervousness is extreme. He has been for years one of the -leading lawyers of New Orleans. The secessionists seem to regard him as -the foremost orator now left them. The Unionists concede that he is a -fine speaker, but describe him as given to painfully elaborate rhetoric -and ornate delivery. I have been told by Governor Hahn that Mr. Hunt was -once asked by General Banks to give up the Rebel cause, and unite in the -Free-State movement. It was intimated that, in return for his influence, -the Governorship of the State would await his acceptance. Mr. Hunt took -a day to consider the matter; then replied that he had supported the -Rebel side, was thoroughly committed to it, had near and dear relatives -by his advice then out in the armies fighting for it, and could not -think of abandoning them! Possibly a whisper of this bit of secret -history may have since helped in Mr. Hunt’s election as United States -Senator by the returned Rebels. - -It was easy to see how earnest were his sympathies with the men who had -been fighting the Rebel battles. With him, as with most of the better -classes in the South, this feeling is wholly unaffected by the utter -defeat of all their hopes. To them the Rebel soldiers are still -patriots, defeated, but not disgraced, in an ineffectual struggle -against mercenary invaders; martyrs without the crown; heroes who have -hazarded everything for their native land, and who now deserve only -blessings from every true son of the State. - -Reconstruction seemed to him an easy task. “We tried to leave the Union. -You have defeated us in our effort. What can there be, then, for us to -do but to return our Senators and Representatives to the Congress from -which we tried to withdraw forever? We acknowledge the defeat, and are -ready to send back our Congressmen. That is what you have been fighting -for; what more can the General Government have to do with the matter?” - -The Amnesty Proclamation had just arrived. Like nearly all other men of -Southern sympathies, he thought the exceptions very unwise, and -needlessly irritating. “You’ve determined to keep us in the Union. Isn’t -it more statesmanlike, then, to avoid adding to our popular discontent? -Is it better to have us a conquered province, or an integral part of the -nation—better to have an Ireland on the Gulf, or a Scotland?” - -The proposition for negro suffrage seemed to him utterly loathsome. -“Surely, sir,” said he to the Chief Justice, “you do not know the negro. -If you but understood as we understand the condition of these people, -their ignorance, their degradation, you would shrink back in horror from -your own proposition.” Mr. Hunt forgot that these once degraded -creatures had been rescued from their native barbarism, and, as he and -the other Southern orators have so often told us, had been elevated and -civilized by the Christianizing influences of the system of slavery! If -their degradation was now so horrifying, these gentlemen must have been -formerly mistaken in regarding slavery as such a Christian civilizer. If -they were mistaken then, it is among the possibilities that they may be -mistaken now. - -It is a continual source of surprise to observe how these thorough-going -Southern gentlemen speak constantly of their knowledge of the negro, as -one might speak of the most recondite theorems of the differential -calculus. “If you only knew these negroes as we do—but, then, of course, -you can’t. Why, we were born among them!” To credit such persons, one -must regard the negro’s nature as something requiring very profound -study and long-protracted investigation. I happened to mention to Mr. -Hunt the story of “Old Sandie” of Key West. He considered it a very -surprising story, “if credible.” “But then, if you understood, from a -lifetime’s experience, the character and debasement of the negro, you -would not be misled by such exceptional cases.” I mentioned the -prosperity of the Sea Islanders, and their beginnings of -self-government. “You saw only the one side of the picture. If you had -been born among those people, you would have talked in a very different -way.” - -Nothing short of this “being born among negroes” is accepted as -qualification for comprehending their nature. And I have observed that -the most strenuous in insisting upon it are able editors, eloquent -lawyers, and successful business men, who were born in the North, but -have lived so long South that they suppose their origin to be unknown. - -Mr. Chase’s reply to the address of a negro delegation appeared in the -papers before we left the city.[34] It very briefly expressed his own -desire for negro suffrage, and his trust that the conduct of the negroes -themselves would be such that, sooner or later, it would be found -impossible longer to refuse it. The letter closed with a significant -sentence, looking apparently in the direction of the proposed policy -which Mr. Horace Greeley afterward condensed into the terse phrase, -“Universal amnesty and universal suffrage.” Not more than half the -nominal Louisiana Unionists, who had during the previous winter made up -the two or three factions of the Free-State party, would publicly -approve it. They thought negro suffrage might become a necessity; but -they still hoped something less offensive would offer safety, and -preferred to trust in Congress and wait for something to turn up. Only -those who followed Mr. Durant accepted the naked issue. They looked to -it as the only salvation of the Union cause; the only means for securing -the rights of the negro, or for protecting the credit of the Government. -The Rebels, meanwhile, considered Mr. Johnson’s North Carolina -proclamation as settling the question in their favor, and already began -to talk, in tones subdued only by the presence of the military -authorities, about soon putting an end to the career of nigger agitators -in Louisiana. - - * * * * * - -It was noticeable that General Banks, who had just been relieved, seemed -to have gained no popularity by his relaxation of Butler’s iron rule. -The returning Rebels appeared in no way grateful for any of the -concessions he was charged with having made to their prejudices. The -Unionists were in no way grateful for his late conversion to negro -suffrage. All described his administration as vacillating. When Butler -said a thing, they knew precisely what to expect. He might be severe, -but they always knew where to find him. Banks, they complained, had done -too little for the radical Unionists to command their confidence, and -too little for the reconstructing Rebels to command theirs. Possibly a -General who should have pleased any one of these parties would have -disobeyed his instructions; certainly he would have displeased the rest. -But, at the end, the man who marked out his own policy, and inflexibly -pursued it, was found commanding a certain sort of respect. All classes, -Rebel or Union, expressed it for General Butler. General Banks was less -fortunate. - -The General was still occupying, with his hospitable family, the elegant -residence of an absent Rebel, in the Garden District. General Sheridan -was not less comfortably quartered; and one who had heard of Sheridan -and his bold riders only from the newspapers, would have been surprised -at being led over velvet carpets, through spacious saloons, to find -them. “I’d a great deal rather be allowed to take a good cavalry brigade -and cross the Rio Grande,” said the uneasy soldier. “I’d ride, with such -a force as that, from Matamoras to Mexico.” - ------ - -Footnote 34: - - See Appendix, note C. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVII. - - A Free-labor Sugar Plantation. - - -At last came the inevitable hour which forever clouds our pleasantest -experiences of travel—the hour for parting. It was once or twice -postponed, but the advancing summer admonished us to make no more -delays. Mr. May insisted that we should not cease to be his guests till -he had shown us his sugar plantation, and so a pleasant party was made -up to accompany us. - -Among them was Mr. B. F. Flanders, a gentleman who, as the candidate of -the Radical Free-State men for Governor against the Banks ticket, had -been generally called the leader of that party. He is a man of fine -presence, with clear, handsome Grecian face. As Special Agent of the -Treasury Department, he has had control of millions, yet, I think, no -one ever accused him of corruption, though many have pronounced his -rulings unjust, and even Secretary McCulloch once went so far as to call -him “a very mischievous officer.” Like a large proportion of the -prominent men in the South, he has been there so long as to be generally -considered a native, although he originally came from the North. A -quarter of a century ago he was a young school-teacher, attracted -Southward by the larger salaries common in that region. Before the -outbreak of the war he was Treasurer of the New Orleans and Opelousas -Railroad. Some time after the establishment of the Confederacy, New -Orleans became too hot to hold him, and, in common with Cuthbert -Bullitt, who persisted in hoisting the United States flag on Jeff. -Davis’s day of thanksgiving, and a number of other more or less -prominent politicians, he had to make his escape to the North. Mr. -Denison, a young Texas planter before the war (and during Mr. Lincoln’s -administration, and a part of Mr. Johnson’s, Collector of the Port of -New Orleans), was another of the party. He, too, had been compelled to -abandon everything, and escape North, by a painful and tedious journey -through the mountains of East Tennessee. He lost sixty or seventy slaves -by the war. “Several of them were preachers, too; none of your common -negro preachers, but orthodox fellows, sound in doctrine, and good -members of the Baptist Church.” “Yes,” explained another, “Denison owned -six Baptist preachers, two blacksmiths, and a first-rate carpenter among -his gang.” The expression was almost equal to that in Sherman’s famous -dispatch from Savannah, about the “mules, negroes, and horses” he had -brought out with him in his march to the sea. - - * * * * * - -Early in the morning the Wayanda landed us at the noted “Dick Taylor -plantation,” owned, before the war, by the son of President Taylor, and -now occupied by negroes, under authority from the United States. The -work here did not seem to be progressing so well as on the little farms -of the Sea Islanders, and the sugar-planters of the party shook their -heads ominously at the prospect. The negroes seemed to have no one to -give unity and direction to their efforts. Their old master was gone, -and each one now wanted to be master, not only to himself, but, also, to -several of the rest. A couple of their head men even fell into a quarrel -about the truthfulness of their respective statements to the Chief -Justice, while still in his presence. The quarters were not clean; the -fences had in some places been taken for fire-wood, and the general -aspect of the place suggested neglect and decay.[35] - -Near this was another plantation, abandoned by its Rebel owners, and -occupied by lessees from the United States. The absence of responsible -proprietors could be everywhere read in the dilapidated buildings and -the general air of neglect. Still there was a fair crop of cane and -cotton, and the negroes seemed to be working tolerably well for their -Northern employers. - - * * * * * - -A sharp thunder-storm preceded us a few moments in our visit to Mr. -May’s plantation, and we found everything in mud. The Rebels had carried -off his carriages, and there was nothing for it but to walk up the bank, -and through the sticky alluvial soil, to the beautiful orange grove, in -the midst of which we found the wide, rambling, many-porched, one-story -house, flanked by the negro cabins and the sugar-house. The guerrillas -had repeatedly ravaged the place, and whatever furniture they could not -carry off, they took good care to break. Still enough had been gathered -together to make half a dozen rooms quite comfortable. In the first we -entered, a sofa stood in the middle of the floor, with slippers and -dressing-gown lying beside it, hastily abandoned at our approach. A -little stand, holding a lamp and a book about cotton culture, stood at -its head, and above both was hung a voluminous musquito-bar. It was the -overseer’s place of retreat when he wanted to read or write. Before we -had been in the house many minutes, we began to appreciate the necessity -for such fortifications. - -Presently the negroes led up horses, and we started for a gallop over -the plantation. It was its third year of profitable culture by free -labor. The stock of cane had nearly run out during the first and second -years of the war, and, from necessity, cotton had been largely planted; -although no one knew better than the proprietor that sugar land was -unfit for successful cotton culture. - -Coming out behind the negro quarters, we struck the beaten road that ran -beside the main ditch, down the middle of the plantation, to the swamp -at its further side. On either hand ran off the lateral ditches, and -before us stretched a thousand acres of cultivated land, without a tree -or a fence, as level as a billiard-table, and almost as green. The corn, -of which only enough was planted to furnish the “mules and negroes” with -food, was beginning to tassel, and, since the rain, one almost fancied -the low, crackling sounds proceeding from it to arise from its lusty -growth. Most of it waved over the backs of our horses as we rode among -it. - -Separated by only a shallow ditch from the corn was the cotton, which, -for lack of “plant-cane,” was being grown on a part of the land. It grew -in cleanly-worked beds, that were not unlike a Northern sweet-potato -ridge, and was already ten to fifteen inches high. Here and there were a -few “blooms”—the first of the season. They had expanded during the -night, were now of a delicate, creamy white, would next day be a dull -red, and by evening would fall, leaving the germ of the boll, the tiny -throne of the coming king. - -Crossing other ditches, we came to the waving expanse of sugar, now -nearly three feet high, and growing luxuriantly. A few negroes had come -out with their plows, since the rain, and were throwing up the rich, -fresh earth against the roots. No time was to be lost, for other things -grew as rapidly, in the steaming moisture and under the genial heat, as -the cane or cotton, and woe to the planter if, by a day or two of delay, -he should be “caught in the grass.” The negroes drove their mules along -rapidly, but, save when speaking to the animals, in perfect silence. -There was no conversation among themselves, as they passed or walked -side by side on adjacent rows. A few yards away, one would scarcely know -the “plow-gang” was in the field. Cross a ditch, and you were in a -solitude of boundless wealth, without a trace or sound of the men that -made it, and might ride back and forth over the plantation for miles, -without finding them again. - -Nearly all the negroes had formerly been Mr. May’s slaves. “Did you -belong to Mr. May before the war?” I said to one stalwart fellow. - -“Bress ye, yes. Who’d ye s’pose I b’long to? I b’longed to Mass’r May, -of co’se, and to his father afore him.” - -“Wouldn’t you rather belong to him now?” - -“B’long to him now! I’s free, sah.” - -“Yes, but don’t you think you would rather belong to him still, and not -have to take care of yourself?” - -“No, sah. I’s free.” - -“But now you have all the trouble of supporting yourself, buying your -own clothes, making your bargains, getting your provisions, and the -like. Don’t you think you would get along better if you still had Mr. -May to do all this for you?” - -“No, sah. We’s git along heap better dis way. We’s free.” - -Wherein he was better off the man did not seem clearly to understand, -but this he knew, “We’s free.” He and all the rest spoke warmly of Mr. -May, and whenever he appeared among them, the lifting of ragged hats and -brightening of black faces told that here, at least, the old kindliness -said to have existed between master and slave had been genuine. But not -one of them could be got to say that he would rather be a slave again. -Nearly all the people had remained on the place. Several times the -guerrillas had driven them away, but they always returned and took up -their quarters in the old cabins. They knew they were perfectly free to -go away if they wished; steamboats could be hailed at almost any hour, -and all had money to pay their passage; elsewhere higher wages were -reported. But they looked upon “May Lawn” as their home, and Mr. May as -the man for whom they ought to work, and no persuasion could change -their minds. - -The overseer was well enough satisfied with the new order of things. You -couldn’t drive a nigger quite so hard, but, on the whole, they worked -very well. But the rascals were, if possible, greater thieves than ever. -It would be crazy to let them plant any cotton themselves, as some of -them wanted to do; and it would be better if there were any way to -prohibit their culture of any grain or other product not needed for -their own consumption, in their gardens. If they had a crop of ten -bushels, you might be sure they would sell fifty, and you would need -better locks than any on this plantation to keep them from getting the -other forty out of your corn-cribs. If they raised no corn, anybody to -whom they offered to sell corn would know it was stolen; but if they -raised only a single bushel, there was no check on them, and they would -keep selling your property whenever they got half a chance. He had even -heard of their stealing corn from the troughs where the mules were -eating, to sell it. - -Mr. May promised a “bowl of mush and milk” for dinner. When it was -announced, it was found to consist of a round of plantation delicacies, -cooked by the late slaves. Beef and mutton were not to be had on the -coast, and fish were not to be procured short of Lake Pontchartrain; but -turkeys, ducks, and chickens were abundant, and these, with a profusion -of vegetables, showed that planters might live well if they would. That -in general they did not, before the war, has been the common testimony -of travelers, from Fred. Law Olmsted down. - -At sunset the Wayanda fired her parting salute for the Chief Justice, -and shortly afterward a blank shot from her bow-gun brought too the W. -R. Carter,[36] which had been selected by General Canby for our trip up -the Mississippi. There were hurried good-byes, and as the steamer pushed -off again, the flaring torch gave us a last glimpse of the faces of our -New Orleans friends, and revealed behind them a dusky group of the late -slaves, watching the departure of Mass’r May’s guests. - - * * * * * - -This was the first sugar plantation in the United States cultivated by -free labor by its old owner; and the free-labor experiment—if, as the -planters insist, it is to be regarded as an experiment—has been tried on -it for a longer consecutive period than on any other. Its results may, -therefore, be profitably studied, as a fair index to the probable value -of the system. - -No man would be more apt to be a severer judge of the experiment than -the one who had lost the slaves whom he now hired. I accordingly asked -Mr. May to give me in writing a statement of the workings of his -plantation, and of his opinions as to the possibility of cultivating -sugar by free labor. This was duly forwarded, and I make some extracts -from it here: - - “The transcripts from my plantation books, which I send you - herewith, do not, in my judgment, give a fair idea of the workings - of the free-labor system. I had to contend not only with the - complete disorganization of the State, socially as well as - politically, but I was subjected, at various periods, to guerrilla - raids. These interrupted labor on the estate for days and weeks at a - time, and carried off quantities of provisions, live stock, plows, - etc., all of which had to be immediately replaced at great cost. The - expenses were thus largely increased, while the delays and neglect - proportionately diminished the value of the crop. Then, too, it is a - sugar plantation, and is not at all adapted to the culture of - cotton, being too near the mouth of the river, and being likewise - much more liable than ordinary cotton plantations to the ravages of - the army-worm. But, during the war the stock of seed-cane ran out, - and I had to put the greater part of the land in cotton. In spite of - these difficulties and interruptions, and enormous outlay, the - estate has never failed to return a handsome revenue. I feel certain - that within the next three years I shall reduce the expenses of the - free-labor system fully one-third, and, at the same time, increase - the returns in an equally large proportion. - - “I pay my laborers what I think, even at the North, you would call - good wages for that sort of farm work. They get an average, men and - women, boys and girls, of twelve dollars a month each, besides their - lodging, food, and medical attendance. One-half of these wages I pay - them quarterly, the remainder at the end of the year. Each laborer - is paid according to his merits. Some of my hands receive as much as - twenty-five dollars a month; others as little as six dollars. This - causes great emulation, and consequently more work is performed; all - of which results in favor of both employer and employee. I think it - wise policy for the planter to give high wages, as he thus secures a - better class of laborers, who work not only industriously but - cheerfully. - - “I am satisfied, in my own mind, that one able-bodied American negro - of ordinary intelligence is worth at least two white emigrants. He - understands the business, and he has the advantage of being - acclimated. I am willing, therefore, to pay the negroes one-third - higher wages than any white laborers accessible to us. You may think - this extravagant; but during the unsettled state of affairs for the - last two years, I have had to try both, and I base my opinion not on - my prejudices, but on my experience.” - -The statements in the last paragraph are widely at variance with the -ideas current among the late slaveholders. Scarcely any believe that the -negro can be depended on for labor except in a state of slavery; and the -most, therefore, throughout the whole season following the surrender, -looked upon the sugar and cotton culture as ruined, unless white -laborers could be brought in. - -The following are the exhibits of the operation of Mr. May’s plantation -for the years 1863 and 1864, as taken from his books. One thousand acres -only of the plantation were cultivated. One hundred and twenty hands -were engaged to do it, at an average of $144 per year, with lodgings and -food: - - 1863. - - Plantation supply account $20,315 00 - Amount paid to field hands 18,472 25 - Amount paid to physician 300 00 - Amount paid to engineer 625 00 - Amount paid to sugar-maker 600 00 - Amount paid to carpenter 1,160 00 - Amount paid to manager 1,800 00 - Amount paid to sub-overseer 600 00 - ——————————— - Total expenses $43,872 25 - - Receipts from sale of 360 hogsheads sugar $51,480 00 - Receipts from sale of 740 barrels molasses 17,020 00 - Receipts from sale of 204 bales cotton 81,600 00 - Receipts from sale of corn 2,743 00 - ——————————— - Total receipts $152,843 00 - 43,872 25 - ——————————— - Net revenue $108,970 75 - - - 1864 - - - Plantation supply account $18,475 00 - Amount paid to field hands 17,265 10 - Amount paid to physician 300 00 - Amount paid to white workmen 1,785 20 - Amount paid to manager 1,800 00 - Amount paid to sub-overseer 600 00 - Amount paid for repairing 1,420 00 - ——————————— - Total expenses $41,645 30 - - Receipts from sale of 190 hogsheads sugar $28,500 00 - Receipts from sale of 345 barrels molasses 7,590 00 - Receipts from sale of 69 bales cotton 40,792 00 - Receipts from sale of corn 822 00 - - Total receipts $77,704 00 - 41,645 30 - ——————————— - Net revenue $36,058 70 - Add net revenue of 1863 108,970 75 - ——————————— - Profit for two years $145,029 45 - -In the two years, during which all his neighbors allowed their -plantations to lie idle, because they knew “free niggers never would -make sugar or cotton,” Mr. May thus realized a net profit of nearly one -hundred and fifty thousand dollars. But for the ravages of the army-worm -on his cotton in 1864, the profits for the two years would have run well -up toward a quarter of a million. - -Much of this success was due, of course, to the high prices produced by -the war. But if the prices for the products were high, so were those for -every item of the expenditures. It will be observed that the negroes -were fed and lodged, but not clothed. Mr. May estimated the cost of food -and lodging to be at least six dollars a month. Add this to the monthly -wages, and we have two hundred and sixteen dollars as the actual annual -cost of each field-hand to the planter, under the free-labor system. -Before the war able-bodied negroes were commanding from fifteen hundred -to three thousand dollars in the New Orleans market. Counting only ten -per cent. interest on the investment, we find it nearly as cheap to hire -the negroes, as it was in the old days to own them and get their labor -for nothing. But, as yet, slaveholders will reply to all such -calculations, “Free niggers can never be depended on to grow cotton.” - ------ - -Footnote 35: - - These negroes came out at the end of the year with enough cotton and - sugar—after paying for their own support—to divide only a few dollars - to each first-class hand. Even this result was better than one would - have anticipated in June. - -Footnote 36: - - Since lost, by explosion of her boilers, with fearful sacrifice of - life. - - - - - CHAPTER XXVIII. - - The “Jeff. Davis Cotton Plantation.” - - -A few negro soldiers were standing guard on the river bank, one day, as -our steamer touched to land our party at the lower side of the great -bend below Vicksburg, for a visit to the adjacent cotton plantations. -The officers sent off for ambulances for us. While we were awaiting -their arrival, the relief guard came up, marching with a precision and -erect, soldierly bearing that spoke well for their drill sergeants, and -proved no small source of astonishment to the party of paroled rebels we -had on board. - -“A nigger’s just like a monkey,” growled one; “whatever he sees a white -man do he’ll imitate; and he’ll study over it a cussed sight harder’n he -will over his work. But how one o’ them black devils with muskets ’d run -ef a white man was to start after him with a whip!” And with this he -walked up to one of the soldiers, saying, rather harshly: “Boy, le’ me -see your gun,” and offering to take hold of it. The soldier stepped -hastily back, and brought his weapon into position for immediate use. -“How the war _has_ demoralized the cussed brutes!” muttered the -discomfited scion of the master race, as he retired. - -It was our first experience on the plantation of Mr. Jefferson Davis. -Nearly all the nine thousand acres included in the bend of the river -here had formerly belonged to Joseph Davis, brother to the President of -the late Confederacy. Jefferson was a soldier and a politician, but no -planter. He brought reputation and social position to the family, but no -money. His brother balanced the account by giving him, from his own -large estate, a plantation of a thousand acres. Here, down to the -outbreak of the war, Mr. Davis was accustomed to spend a portion of his -time, his brother and the late General Quitman being his only neighbors. -Negro soldiers were now doing duty on the landing whence his cotton had -been shipped, and “runaway niggers” were tilling his fertile fields on -their own account. - - * * * * * - -The outer levee was damaged by the unusually high floods which had -brought destruction to so many enterprising planters from the North; and -for some hundreds of yards our ambulances cut deep into the rich mud -over which the Mississippi had been depositing fresh alluvial soil. An -inner levee had been hastily heightened, and when we passed this, the -sodden, desolate aspect of the country changed. A few cabins, surrounded -by small inclosures, seemed to have been used in the old times for -trusty negroes sent to work or watch at the landing. Beyond these, the -road led us through a broad field of cotton, unbroken by hill or valley, -fence or tree, save here and there a single cotton-wood, whose position -by the roadside had saved it. The whole face of the country, almost as -far as the eye could reach, was plowed into what a Northern farmer would -have taken for low sweet-potato ridges. On the tops of these ridges, in -separate hills, grew the soft and still tender cotton-stalks, beginning -to be well covered with the white and red flowers; for even cotton wore -the Rebel colors. The petals were soft and flabby, and the flower was -like a miniature hollyhock. For these “earliest blooms” planters keep -eager watch, and to have the first in a neighborhood is a distinction, -prized as a Northern farmer would prize a premium for the best crop of -wheat in a county. - -Occasionally a few rows were found carefully tilled and free from weeds; -but in very many more, weeds and cotton were struggling for the mastery, -with the emancipated negroes reveling in their first taste of liberty, -spectators rather than participants in the contest on which their -support depended. Doubtless the plantation had looked better under Mr. -Davis’ control, indifferent planter as he was. - -Presently a double row of common negro quarters came in sight, and at -their end a white frame house, by no means palatial, but still -considerably larger than most of the residences to be found even on the -premises of wealthy planters. The road led us up to the back door. -“Massa allus meant to turn de road, and bring it roun’ in front, under -dem trees,” explained an old negro. Entering at the back gate, and -coming “roun’ in front,” we found a little lawn, on which a partially -abortive attempt had been made to grow shade-trees and shrubbery. The -house was a narrow one, having but a single story, with a hall running -through the middle, and a couple of medium-sized rooms opening into it -on either side. Beyond these, on each hand, was a wing, containing -smaller rooms. In front was a veranda, or, as Southerners all call it, a -gallery, with pretentious wooden columns; and at either wing was another -gallery, with more columns. Above the central piazza was wrought, in -sprigs of cedar, a soldier’s inscription, drawn from nursery -recollections: “The house that Jeff. built;” and over the main door a -few more sprigs of evergreen, prettily arranged, spelled out the last -word the master of the house would have uttered to any of its recent -visitors: “Welcome.” A couple of Yankee school-mistresses were within, -and they were the teachers of the boys and girls of Mr. Davis’ slaves, -and of the runaways from plantations in the interior, to whom the -welcome was given. A beautiful little quadroon girl, with clustering -ringlets and wondering face, stood in the doorway. She was one of the -children of the place, and was the offspring of no Northern -“miscegenation.”[37] - -All the furniture belonging to the house had long ago been carried off. -Respect for the rights of absent property owners has nowhere been a very -marked characteristic of the movements of the Northern armies; and -articles from the “house of Jeff. Davis hisself,” as one of the soldiers -phrased it, were too tempting to be long left unappropriated. Odd pieces -of furniture of the most incongruous styles had been gathered up from -adjacent plantations, completing as motley an establishment as ever -vexed the eye of Yankee housekeeper. A few books lay scattered over the -shelves; tactics for Northern soldiers and spelling-books for slaves -lying among defenses of the divine right of slavery and constitutional -arguments in favor of repudiation and secession. - -To the right of the house was a garden full of neglected shrubbery, from -which, as we left, we plucked a bouquet of June flowers. Swarms of -woolly-headed children lay about the doors and under the little -projecting roofs of the quarters; and old men and women filled up the -door-ways, to stare at us as we passed. Some of them had “b’longed to -Mass’r Jeff.,” others to “Mass’r Joe;” others came from the interior. -The jail was pointed out, where “Mass’r Joe” used to confine refractory -slaves, and at which he used, on Sunday mornings, to hold a court of -plenary and summary jurisdiction for the trial of prisoners. A band of -iron, four inches wide and half an inch thick, with a heavy chain -attached, was one of the relics found in the house. It had been used for -the most troublesome slaves. During the day they had to wear it in the -fields; at night a padlock secured it to a staple in the wall of the -jail. - - * * * * * - -From the quarters we drove to the dilapidated old cotton-gin. The floors -were partially torn up; boards hung by single nails on the walls; doors -were off their hinges or gone. By one of the gin-stands were piled up -boxes marked “Enfield cartridges;” and in the lint-room were stacks of -muskets. Looking from its window over the cotton-press, we saw in the -adjacent cotton-field a regiment of the faithful and affectionate -creatures, clad in the “blue on black,” at which Rebel newspapers used -to laugh, and presenting arms to a former Senatorial colleague of the -late proprietor. They had for months protected the freedmen of this -entire region from the hostility of their old masters; and but for their -presence, the extensive mission schools carried on at another part of -the estates inclosed by the bend, must have been abandoned. - -Over a thousand scholars, mostly children, have been enrolled at these -schools, but the attendance was very irregular. The teachers reported, -with an enthusiasm that may, perhaps, have warped their judgments a -little, that, wherever the attendance was regular, the progress was as -rapid as the average progress of white children in the Northern public -schools. This, however, referred only to the primary branches. Too -little advancement had been made beyond these to warrant any general -opinion as to the average capacity likely to be displayed. - -The good missionaries, sent down by Northern Churches, had been -zealously laboring at the moral condition of the negroes whom slavery -had Christianized. They made encouraging reports, but the facts they -mentioned scarcely warranted so cheerful a view of the results of their -labors. In the great collections of negroes sent here in 1864, they -found marriage practically unknown. The grossest immorality universally -prevailed. They had duly married the couples who were living together, -which some of them thought a very valuable performance; but it did not -appear that the ceremony had yet produced much effect on the habits of -the people. They had preached to them and prayed with them, and, as one -of them said: - - “Their interest in religious instructions is very encouraging. As a - people, they are much more easy of access on the subject of religion - than white people. When asked if they are pious, they will readily - give an answer of yes or no. All professors of religion are free to - tell their religious experience. There is no part of religious - worship they enjoy so much, and in which they spend so much time, as - in singing. In prayer they are generally very earnest, often using - expressions that indicate a deep sense of unworthiness. One will - often hear such expressions as these: ‘Heavenly Master, wilt thou be - pleased to hear us?’ ‘O Jesus, Master, if thou be pleased, do come - along dis way by thy Holy Spirit;’ ‘We know we are not heard for our - much speaking.’ The gratitude which they have often manifested to me - for reading and expounding to them the Scriptures has been a rich - reward for my labors.” - -But the good man was compelled to admit that, when these “professors of -religion” came out of the prayer-meetings, they had no hesitation in -stealing whatever little delicacies they could find for next morning’s -breakfast, or in appropriating somebody’s mule, and making off before -daylight for some other locality. They would very humbly confess their -sins on bended knees, and straightway rise to tell some outrageous lie, -by which they hoped to get a little money. What reason had anybody to -hope that they believed the story they told on their knees any more than -the other? - - * * * * * - -Last year the negroes congregated on these plantations cultivated their -crops in their own way and on their own account. The military -authorities selected some seventy of the best, and allotted to each a -tract of thirty acres. Each was permitted to draw mules and supplies, to -be paid for at the end of the year, and each hired as many negroes to -assist him as he thought he needed to cultivate the land. The officers -say they worked well, and would have made large profits, but for the -ravages of the army-worm. As it was, they only gathered one hundred and -thirty bales of cotton from their entire plantation, or scarcely -one-twelfth of a good crop. White lessees, managing large places on the -river, suffered equally from the army-worm, but saved a much larger -proportion of cotton. Still, the experiment was a success. The negroes -paid back all the advances made them by the Government, and some of them -had a balance of between five hundred and a thousand dollars -profits.[38] - -These results, it is true, could not have been attained without -Government encouragement and direction; but surely no better way of -dispensing charity was ever devised than to make the destitute earn it -for themselves, and pay back the advances furnished them. Nor was there -anything in the operations of the negro farmers last year, nor in their -prospects when we visited them in June, 1865, to warrant a doubt as to -their capacity for supporting themselves and managing their own affairs, -when once fairly started. Whether they would furnish the country as -great an amount of cotton for export, as under the old system, is -another and a very different question. - - * * * * * - -We drove through miles of cotton and corn, rank with the luxuriant -growth of a soil marvelous for its fertility. Then came a bad road along -a broken levee, through a cypress swamp, where amid the gloom of -trailing moss, hanging down almost to the edge of the stagnant, -scum-covered water, one could dimly make out the great cypress-knees, -and fancy them fit resting-places for the snakes and alligators which -are said to constitute the only inhabitants. Finally our ambulances -could go no further over the narrow road, and for a little distance we -followed on foot the little path beaten by the crowds of negroes -constantly flocking to the river. The luxuriant grass waved over and -almost concealed it; and here and there it was overgrown with vines, so -that every step crushed the juicy dewberries under our feet. The -steamboat had passed around the bend, and lay awaiting us as we emerged -on its northern side. - ------ - -Footnote 37: - - “There was a colored woman at Davis’ Bend, when our forces took - possession of that place—afterward sent to Cincinnati—who can be - proved, by the testimony of hundreds, to have been the kept mistress - of Jeff. Davis; and she is universally reputed to be the daughter of - Joe Davis, the Rebel insurgent leader’s brother. We know, also, of at - least six persons, the offspring of white Southern women by colored - men. One of these children of white women, after narrowly escaping - death by drowning at the hands of his maternal uncles, is now a - Presiding Elder in the Methodist Church. Another was once sold into - slavery by his mother, for a ‘flitch of bacon.’ - - “Moreover, in the course of their official action during the past - year, my assistants have become cognizant of four marriages of - Southern white men to colored women. One of them was formerly a - negro-trader. His quadroon slave and mistress would not live with him - without marriage, because, as she said, she had now become free, and - it was no longer right to submit to that to which she had been - helplessly subjected in slavery. A chaplain, altogether unwilling to - assist at mixed marriages, was induced to perform the ceremony in this - instance, by the man’s saying that he had ‘married her in the sight of - God five years ago!’”—_Official Report of Colonel John Eaton, General - Superintendent Freedmen, Department of the Tennessee and State of - Arkansas, for 1864, to the Adjutant General U. S. A._ - -Footnote 38: - - In the Helena (Ark.) District, negro lessees, cultivating small farms, - were in numerous cases comparatively successful. Ten of them, to whom - land had been allotted by direction of Mr. Mellen, realized from their - crops an aggregate of $31,000. The following were favorable specimens: - - “Jerome Hubbard and George West leased sixty acres—planted forty in - cotton; their expenses were about $1,200; they sold their crop for - $8,000. Napoleon Bowman leased twenty-four acres; he had some capital - to begin with, and borrowed some; he employed one hand; his expenses - were less than $2,000; sold his crop for $6,000—realizing over $4,000 - clear profit. Robert Owens leased seventeen acres; having nothing to - start with, he borrowed his capital; he earned by the season’s work - enough to purchase a good house, with a residue of $300. Samuel Beaden - leased thirteen and a half acres; expended about $600 in its - cultivation, and sold his crop for $4,000.” - - They averaged, according to an official report, about $500 profit on - every ten acres cultivated. - - - - - CHAPTER XXIX. - - Vicksburg to Louisville. - - -Davis’s Bend presented no more striking illustration of the changes of -the war than a conversation on our boat, after our return. A brother of -General Wade Hampton, the South Carolina Hotspur, was on board. He saw -no great objection to negro suffrage, so far as the whites were -concerned; and for himself, South Carolinian and secessionist though he -was, he was quite willing to accept it. He only dreaded its effect on -the blacks themselves. Hitherto they had, in the main, been modest and -respectful, and mere freedom was not likely to spoil them. But the -deference to them likely to be shown by partisans eager for their votes -would have a tendency to uplift and unbalance them. Beyond this, no harm -would be done the South by negro suffrage. The old owners would cast the -votes of their people almost as absolutely and securely as they cast -their own. If Northern men expected in this way to build up a Northern -party in the South, they were gravely mistaken. They would only be -multiplying the power of the old and natural leaders of Southern -politics by every vote given to a former slave. Heretofore such men had -served their masters only in the fields; now they would do not less -faithful service at the polls. If the North could stand it, the South -could. For himself, he should make no special objection to negro -suffrage as one of the terms of reorganization, and if it came, he did -not think the South would have much cause to regret it. - - * * * * * - -Vicksburg, city of hills and caves, had already lost most of the traces -of the siege, that for a year blocked the progress of our arms in the -West, and concentrated the gaze of the continent. Few of the houses -showed much serious damage. The hiding-holes dug in the hill-sides, for -security against the shells, had been filled up again; stores had been -reopened; ox-teams, bringing in cotton, filled the streets; returned -Rebel soldiers were looking after their abandoned property, and -receiving the heartiest welcomes from their old friends and neighbors. - -Carriages were procured, and under the escort of General Morgan L. -Smith, the commanding officer, we drove out through the formidable lines -of breast-works that run along the successive ridges back of the town, -to the spot where Generals Grant and Pemberton met to agree upon the -terms of surrender. All the way up the Mississippi, we had been -sympathetically quoting General Butler’s expressions of delight, after -his protracted residence in the flat Southern country, at “seeing hills -again.” The Vicksburg hills were the first we had seen for a month or -more; and we saw quite enough of them. A sudden storm came up; the roads -became almost as slippery as ice; the drivers, blinded with the rain, -guided their horses badly; and presently one of the carriages was -handsomely capsized in the mud, and the other one came within an inch of -a similar fate. “Nebber ’n all my born life did so afore, nor nebber -will,” protested the chap-fallen driver. - -From the crest above the unpretending little monument one could trace -for miles along the tops of the hills the successive lines of -intrenchment, and mark the spots where assault after assault illustrated -the various skill of the Generals, and the unvaried gallantry of the -soldiers they more than once led to needless slaughter. Cotton already -dotted every little spot of arable land within the Rebel lines, and -beyond them many a broad field, enriched by Northern blood, was -promising a rich harvest to Northern lessees. One, a former Clerk of the -Ohio House of Representatives, rode up while we were studying the -positions which the respective armies had occupied. He thought there was -money down here, and had buried a good deal of it, any way, in these -broken ridges. - -Everybody was planting cotton; every little valley bloomed with it, and -up hill-sides, that further south would have been called waste land, -were everywhere to be traced the long undulations of the cotton ridges. -As an official report about this time expressed it, “Visions of fortunes -were floating before all planters’ eyes. The only trouble was scarcity -of laborers. A quarter of a million acres, more or less, were waiting to -sprout fortunes under every stroke of the hoe. All men seemed mad. -Guerrillas were a light matter; the army-worm nothing. Cotton-seed, and -land to scatter it on, and blacks to gather in the golden fiber—and lo! -Golconda!” Worst of all, nearly every man was overreaching his means. -With capital to carry through a plantation of five hundred acres, he -would be attempting a thousand. Negroes were consequently ill-paid; -rations were likely to be of the cheapest and scantiest. If the negro, -dissatisfied with this specimen of the workings of free labor, broke his -contract and ran away, it was a proof that “free niggers would never -make cotton without a system of peonage.” “We are the only ones that -understand the nigger,” said a few of the more outspoken Mississippians, -emboldened by the growing impression that the President, as a Southern -man, was gradually coming over to their side. “Wait till Johnson gets -things a-going here, and we’ll make a contract law that will make a -nigger work.”[39] - -Meantime, however, the Northerners were doing most of the -cotton-planting. Mississippians were quite sincere in believing it -impossible to grow cotton with unrestricted free labor, and many of -them, frightened at the prospect of having to pay war taxes, and -especially at what the more timorous still thought the danger of negro -suffrage, were anxious to sell, for ten dollars an acre, lands that -before the war readily commanded forty or fifty. - -Memphis showed even more signs of the universal reaction than Vicksburg. -The old inhabitants were more generally back, and a longer immunity from -the punishments they had at first dreaded made them bolder. The -newspapers were almost as unbridled as in the old secession days in -their denunciations of Parson Brownlow, the East Tennessee Unionists, -the test oath, and the effort to exclude Rebel voters from the polls. -But on one point they had been utterly revolutionized. The man whom most -of all they used to “decorate with their censure,”[40] “the drunken -tailor from the mountains,” “the po’ white demagogue,” was now the -unfortunate subject of their warmest eulogies. - -Business had already shown signs of revival. For the very best part of -the cotton-growing region, Memphis, since the completion of her railroad -system, had been the natural center and the only serious rival to New -Orleans. All this trade was likely to be renewed. Business men were -trying to resume, capital was everywhere in demand, and the streets -showed more of the life and bustle of a Northern community than those of -any Southern city we had seen. - -Returned Rebel soldiers swarmed everywhere, in the parlors, at the -liquor-shops, about the hotels, in the theaters. A blue uniform -attracted attention; the gray flowed all about it in the unbroken stream -of the street. If there was any regulation preventing returned Rebels -from wearing the buttons and insignia of their rank, it was utterly a -dead letter. - - * * * * * - -At Bolivar, a single standing chimney, as seen from our hurricane-deck, -was all that marked the former site of a once bustling town. It was the -solitary monument left to tell the tale of the ruin rebellion had -brought to that community. - -Further up, Fort Pillow showed no signs of either massacre or defense. -In fact, one could see nothing but a blank bluff, whence artillery might -command a fine range up or down the river. - -One evening we landed just as a magnificent sunset was casting an -amethyst sparkle over the water, while great banks of orange and yellow -were reflected from above, and purple and scarlet, partly concealed by a -misty blue veil floating over them, spread across half the sky. At a -little distance beyond the wood-yard stood a row of the rudest cabins, -ranged after the fashion of the negro quarters on a plantation. Entering -one, I found a block serving as a chair for a middle-aged negress, who -sat on it before the big fire, holding a sick baby, with its little -woolly head turned toward a blaze that seemed hot enough to roast it. An -old bedstead, nailed together by pieces of rough boards and covered with -a tattered quilt, stood in one corner. In the opposite one was a rough -table, on which were the fragments of a half-eaten, heavy, sodden -“corn-pone.” In the fire-place stood a skillet covered by a broken lid, -and on an old box were piled some broken dishes. I have enumerated -absolutely everything gathered here to make comfortable the happy home -of an American freeman. - -Returning to the landing, I learned from the negroes standing about that -they were refugees from cotton plantations lower down the river, over -which the guerrillas “had been a raidin’, sah.” They had hired here to a -speculator, following in the wake, of our army, to cut wood for the -steamboats. He sold his wood for four dollars a cord, cash; and out of -this paid nothing for the wood at all, and only promised to pay them a -dollar a cord for chopping it. At this rate they could have made plenty -of money, “but de trouble is, sah, he done nebber pay us. He say grillas -sunk de steamboat him money come down on, and we’m got to take goods fo’ -ou’ pay. Den he sell us po’k not fit to eat, at tree bits a pound, and -de meanest co’n-meal you ever see.” Further inquiry showed that they had -bought brass rings at five or six dollars apiece, and gaudy cotton -handkerchiefs for the head at three dollars; and, in short, had done -their best to help the speculator fleece them out of the last penny of -their earnings. It was a lonely, desolate-looking spot; the simple -creatures were afraid to go away for fear of guerrillas, and here they -were completely at his mercy. Scores of such cases were to be found up -and down the river. Fortunes were made during the last year of the war -out of Mississippi wood-yards, and too often the most successful were -the readiest to cheat the poor negroes out of their paltry share of the -splendid profits. - - * * * * * - -At last our long journey approached its close. At Cairo we met floods of -Northern newspapers, and, for the first time, became aware that a -formidable party was organizing at the North in favor of Southern -reconstruction only on the basis of some form of negro suffrage. At -Louisville a pleasant dinner party enabled us to meet the last -collection of men from the midst of a Rebel community. At that time -there was more loyalty in Nashville than in Louisville, and about as -much in Charleston as in either. For the first and only time on the -trip, save while we were under the Spanish flag, slaves waited on us at -dinner. They were the last any of us were ever to see on American soil. - ------ - -Footnote 39: - - They subsequently did. It was like the patent rat-trap. Nobody could - make a safer contrivance. Rats couldn’t possibly get out of it. The - only difficulty was that they declined to go in. - -Footnote 40: - - The happy phrase of Mr. Winter Davis in referring, in the United - States House of Representatives, to the vote of censure passed by the - Maryland Legislature for his first public act in co-operation with the - Republican party against the slaveholders’ policy. - - - - - CHAPTER XXX. - - General Aspects of the South at the Close of the War. - - -The months of May and June were the chaotic period of the returning -Rebel States. All men were overwhelmed and prostrated under the sudden -stroke of a calamity which the fewest number had anticipated. Many had -believed the war hopeless, but nearly all had thought their armies -strong enough, and their statesmen skillful enough, to extort from the -North terms that would soften away, if not conceal, the rugged features -of utter defeat. They expected the necessity of a return to the Union, -but they hoped to march back with flying colors, with concessions -granted and inducements offered that would give them the semblance of a -victory. Studious encouragement had been given from the Rebel Capital to -such hopes; and outside of Virginia there were scarcely a dozen men in a -State who comprehended the straits to which the Confederacy was reduced -in the winter of 1864–65, or were prepared for the instantaneous -collapse of the spring. - -The first feelings were those of baffled rage. Men who had fought four -years for an idea, smarted with actual anguish under the stroke which -showed their utter failure. Then followed a sense of bewilderment and -helplessness. Where they were, what rights they had left, what position -they occupied before the law, what claim they had to their property, -what hope they had for an improvement of their condition in the -future—all these were subjects of complete uncertainty. - - * * * * * - -Here was the opportunity for a statesman to grasp. I speak advisedly, -and after a careful review of our whole experiences through the months -of May and June, in all the leading centers of Southern influence, when -I say that the National Government could at that time have prescribed no -conditions for the return of the Rebel States which they would not have -promptly accepted. They expected nothing; were prepared for the worst; -would have been thankful for anything. - -In North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, we found this state -of feeling universally prevalent. The people wanted civil government and -a settlement. They asked no terms, made no conditions. They were -defeated and helpless—they submitted. Would the victors be pleased to -tell them what was to be done? Point out any way for a return to an -established order of things, and they would walk in it. They made no -hypocritical professions of new-born Unionism. They had honestly -believed in the right of secession. The hatred of Yankees, which had -originally aided the conspirators in starting the movement, had grown -and strengthened with the war. Neither the constitutional theory nor the -personal hate of their lives could be changed in a day, but both were -alike impotent; and having been forced to abandon the war, they longed -for the blessings which any peace on any terms might be expected to -bring in its train. With unchanged faith in the constitutionality of -their secession, they were ready to abandon or ignore it, at the -requirement of the victors. Fully believing the debts of their Rebel -Government legal and just, they were prepared to repudiate them at a -hint from Washington. Filled with the hatred to the negroes, nearly -always inspired in any ruling class by the loss of accustomed power over -inferiors, they nevertheless yielded to the Freedmen’s Bureau, and -acquiesced in the necessity for according civil rights to their slaves. -They were stung by the disgrace of being guarded by negro soldiers; but -they made no complaints, for they felt that they had forfeited their -right of complaint. They were shocked at the suggestion of negro -suffrage; but if the Government required it, they were ready to submit. - -The whole body politic was as wax. It needed but a firm hand to apply -the seal. Whatever device were chosen, the community would at once be -molded to its impress. But if the plastic moment were suffered to -pass——! - - * * * * * - -So we found public feeling everywhere along the Atlantic coast. So, by -the common testimony of all, it was found throughout the limits of the -rebellion, down to the period when the terms of the President’s North -Carolina proclamation came to be generally understood. On the Gulf we -caught the first responsive notes given to that proclamation by the -revived Southern temper. By the time we reached New Orleans the change -was complete; the reaction had set in. Men now began to talk of their -rights, and to argue constitutional points; as if traitors had rights, -or treason were entitled to constitutional protection. They had -discovered that, having laid down their arms, they were no longer -Rebels, and could no longer be punished; as the thief who is forced to -abandon his booty is no longer a thief, and may laugh at penitentiaries. -As Mr. Randall Hunt dextrously put it, “We withdrew our Representatives -from Congress, and tried to go out of the Union. You went to war to keep -us in. You have conquered; we submit, and send back our Representatives. -What more do you want?” The President had lustily proclaimed treason a -crime, but the Southern people took his actions in preference to his -words, and were confirmed in their own view that it was but a difference -of opinion on a constitutional point, in which, under the circumstances, -they were ready to yield. - -Not less marked was the reaction on all points connected with the negro. -He was saucy and rude; disposed to acts of violence; likely, by his -stupid presumptions, to provoke a war of races, which could only end in -his extermination. In all this the Freedmen’s Bureau encouraged him, and -thus became solely a fomenter of mischief. The presence of negro troops -tended to demoralize the whole negro population. Negro evidence would -make courts of justice a mockery. As to negro suffrage, none but the -black-hearted Abolitionists who had brought on this war, and were now -doing their best to provoke a second, would dream of seriously asking -the South to submit to so revolting a humiliation. - -The mistake of the last four or five years had been the one against -which Henry A. Wise had warned them in the beginning. They ought to have -fought for their rights within the Union. That they must do now. - - * * * * * - -Throughout the war, the North believed in the existence of a strong -Union party at the South. Under the peculiar circumstances of our trip, -it would seem natural that, if there was such a party, we should have -found traces of it. Individual Unionists there were, of course; noble -men, who braved every threat, and stood faithful to the last. But, -speaking of a Union party only as comprising numbers of men sufficient -to form an appreciable element in political or social movements, I was -ready, on our return, to affirm that, save in East Tennessee and small -portions of North Carolina, there was no such party in the South. In -many of the States the opponents of secession had been in a majority in -1860. But the movement once started, blood once drawn, the honor of the -States once involved, secession swept everything before it. The -avalanche begins in a little snow-bank. Once set in motion, whatever -stands in the way serves only to swell its bulk and augment its power. - -Men who had voted against secession at the risk of their lives, again -and again told me that they were soon forced to go with the current. The -son of one had volunteered, “and, of course, sir, my prayers and hopes -went with my boy and the cause in which he was engaged.” The property of -another was in danger, and to save it he volunteered. At Bull Run his -bosom friend fell by a Yankee ball; from that moment he “was a Rebel, -heart and soul.” “My family, friends, neighbors, old political leaders, -all went with the State,” said another. “I knew it was madness, but I -could not desert them, and I would not be a tory.” - -Men like Governor Brown and Alex. H. Stephens were thought at the North -to be leaders of a Union party. Whatever their private views, neither -they nor any other prominent men dared permit themselves to be regarded -in that light at home. “They were opponents of the Administration, not -of the war,” as a Georgian very earnestly explained. “They opposed Mr. -Davis, not because he made war at all, but because he did it with less -vigor and skill than they demanded.” - -The belief was prevalent at the North, that, when secession failed, the -decimated and beggared people would turn in bitter rage upon the leaders -who had brought them to such a pass. But from Fortress Monroe and Key -West to Cairo, I never heard one solitary indication of such a feeling. - -Many men criticised Mr. Davis’ conduct of the war with severity; but -wherever an expression was made at all, it was one of sympathy for his -fate, and of indignation at the thought of awarding him any other -punishment than was allotted to the humblest follower in the cause. “He -was but our agent,” they said. “He only did our bidding. Our fault with -him was that he didn’t do it as skillfully as we expected.” - -General Lee was everywhere reverenced. The common form of allusion to -him was, “that great and good man.” In Mobile, and throughout the -Mississippi Valley, General Jos. E. Johnston was an universal favorite. -Beauregard had an ovation when he returned. In New Orleans, the -bitterest complaint against the President’s Amnesty Proclamation was, -that under it they would be compelled to select obscure persons, or -new-comers, for Representatives, “instead of our old and tried leaders.” - -But there were very distinct traces of State jealousy. “Those d———d -Hotspurs of Charleston were very keen to get us into this scrape,” said -a North Carolinian, “and now, after sending us poor troops through the -war, they’re sneaking off to Mexico, instead of staying with us to stand -it out.” Tennesseeans were not general favorites; and it was amusing to -hear the contempt showered upon the once petted Kentuckians. “Poor -braggadocio devils! After all their strut and swagger, they didn’t know -which side they were on, and stood, like a pack of half-scared curs, -growling at both.” Missouri, on the other hand, was often praised. -Several times I heard the statement, that “Missouri troops were among -the very best in the Confederate army.” - -I have already said that we found no Union party in the South, in the -months immediately following the close of the war. I should have -excepted the negroes. The prevalent stories of their fidelity to their -masters were preposterously false. Not one negro in a thousand hoped for -the success of the rebellion, or was without some pretty distinct notion -of his personal interests in the issue. They often served or saved -masters to whom they were personally attached, even in the most critical -moments of danger, but this did not in the slightest degree affect their -desire for the triumph of the Yankees. - -The expectation was general, among the more intelligent, that suffrage -would be given them, and many were beginning to assert their claim to -lands. How far they were qualified for giving their voice in public -affairs, we had no very satisfactory means of judging. We saw mainly -those in cities, or near the armies, and in most cases these were the -brighter and more intelligent. In Charleston, Savannah, Mobile, and New -Orleans, the masses of resident negroes seemed to me quite as orderly, -respectable, and intelligent as many of the voters in New York that help -to elect mayors like Mr. Fernando Wood. - -But we were constantly told that the plantation hands in the interior -were a different order of beings. We saw many plantation hands, as on -the Sea Islands, and at numerous other points, who were the superiors in -good-breeding, and not much the inferiors in education, of many of the -“poor whites;”[41] but these, we were always assured, were only the -smart ones, who knew enough to run away. Could we but see the stupid -residuum still in the interior, who constituted the vast majority, we -would form radically changed notions as to their fitness for any right -of a citizen, or, indeed, for taking care of themselves at all. It was -not till some months later that I was to see this stupid residuum. Till -then, I may fitly leave its description in the language of those who -professed to know it best. - -But of the great masses of negroes whom we did see in May and June, two -general statements may safely be made: - -They were as orderly, quiet, and industrious as any other class of the -population;[42] and, - -They were far more eager than any others to secure the advantages of -education for themselves, and especially for their children. - ------ - -Footnote 41: - - I have several times spoken of this class. Lest it should be thought - that I am exaggerating their condition, let me quote the description - of a writer against whom no accusation of prejudice, or lack of - familiarity with the subject, can be brought. Mrs. Fanny Kemble Butler - says of the poor whites, on page 146 of her Journal of a Residence on - a Georgia Plantation, (to wit, that of her husband): - - “They are, I suppose, the most degraded race of human beings claiming - an Anglo-Saxon origin, that can be found on the face of the - earth—filthy, lazy, ignorant, brutal, proud, penniless savages, - without one of the nobler attributes that have been found occasionally - allied to the vices of savage nature. They own no slaves, for they - are, almost without exception, abjectly poor; they will not work, for - that, as they conceive, would reduce them to an equality with the - abhorred negroes; they squat, and steal, and starve on the outskirts - of the lowest of all civilized societies, and their countenances bear - witness to the squalor of their condition and the degradation of their - natures.” - - Fortunately, this class is confined almost exclusively to the Eastern - slaveholding States. - -Footnote 42: - - This statement is literally true, but, without another, it might - convey a wrong impression. The negroes were everywhere found quiet, - respectful, and peaceable; they were the only class at work; and in, - perhaps, most respects, their outward conduct was that of excellent - citizens. But they _would_ steal. Petty pilfering seemed as natural to - three-fourths of them as eating. Our officers and missionaries thought - they saw some reformation in this respect; but there was still - abundance of room for more. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXI. - - Mid-summer at the Capitol. - - -No party ever made a graver mistake than did the one that had elected -the Administration during the summer after the assassination of Mr. -Lincoln and the surrender of the Rebel armies. Representatives, -senators, leading men of the party in other official stations or in -private life, abandoned their new President before he was lost. -Dissatisfied with the North Carolina proclamation, they made little -effort to convince the President of the justice of their -dissatisfaction. Whispering to one another their fears that his Southern -prejudices would lead him over to the side of the returning Rebels, they -made little effort to retain him. Occasionally some prominent Unionist -came down to Washington to see the President, found the ante-room filled -with pardon-seeking Rebels, and the city rife with the old Rebel talk, -became disgusted and hurried back to the North. - -All summer long the capital was filled with the late leaders in Rebel -councils, or on Rebel battle-fields. They filled all avenues of approach -to the White House. They kept the Southern President surrounded by an -atmosphere of Southern geniality, Southern prejudices, Southern -aspirations. Mr. Johnson declared that treason must be humbled—they -convinced him that they were humble. That traitors must be punished—they -showed him how they had suffered. That only loyal men should rule—they -were all loyal now. - -He had been a “poor white,” with all the hatred of his class to the -negroes. They showed him how the “Radicals” wanted to make the negroes -as good as the white men. As a Tennessee politician, it had been -necessary for him to denounce the “Abolitionists and fanatics of the -North;” to declare, in the stereotyped phrase of the stump, that he had -equal hatred for the Secessionists of South Carolina and the -Abolitionists of Massachusetts. They asked him if he was going to let -Massachusetts Abolitionists lead him now and control his Administration, -while his own native South lay repentant and bleeding at his feet. He -was ambitious, proud of his elevation, but stung by the sneer that after -all he was only an accidental President. They cunningly showed him how -he could secure the united support of the entire South and of the great -Democratic party of the North, with which all his own early history was -identified, for the next Presidency. - -Such were the voices, day by day and week by week, sounding in the -President’s ears. He heard little else, was given time to think little -else. And meanwhile the party that had elected him, simply—let him -alone. The history of our politics shows no graver blunder. - - * * * * * - -Every day the White House presented the same scene. Passing through the -ante-room to the public staircase, one always encountered a throng of -coarsely-dressed bronzed Southerners, carrying heavy canes, -tobacco-ruminant, and full of political talk. The unfurnished -desolate-looking room in which visitors gather, while waiting their -turns for interviews with the President, was always crowded. One day I -saw there two or three Rebel Generals, as many members of the Rebel -Congress, and at least a score of less noted leaders. In a corner, -occupying the only chair which the room contains, sat a former Secretary -of War of the Rebel Confederacy. Not far from him stood Henry W. -Hilliard, once United States Congressman from Alabama, and subsequently -prominent in the plots which Andrew Johnson so sternly resisted for -seducing Tennessee into rebellion. - -From nine o’clock until three the President sat in the room adjacent, -conversing with one or another as the doorkeeper admitted them. Pardons -were discussed, policies of reorganization were canvassed. The -pardon-seekers were the counsellors on reorganization—there were none -others there with whom to consult. Thus the weary day passed, with a -steady stream of Rebel callers. At three o’clock the doorkeeper’s hands -were full of cards not yet presented to the President, and the ante-room -was thronged; then the door was thrown open, and the crowd rushed in as -if scrambling for seats in a railroad car. The President stood by his -desk; to his left, at another table, stood General Mussey and Colonel -Browning, his two private secretaries. On the table in the center of the -room lay a pile of pardons, a foot high, watched by a young Major in -uniform. - -“How the newspapers slandered the President,” said a Congressman,[43] -after witnessing such a scene. “Treason is a crime and must be pardoned! -_That_ was the rallying cry with which he assumed his office, and the -odious newspapers reported him wrong.” - -A few Union soldiers had been waiting all day to see the President about -pardons for desertion, restoration of bounties, and the like. One after -another approached, presented his case, received a prompt and generally -a kindly answer and retired. A stooped, prematurely old person, wearing -several foreign decorations, thin, with nervous face and weary -expression, wanted back pay for services as a hospital steward. He gave -his name as Geo. Gordon Di Luna Byron, and claimed to be a son of the -poet. Hospital-steward Byron was persuaded to seek in the -Quartermaster’s Department for an investigation and decision of his -claims. Sundry gentlemen would be greatly obliged if they could be -handed their pardons now. The President was not quite ready; they were -made out and lying on the table, but he wasn’t just prepared to deliver -them yet. “Were not the cases decided?” “Oh, yes; it was all right; they -would get their pardons in due time.” - -“They’re not quite enough humiliated yet,” whispered an official -on-looker. - -Others had only called to thank the President for his kindness -concerning their pardons. They were about to start home, and it would -afford them the greatest pleasure to co-operate in the work of -reconstruction, and especially to do all in their power in support of -the President’s policy. - -The District Attorney of Tennessee wanted to know what course to pursue -about confiscations. He had been endeavoring to discharge his duties -under the confiscation law, but before he had been able to get through -the proceedings in any case, the President’s pardon had put a stop to -it. He was told to call to-morrow. - -So the crowd thinned out, one by one. By half-past five Mr. Johnson was -alone with his secretaries—only a few idlers still passing before the -open door for a stolen look at the Chief-Magistrate of the Republic. - - * * * * * - -At the other end of the avenue, in a large, pleasantly-furnished suite -of rooms in the basement of the capitol, was a curious contrast. Whoever -chose, whatever the degree of his treachery, might go in to stare at the -President or ask for a pardon. At the rooms of the Court of Claims, a -poor, friendless, cowardly, and cruel Swiss mercenary was on trial for -his life for cruelties to National prisoners, known to have been fully -reported to the Rebel officials the President was pardoning. - -Near one end of the connecting rooms stood a long table, at the head of -which, sat the small, nervous figure of Major General Lew. Wallace, and -around which were grouped the members of his Military Commission. Among -them was General Thomas, the grey-headed Adjutant General of the United -States Army; hearty and companionable, General Geary of Pennsylvania; -and General Fessenden, of Maine, still limping from his wounds. Opposite -General Wallace, at a little cross-table, sat young, long-bearded, -pleasant-faced Colonel Chipman, the Judge Advocate of the Commission. -Near the latter, shrinking down upon his chair, and mostly seeking to -avoid the gaze of the crowd, sat the cringing prisoner on trial for -atrocities almost without a parallel in the history of modern warfare. -He was badly dressed, in old, shabby-genteel clothes, was slovenly, and -seemed to have lost all care for his appearance. He listened in a -submissive, helpless sort of way to the testimony. Occasionally -something seemed to touch him keenly and he would turn to his counsel -and whisper earnestly; but for the most part, he sat silent, bent-up, -cowering, and apparently wretched. - -The proofs of his guilt were overwhelming. The man not convinced by them -would be the man to doubt whether there was sufficient historical -evidence of our ever having had a war with Mexico. But there were -others, as guilty as he, guiltier indeed in that they made him the tool -to do deeds to which they would not stoop themselves. They should have -been seated by his side, to make the trial other than a bitter mockery -of justice. - - * * * * * - -One hot August morning a couple of us, wearied with such scenes, crossed -the Long Bridge, (whose opposite ends were guarded, at the outbreak of -the war by hostile sentries—Virginia stationing hers at the end where -the bridge touched her sovereignty, and General Scott sending his to the -other end to watch them), and took the cars for Manassas Junction. The -railroad had just been turned over to its old owners by the military -authorities, and the cars, provided for the accommodation of the -Virginia travelers, still bore the inscription “United States Military -R. R.” - -A motley throng of curiosity-hunters, speculators, sight-seers, -returning pardon-seekers, and Southern politicians filled the cars. -Among them were a very few Southern women. The leaders of the Old -Dominion were not yet able to travel much. - -Manassas Junction was being made over again. A few frame shanties had -been hastily thrown up. Two of these did duty as “hotels;” nearly all -contrived to turn an honest penny by selling villainous liquors for -twice the Washington price. Workmen were nailing on roofs, and hammering -at weather-boarding for several more. “We’ll open out a store there next -week,” said an unmistakable Yankee, pointing to a structure still -standing in the naked simplicity of bare sills, posts and rafters. - -We stopped among the carpenters, while the tavern-keeper was hitching up -his horses to take us over to Bull Run, and made some inquiries as to -the localities. “That’s the road to Manassus Gap,” said one, laying down -his hammer and nails, with the air of a man glad of an opportunity to -quit work and talk. “That’s where we came marching up time o’ Bull Run.” -He went on to describe the route his division took. Supposing him to be -a Northerner we became utterly confused in trying to square our -recollections of the battle with his descriptions. Finally it occurred -to us to ask, “Which side were you on?” - -“The Virginia side, of co’se! What side’d ye ’spose I’d be on?” - -“He was one of Mosby’s guerrillas,” whispered a Northern resident -standing by. - -He reckoned they’d be quiet enough now, ’s long ’s they’d nothing else -to do. They’d been overpowered, but no Yankee could say they were ever -whipped. “Didn’t we whip you right straight along till you called in the -niggers and Dutch to help you? Make it a fair fight and we’d have -whipped you all the way through. One of us could whip two o’ your men -any time in fair fight. It stands to reason. Didn’t we whip you all -along with only half as many men? Of co’se one o’ our men had to be -better’n two o’ your’n.” - -By this time our ambulance drove up and we started for the -battle-fields. “They talk mighty big,” said our Pennsylvania driver, who -had heard the latter part of the conversation; “but in spite of all -their big talk, they do things that down in old Lancaster we’d be mighty -’shamed of. Why, here the other night a fellow comes into our tavern -there to buy a bottle of whisky. After he buys it, what does he do, but -call in two or three others that had helped him pay for it, and borrow -our glasses to take a drink out of his bottle. Why couldn’t the stingy -cuss ’ave bought it by the drink like a gentleman, if he’d a know’d how -a gentleman did?” - -The road led us away through a boundless common, waving with golden rod -and covered with luxuriant grass. Every fence, for miles, was gone. Here -and there solitary chimneys marked the site of an old “Virginia -mansion,” and sometimes a little of the shrubbery had been spared about -the ruins, but there were no other signs of human habitation. Neither -were there any signs of the conflicts which have made the neighborhood -memorable forever. Few trees were standing to show the scars of shells; -the country seemed an absolute solitude; where once the roar of battle -had rent the air, we had only the chirping notes of myriads of birds. - -Coming out on the brow of a little knoll, near which, in the hollow and -across the brook was a double log-cabin, we stood beside the “Bull Run -Monument.” It is a plain obelisk, built up of the sand-stone found in -the neighborhood, roughly-faced down and cemented with coarse mortar. On -its sides smooth places had been obtained by daubing on a little square -of plaster. On these were painted the words “Erected, June 10, 1865, in -honor of the Patriots who fell at Bull Run, July 21, 1861.” On either -hand stretched the rolling country; below us murmured a little brook; -away beyond the log-cabin at the bottom of the hill, a dark forest line -shut in the view. A few yards from the monument stood half-a-dozen peach -trees, loaded with excellent fruit, with which the driver took care to -fill the lunch-basket. - -Driving over to the extreme right of the Bull Run ground, we came out -into the edge of the woods on the left of the field where the second -Bull Run was fought. An old school-house, without doors, windows, desks -or seats, had in some way been preserved. A few bullets and fragments of -shell could still be found under the trees—there was nothing else to -speak of battle, or indeed, of the presence of man for years. Leaving -the ambulance here, we walked down through the woods till we struck the -railroad-cut, of which Stonewall Jackson made such effective use. Here, -too, a few bullets and fragments of shell were to be found; beyond was -the long, rank grass covering what had once been cultivated fields. -Climbing the hill—with not a few admonitions about the snakes that in -the grass do hide—we reached the Second Bull Run Monument, erected by a -Northern regiment at the same time with the other, and almost its _fac -simile_. The inscription read: - - “In memory of the - Patriots - Who fell at Groveton, - August 28th, 29th and 30th, 1862.” - -Since the return of the Rebels, after Lee’s surrender, another word had -been carefully and conspicuously interlined and the inscription read: - - “In memory of the - Confederate Patriots,” etc. - -When the rebellion began arsenals and ammunition were stolen; when it -ended we had this more original performance of stealing a monument. - -On our return we stopped at the old log-cabin near the center of the -first Bull Run battle-field. Its inhabitants, a blear-eyed, -hard-drinking poor white and his wife, the latter of whom seemed to be -dividing her time between her pipe and the wash-tub, had occupied the -house during the whole of both battles and during the subsequent -alternate possession of the field by either side. Before the war he had -made a living by selling a little whisky; now he had nothing to depend -on but his “patch.” This, as it subsequently appeared, was gratuitously -cultivated for him by a curious old misshapen negro who considered -himself in some way bound to the place. - -The negro brought us some cider, of indescribable taste. “How in the -world did you make this, uncle?” - -“Why, sah, I only had few rotten apples, but I’s got plenty peaches. So -I pounds up de apples and de peaches togedder in a bary, wid a pessle. -Den I puts water in to make de juice come, cause it’s so dry. Den I put -away de juice, and gibs it to gemmen, and dey always gibs me somefin den -what makes me laugh.” - -He thought the end of the world was coming, sure, at the time of the -first battle. Afterward, when the second came, he wasn’t quite so much -scared at first, but ’fore it over he thought hisself dead nigger, -shore. - -Where were all his neighbors? Dey’d all done gone, sence dey got so -badly whipped, and nebber cum back. Reckoned some on ’em lost mighty -fine farms heah by it. - -Didn’t he think they were very foolish to fight that way for nothing? He -didn’t know, twan’t for him to say. Dey was old enough and ageable -enough to know best for demselves. - -Thus the freedman. The Virginian of the ruling class was even more -cautious. “He hain’t nary a politic,” explained our driver. “He’s been -first one thing and then the other, just accordin’ to which side -happened to be camped around; but he’s a poor sneakin’ nigger-driver at -heart.” - -We drove from end to end of the two battle-fields, and found these to be -its only inhabitants. In fifteen miles of driving through what had once -been a cultivated country, we saw but a single fence. - -At the railroad station, on our return, we found quite a number of -negroes. They had always lived here, and wanted to live here still. They -were willing to work, but their old masters weren’t willing to hire -them. Didn’t we think that the Government ought to give them lands? - ------ - -Footnote 43: - - Judge Kelley, of Philadelphia. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXII. - - Richmond, after Six Months of Yankee Rule. - - -In my first visit to the Southern States, beginning in the spring of -1865, and ending in mid-summer, there were peculiar circumstances to be -taken into account, in drawing conclusions as to any of the questions -which the loyal portion of the nation was asking about the South. Our -party was constantly surrounded by men desirous of impressing their own -views. Southern politicians were endeavoring to convince the -Chief-Justice of the returning loyalty of their people. Naturally, they -suppressed unfavorable facts and expressions. Intelligent negroes were -arguing the fitness of their people for suffrage. Naturally, they did -what they could to hold the unfit ones away. Whoever approached the -Chief-Justice or his party, was likely to have some special motive for -doing so, either of courtesy or of interest. Naturally, whatever did not -comport with that motive was glossed over, or kept out of sight. - -The trip had thus shown us the leaders at their best. I now wanted to -see the people, at home and out of company dress. The Secretary of the -Treasury, and other members of the Cabinet, had been kind enough to -furnish me with letters to the Provisional Governors who had been -appointed for all the Southern States; but it was rather the governed -than the governors who might be expected to reveal the actual feeling -and condition of the community. Acting on what a large mass of his -supporters thought a mistaken policy, the President had inaugurated a -system of reconstruction. State governments had been set in motion; -legislators and congressmen were being elected. It was an opportune -time, before Congress met and the ardent Southern sentiment was chilled -by the fresh breezes from the North, for a run among the reconstructed, -avoiding officials, whether Northern Generals, or Southern Governors, -candidates, or Freedmen’s Bureau Agents; moving quietly among the -people, and seeing in what temper they were carrying on the work to -which Mr. Johnson had summoned them. - - * * * * * - -When I had been last in Richmond—a day or two after the surrender—it was -thought to be something of a feat to make the trip in a couple of days. -In November, so rapidly had the broken ways been mended and the crooked -paths made straight, it was accomplished in a night. The traveler -southward left Washington at nine in the evening, and was aroused up -next morning at five in Richmond. - -The trip naturally inspires an appetite; but among the morning papers I -found the following further appetizer from the Richmond Examiner, of -Rebel memory: - - “A special dispatch to the Baltimore Sun avers that ‘it is now - pretty clear that the President has at heart the admission of - Southern Congressmen, and will make it a measure of his - Administration. Those opposing it will be regarded as hostile to the - most material points of his policy.’ It would appear from this that - the President does not agree with the learned librarian of the - House,[44] nor with the clerk of the House, who, it is said, will - not enter the names of Southern Congressmen until after the - organization, and their admission is specially granted by the - exclusive members who are to participate. The President, if this be - true, will have done a good part in shifting the burden of the - difficulty from the shoulders of the Southern members to his own. - The clerk and librarian may now have the pleasure of a dispute with - his Excellency, if they will, instead of the luxury of looking - solemn and severe at some Southern gentlemen they would like to keep - out in the cold for a short time.” - -Paragraphs like this served a special use. They illustrated the temper -in which pardoned Rebels, who had sought the Attorney-General’s -office[45] as their “last ditch,” resumed their duties as loyal -citizens. “None so hard to please as a beggar.” These men abjured all -their rights under the Constitution, and did their best to overthrow it. -They were forced back. Yesterday they cringed for pardon at the feet of -“the boorish and drunken tailor” they had denounced; to-day they are -harder to satisfy than ninety and nine just men who have no need of -repentance. - -An ex-colonel of a Virginia regiment was exceedingly anxious to argue -his political principles. They were talking, he heard, about keeping the -Southern members from participating in the organization of the House, -just to enable the Radicals to get all the officers. But he didn’t -believe they would dare to venture on so grossly tyrannical a course. If -it was proposed to conciliate the South, they must no longer be -subjected to such iniquitous oppression. The whole war had been of the -same sort. The North had no business to begin its attack in the first -place—no justification for it under the sun. The South was only -defending itself from Northern violations of law. Didn’t Massachusetts, -in her Legislature, threaten to secede in 1812?[46] And wasn’t there a -clause in the Constitution about importing slaves down to 1808, which -was put in for her benefit, and at her peremptory demand? - -“As for your niggers, you’ve got ’em on your hands. They won’t work, -unless you force them to it, and they’ll steal rather than starve. You -even talk about giving them suffrage! There are no words to express the -infamy of such a proposition. This is a white man’s government, and must -be kept so till the end of time. It’s true, there are a great many -ignorant whites voting now; but so much the more need for stopping -further addition to the ignorant vote.” There ought to be educational -and property qualifications, he thought; but on no account would he -permit negroes to avail themselves of these. Educated or ignorant, rich -or poor, the niggers must be kept down. - -In Richmond, and, as it appeared, throughout the South, there was a -general reliance upon the President to secure the immediate admission of -their Senators and Representatives. Whether all believed or not, all at -any rate claimed, that their Representatives had a perfect right to -participate in the organization of the House. The President was to see -to it that they were admitted to this right. None of these former -sticklers for a strict construction of the Constitution, hesitated for a -moment at the suggestion that the President was as powerless in the -premises as themselves. “Hasn’t he the army?” they asked. In the better -days such a question would have been denounced as treasonable. After -their four years of arbitrary rule, it seemed to them the most natural -thing in the world. - - * * * * * - -Richmond was fallen from its high estate, but it was a capital still. -The brains, the pluck, and the pride of the rebellion are there, and the -Rebel capital still leads the returning Rebel States. The Northern -public scarcely appreciated the amount of journalistic talent -concentrated there in the interest of the Rebel cause. The newspapers of -Richmond, throughout the war, were in many respects the ablest on the -continent. Their writing was often turgid, but it was always effective; -and it shaped the public sentiment of the whole Confederacy. Mr. Davis -himself was not above writing leaders for his organ, and Benjamin is -reported to have been a frequent contributor. In the midst of their -destitution they managed to keep up double the number of average dailies -that we had in Washington, and the editorials of each were generally the -productions of educated thinkers, as well as red-hot partisans. -Fortunately or unfortunately, a share of the old ability and fervor -clings to the revived newspapers of Richmond, and it is curious to see -with what avidity the Virginians gulp down the praises of their heroic -dead, in which they tend to indulge so freely, since it is no longer so -safe to extol the deeds of the pardoned or pardon-seeking survivors. - -Yet, with all the fervid zeal of the newspapers, I doubt if the great -mass of Virginians cared very much, in November, for any active -participation in political movements. At the outset, they were disgusted -with their vulgar, drunken Governor. Then their ablest men were all -ineligible to office, because steeped in the rebellion; and they had the -haughty pride of old families, which revolts against encouraging the -aspirations of unknown or odious upstarts. And, besides, while they made -a great show of establishing civil government, the galling consciousness -remained that, whether they chose it or not, they _must_ walk in a -certain path, or be suppressed by the military. As the Enquirer itself -said: - - “As long as the civil authority is subordinate to the military, - there can not and ought not to be any politics or any principles - among a people so unhappily situated. A paper that is not as free to - censure as to approve, has no virtue in its support, and no - importance attaches to its utterances. Approbation is worthless - where censure is forbid. The politics of the Enquirer, therefore, - must be deferred until the return of those good times when a free - press is the bulwark of the State.” - -Even the hated “Radicals” would be apt to indorse so lucid a statement -of so sound a principle. But they might possibly make the argument prove -more than would be pleasing to Richmond. If there “ought not to be any -politics among a people so unhappily situated,” neither ought there to -be the farce of a form without the substance of State Government. - -Though not making exactly this deduction, many Virginians were still -ready for almost any political arrangement that would secure them the -quiet and established order of civil government, and leave them to the -task of repairing their shattered private fortunes. Even yet they had -scarcely begun to comprehend the policy of a plot for bringing the men -who had just been trying to overturn a government into the complete -control of it. Many were still ready to accept, as final, whatever -orders the Government might issue, and to make haste to do their part in -obeying them. - -“I tell you,” said a prominent man, “President Johnson can name his -Senators and they will be straightway elected. He can say what he wants, -and the Virginia Legislature, so-called, will register his edicts in -legislative enactments. What we wish is to get settled, to know where we -are and what we can depend upon, and then we want to go to work -developing our material resources. We’re all poor; we want to regain our -lost money, and we’ve got to let politics alone and go to work to do -it.” - -Beneath all this lay, of course, never-abandoned hopes of regaining -political supremacy, after the social authority that comes of wealth has -been restored. But the first want of Virginians was a settlement; -something fixed on which capital could rely. They talked foolishly who -said Virginia would not stand this, and the proud Virginians would -revolt from that. The proud Virginians would stand anything, for the -best of reasons. They could not help themselves. Statesmen might decide -upon the course of statesmen for such emergencies; and whether it was -pleasant or unpleasant, Virginia would submit, make the best of it, and -go to work to improve her condition. - -Meantime it was at any rate considered politic to keep the natural -leaders of the community in the back ground. A son of ex-President Tyler -had published the following significant warning: - - “TO THE EDITORS OF THE REPUBLIC: - - “Without assigning special reasons, I take the liberty, - respectfully, but most earnestly, to advise that no person who has - held a commission in the civil or military service of the late - Confederate Government, _shall permit himself to be a candidate for - the Legislature, either Federal or State, at the ensuing elections_. - - “It is true, I believe, as a result of the recent struggle, that the - entire people of Virginia have accepted the Union and the Government - of the United States in good faith. The institution of slavery, too, - has been extinguished. As matters now stand, I can not perceive what - possible danger to the safety of the Union or the peace of the - country could arise by allowing an absolute choice of - Representatives to the whole constituent body; _but there are - circumstances in the present state of general and national politics - which make it imperatively necessary, in my opinion, that those - citizens who were prominently identified with the cause of the - Confederacy should exercise a rigid political abstinence_ AT THIS - TIME. - - “Very respectfully, - “ROBERT TYLER.” - -The English of all this was plain: Stand back, now, gentlemen! Your -patriotic course has made you a little odious to the Yankees, and we -must be careful about offending them till we have got our State -representation in Congress again. You’re all right personally; we’re -proud of you, and you shall have plenty of offices by and by, but just -“at this time” it isn’t expedient to embarrass our cause at Washington, -by carrying your conspicuous services in the war on our shoulders! Even -school-boys would scarcely be misled thus. They could not forget their - - “Timeo Danaos, et dona ferentes.” - -“I was a Rebel,” said a conspicuous Southerner, “I submit because I was -whipped, and have a great respect for the men that whipped me; but I -shall have less respect for them if they prove such simpletons as to -suppose that the Rebels of yesterday can to-day become fit men to be -intrusted with the reorganization of a loyal government, by simply -swearing an oath of allegiance.” - - * * * * * - -Capital already began to come in from the North. One gentleman had -purchased a large tract of woodland on the James River, with the plan of -selling the wood on it in large quantities. Others were seeking to avail -themselves of the magnificent water-power afforded by the James, just -above the city. The business men were anxious for the establishment of -cotton factories, and already saw, in imagination, the manufacture of -the great Southern staple transferred from Northern to Southern hands. -There was much talk of mineral lands in the southwestern part of the -State, and real estate agencies were springing up, to aid in bringing -these lands into the market. The papers announced, with many flourishes, -that a Mr. Black, whom they styled “a great Scotch capitalist,” had -leased the famous White House estate, on the lower James, and was about -to introduce upon it the Scotch tenantry system. - -It was already considered certain that the confiscation law was to be a -dead letter, and wealthy Rebels seemed to have no fear of the loss of -their estates. But there were harassing confiscation suits, against -which there was great outcry. “Are we never to see the end of those -frightful lists of libeled property which the marshal and clerk are -advertising?” exclaimed one of the papers. “Are costs to be piled, like -Pelion upon Ossa, upon the heads of the gentlemen of Richmond and -Petersburg, who have already been pardoned? A distinguished gentleman of -this city has heard from President Johnson’s own lips, language of -strong indignation at the wholesale confiscation proceedings which have -been instituted against certain classes of our people.” Here, as always, -President Johnson’s will was to be taken as the final expression and -force of law. - -An indignant correspondent of one of the newspapers[47] brought heavy -charges against the Government and one of the United States Judges: - - “Major Nutt’s farm, near Alexandria, and Dr. Bowen’s farm, sold by - decree of Judge John C. Underwood, are to be delivered up to Judge - Underwood, Governor Pierpont, and Mr. Downey, the purchasers under - the confiscation sale. It now appears that the principal property - sold under Judge Underwood’s decrees, in and around Alexandria, was - purchased by himself and those connected with him in the high - position he holds, at a fractional part of its value only. - - “Rumor says, and I have never heard it doubted, that Judge - Underwood, during the rebellion, obtained permission to raise a - regiment of negroes in Alexandria, which he succeeded in getting at - a low price, which regiment he turned over to one of the Northern - States, at a large advance, thereby realizing a large sum of money, - with which he has been buying up the property confiscated by - himself, under his own decree, in _fee simple_.” - -The burnt district, comprising nearly all the business portion of the -city, south and east of the capitol, was beginning to rise from its -ruins. Between a fourth and a third of it would soon be better than -before the conflagration, with which the Rebels signalized their -abandonment of the city. But business was greatly overdone by Northern -speculators who had rushed down with heavy supplies of goods immediately -after the surrender. The first pressing necessities satisfied, the -Virginians were too poor to trade largely. - -Thanks to Northern loans, in sums ranging as high (in one or two cases, -at least,) as a half-million dollars, the railroads were rapidly getting -into running order, and old lines of travel were reopening. Already the -Virginia Central Railroad was open to Staunton, and the Orange and -Alexandria through its whole length, over a score or more of our -battle-fields. Rival lines of steamers for Baltimore swarmed in the -James River. Southward, Wilmington could be reached by rail, and even -Charleston, a few gaps being filled by stage lines. South-westward, an -unbroken line extended through Chattanooga and Atlanta—historic names—to -Mobile. - - * * * * * - -As was entirely natural, a great deal of sullen bitterness was displayed -against the negro. Men did not feel kindly that their old slaves should -take time to consider the question of hiring with them, and should -presume to haggle about wages. The least manifestation of a disposition -to assert obtrusively his independence, brought the late slave into -danger. Murders of negroes were occasionally reported; and the late -masters made many wrathful promises to kill that were never fulfilled. -Half-a-dozen times, in the course of a single day, I observed quarrels -going on between negroes and white men. The latter constantly used the -most violent and domineering language; the negroes several times seemed -disposed to resent it. - -Their schools were well attended, and the same good report of their -progress was continually made. No man could fail to observe that the -poor negroes were making much more earnest efforts to rise than the poor -whites. - -The restoration of confiscated property was again leaving many of the -freedmen houseless. During the convulsions of the war they had left -their old homes, and the authorities had established them upon the -confiscated estates of absent Rebels. Pardoned, and resuming possession -of their property, it was not unnatural that their first step should be -to eject the vagrant negroes from their premises. The superintendent of -schools under the Freedmen’s Bureau estimated the entire number of -persons thus rendered houseless in Eastern Virginia, at the beginning of -winter, to be not less than seventy thousand. - -Small-pox was also making ravages among them. They had not yet learned -to take care of themselves; the emancipation had removed them from the -care of their masters, and exposure, neglect, and disease were rapidly -thinning out the population on which the wasted State had to rely for -labor. The prevalent tone of public feeling indicated indifference to -this public calamity. Virginians had not yet learned that their -interests in laborers did not end when they ceased to own them; and many -seemed to gloat over the facts, as a proof of the wisdom of their own -opinions, and of the folly of their anti-slavery enemies. “This,” -exclaimed a newspaper, “is one of the practical results of negro -_freedom_—one of the curses that has fallen on this unfortunate race, -and one for which _somebody_ must be held responsible at the bar of God. -Who that _somebody_ is, must be determined by a higher authority than -human, though many are disposed to believe that the responsibility rests -not on the people of the South. But be that as it may, the ‘freedmen’ -are dying by hundreds and thousands. Where are the philanthropists of -the North? Where are the Christian Commissions of Boston, and the -Freedmen’s Aid Societies of Philadelphia? Where are those who wanted an -anti-slavery God and an anti-slavery Bible? Yes! where are they, when -the negro is freed and is so sadly in need of their kind (?) offices?” - -Where it could, the Government was still issuing rations to these poor -waifs of the war, but the suffering was beyond any governmental control. -Some of the old masters did their best to care for former slaves; but -they were themselves impoverished and destitute. November winds already -blew sharply—what might be expected before the winter was over? - ------ - -Footnote 44: - - The “learned librarian of the House” had simply published a statement - of the laws governing the organization of the House, showing the - illegality of any attempt to have the names of the so-called Southern - members placed on the roll, prior to the organization. This statement - the Associated Press had chosen to pronounce semi-official. - -Footnote 45: - - Applications for pardon were first presented to the Attorney-General. - -Footnote 46: - - “And don’t you know—supposing your statement true—that she’d been - soundly thrashed if she had attempted it?” interjected a quiet - gentleman who had been attentively listening. - -Footnote 47: - - Richmond Enquirer, 7th November, 1865. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIII. - - Lynchburg—The Interior of Virginia. - - -The direct road from Richmond to Lynchburg was not yet in running order -again. “One of our fool Generals burnt a big bridge near Lynchburg,” -explained a citizen, “when there wasn’t the slightest use for it, and -the bridge has not been rebuilt. Some of our Generals thought if they -couldn’t have everything their own way, they must ruin everything. They -hadn’t sense enough to see that it was their own friends they were -ruining.” The trains from Richmond to Gordonsville, however, and thence -to Lynchburg were running with unexpected regularity. But, in at least -one respect, Richmond was not to be moved from the good old ways. The -train started from the middle of a street; and, in the absence of a -depot, the passengers rendezvoused at the shops on the corner till they -saw the cars coming along. - - * * * * * - -Of course, the desolation of Virginia, even in the regions most exposed -to the ravages of the war had been overrated. I do not think the white -people were starving, or likely to starve, anywhere from Alexandria to -Gordonsville, Richmond, Fredericksburg, or Lynchburg; and within these -points Virginia had suffered more than in all the rest of the State. A -little corn had been grown in the summer, and that little had been -husbanded in a style at which a Western farmer would stare in amazement. -Every blade had been stripped from the stalks, every top had been cut, -and in the center of every little inclosure a stack of blades, thatched -with tops, supplemented the lack of hay and other forage for the cattle, -while the abundant ears furnished the great staple of diet for the -classes most likely to suffer. A few little patches of cotton whitened -inclosures near the houses, at rare intervals; but the yield was light, -and the cultivation had evidently been bad. Between Richmond and -Gordonsville scarcely a dozen wheat-fields were seen. Great surface -drains had been furrowed out all over the fields, as if the owners were -afraid they had too much wheat in, and wanted a considerable portion of -it washed away. Beyond Gordonsville, they became plentier, and the crops -had been put in in better style. - -But in the main, between Richmond and Gordonsville, as between -Fredericksburg and Richmond, abandoned fields alternated with pine -forests, destroyed depots, and ruined dwellings. Imaginative writers -have described the droves of wild beasts which they represent as having -taken possession of these desolated regions; but the sportsman is likely -to find nothing more formidable than abundant coveys of quails. Our -train brought up from Richmond, and left at different points along the -road, numbers of the decayed Virginia gentry, equipped with dogs and -fowling pieces, and eager for this result of the war, if not for others -of more consequence. - -Hanover Junction presented little but standing chimneys and the debris -of destroyed buildings. Along the road a pile of smoky brick and mortar -seemed a regularly recognized sign of what had once been a depot, and -the train was sure to stop. Not a platform or water-tank had been left, -and the rude contrivances hastily thrown up to get the road in running -order were, in many cases, for miles and miles the only improvements -visible. Young pines covered the old wheat-fields and corn-fields. -Traces of breast-works wound off through the country in all directions. -A coterie of young officers were constantly exclaiming, “Here we whipped -the rebs.” “There’s a place where the rebs got after us mighty sharp.” -Gray-coated, heavy-bearded, ragged-looking fellows listened in scowling -silence, or occasionally beguiled the way by reminding each other how -“Here the Yanks caught hell.” - -At one or two points, where once had been considerable towns, the train -was besieged by an outgrowth of the peculiar institution. A score or two -of negro women, bearing trays on which were rudely arrayed what they -called “snacks,” surrounded us, loudly announcing the merits of their -various preparations. “Sad” biscuit and fried chicken; “sad” biscuit and -fried bacon; “sad” pie-crust, covering wild grapes, constituted the main -attractions; and, as a grey-coated passenger sullenly remarked, “played -the devil” with the hen-roosts of the surrounding country. Doubtless -this petty traffic kept the wolf from many a negro’s door through the -winter. - -The railroads had been supplied with rolling stock bought mainly from -the supplies of our United States military railroads, or from Northern -shops. One or two cars, however, of the best among all the trains we -met, bore the marks of a Richmond firm. The tracks were comparatively -solid; but the rails were in the worst possible condition. Looking from -the rear platform, one saw every few yards a rail bent outward till he -wondered why it did not throw us off; while half of them were crushed at -the ends or worn off the face till scarcely half an inch remained for -the wheel to touch. The roads hardly pretended to make over twelve miles -per hour, and even that was in many places a very unsafe rate of speed. -The conductors were, of course, ex-Rebels, so were the engineers and -brakemen, and any complaint as to the running of trains was very -effectually silenced by a suggestion of the improvement “since six -months ago.” Gangs of hands are at work on the roads, at distances of -very few miles. Negroes and Rebel soldiers worked harmoniously side by -side. “I tell you, sir,” said a Yankee to a Virginian who didn’t approve -of this social equality, “a white man has got just the same right a -nigger has—to starve if he won’t work!” - - * * * * * - -Perched among its hills, and defended by nature’s fortifications, -Lynchburg had seen little of the immediate horrors of war. Her sons had -gone down to death, but her fields had not been ravaged, her barns had -not been burned, her children had not been often startled by the cry of -the Yankees at the gates. Men had consequently escaped, to some degree, -the impoverishing effects of the rebellion. Business seemed quite brisk; -the farmers of the surrounding country were prosperous, and lands were -not largely offered for sale. - -As our train approached the city, I fell into conversation with a -citizen. He rather guessed this little town was in no fix for starving. -Niggers might suffer, and doubtless would, if they grew too saucy -(pronounced “sassy;”) but the people were all right. “Half a million of -specie in that little town, sah, when the wah ended. What do you think -of that for a little rookery among the mountains, sah?” - -I suggested that very few tobacco fields were to be seen along the road. -“Plenty of tobacco stored, sah. Didn’t raise much last year, because -there wa’nt many men at home to manage, but there’s plenty more tobacco -hid away in this country than people ever dreamed of. Gold will bring it -out, sah.” - -“Greenbacks,” it seemed, did not yet have the same magnetic power. Men -who had been declaring for four years that the United States Government -was overthrown, could not at once convince themselves that its money was -good. Whoever wanted to trade with the Virginians in the rural -districts, must prepare himself with gold. - -The town was swarming with representatives of Northern capitalists, -looking for investments. Baltimoreans were also found frequently among -them. The most went further South, over the Virginia and Tennessee road; -but a few had ideas about the mineral resources of these mountains. Many -seemed to think it necessary to adopt the coddling policy in their talk -with the Virginians. “My policy for settling up these questions,” said a -Yankee, “would be to banish all the leaders, and tell the rest that they -had been soundly whipped, and, now, the best thing they could do would -be to go to work and repair their ruined fortunes.” - -“But how could you punish those equally deserving of punishment at the -North, who were just as guilty in bringing on the war?” The questioner -was, not a pardoned Rebel, but a speculative Northerner. - - * * * * * - -“The Lynchburg Post-office is in a church. The Government, it seems, was -not willing to pay the rent demanded for the building formerly used for -postal purposes, and the rent on churches was not exorbitant. A route -agent, whiling away his time while his mail was made up, told how he had -taken the oath, and so become an employee of the Government again. - -“I was an old route agent, you see, and I wanted to go back to a nice -berth. But I had been a magistrate under the Confederacy, and I was -required to swear that I had never been. I went to see President -Johnson. There was an awful crowd in the lobby, but I cottoned to -Captain Slade, and played Yankee a little. Leaving out part of my name, -I wrote on a card simply ‘Frederick Bruce,’ and made Slade promise to -lay it before the President without a word. In a moment I was called in; -but, as I approached the President, I thought I could see, by the -twinkle of his eye, that I wasn’t the Frederick Bruce he had -expected![48] Well, I told him that I took a magistrate’s office under -the Confederate Government, to avoid having to go into the army. He said -the word ‘voluntary’ occurred at the beginning of the oath, and its -force ran through the whole of it, and applied to every clause. ‘Now, -sir,’ said the President, ‘it’s with your own conscience to say whether -you took that office voluntarily or not.’ Of course, I didn’t, for I was -compelled to do it in order to keep out of the army, and so I told the -President I would take the oath at once, and he said, ‘all right.’” - -The narration threw a flood of light on the style of Unionists, with -whose aid the Southern States were being “reconstructed.” This map was -one of the “stay-at-home” Rebels. He made no secret of his entire -sympathy with the Rebel cause, but he wanted to keep out of the fight -himself, and found it pleasanter to be a Rebel magistrate than a Rebel -soldier. - -Not very many Virginians seemed disposed to abandon the pleasant -mountain homes about Lynchburg, for the doubtful bliss of Mexico or -Brazil. The discovery had suddenly been made that there was a good deal -more danger of “nigger equality” in either than in the United States, -and the newspapers were dolorously warning the dissatisfied, that, if -they should go to Brazil, they might happen to be brought before courts -where negro judges presided, or be required to submit to laws enacted by -the wisdom of negro legislators. It was bad to be forced to tolerate the -presence of free negroes in the United States, but, really, it began to -look as if they could go nowhere else without finding matters a great -deal worse. - -In the main, the negroes seemed to be doing well. In the Lynchburg -hotels they were paid twenty dollars a month—five dollars more than they -received for similar services in Richmond. “Den, besides dat, we picks -up ’siderable from gemmen dat gibs us half-dollar for toting deir trunk -or blacking deir boots, as I’s shore you’s gwine to do, sah.”[49] These, -however, were only the more intelligent. Through the country the negroes -were by no means earning such wages, and, in fact, the most were earning -none at all. They gained a precarious support by picking up occasional -jobs, and by a pretty general system of pilfering. - -All had the idea that in January the lands of their former masters were -to be divided among them; and it was, therefore, almost impossible to -make contracts with them for labor on the farms through the ensuing -year. The inhabitants charged that this idea had been sedulously spread -among them by the Yankee soldiers, and that they had been advised never -to contract for more than a month’s work at a time, until the division -of property came. Here is a specimen of the way in which the Lynchburg -papers treated the difficulty: - - “The refusal of these people to make contracts for labor another - year completely deranges all the regular and matured plans of our - farmers. They know not what provision to make for feeding their - employees; what extent of soil to mark out for seed; what kind of - crops to cultivate, or what calculations to make upon their - operations. If they sow, they are not certain to what extent they - can reap; and if they attempt a variety of crops, (including - tobacco,) they have no assurance whatever that their labor will not - forsake them at the very moment that it is most indispensable. - - “A friend in Amherst suggests that the powers that be should issue - an order to the effect that all who do not get homes, or show they - have a support within themselves, by the 1st day of January, 1866, - will, on the 10th of said month, (nine days’ notice being given,) be - hired out to the highest bidder. Such an order would, in his - opinion, cause all except the most worthless to secure homes before - the 20th of December. These suggestions certainly seem to us to have - wisdom in them, and to meet the difficulties, to some extent, that - now so seriously embarrass and retard agricultural pursuits; and we - respectfully commend them to the attention of the proper - authorities. One thing is certain, that if the negroes are not made - to enter into contracts, and to keep them when made, the most - ruinous consequences will result to our farming interests, and - provisions enough will not be made to feed our people another year. - Some fanatics and deluded persons, we know, will laugh at this idea, - and tell us that the South has never been so prosperous in the past - as she will be in the future under our present system of labor. But - taking the most favorable view of the subject, it is still manifest - to every one at all familiar with the real condition of things, that - freed negro labor never was and never can be made _productive_—that - is to say, _accumulative_ or _progressive_; and that any reliance - upon the _voluntary_ work of free negroes, beyond what is absolutely - necessary to their sustenance, is both vain and foolish. And we - predict now, with regret and pain, what the results will certainly - show, that there will henceforth be a steady and permanent decline - in all the productions of the South dependent upon negro labor, as - there has been in the French and British emancipation islands; and - that the negro himself will steadily lose all the civilization which - contact with his master has given him, and finally relapse into his - native barbarism.” - -At the same time they were busy inducing these people, who were steadily -losing all civilization and about to relapse into their native -barbarism, to emigrate to Liberia; by way, it should seem, of hastening -the process. One colony had already been sent off, and the papers made -much of an address, written by the negro emigrants to their “best -friends,” to wit, their old masters,[50] wherein they were made to hint -a conviction, in substance the same with that so current in the -bar-rooms, that “Virginia is no place for free niggers.” - - * * * * * - -The people of Lynchburg were all Johnson men. That is, they believed the -President disposed to exact less of them than his party wanted, and they -were bound to praise the bridge that promised to carry them safely over. -Here, as elsewhere, “sound conservative views” were greatly in demand; -these “views” being always found to have a relation, more or less -intimate, to the negro. “No man,” exclaimed one of the papers, “can fail -to see that our future is pregnant with the most momentous issues, and -that it will require the union of all right-thinking men to save our -country from the blasting curse of a false and most destructive radical -sentiment pervading it.” To resist this destructive radical sentiment, -the union of all the old parties was urged. They felt sure their members -would be promptly admitted, and thought it a very great outrage that any -opposition should be made to their participation in the organization of -the House. - ------ - -Footnote 48: - - His “playing Yankee” consisted in a clumsy attempt to make the - President believe that Sir Frederick Bruce, the new British Minister, - was waiting in the ante-room to see him. - -Footnote 49: - - “Intelligent contrabands” all seem to have the money-making faculty - well developed. Here is a table of the incomes of some of the freedmen - about Newbern, North Carolina, during the third year of the war: - - Three hundred and five persons, not employed by the Government, but - working at trades of their own, returned a total income of $151,562, - the average of all incomes being $496 92. - - George Hargate, turpentine farmer $3,000 - Ned Huggins, tar and turpentine 3,150 - E. H. Hill, missionary and trader 2,000 - W. A. Ives, carpenter and grocer 2,400 - George Gordon, turpentine 1,500 - Adam Hymen, turpentine 1,300 - Samuel Collins, dry goods and groceries 1,200 - Benjamin Whitfield, grocery and eating-house 1,500 - Hasty Chatwick, turpentine 1,000 - Limber Lewis, staves, wood, and shingles 1,500 - George Physic, grocer 1,500 - Sylvester Mackey, undertaker 1,000 - Charles Bryan, cartman 1,000 - John H. Heath, shoemaker 1,000 - William Long, lumberman 1,200 - John Bryan, cotton farmer 1,100 - Hogan Conedy, cooper and tar maker 1,000 - Danzey Heath, grocer and baker 1,500 - - The average of the incomes of barbers was $675; the blacksmiths, $468; - masons, $402; carpenters, $510; grocers, $678; coopers, $418, and of - turpentine farmers, $446. - - While the negroes at Newbern, by patient toil, were putting such facts - as these on record, the whole refugee white population was drawing - rations. - - At Beaufort, of 1,592 blacks in the place, only 300 received help, - while, at the same time, 1,200 whites were supplied with rations. - - The colony of Roanoke Island, in two years, made improvements whose - cost value at the lowest figures was $44,000; more than would have - bought the whole island before the war, with all the improvements - which the “master class” had put upon it in two hundred years. In two - years Sir Walter Raleigh’s colony, established here, became utterly - extinct. - - The negroes in that region have generally preferred turpentine - farming, the work being lighter and the returns earlier, as the - product of the first dipping is ready for market before mid-summer. - From three thousand to ten thousand trees have thus been leased to - single individuals. Many have become rich, hundreds have lived in - ease, and considering the difficulties in the way, a remarkable - proportion supported themselves. The same opportunities were open to - the white refugees, and the result is seen in the report of the number - of rations issued in Newbern, the largest camp for contrabands in the - State, and the great city of refuge to the whole State. Of 8,000 - negroes in camp, only 3,000 drew rations, while in the white camp - every man, woman, and child was fed by the Government. - -Footnote 50: - - That is to say, written for them, and by the old masters themselves. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIV. - - Knoxville and the Mountaineers—Glimpses of Southern Ideas. - - -It was only the first week in November, but the morning air was keen and -frosty, as I made my hurried preparations for leaving Lynchburg, on the -East Tennessee Railroad. The “hotel” served up tough beefsteaks and -gluey, blueish hot bread for breakfast. Everything was astir, and the -little city wore as cheerful an air as though war had not been near its -borders. A crowd of passengers pressed into the gloomy-looking depot. -But three cars were provided, of which the last was occupied by negroes -and soldiers. Into the second the railway officials carefully sorted the -gentlemen, and the one nearest the engine was reserved for the ladies. -In all, the glass windows had been broken by the soldiers during the -war, and the whole Confederacy was unable to furnish glass large enough -to repair them. Smaller sash had been accordingly put in and filled by -seven-by-nine panes. There was a scramble for seats, and many had to -stand for fifty or sixty miles. - -Icicles hung at the pump spouts and around the water-tanks as the train -started; and, for miles among the mountains, the first ice of the season -could be seen covering the ponds and reflecting back the glowing tints -of the autumnal foliage. - -From Lynchburg to the Tennessee line (at Bristol,) was a distance of 204 -miles, to which our prudent railroad managers devoted twenty-two hours, -or an average of a trifle over nine miles an hour! The crowded -passengers made loud complaints as they began to ascertain the rate of -progress; but a glance at the road from the rear platform was enough to -silence the growlers. Crushed rails, occasional gaps where a stone was -inserted to prevent the car wheels from coming down to the ties, sharp -outward curves (the traces of the twists Yankee raiders had given the -rails,) shaky cross-ties and fresh earth-ballasting, combined with -curves around mountain precipices, and rough pine trestle-work, where -once were substantial bridges, to give one fresh convictions of the need -of Accident Insurance Companies. The officers had counted the bad rails, -and reported that in an hundred miles an aggregate of not less than -sixteen miles ought to be removed without one day’s delay. - -A more beautiful route could scarcely be found. Lovely little valleys -peeped out among the hills, pretty well cultivated, and dotted with -houses that showed comparatively little signs of destitution within. The -mountain sides were covered with forests, and the abounding cattle found -the sweetest blue grass everywhere. Finer grazing lands for cattle or -sheep could scarcely be imagined. Some day Yankee enterprise will -utilize the magnificent water power, convert the forest into gold mines, -and find real gold mines in the mountain chasms. The mineral wealth of -this region is unimagined. Shrewd geologists were already traversing it -in all directions; and with the next season we shall have the launch of -company after company with “magnificent mining prospects.” The shrewdly -managed will be profitable to the shareholders; the shrewd managers will -find _their_ profits always, whether shareholders do or do not. - -Two heavy freight cars followed the last of the passenger cars in our -train. They were needed in addition to the regular express car, to carry -the accumulations of a single day’s express matter at Lynchburg, in the -charge of a single company. Southerners were talking largely about the -patronage they would extend to General Joe Johnston’s Express Company; -but just then, they seemed to be doing very well in the way of -sustaining its great rival. The express safes in our train contained six -hundred thousand dollars in gold. A couple of hundred thousand, the -agents said, was quite frequently a single day’s consignment. Most of -this goes South to buy cotton—a little, also, to buy cotton plantations. - -All hands about these trains are Rebels, of course. Our several -conductors were full of pleasant reminiscences about their narrow -escapes from Yankee raiding parties. “Right yeah I had a hard chase,” -said one; “I was within a mile of town when I heerd that the Yankees was -thar. I run back to the watch-tank and waited. Pretty soon the Yanks -heerd I was thar, unloadin’ soldiers, and off the fools went, without -even destroyin’ two cah-loads of ammunition that stood thar. Nobody -never tuck no train from me amongst them all,” he continued, “except -Stone_man_, but he caught me nice. Stone_man_ he got a whole train from -me a’most before I knowed he was thar. Smart General, that Stone_man_.” - - * * * * * - -Among our passengers were a number of Georgia and Alabama -cotton-planters, full of their complaints about the “niggers and the -Yanks.” A New Yorker, going South to look at some mineral lands, said to -give fine indications of gold in paying quantities, sat near me and -began a free and easy talk about the condition of the negro, resources -of the South, etc. He wasn’t in favor of negro suffrage as a condition -of re-admission to Congress, but he thought the Southern States -themselves might, before long, come to see that an intelligent negro -would have as good a claim to the ballot as an ignorant white man. “G—d -d——n the infamous, dirty, liver-hearted scoundrel,” exclaimed a low -fellow in the same seat with me, whom I had taken for an army sutler, -but who turned out to be a Georgia planter, “the dirty Yankee says a -nigger is as good as a white man. The old Abolition sneak,” and so on, -with epithets far less dainty and moral. The Georgian had made as great -a mistake about me as I had about him. He took me for a Southerner! - -The conversation went on about the Southern prejudices against -conspicuous Northerners, like Greeley and Beecher, and the New Yorker -and myself soon had half the eyes in the cars fixed on us. Presently a -deal of whispering, accompanied with sullen looks, began. Half an hour -afterward, a quiet, meek-looking individual (who turned out to be a -freedom-shrieker, started in Massachusetts and graduated in Kansas,) -stepped beside me, as we were all on the platform looking at the -country, “Did you know those fellows got very mad at your Abolitionism? -That sallow, long-haired Macon merchant wanted to have you lynched, and -swore roundly that tar and feathers would be too good for you.” “How did -it end?” I asked. “Oh, a little Georgian said it was all true, and you -and the New Yorker ought to be lynched, but, that since this d——d war, -that thing was played out!” It may be readily inferred that for the rest -of the trip the few Northerners on board continued to talk Abolitionism -enough to have astonished Wendell Phillips himself. - -Making a virtue of necessity, the Southerners, after a time, became -sociable. My Georgia neighbor told me of his two splendid plantations, -not far from Columbus, one of four hundred and eighty acres, and the -other of eighteen hundred acres. He had gone North, utterly -down-hearted, and willing to sell out for a dollar an acre in gold; but -they had treated him well in New York; there was less revengeful, bitter -feeling than he had expected; Yankees were coming down to cultivate -cotton beside him; and he was going to watch them and profit by it. If -they could make money, growing cotton, he knew he could. If they could -make the niggers work he would adopt their policy, and he knew he could -do as well with niggers, whenever he found out how to get the power to -control them, as any Yankee could. - -I have conversed with dozens of planters, before and since, whose talk -all runs in the same channel. They have no sort of conception of free -labor. They do not comprehend any law for controlling laborers, save the -law of force. When they speak of a policy of managing free negro -laborers, they mean a policy by which they can compel them to work. “Why -not depend on the power of wages, if they work, or of want, if they -don’t, to settle the labor question?” I asked one. “They’ll work just -long enough to get a dollar, and then they’ll desert you in the midst of -the picking season, till they’ve spent it all, and have become hungry -again.” “But Northern laborers are as anxious to save money and get on -in the world as capitalists themselves.” “Northern laborers are like -other men; Southern laborers are nothing but niggers, and you can’t make -anything else out of them. They’re not controlled by the same motives as -white men, and unless you have power to compel them, they’ll only work -when they can’t beg or steal enough to keep from starving.” - -My Georgia planter, after first mistaking me for a Southerner, next -mistook me for a plantation seeker, and earnestly advised me to go into -the southwestern portion of his State. “You can make an average of half -a bale to the acre on all the lands about there. I grow a bale to the -acre on my lands. Went home this year after Lee surrendered, and I got -my parole, ripped up half the corn my niggers had planted, and put it in -cotton in May, and raised fifty bales, worth two hundred and fifty -dollars a bale. Such land as that you can get at five dollars an acre. -Then it’s far healthier than the rich cotton lands in the west; and you -have the best society in the country. Within a few miles of my -plantation are half-a-dozen of the very first families in Georgia—the -very best society I ever saw!” - -But he was anxious to sell, nevertheless. There was no use talking about -it, the niggers wouldn’t work unless you had the power to compel them to -it. Yankees talked mighty big about money bringing them to industrious -habits; but, in a month’s trial before he left home, he hadn’t been able -to hire a nigger for next year, or to hear of a neighbor who had hired -one. The black vagabonds all expected their masters’ lands at Christmas, -and the Yankees were putting them up to it. He would take six dollars an -acre now for his lands. All through his section (Columbus, Georgia,) -lands could still be bought at from three to nine dollars, although -prices were now advancing a little. For himself, he always made a bale -to the acre; but then his were the best lands in the county. His -neighbors never averaged over half a bale. - -Altogether his plantation was quite an advantageous one. It was only -twenty miles from town, and he could get his letters down quite -frequently. They were sent in the care of his Columbus friends, and any -person from the neighborhood who happened to be in town brought them -out. - -He had been in the war four years, and was heartily glad that it was -over. Still it was an utter surprise. Neither the army nor the people -had ever known to what straits they were reduced; but if the Western -army had been equal to the Eastern, it would never have happened. The -Army of Virginia was an army of gentlemen. There was no such material in -that Western army. All the troops in the world couldn’t have taken -Lookout Mountain from Bob Lee’s army. “But you had three things too many -for us, the Irish, the niggers, and Jesus Christ. So we’re subjugated, -and cussed glad for leave to go to work and try to get ahead a little -again. But,” and he broke out into fearful oaths against, “the -scoundrels you hired with money, to butcher our young men, and enslave -the bravest people on the face of the earth!” - -By and by we came to a place for dinner. “That’s the very best railroad -eating-house I ever saw anywhere.” Fortified by his recommendation, we -all went in. Not a thing was there on the table save sour bread and -tough steak, smothered in onions. But it excelled in one thing—the bill -was a dollar, and the money was to be paid, not merely in advance of the -meal, but before you got a sight at the table. - -Another Georgian subsequently entered into the conversation. He hoped -the Yankees would come down with their money and machinery, and have -good luck growing cotton, for their good luck would now be good luck to -everybody. “Yankees have always made more money among us than we ever -made ourselves. There was ——, a Yankee, who came down to our country -without even a change of linen, the poorest poor devil you ever see. He -has married two of the best plantations on Pearl River, and is now a -millionaire. Another fellow came down from New York, poor, traded a -little, made money one way and another, till he got a start, and now he -owns four of our best plantations.” - -They agreed in exaggerating the difficulties of the cotton cultivation. -It was the very hardest of all crops, they really reckoned. You had to -begin your plowing at New Years, and work right along, as close as you -could push things, with your whole force. By April you had to plant, -and, then, it was one perpetual rush to keep ahead of the grass and -weeds, till July. Then you got your arrangements completed for picking; -went to work at it as early as you could, and were kept driving till the -last of December. Fact was, it took thirteen months to make a good crop -of cotton. One hand, they supposed, ought to work twenty acres; ten in -cotton, and as many more in corn. Others tried to work twenty-five acres -with one hand, but they didn’t do it very well. They only plowed three -to four inches deep, and were sure that if they stirred up the ground -deeper than that, it would be too loose for the cotton to take a firm -root! - -But free niggers could never be depended upon for such continuous and -arduous work. The abolition of slavery was the death-blow to the great -cotton interest of the United States. “I honestly believe,” exclaimed -the young Georgia planter first named, “that in five years the South -will be a howling wilderness. The great mass of our lands are fit for -nothing else, and you’ve destroyed the only labor with which we can -cultivate them in cotton.” - - * * * * * - -Near Wytheville, accident threw me into conversation with a tall, -raw-boned mountaineer, who might have been good looking but for the -vulgarity of dyeing his moustache. He had been in the war for awhile, -and then had gone to speculating. “I’ve made a good deal out of the war, -and if the cussed thing hadn’t collapsed quite so soon, I’d been a -millionaire—_in Confed_!” He was extravagant in his praises of Floyd, -and presently it transpired that he had commanded a regiment on Floyd’s -right, in one of the early affairs of the war—“Carnifex Ferry,” in West -Virginia. He seemed delighted to learn that I had myself seen something -of that fight—from the other side—and was at once full of inquiries and -boasts. “I tell you, we got off mighty smart. The men didn’t know we -were retreating; had been told they were only going to change their -position. You scoundrels got my flag and trunk though. But what in -thunder was that infernal racket on your left, after dark, when you were -drawing off?” I explained the sad mistake by which a couple of our -regiments had fired into each other. “Well, do you know, you scared us -worse with that performance of yours than anything else? We felt certain -you were going to sweep in on our right.” Curiously enough, this precise -maneuver had been urged upon General Rosecrans by General (then Colonel) -Smith, of the Thirteenth Ohio, and but for the approach of night might -have been executed. I gathered from the Rebel Colonel that it would -probably have been successful. - -“But we came very near using up your Dutch General, when you crossed the -river and followed us up to the mountain. Old Bob Lee came down and -reinforced us. All our arrangements were made for Floyd to march around -to your rear. We were about to start, the guides were all ready, the -route selected, and we would have been in your rear before daylight, -with Bob Lee in your front; but Lee thought we were too late starting, -and made us stop till the next night. By the next night, there was no -Rosecrans there.” - - * * * * * - -At one or two points along the line were rows of boxcars, run off on -unused side-tracks, and filled with families of refugees. Dirty, frowzy -women, with half-clad, tow-headed children, filled the doors, but over -their heads we could catch glimpses of filthy interiors that not even -negro cabins could equal. Doubtless the poor whites of the South are far -better material for voters than intelligent negroes, for we have it on -the best of authority—their own—but for dirt, and for utter ignorance of -all the decencies of civilized life, no people in America, of any color, -can compare with them.[51] I grieve to add that, in many regions in the -South, they are almost the only Unionists. The intelligent people -hereabouts are loyal, but in States further South the most loyal are too -often the most ignorant. - -“How do the negroes get along here?” I asked of an ancient Tennessee -matron, looking benevolently down upon us through a pair of -brass-mounted spectacles, with an offer of “snacks” for a quarter. -“What? O, you mean the niggahs. They’s doin well enough, fur’s I hear.” -“Are any of them suffering, hereabouts?” “Sufferin? No more’n other -folks, I rekon. Everybody gits along well enough heah.” “Do the negroes -behave well?” “Well’s anybody else, I guess. I don’t see much of ’em nor -don’t want to, the nasty black things.” - - * * * * * - -The scenery had changed somewhat as we neared the chief town of East -Tennessee. It was not quite so hilly; and there were more evidences of -careful farming. Good wheat and corn-fields lined the road; and one -caught many a peep at picturesque mountain residences, embowered in the -abounding orchards. We had passed out of one great zone of the war into -another. Sheridan, Grant, Lee, were all strange names, that suggested -remote operations. We were nearer the theater on which Bragg, Johnson, -Rosecrans, and Sherman had been the actors. John Morgan’s name was a -charm to still the demon of mischief in naughty children. “This is whar -they both belong,” said a native, as we were coming out from the -dining-room at Greenville. It was to President Johnson (whose home was -in this dilapidated little village,) that the reference had been made. -Who the other notability of the place was, no one understood; till the -native explained that he “meant Andie Johnson and John Morgan, of -co’se.” - -Broken bridges had grown more and more frequent; and the train crept -slowly over long lines of trestle-work which timid passengers fancied -they could see swaying beneath us. The road led across Strawberry -Plains, where Longstreet was driven back, and wound near several of the -forts. - -I was once more doomed to be mistaken. We were approaching Knoxville. A -haggard-looking, rough-bearded fellow leaned over and whispered in my -ear, “This isn’t a good country for you and me. They’re all tories here, -every d——d scoundrel of them. I’ve been chased off from my home because -I had been in the Confederate army. For three weeks I’ve dodged about in -the woods, and now I’m a going to get out of this Yankee country. But -you had better keep mighty quiet; they’ll suspect you quicker’n me.” I -advised my confidential friend to get further South as fast as possible, -and the last I saw of him he was making a rush, in Knoxville, for the -Dalton and Atlanta cars. - - * * * * * - -Burnt houses and solitary chimneys over one whole quarter of the city, -showed that the heart of East Tennessee loyalty had not been without its -sufferings. The best part, however, of the little city seemed to be -saved. Straggling up and down hill, stretching off to the precipitous -banks of the clear, sparkling river that skirts it, with few pretensions -to elegance in its stony streets or old-fashioned architecture, but with -a great deal of homely substantial comfort, Knoxville is a very fit -capital for the mountain region of East Tennessee. It seemed prosperous, -and likely, under the new order of things, to continue to prosper. Its -people had not been accustomed to depend for support upon their slaves; -they suffered the less, therefore, from the sudden disappearance of -slaves. Land-owners in the vicinity held their property at enormous -prices; the people had plenty; and, in a rude way, they lived very -comfortably. For a time there had been a strong conflict between -Unionists and their former oppressors. Men who had been driven from -their homes or half-starved in the mountains, or hunted for with dogs, -were not likely to be very gentle in their treatment of the men who -persecuted them; and one readily believed what all observers said, that -in no place through the South had the bitterness of feeling, engendered -by the war, been so intense, or the violence so bloody in its -consequences. Returned Rebels had not unfrequently been notified that -they must leave the country, under penalty of being treated precisely as -they had treated Union men when they had the power. Sometimes they were -shot before such notification; sometimes after it; when, in a foolhardy -spirit, they remained to brave it out. - -But the prevailing tendency to violence was now turned in a new -direction. The niggers were presuming to talk about getting the right to -vote. The inborn poor-white hatred of the negroes was all aflame at -this, and every man felt it his duty to help set back the upstart -niggers. Every few nights, I was told, a negro was shot in some of the -back streets, “nigger life’s cheap now; nobody likes ’em enough to have -any affair of the sort investigated; and when a white man feels -aggrieved at anything a nigger’s done, he just shoots him and puts an -end to it.” - -Doubtless there was in this a spice of exaggeration; but it was manifest -that East Tennessee radicalism, however earnest on the question of -punishing Rebels, did not go to the extent of defending the negroes. -There was, I should judge, absolutely no public sentiment in favor of -negro suffrage, and scarcely any in favor of negro education. The -prejudices against them were, with the most, intense; and if any way of -driving them out of the country can be found, it will be very apt to be -put in force. The freedmen have more hope from Virginia Rebels than from -East Tennessee Loyalists, if the public sentiment of Knoxville may be -accepted as a test. In this, as in all their other political feelings, -the Mountaineers are fervidly in earnest. - -A prophet is generally without honor in his own country, and it is not -surprising that there should be other places in the United States where -they have more confidence in President Johnson than at Knoxville. The -people of Greenville are very proud of having given a President to the -country; but in Knoxville they are inclined to reserve their praises. -“What in h—ll is he palavering with the Democrats for?” asked one. -Others could hardly be brought to express an opinion about him; and I -found very few except the office-holders who were warmly and without -reservation his friends. “He’s pardoning cursed scoundrels all the time, -such as we’ve been shooting out here, on sight.” “Why don’t he hang Jeff -Davis, as he said in the Senate he would?” “Well, he’s got to play his -hand out pretty soon, and we’ll see whether he’s going to desert us.” -Such are some of the voices I heard in November among the East -Tennesseeans. They didn’t give Mr. Johnson up; in fact, they still -wanted very much to believe in him; but they had more faith in Parson -Brownlow. More hanging and fewer pardons would, as they thought, better -suit the existing wants of the South. - -The chief newspaper of the place is “Brownlow’s Knoxville Whig and Rebel -Ventilator.” Its name is a pretty good index, at once to its contents, -and to the temper of the people among whom it is a favorite. The Rev. -Governor and Editor tersely summed up his views of the political -situation: - - “The Southern leaders still have the devil in them, and presuming - upon the leniency of the President, they are losing sight of their - real positions. Louisiana is proposing to elect ex-Governor Allen, - now a refugee traitor in Mexico, to gubernatorial honors, on the - ground that he is endeared to the people because of his services - rendered in the cause of the rebellion. In North Carolina, Georgia, - and Alabama, unpardoned Rebels are running for Congress, boasting - that they are still unpardoned and do not intend to change. We are - sorry to see this state of things, but it is just what we predicted - from the start. The war was closed out two years too soon. * * The - mild and benignant policy of the President has been abused; is not - at all appreciated by Rebel leaders, but is insultingly demanded as - their _right_! These Southern Rebels have their fate in their own - keeping, and they are nursing their wrath to keep it warm. We feel - confident that the President will not yield any more ground to them, - if indeed he does not withdraw from them what he has conceded.” - -On many accounts East Tennessee offers peculiar advantages to the poorer -classes of Northern emigrants, who wish to avail themselves of the cheap -prices of lands in the South. There are few large planters; small farms -are easily purchased; the community is made up of men not ashamed to -labor for themselves, and not disposed to sneer at the emigrant who -fences his own fields and does his own plowing. Lands about Knoxville -commanded high prices—fifty dollars per acre and upwards—but through the -greater part of the country they could be bought, in November, at prices -ranging from two to ten dollars. The soil is a rich, dark limestone, -producing good crops of corn, oats, wheat, hay and potatoes. Much of the -country is admirably adapted for grazing; and horses, mules, sheep, -cattle, and hogs are reared in great abundance. The climate is -delightful. Water-power is abundant; iron and coal are found in almost -every county; copper, zinc, lead, and the famous Tennessee marble also -abound. Give East Tennessee her long-sought railroad connection with -Cincinnati and the North, and the emigration thither from all the -over-crowded localities of the Middle States can not fail to be very -large. - ------ - -Footnote 51: - - I have said nothing concerning these poor whites, which is not - mildness itself compared with the descriptions of other travelers. - Here is one of the latest, from the very intelligent Southern - correspondent of the Boston Advertiser, Mr. Sidney Andrews. - Fortunately the classes he describes are confined, almost exclusively, - to the south-eastern States: - - “Whether the North Carolina ‘dirt-eater,’ or the South Carolina - ‘sand-hiller,’ or the Georgia ‘cracker,’ is lowest in the scale of - human existence, would be difficult to say. The ordinary plantation - negro seemed to me, when I first saw him in any numbers, at the very - bottom of not only probabilities but also possibilities, so far as - they affect human relations; but these specimens of the white race - must be credited with having reached a yet lower depth of squalid and - beastly wretchedness. However poor or ignorant, or unclean, or - improvident he may be, I never yet found a negro who had not at least - a vague desire for a better condition, an undefined longing for - something called freedom, a shrewd instinct of self-preservation. - These three ideas—or, let me say, shadows of ideas—do not make the - creature a man, but they light him out of the bounds of brutedom. The - Georgia ‘cracker,’ as I have seen him since leaving Milledgeville, - seems to me to lack not only all that the negro does, but also even - the desire for a better condition, and the vague longing for an - enlargement of his liberties and his rights. I walked out into the - country, back of Albany and Andersonville, when at those places, and - into the country back of Fort Valley this morning; and, on each - occasion, I fell in with three or four of these ‘cracker’ families. - Such filthy poverty, such foul ignorance, such idiotic imbecility, - such bestial instincts, such groveling desires, such mean longings; - you would question my veracity as a man if I were to paint the - pictures I have seen! Moreover, no trick of words can make plain the - scene in and around one of these habitations; no fertility of language - can embody the simple facts for a Northern mind; and the case is one - in which even seeing itself is scarcely believing. Time and effort - will lead the negro up to intelligent manhood, but I almost doubt if - it will be possible to ever lift this ‘white trash’ into - respectability.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXXV. - - Atlanta—Georgia Phases of Rebel and Union Talk. - - -From Knoxville I went direct to Atlanta, Georgia, the key of the great -campaigns in the West, the memorable surrender of which re-elected -President Lincoln, and proved the beginning of the end. - -The city was adapting itself, with remarkable rapidity, to the new order -of things. “Sherman, his mark,” was still written too plainly to be soon -effaced, in gaping windows and roofless houses, heaps of ruins on the -principal corners and traces of unsparing destruction everywhere. The -burnt district of Richmond was hardly more thoroughly destroyed than the -central part of Atlanta; yet, with all the advantages of proximity to -the North, abundant capital, and an influx of business and money from -above the Potomac, Richmond was not half so far rebuilt as Atlanta. What -is more remarkable, the men who were bringing a city out of this desert -of shattered brick—raising warehouses from ruins, and hastily -establishing stores in houses half finished and unroofed—were not -Yankees, but pure Southerners. These people were taking lessons from -Chicago, and deserved to have, as they then seemed likely to have, the -foremost of the interior cities of the Gulf States. - -Not less than four thousand mechanics were at work; and at least as many -more would have been employed, if it had been possible to secure -building material enough to supply the enormous demand. A hundred and -fifty or two hundred stores were already opened; and others found -themselves unable to rent rooms for their goods. The streets were -blockaded with drays and wagons. The four railroads were taxed to their -utmost capacity, without beginning to supply all the demands upon them. -The trade of the city was a third greater than it had ever been, in its -most prosperous days before the war. - -But the faces one saw on the streets or behind the counters were not the -faces of men with whom you would choose to do business. “I have spent -five days here,” exclaimed a simple-hearted scientific man, as he -greeted me; “I have spent years among the Black Feet, and have been -pretty much over the world, but I never saw such demoralized faces. The -war has destroyed their moral character. There isn’t one man in a score -here I would trust with my carpet-bag.” The geologist was too severe, -but the traces of the bad passions and disregard of moral obligations -which the war has taught, are written almost as plainly on the faces as -are Sherman’s marks on the houses of Atlanta. More tangible evidence of -the war’s demoralization was to be found in the alarming insecurity of -property and even of life. Passing about the dark, crooked streets of -Atlanta after night, unaccompanied and unarmed, was worse than -attempting a similar exploration of the Five Points, in New York, ten -years ago. Murders were of frequent occurrence; and so common a thing as -garroting attracted very little attention. - -The soil of the country, for many miles in all directions, is poor, but -prices of land in the immediate vicinity were run up to fabulous rates. -The people were infected with the mania of city building; and -landholders gravely explained to you how well their plantations, miles -distant, would cut up into corner lots. Cotton is, of course, the only -staple. It ought to be raised in abundance, for the soil will produce -nothing else, but he would be a skillful cultivator who should get an -average of a third of a bale each from many acres. Ten or twelve bushels -of corn to the acre would be a great crop. Indeed, throughout wide -stretches in the interior of the cotton-growing States, so worthless was -the soil for any other purpose, that the planters used to buy their corn -and pork for the mules and negroes, and thus reserve all their arable -land for the undivided growth of cotton. - - * * * * * - -A few Union men are to be found in the region to which Atlanta is the -natural center. All complained that it was worse for them, under the -progressing reconstruction, than for the original Rebels. “We are in no -sense upheld or encouraged by the Government; public sentiment is -against us because we opposed the war; or, as they said, because we were -tories; but, when the Government triumphed, we were secure because we -were on the winning side. But you pardon Howell Cobb and every other -leading secessionist; they at once become the natural leaders in an -overwhelmingly secessionist community; and we, through mistaken kindness -of our own Government, are worse ostracized to-day, in the new order of -things, than we ever were during the war.” - -The feeling among the Rebel portion of the community against the course -of the Convention was strong. “They have repudiated the debt they -incurred themselves. If that Confederate debt isn’t honestly due, no -debt in the world ever was. If we’ve got to repudiate that, we may as -well help the Democrats repudiate the debt on the other side too. What’s -fair for one is fair for the other.”[52] - -In spite of their new-found love for President Johnson, they could not -help grumbling a good deal at “this Presidential interference with the -rights of a State.” They seemed utterly unable to comprehend that, after -they had once submitted, they could possibly labor under any -disabilities on account of their effort to overthrow the Government. -“Treason is a crime, and the greatest of crimes,” vociferated the -President. His Southern friends seemed to regard this as only a little -joke. To interfere, for a moment, with the free action of their -Conventions and Legislatures, half made up as yet of unpardoned Rebels, -was monstrous. “What’s the use o’ callin’ it a free country, ef you -can’t do as you please in your own Legislater?” asked one indignant -Georgian. “It’s a pretty note ef we’ve got to take men as went agin the -State through the wah to make laws for it now. For my part, I hain’t got -no use for sich.” - -The political phraseology of these Southern gentlemen is at once -peculiar and concise. Every desirable thing, politically, is described -as high-toned and conservative. Everything dangerous to the settled -order of things, everything looking to an establishment of the results -of the war, or tending to an indorsement of the political grounds on -which the North suppressed the rebellion, is to be abhorred and avoided -under the name of radical. President Johnson was greatly praised, -“because he is conservative on the nigger.” - -“Johnson knows niggers, I tell you,” said an Atlanta worthy. “He’s not -going to let any such cursed radicalism as inspired Lincoln trouble him. -If Johnson had been President, we wouldn’t have been embarrassed by any -infernal Emancipation Proclamation.” So all good conservatives were -exhorted in all the papers to convince the South of their desire to -reconstruct the Union by admitting at once the Southern Representatives -and Senators; and, above all, it was to be understood that sound -conservative men of all parties must unite in the repeal of the odious -radical oath. It absolutely prevented Rebel office-holders from at once -becoming national law-makers. - -Mr. Jas. F. Johnson aspired to represent the Senatorial District in the -General Assembly. He furnished an excellent type of what passes among -Georgians for a respectable and proper Sort of Unionism. He stated his -position, in an advertisement in the public papers, thus: - - “As a member of the Georgia Convention, entertaining the views I - then did, I opposed the immediate secession of the State from the - Union, and used every effort in my power to prevent it, until I - became satisfied that a controlling majority of the Convention - entertained different views. I then yielded my opposition, believing - it to be the best interest of the State to be united in supporting - the action taken by a majority of the Convention. And since that - time, until the surrender of the Confederate armies, I did all in my - power, both in person and means, to sustain the resolution of the - Convention, and establish, if possible, the independence of the - Southern States.” - -Another style of Unionism might be inferred from the phrase heard a -dozen times every day: “I’ve taken the oath,” or, “I’ve got my pardon; -and I’m just as big a Rebel now as ever I was.” “I’ve got just the same -rights now that any of the d——d Yankees have,” added one, “and I mean to -demand my rights. I’m pardoned; there’s nothing against me, and I mean -to demand fair treatment.” He had Confederate cotton, which he insisted -should not be taken from him, since, although he had subscribed it to -the Rebel Government, he had never made the actual delivery. - - * * * * * - -Between Atlanta and Knoxville one passes over the track of the -destroyer. Down to Dalton the damage from the war has not been very -great; but for the rest of the route, solitary chimneys and the debris -of burnt buildings everywhere tell the old, old story. If the country -did not reveal it so plainly, it might still be read in the faces of our -passengers. Every one of them was a record of some phase of the contest, -of its squalor and misery, of its demoralization, of its barbarism, or -of its ennoblement. Bright, fair faces that ought to have adorned happy -rural homes, grown coarse and brassy, flaunted beside young officers. -They were the transformation of the camps—the results of its license and -lax morality. Trembling old refugees watched the conductor as he counted -their hard-earned gatherings, to see if the little pile of fractional -currency would be all exhausted in paying their fare home. Aimless young -men in gray, ragged and filthy, seemed, with the downfall of the -rebellion they had fought for, to have lost their object in life, and -stared stupidly at the clothes and comfortable air of officers and -strangers from the North. By the roadside, here and there, might be -seen—as I saw on a public corner, in the midst of all the bustle and -whirl of Atlanta—a poor, half starved, half naked white woman, gathering -her little children about her, and cowering in the gray dawn over the -dull embers by which, in dull wretchedness, she had watched through the -weary night. - -And, as one looks over the scene, and takes in the full sense of all -this sad destruction, a Major from Longstreet’s staff sits down to talk. -“If you of the North want now to conciliate and settle the South, you -must do one of three things: re-establish slavery; give the old masters -in some way power to compel the negroes to work; or colonize them out of -the country, and help us to bring in white laborers!” A handsome man he -is; tall, bearded like the pard, brown with campaigning, battered, clad -in worn-out Confederate gray, but with good army blue pantaloons, taken, -doubtless, from the body of some dead or captured soldier of the -Republic. Such waste and destruction all about us; and still these -insatiable men—these handsome tigers—want more conciliation! - -Some Southern merchants, from different points in Alabama and Georgia, -were returning from New York, after making their purchases. They could -not say too much about the kindness with which they had been met, and -their disappointment at not finding the Yankees all eager to drink their -blood for desert after dinner. But in a moment after such expressions -they would break out into the most fearful and blasphemous invectives -against some conspicuous Northerner, who had the misfortune to differ -from them as to the best mode of re-establishing peace throughout the -Rebel regions. These people have discovered that they must tolerate the -opinions of others, but their intolerant spirits have not yet been -sufficiently disciplined to it; and so it happens that sometimes, now, -their utter impotence only serves to increase their malice. Must the -poor negroes prove the vent for this rage that dare not reach to higher -objects? - -Manifestly the negroes themselves have no faith in them. At one of the -railroad eating-houses I happened to ask a fine looking old “uncle” what -wages he received. - -“Twenty dollahs a month, sah; but I’se gwine to quit. ’Tain’t enuff, is -it?” - -“O yes, uncle, if they give you twenty dollars a month and your -boarding, you are getting fully as much as you would get at the best -places in the North for this kind of work. In Richmond they are only -getting fifteen dollars.” - -“You tink, den, sah, dat we oughtn’t fur to quit—dat when dey pay us -twenty dollahs dey ain’t a cheatin’ us?” - -“By no means. Work straight ahead, and do the best you can, as long as -you can get such wages.” - -“Well, den, sah, I’ll do as you say. I was afeared of dese men cheatin’ -me, because I knowed dey would if dey could. But I’ll do jus as you say, -sah. If you say wuck on, I’ll do it.” And three or four of the servants -who had gathered about, nodded and grinned their approval of the old -man’s conclusions. - -“That’s just the trouble,” exclaimed a young Alabamian, to whom, a few -hours later, I was narrating the incident. “These fellows have all got -to believe in the Yankees, and to think that we, who have always been -their best friends, want to cheat them. It’s going to ruin the South. -Five years hence, I firmly believe, the cotton-growing regions will be -an utter waste, unless you Yankees, who don’t know anything about cotton -growing, come in, learn it, and get the niggers to work for you. They -won’t half work for us.” - -“Won’t a fair day’s wages, in the long run, be sure to bring a fair -day’s work?” - -“No. I tell you, the nigger _never_ works except when he is compelled -to. It isn’t in his nature, and you can’t put it in. He’ll work a day -for you for good wages, and then will go off and spend it; and you’ll -not get another lick out of him till he’s hungry, and has got nothing to -eat.” - -“Possibly, at first. But remember, these people are intoxicated with -their first draught of freedom. Wait a little while, and as they get -settled, and see something of the rewards of steady industry, they’ll be -as eager to accumulate and save, as any other class of laborers.” - -“Not a bit of it. I tell you, niggers are niggers. You’re talking about -a different class of laborers altogether. That’s always the way. You -know, and every Northern man knows, that we have been the best friends -the nigger ever had. Yet this is the way they treat us. They’ll work for -you a little while, and then they’ll serve you in the same style.” - -An old negro on the platform, at the very moment, was droning out a -curious commentary on the Alabamian’s complaints: “One-half of dese -niggers,” said he to the brakeman, “one-half of dese niggers ought to be -killed, any how. Dey don’t do nuffin but hang roun’ and steal from dem -dat work.” His old brass watch, it seems, had been stolen, and he was -scowling through his brass-mounted goggles in the direction in which he -supposed the thief had gone. - -I told the Alabamian of the persistent labors of the Sea Island negroes. -He utterly refused to believe that I had not been deceived. Finally, the -crucial test was mentioned—the balances to their credit in the National -Bank.[53] “Well, I don’t understand it. There were never any such -niggers around in our country.” And with that he suddenly ended the -talk. - ------ - -Footnote 52: - - Mr. Simmons said in the Georgia Convention: “Let us repudiate only - under the lash and the application of military power, and then, as - soon as we are an independent sovereignty, restored to our equal - rights and privileges in the Union, let us immediately call another - Convention and resume the debt.” - -Footnote 53: - - Some weeks before this, on the 17th of September, 1865, the balances - to the credit of the Sea Island negroes, in their National Bank, - amounted to $195,587 08. - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVI. - - Montgomery—The Lowest Phase of Negro Character—Politics and Business. - - -From Atlanta I took the railway for Montgomery, Alabama. We had been -traveling, thus far, in third-class passenger cars. Now we came down to -box freight cars, around the sides of which a board bench was placed for -the accommodation of such passengers as cared to sit down. - - * * * * * - -“’Ere’s your Cincinnati and Nashville papers, Gazette, Commercial, -Press, and Times! All about the execution of Champ Ferguson!” - -“Yes, and I wish it was all about the execution of the scoundrels that -tried him.” - -The scene was a box-car on the West Point (Georgia) Railroad; the -speaker an Alabama planter, on his way home from Atlanta. - -I have been seeking to exhibit, as fairly as I could, the actual talk -and temper, not of the office-holders or office-seekers, who are, of -course, all things to all men, but of the people one meets on the cars, -in the hotels, at the wayside, and on the plantations. The expression -above quoted, about Champ Ferguson, is but a specimen of what was often -heard among men proverbially outspoken, and, then, more than ever -disposed, in the bitterness of their defeat, to let out all the gall -that was in them. The Tennessee guerrilla had far more friends and -sympathizers throughout this region than had the men who convicted him. -The unjust detention of Mr. Jefferson Davis was everywhere deplored. “By -—,” exclaimed an Alabamian to me to-day, with a horrible oath, “are you -going to hang Jeff. Davis? That’s what I want to know. You might as well -hang all the honorable men in the South, for he was only their trusty -agent.” Even Wirz was covered with the broad mantle of Southern charity. -It was universally thought that his trial had been grossly unfair; that -Government gave him no opportunity to get witnesses, and that he was -entirely innocent.[54] The report of his execution had just arrived, and -while some refused to believe it, others took great delight in repeating -the words of the dispatch, as sweetened to suit the prevailing taste, by -some Southern news agent: “He died bravely, protesting his innocence.” - -I do not mean that these people are nursing a new rebellion. For many -years they will be the hardest people in the civilized world to persuade -into insurrection. But they nurse the embers of the old one, and cherish -its ashes. They are all Union men, in the sense that they submit, (since -they can’t help themselves,) and want to make all they can out of their -submission. But to talk of any genuine Union sentiment, any affection -for the Union, any intention to go one step further out of the old paths -that led to the rebellion, than they are forced out is preposterous. -They admit that they are whipped; but the honest ones make no pretense -of loving the power that whipped them. - -It has been currently supposed at the North, that the desolation wrought -by the war, would lead to an intense hatred of the leaders who brought -it on. But this hatred has taken another turn. Instead of hating their -own leaders they hate ours. They do not realize that such men as Mason, -Yancey, Davis, and Toombs led them, for selfish purposes, into this sea -of blood; they followed these leaders willingly, believe in them still, -and insist that the North brought on the war by illegal encroachments, -which they were bound in honor to resist. Such were the expressions I -heard everywhere around me, and, however little might be said for their -loyalty, their honesty and candor could not be doubted. The men to -suspect of dishonesty are not these who frankly, admit that they are -defeated and bound to submit, but still insist that they were right in -the start of the quarrel. The men who make haste to adjure all the -principles they fought for, and to acknowledge their dead brothers and -sons to have been traitors, _they_ are the ones whose new-born “loyalty” -is sown upon the sand. When the nutriment of the offices is withdrawn, -look out for a withering. - - * * * * * - -One or two plantations between Atlanta and West Point showed gangs of -negroes at work clearing off the lands, and preparing for a cotton crop; -but by far the greater number seemed still abandoned. Since leaving East -Tennessee, I had not seen one white man at work. The negroes, who were -breaking up the cotton lands, did it with little “bull-tongues,” such as -Northern farmers use to cultivate their corn. A good, moldboard plow -seemed unheard of. - -At West Point, a village of cheap frame houses, where we stopped for -dinner, large piles of cotton bales filled the public square. Even the -primitive cultivation we had seen, seemed to produce fair crops. Half a -bale to the acre was above the average yield. There were few large -plantations; and the population seemed mainly composed of small farmers, -cultivating from one to four or five hundred acres. - -At Opelika we reached the ultimate in the matter of railroad traveling. -The Macon train pushed out with a couple of box cars, containing no -seats, into which were loaded passengers, baggage, freight, and fuel. -The locomotive bore only the battered remnants of what had been a -smoke-stack; the machinery was rusty; the head-light was gone, and even -the bell was broken. On the Montgomery train we congratulated ourselves -on better fortune. We had ordinary box freight cars, into which we -climbed, ladies and gentlemen alike, through the sliding doors at the -side; but in each car half-a-dozen pine board benches had been arranged, -across which the ladies scrambled to a corner, free at once from dust, -light, and ventilation, and over which every one trampled in getting -into or out of the car. - -With less fear of dust, and more love for fresh air than my fellow -travelers, I established myself in the door. While we waited for the -engine, a plantation negro, who seemed to belong to the lowest possible -grade, approached us. He was not idiotic, but he seemed hopelessly and -inconceivably stupid. No such existence as his would be possible on a -large plantation. It is only where the attrition of social intercourse -is almost wholly removed that a human being can possibly grow to manhood -with so little advancement beyond the condition of the brutes around -him. - -He was clad in the coarsest negro cloth, ragged, dirty, ill-fitting. -Head and feet were bare. I asked him if he knew he was free. - -“Ya-a-a-s, sah.” - -“Well, are you ready to live with some good man, and go to work to earn -your living?” - -“I reckon.” - -“How much do you think you ought to have per month?” - -“Dunno.” And the stupid stare was broken by a puzzled expression, as if -this seemed a very hard and a very serious question. - -“Do you know how to raise cotton?” - -“Ya-a-a-s, sah, I kin make cotton well’s any man.” - -“How much can you make to the acre, on your place?” - -“Dunno.” - -“How much did you make altogether this year?” - -“’Bout bay an’ half, dis yeah; but we’s done hab ’bout eight bays over -from las’ yeah.” - -“What do you think of Andie Johnson?” interjected an amused auditor of -the conversation. - -“Who him?” - -“He’s President of the United States. Do you know what that is?” - -“Who him?” - -“Who?” - -“Why, Pres’den’?” - -Evidently he was not strong on politics; so we reverted to something he -might be expected to be more familiar with. - -“Did you ever see a bigger town than this?” - -“N-n-no.” - -“This is the biggest town in the world, isn’t it?” - -“No; I’s heern dat C’lumbus is heap sight bigger.” - -“Columbus is the biggest town you ever heard of, is it?” - -He scratched his head for some time at the unwonted exercise it was -getting, but finally concluded as how he’d heern tell dat Mobile was -bigger still. - -“How much do you suppose you’d sell for?” This was asked, because it was -said in some places that the ignorant negroes didn’t know they were -free, and even had no knowledge of the meaning of the word. - -“I’s free. Ain’t wuf nuffin.” - -“How much were you worth before the war?” - -“Wen old massah died, him praisement said I wuf fifteen hunder dollah.” - -“When did your master die?” - -“Dunno.” - -“Was it a year ago?” - -“Spec it was a yeah.” - -“What did he die of?” - -“He’m drunk and fell off him hoss.” - -The public sentiment of the listening crowd seemed to decide that -inquiries had been pressed far enough in that direction. I next fell -back on something they were all interested in. - -“Would you work for five dollars a month?” - -He seemed a little puzzled, but thought he wouldn’t, “harly.” - -“Would you work for ten?” - -“Spec I would, sah.” - -“Would you stick at it, if a man hired you?” - -“Ya-a-a-s. Ef I once ’mence, and git money, I’s wuck on. Jis git me -money an’ I wucks.” - -I wrote this conversation down carefully at the time. The negro may -fairly be taken as a sample of the most ignorant plantation hands, in -the interior of the poorest cotton-growing districts, and the -conversation may therefore have a certain value, as showing the lowest -degree of intelligence among the class on whom it is proposed to confer -the right of suffrage. - - * * * * * - -All the trains on which I had traveled for some days, had contained -numbers of Northerners going down to look at the cotton lands. Many went -prepared to buy; all went either to buy or lease, if they found the -prospects as encouraging as they hoped. To all these, the central belt -of Alabama seemed a promising field. Its lands are the richest east of -Louisiana and west of the South Carolina and Georgia Sea Islands; and -the country is entirely healthy, which is more than can be said of -either of the other regions. A bale to the acre could be made on the -first-class lands, and the Alabama bale means a hundred pounds more than -that of Louisiana or the west. Nearly all the lands could, with careful -culture, be made to average half a bale. Then, within easy railroad -connection, is Mobile on the south, while on the north, a twelve hours’ -ride carries the debilitated planter to the bracing breezes of the -mountains. - -In September and October these lands were selling at five dollars an -acre. In November I imagine that the average was very nearly ten, and it -was constantly rising. The papers were full of advertisements of -plantations for rent or sale. The great rush was from men of small means -at the North, who wanted from four hundred to a thousand acres; but a -few were looking for heavier investments. Here are a couple of specimens -of the kind of lands offering: - - “FOR SALE OR RENT.—A plantation on the Alabama River, containing - fourteen hundred acres, one thousand of which are cleared, under - good fence and in fine order for a crop. It has a three-story brick - gin-house, a large brick stable and corn-crib, a new, well-finished - dwelling with four rooms on the floor, all covered with tin roofs - and built in the most substantial manner; nine double tenement - framed negro houses, with piazzas in front; a large kitchen and - smoke-house, a good blacksmith-shop, two never-failing wells of - excellent water, some seven or eight miles of Osage-orange hedge. No - plantation on the Alabama River lies better or is probably more - healthy. The quality of land about the average of Alabama River. I - think I risk nothing in saying it is the best improved plantation in - the State of Alabama.” - - “FOR SALE OR RENT.—My plantation, one mile above Montgomery, - immediately on the river, containing about 2,000 acres, 1,300 in - cultivation. There is a steam grist-mill, which propels two gins, on - the place, and every other improvement which constitutes a complete - plantation. I will rent for a share in the crop. This is well known - as one of the very best cotton farms in the State.” - -When these plantations were rented, the owners asked three to five -dollars rent, payable 1st of January, 1867; or, if he furnished all the -mules, corn, bacon, and everything else except the labor, he would -require one-half the crop. - -The old planters seemed utterly despondent about raising cotton by free -negro labor. A few thought of watching the Yankees and imitating their -policy; but the most of those who did not propose flying to Brazil, were -dreaming of imported white labor. The following was one of their fine -schemes: - - “WHITE LABOR AGENCY.—Rates of Hire of White Laborers: - - Men, per year $150 00 - Women, per year 100 00 - Children, of 12 or 14 years of age, per year 50 00 - House Servants, per month 15 00 - - - Payable at the end of the year. - - They contract for one year, to do the same work as the negro; live - in the same cabins, and on the same rations; clothe themselves and - pay their own doctor’s bills. Time lost by sickness deducted from - wages. - - One in every six of Germans agree to speak English. Cost of - transportation, $15 per head, to accompany orders, but to be - deducted from wages. - - An order will be forwarded to New York on Saturday, the 11th - instant.” - -A “Planters’ Convention” was to be held in a couple of weeks, to agree -upon a policy for making the negroes work. But they had no faith in it, -unless they could have power to seize upon every idle negro they found, -put a hoe in his hand, and vigorously apply the lash. The local papers -were calling out lustily to “checkmate the Freedmen’s League.” This -association, it seemed, had “taken upon itself to fix the wages of -freedmen at ten dollars per month,” a rate higher than had been -heretofore ruling. “Teach the darkies,” urged one of the papers, “that -this leaguing is a game that two can play at. If they assume to dictate, -we will oust them; and supply their places with better laborers, whom we -can import from the North;” and it greatly encouraged itself herein, by -its interpretation of a recent speech by the President: “President -Johnson, in his speech to the negroes, plainly intimated that the -Lincolnian idea of everything for the negro, and everything by the -negro, had no receptacle in his brain.” - -A pioneer company of planters, disgusted with “free niggers,” the United -States Government, the defeat, and everything connected with the -country, were about to sail for Brazil, taking with them farming -utensils and provisions for six months. “The present destination of the -colony,” it was laconically explained by the managers, “is the city of -Para, on the Amazon; its ultimate location on a tributary of that river, -between five and ten degrees south latitude. Length of voyage two -thousand miles; sailing time about three weeks.” - -Others were proposing to send agents North from every county, to secure -white emigrants. Public sentiment was against the sale of lands to the -Yankees; “Get white laborers,” they urged, “and in a year you’ll make -enough to be able to hold on to your lands.” - - * * * * * - -Montgomery was the first capital of the Confederacy. It has none of the -characteristics of a capital, no collections of able men, mainly -occupied, officially or unofficially, in public affairs; no tone of -government and of the world; it is simply a beautiful and well preserved -little inland Southern city; well built; sandy, of course, like all -Southern towns; regularly laid out, and, for a wonder, well drained. The -Southern taste for huge columns and tawdry architectural display, is -conspicuous; but many of the private residences are elegant. The -residence of the President of the Confederacy, (at the time when -Montgomery was the capital,) is a large, substantially built and -commodious house; less pretentious in style than the most; and in every -way more desirable than the one subsequently presented to the -Confederate Government, with such a flourish of trumpets, by the city of -Richmond, for Mr. Davis’ occupancy. - -Business seemed quite brisk; and very heavy stocks of goods—far too -heavy, one would think, for the impoverished country—had been sent down -on credit by New York merchants. - -Cotton filled the warehouses, and drays loaded with it, crowded the -streets, and the river bank, where it was shipped for Mobile. Some of it -was Government cotton; more had belonged to the Rebel Government, and -had been stolen by private individuals. Such were the results of the -policy of meddling with this cotton at all by Government agents. -Infinite scandal and no profits accrued. Thieves of Rebel cotton had -been paying seventy-five dollars a bale to have the cotton carried by -steamer to Mobile! There the gauntlet was to be run again; but if -successfully passed, the net profits on each bale were still over a -hundred dollars. - -The newspapers found it difficult to realize that free speech and a free -press were at last established. The Montgomery Mail thought these -correspondents from the North ought to be kept in their own section—they -did nothing but misrepresent and slander. Similar suggestions occurred -every day. The temper which used to display itself in lynching gentlemen -whose writings were not satisfactory, now found this safer outlet. - -But they all indorsed President Johnson; the despot of Tennessee, the -tory who had deserted his section and attempted to grind down his -people; the drunken tailor and demagogue, had suddenly become the -pattern of all statesmanlike virtues. A new associate editor, making his -bow in the Montgomery Ledger, found it necessary to say: “I believe him -a true friend of the ill-fated South, and lifting himself above the mad -waves of Black Republican fanaticisms, that are dashing and breaking -themselves around his elevated position, I think that he is endeavoring -to rise to the patriotic duty of leading his country, out from its -distracted condition, into the calm sunshine of national repose and -prosperity.” - - * * * * * - -It was a curious exemplification of popular tastes, that the newspapers -surrendered their editorial columns to elaborate disquisitions on the -circus. The citizens talked of it as people in the similar pretensions -at the North would of the opera; and for days before its advent it -seemed as if everybody was preparing for its coming. But why not? Did -not the leading journal announce in double leaded type, in its leading -column, that “The circus has always been a favorite amusement with the -South, and the Southern taste upon the subject has ever been so -fastidious and demanded so much, that it is a well known fact, that as -the term goes, a circus that would go down well on the European -continent and elsewhere, would be criticised and ignored in the South?” -And did it not gratefully announce that “we have the pleasure to hail, -as an evidence of returning peace and prosperity, the advent of a real -circus, one of the old time establishments; with all its concomitants to -allure, please, and give satisfaction?” - -It even grew eloquent on the history of the performers, thus: - - “It is no small feature upon their escutcheon to know that the old - Southern favorite, gentleman and actor, Mr. S. P. Stickney, with his - charming daughter and talented son, are on the list of performers, - and eliciting vast applause whenever they appear. Some years ago a - little boy came here with a circus company, about whom nothing was - particularly noticeable, save vivacity and sprightliness of manner, - and a rather large amount of good looks; in fact, he was what the - ladies call a sweet little boy. That little boy is now the eminent - clown and original jester, Jimmy Reynolds, sharing the honors with - Dr. Thayer; and if we mistake not, Doctor, you must look to your - laurels, or Jimmy will snatch the chaplet from your brow. Jimmy is - well aware of the prejudices of the Southern people with regard to - expression, and will take good care they are not invaded.” - -This opinion, it was to be understood, was one of weight and moment; for -the editor haughtily added: - - “We claim to be sufficiently well acquainted with the principal - artists in the equestrian business to know those of merit, who have - visited the South, and whose names are a guarantee against any - aggression upon refinement and delicacy.” - -And, finally, the timid were reassured on an important point: - - “An admirable arrangement has been perfected by which Freedmen will - be comfortably accommodated in a section of the pavilion, fitted up - expressly for them, and entirely distinct from the rest of the - _audience_, with a separate entrance. By all the indications, we - have no fear but that this great company will achieve a success here - commensurate with its merits.” - -The Mayor of Atlanta, the editors, and sundry other important -personages, published a card in the papers of that city about the -circus, “commending the establishment to public favor and generous -patronage in its tour throughout the State and the South.” - - * * * * * - -Mr. Gorsüch and other gentlemen who had been connected with the Rebel -“Bureau of Niter and Mining,” were busy with a great speculation by -which they all felt sure of retrieving their fortunes. They had -organized a monster oil company—on paper—and had already leased over a -quarter million acres of lands, in Central and Northern Alabama, and -adjacent parts of the neighboring States. Some Northern geologists, who -had been exploring this region, were inclined to laugh at them, but they -were full of dreams about spouting wells and flowing fortunes. - -Some of them seemed, however, to imagine that the gold regions west of -the Coosa River, were likely to prove more profitable. Hitherto they had -paid but little; but there was much talk about what scientific work -would do for them. - -Some very worthy people of Montgomery were much disposed to plume -themselves on their Southern blood. A Baptist preacher, who kept a -book-store, (and had once been known as editor of a series of school -books,) was a specimen. “I’ve got my pardon,” he began, warmed into -confidence by a trifling purchase, “and am all right for the future. -I’ve done well, too, by the war, and my profits were mainly invested -North. But I’m tired of this crowd of Yankees that is pouring down here. -The more I see of them, the more I am convinced that they are a totally -different class of people, and can never assimilate with us Southerners. -What a miserable picayune way of doing things by retail they have, to be -sure!” The worthy gentleman was asked where he was born. “Well,” he -admitted with a wry face, “I was born in New Jersey, but then I’ve been -in the South from childhood, and am completely identified with her!” -Precisely similar was the reluctant confession of a planter here, who -had been exalting the virtues of pure Southern blood, and complaining of -Yankee meanness. He was born in northern New York! - -There was no indication whatever of the slightest disposition to foment -another war. “I’ve had enough of fighting to last me my lifetime,” said -a young man who was hoping to resume work on his plantation. “We’re all -glad it’s over,” said a business man. “Still we think we were right in -the outset. We believe in the right of secession as much as we ever did; -but what difference does that make? What’s the use of your right to do a -thing, if you know you’ll get soundly whipped if you attempt it?” - ------ - -Footnote 54: - - About this time the New Orleans True Delta, (quite recently the organ - of General Banks,) spoke of “the gloating of the cold-blooded, - viperous, vindictive editor of the Chicago Republican, over the - hanging of Henry Wirz,” and “his atrocious wickedness and unparalleled - fiendish malignity, in endeavoring, to connect Jefferson Davis’ and - General Lee’s names with the alleged crimes of Wirz.” At the same time - the Epoque of the same city protested against the execution of Wirz, - and against brutal military commissions, complained that a Confederate - Major-General and Captain Petit were both held for similar sacrifice; - hoped that President Johnson would stay such merciless and exciting - proceedings, and asked, supposing them guilty of all alleged against - them, and such guilt was to be punished, why Butler still lives? - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVII. - - Selma—Government Armories—Talks among the Negroes. - - -From Montgomery I went down the River to Selma, Alabama. - -Colonel McGee, of Illinois, commanding the post there, had cut down a -small oak which interfered with his hanging out the large garrison flag -in front of his headquarters. The inhabitants complained bitterly about -the sacrifice of the oak. “I tell you, gentlemen,” responded the -Colonel, “not only trees but many brave men have been cut down that that -flag may float!” Silenced, but not convinced, they took their revenge in -mutterings; and the fair ladies of the place walked out into the sandy -street to avoid passing under the Yankee colors. The public journals and -the politicians thought it a great outrage that their representatives -should not be immediately admitted to Congress, on the presentation of -their certificates! - -Selma is the center of the rich cotton-growing belt of Alabama, and the -lands there are probably unequaled by any to the eastward, and by only -the Mississippi and Red River lands on the west. But this temper of the -inhabitants caused Northern investors some anxiety. The better classes -were, undoubtedly, anxious that Northern capital and skill should be -thrown into cotton cultivation; and were ready to welcome every -respectable Northerner who came among them. But the baser sort also -abounded. With no pecuniary or political interests to risk, and still -full of the feeling that made the Selma ladies walk out of their way to -avoid Colonel McGee’s flag, there was reason to apprehend petty -outbreaks of malignity against Yankee incomers, which had to be taken -into account in any calculations about the openings there for Northern -enterprise. - -All agree that the negroes would do more for the Yankees than for -anybody else. The disposition of respectable Rebels was equally -encouraging. They had been fairly whipped in fight; they frankly -acknowledged it, and desired, above all things, to go to work and repair -their shattered fortunes. Capital and enterprise they wanted among them, -and would gladly receive from any quarter. But officers shook their -heads if asked whether, when military protection was removed, -Northerners would be secure from annoyance from the more vicious -classes. - -Lands were not so freely advertised for sale as about Montgomery, but -there was the same disposition either to sell or rent. A treasury agent -mentioned to a few friends his purpose to go into the land agency -business. In a day or two he had twelve plantations put into his hands, -to be sold at fixed prices, ranging from seven to fourteen dollars per -acre. Before the war these lands were valued at from fifty to a hundred -dollars. A few miles out from Selma was a large plantation, three -thousand two hundred acres in extent, one thousand eight hundred acres -cleared land, of the kind they call cane-brake, or prairie, the very -best for cotton in Alabama. On this plantation were the entire stock and -equipment for its cultivation—sixty or seventy mules, two hundred head -of cattle, corn enough for next year’s feeding, large droves of hogs, -etc. The planter was anxiously seeking for a buyer for land, stock, and -everything, at sixty thousand dollars. Estimating the grain and live -stock at current rates, this would leave the land at a valuation of ten -dollars an acre. The run from the North was mainly for smaller -plantations than this, and the prices on them had advanced considerably. -Two months earlier the average price of all lands there was a third -less. - -The productiveness of all these lands seemed to be systematically -overstated. Throughout the rich cotton-growing regions of Alabama, -planters always assured me that their prime lands would, with careful -cultivation, yield an average of a bale to the acre. But strict -inquiries as to results actually realized, failed to show an average of -more than two-thirds of a bale. Then it cost from three to ten dollars -per bale to get the crop down to New Orleans. - -Northern men were pressing in rapidly. Many officers were in Selma in -November, arranging for pretty heavy operations; and soldiers who had -gone home, talked about returning to lease small plantations. General -McArthur, of Illinois, had leased five in Central Alabama. Generals -Charles and William R. Woods, of Ohio, were getting some; so were -Colonel Gere, of Iowa, and a number of others. Their plan was to rent at -three to five dollars an acre, one-third down and the remainder payable -1st January, 1867. Then they hire, at liberal salaries, competent -overseers for each plantation. In this mode of operating, everything, of -course, depends on skillful management. I should judge it a splendid -opening for careless men to lose money. - -West of this region, on the Tombigbee, New Orleans capitalists began to -come in. A purchase of five thousand acres, in one tract, had just been -made by a New Orleans sugar-planter, in company with a former Tribune -correspondent. Another company, composed of New Orleans gentlemen, -proposed to run five or six plantations; and others were beginning -likewise to extend their operations in this direction. - -But these were the speculations of moneyed men. The South had its -speculations to offer for small farmers as well as for capitalists. With -reasonable prudence and skill, they might hope to realize at least -double as much as could be expected from an investment of the same -amount of capital in farming at the North. Scores of plantations, -averaging from one to four hundred acres of arable lands, could be -bought or leased, at prices not generally exceeding fifteen dollars per -acre for purchase, or four dollars for lease. Purchases were made in -cash; leases were paid either quarterly or one-third down, and the rest -at the end of the year’s work. - -A Northern farmer, himself working in the fields with his hands, could -probably make the crop on a hundred acres with six hired negroes, -depending upon subsequently hiring a few more to help pick it out. His -account, then, would stand somehow thus: - - 100 acres yield, say 60 bales of 500 pounds each, at 25c $7,500 - Deduct hire of six negroes, at $15 per month $1,080 - Deduct food for same, say half as much 540 - Deduct food for six mules, say 400 - Deduct incidentals, say 300 - —— 2,320 - ——— - $5,180 - -The farmer could afford, out of this, to pay four dollars per acre for -his lease, and still have a handsome year’s earnings left. - -Selma bore rough marks of the Yankee General Wilson, who passed through -it on his raid, just before the capture of Mr. Davis. A third or more of -the city was in ruins, and the large machine shops and founderies of the -Confederacy were thoroughly destroyed. On a public corner, where a large -cotton warehouse had stood, was a broken safe, lying among the debris. -Some resident had taken the pains to label it, so that the Yankee -garrison might understand what it meant, “Always safe, except in case of -Wilson, U. S. A.” On another side was a different inscription: “Business -Cards! Wilson & Co., U. S. A., General Burglars and House and Safe -Openers. Orders respectfully solicited.” The third side bore the -following: “Insured safe from dangers of fire and dampness, Wilson and -his Thieves (_sic_) only excepted.” - -Wilson’s work had been thoroughly done. The gun foundery and machine -shops which he had destroyed, were only to be compared to great -Government establishments like those at West Point or Fort Pitt. A -confused mass of bricks and mortar covered the ground, and from the -debris rose fourteen tall chimneys, the blackened monument of what had -been. About a hundred great guns were lying about in various stages of -manufacture. Wilson had carefully knocked off the trunnions. Among them -were the heaviest siege-guns, iron field ten-pounders, guns with wrought -iron muzzles screwed on, Brooks’ guns, and other varieties. One still -lay on the lathe, where the workmen had been turning it when Wilson and -his raiders came. - -On the other side of the town were the ruins of an extensive manufactory -of small arms. Hundreds of musket barrels lay among the bricks and -mortar, besides shot-gun barrels innumerable, and great sheaves of -bayonets, fused together by the heat. But for the utter collapse of the -rebellion, at about the same time, this destruction of these shops would -have been justly considered the weightiest among the crowding calamities -of the rebellion. - -An accomplished Northern mineralogist,[55] who went over the ruins with -me, pronounced the iron ore, which, had been used in making the great -guns, nearly equal to the Marquette ore from Lake Superior. He thought -it would average sixty-five to seventy-five per cent. of pure iron, and -possibly even higher. It had all been brought from the mines near -Talledega, where, also, a number of founderies for the Confederate -Government had been established. The war had found these people ignorant -of their mineral resources, without machinery, workmen, or materials. At -its close they had developed a mineral wealth which ages could not -exhaust, and had built up here, as I have said, a manufactory of guns, -great and small, with which only three or four in the United States -could be compared. - -The burnt houses in the business part of the city were being rapidly -rebuilt. Negro carpenters and masons seemed to have exclusive control of -the work. An old negro, who worked as hod-carrier, explained that he was -paid a dollar a day. “By de time I pays ten dollars a month rent fo’ my -house, an’ fifteen cents a poun’ for beef or fresh po’k, or thirty cents -fo’ bacon, an’ den buys my clo’es, I doesn’t hab much leff. I’s done -tried it, an’ I knows brack man cant stan’ dat.” He had been “refugeed” -from Tuscumbia; now he could not get back. He had been doing his best to -save money enough, (forty dollars,[56]) but he couldn’t seem to get -ahead at all with it. - -His people were all going to work well, he thought, on cotton -plantations where they were sure of good pay. Of course, they would work -better for the Yankees, ’cause dey freed ’em. There was no talk of -insurrection among them—had never heerd of sich a thing. What should -they rise for? There were no secret societies among them. - -On the other hand, the people had many complaints of insubordination, so -great that they were in actual fear for the lives of their families! -Some of the newspapers thought “the scenes of bloodshed and massacre of -St. Domingo would be re-enacted in their midst, before the close of the -year.” “We speak advisedly,” continued one frightened editor, “we have -authentic information of the speeches and conversation of the blacks, -sufficient to convince us of their purpose. _They make no secret of -their movement._ Tell us not that we are alarmists. After due -investigation and reflection upon this matter, we have determined to -talk plainly, without fear or favor, and if our voice of warning is not -heeded, we, at least, will have the consoling reflection that we have -performed our duty.” - -All this silly talk was, doubtless, utterly without foundation. Negroes -neglected to touch their hats to overseers or former masters whom they -disliked; and straightway it was announced that they were growing too -saucy for human endurance. They held meetings and sung songs about their -freedom, whereupon it was conjectured that they were plotting for a -rising against the whites. They refused to be beaten; and, behold, the -grossest insubordination was existing among the negroes.[57] - -Near the ruins of the Selma armory was a village of huts, filled with -the lowest order of plantation negroes. One or two were riding about on -abandoned Government horses; more were idly watching them. They were -“’joying their freedom.” A little round furnace stood some distance from -the huts. At its mouth sat an old negro, far gone with fever and greatly -emaciated. His story was a simple one. He had been sent here, by his -master, from Northern Alabama, to work for the Government. Yankees had -come along, and his paper to go home (his transportation) done wuf -nothing no more. He begged a little, picked up a little, slept in the -furnace, and so got along. He might last through the winter, but it was -very doubtful. He was, apparently, sixty or seventy years old, and there -was not a soul, black or white, to care for him. - -Most of the negroes congregated here had either been sent to work in the -Rebel shops, or had come since the end of the war to “’joy their -freedom.” - -“You were just as free at home as here,” I said to one who had patched -up an abandoned tent, under which he lived. - -“But I’s want to be free man, cum when I please, and nobody say nuffin -to me, nor order me roun’.” - -“De Lo’d tole we to come heah,” another said. “De Lo’d him’ll take car’ -ob us now.” - ------ - -Footnote 55: - - Professor of Mineralogy and Geology in the University of Pennsylvania. - -Footnote 56: - - Negroes are required to travel in very bad cars, often in freight - cars, or on open platforms; but they are charged full first-class - fares. Now and then a negro objects, but is always silenced by a short - argument. “You’re free, aint you? Good as white folks, aint ye! Then - pay the same fare, and keep your mouth shut.” - -Footnote 57: - - Carl Shurz gave an instance in point: - - One of our military commanders was recently visited by a doctor living - in one of the south-eastern counties of Georgia. The doctor looked - very much disturbed. - - “General,” says he, “the negroes in my county are in a terrible state - of insubordination, and we may look for an outbreak every moment. I - come to implore your aid.” - - The General, already accustomed to such alarming reports, takes the - matter with great coolness. “Doctor, I have heard of such things - before. Is not your imagination a little excited? What reason should - the negroes have to resort to violence?” - - “General, you do not appreciate the dangers of the situation we are - placed in. Our lives are not safe. It is impossible to put up with the - demonstrations of insubordination on the part of the negroes. If they - do not cease, I shall have to remove my family into the city. If we - are not protected, we can not stay in the country. I would rather give - up my crop to the negroes than the lives of my wife and children.” - - “Now, Doctor, please go into particulars, and tell me what has - happened.” - - “Well, General, formerly the slaves were obliged to retire to their - cabins before nine o’clock in the evening. After that hour nobody was - permitted outside. Now, when their work is done, they roam about just - as they please, and when I tell them to go to their quarters, they do - not mind me. Negroes from neighboring plantations will sometimes come - to visit them, and they have a sort of meeting, and then they are - cutting up sometimes until ten or eleven. You see, General, this is - alarming, and you must acknowledge that we are not safe.” - - “Well, Doctor, what are they doing when they have that sort of a - meeting? Tell me all you know.” - - “Why, General, they are talking together, sometimes in whispers and - sometimes loudly. They are having their conspiracies, I suppose. And - then they are going on to sing and dance, and make a noise.” - - “Ah, now, Doctor,” says the imperturbable General, “you see this is - their year of jubilee. They must celebrate their freedom in some way. - What harm is there in singing or dancing? Our Northern laborers sing - and dance when they please, and nobody thinks anything of it; we - rather enjoy it with them.” - - “Yes, that, is all well enough, General; but these are negroes, who - ought to be subordinate, and when I tell them to go to their quarters, - and they don’t do it, we can’t put up with it.” - - “By the way, Doctor, have you made a contract with the negroes on your - plantation?” - - “Yes.” - - “Do they work well?” - - “Pretty well, so far. My crops are in pretty good condition.” - - “Do they steal much?” - - “They steal some, but not very much.” - - “Well, then, Doctor, what have you to complain about?” - - “O, General,” says the Doctor, dolefully, “you do not appreciate the - dangers of our situation.” - - “Now, Doctor, to cut the matter short, has a single act of violence - been perpetrated in your neighborhood by a negro against a white man?” - - “Yes, sir; and I will tell you of one that has happened right in my - family. I have a negro girl, eighteen years old, whom I raised. For - ten years she has been waiting upon my old mother-in-law, who lives - with me. A few days ago the old lady was dissatisfied about something, - and told the girl that she felt like giving her a whipping? Now, what - do you think? The negro girl actually informed my old mother-in-law - that she would not submit to a whipping, but would resist. My old - father-in-law then got mad, and threatened her; and she told him the - same thing. Now, this is an intolerable state of things.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXXVIII. - - Mississippi Tavern Talks on National Politics—Scenes in the Interior. - - -From Selma to Mobile the best route is by the way of Meridian, -Mississippi. Meridian boasts numerous hotels. Lusty porters, clad in -Nature’s black and Rebellion’s gray, lustily chant their respective -praises. “If a gemmen wants a gemmen’s accommodation he goes to de -Henrie House.” “’Ere ye are for de Snagsby House; only place in town for -a gemmen.” “All de gemmen in town go to de Jones House.” I went, at a -venture, to the Snagsby. I am therefore well prepared to recommend any -of the others to subsequent travelers. They cannot fare any worse, and -they have a chance that inheres in all things sublunary, of possible -improvement. - -What I saw of Meridian was this: A frame one-story shanty, labeled, -“Liquors for sale;” two straight railway tracks in the midst of a wide -expanse of mud; a crowd of yelling negro porters; half-a-dozen houses -that may have been used for storing cotton and whisky; the hotels -aforesaid; some disconsolate looking negro huts; and a few shabby -residences that differed only from the huts in the extent to which the -disconsolate appearance was made possible with them by the larger scale -of their construction. There may have been other things in Meridian last -November, but, if so, they were buried in the mud. - -But I forget the Snagsby House. There being neither carriage, nor -omnibus, nor dray, one was forced to wade through the mud, amid the -encouragements of the porter who “toted de trunk,” and the anathemas of -the half-dozen whose offers to “tote” it had been disregarded. Emerging -thus from the mud, one looked upon the Snagsby as really inviting. Such -is the power of circumstances. - -There were four rooms. One of them was the ladies’ reception room and -parlor. It had only four beds. The others had each two or three -bedsteads, and about eight beds spread on the bare floor. In each was a -smoky wood fire. In the passage way was the office, where you paid your -three dollars for supper, lodging, and breakfast, in advance. And to the -rear, in a separate building, was the negro kitchen, in which, to do the -house justice, were served the best meals I have found in the country -towns of these States. It may be interesting to know what a Mississippi -hotel, in the interior, is like; the above is a faithful statement. - - * * * * * - -Adversity breaks down reserve. We were all in the Snagsby House -together. And so we became social. There was no candle in the room. It -has been observed that this increases sociability. - -“You’re from Washington, I see from the register. Is there much change -there in the last five years?” - -I mentioned a few of the more prominent improvements the Yankees had -wrought. - -“What do they think there of Joe Johnston’s great Express Company? -Surely the Government won’t interfere with it?” - -“Possibly not. Indeed, I fancy neither the Government nor the public -think very much about it. But I have heard express men suggest that -General Johnston was not accustomed to close financial calculations, and -not likely, therefore, to make the best manager for a struggling -enterprise.” - -“They were fools, then, who hadn’t sense enough to understand General -Johnston. He’s the ablest man in the country, and everybody but a -blockhead knows it.” - -I looked around in some little surprise. The tone indicated that the -speaker did not mean to be personally rude, though the language -certainly grazed the border of politeness. In the dim firelight I made -out a soldierly-looking personage with an empty coat sleeve. When he -went to the window, a moment later, some one whispered, “That’s General -Loring, a classmate of Joe Johnston’s, and one of his Division -Generals.” - -The conversation that followed soon disclosed Major A. D. Banks, an -officer of Joe Johnston’s staff, (at one time Postmaster of the House at -Washington, and at another, for a short period, editor of the Cincinnati -Enquirer,) as another member of a group that was filled out by a -Government cotton agent and half-a-dozen Rebel planters. - -The first important question with all these Southern gentlemen was, -“Will the Southern members get in?” - -“Possibly, during the winter,” I replied, “on the reception by the -Government of adequate guarantees for the future, but certainly not at -the organization.” - -“Why not at the organization?” - -“Because, Mr. McPherson, the Clerk of the House, construes the law -governing his action in making up the roll so as to preclude him from -inserting their names.” - -“But the tremendous pressure we can bring to bear,” suggested an old -Washington stager, “can give him new ideas as to the possible -construction of the law.” - -“Pressure is not likely to affect an honest man in a conscientious -interpretation of an explicit law.” - -“Well, a bigger office might?” “I tell you,” continued the same speaker, -“the whole question turns on what Mr. Johnson wants to do. I have reason -to believe that he means to side with us. If he does, he can buy up -Congress. There’s no use in you Yankees talking. Johnson can force -through Congress anything he wants.” - -“But why do you think him on your side? How long has it been since, in -the Senate, he was denouncing you all as traitors?” - -“We think him on our side because of what he has done, and what we know -him to be. Last spring, you can form no conception of the utter, abject -humiliation of the Southern people. We were all prostrate, helpless, and -abased to the dust, but out of this abject condition Mr. Johnson has -partly lifted us. He has made us feel that we have some standing ground, -some chance still to battle for our rights; and for this, there has now -sprung up throughout the whole South a warm feeling of regard and -gratitude. Johnson knows this. He knows that if he continues in this -way, he will be able in 1868 to count on the South as a unit for his -re-election. There would be no thought of contest—he would be nominated -by acclamation. Now, he is a man of strong will and boundless ambition. -Of course he wants to be re-elected. He doesn’t want to quit the stage -as an accidental President. And he knows perfectly well that, with the -South as a unit at his back, his enormous patronage will enable him to -carry New York and Pennsylvania, and defy the whole Black Republican -pack. Those States will be enough to elect him. A blind man could see -the game, and Andy Johnson has got plenty of nerve to play it.” - -Such are almost the very words in which were thus frankly revealed the -hopes of the Southern politicians. Later in the evening and next -morning, as my Yankee proclivities began to attract more attention, my -Rebel acquaintances grew more cautious and reticent. “How do you all -feel toward Sherman, who ravaged your country so mercilessly?” I asked -one of them. “The truth is, sir, the Southern people have been so -soundly thrashed that just now they’ve got d——d few opinions of any kind. -All we want now is to get back to civil government and the making of our -own laws!” - -What struck me most, however, in the conversation of all these gentlemen -was the utter scorn with which they treated any professions of -principle. “A first foreign mission would give McPherson new ideas of -his duty as clerk.” “Don’t tell me Southern members won’t get in if -Johnson decides that he wants them in. Things have changed mightily if -he can’t buy up enough Congressmen to carry his ends.” “It’s as sure as -fate, that the Democratic party will carry the next Presidential -election. You say it died, in the late New York struggle, for want of -principles? Nonsense. It can soon get together all the principles it -wants to win on. Remember its old stagers have been hungry eight years, -while the Black Republicans have been feeding at the public crib?” - -Their old prejudices against Northern public men seemed unchanged by the -war. Sumner they spoke of with loathing. Chandler was a beast and a -blackguard in a breath. Seward had the ability but not the courage to be -a first-class devil.[58] Chase was the greatest of Yankee public men, -and had subjugated the South by keeping up the Yankee finances, but, d——n -him, he would some day get his reward, for taking a side he knew to be -wrong, in order to gratify his ambition. Yet in the midst of all this -talk, that called up so vividly the Southern politician of five years -ago, there was one notable change. You could talk abolition as safely in -that Mississippi country-tavern as in Faneuil Hall. Since entering the -cotton States I had not seen, on the whole trip, an indication of the -slightest desire to interfere with free speech. Off the lines of travel, -in remote quarters where neither railroads nor good wagon-roads -penetrate, I heard that the case was different; but in all the -out-of-the-way places I reached, I felt just as safe as in Washington -and just as free to express my opinions. - -But I saw cause for thankfulness, more than once, that I was not a -Government cotton agent. On the road between Selma and Meridian, near -Demopolis, it was necessary to embark, for a short trip, on a steamboat -on the Tombigbee River. In the cabin, I entered, a violent altercation -was raging. A short, portly old planter, florid-faced and -white-bearded—the impersonation of the fine old Southern gentleman, who -could finish half-a-dozen bottles of claret at a sitting, and had been -doing it, any time, for the last dozen years—was berating a -black-bearded, trim-built and very resolute Yankee. The oaths were -fearfully blasphemous, but the substance of the old man’s complaint was -that he had delivered up to the agent a quantity of cotton which he had -originally subscribed to the Rebel cotton loan, and that, as he had -subsequently learned, he was entitled, by such voluntary surrender, to -one-fourth of the value of the cotton; which sum he accused the agent of -unjustly withholding. “But I’ll follow you, sah,” he vociferated, -shaking his fist in the very face of the agent. “I’ll follow you to -General Wood’s, aye, and to Andy Johnson! I’ll follow you, sah, to hell -and Illinois, but you shan’t swindle _me_, sah.” - -“You’ll follow me to Mobile, sir, if you want to; that’s where I live, -and you’ll never have any trouble in finding me.” - -The agent stood, trim, compact, cool as an icicle, evidently ready for -anything, and watching the fiery planter, as a pugilist might watch for -the instant to strike. The stout old man, tremulous and hoarse with -passion, blustered up and shook his fist in angry gesticulation, but the -agent never moved a muscle. One grew proud of him, and even the Southern -crowd, forming a ring about, evidently respected his bearing. Two or -three friends bustled up to the old planter, twined their arms about his -neck, and finally coaxed him out of the throng. The agent then turned on -his heel and walked away. “Is he a gentleman, or is he a Yankee?” I -heard one of the passengers inquire. “He is a scoundrel, of course,” -said another, “for he’s a Government cotton agent, and I wish the old -man had shot him, as his fellow was shot, the other day, at Montgomery.” -I subsequently learned that, only a few weeks ago, a son of the -white-bearded old planter had shot a Northern soldier in some brawl at -the polls. Life is cheap here, and the Northern papers report that the -demand for pistols from the South is brisk! - -The little quarrel with the cotton agent being over, the planters on -board fell to discussing the labor question, as we slowly steamed down -the Tombigbee. “You’re all going crazy,” said a top-booted personage, -who turned out to be a Rebel mail contractor that had recently -transferred his allegiance to Governor Dennison. “You’re crazier even -than I thought you. First you lost your slaves, and now you propose to -give away your plantations! Give them away, I say,” he continued -dogmatically. “Lands that are worth sixty and eighty dollars an acre, -you’re selling for ten and twelve. Why, you can rent them for half of -that.” - -“But what’s the use of lands when you can’t work them?” - -“We’ve got to change our whole system of labor,” said another planter. -“Let the Yankees take the niggers, since they’re so fond of them. Why, I -was talking, down to Selma, the other day, with Jim Branson, up from -Haynesville. We figured up, I don’t know how many millions of coolies -there are in China, that you can bring over for a song. It will take -three of ’em to do the work of two niggers; but they’ll live on next to -nothing and clothe themselves, and you’ve only got to pay ’em four -dollars a month. That’s our game now. And if it comes to voting, I -reckon we can manage that pretty well!” - -But they all agreed that, unless the Yankees raised it, there would be -no cotton crop grown in these States next year. - -Dinner was announced, on the boat, and we all went in, belligerent -cotton agent and cotton-planter among the friendliest. There were on the -table water, soggy corn-bread, raw onions, sweet-potatoes, and beans, -and that was absolutely all. The bill was a dollar. “At them licks a man -must be made o’ money, to stand it long.” Thus said a plethoric planter. - -Between Selma and Demopolis we passed through the garden lands of -Alabama. A little cotton could still be seen, standing in the fields. -Fine houses appeared occasionally along the road. The fences were -standing, cornstalks showed the extent of last year’s cultivation, and -not many traces of war were perceptible in the face of the country. - -After we returned to the cars, beyond the Tombigbee, the appearance of -the country was somewhat changed. The cane-brake and prairie were -exchanged for pine barrens, and we had passed the most desirable cotton -lands. - -A Georgian, emigrating to Texas, with his whole family, had seats in our -car. One of the children grew noisy. “General,” said the father, -reprovingly, “General, if you don’t behave yourself I won’t call you -General Beauregard any longer. I’ll call you some Yankee name.” - -Cigars were freely smoked, it being taken for granted that the ladies -had no objections. Pistols and Bowie-knives were shown, and one had a -comparison of views as to the proper mode of using these weapons to the -best advantage. - -It was in a county not very far from here, that sundry wise resolutions -were adopted, as, - - “WHEREAS, We have for four years most bravely and gallantly - contended for our rights with the United States; and, - - “WHEREAS, We have been overpowered by numbers, - - “_Resolved_, That we will, for the present, submit to the - Constitution of the United States, and all laws in accordance with - the same.” - -Somewhat similar seemed the view of all of our passengers who had -anything to say. “Mighty ha’d on po’ Confeds. We’re the unde’dogs in the -fight. We’re subjugated. I wouldn’t fight no mo’ for the stars and bars -than for an old dish-rag.” “Nor for the stars and stripes nuther,” -exclaimed his companion, and the sentiment elicited general approval. - ------ - -Footnote 58: - - Four months later they were speaking of him as “our great Conservative - Minister of State.” - - - - - CHAPTER XXXIX. - - Mobile Temper and Trade—Inducements of Alabama to Emigrants. - - -Between Meridian and Mobile, the railroad passes only very small tracts -of land that appear at all inviting to Northern eyes. Much of the -country is grown up in pine. Possibly lumbermen might find it a good -location, but planters are likely to keep away from it. - -All in all, however, Alabama offers better inducements to the Northern -emigrant than almost any of the other Southern States. The feeling -against Northerners is not so bitter as through most of the South. The -climate of the northern half of the State is delightful, and throughout -the State it is more healthy than at any point in the same latitude to -the westward. Northern, and a portion of Central Alabama, are well -adapted to the growth of Northern crops, wheat, corn, oats, hay, or -flax. Cotton can be grown anywhere in the State; although the only -first-class cotton lands lie in the central belt. The mountain regions -are admirably adapted for stock-raising. Apples may be well grown in the -same localities. In the southern sections, all the semi-tropical fruits -flourish in the greatest luxuriance. Worn-out and abandoned lands, -within easy distance of Mobile, may be bought for trifling prices,[59] -on which oranges, figs, bananas, peaches, apricots, plums, pears, -strawberries, blackberries, raspberries, and melons can be grown in -perfection, and with comparatively little labor. Fruit-growing has -hitherto been much neglected in Alabama, but no branch of industry gives -permanent offer of better rewards. Off the coast the fisheries are -almost as productive as those of Newfoundland, and they abound in rare -and valuable fishes not now known to any considerable extent in -commerce. - -It would be much better for Northern men, who seek to avail themselves -of these advantages, to go in small colonies. They should not be too -large, lest they grow unwieldy. Half-a-dozen families, purchasing farms -of one or two hundred acres apiece, adjacent to each other, may thus -make up a little neighborhood of their own, which can sustain its own -school, and which will be sure to form the nucleus for further -accretions from the North. A farm of a hundred acres can thus be bought, -in many localities, for five or six hundred dollars, half or more of it -on long credits. No emigrant should be without half as much more, to put -at once into improvements for his family. - - * * * * * - -The Mobile and Ohio Railroad, down which I went from Meridian to Mobile, -seemed to be in better condition at that time than any of the other -Southern railroads, and the cars ran heavily loaded. Even then they were -making the trip between the mouth of the Ohio River and Mobile, in -forty-eight hours. The mails here, as elsewhere on the entire trip from -Washington, were carried with a degree of carelessness that showed how -little the gratuity of keeping up a mail service for them was yet -appreciated by the Southerners themselves. Often no one was at the -station to receive the mail. Sometimes it was handed to any chance negro -boy, with instructions to deliver it to the postmaster. Occasionally it -was thrown out on the ground. The route-agents, on the other hand, were -not free from fault. Often, especially at night, they went to sleep, -carried mails past a dozen stations before they waked again. But they -were not always to be blamed. One route-agent told me he had to make the -entire trip from Columbus to Mobile, two days and two nights, without -sleep! Enough agents had not yet been appointed; and the few on duty -were making an effort to do the work of the full force. - -The greatest embarrassment, however, was for lack of postmasters. -“’Twill be a long time ’fo’ you get any postmaste’ heah, ’less you -’bolish that lyin’ oath,” said a strapping fellow who received the mail -at one place. “He was not appointed postmaste’, but he tuck pape’s and -lette’s to ’commodate ’em. You mout git wimmen for postmaste’s or -niggahs; but you can’t git no white men; cause they all went with their -State. An’ mo’—ef you fetch any d——d tories heah, that went agin their -State, and so kin take the oath, I tell ye, ’twill soon be too hot to -hold ’em. We haint got no use for sich.” - - * * * * * - -In the Spring of 1865, when I had last seen Mobile, it was a city of -ruins; warehouses ruined by “the great explosion,” merchants ruined by -the war, politicians ruined by the abject defeat, women bankrupt in -heart and hope. Emerging from the chaotic interior, in November, one -rubbed his eyes, as he was whirled through the bustling streets, to be -assured that he was not deceived by an unsubstantial vision. Warehouses -were rising, torpedoes had been removed from the harbor, and a fleet of -sail and steam vessels lined the repaired wharves. The main -thoroughfares resounded with the rush of business. The hotels were -overflowing. The “new blood of the South” was, of a truth, leaping in -right riotous pulsations through the veins of the last captured city of -the coast. - -Everywhere, in the throng of cotton buyers, around the reeking bars, at -the public tables, in the crowded places of amusement—two classes, -crowded and commingled—Northern speculators and Rebel soldiers. These -last come on you in every guise. Single rooms at the hotel were out of -the question, and I received a jolly fellow, who looked as if he might -be magnificent in a charge—on the breakfast table—as my room mate. He -turned out to have been chief of staff to a conspicuous Southern -General. I fell into a conversation with my neighbor at dinner, which -soon drifted from requests for the mustard into a discussion of the -claims of Southern “members” to seats in Congress. By and by he casually -admitted that he had been in the Rebel service, which might interfere -with his taking the test oath! - -Nothing could exceed the general cordiality. Formerly a Southerner was -moody, and resentful of approaches from Yankee-speaking strangers, -unless they came properly introduced. Now he was as warm and -unrestrained without the introduction as he used to be after it. That -was about the most marked change one noticed on the social surface. But -there was no abatement in the old ambitious pretensions. The North, we -were told, must have the Southern trade; and with that trade it was to -be corrupted. The North would be politically a power divided against -itself; the South would be a unit, and it would rule again as it always -had ruled. “Which side will we take?” answered an adept in political -shuffling, whose presence graced many a caucus in Washington in the old -times, “Why, the side that bids the highest for us, of course. And you -need’nt be at any loss to know which side that is. You’ve been whipping -us right soundly. We acknowledge the whipping, but we don’t kiss the -hand that gave it—not by a d——d sight! We’ll unite with the opposition up -North, and between us we’ll make a majority. _Then_ we’ll show you who’s -going to govern this country.” - -The theory of reorganization, which prevailed during the war, based -itself upon the belief in the existence of a Union party at the South. -But there was no such party. There were “reconstructionists” who -believed, from the day of the defeat at Gettysburg, that Southern -independence was hopeless, and therefore wished to end the struggle on -the best terms they could get; but these men loved not the Union more, -but Jeff. Davis less. Now, when we sought for Union men to re-organize -civil government there were none to be found. It was on precisely this -point that the North failed, prior to the meeting of Congress, to -comprehend the situation. Immediate reorganization meant restoration of -civil power to the defeated Rebels. No other reorganization was -possible. Many may say now that no other was desirable; that a community -must always of necessity be controlled by its leading men. But in -November the North thought differently. It was eager for reorganization, -but determined that it should be effected only by Union men. Such -reorganization would have meant merely that, instead of an honest -government representing the great majority of defeated Rebels, a handful -of aggrieved and vindictive refugees should be held up by aid from -without, to sway power in the forms of republicanism over a people who, -but for the bayonet, would submerge them in a week. - -No such farce had been attempted in this region. In Alabama and -throughout the greater portion of the Gulf States, the men who were -taking the offices were the men who had just been relieved of duty under -their Rebel commissions. The men who were to legislate safely for the -Freedmen were the men from whom the national victory extorted freedom to -the slave. The men who were to legislate security to the national debt -were the men for whose subjugation that debt was created. Whether these -are or are not desirable things, I do not here and now argue. But _the -fact_ is of importance to men of all parties. - -People innocently asked, What is the temper of these re-organizing -rebels? A remark quoted a moment ago, was the universal answer. They -wanted to make the best for themselves of a bad bargain. They wanted to -get the best terms they could. They still believed themselves the -aggrieved party; held that the Abolitionists began the war; thought -themselves fully justified in seceding; believed in the necessity of -compulsory labor, and would come just as near as we would let them -toward retaining it. There was the whole status in a nutshell. - - * * * * * - -Mobile talked, however, rather of plantations and cotton than of -politics. Dozens of Northern men were on the streets, buying cotton on -speculation. Every steamboat swelled the number of Yankees on the -look-out for plantations, and of planters anxious to sell or lease. -These planters were entirely honest in the idea which lies at the bottom -of their convulsive grasp on slavery. They did not believe the negro -would work without compulsion. Accordingly, they considered themselves -absolutely destitute of reliable labor, and were anxious to be rid of -their lands. The Yankees had faith in Sambo and propose to back their -faith with abundant capital. If they succeed, their cotton fields are -better than Nevada mines. If they fail—but a Yankee never fails in the -long run. - ------ - -Footnote 59: - - Sometimes as low as two or three dollars per acre. - - - - - CHAPTER XL. - - Phases of Public Sentiment in New Orleans before Congress met. - - -“Memphis is a more disloyal town than New Orleans,” said some one, -during the winter, to General Butler. The cock-eye twinkled as the -General answered: “I’m afraid, then, they never had the gospel preached -to them in its purity, in Memphis!” - -That General Butler’s gospel was preached with all plainness of speech -and freedom of utterance, in New Orleans, was a fact to which the whole -city testified; but still, if Memphis was worse, it was bad indeed. - -“What about the Union party here?” I asked of a conspicuous gentleman, -the day after my arrival. “There is no Union party, sir. We are all -washed under, and the most of us only live peaceable lives by the -sufferance of our Rebel neighbors.” - -I was constrained to confess the remark nearly if not quite just. Remove -the military power, and the next day such men as ex-Marshal Graham, -Benjamin F. Flanders, and Thomas J. Durant would live in New Orleans by -bare sufferance. One of the newspapers soberly reproached Mr. Flanders -with ingratitude to “the people of New Orleans,” who only drove him out -of the city in 1861, when they might just as easily have hung him for -his unconcealed hostility to the State! After this signal proof of -personal kindness to him, the newspaper continued: “Mr. Flanders had the -ingratitude to persist in stirring up strife in our midst, by presuming, -contrary to the laws of the State and the feeling of our citizens, to -make speeches to assemblages of negroes!” - -A charge to the grand jury by a city judge, published in the papers, -menaced Flanders, Durant, and others of the ablest men of New Orleans, -with imprisonment, for illegally addressing negro meetings! Was it any -wonder that the few Unionists grew cautious, or that they complained of -having been washed under by the returning Rebel tide? - -I do not use the word Rebel as a term of reproach—these people -themselves would hardly regard it in that light—but simply as the best -distinctive term by which they can be accurately described to Northern -readers. It must not be understood that they still resisted the United -States authority—on the contrary, they were profuse in their -acknowledgments of being subdued; nor that they plotted new rebellion, -for they would shrink from it as burnt children from the fire. But the -great mass of the adult white male population of New Orleans -(nine-tenths, indeed, of the white male population of Louisiana) were in -sympathy, or, by active efforts, supporters of the rebellion. No -reorganization was possible on a white basis which should not leave -these men in full control of the civil government by an overwhelming -majority. He was blind, therefore, who failed to see that any government -then set in motion by the votes of these Rebel Louisianans, must be -composed of Rebel officers, chosen because they were known to be in full -sympathy with their Rebel electors. - -Of course, these Rebels and Rebel sympathizers, and registered enemies, -_et id omne genus_, all now professed to be Union men. They were -Unionists according to their interpretation of Unionism. They meant by -it that they accepted the fact of defeat, and the necessity for giving -up just so much of their old policy as that defeat compelled them to -give up—not a whit more. - -Thus they abandoned the doctrine of secession. Most of them honestly -said that they still believed it a constitutional right; but that having -appealed to the verdict of arms, instead of the verdict of the Supreme -Court, they were bound to acquiesce in the decision which the trial by -battle had given. So they abandoned slavery. Three-fifths of them still -insisted that slavery was an institution beneficial to both races, if -not indeed indispensable to Southern prosperity; but they appealed to -war to sustain it, and they yielded to the logic of accomplished facts -in admitting that war had destroyed it. - -So much they gave up, because they realized that they must. More they -would have yielded in like manner, if equally convinced that more must -be yielded. But all the concomitants and outgrowths of slavery and State -sovereignty, doctrines which lie at the foundation of secession, and -beliefs which reject the possibility of free negro labor, or the -prudence of conferring legal rights upon free negroes, remained in full -strength. They were imbedded in constitutions, they were walled about by -the accretions of a century’s laws, they were part and parcel of the -accepted faith of the people. They would be given up as was slavery—not -otherwise. Every step must be by compulsion. - -What need, then, could there be to point out the further danger, -inseparable from this state of affairs, that, being compelled to such -reluctant abandonment of their life-long policy, it would be equally -hard to bring them to tax themselves to pay for such compulsion? In -other words, that being whipped, and thus driven to give up the points -in issue, they would be still less ready to pay our bills for the -whipping. Politicians, whose status depended on the admission of the -Louisiana members to Congress, professed great readiness to pay the -National debt; but I did not hear one private citizen make a similar -expression. They did their best in the rural districts to discredit the -National currency; till the military interfered, they did the same in -some of the city banks; and throughout the early part of the winter, -outside the moneyed centers, the notes of the National banks were held -at a discount of twenty to fifty per cent. - -The politics of all Louisianians, (except a body of -Union-men-from-the-first, less than five thousand in number,) as full -and freely expressed up to the time when Congress refused to receive -their members, might be thus summed up: - -They freely acknowledged that they had been badly defeated. - -They acknowledged, in consequence, the fact (not the rightfulness) of -the destruction of slavery. - -In the same way, and with the same limitation, they admitted the -impossibility of secession. - -These they regarded as all the concessions which they ought to make, in -order to be restored to their old relations and powers in the Union. On -the other hand, - -They honestly disbelieved in the capacity of the late slaves to support -or to protect themselves. Therefore, their tendencies were to the -establishment of some sort of enforced labor system; and to the refusal -of any right to the negroes to testify in courts,[60] or of relief from -other civil disabilities, which made the gift of freedom to them a -mockery. - -And, honestly believing themselves right in the outset of the quarrel in -which they had been worsted, they were ready to array weighty influences -in favor of an ultimate repudiation of the National debt. - -The question, therefore, for the Washington statesmen to decide was a -simple one. Should these positions of the Rebels be taken as -satisfactory, and should they be thereupon restored to civil power? Or -should further guarantees be exacted, and reorganization delayed until -they were furnished? - -In the one case, the work of the Provisional Governments might be -accepted. In the other, it was necessary either to give suffrage to the -negro, or to delay reorganization till time had elapsed for passions to -cool, and opinions, based on old facts, to conform to the new ones. - -Much of the above applies to the condition of the Gulf States at large, -in the beginning of the winter, quite as well as to Louisiana alone. The -case here was, in fact, complicated by the hybrid nature of the -attempted reorganization. Elsewhere we had Provisional Governments -instituted under appointments from President Johnson; here we had an -organization instigated by General Banks, sanctioned by President -Lincoln, and already sold out to the enemies of both. While, to complete -the chaos, the policy of the returned Rebels, already advocated in most -of the newspapers, and freely talked in all political circles, was, to -have the Legislature call a new Convention, whose first act should be to -declare all the State offices vacant, in order that citizens absent (in -the Rebel armies or as registered enemies) when the present ones were -chosen, might have a fair share in the voting! - -“We’ll get Congress to sanction such a Convention,” said a lawyer. “For -that matter we can buy up Congress. It doesn’t want to humiliate us, or, -if it does, we have money enough to control it.” - -“When we get in,” continued the lawyer, diverging into general politics, -“we’ll put an end to this impudent talk of you Yankees about -regenerating the South by Northern immigration. We’ll require you to -spend ten years in the State before you can vote.” “Of course we don’t -love the Union,” he went on. “We’re not hypocrites enough to make any -such professions. I have no love for the flag. It never protected me; it -_has_ robbed me and mine!” That man could be believed. He honestly said -what he plainly thought. But how should we regard the office-seeking -class, who, after four years’ war against the flag, had suddenly been -beaten into new-born but most ardent love for it? - -One of the public journals, protesting against the charge of treason, -cited President Buchanan’s book, as to the causes of the war, and -exultantly exclaimed: - - “Such will be the verdict of history. The triumphant party may apply - to the people of the South all the opprobrious epithets known to the - vocabulary of hate, but they can not efface historical records, or - rebut documentary testimony. The guilt of being the originators of - the late civil war lies at the door of the Abolitionists. - - “The people of the South know very well where the guilt and odium of - causing the war rests. While they accept and abide by the result as - a finality, they do not now, nor will they ever, stand before the - world as culprits and felons. They may sorrow over the war and its - results, but they have no cause for shame or remorse.” - ------ - -Footnote 60: - - The New Orleans Daily South, of 19th November, 1865, said: “Ethiopia - has invaded the Mississippi Legislature. Some of the members of that - body, favoring Judge Sharkey’s transcendental views on the subject of - negro testimony, have been talking about ‘justice to the negro.’ The - white man seems to be forgotten in the recent gabble about the eternal - negro. - - “Negroes care nothing for ‘rights.’ They know intuitively that their - place is in the field; their proper instruments of self-preservation, - the shovel and the hoe; their _Ultima Thule_ of happiness, plenty to - eat, a fiddle, and a breakdown. - - “Sambo feels in his heart that he has no right to sit at white man’s - table; no right to testify against his betters. Unseduced by wicked - demagogues, he would never dream of these impossible things. - - “Let us trust that _our_ Legislature will make short work of Ethiopia. - Every real white man is sick of the negro, and the ‘rights’ of the - negro. Teach the negro that if he goes to work, keeps his place, and - behaves himself, he will be protected by _our_ white laws; if not, - this Southern road will be ‘a hard one to travel,’ for the whites must - and shall rule to the end of time, even if the fate of Ethiopia be - annihilation.” - - - - - CHAPTER XLI. - - Cotton Speculations—Temper of the Mississippians. - - -Western men, seeking Southern speculations, mainly centered in New -Orleans during the winter. Competition had already put up prices -enormously. An army officer had recently _leased_ a cotton plantation, -above Miliken’s Bend, for seven dollars an acre! A few months earlier he -might have bought such plantations at a similar figure; but in November -he was able to sell out his lease at an advance of three dollars an -acre! Within another month rents advanced to twelve and fourteen dollars -an acre, for good plantations, fronting on the Mississippi. From Memphis -down, wherever the river plantations were above overflow, they commanded -prices that, compared with those of three months before, seemed -extravagantly high, although they did not yet reach the average of -prosperous times. Two-thirds of these plantations were fairly roofed in -with mortgages, so that enforced sales were soon likely to become -abundant. Scores of planters were already announcing their anxiety to -borrow money on almost any conceivable terms, to carry on operations for -the next year. Many sought to borrow on the security of the consignment -of their crops. Others offered still higher inducements. Small planters -from the interior of Mississippi, proposed to a heavy capitalist, in -considerable numbers, to borrow severally ten to fifteen thousand -dollars, to mortgage their plantations as security for the loan, and -give the consignment of one-half the crop as interest for the year’s use -of the money. Manifestly all such men were making a desperate venture, -in the hope that a combination of good crops and high prices might -enable them to hold on to their lands, and escape bankruptcy. - -Everybody was overrun with “estimates,” presented by sanguine planters, -as proof of their ability to repay the money they were borrowing. Here -is a specimen of this speculative figuring, made out by a Lake -Providence lessee, for his fifteen hundred acres of heavy, rich cotton -land: - - Lease at $10 per acre $15,000 - - Cost of 100 mules, at $200, (best mules are required for 20,000 - these heavy lands) - - Wages of 150 negroes, at $15 per month 27,000 - - Cost of supporting them, say $7 per month 12,600 - - Cotton seed and incidentals 10,000 - - ——————— - - Total expenditures $84,600 - - RECEIPTS. - - 1,500 bales, at 25c. per pound $150,000 - - Deduct expenditures 84,600 - - ——————— - - Net receipts $65,400 - -With all deductions from such estimates, and all omissions, it was still -manifest that, giving the two essentials of a bale to the acre and -twenty-five cents per pound for it, and there could be little doubt -about the lucrative results to be reasonably expected from free-labor -cotton growing. - -It was noticeable that planters from the Mississippi Valley, from the -Red River country, and from Texas, were all much more hopeful of free -negro labor than Georgians and Alabamians had been. Few apprehensions -were expressed as to the labor question, and the only want concerning -which much was said was the want of capital. - - * * * * * - -General Beauregard had become the President of the railroad connecting -New Orleans with the capital of the State of Mississippi. He may be an -admirable man for the post, but his road was a very bad one. - -Between New Orleans and Jackson, one saw little to admire in the pine -flats that lined the railroad for nearly its whole length. “The rossum -heels live in thar,” a newsboy on the train informed me. Lands are -cheap, and dear at the cheap rates. There are but few places where a -Northern man in his senses would be disposed to make investments with a -view to cultivating cotton. For anything else the land is generally -regarded as worthless. - -Scarcely a postmaster was yet to be found along the route. The mails -were handed out by the route-agents to any one who happened to be -standing about the station, and they were delivered or not, as was -convenient. Nobody could be got to take the offices, because nobody was -able to take the oath. It had been proposed, by some wise person, to -remedy the difficulty by appointing women. That would be “jumping from -the frying-pan into the fire,” indeed. Where the men were Rebels, after -the Mississippi pattern of earnestness, some new word must be discovered -to define the extent of the hatred the women bore to the Yankee -Government. Such mild titles as “Rebel,” failed to meet the case. - - * * * * * - -Of old, travelers in the South were perpetually regaled by the siren -song of the affection between the negro and his master. “Free them all -to-morrow, and it would make no difference. They know instinctively that -their masters are their best friends. You could no more make them fight -against us than you could make them fly.” On all hands one heard of this -bond of attachment between the races; was pointed to the devotion of -favorite servants; assured that no law was necessary to hold them; -reproached with the fanatical prejudices of the North against color. - -With the downfall of the rebellion there came a change. He would be -blind and deaf, who, after a day’s stay anywhere in the interior of -Mississippi, failed to discern aright the drift of public opinion toward -the negro. The boasted confidence in the slave, and the generous -friendship for the helpless freedman were all gone. There were, of -course, many individual exceptions, but the prevailing sentiment with -which the negro was regarded, was one of blind, baffled, revengeful -hatred. “Now, that you’ve got them ruined, take the cursed scoundrels -out of the country.” “D——n their black souls, they’re the things that -caused the best blood of our sons to flow.” “The infernal sassy niggers -had better look out, or they’ll all get their throats cut yet.” “We can -drive the niggers out and import coolies that will work better, at less -expense, and relieve us from this cursed nigger impudence.” “Let a -nigger dare to come into _my_ office, without taking off his hat, and -he’ll get a club over it.” Such were the voices I heard on every hand—in -the hotels, on the cars, in steamboat cabins, among returned soldiers, -grave planters, outspoken members of the “Legislature,” from every -party, and from men of all ages and conditions. More or less, the same -feeling had been apparent in Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Louisiana; -but it was in Mississippi that I found its fullest and freest -expression. However these men may have regarded the negro slave, they -hated the negro freeman. However kind they may have been to negro -property, they were virulently vindictive against a property that -escaped from their control. - -With coarser illustrations of the universal feeling the public prints -have been crowded—stories of ear cuttings and shootings, and the like. -Doubtless many of these stories were exaggerated; for even in -Mississippi murder is not practiced with as much safety as the other -fine arts; but no man could mingle in the community and not be convinced -that the feeling was there, and that only prudence restrained its -exercise. A railroad conductor was possessed with some delusion about my -ability to help to his appointment as post-office agent, and he -accordingly exhausted all his arts to entertain. The burden of his talk -was “the blasted, imperdent nigger.” “Just think, sah, down here, the -other day, at ——, a nigger sergeant ordered his men to shoot me. I never -heard of it till I’d got twenty miles away, or I’d a raised a little -speck of Jerusalem in that nigger camp. What did he want me shot for, -sah? Why this was the way of it. I was writin’ on a platform car, where -a d——d nigger guard was a trampin’ back and forrard, and says I, ‘Can’t -you keep still thar, you nigger; don’t you see you’re a shakin’ the -car?’ The black scoundrel never said a word, but kept on trampin’ his -beat. I spoke to him again, kinder sharp, but he didn’t mind me no more -nor if he’d never heerd me. Finally I couldn’t stand it no longer, and -broke out: ‘G—d d——n your black heart, you dirty Yankee nigger, I’d just -like to cut your throat from ear to ear for your infernal impudence.’ At -that he walked off to the sergeant and kept a whisperin’ till I got -ready to start. But I heerd afterward that the cowardly nigger sergeant -told him to stand his ground and shoot me if I interfered with him. Just -think of the nigger impudence we’ve got to bear, sah!” - -In a crowded bar-room, among a group of cronies who evidently looked on -him as the oracle, swaggered a “hotel-keeper,” whose guests were taken -in and fleeced, at a point on the railroad between Jackson and New -Orleans. He was boasting of his success with the “cussed free niggers.” -“We’ve got a Provo’ in our town that settles their hash mighty quick. -He’s a downright high-toned man, that Provo’, if he is a Yankee. I sent -a nigger to him, the other day, who was sassy when he came into my -office, and said he wouldn’t work for me unless he pleased. He tucked -him up, guv him twenty lashes, and rubbed him down right smart with -salt, for having no visible means of support. That evening I saw Tom, -and asked him whether he’d rather come home. ‘Bress ye, yes, massa,’ -says Tom. ‘But Tom,’ I told him, ‘I’ll take that old paddle of mine with -the holes in it, and paddle you soundly, if I think you deserve it.’ -‘Bress you, massa, Tom likes dat all do time better dan dis.’ That’s a -downright high-toned officer, I tell ye, that Provo’ of our’n!” - -“A nigger’s just as good as a white man now,” argumentatively observed a -bottle-nosed member of the Legislature, “but I give my Sam t’other day -to understand that he wasn’t a d——d bit better. He came into my room -without taking off his hat. ‘Take off your hat, you dirty black -scoundrel, or I’ll cut your throat,’ I yelled at him. D——n him, he had -the impudence to stand up and say he was free, and he wouldn’t do it -unless he pleased. I jumped at him with my knife, but he run. Bimeby he -came sneakin’ back, and said he was sorry. ‘Sam,’ says I, ‘you’ve got -just the same rights as a white man now, but not a bit better. And if -you come into my room without takin’ off your hat I’ll shoot you!’” - -This Bowie-knife and pistol style of talk pervaded all the conversations -of these people about their late affectionate bondsmen. Nothing less -gunpowdery, it seemed, would serve to express their feelings. I fancy, -however, that, as with all such talkers, there was a great amount of -throat-cutting in words to a very small percentage of actual -performance.[61] Nor must it be forgotten that the provocations were not -wholly on one side. The negroes would be more than human, if suddenly -enfranchised, clothed in the army blue, and taught to use the muskets in -their hands, they should not strain the bounds of prudent freedom. They -were not always respectful in their bearing toward men who talked of -cutting their throats; and sometimes they had an indiscreet way of -pressing claims, which it had been wiser for them to waive. “Get out of -this car, you black puppy,” shouted a young blood, who evidently -bemoaned the loss of the right to larrup his own nigger, as a handsome -negro sergeant, fully equipped, modestly established himself in the -corner of a first class car. The negro stood his ground but made no -reply. Presently some one else ordered him to the negro car, quietly -explaining that no negroes were allowed in the ladies’ car. “Ise paid my -passage, same as de rest of ye. Ise goin’ on Government business, and -Ise got as good right to what I pays for as anybody else.” The logic -might have been hard to answer; but the conductor, who by this time had -been summoned, didn’t trouble himself with logic. “I expect you’re on -the Major General’s business, cuffee, but if you don’t get out of here -mighty quick, bag and baggage, I’ll have you pitched off the train.” As -there was but one against a train full of white men, he succumbed, -though with an exceedingly bad grace. I have heard of other cases, where -several soldiers were together, in which they stood their ground. - -Embittered feelings, of course, follow all such controversies. The negro -feels himself aggrieved by the petty spites of the men who can no longer -hold him enslaved; the master feels himself outraged that one over whom -his power had been so absolute should “go to putting on airs this way” -in his very face. Against the negro troops, who alone kept these -smouldering elements from breaking forth, the hatred of the community -was especially intense.[62] Some timorous souls had great fears of a -negro outbreak at Christmas, and even our officers believed that, in -some cases, the negroes were distributing arms, to be used to enforce -their claims to their masters’ lands. There was not a particle of -foundation for the fears. They got arms, indeed, but what of it? Was not -every man armed? Could you brush closely against any ragged neighbor -without being bruised by his concealed revolver? People had not got over -regarding negroes as something other than men; and when it appeared that -they were imitating the example of the whites, and preparing to protect -themselves, forsooth we had straightway cock and bull stories of -impending negro insurrections and a war of races! - -The heel of the destroyer had been on Jackson too; and solitary chimneys -and shattered ruins attested the thoroughness with which the work was -done. The same recuperative power was not displayed, with which the -stranger was so impressed at Atlanta or Selma. The Mississippians seemed -more listless. In traveling several hundred miles in the State, I did -not see a white man at work in the fields, or very many at work anywhere -or anyway. Cotton, however, continued to come out—a satisfactory proof -that the “niggers” had still been able to do something. Piles of it were -stored near the railroad; and through the interior one noticed an -occasional wagon drawn by a couple of oxen, with, perhaps, a mule in -front, bringing a few bales to the nearest station. - -The “Legislature,” in session in Jackson, seemed to me a body of more -than average ability. Leading Mississippians, however, even of the ultra -type, denounced it as impracticable. There could be no question of its -rebellious antecedents. Scarcely a dozen, probably not half so many of -its members, could be named who did not in some way actively countenance -or support the war. But they were all Union men now; that is, as one of -them tersely stated it, “we are whipped, can’t get out, and want now to -get back on the very best terms we can possibly make, and with the least -possible loss from our failure!” - -The tone of the Mississippi papers, like the tone of the Mississippi -talk, was bitter. A Jackson journal soundly berated anybody who should -presume to insist that the President required the admission of negro -testimony in the courts. Mississippi, at any rate, should not be -crawling to the President’s feet to ask what she should do. She should -walk erect, assert her rights, and demand their recognition! And a -Vicksburg paper spoke its views thus: - - “If any radical was ever black enough to suppose the people of - Mississippi would endow negro schools, for their ilk to teach the - rising eboshin hatred of his former master, but his best friend, - then such chaps had better take to marching on with John Brown’s - soul; they will hardly reach the object of their desires short of - the locality where John is kicking and waiting. The State has not - opened them, nor has she the slightest idea of doing anything of the - kind.” - ------ - -Footnote 61: - - The following was, however, a well-authenticated, case: - - * * * * * - - “A physician and planter, near Greenville, Mississippi, called a - freedman in his employ to account for some work which he alleged he - had neglected to do as directed. The freedman said he had received no - such directions. The doctor told him if he dared to dispute his word - he would kill him on the spot. The negro replied that he never had - such directions. Thereupon the doctor, without any other provocation - being alleged, drew his revolver, and the negro ran. After some little - pursuit, and after discharging several shots, he killed the negro dead - in the field. The murdered man’s wife interposed to save his life, - when the doctor fired several shots at her, and was only prevented - from a double murder by the efforts of his own mother, who, with - difficulty, saved the poor woman’s life. - - “Colonel Thomas, Superintendent of Freedmen, caused the arrest of the - murderer. He was taken to Vicksburg and placed in military custody.” - -Footnote 62: - - The official organ of the city of New Orleans thus editorially - explains this feeling: - - “Our citizens, who had been accustomed to meet and treat the negroes - only as respectful servants, were mortified, pained, and shocked to - encounter them in towns and villages, and on the public roads, by - scores and hundreds and thousands, wearing Federal uniforms, and - bearing bright muskets and gleaming bayonets. They often recognized - among them those who had once been their own servants. They were - jostled from the sidewalks by dusky guards marching four abreast. They - were halted, in rude and sullen tones by negro sentinels, in strong - contrast with the kind and fraternal hail of the old sentinels in - threadbare gray or dilapidated homespun. The ladies of villages so - guarded, ceased to appear on the streets, and it was with much - reluctance that the citizens of the surrounding country went to the - towns on imperative errands. All felt the quartering of negro guards - among them to be a deliberate, wanton, cruel act of insult and - oppression. Their hearts sickened under what they deemed an outrageous - exercise of tyranny. They would have received white troops, not indeed - with rejoicing, but with kindness, satisfaction, and respect; but when - they saw their own slaves freed, armed, and put on guard over them, - they treated all hope of Federal magnanimity or justice as an idle - dream.” - - - - - CHAPTER XLII. - - Memphis—Out from the Reconstructed. - - -Of the trip between Jackson, Mississippi, and Grand Junction, Tennessee, -I only remember a dismal night of thumpings over broken rails, and -lurches and contortions of the cars, as if we were really trying in our -motion to imitate the course of the rails the Yankee raiders had -twisted. At one point all were waked up, hurried out into the mud of a -forlorn little village, and informed that, some way or another, they -must get over the burnt bridge to the train half a mile on the other -side. Clambering over cotton bales into the cars of the new train, we -found everybody who preceded us shivering with cold. The freight cars -attached to the train were loaded with cotton, it seemed; and orders had -been given to extinguish all fires in the passenger cars, lest the -sparks might set fire to it! - -Finally, an hour or two before daybreak, the conductor discharged his -passengers in the mud at Grand Junction, much as a cartman would shoot -out his load of rubbish. In the darkness no depot was to be seen; and, -at any rate, every passenger was compelled to watch his baggage, as -there was nobody to attend to it. Fortunately some one had matches. A -fire was soon started on the ground, and the railroad company’s pile of -lumber was made to furnish fuel. Seated around that fire on their -trunks, in the cold night air, and half-blinded by the smoke, were -ladies who, before the war, had been among the wealthiest and haughtiest -in the South. Some of them were going to Texas to hide their poverty. It -was nearly three hours before the train for Memphis took us up. - - * * * * * - -Memphis, in June, was full of returning Rebel soldiers. Now it was full -of Rebel business men, and the city, like New Orleans, had passed -completely over to the control of the great majority of its citizens, -who throughout the war hoped and labored for the success of the -rebellion. It was rather to their credit that they made no concealment -of their sympathies. They were outspoken in denunciation of Governor -Brownlow, and the entire State Government, which Mr. Johnson himself had -set in motion. The “Radicals of the North” were as odious as in the old -days of the war; and the tone of the newspapers was as fierce as when -they were wandering from point to point in front of the steadily -advancing National armies. - -Next to New Orleans, Memphis seemed to be doing the heaviest business of -any Southern city. The streets were filled with drays, and the levee was -crowded with freight. - -General Frank Blair, who engaged in cotton planting on the opposite side -of the river, was in town. Many other adventurous cotton planters from -the North made Memphis their headquarters. None seemed to suffer the -slightest inconvenience from any unfriendly disposition on the part of -the people. On the contrary all Northern men, bringing capital to stock -and conduct these great plantations which had hitherto made the -prosperity of Memphis, seemed to be sure of a fervid welcome. - -Between Corinth and Stevenson lies as beautiful a country as the South -can anywhere show. Huntsville, Decatur, Tuscumbia, and Florence are the -principal towns. Around them stretches a lovely valley, which -constitutes the chief charm of Northern Alabama. Far enough South for -the profitable cultivation of cotton, it is still adapted to all the -Northern grains. The people have generally more education and refinement -than in other parts of the State; their public improvements are better, -and their country is every way more attractive. It is not surprising -that lands here are commanding prices nearly as high as in Central New -York or Ohio. The people are rarely compelled to sell; and there is a -strong prejudice against either Yankees or Tories, (that is, Southerners -who went against their State.) Western men seem to be more welcome. - - * * * * * - -After a weary day’s riding through the wild mountainous country along -the Upper Tennessee, our train shot in beneath the great overhanging -cliff, and approached Chattanooga at nightfall. Fires had been raging -through the pine forests. - -A soldier at my side pointed out the famous localities, Mission Ridge, -Lookout Mountain and the rest. He grew fervid as he told the story over -again—how the troops charged up precipitous ascents, where not even -Hooker had expected them to go; how they shouted, and cheered, and -struggled upward; how, from below, long lines of blue, faintly gleaming -as the light struck their muskets, could be traced up the mountain side; -and at last the hight was gained, and the rush was made, and the flag -was seen floating over all. As he spoke, the scene grew vividly upon -one; and, looking from the darkened window, lo! the battle-lines, all -aflame, stretched up the mountain side, and the fire fantastically -wrought out again the story. - -Was it so? The battle had been fought and won—from this flame-covered -Lookout Mountain to the Gulf. Was the victory to be now thrown away, -that later times might witness the contest over again? - - - - - CHAPTER XLIII - - Congress Takes Charge of Reconstruction. - - -The Capital had been full of exciting rumors for a fortnight, on the -subject of the admission or the rejection of the Southern -Representatives and Senators; and, finally, the action of the House -Union Caucus had been announced; but, still the Southern aspirants hoped -against hope. - -At last came the decisive day. Floor and galleries, lobbies, -reception-rooms, passage-ways, and all manner of approaches were -crowded. The Diplomatic Gallery—so called, because diplomats are never -in it—beamed with many new and many familiar faces. The Reporters’ -Gallery—so called, because the members of the press are always crowded -out of it on important occasions—was crammed by persons who, for the -nonce, represented the Daily Old Dominion and the Idaho Flagstaff of -Freedom’s Banner. Elsewhere the “beauty and fashion,” (as also the dirt -and ill manners, for are we not democratic?) of the Capital looked down -upon the busy floor, where members, pages, office-holders, -office-seekers, and a miscellaneous crowd, swarmed over the new carpet -and among the desks. Thus from ten to twelve. - - * * * * * - -Then the quick-motioned, sanguine little Clerk, with sharp rap, ends the -hand-shaking, gossip, and laughter among the jovial members. A moment’s -hasty hustling into seats; the throng of privileged spectators settles -back into a dark ledge that walls in the outer row and blockades the -aisles; the confused chatter subsides into a whispered murmur, and that, -in turn, dies away. - -“The hour having arrived for the assembling of the Thirty-ninth -Congress, the Clerk of the last House of Representatives will proceed, -in accordance with law, to call the roll of Representatives elect. From -the State of Maine: John Lynch, Sidney Perham, James G. Blair,” etc. - -Members quietly respond, the busy subordinates at the desk note -responses, and everybody studies the appearance of the House. There are -enough old faces to give it a familiar look, and yet there are strange -changes. The Administration side has, in more senses than one, been -filled too full. It has spilled over the main aisle till half the -Democratic seats are occupied with its surplus, and the forlorn hope, -that still flies the banner of the dead party, is crowded into the -extreme left. James Brooks, however, smooth, plausible, and -good-natured, sturdily keeps his seat by the main isle.[63] Directly in -front of him, two or three desks nearer to the vacant Speaker’s chair, -(which neither is destined to fill,) sits a medium-sized, handsome -man-of-the-world-looking gentleman, with English whiskers and -moustache—Henry J. Raymond. “Grim old Thad.,” with wig browner and -better curled than ever, occupies his old seat in the center of the -Administration side; and directly behind him, greeting his friends with -his left hand, which the Rebels left uncrippled, is General Schenck. -Toward the extreme right is Governor Boutwell, in his old seat; and -beside him is a small but closely-knit and muscular figure, with the -same closely-cropped moustache and imperial as of old, the jaunty, -barrel-organ-voiced General Banks, ex-Speaker, ex-Governor, etc. Next to -him is a bearded, black son of Anak, with a great hole in his forehead, -which looks as if a fragment of shell might once have been there—General -Bidwell, one of the new members from California. Garfield is in his old -place near the Clerk’s desk, and just across the main aisle from him, on -what used to be the Democratic side, when there was a Democratic party, -is that most nervous and irritable-seeming of all figures, the -best-natured and crossest-looking man in the House, John A. Bingham.[64] -He has been absent from Congress for a term, has filled arduous posts -and won high praises, and comes back, they say, to take high place on -the committees. - -Away across, in the midst of the Democratic desks, rises a head that -might be called auburn, if the whiskers were not brick-dust red. It is a -brother-in-law of the semi-Rebel Governor Seymour, of New York—one of -the ablest Republicans of the House in old times, defeated two years -ago, but sent back now, more radical than ever—Roscoe Conkling. If he -had been a little better tempered the House, in the Thirty-seventh -Congress, would have placed him within the first five in the lists of -its most honored and trusted members. Near him, one naturally looks to -the desk of the candidate opposed to President Johnson at the late -election. Alas! a West Virginia Unionist fills the seat of George H. -Pendleton. Back of him is the desk of the little joker of the Ohio -delegation. But the little joker played his tricks too often, and has -been dismissed to a second-rate claim agency business, while another -West Virginian occupies his seat in the House. - -In the front row of desks on the Union side is a clumsy figure of -gigantic mould. The head matches the body; and in old times (when such -men as A. Lincoln were his colleagues,) Long John Wentworth proved that -there was a good deal in it. His immediate predecessor in the -representation of Chicago, now sixth Auditor, is in the lobby. - -So one’s eye ranges over familiar faces or picks out noted new ones, in -this House which is to administer on the effects of the great Rebellion, -while the Clerk vociferates the roll. - - * * * * * - -“Samuel McKee” has just been called, and the young Kentuckian has -answered; “Wm. E Niblack,” continues the Clerk. He has skipped, on the -printed roll, from Kentucky to Indiana, omitting Tennessee. From the -very heart of the Massachusetts’ group rises the “black snake of the -mountains,” the long, black-haired, black-faced, Indian-looking Horace -Maynard. Every man knows and honors the voice, but it can not be heard -now. He shakes his certificate of election from Parson Brownlow and -begins to speak. The sharp rap of the Clerk’s gavel is followed by the -curt sentence, “The Clerk declines to be interrupted during the roll -call. William E. Niblack; Michael C. Kerr;” and so the call goes -steadily on. At last the member from Nevada had answered; the -territorial delegates had answered; Mr. Maynard rose again. But “The -Clerk can not be interrupted while ascertaining whether a quorum is -present.” Then, reading from the count of the assistants, “One hundred -and seventy-five members, being a quorum, have answered to their names.” -“Mr. Clerk,” once more from Horace Maynard. “The Clerk can not recognize -as entitled to the floor any gentleman whose name is not on the roll.” -And a buzz of approbation ran over the floor as the difficult point was -thus passed. - - * * * * * - -Then, as if poor Mr. Maynard’s evil genius were directing things, who -should get the floor but that readiest and most unremitting of talkers -on a bad side, Mr. James Brooks. Mr. Morrill had moved to proceed to the -election of Speaker, but had made the mistake which at once suggested -how defective he was likely to prove in the leadership of the House, to -which rumor already assigned him—had forgotten to call the previous -question. - -Brooks never misses such an opening. He proposed to amend the motion. He -thought the roll ought first to be completed. He couldn’t understand why -a State good enough to furnish the country a President wasn’t good -enough to furnish the House members. If Mr. Maynard, of Tennessee, was -to be kicked out by the party in power, he hoped they would proceed to -perform the same operation on their Tennessee President. And then he -told how, in the years of the war, he had heard the eloquent voice of -this persecuted and rejected Tennesseean ringing on the banks of the -Hudson, on the side of an imperiled country. But he forgot to add (as -his hearers did not forget to remember,) how earnestly he had himself -then taken—the other side! And, as if determined to stab poor Maynard as -dangerously as possible, he even dragged up the Rebel Virginians, -(“Sandie” Stuart at their head,) placed them by the loyal East -Tennesseean’s side and claimed for them equal rights! - -Long John Wentworth made his _début_ by slowly rearing aloft his -ponderous hulk, and calling, like a stentor, for order. The Clerk, -handsomely and fairly, decided the speaker in order. Long John sank -down, and Brooks improved his chance: “When the newly arrived gentleman -from Illinois becomes a little more familiar with matters in the House, -he will be a little slower in undertaking to find me out of order.” -Presently he essayed a tilt against Thad. Stevens, but came out from -that, as most men do, badly beaten, with House and galleries roaring at -his discomfiture. Finally, Brooks was ready to close and sought to yield -the floor to a Democrat; the Unionists were quick enough, this time, and -objected. Points of order were raised, and old heads tried to entangle -the Clerk; but he was clear as a bell, and his rulings were prompt, -sharp, and decisive. The moment a Unionist fairly got the floor, the -previous question was moved, and the contest was over. “If Maynard had -spoken,” says Judge Warmouth, the delegate from the “Territory of -Louisiana,” “I should have claimed the right to speak too.” - - * * * * * - -The stoop-shouldered, studious looking, thin-voiced Mr. Morrill, rises. -“I nominate for Speaker, Schuyler Colfax, of Indiana.” Across the way a -ponderous Democrat: “I nominate James Brooks, of New York;” and some -person of bad taste titters, the laugh is infectious, and breaks out all -over the floor, and runs around the galleries; while Brooks tries to -look solemn for a moment, then makes the best of it, and laughs with the -rest. - -Four members of diverse parties take their seats beside the Clerk to -count, and in a moment the call begins. “Sydenham E. Ancona.” “James -Brooks” comes back for the first response, and the ill-mannered -galleries laugh again. Then follows a running fire of “Schuyler Colfax,” -“Schuyler Colfax,” “Colfax,” “Colfax,” with here and there a scattering -shot for “James Brooks.” A moment’s figuring; the tellers rise; Mr. -Morrill steps out in front of the Clerk’s desk. “The tellers agree in -their count. One hundred and thirty-nine votes have been cast for -Schuyler Colfax, and thirty-five for James Brooks.” Laughter again, -while the Clerk repeats the figures of the result. Then, “Hon. Schuyler -Colfax, one of the Representatives elect from the State of Indiana, -having received a majority of all the votes cast, is duly elected -Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Thirty-ninth Congress. -Mr. Morrill, of Vermont, and Mr. Brooks, of New York, will act as a -committee to conduct the Speaker elect to the chair; and Mr. Washburn, -of Illinois, who has been for the longest time a member of the House, -will administer the oath of office.” And with this the bright-faced -little Pennsylvanian steps down. - -The Speaker turns as he reaches the steps to the chair, shakes hands -again with the committee, and leaving them, ascends to his place, -unfolds his roll of manuscript and reads his graceful little speech. - -While he reads, one may move around and see who make up the crowd -standing about the outer row of desks and filling the space back to the -cloak-rooms. Near the door the portly form and handsome face of -Secretary McCulloch are noticeable. The other Cabinet officers seem not -to be present. An amazing shock of black, curly hair, of formidable -length, surmounting a boyish face, in which the queer incongruities are -completed by a pair of spectacles, can not be overlooked. Its owner -moves about with some constraint; naturally enough, for the Rebels shot -away his leg at Port Hudson, where he was one of the commanding -Generals, (Wisconsin sent him,) and the wooden one is not quite perfect. -Another spectacled hero, with fiery whiskers, and an asserting nose with -the blooded race-horse thinness of nostril, is conspicuous—General Carl -Schurz, for the time chief Washington correspondent of the New York -Tribune; and, as all men know, the most eloquent foreigner taking part -in our American politics. Half a score of Senators have come over; the -ubiquitous and good-looking Henry Wilson, prominent among them. - - * * * * * - -But the Speaker elect closes; a ripple of applause runs over the -audience; the bluff, hearty, downright Washburne is taking his place, -book in hand, in the little space in front of the Speaker: - - “You, Schuyler Colfax, a member of the House of Representatives of - the United States, do solemnly swear that you have never voluntarily - borne arms against the United States since you have been a citizen - thereof; that you have voluntarily given no aid, countenance, - counsel, or encouragement to persons engaged in armed hostility - thereto; that you have neither sought, nor accepted, nor attempted - to exercise the functions of any office whatever, under any - authority or pretended authority in hostility to the United States; - that you have not yielded a voluntary support to any pretended - Government, authority, power, or constitution within the United - States, hostile or inimical thereto. And you do further swear that, - to the best of your knowledge and ability, you will support and - defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, - foreign and domestic; that you will bear true faith and allegiance - to the same; that you take this obligation freely, without any - mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that you will well and - faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which you are about - to enter: So help you God.” - -It is the oath which the laws require and which the higher obligations -of public safety demand, and it is the oath, facing which most of the -Southern States have sent none who could take it without perjury. Even -the venerable Jacob Barker would make a pretty figure taking that -oath—especially if he should happen to see General Butler watching him -while he swore! - -Next comes the swearing of the members. State by State, they gather in -rows around the Clerk’s desk; and the new Speaker descending from his -chair, and standing in the center of each group of uplifted hands, reads -over again the oath. - -This scene of unavoidable confusion over, an unkinder thing than even -the oath is thrust before the Democrats. Wilson, of Iowa, looking as -honest as ever, downright proposes to elect McPherson and the remaining -House officers by resolution. The Democrats squirm and protest; but -Wilson guards every point; insists on the previous question, and carries -the matter through with a whirl. The Democrats stand up, on the call, -and their corporal’s guard contrasts so ludicrously with the great crowd -that rises from all parts of the hall when the Union side is called, -that the galleries can’t refrain from another burst of laughter. “We -want at least the poor privilege of complimenting our candidates for -these offices by nominating and voting for them” pleads one; but Wilson -is inexorable, and the Democrats are not permitted even to make a -nomination. - - * * * * * - -There remained one thing to do. The door had been shut in the Rebel -faces; it was still to be bolted. Thad. Stevens getting the floor, sent -a little paper to the desk, with this: - - _Resolved_, By the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress - assembled, That a Joint Committee of fifteen members shall be - appointed, nine of whom shall be members of the House and six of the - Senate, who shall inquire into the condition of the States which - formed the so-called Confederate States of America, and report - whether any of them are entitled to be represented in either House - of Congress, with leave to report at any time, by bill or otherwise; - and until such report shall have been made and finally acted upon by - Congress, no member shall be received in either House from any of - these said so-called Confederate States; and all papers relating to - the representatives of the said States shall be referred to said - Committee without debate. - -This is the last straw, and the burdened opposition determine to -fillibuster. They object, under the rules, to its reception. Stevens -grimly moves to suspend the rules. They demand the yeas and nays, and -get them; one hundred and twenty-nine to their beggarly thirty-five. -They move to lay on the table, and demand the yeas and nays again, with -like uncomfortable fate. Ashley wants to make a slight amendment, but -members all around shout, “No! no!” The Democrats abandon the hopeless -contest for their friends; and the resolution passes. - - * * * * * - -The galleries have thinned out, and the members have become inattentive. -One or two trifling matters are offered; an effort is made to adjourn; -the House refuses; some notice of a bill is given; the effort to adjourn -is renewed; the House listlessly votes again; the Speaker rises: “The -House stands adjourned till to-morrow at twelve o’clock.” - -The organization is perfect, and the bars are put up before disloyal -representatives of lately rebellious States—the day’s work is well done. -All thanks to the true men whose honest purpose insured its doing. And -so auspiciously opens the Thirty-ninth Congress. - ------ - -Footnote 63: - - Since ejected, on the score of alleged frauds in his election. - -Footnote 64: - - Representative of the Government, in the trial of the assassination - conspirators. - - - - - CHAPTER XLIV. - - Southern Feeling after the Meeting of Congress. - - -December broke the earliest hope of the revived Southern temper. The -preponderating Rebel element, which reorganized the State Governments -under Mr. Johnson’s proclamations, first expected to take Congress by a -_coup de main_, organize the House through a coalition with the Northern -Democracy, and, having thus attained the mastery of the situation, -repeal the war legislation and arrange matters to suit themselves. -Defeated in this by the incorruptible firmness of Mr. McPherson, the -Clerk, they next hoped by Executive pressure, combined with Southern -clamor, to force a speedy admission of all Representatives from the -rebellious States who could take the prescribed oath. These once in, the -rest was easy. They were to combine with the Northern Democracy and such -weak Republicans as Executive influence could control, repeal the test -oath, thus admit all the other Southern applicants, and turn over the -Government to a party which, at the North, had opposed the war for the -Union, and at the South had sustained the war against it. - -By the 1st of January all knew that the plot had failed. A few days -later, I left the Capital again for the South. - - * * * * * - -Traveling wholly by land from Washington to New Orleans, taking the trip -leisurely, with frequent stoppages and constant intercourse with the -people, I had abundant opportunities for discovering at once the marked -change in the tone of public sentiment. In November I had found it -buoyant and defiant. In January it was revengeful, but cowed. - -Prominent public men were much more cautious in their expressions. They -talked less of their demands; were more disposed to make elaborate -arguments on their rights. There were few boasts as to what the South -would do, or how heartily that true Southern man, the President, would -sustain them; there was more tendency to complain that they had been -whipped for trying to go out, and that now the door was shut in their -faces when they tried to come in. - -A very few, whom I should judge to have been Union men through the war, -or to have been so thoroughly disgusted with the rebellion as to accept -its defeat with cheerfulness, professed their entire satisfaction with -the action of Congress. “It is none of our business to be making a fuss -or demanding anything,” said one of these. “We’ve been guilty of a great -crime; we have reason to be thankful that we are treated as leniently as -we are, and it becomes us to keep quiet, and hope for the best.” - -Such were the expressions of two classes. Together, they were but a -small minority. - -Everywhere, on the cars, in the hotels, on the streets, at public -meetings, in social intercourse with the people at their homes, the -great majority held very different language. - -A little east of Lynchburg, an officer in the national uniform happened -to pass through the cars. “There’s one of the infernal villains,” -exclaimed an old man in homespun behind me. “Well,” said his companion, -“perhaps it isn’t right to talk so, but how can we help hating them? -They’ve burned our houses and made us paupers, and now they kick us out -of the Capitol. May be my sons may feel differently, by the time they’re -as old as I am, if they have to live with them, but I always expect to -hate the sight of a Yankee till my dying day.” These were plain old -Virginians from the mountains, apparently farmers. - -At Grand Junction, Tennessee, I whiled away half a day in the bar-room -of a dilapidated little frame house called a hotel. A wood contractor -from one of the interior towns of Northern Mississippi was the leading -talker. For hisself, he’d rather be a pauper all his days than do -business with the dirty, mean, low-down Yankees. Certainly four out of -every five in the room at any period during that half day, in some form -or another re-echoed the sentiment. - -On the cars of the Mississippi Central Railroad, a party of girls, -attended by one or two rustic beaux, going down to New Orleans to see -the sights and have their winter “society,” monopolized the -conversation, and did it in no whispered tones. The burden of all their -discourse, the staple subject that never failed them—when questions as -to how long Sam stayed the other night when he came to see Sally, were -fully exhausted—the _pièce de résistance_ to which they always reverted, -was the meanness, the ignorance, the hatefulness, the cowardice of the -detested Yankees. One had to leave school because the dirty Yankees were -too near. Another’s “par” had lost all his house servants because the -sneaking Yankees had enticed them away. Another knew that the Yankees -were all cowards, and would never have overpowered us if they hadn’t -called in the Dutch, Irish, niggers, and all the rest of their superiors -in creation, to help them. “Didn’t my brother Tom—you know, Lizzie, he’s -as brave and gallant a man as ever lived—didn’t he tell me hisself, with -his own lips, that he chased five of ’em, in full uniforms, with swords -in their hands, and plenty of revolvers, full gallop, out of Holly -Springs? His own self, mind you, by hisself.” The presence of an officer -in uniform in the car, part of the day, only served to increase the -volubility and virulence with which these Mississippi ladies delivered -their utterances. - -By and by one of the beaux, having run out of subjects for talk with the -ladies, took a seat beside me, and produced the unfailing Mississippi -substitute for an introduction—a whisky bottle. “Try some, stranger; -don’t be afeard. Jist sample it. You’ll find it the rale stuff.” “Didn’t -that Yankee officer look sheepish just now, when the gals was givin’ it -to him so hot?” he asked, after our acquaintance had progressed smoothly -for some time. This was a little too much for Northern flesh and blood, -and I informed him that I was a Yankee myself. - -“Stranger, you’re jokin’.” I insisted that it was a solemn fact. - -“Whar’d you come from?” - -“From Washington City.” - -“Well, who’d a thought it? But, stranger”——and a prolonged stare -followed. - -“I say, stranger, take another drink,” and the uncorked bottle of -villainous whisky was thrust to my lips. “I rather guess, stranger, you -must be pretty well used to hearin’ that sort o’ thing, if you’ve been -down heah long. The truth is, you don’t look like one o’ them sort, and -I don’t b’lieve y’ are one o’ the mean kind anyway; but we do all hate -the Yankees like pizen—thar’s no use tryin’ to hide it.” - -I traveled one day through Northern Alabama and Western Tennessee with a -Texan, who had been North, begging merchants to give him credit again, -and help him on his legs. - -“I tell you, you don’t none o’ you know anything about the meanness of -the Yankees. I’ve been among them—I understand ’em. Why, do you know, a -little thing a Texas store-keeper’d throw in ’thout thinking to tell you -of ’t, one o’ them New York fellers’ll make you out a bill for, and ten -to one he’ll reckon in the interest till paid.” - -In such a strain he entertained his listeners for hours. By his account; -Northern hotels were sponging houses, as compared with similar -establishments in the South. Northern railroads were wholesale swindles, -the churches were like the circus, and a “high-toned gentleman” was -unknown. From this the talk naturally digressed to life in Texas. We had -vivid accounts of little personal differences with the Bowie-knife; -precise instructions as to the best way to stand to make your antagonist -miss you in a duel, while you got a good shot at him; and challenges to -anybody to name as charming a town to live in, under this Yankee-cursed -Government, as Galveston, Texas. Nobody named one. - -At last we came to an eating-house. “We’d better hurry,” some one -suggested. “Oh, there’ll be plenty of room,” said the Texan. “There’s a -lot of cowardly Yankees in the front car. You don’t ketch them payin’ a -dollar for dinner. They stole enough at the breakfast-table to last till -to-morrow mornin’.” - -All this was, of course, the merest froth, thrown not without scum to -the surface of the social agitation. A civil engineer, holding a -responsible position on a leading Southern railroad, whom I encountered -the next day, expressed very clearly the prevailing views of the better -classes. - -“What do they mean at Washington? They said the war was to maintain the -Union. They succeeded in it and wouldn’t let us go out. What then? Why, -they next refuse to let us in.” - -This man was a gentleman; he was intelligent, familiar with political -questions, apparently not bitter. Yet, when I tried to explain to him -the view at the North, that every one who had in any way attempted to -overturn the Union was a traitor to it, not to be again invested with -civil rights till atonement for the treason had been made, or, at least, -till security was given against its repetition, he seemed to regard it -as something monstrous, unheard of, not to be endured. - -“It all resolves itself back into this: we honestly thought we had a -right to go out. You thought differently; went to war about it, and -established by numbers what you could not by argument. We submit. We -accept the situation. Then, having refused to let us out, you slam the -door in our faces and won’t let us in. During the war you maintained -that we were not out, and never could get out. The war over, you now -maintain that we are out, and must stay out till you subject us to fresh -humiliations.” - -“I tell you,” he continued, with evident sincerity and deep feeling, “no -free people in the history of the world were ever treated with such -indignity. There was some feeling, not of love for the Union, but of -readiness to be at least obedient, even though we could not become -affectionate children. They are destroying all this at Washington. Our -people feel that you are cruelly and wantonly trifling with us—yes, -insulting us; that, having conquered, you have not the magnanimity of -brave conquerors, but are bent upon heaping humiliation on your -unfortunate victims.” - -“Do you mean that the people feel like making armed resistance to the -action of Congress?” - -“Feel like it? Yes. Likely to do it? No. You have us at your mercy. We -are powerless, impotent. You can work your will upon us; but men do not -forget things seared into their hearts. The time will come when the -Yankees will learn to regret their present course.” - -Of a hundred conversations with intelligent gentlemen from different -parts of the interior (not politicians), this one gave the clearest -statement of the common feeling. I believe it to have been almost -universal in Mississippi, and to have been entertained by a majority of -the citizens in West Tennessee, and in the interior of Georgia and -Alabama. - -The mistake made by Northern statesmen, through the whole winter of -1860, was in not believing the South to be in earnest. They thought the -conventions were political bluster; the secession itself a piece of -bravado. Perhaps there is danger of a similar mistake again. To us, all -this talk of defeated traitors about the humiliation of not being -immediately reinvested with political rights in the Government they -tried to destroy, seems very absurd bluster. Perhaps their politicians -see it in the same light; but their people do not. Very many in some of -the States, certainly a majority, actually smart under the exclusion of -their representatives as a studied, brutal insult to a beaten and -helpless enemy. - -A change in the feeling toward the negroes was also manifest from the -first day’s entrance within the cotton region. In November nothing could -exceed the hatred which seemed everywhere felt to the freedmen. Now, -this feeling was curiously and almost ludicrously mingled with an effort -to conciliate them. Cotton was no longer king, but the cotton-maker was. -Men approached the negro with an effort at kind manners; described to -him the comforts of their plantations, and insinuatingly inquired if he -wouldn’t like to enter into contract for a year. The sable owner of -muscle, his woolly head greatly perplexed with this unwonted kindness, -held aloof, and seemed, as he respectfully listened to the glowing -inducements, to be wondering whether the fly would make anything by his -visit to the nicely-arranged parlors of the Mississippi spiders. - -The anxious planters argued and pleaded, and the puzzled negroes—kept up -their thinking, I suppose. At any rate, very few contracts were yet made -in many parts of the interior, especially in Mississippi, though by this -time it was near the close of January, and the season for beginning the -year’s cotton work was rapidly passing away. They were willing to -contract on the Mississippi River, and, to some extent, along railroads; -but they were very shy about venturing into the interior at all, and, -when they did, insisted on remaining in sight of the towns. “I could -have got plenty of hands at Vicksburg,” complained a planter returning -from an unsuccessful trip for labor, “if I had only been able to pick my -plantation up and move it twelve miles across the country to Holly -Springs.” Another came nearer success: “I could have got plenty right at -home, if my quarters had been at the other side of my plantation, where -it joins the corporation-line of the village; but the black rascals -wouldn’t trust themselves the width of my plantation away from town for -fear I would eat ’em up.” - -An old Mississippian was returning from New Orleans in a great rage: “Do -you believe, sah, I even demeaned myself so much as to go to a d——d -nigger, who called himself a labor agent, and offered him five dollars a -head for all the hands he could get me. He promised ’em at once, and I -was all right till I told him they was to be sent to ——, Mississippi. To -think of it, sah! The black scoundrel told me flat he wouldn’t send me a -man. ‘Why not,’ says I; ‘I’ll give you your money when they start.’ ‘I -wouldn’t send you a man ef you gave me a hundred dollars a head,’ said -the dirty, impudent black dog. And why? All because the sassy scoundrel -said he didn’t like our Mississippi laws.” - -I subsequently learned that these statements were literally correct, and -that many Mississippi planters who had gone to New Orleans for laborers, -found they could engage plenty, but lost their hold on every man as soon -as they let him know that it was in Mississippi he was wanted. Through -the interior, planters were complaining of the disappearance of the -negroes. They couldn’t imagine where the worthless things had suddenly -sunk to, until it occurred to some of them to observe that this -disappearance began shortly after their reconstructed Legislature had -embodied its wisdom in laws on the negro question. - - - - - CHAPTER XLV. - - Political and Business Complications in the South-west. - - -New Orleans in January was a very different city from New Orleans in -November. Trade had swelled to its old volume; the city was crowded -beyond its capacity; balls, theaters, the opera, crowded upon one -another, and all were insufficient to satisfy the wants of this -amusement-loving community. - -But these changes were nothing, compared with that in the tone of -political affairs. Governor Wells had accomplished another revolution on -his axis. Lifted into power by the Banks _régime_, he had congenially -betrayed it, in order to make interest with the returning Rebels; had -appointed them to office by scores; had turned out the Unionists that -elected him wherever he could find Rebels to take their places; had made -over himself and his power without reserve. They used him, and threw him -aside; the betrayer was in turn betrayed, and had nobody to pity him. - -The Legislature had passed a bill authorizing a new election for city -officers in New Orleans, avowedly to get rid of the Union appointees, -and elect “men who were the choice of the great majority of the -people”—that is, undisguised Rebels. The Governor, seeing that the -movement boded him no good, had broken with the Rebels and vetoed the -bill; and they had promptly passed it over his head.[65] The leader in -this movement was Mr. Kenner, an old Rebel politician, and member of the -Confederate Senate at Richmond, recently pardoned by Mr. Johnson. Such -was the return he was making for the forgiveness for his treason which -he had begged and received. - -Nevertheless, the general feeling was much less defiant than in -November. Then they had been sailing, with favoring winds and under full -headway, straight into their old power in Congress and control of the -country’s legislation. The check had been sudden, and they were not -fully recovered from the shock. Business interests, too, had come into -play. Trade always softens away angularities of prejudice, and too often -of principle also. Northerners having money to invest in the South, men -were very willing to forego manifestations of Rebel spite toward them -for the sake of furthering their chances of a good bargain. - - * * * * * - -I was frequently a guest at the “Varieties Club,” an organization -composed almost exclusively of former Rebels, and sharing with the -“Boston” the favor of what was considered the _crême de la crême_ of New -Orleans. The “Varieties” differs from every other club in this country, -in the fact that it is the owner of the favorite theater of the city, in -which the best boxes and orchestra chairs are always reserved for the -use of the members and their friends, free of charge. - -One evening I happened to enter just as some scene was being enacted in -which the hero is suddenly pounced upon and disarmed by a couple of -ruffians. As he stood helpless between them, he interpolated a sentence -to suit the latitude, exclaiming, “Let me go, let me go; _I’ll take the -oath_!” The whole audience burst out into uproarious laughter and -cheering, which for some little time delayed the action of the play. It -was manifest that they had a very clear apprehension of the average -value of oaths of loyalty. - -The first night I was there, a Union Major General was also one of the -guests. Sitting at the same table with him, drinking his whisky—if there -are any places in the country more remarkable for hard drinking than the -Varieties Club of New Orleans, I have never seen them—and hob-nobbing in -the most companionable way, was an officer of the Rebel army who had -surrendered to him in Texas. A number of other Rebel officers, some of -high grades, members of the Rebel Legislature, registered alien enemies, -and a crowd of resident Rebels, were passing through the room. Nothing -could exceed their genial courtesy, or the “hospitality” (so called in -the South) with which they pressed their whisky. - -The next day, I heard that, in the organization of a new club, expressly -intended to be established on a loyal basis, the word “Union” had been -stricken out of the title by an overwhelming vote. “Do you know,” said a -resident Northerner, “I was very much in favor of that myself? I am -determined that I will have nothing to do, down here, with any social -organization into which politics are permitted to enter!” In his mind -the use of the word “Union” as part of the title of a club was the -introduction of an offensive political distinction! A few days later, in -the reading-room of this new club, I noticed, conspicuously hung on the -walls, side by side, five portraits of General Sheridan (the commander -of the department), and of General Robert E. Lee. - -Mr. Flanders was very bitter in his denunciations of what he called -Northern toadyism. “With the Northern men and the Northern capital we -have here, we could absolutely control this city. But we can’t make use -of our power, because of these miserable toadies. They imagine it is -necessary to truckle to Southern men in order to get trade and acquire -influence. Poor fools! Can’t they see that the moment Southern men get -power, they’ll kick them all aside? Even now they despise them.” - -“Give us a couple of hundred Northern men, with money and brains, who -were not flunkies, and their honest, straightforward talk would do -wonders,” he continued. “But the traders are nearly all flunkies. Those -who have gone on plantations are more manly, but they are in positions -where they have less influence.” It was the old, old story. - -He insisted that the abatement of Rebel violence, then visible -everywhere, was only a torpor, not a radical change. They were -discouraged now about their chances. Let them get in again, and they -would be up and hissing at once. - -Others made the same complaints about the tendency to conciliate -Southern prejudices. Begun in the praiseworthy desire to exhibit the -most generous consideration to the vanquished, it had degenerated, they -said, into the very flunkyism of which Mr. Flanders complained. “Here is -General Herron,” exclaimed one. “A better or manlier fellow we didn’t -have in our army. He has settled down as a commission merchant here; has -plenty of capital, and ought to do well. But, do you know that he can’t -get as many favors, soldier though he is, at the Quartermasters’ and -Commissaries’ headquarters here, in the way of legitimate business, as -can any resident Rebel? Why? Because it’s the thing to display -distinguished consideration to these fellows, in order to convince them -that we’re willing to forget the past, if they’ll only be good enough to -do the same. Of course, then, it’s all smooth sailing in business -intercourse; but, in the bottom of their hearts, how they must despise -us!” - - * * * * * - -At the residence of a friend, I met, one evening, Mr. J. Ad. Rozier, a -lawyer of considerable prominence, whose record during the war might, I -was informed, be described as that of a conservative Rebel. He was -greatly delighted with the recent election of Alexander H. Stephens to -the Senate by the Legislature of Georgia, because he “believed in -brains.” There was no abler or fairer man, he thought, in the whole -South than Mr. Stephens. He would be, as he had been before, an honor to -the South in the Senate of the Union. - -I couldn’t help suggesting that, according to the appearances then, -there wasn’t much chance for his doing a great deal very soon either to -honor or dishonor the South in the Senate. - -“Oh, he must get in soon. It won’t be possible to refuse admission to -such men. The position of the Republicans is so utterly untenable that -they must soon find it out.” - -The Republican party, he insisted, was not at all an Administration -party. “It is only coquetting with Mr. Johnson. Pretty soon it will turn -against him openly.” - -I suggested that, as it had control of both houses, in any event it made -very little difference whether Mr. Johnson agreed with it or not, so far -as the present question, the immediate admission of the Southern -Representatives, was concerned. - -“Ah, but the present Congress doesn’t reflect the real views of the -Northern people. It was elected under a war pressure, and it is proving -itself utterly unfit to deal with the issues which the peace has brought -forward. You may be right about the admission of Southern members now; -but the next Congress will soon fix things.” - -Nothing, he thought, could exceed the indignity with which Congress had -treated honorable Southern gentlemen elected to it in good faith by -Southern constituencies, in refusing them the empty privilege of seats -on the floor. That was an extraordinary way to meet the returning -loyalty of the South. Perhaps it was honest in thinking them not -entitled to membership; but the refusal of seats to men bearing -certificates of election was a gross and studied discourtesy which could -not be forgotten or forgiven. - -Among men of Mr. Rozier’s class I found a general disposition to -restrict rather than extend the suffrage. Negro suffrage, they argued, -would only be another step in a path which had already led to most of -our existing troubles. Too many voted now, instead of too few. What -business had any man to cast a vote for the imposition of taxes who had -no taxes to pay? What right had any man to a share in shaping the -legislation of the country who had no settled interest in the country? -Or what sort of government could be expected from the votes of men too -ignorant to know anything about government? In short, no man ought to -vote unless he had landed property and was educated. The gentlemen of -the country should be the ruling class of the country. - -But this was only the talk of the clubs and the dinner-tables. The mob -who made up the Rebel vote and the Rebel army, and who now furnish the -substratum for the universal Rebel feeling, heard nothing of such -sentiments. The discussion of them—like their principles -themselves—belonged exclusively to the “natural governing classes,” and -in a special degree to the late slaveholders. - -Still, no evils of republican institutions were likely now to drive them -out of the country. They had heard enough from their Mexican explorers. -Bad as the nigger equality was here, they had discovered it to be much -worse there and in Brazil. But their whole hearts were with the -Imperialist party in Mexico. Part of this came from the French -sympathies of a large portion of the population; another part was due to -a general preference for monarchical institutions. The Monroe doctrine -had come to be considered a Yankee notion. The impression common at the -North, that war with France would help heal the wounds of our own -strife, was manifestly untrue, as to Louisiana. It would there be -regarded as another Yankee crusade. It would probably meet no open -resistance; but it would unquestionably find no support, unless of the -coldest. - - * * * * * - -The great rush of Northerners seeking plantations was already over. -Along the Mississippi, and in other favorable localities for -cotton-planting, prices had gone up so largely that men who had only -been tempted South by the hope of ruinously low bargains, took Northern -exchange for their money and went home again. Others, who had made -investments in the interior of Alabama and Mississippi, were greatly -discouraged by the temper of the people and by the scarcity of laborers. -Lands were being leased on the Mississippi, from Natchez to Lake -Providence, at rents ranging from eight to as high as twenty-two dollars -an acre. The lessees, after paying these enormous prices, had still in -most cases to stock the places with everything, erect fences, contend -with a two to four years’ growth of Caco and Bermuda grass, and pay -fifteen dollars a month, with rations and medical attendance, for -laborers. And then, after incurring the expenses, they had to take the -risk of overflow, and face the prospect of a steadily declining cotton -market. With a good year and good fortune, they were certain, after all -these outlays, of a large profit remaining; but the contingences were so -numerous and the risks so great, that an investment in Mississippi -bottom cotton plantations seemed to many business men very much like an -investment (heretofore very well known on the Mississippi), on the -chances of turning up sevens or holding aces. - -The city was full of negroes. They felt their new power, of which it was -impossible that they should be ignorant while the demands for their -services were so pressing; and they were very slow about making -contracts except on terms entirely satisfactory to themselves. They had -no doubt of their safety in the cities; but they feared to trust -themselves in the old Rebel communities in the country. - -For even the limited number of plantations which were being worked, the -supply of labor was wholly inadequate; nor would all the idle negroes in -the cities have made it up. There seemed no reason to doubt that during -the war there had been an actual and very great disappearance of -negroes. A few had gone North; some, the rumor had it, were being -carried to Cuba; but disease and privation accounted for the most. Their -new-found freedom had soon liberated them, in very many cases, from all -services on earth. - ------ - -Footnote 65: - - Under authority of this bill they at once proceeded to elect the old - Rebel Mayor of the city, whom Butler had been compelled to imprison - for his outrageously rebellious conduct. The Union offices were also - filled, almost without an exception, by returned Rebels. The - significance of such an election could not be misunderstood, save by - the willfully blind. In effect it gave the Rebels absolute control of - the political machinery of the State. - - - - - CHAPTER XLVI. - - The Sugar and Rice Culture in Louisiana—Profits and Obstacles. - - -A New Orleans friend of mine had recently purchased a fine sugar -plantation, twenty-seven miles up the river from the city. He was going -up to see how the season’s work was beginning, and I accepted his -invitation to spend a day or too looking into the details of sugar -culture. - -Steaming up the lower Mississippi is about the dreariest form of -traveling. Within is the same round of novel-reading, card-playing, -eating ill-cooked meals, and swilling bad liquors at the bar, under -penalty of offending every chance acquaintance who insists upon -extending the hospitalities of the occasion. Without, you catch -glimpses, occasionally, of the roofs of old Creole houses peering above -the levees. These, and the stretches of reclaimed swamps on either hand, -running back to the cypress brakes which invariably shut in the view, -constitute the scenery. - -But we left New Orleans at nearly sunset, and the night was brilliant -with starlight. Word had been sent up the day before of our intended -visit. As we approached the plantation, a great fire was seen on the -levee, built to guide the pilot in making the landing. Grouped about it -were two or three negroes and a couple of white men; the light from the -burning logs casting its fantastic shadows over them. The boat’s bow -struck the bank, we leaped off and a couple of negroes caught our -traveling-bags. The boat rebounded by its own elasticity, the off-wheel -gave a backward revolution, the captain shouted, “Good night,” to us -from the hurricane-deck, and the vessel was already under headway, again -up the stream, as we turned to receive the greetings of the old Creole -overseer and the new proprietor’s agent. - -From the landing, a wagon-road led across the levee and behind it up the -river for a few yards, till we entered an old-fashioned garden, laid out -in the stiff Dutch flower-bed style, and stood in front of the -“mansion.” It was a fine old country house, built in the French style, -with only dining-room, pantry, ice-closets and the like, back of the row -of round brick-stuccoed columns below. Stair-cases ascended at the -diagonal corners from the pavement to the second story gallery, which -encircled the building, and from which glass doors opened into the -parlors and bed-chambers. The floors, posts, and in fact nearly all -parts of the wood-work were constructed of the best red cypress, and -looked as if they might yet last for half-a-dozen generations. The lower -story had a tesselated marble pavement; and outside the lower gallery a -pavement of brick extended for a yard or two out from the house on all -sides. Even with these precautions, the lower story was damp, and to -live in it (or to live in the lower story of any house on the coast[66]) -would, in the estimation of the inhabitants, be almost certain death. - -“Once it vas very fine house,” said the French overseer, with a shrug of -his shoulders; “but des soldats; dey vas so had as you see nevare. Dey -pasture deir horses on our flowers and stable dem on dis marble -pavement. I am désolée,” he continued, “to have not ze power to -entertain you as I should like, but dey took all our liqueurs, and drank -our champagnes—sacre—as if dey tought is vas lager beer. Dey broke all -our dishes; and Monsieur Paine, he buried ze silver to save it, and -found it again nevare.” - -Still, the old place disclosed unexpected treasures of claret, which it -gladdened the heart of the Creole to see us taste; and the house -servants succeeded in making the spacious but half-furnished -bed-chambers comparatively comfortable. - -Next morning, while the new proprietor was looking into the arrangements -made in accordance with his orders, for stocking the place and beginning -operations, I busied myself with explorations. From the front gallery, -into which the glass-door of my bed-room opened, I looked out upon a -broad, brick pavement, running through the garden to the public road -which, here, as for hundreds of miles up the Mississippi, everywhere, -skirts the levee. In the middle of it was a brick column, three or four -feet high, serving as a pedestal for a leaden sun-dial, which had -formerly been set with accurate care in mortar on its top. During the -military occupation, the soldiers had amused themselves by firing from -the gallery at this dial, and one too good shot had struck it fairly in -the center leaving its deep indentation, and breaking the whole dial -loose from its bed in the mortar. - -The garden had evidently taken much of the time and no small share of -the profits of the former proprietor. Even yet, notwithstanding the -destruction by the troops and the neglect during the war, many of the -rarest shrubs and flowers were in luxuriant growth. It was still -January. I had left Washington in the midst of a heavy snow storm, and -the telegraph brought accounts of continued cold weather; but in this -deserted garden we plucked bouquets of rare flowers, growing in the open -air, which scarcely a green-house in Washington could have equalled. Fig -and banana trees were of course abundant. Oranges had been served at -breakfast which had been plucked from the trees last fall; and, in the -edge of the garden, we now found others on which the oranges were still -hanging in spite of the winter’s frosts. Most of these were wild; but -several trees, bearing fruit that after all its exposure was still -pleasant to the taste, had escaped the gathering of the soldiers and the -after-gleaning of the negroes. China trees, filled with mocking birds, -formed a short avenue in front of the house; and in a corner of the -garden was one of the rarities, which the Creole overseer delighted to -exhibit, a cork tree, already quite large, which in a few years might -furnish all the corks they wanted for bottling their own wines from the -wood. The green-house was in utter ruin. The soldiers had amused -themselves by shattering its glass-roof; and the shelves, on which the -potted plants had been placed, were rotted away and broken down. - - * * * * * - -“Jim,” the sugar-maker, called me from the flowers to see the -sugar-house. He was a middle-aged, shrewd looking negro, who had been -sold here by one of the Virginia patriarchs at a very early day. He -could remember learning a trade in Virginia; “but I’s been heah so long -I dunno much ’bout de ole place. I’d like to go back to see it, for -pears like it was mity fine place to live; but I wouldn’t stay dare now. -Dis is my home.” - -To the right of the house stood the “quarters,” a double row of -dilapidated frame cabins, each containing two rooms, with a porch in -front, covered by the projecting roof. Each room was supposed to furnish -accommodations for five adults. If they were all in one family, very -well; if not, two or three families must go together. For these five -persons there was, in the single room, space for a couple of bedsteads, -a little table, two or three chests, and as many chairs. Each had a -fire-place, a door and a hole in the wall opposite, closed by a wooden -shutter, which they called a window. “These quarters ought to be -whitewashed,” said the proprietor. “Wait till the niggers all get back -and they’ll do it themselves, and we’ll save that expense,” replied the -agent. - -Beyond the quarters, in a large field well-set in Bermuda grass, stood -the sugar-house. Everything about it seemed damp and soggy. We -approached it over ground yielding to our tread from the moisture, and -ascended to the door by a wooden stair case, covered with a slimy growth -of fungus, and half-rotted away. - -Within stood a fine engine, which “Jim” exhibited with pride. -“Eberything dar, sah. Dem brasses you see gone, I done locked up to keep -de niggers from stealing ’em. De pipes and de valves, all locked up -safe, sah. I ken set her a runnin in a day, sah, and you don’t need to -send to Orleans once for nuffin.” Near the engine were the boiling pans, -and in a long “L” of the building was the wide trough into which the -fluid was run off for cooling and crystallization. Everything here -seemed scrupulously neat, although the fact that the negroes had worked -the place by themselves, last year would not generally have been taken -as a guaranty for cleanliness. - -“Jim” was greatly disgusted with his last year’s effort to make the -niggers work. “I sposed, now we’s all free, dey’d jump into de work -keen, to make all de money dey could. But it was juss no work at all. I -got so ’scouraged sometimes I’s ready to gib it all up, and tell ’em to -starve if dey wanted to. Why, sah, after I’d ring de bell in the mornin’ -’twould be hour, or hour ’n half ’fore a man’d get into de fiel’. Den -dey’d work along maybe an hour, maybe half hour more; and den dey’d say -Jim, aint it time to quit? I say, ‘No, you lazy dog, taint ten o’clock,’ -Den dey’d say, ‘Jim, I’s mighty tired,’ and next thing I’d know, dey’d -be pokin’ off to de quarters. When I scold and swear at ’em, dey say, -‘we’s free now, and we’s not work unless we pleases.’ Sah, I got so sick -of deir wuflessness dat I sometimes almost wished it was old slavery -times again.” - -“How did they live, Jim? If they wouldn’t work, I don’t see what they -had to live on.” - -“Well, the trufe is, sah, dey stole eberyting dey could lay deir han’s -on.” - -It ought to be added that the negroes all complained that “Jim” was a -hard task-master, and that he was “harder on them than white folks.” His -old master, Mr. Payne, on the other hand, pronounced him invaluable; -said he was one of the most intelligent and skillful slaves he ever saw, -and declared his determination, if he ever went to planting again, to -hunt “Jim” up and hire him. - -There were not more than half-a-dozen negro families on the plantation -at the time of our visit. The agent of the new proprietor had been -attempting, through the past week, to hire them, but they had refused to -enter into any contract which he thought admissible. They all wanted -special privileges of one sort or another. Many wanted considerable -tracts of land set off to them on the plantation, which they could -cultivate on their own account. Some thought they ought to have two or -three acres to plant in cotton. Nearly all wanted to grow corn. “Let ’em -have an acre of either,” said the agent (and the Creole overseer fully -agreed with him), “and they would pick more than you would get from any -half-dozen acres you’ve got. Give them the slightest opening for growing -the same crops you grow, and you’ve opened the flood-gates of unlimited -stealing. You have no sort of check on them.” - -One fellow wanted permission to keep on the plantation two horses, a -mule, and a cow, besides hogs, chickens, and goats innumerable. “How -could he feed them?” innocently asked the proprietor. “Feed them? Out of -your corn-crib, of course. You couldn’t put a lock on it he wouldn’t -pick the first dark night. He would steal the corn you fed your mules -with at dinner, out of the very trough from which the mules were eating -it. Haven’t I caught them at such tricks, again and again?” - -The agent had accordingly set his face as a flint against all these -special claims preferred by the negroes. He would give them the wages -then customary along the Coast (ten dollars a month, with clothing, -lodging, food and medical attendance), would give them Saturday -afternoons and Sundays for themselves, would give plenty of land for -gardens, and mules and plows to cultivate it; and that was all he would -give. The negroes might enter into contract on these terms or leave. -They didn’t want to do either. They wouldn’t contract, but they made -themselves comfortable in the houses and evidently considered themselves -at home, contract or no contract. Thereupon the agent brought matters to -a crisis by telling them that he gave them till Saturday morning to -contract, if by that time they had made no engagement they must shift -for themselves. Saturday morning came; and not more than half-a-dozen -besides the two drivers had signed the contract. - -“They thought, by standing out, they could force me to terms about their -mules and cotton. But I soon undeceived them. I rigged up the carts, -packed their traps into them, and sent them bag and baggage off the -place. They went down to a sort of free-nigger settlement a few miles -below. Now they’re sneaking back every day and asking leave to enter -into contract.”[67] - -The Creole thought they worked so badly last year that it didn’t make -much difference whether they returned or not. - -“But dey’ll do better, sah, wid you. Dey wants a white man to gib -orders. Dey wouldn’t min’ me las’ yeah, ’cause I’s nigger like -demselves. I tink dey do better dis yeah.” Such was “Jim’s” view of the -case. - -“Jim” spoke English—such as it was. This he owed to his Virginia birth. -All the rest of the negroes spoke French exclusively. They had been -quite as successful in forming an unintelligible _patois_ from that, as -other plantation negroes have been with their English. Some of our party -spoke French fluently, but they could make nothing out of the talk of -the negroes. The Creole overseer gave his laughing explanation. “It’s -nigger French, zey speak, sare; of course you can not it understand.” -And with that he broke into a volley of gibberish, the words coming like -chain-shot, in couples, to which the negroes at once responded. “Jim,” -in addressing them, made use of the same mongrel French; he had learned -it from his long residence among them. Now and then one could catch a -pure French word; and the general sound was similar to the French; but -it had been so distorted, the overseer told us, as to constitute a -distinct dialect, which must be learned by all who undertake the control -of the Coast negroes. - -Exaggerate four-fold the peremptory style in which military officers -generally think it necessary to deliver their commands, and project the -words with a rapidity which nobody but a Frenchman could conceive, and -you have the manner in which our Creole constantly spoke to the negroes. -The words came from his lips with a rasping, spasmodic sort of energy, -that really seemed to infuse a little life in the slow-motioned -creatures; though I observed that most of the energy inspired by his -tones seemed to be expended in the quaint patois of the replies. -Directions to hitch up an enormous, broad-tired, inconceivably clumsy -sugar cart, required an amount of shouting that would have sufficed for -a western barn-raising; and I feel sure that fully an hour was spent by -two able-bodied negroes in the process of harnessing the mules to the -shafts, tandem-fashion. A similar storm of “nigger French,” brought us, -in the process of time, a number of horses sufficient for the party; -and, under the guidance of an old head-negro, pleasantly named “Voisin,” -we set out for a ride over the plantation. - - * * * * * - -Voisin was the plow-driver. Over every foot of the twelve hundred acres -he had maneuvered his gang of plows, as a military officer would -maneuver his battalion, and he was ready to pour into the ear of the -proprietor all the traditions of the plantation; that this land was too -wet for cane and ought to be left in grass; that all on this side of the -leading ditch had been used for corn from time immemorial; that the -finest cane always grew on this side of that levee by the cross-ditch; -that that back-land was too stiff for anything, and he’d better not -attempt to plow it if he didn’t want to kill off his mules; that cotton -ought not to be grown at all; but, if it must be, this land nearest the -front levee was the best for it; and so on interminably. - -When we rode out of the inclosures around the quarters, sugar-house, and -stables, we were in the one field which comprised the entire plantation. -From the levee by the river bank it stretched in an unbroken flatness, -gradually descending, back to the cypress swamp that bounded the arable -land in the rear, and shut in the view. The field was cut by two deep -leading ditches, one running down the middle to the swamp, and the other -leading from side to side of the place, intersecting the first about -midway between the river and the swamp. Into each of these smaller ones -emptied, at distances of thirty to sixty yards, and the entire field was -thus intersected by a network of open ditches; the water from all of -which flowed back to the swamp until it met the obstruction of the back -levee. - -To understand the object of this, and the nature of the difficulties -which the Louisiana sugar-planter has encountered, it must be remembered -that all this land bordering on the river was originally a swamp. -Successive overflows naturally deposited the most of their sediment near -the river banks. Thus the land became highest at the river, and the -drainage, instead of inclining in the natural direction, went backward -to the swamp. Thenceforward there was a double trouble confronting the -adventurous planter who sought to utilize this amazingly fertile soil. -The river in his front was dangerous; but the swamp behind him was -worse. His levees might protect him from the Mississippi itself; but -crevasses, hundreds of miles above, might overflow the back country, or -the back streams themselves might do it; and presently, while he was -watching the flood at his door, the water from the swamp behind him was -creeping up over his land and ruining his prospects for the year. - -There was no resource save to fight the water on all sides. Each -plantation was therefore protected by front and back levees, and -resembled in shape a huge dish; which, but for the energy of its owners, -would become a lake. A fresh difficulty was then encountered. The land, -being below the surface of the water on both sides of it, was kept -constantly soaked by infiltration. Ditches might drain this water back -to the swamp, but here the levee met them. A pumping machine thus became -necessary; and during the wet season the water was to be fought with -levees, before and behind, and that which filtered in was to be pumped -out into the swamp. - -We found the back levee cut open, and water from the ditches was flowing -out through the gap. Voisin explained that as soon as the water in the -swamp began to rise, the levee must be closed again, and the pump put in -operation. - -To Northern eyes, the “swamp” began far enough inside of the swamp -levee. Voisin assured us that in old times there was no better land on -the plantation; but, riding along the beaten road by the main ditch, -over which all the wood used for the engine and at the house was drawn, -and along which the cattle were daily driven, our horses sank over their -knees in the alluvial mud. On either hand the water stood in small pools -over the entire surface of the “back cuts.” A New Englander would have -declared it fit for nothing but cranberries. Some of the planters -insisted that such land was _then_ in the very best condition for -plowing—“it turned over so much easier when it had water standing on -it!” - -The supply of cypress in the swamp was inexhaustible. Nothing prevented -it from being far more profitable than the sugar grown under such -difficulties, except the expense of hauling it out, to the river. -Sugar-planters generally make little or no account of their swamp land. -They reckon their “leveed” land, fronting on the river, and give little -attention to the depth back into the swamp the surveyors may have given -them. Probably not half of them have ever seen their back lines. - -This plantation, only twenty-seven miles from New Orleans, considered -among the best on the west side of the river, with its sugar-house and -the expensive machinery attached in a condition to be used, with -residence comparatively uninjured, quarters for all the hands, good -levees, and some cane, sold at auction on terms which represented a cash -investment of about fifty-five thousand dollars! I know cotton -plantations, further up, which _rented_, acre for acre, for over -two-thirds of this sum! The title was perfect, and there was nothing to -prevent the plantation from making as high an average yield as it ever -did, as soon as the cane should be reset, unless the free labor system -should fail. Other places along the river have since sold at higher -figures; but I believe that any one who is willing to devote two or -three months to watching for an opportunity, may make equally favorable -purchases any time within the next two years. - -Extravagant living left nearly every planter enormously in debt when the -war came. Since then their affairs have gone from bad to worse. Many are -now making desperate efforts to retrieve themselves, and some will -succeed. The sheriff will close out the rest, and bargains await the -watchful capitalists. “By gare,” said the Creole, “le proprietuer of zis -place, before Monsieur Payne, lived as you vould nevare beleive. He had -over seexty slaves for house servants. Seex carriages stood tere in ze -carriage house, for ze use of ze family, beside buggies, saddles horses, -et tout cela! He had four demoiselles; every one moost have tree slaves -to vait on her! And ze dinnares, and ze trips to New Orleans! Den, sare, -let me explain to you; ze jardin himself cost ovare seexty tousand -dollare.” - -This family, of course, had gone to the insolvent’s court. The next -proprietor was caught by the war; and now Mr. A. C. Graham was trying to -revive the neglected culture. He had bought a quantity of plant-cane -from the Dick Taylor place, lying immediately below; had secured mules, -by sharp bargaining, at a hundred and sixty-two dollars a head; and, if -he could only be sure of laborers, had a fair prospect for a hundred and -fifty hogsheads of sugar and twice as many barrels of molasses in the -fall. Some cotton had to be planted, although there was small hope, in -this heavy sugar soil, of its doing much more than paying expenses; and -corn and hay enough would be grown to make the plantation -self-sustaining for next year’s operations. - -We rode over to the Dick Taylor place to look at the plant-cane. This -was cane which had been cut from last year’s crop, and instead of being -ground for sugar, had been buried in “mattresses” for planting in the -spring.[68] We could see only a confused mass of dry blades, not unlike -the blades of Indian corn. Voisin dug into the mattress and brought out -fine large canes, fresh and moist. They had been buried thus, -overlapping each other, with the ends of each layer in the ground, and -had been preserved through the winter without injury from the frost. - -Plows were already starting to prepare the land. As soon as possible, -these canes would be laid in the furrows, two or three side by side, -across the whole field, and buried with the fresh earth. When the young -canes are sprouted up from the joints, they would be seen stretching -across the plantation like rows of Indian corn. Then would begin the -battle with the grass and weeds, to last without a day’s intermission -until June or July. In mid-summer the cane would be “laid by,” and a -three month’s interval would follow, corresponding to the winter’s -leisure of the Northern farmer. During this time cypress would be cut -and hauled for the engines, the fences would be repaired, and every -preparation for sugar-boiling made in advance. Meantime the luxuriant -cane, arching from row to row, would by its own shadow keep down all -weeds and leave the furrows clean to act as ditches in carrying off the -flooding summer rains. - -Early in October an army of cutters would attack the field, armed with a -broad-hooked knife, with which they would sever each stalk, close to the -ground, strip it of its blades, and cut off its top at the uppermost -joint. Some day Yankees will invent machinery to do all this; but now, -the unequal length of the stalks and the necessity for cutting each one -at the upper joint to exclude the injurious juices of the top, are -supposed to require this slow labor-consuming process. Great -“broad-tread” carts, with a stout mule hitched in the shafts and a pair -of lighter ones in front, are used to haul the cane to the mill. There -the fires never go out, and the mill never stops, day or night, for the -ensuing three months. The negroes are arranged in sections to relieve -each other; and every man on the plantation is expected to do eighteen -hours of work daily. Abundant rations of whisky, presents of tobacco, -free draughts of the sweet syrup, and extra pay, carry them through. The -expressed juice is boiled in vacuum-pans till nearly all the water is -driven off; then, when it is run out to cool, the sugar crystallizes, -(with the aid of lime and bone-black to purify it) and the residuum is -drawn off in the shape of crude molasses. - -The machinery for all this is expensive. Sugar-mills, with all the -appurtenances, cost from twenty up to one hundred and fifty thousand -dollars; and the more costly ones are by far the more economical. This -statement at once discloses the great difficulty of adapting the -free-labor system to the culture of sugar. A freeman naturally looks -forward to the time when he can own the soil he cultivates. But for a -negro, or for a Northern farmer without capital, to attempt the sugar -culture on a small scale, would, as matters now stand, be utter folly. -Perhaps, in time, we shall have large sugar-mills erected here as -flour-mills are at the North; every man’s growth of cane to be -manufactured for a fixed toll, or sold to the miller at current rates; -but till then, the growth of cane for sugar must be left to men of -capital. - - * * * * * - -Two hundred miles further north, the owners of these amazingly fertile -swamps may yet find more formidable rivals than the Cubans. Every -cotton-planter requires large quantities of molasses for the use of his -negroes. Yankees will not grow cotton long till they begin growing the -sorghum to manufacture their own molasses. And Yankees will not continue -many years manufacturing the base of sugar, without forcing the secret -of sorghum, and finding how to crystallize its syrup into sugar. Already -the negroes, who have once tasted the sorghum molasses, insist on being -furnished with it in preference to that made from cane. Demand will not -long exist here, among the new elements of this changing population, -without creating a supply. - -Meantime the sugar-culture along the coast must, at any rate, revive -slowly. Even if the capital were all ready to be invested, so complete -has been the neglect of the plantations, that a full crop can not be -made short of three to four years. The crop of 1861 was four hundred and -forty-seven thousand nine hundred and fifty-eight hogsheads, from -twenty-four parishes of Louisiana. In 1865 it had dwindled to six -thousand seven hundred fifty-five hogsheads. In 1861 there were one -thousand two hundred and ninety-one sugar-plantations under cultivation -in these parishes. There are now one hundred and seventy-five. These -figures tell their own story. - - * * * * * - -On the Payne plantation, the negroes about the quarters were pounding -out rice in a little wooden mortar. Large stacks of rice stood near the -stables. A little mill was pointed out as having been formerly used to -hull rice sufficient for the use of the hands; and back toward the -swamp, we were told, were excellent rice lands; on which, in old times, -fine crops had always been made. - -While the place was being slowly reset in cane, it would doubtless be -profitable to grow rice; but the negroes were unwilling to undertake it. -Here, as in the rice lands of South Carolina and Georgia, there was -every prospect that free labor would prove absolutely fatal to the -culture. Men _would_ not work in rice swamps except under compulsion. -There is a species of rice, which grows like wheat, on uplands; but it -only yields about one-fourth of a crop. On good rice lands the yield per -acre varies from thirty-five to fifty bushels. Exceptional crops have -run up as high as ninety bushels. With good cultivation on good soil, -one might reasonably hope for an average of forty bushels, or eighteen -hundred pounds per acre—worth (with rice ranging from nine and a half to -twelve cents per pound) about one hundred and eighty dollars. This is -much more lucrative than cotton at twenty-five cents a pound; nearly as -much so as cotton at fifty cents. - -It is a golden opening—but the free laborers decline to step into it. -Five years ago the rice crop of the United States was about a quarter of -a million casks. Last year it was seven thousand! - ------ - -Footnote 66: - - The narrow belt of bottom land, reclaimed from the swamps on either - side of the Mississippi for sugar plantations, is called “the Coast.” - Above New Orleans, to the northern limit of sugar culture, is the - Upper Coast. Between New Orleans and the mouth of the Mississippi is - the Lower Coast. - -Footnote 67: - - About half of them, I believe, returned before the spring work had - been fairly begun. The rest sought new homes, and in general fared no - better than those who returned. - -Footnote 68: - - The sugar-cane is propagated from the stalks; the stalks from one acre - being enough to plant four. They will then remain productive for three - years; after which they must be replanted. In the warmer climate and - dryer soil of Cuba, they last for ten years. Hence the advantage Cuban - planters have in the sugar-culture. In Louisiana it is only an exotic, - and but for the protection of a high tariff, would perish. - - - - - CHAPTER XLVII. - - A Cotton Plantation—Work, Workmen, Wages, Expenses and Returns. - - -A few days afterward I embarked again upon a Mississippi packet, at New -Orleans, to make a visit to some noted cotton plantations near Natchez. - -A good steamboat should make the trip in about thirty hours; but the -packets lengthen the time one-half by their frequent stoppages. Every -few miles we ran into shore, the gang-plank was thrown out, and -half-a-dozen barrels of pork, or double as many of flour, or a few bales -of hay were rolled off. So wedded are most of the old residents to their -old ways of doing business, that they see all these supplies steadily -carried past their doors by the “up-river boats,” but wait until they -reach New Orleans, pass through the hands of their old commission -merchant, and thus return with double freights and double commissions, -to be landed at the very places they passed the week before. Ask one why -he does not buy above, and have the goods shipped direct to his -plantation, and he will reply that Mr. So-and-so, in New Orleans, has -sold all his cotton or sugar, and purchased all his supplies for the -last ten or twenty years, and he doesn’t want to be bothered making a -change. - -Among the passengers was a short, florid-faced, red-whiskered gentleman, -with an empty coat-sleeve, who seemed a general favorite. “Poor fellow,” -said one, as he passed near, “the war pretty much broke him, I guess.” - -“Broke _him_! well, now, you just go below and look at the seventy-five -mules he’s got on board, bought in New Orleans for his plantations, at -two hundred dollars a head, cash, and see whether you think he’s broke.” - -“I’m mighty glad he’s got his property back,” said another. “He owns -three of the finest plantations in Louisiana; and one good crop will put -him all right again, and let him go into politics if he wants to.” - -All shared in the expressions of good will, and it was evident that the -red-faced, one-armed little gentleman was a popular favorite. It was -General Yorke, late of the Rebel army, scarred with three wounds, and -back among those for whom he had unsuccessfully fought. At Monocacy he -led the final charge which swept back Lew Wallace’s forces and opened -the way for Ewell and Breckinridge to the Capital. At Spottsylvania a -bullet struck him in the head; in another Virginia battle he was wounded -in the shoulder; from several he came out with clothes riddled with -bullets and all his horses shot under him; at last, in the Wilderness, -his arm was carried away. - -It was common at the North to regard such men as the leading criminals -of the rebellion, but I would rather trust General Yorke in Congress, -unpardoned Rebel as he is, than a single one of the pardoned Congressmen -elect from Mississippi or Louisiana. - -“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” he exclaimed, impetuously, -to some one who was haranguing against the tyranny and cruelty of the -government; “I tell you, sir, you have got and I have got the most -merciful government in the world. What’s the use of our trying to -disguise the facts? We attempted to destroy the government and failed; -any other would have hung me for my share in the matter; and would have -had a perfect right to do it. I consider myself a standing proof of the -mercy of my government. It confiscated my property, while I was gone, -fighting against it. I don’t complain; it did perfectly right. Since -then I’ve got my property back; a thing I had no right to expect; and -I’m very grateful for it. I only want a chance to prove my gratitude. If -we get into a war about this Mexican business, I’ll try to show the -government how I appreciate its generosity to me.” - -Very few of his hearers seemed to like the General’s views—much as they -all admired him personally. To them it seemed a very great outrage that -while he was losing his arm under Lee, in the Wilderness, government -lessees should have been cultivating his splendid cotton plantations, -within the national lines, at Natchez. What business had government to -be interfering with the rights of property? - -Some one said the war wasn’t over yet. “Isn’t it?” said the General. -“Well, may be _you_ havn’t had enough of it. But I tell you, the men -that did the fighting have. What’s more, they are satisfied to quit and -to take things as they can get them. More still, I don’t know of anybody -that isn’t satisfied to quit, except the stay-at-home sneaks that have -never yet made a beginning. You’re very full of fight now, all of a -sudden, when it isn’t needed. Why didn’t you show some of it when we -wanted you in the trenches at Richmond?” - -Yet the General was as firm a believer in the right of secession as -ever: “I have my own views as to the constitutionality and rightfulness -of our course; I thought our cause just, and I did all I could to make -it successful. But we were beaten, badly beaten. Some of those fellows -that have been hanging around Natchez, or making money out of army -contracts, may not be subjugated, but I am. And now, having submitted, I -do it in good faith. What difference does it make now about our beliefs -and our arguments in favor of secession? All that has been settled -against us in the court to which we appealed; we have submitted to the -verdict; and, as honorable men, we have no right to revive the -controversy.” - -The General assured me that his negroes were working well; and that he -had not experienced the slightest difficulty in getting all the labor he -wanted. “My people all knew well enough that I had been a kind master to -them before the war; and you couldn’t have hired any considerable number -of them to leave me. Why, when I came back here to White-Hall,[69] from -the army, it was a perfect jubilee. They picked me up and carried me -into the house on their shoulders, and God-blessed me, and tanked de -Lo’d for me, till I thought they were never going to get through.” - -All this, as I had subsequent occasion to learn from numerous sources, -was but a moderate statement of the facts. His old slaves had unlimited -faith in him; his plantations had all the labor they needed; and the -work on them was as well advanced as on any along the river. - - * * * * * - -At last our boat reached Natchez, having consumed over forty-eight hours -in traveling the two-hundred and seventy-five miles from New Orleans. -High bluffs rose above us, and perched upon them could be seen the roofs -and steeples of an important little inland town. Between the river and -bluff was crowded the most miserable, straggling, shabby-looking village -imaginable. This was what is left of Natchez-under-the-hill. Once fine -rows of brick warehouses lined the banks; but the steady encroachments -of the river undermined their foundations, and one after another -disappeared. Thirty or forty feet from the water’s edge a large deserted -building still stood, with one corner of the wall washed away by the -“last high water,” and the rest of it tottering, to fall with the next. -Negroes filled the nasty little shops, where tobacco, whisky, sardines, -calicoes, and head-handkerchiefs were displayed. The street was full of -dirty idlers, and the whole appearance of the place was unprepossessing -in the extreme. Up the river a saw-mill and lumber-yard shut in the -view. - -Altogether, it was about the most unlikely place imaginable in which to -look for any display of art or appreciation of natural beauties. But, -the day after my arrival, a citizen, to whom I had brought letters of -introduction, taught me how to find a rare gem in this shabbiest of -settings. Driving past the saw-mill, we approached the residence of the -sawyer, nestled close, as it seemed, under the bluff, which, a few yards -further up, jutted out against the river. Passing from the lumber-yard -and the whisky shops, we entered, as my enthusiastic companion said, -“the garden of Eden.” Hedges of the most beautiful flowering shrubs led -up to the airy, many-galleried house. Graveled walks led off on either -hand to pleasant summer-houses, covered with vines, and bordered with -the rarest exotics. Great mounds, covered with shrubs and flowers, stood -sentry on either side the gate. The air was heavy with perfumes, and -vocal with the music of the full-throated little songsters that flitted -about among the branches. Citizens of Natchez boast that the sawyer’s -garden is the finest in the South. They might enlarge their boast, by a -little modification, and safely pronounce it the most surprising one on -the continent. - -Natchez-on-the-hill, (to which passengers from the boats ascend by a -long carriage-way, cut out of the perpendicular face of the bluff,) -would be called, at the North, a flourishing county-town; dusty, and by -no means specially attractive. But it is the aristocratic center of the -lower Mississippi Valley cotton-planting interests. Before the war, it -was regarded as a most desirable residence, and wealthy Southerners -sought plantations within a range of thirty or forty miles up or down -the river, in order to be able to fix their own residences at Natchez. -Few resided on their plantations; many owned several—in some cases as -high as eight or nine—the smallest rarely, if ever, falling below a -thousand acres in extent. These lands were all of the richest alluvial -soil; and, before the war, were worth, after being cleared, from sixty -to a hundred dollars per acre. Recent sales had been made at about forty -dollars, but the leases were all disproportionately high. I heard of -cases in which thirty thousand dollars had been paid in cash, and in -advance, for one year’s lease of fourteen hundred acres. This, however, -was probably the highest lease paid along the river. Fifteen thousand -dollars seemed a common rent for a thousand acres of good land, with the -use of agricultural implements, gin, and saw and grist-mills. It was -always, however, an important consideration that the former slaves -should all be on the plantation. Here, as elsewhere, labor was the great -desideratum. That secured, speculators were ready to pay almost any -price for the use of the land. - -Around Natchez is a beautiful rolling country, abounding in park-like -scenery. Showy, and, in some cases, elegant residences crown the little -knolls; and the country, for several miles back into Mississippi, wears -an air of wealth and comfort. On the opposite side of the river are “the -swamps.” But the swamps are the gold mines; it is only those who draw -their support from the rich, low lands of the neighboring parishes of -Louisiana who can afford the display that crowns the hills about -Natchez. - - * * * * * - -Buildings in Natchez, which the Government had seized, were being -restored to their former owners. Business had revived. Northern men had -established themselves as commission merchants and dealers in plantation -supplies, and were infusing new energy into the town. They said they had -all the business they could do, made no complaints of hostility from the -people, and said they believed it would be better for all parties if the -troops were removed. So far as they were themselves concerned, at any -rate, they professed that they would not have the slightest -apprehension. - -Many of the small planters in the interior (hill country) of -Mississippi, who used Natchez as their base of supplies, were anxious -for assistance from capital, from whatever source it might come. Some -had supplies enough to carry them through till their cotton should be -half made. Then they wanted to borrow money enough to last till they -could begin to receive returns from their crops, and were willing to pay -such extravagant rates as two and even two and a half per cent. per -month for it. - -“Cotton square” was crowded with ox-teams from these hill plantations. -Each brought in two or three bales of cotton, and returned with pork, -meal, and molasses to support the negroes. The planters themselves, -rough, hairy, wild-looking men, wearing homespun, bargained in the -shops, where they sold their cotton, for Calhoun plows, harness, drills, -and denims for the “niggers,” and an occasional article for themselves. -The whole scene was primitive, and rude in the extreme; yet these -tobacco-chewing, muddy-footed men from the hills were among the best -customers the Natchez merchants had. They were nearly all small -planters, working from six to thirty, or even forty hands, raising from -fifty to three hundred bales of cotton, and handling more money in a -year than half-a-dozen Northern farmers, each of whom would have his -daily newspaper, a piano in the house, daughters at the nearest “Female -Seminary,” and sons at college. - - * * * * * - -A steam ferry-boat sets passengers, once an hour, across the -Mississippi, from Natchez-under-the-hill. A pleasant drive for a few -miles down the levee, (passing but two plantations on the way—one to a -mile of river front is a small allowance here,) brought me to the -plantations I had come to visit. They lay beside each other, and -belonged to the same man; but each had its separate set of quarters and -gang of negroes, and the work on each had always been kept distinct. The -levee formed the boundary of their arable land. Outside this were two or -three hundred acres, thickly set in Bermuda grass,[70] and fringed with -a dense growth of young willows. This was covered with water when the -Mississippi rose to its highest point, but at all other seasons it -furnished pasturage for the mules and other stock of the plantations. A -negro on each, enjoying the title and dignity of “stock-minder,” was -charged with the duty of “carrying out,” daily, all the stock not in -use, and herding it on this open common. - -A lane led down between an old gin-house on one hand, and an old stable -on the other, to the broad-porched, many-windowed, one-story “mansion.” -China and pecan trees surrounded it. On one hand was a garden, several -acres in extent, to which the labors of two negroes were steadily -devoted; and on the other were the quarters—a double-row of frame, -one-story houses, fronting each other, each with two rooms, and a -projecting roof, with posts, shutting in an earthen porch floor. Down -the middle of the street were two or three brick cisterns; at the foot -of it stood the church. Back of each cabin was a little garden, -jealously fenced off from all the rest with the roughest of cypress -pickets, and carefully fastened with an enormous padlock. “Niggers never -trust one another about their gardens or hen-houses,” explained the -overseer. - -Back of the house and quarters stretched a broad expanse of level land, -gently sloping down to the cypress swamp, which, a mile and a half in -the rear, shut in the view. Not a stump, tree, or fence broke the smooth -monotony of the surface; but half-a-dozen wide, open ditches led -straight to the swamp; and were crossed at no less than seven places by -back levees, each a little higher than the one beyond it. The lands were -entirely above overflow from the Mississippi in their front; but the -back-water from the swamp, when swelled by the overflows from crevasses -above, almost every year crept up on the land nearest the swamp—coming -sometimes before the planting had begun; sometimes not till the first of -June. Then began the “fight with the water,” as the planters quaintly -called it. An effort was made to “catch it at the back levee.” Failing -in this, the negro forces retreated to the next levee, a hundred and -fifty yards further up; closed the leading ditches, and went to work -trying to raise this levee to a hight sufficient to check the sluggish, -scarcely moving, muddy sheet of water that, inch by inch, and day by -day, crept nearer to it. The year before they had failed here, and at -every levee till they came to the one nearest the river. On the two -plantations, out of twelve or fourteen hundred acres of cotton land, -they saved less than three hundred. The rest was planted in the ooze, as -the waters receded, late in June; the negroes following close behind, -men and women knee-deep in the alluvial mud, drilling in the -cotton-seed, and covering it by rubbing along the row the flat sides of -their hoes. “Ten or twelve barrels of whisky got it done,” the overseer -explained. But the crop, like all late ones in this region, was attacked -by the worms; the grass got ahead of the plows, and less than a quarter -of a bale to the acre was realized on lands that had been made to -produce a bale and a half. - -Along the inner levee, at which the water had been finally “caught,” led -a fine, beaten wagon-road down to the quarters on the other plantation. -These differed in no way from those already described, except that they -were less regularly arranged. Instead of a “mansion,” there was at the -front only a double cabin, which in old times served as the overseer’s -house. Now both plantations were managed by the same overseer; and at -this lower place were eighty-five field negroes, besides children and -old people, without a white man nearer to them than at the house on the -upper place, a mile off. “They get along nearly as well as if they were -watched,” said the overseer. “We have about as much trouble at the upper -place as here.” - -By the inner levee were, at points about three-quarters of a mile apart, -the ruins of the two steams-gins that had once been the pride of the -plantations. The boilers were still in their places; and fragments of -the engines and machinery strewed the ground for many yards in each -direction. One was lost by the carelessness of an unaccustomed negro -engineer; the other had been destroyed by the guerrillas. From this -point, for a distance of thirty miles down the river, nearly all the -steam-gins were burnt. The guerrillas were determined, they said, that -the Yankees, or men that would stay at home and be friendly with the -Yankees, shouldn’t make money out of them. A few had been rebuilt; but, -in most cases, the planters were relying upon clumsy horse-power -arrangements for ginning out the next crop. - - * * * * * - -We rode out to see the negroes at work. They were back half-way between -the river and the swamp. Two gangs made up the working force on each -plantation; and each was under its own negro-driver, who rode about on -his horse and occasionally gave sharp, abrupt directions. - -The plow-gang, containing fifteen plows, each drawn by a pair of scrawny -mules, with corn-husk collars, gunny-bag back-bands, and bed-cord -plow-lines, was moving across the land, after a fashion which would have -broken the heart of a Northern farmer, at the rate of about eighteen -acres a day. They had been at work since the middle of January, and -would continue plowing, without interruption, till the first of April, -by which time they hoped to reach the swamp. The land was plowed in -beds; each occupying about five feet. Each plowman started down, what -had been the “middle,” between last year’s cotton rows; returning, he -threw another furrow up to meet the one he had turned going down. Two -more furrows were then thrown on each side, and the bed was completed, -ready for planting. On one of the plantations, however, they were only -“four-furrowing” the land; i. e., throwing up two furrows on each side, -but leaving the middles still unbroken. “If we done gits behine, we’s -plant on dem beds, and knock de middles out afterwards;” so the -plow-driver answered my question about his object for leaving part of -the work undone. Two or three women were plowing, and were said to be -among the best hands in the gang. - -A quarter of a mile ahead of the plows a picturesque sight presented -itself. Fifty women and children, with only a few weakly men among them, -were scattered along the old cotton rows, chopping up weeds, gathering -together the trash that covered the land, firing little heaps of it, -singing an occasional snatch of some camp-meeting hymn, and keeping up -an incessant chatter. “Gib me some ’backey please;” was the first -salutation as the overseer rode among them. These were the “trash-gang.” -After the cotton is planted, they become the hoe-gang, following the -plows, thinning out the cotton, and cutting down the grass and weeds -which the plows can not reach. Most of them were dressed in a stout blue -cottonade; the skirts drawn up till they scarcely reached below the -knee, and reefed in a loose bunch about the waist; heavy brogans of -incredible sizes on their feet, and gay-checkered handkerchiefs wound -about their heads. As evening approached the work moved more slowly, and -the sharp remonstrances of the energetic driver grew more frequent and -personal. The moment the sun disappeared every hoe was shouldered. Some -took up from the levee, where they had been lying through the heat of -the day, army blouses or stout men’s overcoats and drew them on;[71] -others gathered fragments of bark or dry lightwood to kindle their -evening fires and balanced them nicely on their heads. In a moment the -whole noisy row was filing across the field toward the quarters, joining -the plow-gang, pleading for rides on the mules, and looking as much like -a caravan crossing the desert as a party of weary farm-laborers. - -The drivers were all comparatively intelligent men, and they occupied -positions of considerable responsibility. Each plow-driver had charge of -about thirty-five mules, was required to see that these were properly -fed, to prescribe for them when sick, and to decide when they were too -tired to work and must be replaced by fresh ones. It was his duty to -have his plowmen out by sunrise, keep them steadily at work, to change -them from part to part of the land to find that in the best condition -for plowing at that particular time; to have broken plows repaired at -the plantation blacksmith shop; and, in general, to get as much plowing -done and in as good style as possible. The “hoe-drivers” had larger -numbers under their command and more troublesome material to deal with. -“Dem women done been a squabblin’ ’mong deirselves dis afternoon, so I’s -harly git any wuck at all out ob ’em.” “Dem sucklers ain’t jus wuf -nuffin at all. ’Bout eight o’clock dey goes off to de quarters, to deir -babies, an’ I don’ nebber see nuffin mo’ ob ’em till ’bout eleben. Den -de same way in afternoon, till I’s sick ob de hull lot.” “De ’moody -(Bermuda) mighty tough ’long heah, an’ I couldn’t make dem women put in -deir hoes to suit me.” “Fanny an’ Milly done got sick to-day; an’ -Sallie’s heerd dat her husban’s mustered out ob de army, an’ she gone up -to Natchez to fine him.” - - * * * * * - -On each plantation, as soon as the people reached the quarters, the -hoe-drivers began giving out their tickets. Each hand received a white -ticket for a full day’s work, or a red one for half a day. These they -preserved till the end of the month, when they were paid only for the -number presented. Under this arrangement the overseer said he had very -few sick people on the plantations. Sometimes in fact they went to the -fields when really too sick to work, lest they should lose their wages -for the day. In unpleasant weather too, when the ground was a little -muddy, or when a fine mist was falling, they were far less anxious to -quit work than formerly. - -The tickets distributed, the women were soon busy in the quarters -getting supper. Meantime the plow-gang had gathered about the entrance -to the overseer’s part of the house. He’d done promised dem a drink o’ -whisky, if dey’d finish dat cut, an’ dey’d done it. The whisky was soon -forthcoming, well-watered. The most drank it down at a gulp, from the -glass into which the overseer poured it; others, as their turns came, -passed up tin cups to receive their allowance, and went off boasting -about “de splennid toddy we’s hab to-night.” Then came a little trade at -the store. Some wanted a pound or two of sugar; others a paper of -needles or a bar of soap, or “two bits worth o’ candy.” Some had money; -other offered in payment their tickets, just received; which were taken -at their face value. In an hour the trade was all over and the quarters -were as silent as a church-yard. - - * * * * * - -Next morning at four o’clock I was waked by the shrill “Driber’s Horn.” -In a couple of hours it was blown again; and looking from the window, -just as the first rays of the sun came across the level field, I saw the -women filing out, and the plowmen slowly strolling down to the stables, -each with his harness in his hand.[72] At twelve the horn blew again, -and they came in; at half-past one again, and from then until sunset -they were in the field. - -The overseer said he “couldn’t get as many hours of work out of ’em” as -in old times; nor was he quite sure that they worked as well during the -shorter time they were at it. Still he had never heard of gangs of white -laborers of equal size, in which better or more cheerful work was done. -On the whole, he was perfectly satisfied with the free-labor system; -and, if the water only kept away, was sure of making a hundred thousand -dollars net profit this year for the proprietors. - - * * * * * - -On the two plantations there were one hundred and seventy-six laborers -on the pay-roll. The first-class men were paid fifteen dollars per -month, first-class women ten dollars, and drivers forty dollars. The -wages for the entire number averaged between ten and eleven dollars per -month. They were furnished a weekly ration, for each laborer, consisting -of - - 4 pounds mess pork. - 1 peck corn-meal, or - 8 pounds flour. - 1 pint molasses. - 2 ounces salt. - -Each family, in addition, had its garden and poultry; and they were -always paid for Saturday afternoons, but were given the time for their -own work. - -The expenses on these plantations for the year could be quite accurately -calculated. The items would stand nearly or quite as follows: - - 60 mules @ (average) $180 $10,800 - 175 hands @ $10. pr. month,[73] wages 21,000 - - SUPPLIES. - - Pork, 182 bbls. @ $29 $5,278 - Meal,[74] 442 bbls. @ $5 2,210 - Molasses, 1,137 gallons @ 70c 790 8,284 - Corn for mules, 5,400 bushels @ $1 5,400 - Hay for mules, 100 tons @ $30 3,000 - Incidentals 3,000 - ——————— - $51,484 - -Economical management and the personal supervision of an interested -party might undoubtedly reduce these expenses at least ten per cent., -but under the loose expenditures of overseers the calculation was none -too large. The amount would still be swelled by at least twenty thousand -dollars for rent, and two thousand as wages of the overseer, so that the -expenses of conducting the plantations for a year might be pretty -accurately set down in round numbers at seventy thousand dollars. - -With a good season and without overflow, the yield ought to be twelve -hundred bales of cotton, worth, say, a hundred dollars per bale. Taking -all the risks, therefore, and using this heavy capital, the proprietors -were likely, under the most favorable circumstances, to have, at the end -of the year, fifty thousand dollars and sixty mules, as their net -profit. On other plantations, where they paid less exorbitant rents, -they anticipated, of course, larger returns. - ------ - -Footnote 69: - - The name of one of his plantations, only three miles from Natchez, - fronting on the Mississippi. It contains seventeen hundred acres of - open land, besides a pecan grove and an enormous tract of cypress. - -Footnote 70: - - An admirable pasture grass, flourishing only in warm climates and free - from shade. It was first introduced into Louisiana as a protection for - the levees, its thick mat of roots preventing the high water from - washing away the base of the levee; but it spread rapidly over the - adjacent cotton lands, and thus became one of the greatest pests to - the planters, who find it almost impossible to exterminate it. - -Footnote 71: - - Nearly all the women on plantations have a great fancy for thus - arraying themselves in their husband’s coats. Not a few also adopt the - pantaloons, half concealing them with the scant cotton skirt. - -Footnote 72: - - They even steal one another’s corn-husk collars; and so every plowman - carries home his harness at night and locks it up in his cabin. - -Footnote 73: - - The lost time would more than bring it down to this average. - -Footnote 74: - - They mostly took meal, of choice, and to simplify the calculation it - alone is counted. - - - - - CHAPTER XLVIII. - - Among the Cotton Plantations—Rations and Ways of Work. - - -A day or two after my visit to the plantations just described, I started -on a little horseback trip down the river. I was furnished with letters -to a planter, nineteen or twenty miles down, and I supposed that the -distance might be easily made in three hours. I left Natchez at two; but -the delays at the ferry made it three before I reached the Louisiana -side of the river. The February frosts had been keen, but the afternoon -was oppressively warm. For miles along the bank of the river the horizon -was blue and misty with the columns of smoke from the trash-gangs on the -plantations. Here and there an ox-team was passed by the roadside, -hauling willow-poles from the river banks to repair the fences. The -negroes were at work on every plantation—the plows near the road, the -trash-gang further back toward the swamp that everywhere shut in the -view. Houses appeared at but rare intervals, not averaging one per mile. -But few seemed to be more than the mere lodgings for the overseers. -There were no poor whites in this country, from which the aristocratic -planters had driven them. Behind or beside each house stretched the -unvarying double row of quarters, with the little mud-floored porches in -front, and the swarms of little picaninnies tumbling about in the -sunshine. Every one had accommodations for at least a hundred negroes. -Coveys of quails and broods of pigeons started up with a whir by the -roadside; and, occasionally, from the fields came faintly the shout of -some plowman to his team. Other sounds they were none—the country seemed -almost as silent as the unbroken wilderness. Not a traveler was seen on -the whole road. - -I had miscalculated the strength of my horse, and nightfall found me six -or seven miles from my destination. For some time the road had been -leading along the top of a high levee, a little distance from the river. -The plantations were very low and partially covered with water. Finally -the levee led off directly into the cypress swamp at a point where the -land had been thought too low to be worth clearing out. Briars grew over -its sides and occasionally stretched across the path; the road was very -rough, and to leave it, on either hand, was to ride down the side of the -levee into the swamp. Finally the exhausted horse could carry me no -further, and I was compelled to dismount and plod slowly along on foot. -Now and then the whir of a covey of quails sounded startling in the -darkness—on either hand could be heard the rush of ducks and geese in -the water. There were deer in the swamps, I had been told, and likewise -bears. The latter suggestion was scarcely a pleasant one. - -By and by the darkness became less profound on the river side of the -levee; and straining my eyes to make out the dimly defined objects, I -saw what seemed a two thousand acre plantation, with a large set of -negro quarters _outside_ the levee. Outside or inside, I was determined -to stop there. Starting down the side of the levee I soon found that the -ground was swampy. Returning, and following along the beaten road, I -presently came directly up to the river—stopped short, in fact, within -half-a-dozen feet of its brink. Turning up the bank I started again for -the quarters, now more clearly seen. It was no slight disappointment to -discover that they were unoccupied! The plantation had been thrown -outside the levee, on account of a change in the current of the river, -had been abandoned for years, and was under water every spring! - -Groping my way tediously back to the road, I started again down the -river. Half an hour’s walk brought me to a light, glimmering through the -open windows of some negro quarters. The blacks showed the way to the -house—further back from the levee—and here explicit directions were -given for the plantation I was seeking. I had only to go down the river -a couple of miles further, then turn off through a gate, follow the road -across a little lake and along its bank for a quarter of a mile. All -went well till I crossed the lake. Then, near where I supposed the house -ought to be, bright lights were shining, and a beaten path, through an -open gate led to them, and so I walked half across the plantation to -find that the trash-gang had been firing some dead cypress trees, and -that, instead of the house, I was near the swamp! - -It was after ten o’clock when at last, groping my way among the negro -quarters, I reached the double cabin, fronting the street, where the -overseer lived. No other person was at home, but the welcome was a -hearty one. Fried bacon and corn-bread were speedily served up for -supper, and the fatigues of the journey forgotten as the jovial overseer -told his experiences in running off slaves to Texas, when the Yankees -came, and his disgust, that after all his trouble, the whole work proved -useless. - -This plantation contained eight hundred acres of land cleared for -cotton, besides a thousand or twelve hundred of timber-land, covered -with hackberry, cypress, and cotton-wood; a portion of which ran down to -the river bank and afforded an excellent site for a wood-yard. Plenty of -negroes could be hired to chop wood for a dollar per cord. Half a dollar -more would pay for its delivery on the river bank, where steamboats -bought all they could get for five dollars per cord—thus affording the -proprietor of the wood-yard a net profit of three dollars and a half on -every cord. - -Less than fifty hands had yet been hired on the plantation; not as many -by at least thirty, the overseer said, as were absolutely needed to -cultivate the eight hundred acres; but with this inadequate force the -work on the plantation was further advanced than on any I had seen. The -most cordial good-feeling seemed to exist between the negroes and the -overseer. “Him allus good man in de ole slavery times. He allus did -jussice to us niggers,” said one of them. For twenty years this man had -done nothing but oversee negroes. He boasted of having made, one -unusually good year, seventeen bales to the hand. Here he expected to -make about twelve or thirteen—not less, if the high water did not -interfere, than a bale to every acre of the whole eight hundred. The -proprietors paid ten thousand dollars for the lease. Twenty thousand -dollars would probably pay the running expenses, (including the hire of -additional hands, if they could be got,) and the net profit therefore -ought to be nearly or quite fifty thousand dollars in a favorable year. - -The laborers here went to the fields at daybreak. About eight o’clock -all stopped for breakfast, which they had carried with them in their -little tin buckets. Half an hour later they were at work again. At -twelve they went to the quarters for dinner; at half-past one they -resumed work, and at sunset they could be seen filing back in long noisy -rows across the plantation, shouting, singing, and arranging for the -evening dance. - -They were divided into three gangs: the “hoes, log-rollers, and plows.” -The plantation had been neglected for the last four years; briars grew -everywhere, and the ground was covered with logs. The whole scene, when -the laborers were at work, was one of the utmost animation. The overseer -kept the three gangs near each other, the hoes ahead, pushing hard -behind them the log-rollers, and shouting constantly to the log-rollers -to keep out of their way the plowmen. The air was filled with a dense -smoke from the burning briars and logs. Moving about among the fires, -raking together the trash, chopping the briars, now seizing a brand from -a burning heap, and dextrously firing half-a-dozen new ones, then -hurrying forward to catch up with the gang, singing, laughing, teasing -the log-rollers to “cotch us if you kin,” were the short-skirted, -black-faced damsels, twenty or twenty-five in number, who composed the -trash-gang. - -[Illustration: _Trash, Log and Plow Gangs at work.—Page 496._] - -Before the little heaps were half burnt the log-rollers were among them. -A stout, black fellow, whisky bottle in hand, gave directions. At least -half the gang were women, each armed, like the men, with a formidable -handspike. They were very proud of their distinction, and wanted it -understood that dey wasn’t none ob you’ triflin’ hoe han’s; dey was -log-rollers, dey was. Selecting the log hardest to be moved, as the -center for a heap, the driver shouted, “Now, heah, hurry up dat log -dere, and put it on dis side heah!” A dozen handspikes were thrust under -the log, and every woman’s voice shouted, in shrill chorus, “Come up wid -de log! come up wid the log!” Sometimes the spikes were thrust under, -and the log was lifted bodily, the foreman shouting, “Man agin man dere! -gal agin gal! all togedder wid you, if you ’spec any water out o’ dis -bottle!” - -Sometimes, before these heaps were fired, the plows were upon them, -every plowman urging his mules almost into a trot, and the driver -occasionally shouting, “Git out o’ de way, there, you lazy log-rollers, -or we plow right ober ye.” The land was a loose loam, turning up like an -ash-heap; and both negroes and mules seemed to thrive on the hard work. - -The overseer rarely left the field. With one leg lazily thrown across -the pummel of his saddle, he lounged in his seat, occasionally -addressing a mild suggestion to one of the men, or saying to the driver -that the other gangs were pressing him pretty close. Then, riding over -to the next, he would quietly hint that the trash-gang was getting ahead -of them, or that the plows would catch them soon, if they weren’t -careful. All treated him with the utmost respect. I am satisfied that no -Northern laborers, of the same degree of intelligence, ever worked more -faithfully, more cheerfully, or with better results. - -On the first of April, the overseer told me, he intended to stop plowing -and plant the land then prepared. Then he should resume plowing, and -keep on plowing and planting till the whole eight hundred acres were -taken up. If he could finish it by the middle of May he should feel sure -of a good crop. Planting ended, he should go over the land, throwing the -earth _away_ from the young and tender cotton-plant, with a moldboard -plow. The hoes would follow the plows, carefully dressing up the rows, -and thinning out the cotton to one stalk for about every eighteen -inches. Then fresh scrapings, and plowings, and hoeings, continued, -without intermission, till perhaps the middle of July. Then would follow -a month of leisure, to be spent making cotton baskets, repairing fences, -and preparing the gins. By the middle of August, the lower bolls would -be opening, and the pickers would take the field. A couple of days later -the gin would be started. From that time until Christmas there would be -one constant hurry to pick and gin the crop as it bolled out. Fifty -bales a week were the capacity of the gin, and the overseer expected to -keep it driven to the utmost. Every Saturday, the cotton baled through -the week would be hauled to the river bank and shipped to New Orleans. -By the last of August, returns would be coming in from the crop, and -from that time the financial battle for the proprietors was over. - - * * * * * - -A day or two later I rode several miles further down the river, to a -plantation of two thousand five hundred acres, one thousand two hundred -of cleared land, which had recently been purchased for fifty-six -thousand dollars by a Northern man. The house was a comfortable -two-story frame, with abundant porches and large windows, looking -directly out through the carefully trimmed shrubbery, upon the -Mississippi, which flowed scarcely twenty yards from the door-step. At -the North, it would have been considered a very proper residence for a -substantial farmer owning a couple of hundred acres. On the river-bank -stood a curious log structure, built from the fragments of two or three -old flat-boats. Here, with genuine Yankee thrift, the new proprietor had -established a store to catch the negro trade. Its business was done -entirely for cash, and its sales averaged over fifty dollars a day—all -made at an average profit of one hundred per. cent. Calicoes, -cottonades, denims, shoes, hats, brass jewelry, head handkerchiefs, -candy, tobacco, sardines, cheese, and whisky were the great staples. The -latter was always watered down at least one-fourth, and the “fine” was -kept up by a liberal introduction of red pepper-pods. - -The work here did not seem to be progressing so well as at the -plantation last visited. The negroes were dissatisfied—why they seemed -scarcely able to explain. The new proprietor had not yet acquired their -confidence; he had perhaps been unfortunate in not properly yielding on -one or two points to their prejudices, and his overseer, with whom he -had quarreled, was doing his best to foment the discontent. This -overseer, it seemed, had been assigned a room in the house with the -family. To the great disgust of a daughter of the proprietor, he brought -a negro women with him. She couldn’t “stand such goings on under her -roof;” and, in the absence of her father, she promptly notified the -overseer “to turn out that nigger or leave.” The overseer preferred the -latter alternative, moved out to the quarters with the woman, and -speedily had the negroes in such a dissatisfied state that the -proprietor discharged him, drove off a number of the negroes, and went -to Georgia for more. Near Eufala he found a number who had formerly -belonged to the plantation. The most of them were getting nothing but -rations and lodging for their labor; six or eight dollars per month were -the highest wages any received, and all were eager to go back to -Louisiana, provided they were sure they wouldn’t be taken to Cuba and -sold. He had partially convinced them on this point, and he hoped soon -to have fifty or sixty fresh laborers, who would enable him to snap his -fingers at the discharged overseer and the dissatisfied laborers. - -The owner of this plantation, on his discharge from the army two years -before, had come down to this country not worth a hundred dollars. He -opened a wood-yard, got some fortunate wood contracts with the -government, accumulated a little money, and the next year leased some -plantations. His money was soon exhausted; but, by the aid of dextrous -manipulations of his credit and unlimited bragging about the value of -his crop, he worried through. His profits were about forty thousand -dollars, out of which he owed ten thousand dollars lease, and, perhaps, -as much more in small sums for supplies. His creditors, growing -impatient, sued him. This suited him exactly; the law’s delays were all -in his favor; and meantime he took the money and bought this plantation; -mortgaged it at once and so borrowed enough to carry him through the -year. Thus he was in two years the owner of a property which, before the -war, had been valued at two hundred thousand dollars; and with one good -crop would be entirely out of debt. - - * * * * * - -Next day I went to another plantation, not more than a mile or two -distant, to witness the Saturday issue of rations. It was a small -plantation, of six or eight hundred acres cleared land; but the owner -had, as yet, only twenty-five negroes, and did not expect to raise more -than three or four hundred bales. He had no overseer, went among the -hands himself, supervised their operations, and in his absence trusted -mainly to the two or three negroes to whom the rest had been accustomed -to look up as leaders. - -The little, one-story double cabin stood fronting the double row of -quarters. The street was thoroughly cleaned, the quarters all looked -neat, (for negro quarters,) and the negroes themselves seemed in the -finest spirits. A group of them stood gathered about the door of one of -the cabins, which was used as a store-room, with a motley collection of -tin buckets, bread-bowls, troughs, old candle-boxes, little bags, and -the like, in which to receive “de ’lowance.” One of the negroes chopped -up the rounds of mess pork, and weighed out four pounds to each, -carefully shaving off, with a knife, till the scales were exactly -balanced. The meal was measured by the proprietor himself, who had a -pleasant word or a joke for every applicant as she approached. Then a -negro took a tin cup, and baring his brawny arm to the elbow, dipped -down into the molasses barrel, bringing up cup, hand, and wrist clammy -with the black, viscous fluid, which was soon daubed over clothes, -barrels, and faces promiscuously. - -Room was presently made for a wrinkled, white-wooled old auntie, -blear-eyed, trembling, and thin-voiced. “Please, massa, can’t you gib me -little piece ob meat?” and she laughed a low, oily gobble of a laugh, as -though she thought her presuming to ask for it rather funny. “Why, -auntie, I thought you were so old you didn’t eat any now?” “Bress ye, -sah, I eats lots, an’ wen de cotton come, sah, I picks some for ye. Aint -strong ’nuff to pick much, sah, but I picks little for ye, close to de -house.” - -“Massa” handed her a piece of meat, and filled her outstretched apron -with flour; and the old woman stepped back into the crowd, her face -fairly aglow. A moment afterward, one of the girls said, as she took her -flour, “I wants meal dis time; had flour las’.” “You g’long!” exclaimed -the old woman with unwonted animation, “if you can’t take what white -folks gibs you, go widout.” - -“Heah, Lucy, you don’t want none.” Thus said the sable meat-chopper to -one of the women, young, and, according to negro ideas, pretty. “Jus’ -trus’ me wid your’n, den. You’ll be shore I wouldn’ steal it, ef I don’ -wan’ none.” “Lo’d! might jus’ ’s well frow it ’way ’t once. Take you’ -meat and g’long wid you!” But the beauty stood her ground, pork in one -hand, and pail of meal balanced on her head, distributing her dangerous -glances around, in a manner manifestly disconcerting to more than one of -her admirers. - -Nothing could exceed the general good humor. “They’re always so,” said -the owner. “If I had fifty more such hands I’d make a fortune this year; -but they really seem to have disappeared from the country.” Still he -hoped to pick up a few more as the season advanced. - - - - - CHAPTER XLIX. - - Plantation Negroes—Incidents and Characteristics. - - -The months of February and March, with a portion of April, I spent -mainly on Louisiana and Mississippi plantations, seeking to gain some -insight into the workings of the free-labor system on these large -estates, and especially to study the various developments of the -plantation negro character. It has been popularly supposed that the -negroes in the cotton-growing regions of the South-west were, from their -isolation in the swamps and their rarer contact with the whites, the -most ignorant, degraded, and unfit for freedom of their race. They had -escaped the careful observation given to the character of the -emancipated slaves along the coast; and, as it seemed, offered therefore -a comparatively fresh and inviting field for study. - - * * * * * - -Whether these plantation negroes would do less or more work now than in -a state of slavery, I found to be an unsettled point. Every old -slaveholder, I might almost say everybody in the old slaveholding -communities, vehemently argued that “niggers wouldn’t do more’n half as -much, now that the lash was no longer behind them.” On the other hand, -Northern experimenters told different stories. Some were disgusted with -the slowness and stupidity of the negroes; others said all they needed -was prompt pay. Give them that, and they would work better than the -average of uneducated white laborers. - -On three plantations, where I had the opportunity of watching their -performance critically at various periods during a couple of months, I -was convinced that when they were employed in gangs, under the -supervision of an overseer who had the judgment to handle them to -advantage, they did as well as any laborers. They seemed, by nature, -gregarious. Put one at some task by himself, and there was every -probability that he would go to sleep or go fishing. Even in gangs, not -half of them could be depended on for steady work, except under the eye -of the overseer or driver; but, with his direction, they labored -cheerfully and steadily. Doubtless they worked more hours per day while -in slavery; but, they were perfectly willing now to work as many hours -as any employer ought to ask. - -On many plantations they rose half an hour before daybreak, when the -horn first sounded. A few minutes before sunrise, the horn sounded -again, and they all started for the fields. By sunrise the whole force, -nearly one hundred and seventy hands, were at work. At noon they stopped -for an hour and a half—then worked till sunset. On others, the first -bell rang at four o’clock; at daybreak the second rang, and every hand -started for the fields—the wages of the tardy ones being docked. They -carried their corn-bread, boiled pork, and greens in little tin buckets, -and about eight o’clock all stopped for breakfast. In half an hour the -drivers called them to work again, which continued till twelve. Then -came an hour and a half’s rest, then work again till sundown. - -I never saw hands more cheerful or contented than some managed on this -last plan were. They had a new plantation, cut out of the swamp, to -cultivate. It had eight hundred acres of arable land, nearly the whole -of it incumbered with fallen logs. The cypress trees had been “deadened” -in 1859 and 1860; during the years of the war, they had fallen, until -the place was perfectly covered with them; and the task of rolling the -logs and preparing for the plow, was almost as great as that of the -original clearing. They had begun this work about the middle of January, -with only forty-two hands, little and big. The working force was -gradually increased, till in April they had sixty-five. By the first of -April they had six hundred and seventy-five acres bedded up and ready -for planting. The old estimate was, that each first-class hand should -cultivate ten acres. Here were hands, not first class, but men, women, -and children, who had under unusually unfavorable circumstances, cleared -off and prepared for planting, an average of nearly thirteen acres to -the hand. And the overseer, an old Southern one, said he had no doubt at -all about being able to cultivate all the cotton he could get planted. - -I observed, however, that when he thought they were not getting on fast -enough, he always found it necessary to offer some reward in addition to -their regular wages, to revive their drooping energies. One day he would -promise the plowmen all a drink of whisky, provided they finished a -certain “cut” by evening. Then a plug or two of tobacco would be given -to the hand who did the best work through the entire day. If they got -all the land cleared off in time for planting, they were to quit for a -day, go off to the lake across the swamp in a body and have a big -fish-fry. Still, the main motive, under the stimulus of which pretty -steady work was secured, was always that “at fust ob next month, Mass’r -—— (the proprietor) will be ’long wid greenbacks enuff to shingle a -house for us.” - - * * * * * - -The house servants seem singularly worthless. The praises of this class -of Southern slaves have always been loudly sung by their owners, but the -good cooks and rare housekeepers have certainly disappeared. On one -plantation which I visited, there resided at the “big house” only the -overseer and, for perhaps half of each week, the young proprietor. To -keep house for these two men, required the united energies of four -able-bodied negresses. One cooked; another assisted her; the third -waited on the table and swept the rooms; and the fourth milked the -cows—two or three in number—and made the butter! With all this muster of -servants, the two much waited-on white men lived no better than the -average of Northern day-laborers. - - * * * * * - -After the new planter had once secured their confidence, nothing seemed -more characteristic of the negroes than their constant desire to screw a -little higher wages out of him; or, in one way or another, to make him -turn over to them his superabundant greenbacks. All regarded him either -as an adventurous swindler, without any money at all, or as a Crœsus, -made of money. So long as they doubted his ability to pay them, they -were suspicious and watchful; captious as to the quality of the flour -and meal furnished them; severely critical on the pork, and perfect -almanacs as to the approach of pay-day. The crisis passed, supplies -abundant, money promptly paid when due, the planter then found himself -under constant siege, perpetually approached under covered ways, which -infallibly led to the citadel—his pocket. - -“Mass’r, I’se got my own ’pinion ob you,” I heard one gray-wooled fellow -say to his employer, with scrape of foot, tug at cap, and every -insinuating means of expressing profoundest respect and regard; “I -doesn’t tink your’m de hardest mass’r in de world; an’ all I wants is to -hab you ’sidah my case. I’s all ’lone; I’s allus been good niggah. Rain -or shine, me an’ my hoss am at your service. We hauls de feed for de -mules to de lowah place ebery day; and on Saturdays we hauls for Sundays -too, kase I’s ’ligious, an’ wouldn’t work on Sundays no how. Now, -mass’r, I wants you to please ’sidah my case. Doesn’t you tink dat for -dat extra work on Saturday you ought to ’low me anoder day’s wages?” and -he tugged off his cap again, and gave an extra scrape to the No. 14 shoe -which encased his foot. - -The facts in his “case” were, that he was employed to drive a wagon from -the granary on one place, each day, to the stables on the one below it, -both being controlled by one man, who, living at the upper place, -preferred to keep all his supplies under his own eye. The old man never -handled the grain; it was put in and taken out by others, and his sole -duty was to drive this wagon from one place to the other once a day. -This work done, he was generally sent to the swamp for a load of wood. -But on Saturdays, in consideration of his having two days’ supply of -grain to haul, he was given no other task. Now the shrewd old fellow -proposed to get extra pay for what he thus called extra work. - -A sickly young man, on one plantation which I visited in April, had been -hired to watch the stables at night; mules not being safe even from the -negroes on the place, much less from those roaming about over the -country. He could not make a “half hand” in the fields, but, in the hope -that good wages would make him faithful, he was engaged at precisely the -same rate with the first-class hands, although his work was the easiest, -and, during the greater part of the year, the pleasantest on the place. -He seemed perfectly satisfied for two or three months; then, suddenly, -he discovered that he was working Saturday and Sunday nights extra, and -for them must have extra pay. “Didn’t you contract to watch those nights -as well as the rest?” “Yes.” “Didn’t you contract to do this work -regularly for fifteen dollars a month?” “Yes.” “Well, what right have -you to charge extra for these two nights, after that bargain?” “Well, -it’s been mighty cold, sah, nights; but I wanted to watch to ’blige you; -but I’s sure you pay me extra for workin’ when de oder hands don’t -work!” - -At one place a man who was unable to do field work, had been hired to -feed the mules. He made his bargain, and was supposed to be entirely -satisfied. At first the mules were fed only at noon and in the evening. -After a while, orders were given to feed also in the morning. -Straightway Morton presented his claim for extra pay for this extra -duty. Soon afterward he had another claim for extra work—throwing in -corn to the mules on Sunday! And yet the whole work of this man -consisted in putting corn and hay for thirty mules in the troughs, both -being delivered to him at the door; and for this he was being paid the -same wages as the plowmen! - -“We’s worked mighty hard for you;” thus said a stout, pleasant-faced -negress on an upper-coast plantation to the proprietor, on the occasion -of his long-expected visit. “We’s cut down de briars, all de briars on -de whole plantation for you, and dey was mighty high an’ tough; an’ we’s -all in rags, for de briars done tore up all our coats,[75] an’ we want -you to gib us new ones.” - -“But, girls, I’ve just paid you off. Now, you ought to take that money -and buy your own clothes; that’s the way free laborers do up North, and -the world over.” “But we done tore our coats cuttin’ down you’ briars, -and we’s all rags. Why, if anybody’d come along heah you’d be ’shamed ob -us, ’deed you would, we looks so bad. An’ we all wants you to gib us new -coats. Den we fix up Sundays, an’ you be mighty proud o’ yo’ niggers.” -This last appeal was irresistible, and the girls got their “coats,” at a -cost to the planter of about two hundred and fifty dollars.[76] - -The feeling among the negroes about education varied considerably with -the locality. - -On the Fish Pond plantation a few soldiers, just discharged, had -recently been added to the working force. The old hands, most of whom -had belonged to the owner of the plantation, and had rarely traveled a -dozen miles from its lines, were disposed to look with critical eyes -upon the new-comers. The latter, in turn, were very eager to dazzle the -“home niggers” with a display of their acquirements. - -“Don’t you know figgers?” inquired one of them, rather pityingly, of the -young head-driver; selecting as the time for making his inquiry, an -occasion when a number of girls from another plantation were making them -a visit. The driver had not been at all satisfied with the questioner’s -performance in the field. “No, I doesn’t pretend to nuffin’ more ’n I -_does_ know, like some people dat’s lately come to dis plantation. But I -tell you, Dan, if I’d a had you heah fo’ yeah ago, and you didn’t wuck -no better’n you’m doin’ now, I’d made figgers on you’ back! You -miserable, good-for-nothin’ nigger, you done broke more barrers dan -you’m wuf already, an’ you ha’n’t wuck two days yet!” - -“Wat’s de use ob niggers pretendin’ to lurnin?” he continued, warming -with his subject. “Dey’s men on dis yeah plantation, old ’s I am, -studyin’ ober spellin’-book, an’ makin’ b’lieve’s if dey could larn. -Wat’s de use? Wat’ll dey be but niggers wen dey gits through? Niggers -good for nothin’ but to wuck in de fiel’ an’ make cotton. Can’t make -white folks ob you’-selves, if you _is_ free.” - -“Dere’s dat new boy, Reuben,” chimed in one of the others. “Massa Powell -sent me to weigh out his ’lowance. He brag so much ’bout readin’ an’ -edication dat I try him. I put on tree poun’ po’k, an’ I say, ‘Reub, kin -you read?’ He say, ‘Lord bress ye, didn’t ye know I’s edicated nigger?’ -I say, ‘Well, den, read dat figger, an’ tell me how much po’k you’m got -dar.’ He scratch him head, an’ look at de figger all roun’, an’ den he -say, ‘Jus seben poun’ zacly.’ Den I say to de po’ fool, ‘Take you’ seben -poun’ an’ go ’long!’ Much good _his_ larnin’ did him! He los’ a poun’ ob -po’k by it, for I was a gwine to gib him fo’ poun’!” - -I was surprised to find a good deal of this talk among many of the -plantation negroes. Wherever old Southern overseers retained the -control, and the place was remote from the towns, there was at least an -indifference to education, strikingly in contrast with the feverish -anxiety for initiation into the mysteries of print, everywhere -strikingly manifest among the negroes in cities and along the great -lines of travel. - -Elsewhere, however, I saw plantations where the negroes asked the -proprietors to reserve out of their wages enough to hire a teacher for -their children. All were willing to consent to this; those without -families as well as the rest. They preferred a white teacher, if -possible, but were willing to take one of their own color, if no white -one could be obtained. - -Even here, the proportion of young men and women who could spell out -simple sentences was not more than one or two in a hundred. Men of -middle age, often of considerable intelligence, professed their utter -inability to learn the alphabet. “’Pears like taint no use for we uns to -be tryin’ to larn; but ou’ chil’n, dey kin do better.” - - * * * * * - -On an extensive Mississippi River plantation, thirty or forty miles -below Natchez, which I visited two or three times in the months of -February and March, I was shown a negro who, in the old times, had been -considered the most vicious and dangerous slave in the entire -neighborhood. His owner, so the neighborhood gossip ran, had once sent -him over to Black River to be killed; and, at another time, had himself -been on the point of shooting him, but had been persuaded by his -neighbors to try milder measures. Twice, last year, the overseer had -tried to shoot him, but each time the cap on his revolver had snapped, -and before he could try again the negro had escaped behind the quarters. - -“When I came here,” said the present overseer, himself a Southern man, -who had been an overseer all his life, “I was warned against him, and -told that I had better drive him off the place; but I liked his looks -and thought I could make a good nigger out of him.” - -The “boy” walked across the space in front of the house, as he was -speaking, and respectfully lifted his hat to the overseer. He was a -model of muscular strength, and had a fine intelligent face; though -there were lines about it that spoke of high temper and a very strong -will of his own. - -He had now been under the new overseer’s management two months. There -was no better hand on the plantation. He had naturally taken the place -of foreman of the log-rolling gang; the negroes cheerfully followed him -as a leader, and he was doing splendid work. There had not been the -slightest trouble with him; had never been need for the use of a single -harsh word to him. “I believe he’ll steal when he gets a chance,” said -the overseer; “but I’d like to see the nigger on this or any other -plantation that won’t do that.” In fact, so handsomely had the vicious -slave behaved under the altered conditions of freedom and kindly -confidence, that his wages had been voluntarily increased one-third, and -he had once or twice been sent out as a trusty man to try and hire more -hands for the plantation. - -“There’s a proof,” said the Northern proprietor who had recently come -into possession, “of the evil influences of the old system. A man of any -spirit was sure to be driven into revolt by slavery, and then you had a -very dangerous nigger. Freedom makes a first-class hand of him.” - -The case seemed clear and convincing; and, for myself, I was fully -satisfied. During the next fortnight I remember often referring to it, -in conversations with the old slaveholders, and always, as I thought, -with clinching effect. But they all shook their heads, and said they -knew that nigger too well to be hoaxed that way. - -The next time I visited the plantation there was a manifest commotion -among the hands, although they were working steadily and well. “It’s all -along o’ that d——d reformed nigger of ours,” growled the overseer. “I’ll -never give in to the new-fangled notions again. A nigger’s a nigger, and -you only make a fool of yourself when you try to make anything else out -of him!” - -It seemed that, the previous Saturday, when the overseer came to give -out rations, he discovered that the lock of his “smoke-house” had been -tampered with, and that nearly half a barrel of mess pork, (costing, at -that time, thirty-four dollars per barrel, delivered,) had been stolen. -A little investigation revealed the loss of several gallons of whisky, -and of sundry articles, from the store-room. He said little about it, -but quietly made some inquiries; saying nothing, however, to or about -the “reformed nigger.” But on Monday morning the boy failed to go out to -work with the rest. Being asked the reason, he replied that “the niggers -had been lying on him, saying he had stolen pork and whisky, and he -wasn’t gwine to stay among no such set; he was gwine to leab de -plantation.” The overseer told him that would be a breach of his -contract; but he said he didn’t care, and privately told some of the -hands that “he wasn’t afraid of the overseer nor of no other d——d white -man arrestin’ him!” - -An hour or two later, the overseer, on riding out to the plow-gang, -found the fellow sitting there among them with a loaded gun in his hand. -One of the drivers told him Philos had threatened to kill “two niggers -on dis plantation ’fore he leave.” - -“I never carried arms in the field afore in my life,” said the overseer, -“but I rode straight back to the house then, and buckled on a ‘Navy-six’ -under my coat. I ’spect, if that nigger had stayed there, holding up his -gun, and lookin’ so sassy, I’d a shot him when I got back; but he -suspected something, and put out. At night, however, the scoundrel came -back, and fired off his gun back of the cabin where one of the drivers -lives. He’s got two guns and a pistol, and the niggers is all afraid of -him as death. One of the men he has threatened to kill is his own -brother-in-law. He’s hangin’ ’round the place somewhar yet, tryin’, I -suppose, to sneak off his clothes, and get his wife and some of the -other niggers to go with him.” - -I found, on careful inquiry, that the story was true in all its details. -My model reformed negro had back-slidden, and proved a sad reprobate. He -had been stealing whisky for weeks, by means of a false key, and had -been selling it at nights and on Sundays, to the negroes at a wood yard, -a few miles further down the river. He was enraged at being found out, -and particularly at the negroes whom he suspected of having informed on -him. - -It is very rarely, indeed, that one negro will expose another. “They -think it’s taking the part of the white man against their own people,” -explained a Mississippi overseer. “If, by any chance, some house servant -does tell you of the thefts of a hand, it will only be after exacting -innumerable promises that you will never, never, on any account, tell -how you found it out.” - -In the case of the backslider, a warrant was at once procured for his -arrest on the charge of theft. “The officer told me there was another -law, recently passed, under which I could arrest and imprison him for -carrying weapons on the plantation without my consent. He appointed me -special constable to make the arrest, and promised me that if the boy -would agree to go to work, after I’d had him shut up in jail three or -four days, he’d waive proceedings; let me take him out and try him, and -then arrest him again if he made any trouble. Fact is, this officer’s -very much like the old provost marshal, last year. You just tell him -exactly what you want done, and he’ll be very apt to do just about that -thing.” - -The remark may serve to illustrate how laws are administered, amid the -difficulties of the present chaotic state of affairs, in most cases, -when the subject race is involved. - -Hearing of the warrant, the boy ran away. In about three weeks he -returned, very defiant, and boasting that no white man could arrest him. -He had been to the Bureau, and knew the law; he was armed, and meant to -go where he pleased. But he was promptly taken, without resistance, -before a justice of the peace. Three negro witnesses conclusively -established his guilt, and he was committed to jail to await a trial by -court, with every prospect of being sent to the penitentiary for a year -or two. Among the witnesses against him was one of the men he had -threatened to shoot. When Philos was being locked up he called to this -man and said: - -“Arthur, you know I’s allus hated you, and talked ’bout you; but you was -right, when you tole me not to git into no sich troubles as dis.” - -“Philos,” ejaculated Arthur, precipitating his words out in shotted -volleys, “I allus tole you so. You said, when you come back, dat you’d -been to de Bureau—know’d de law—dat no white man could arrest you. I -tole you den you didn’t know nuffin ’bout law—dat no law ’lowed you to -carry on mean.” - -“Well, I t’ought I did know sumfin ’bout law, den, but I shore, now, I -don’t.” - -“Dat’s so, Philos; but I tell ye, you’m got in a mighty safe place now, -whar you’m got _nuffin in de wo’ld to do but to study law_! Reckon, -Philos, by de time you git out you’ll be mighty larned nigger ’bout de -law! Good-bye, Philos.” - -“The worst thing about these niggers,” explained the justice, “is that -they seem to have no conception of their responsibility. That boy, -Philos, can’t see why a word from his employer isn’t enough now to -release him, as it would have done while he was a slave. He doesn’t -comprehend the fact that he has committed an offense against the State, -as well as against his master.” - - * * * * * - -“Tol’able well, myself, but I’m not well contented,” replied one of the -best plowmen in the gang, on another plantation, which I visited in -March, to the inquiry of the young Northern proprietor, as to how he was -getting along. - -“Why, what’s the matter, Stephen?” - -“Sah, I tell you de trufe, I don’t git enuff to eat. Matter enuff, dat -is, for a man as works hard all day long.” - -“But, Stephen, you get the same rations with the rest, and the same that -your employers gave you all last year.” - -“Shore, sah, but I nebber had enuff, den, nuther, dough I nebber say -nuffin to nobody ’bout it, kase I’s not one de talkin’ kine.” - -“Bress you, sah,” grinned the plow-driver, who had been listening to the -conversation, “he nebber had ’nuff in his life. He’m allus hungry. He ’s -de power-fullest eater I eber did see.” - -“Dat’s fac’. I don’t brag on myself, but I kin eat a heap. I’s good -hand. I plows wid de bestest, and no man nebber pass me. When I hire for -man, I do best I kin for him, and take de best care I kin ob his mule; -but it mighty hard not to hab enuff to eat.” - -The difficulty of making an allowance in the weekly issues of rations, -for his inordinate appetite, without making the other hands -dissatisfied, was explained to him. - -“I’s got common sense. I kin see dat. But I don’t want to work for a man -and den have to buy what I eat. To be shore, I got de money, and de -chilen do eat a heap; but you don’t make no ’lowance for dem, and I -don’t want to spend de money what I earn by hard work buyin’ bread for -dem.” - -A promise of a drink of whisky pacified him. As we rode off the overseer -burst out into a hearty laugh. “Why, do you know now,” and his manner -indicated that he thought it a capital joke; “do you know—that fellow’s -just the biggest thief on these plantations! Lor’ bless you, how he -_can_ steal! He not got enough to eat! Well, hog meat must be mighty -scarce in all the nigger cabins around him when _he_ hasn’t got enough! -Why, I had to discharge him last year for stealing. It got so bad that -the very niggers couldn’t stand it. Even Uncle William’s piety was -disturbed by him. One Sunday morning Uncle William’s pig was gone, and -he couldn’t find hide nor hair of it. He knowed where to hunt, and he -pitched into Stephen’s cabin. I got down there just then; and Uncle -William was a talkin’ at him, I tell you. There was some hair there, -which Uncle William declared come off his pig; and he wanted to know -what that hair was doin’ in Stephen’s cabin, if Stephen hadn’t seen the -pig! Nigger meetin’ was broke up, that day, with the row. So things kept -goin’ on till I had to discharge Stephen. He cried like a baby, and -begged to be took back, but I wouldn’t. Then he went off. Three days -later, back comes Stephen with a first-rate mule. He cried and begged so -that I let him go to work again, and hired his mule. Three days -afterward, who do you think should come along, but a nigger guard a -huntin’ for Stephen. But that nigger was too sharp for them. They got -the mule; but Stephen took for the tall cotton, and nobody saw him for -two days. Come to find out, he had gone back into the country, when I -turned him off, and had found an old nigger woman on some little patch -in the woods plowin’ with a mule. He told her that was too hard work for -her, and that if she would go to the cabin and get some dinner for him -he’d plow for her. Soon as her back was turned, he mounts mule, cuts and -runs. Do you think, when I scolded him for it, the nigger said he -wouldn’t have stole the mule, but he was afraid I wouldn’t let him come -back, and he thought if he brought me a nice mule I might be more -favorable to him! That’s the kind o’ niggers you believe, when they tell -you they don’t get enough to eat!” And again the overseer enjoyed his -hearty laugh. - - * * * * * - -A succession of rains kept me shut up on a Louisiana cotton plantation -for several days, early in April. When Sunday came I accompanied the -overseer down to the negro church. It stood at the end of the street, on -either side of which were ranged the quarters. It had originally been a -double cabin, intended for a couple of slave families, like the rest of -the quarters; but the middle partition had been knocked out; and space -enough was thus secured to accommodate a much larger congregation than -that which we found gathered. But with frugal mind, the worthy overseer -had determined not to waste all this valuable room. A couple of beds had -accordingly been set up at one end of the cabin, and a negro family with -a sleepy-looking baby and one or two grown daughters had this for their -home. As you entered you had your choice—you could visit the family or -go to church, as you preferred.[77] At the other end stood the pulpit—a -rough platform, fronted by a contrivance which looked like the first -bungling effort of a carpenter’s apprentice at the manufacture of a -rough, pine mantle-piece. Four or five benches in front served for pews; -and on either side of the pulpit other benches were ranged, on which -gathered the fathers and mothers of this negro Israel. Square holes in -the walls, filled with swinging wooden shutters, answered the purpose of -windows. Above were the joists, brown with the smoke of many a year, -festooned with cobwebs, hung with here and there a string of -red-peppers, or a poke of garden herbs “for the ager,” and covered with -a collection of carefully preserved fishing rods. Against the -weather-boarding, which served also instead of ceiling or plastering, -were fastened pictures of Grant and Joe Johnson; and near the pulpit was -a rough, enlarged copy of Brady’s well-known photograph of Mr. Lincoln, -with “Tad” standing at his knee, looking over an album. The imaginative -copyist however had added a meaningless face, with hair smoothly gummed -to the temples, which was supposed to represent Mrs. Lincoln. Directly -behind the preacher’s head was nailed a New Orleans merchant’s -advertising almanac-card. - -Services were just beginning as we entered. One or two of the headmen -bustled about to get chairs for us; the rest continued their singing -with less staring and turning of heads than many a white congregation -exhibits over late comers. The women all wore comparatively clean calico -dresses; and the heads of all were wrapped in the inevitable checkered -and gay-colored handkerchief. Even the preacher’s head was bound up in a -handkerchief, none too clean, and over this his brass-rimmed spectacles -were made secure by means of a white cotton string. - -The old fellow, (who was none other than the plantation gardener,) was -not one of those who fail to magnify their office. He seemed pleased at -the chance to level his broadsides at two white men, and he certainly -showed us no mercy. “White men might tink dey could git ’long, because -dey was rich; but dey’d find demselves mistaken when damnation and -hell-fire was after dem. No, my breddering an’ sistering, black an’ -white, we must all be ’umble. ’Umbleness’ll tote us a great many places, -whar money won’t do us no good. De Lo’d, who knows all our gwines in an’ -coming out, he’ll ’ceive us all at de las’, if we behave ou’selves heah. -Now, my breddering an’ sistering, white an’ black, I stand heah for de -Lo’d, to say to ebery one ob you heah, be ’umble an’ behave you’selves -on de yearth, an’ you shall hab a crown ob light. Ebery one ob you mus’ -tote his cross on de yearth, eben as our bressed Master toted his’n.” - -This was about the average style of the sermon. Part of it was delivered -in a quiet, conversational tone; at other times the preacher’s voice -rose into a prolonged and not unmusical cadence. He was really a good -man, and wherever any meaning lurked in his numberless repetitions of -cant phrases, picked up from the whites to whom he had listened, it was -always a good one. The small audience sat silent and perfectly -undemonstrative. The preacher once or twice remarked that there were so -few present that he didn’t feel much like exhorting; it was hardly worth -while to go to much trouble for so few; and finally, with a repetition -of this opinion, he told them “dey might sing some if dey wanted to,” -and took his seat. “D——n the old fellow,” whispered the overseer, “he -don’t do no retail business, it seems. He wants to save souls by -hullsale, or else not at all!” - -A young man, wearing the caped, light-blue army overcoat, rose and -started a quaint chant. The congregation struck in and sung the line -over. The young man chanted another line, and the congregation sang it -after him; another was chanted, then sung; then another, and so on. It -was exactly the old Scotch fashion of “lining out,” except that instead -of reading the line which the congregation was to sing, the leader -delivered it in the oddest, most uncouth and sense-murdering chant ever -conceived. Presently several of the older members joined the young man -in the chant; then united with the chorus in thundering over the chanted -line again. Meantime, a number of the women began to show signs of an -effort to get up hysteric excitement. They drew up their persons to -their full hight, swayed back and forth, and right and left, then gave a -curious “ducking” motion to the head, bent down, seemed to writhe in -their efforts to rise; then drew up and began again. Presently one came -marching over toward our side, with eyes nearly shut, an -absurdly-affected expression of the ugly black features, grasped my hand -with effusion, and squeezed it as if it were a nut she wanted to crack. -Then came a squeaking “O-o-oh!” supposed to express unspeakable delight; -and she passed to the black man and brother by my side, catching both -his hands in the same vice, and going through the same performance. Thus -she moved from one to another around the church, while the singing grew -fast and furious, and the sisters twisted their bodies about -hysterically as they sang, and shouted “glory!” between the lines. - -The prayers were made up in about equal proportions of “Oh-a-o-ahs,” “O -merciful Father,” “Ooh-ooh-oohs,” profuse snuffling, and wiping of eyes -and nostrils, and ludicrously perverted repetitions of the common forms -of addressing the Deity, which they had heard among the whites. Many of -them seemed almost entirely destitute of any distinct, intelligible -meaning. The women furnished a running accompaniment, entirely novel to -me. One, a stout negress, with lungs like a blacksmith’s bellows, set up -a dismal howl through her nose. The rest joined in, in different keys, -and the combination furnished a sort of chant, without one word in it, -or one effort to articulate a word, which kept pace with, and sometimes -drowned out, the prayer.[78] - -Singing and prayer alternated several times. The demeanor of all was -earnest; and, so far as the emotions went, there could be no doubt of -their sincerity. Finally the preacher rose, announced that on “next -Sunday dere would be baptisin’, an’ all dat was ready for de water mus’ -be present. On de Sunday followin’ dere would be de funeral. Some forty -or more had died since de las’ one, and he mus’ hab deir names now afore -de funeral come off. Ef de water wasn’t too high, he would hab it -outside de levee, at de buryin’ groun’; but ef de water was ober dat, -dey would try an’ git ’mission of Mr. ——, (naming the overseer,) to hab -it in front ob de house, for der’d be a great crowd.”[79] And with that, -he reverently pronounced the benediction; and a few struck up a lively -hymn tune, while the rest dispersed to the quarters. - -It was very absurd; but, after all, who shall pronounce it valueless? -Perhaps they do rise from their knees to steal—even white church members -have been known to do the same. Perhaps most of them are too ignorant to -comprehend religious matters—but it is on white, not black, shoulders -that the sin for their ignorance rests. This very preacher had more than -once been dragged from the pulpit and given forty lashes for presuming -to repeat passages of the Bible, and talk about them to the slaves. - -[Illustration: _Paying Off.—Page 525._] - ------ - -Footnote 75: - - The Yankee change of the good old English “gown” into “dress,” has - been outdone by the plantation negroes in Louisiana. Instead of asking - for “dresses,” they ask for “coats.” “What a splendid coat dat ’ar - calico’d make!” - -Footnote 76: - - In Charleston harbor, the spring previous, Admiral Dahlgren showed our - party the plantation book of a heavy coast planter. He was a devout - man, paying tithes and giving God thanks for the good things of this - life. At the end of a successful year’s operations he humbly returned - thanks to a bountiful Providence, (as it was duly written down by - himself,) for having been blessed to the extent of a net profit of - thirty thousand dollars. Thereupon, in token of his gratitude, he - ordered a distribution of money to every slave he had—_six and a - fourth cents cash to each and everyone_! - - He had forbidden the slaves wandering about to other plantations; but - they wanted to sell their garden vegetables, and so he established a - domestic market. Everything was to be sold at the house, at the fixed - rates which he established. Eggs were to be bought at one cent per - dozen. Chickens were six and one-fourth cents per dozen, except in the - case of a favorite old man, who was to be paid double price for all he - had to sell. - -Footnote 77: - - Another church, which I found on a cotton plantation in Mississippi, - was located above the stable—the staircase leading up to it on the - outside, from the barn-yard. - -Footnote 78: - - This they call “mourning for their sins, as the angels mourn.” The - sounds were certainly the reverse of angelic. There are no words in - the “mourning;” it is simply a nasal, aggressive, persistent boo-hoo, - in chorus, by half the women present. Not a tear is to be seen, and - the girls often rise from their knees, and in half an hour are begging - the overseer for a drink of whisky. - -Footnote 79: - - When a dead person is interred, they call it simply the “buryin’.” - After thirty or forty deaths, they have a big meeting and a funeral - for the whole of them; thus distributing funeral honors, as the - overseer said the preacher did his salvation, “by hullsale.” At this - time the water was nearly over their burying ground, which was outside - the levee. - - - - - CHAPTER L. - - Further Illustrations of Plantation Negro Character. - - -I witnessed the monthly payments on several large plantations. On one -the negroes had never been paid before; their masters having retained -control of them till the end of the war. They had been hired about the -middle of January, and had worked till the beginning of March, without -asking for money. The lessee rode into the quarters and up to the -overseer’s house, one day at noon, and it was soon whispered among the -negroes that they were to be paid that night. Numbers of them, however, -had complicated store accounts, and it took the lessee longer to -interpret his overseer’s imperfect book-keeping than had been expected. -The night passed without a word being said to the negroes about payment; -they never mentioned it, and next morning were promptly in the fields -before sunrise. - -The following evening, however, they kept watching about the overseer’s -house; one and another making some little errand that would excuse him -for loitering a few moments by the steps or on the long gallery, and -presently all understood that “we’s to be paid greenbacks, shore enuff.” - -Finally a table was placed in the door of one of the rooms. The -pay-roll, store-book, and some piles of greenbacks and fractional -currency were spread out upon it, a couple of candles, fastened to the -table by smearing it with melted tallow and dipping the ends in it -before it congealed, furnished all the light. A hundred eager eyes -watched the proceedings from the doors of the quarters. At last the bell -was tapped by one of the drivers. In a moment or two the gallery was -covered by the “whole stock of the plantation,” (as the overseer -expressed it,) men, women and children. - -They stood at respectful distance in a circle around the table, and with -wide-eyed curiosity awaited developments. The lessee read from the -pay-roll the contract, and asked them if they understood it; all said -they did. Then he explained that, as they had only worked a couple of -weeks in January, he hadn’t thought it worth while to go to the trouble -of a payment for so short a time. Accordingly they were now to be paid -for this part of January and for the whole of February. But they were -only to be paid half what they had earned. The rest was to be reserved -till the end of the year as a security for their faithful fulfillment of -their contract. “That’s the security on one side. Perhaps, as most of -you haven’t known me very long, you’d like to know what security you -have, on your side that, at the end of the year I’ll keep my part of the -contract and pay you this money?” They said nothing, but looked as if -they _would_ like to know. “Well you’re going to raise a big crop of -cotton, aren’t you?” “Yes, _sah_” with emphasis. “Well, the bigger the -crop the bigger your security. Every bale of that cotton is yours, till -you are paid for your work out of it, and the Freedman’s Bureau will see -that it pays you.” - -Then he read over the long pay-roll, told each one how many days he or -she had worked, and how much had been earned; how much of this was due -now, and how many dollars or cents were to be paid at the end of the -year. “Dat’s so,” occasionally interrupted one in a reflective manner. -“I did miss five days, I’d done forgot all ’bout it till you tole me.” - -Next he read over the charges in the plantation store against a number -of them. Then began the payments. Looking out from the lighted doorway -into the darkness, one could see the fringe of black faces lining the -gallery, their eyes shining as the light from the candles struck upon -them. Beyond was blackness and a confused murmur of many whispers; -within, the circle advanced one and another to the table to receive the -currency rapidly counted out. The lessee carefully explained to each how -much there was, and that a similar sum was still due; counted the money, -note by note, folded it up, and handed it over. The negro looked with a -puzzled air, took the money as if it were fragile glass, and must be -handled very carefully or it would be broken, and went off very much -with the air one always imagines, the man must have worn who drew the -elephant in a raffle. - -“Missah ——,” exclaimed one, “I done wuck mighty hard fo’ you, chop -briars and roll logs, and you haint paid me nuffin at all.” - -“Haven’t I? Didn’t you get two new dresses, three rings, and a breastpin -out of the store?” - -“Well, but you don’ gib me no money.” And it took not a little laborious -explanation on the part of the lessee, before the finery-loving young -negress could be made to understand that she couldn’t take up her wages -in the store and still draw them in money—couldn’t both eat her cake and -have it. - -“Missah ——, how much does you pay me a month?” - -“Ten dollars.” - -“Well, you done gib me, you say, only dollah and six bits.” - -“Yes, but you’ve been working only a few days. Don’t you know, you’ve -had the chills nearly all the time?” - -“Well, but you say you pay me ten dollah a month, and you doesn’t do it. -Aint you payin’ for de month? An’ if you is, why don’t I git my ten -dollah?” - -Cases of this sort, however, were rare. Here was a more common one: - -“Missah —— doesn’t you pay me fifteen dollah a monf?” - -“Yes.” - -“But you aint done gib me a bit o’ money.” - -“No; but how much did you get out of the store, Ben?” - -“He didn’t git nuffin in de wo’ld ’cept stuff fo’ one shirt an’ a pair -o’ boots,” interposed his old mother. - -“No, auntie, you’re mistaken; he got several things for you. Don’t you -remember having a box of sardines for dinner, a week or two ago?” - -The old woman ’peared like she did ’member dat. - -“And haven’t you had cheese, three or four times?” - -Nebber in de wo’ld but onct, she was shore, or most-ways, more ’n twict. - -“Now, auntie,” said the lessee, improving the occasion after the fashion -of the divines, “you have a right to spend your earnings any way you -please; you’re free. It’s none of my business what you do with your -money. But if you would let me give you a little advice, I’d tell you -all not to waste your money on fish, and candy, and rings, and -breastpins, and fine hats. If you will have them, we’ll sell them to -you, but you had better not buy so freely. Look how Ben. has wasted his -money!” And he proceeded to read the following account: - - BEN. BROWN, DR. - - To one pair Boots $7 00 - To one pair Mackerel 50 - To one pair Sardines 50 - To one pair One Ring 1 00 - To one pair Shirting 2 00 - To one pair Candy 50 - To one pair Mackerel 1 00 - To one pair Cheese 50 - To one pair Two Rings 2 00 - To one pair Breastpin and Ear-rings 6 00 - To one pair Whisky 1 00 - To one pair Whisky 50 - To one pair Tobacco 50 - To one pair One Ring 1 00 - To one pair Two Rings 2 00 - To one pair Mackerel 50 - To one pair Whisky 50 - To one pair Candy 50 - To one pair Sardines 50 - To one pair Candles 50 - To one pair One Ring 1 00 - To one pair Hat 2 50 - To one pair Tobacco 50 - To one pair One Skillet 1 50 - To one pair Candy 50 - ——— - Total $34 50 - -As every item of this precious account was read, Ben. nodded his head. -Presently the people began to laugh, and the reading ended in a roar. -Ben., it seemed, had a good many sweethearts, and the whole plantation -knew, better than his old mother did, where the wondrous succession of -brass rings had gone. To the girls who wore them, the joke seemed -particularly funny, and Ben. got no sympathy in his discomfiture. - -About two hundred dollars served to complete the entire payment for -sixty-five hands. Half of them had already been paid all, and more than -all, that was due them, from the store. In such cases, the lessee, while -giving the overseer strict instructions to credit them no more, unless -in cases of absolute need, was very careful to conceal from them the -entire amount of their indebtedness. “There’s danger of their running -off,” he argued, “if they knew how deep they had got into us.” - -One old woman asked for her full wages, saying she wanted to go to -another plantation to be nearer her husband. “Don’t you know that you -contracted with me for a year?” “Don’t know nuffin about it. I wants to -go ’way.” “Haven’t you been well treated here?” “Yes.” “Well, I’m -keeping my part of the contract, and you’ve got to keep yours. If you -don’t, I’ll send you to jail, that’s all.” - - * * * * * - -On another plantation the mode of dealing with the negroes approached -nearer the cash basis. Nearly all were well supplied with clothes and -other necessaries, when hired, and there was, therefore, no necessity -for giving them credit in the plantation store. Tickets were issued for -each day’s work. If anything was wanted before the end of the month, the -tickets were received for goods at their face value; but no goods were -sold without payment either in money or tickets. - -The payment began in the evening as soon as the day’s work was over. The -proprietor took his place in the overseer’s room. The people gathered on -the gallery and clustered about the door. As the names were called, each -one entered the room, producing from some cavernous pocket-book or old -stocking-foot a handful of tickets. The overseer rapidly counted them, -the negro closely watching. Often it was insisted that there ought to be -more. In every such case they were at once counted over again, slowly -and distinctly. It rarely happened that this did not end the dispute. -Sometimes, however, fresh search in some unexplored pocket, or a return -to the quarters and examination of the all-concealing bed-clothes, would -produce another ticket or two. - -The number announced, the proprietor called off the amount earned, and -counted out one-half of it, while the overseer wrote an informal -due-bill for the other half, and the next name was called, while the -slow-motioned negro was gathering up his change and due-bill. - -Outside could be heard the grumbling of those who thought they ought to -receive more, the chucklings of the better satisfied, the speculations -of the unpaid as to how much they would get; and over all, the plans of -the women as to what they would buy wid de money, fus’ time we’s go to -Natchez. Sometimes one would be absent when the name was called. The -rest shouted it in chorus, and presently the missing negro would come -running up, tickets in hand, crying, “Heah me!” “Heah me!” - -They seemed to have poor success in keeping the money. At the very -payment I have been describing, an old blind carpenter, (who, strangely -enough, really earned ten dollars a month, in spite of his blindness, -making hoe-handles, plow-handles, and the like,) lost his pocket-book. -Next morning it was carefully placed under his door, but the money was -all gone, with the exception of an old Confederate five-dollar bill, -which had been considerately left behind. The next day the elder of a -family of three girls took out her pocket-book, containing the money of -all three, from its hiding place in the bed, to buy some candy. She -replaced it at once, and went out of the cabin. On her return, a few -minutes later, the pocket-book was gone, and the poor girls were twelve -dollars poorer. - -In general, the girls spent their money almost as soon as they got it. -Most of the men were more economical. Some of them had a hundred or more -dollars saved up. - -The pay roll disclosed some quaint freaks of nomenclature. “They’ve had -the greatest time picking names,” said the overseer. “No man thought he -was perfectly free unless he had changed his name and taken a family -name.” “Precious few of ’em,” he slily added, “ever took that of their -old masters.” - -One boy was called “’Squire Johnson Brown.” It seemed that his mother, -“since dis time come,” (as they always say when they mean since their -emancipation,) had chosen to call herself Brown; and, like a dutiful -son, he thought it would be no more than respectable that his last name -should be the same as his mother’s. But there was a ’Squire Johnson over -on Black River, for whom he had a great regard; and, as he had a name to -take, he insisted on taking Squire Johnson’s. This, however, was quite a -minor performance compared with that of another boy, whose name was duly -written down, “States Attorney Smith!” - -Neither here nor at any point through the regions of the great -plantations did I discover any such knowledge of their Northern -benefactors as would naturally be evinced in names. There were no -Abraham Lincolns among them; no Charles Summers; no Wendell Phillips; or -Owen Lovejoys. There were plenty of Chases, but I could not find that -any of them knew they bore the same name with the Chief-Justice, or had -selected it with the slightest reference to him. - -An old man, white-headed, with shrunken eyes and broken voice, came in. -“If’t please you, sah, I hears as you’s ou’ new mastah. I’s old nigger -on plantation, sah, an’ I’s come to ask you if you’d be so good as to -please be so kin’ to ole nigger as has allus worked faithful all his -days, as to git me a little piece o’ groun’ to plant co’n and punkins, -to help keep me an’ ole ’oman?” - -“O, yes, uncle, we’ll give you a garden.” - -“But, sah, I’s got garden already, what ole mastah gib me, long time -ago, and I’s allus had. But, mastah, you mus’ considah I’s got to buy my -close now, an’ my shoes, an’ my hat, an’ my ole ’oman’s close; an’ I -wants to make a little meat; an’ if you’d be so good as to please let me -hab patch of groun’ for co’n an’ punkins besides.” - -“How old are you, uncle?” - -“Sebenty-five yeah, sah.” - -“Have you no children who could support you?” - -“You’s got ’em hired for you, sah. Dere’s John, an’ Ruthy, an’ Milly, -an’ Jake. But dey’s got deir own fam’lies; an’ when man gits ole dey -don’t care so much. Sometimes dey gib me piece o’ meat, and sometimes -dey say dey haint got none for me; den it comes pretty hard on me an’ -ole ’oman. You gibs me half ’lowance, sah; ef’t wasn’t for dat, I spec -we couldn’t lib ’t all.” - -The South is full of such cases. In most instances, to their credit be -it said, the old masters give the worn-out negroes a little land to -cultivate and houses to live in; but very often they have no ability to -go further. Sometimes the children support their aged parents; -sometimes, as here, they plead that they have their own families to -maintain, and seem to feel sure that, rather than see them starve, the -whites will take care of them. Northern lessees feel all their notions -of conducting business on business principles outraged at the idea of -having to support all the old negroes, in addition to hiring the young -ones; but, in the main, their feelings get the better of their business -habits. The instances are very rare in which old and helpless negroes, -deserted by their children and by their former masters, are driven off -or left to starve by the new-comers. In this case, the old man was -allotted about an acre and a half of land, was furnished a house, and -supplied with half rations; all of which was pure charity, as there was -no possible way in which he could make any return to the hard-pressed -lessee, who had already paid an exorbitant rent (twenty-five dollars per -acre) to the old master for the land. - - * * * * * - -The wife of one of the head-drivers on a Louisiana plantation, had been -for some months confined to the house, and most of the time to her bed, -by a very curious gangrenous disease, which had attacked one foot. It -became necessary, in the opinion of the physicians, as well as of the -old woman herself, and of her husband, to amputate the entire foot. “It -really _is_ necessary in this case,” explained the physician privately; -“But nine times out of ten, when these niggers will come to you and beg -you to cut off a leg or an arm, there is no real need for any operation -at all. They have a great notion for having amputations performed; and -really, sir, I’m afraid that sometimes our young physicians have been -tempted by the fine chance for an instructive operation, to gratify them -when they should not.” - -In many parts of the South, the number of these young physicians is -somewhat startling. Young men who felt the desirability of having a -profession, although without either necessity or desire for practicing -it, have resorted to medicine, as at the North, under similar -circumstances, they would have adopted the law. Medicine has been the -aristocratic profession. - -At the time appointed for the amputation, in the case of the driver’s -wife, a young gentleman came to see the operation performed. He was the -son of a South Carolina rice-planter. For two years he had not heard -from his father, and he was very anxious to know whether I had observed -the condition of the old homestead on Edisto, when among the Sea -Islands, the previous spring. Formerly, he had been a rice-planter -himself; but now he had to take up the practice of his profession; and -he had thus of late been led to give his attention to some plan for -organizing proper medical care for the poor negroes, who now had no kind -masters, bound by self-interest, if not by affection, to secure them the -best possible attendance. In short—to strip away his delicate -circumlocution—he wanted to get a contract on the plantations by which -each able-bodied negro would pay him fifty cents a month, (making a net -profit of say fifty dollars a month from each plantation,) in return for -which he would prescribe for them when they needed anything. He thought -that if ten or fifteen plantations would give him such a contract, he -would be able to live by it. I thought so too. - -Like most South Carolinians he had no difficulty in expressing his -political views. As to secession, he supposed it was settled by the -argument of force. On that, and on slavery, the only thing the Southern -people ought to do was simply to accept the situation. But to whip them -back into the Union, and then keep out their representatives till the -Northern States had prescribed a rule of suffrage for the South, which -they wouldn’t adopt themselves, was a subversion of republican -principles. “I’d stay forever without representation, first, and let -them govern us as territories. But I tell you what our people will do; I -say it with shame; but even South Carolinians, of whom I am particularly -ashamed, will do it. They will all submit to whatever is required. -They’ll do whatever Congress says they must; and so our only hope is in -the noble and unexpected stand Johnson is taking for us. - -“After all,” he continued, after a moment’s thought, “it’s very curious -that we should be depending on such a man. I’m glad of his stand, -because he’s on our side; but what a miserable demagogue he is and -always was!” - -We waited and waited for the physician in charge of the case, but he -broke his engagement completely. When two or three days afterward, he -was seen and asked about it, he explained that this young South -Carolinian had told him he had been called in as a consulting physician -in the case. “I thought it very strange; and I’m very cautious about -these consulting physicians with whom I have no acquaintance. I lost a -life through one of them once. I always called that death, killing by -courtesy; and my conscience won’t stand any more of it; so sir, I stayed -away.” - -“It seemed that he had once been summoned to amputate the leg of a -negro, injured by some accident at the cotton-gin. He found another -physician in charge, who was expected to assist him. I asked the fellow -to control the circulation while I prepared for the operation, which was -to be performed not far from the ankle. D——n the blockhead, sir; what do -you suppose he did? Why, sir, he applied the tourniquet to the femoral -artery almost at the top of the thigh! But what could I do? I did -venture to ask him if he felt quite sure that would stop the bleeding -below the knee, and he bristled up as if I had insulted him. To have -said any more would have been to have had a duel on hands with the son -of one of our first families, and to have been ruined in the community -whether I fought him or not. So I had to go ahead and perform the -operation. The very first motion of the knife deluged me with blood! The -poor negro bled to death, of course; and I called it killing by -courtesy. I’ve done with that sort of thing. I’ll perform that operation -out there, for it is sadly needed; but you must keep that ‘consulting -physician’ away. I have nothing to do with consulting physicians about -whom I know nothing!” - -I subsequently witnessed the operation. Three or four negro women were -in the room. The stolidity with which they watched the carving and -bleeding of their sister’s person seemed amazing. Only once did they -manifest the slightest emotion—when the saw began to grate on the bone. -Yet they were kind enough to the poor sufferer; though I could not -resist the impression that her life or death was a matter of comparative -indifference to them. “Niggers never care for one another much,” said -the overseer. Could he be right? They often manifest abundance of -emotion—is it _so_ abundant as to be without depth? - -The husband, however, professed great joy. “I’s tuck care o’ ’Manda dis -long. She done cost me more ’n tree hundred dollars, but I’s spend tree -hundred more, if dey’s needed. Nebber you cry ’Manda. I’ll watch you -long’s you live, and after you’s dead. I’s watch you long’s a bone’s -leff.” He gave an account of the origin of the disease: - -“One night, she done been hollerin’ all de night long. In de morning she -git me look at her foot. Juss as I look, she gib a big scream, and out -of de little sore on him bottom dere popped de last rattle from de end -ob a rattlesnake tail. Den I know what de matter. Didn’t I, Mr. Smith?” -appealing to the overseer. “Didn’t I go straight to you an’ tell you -some o’ dem bad niggers been a conjurin’ wid de debbil on my wife? Den I -ax you for some whisky dat no man nebber mix no water wid. You gib me -some. Den I tuck dat rattlesnake button out o’ my wife’s foot down to de -ribber, an’ I conjure on him. Fust I say words ober him. Den I sprinkle -whisky, dat dere’s nebber been no water in, ober him. Den I sprinkle -some whisky in de ribber. Den I frow him in after de whisky. Den I -sprinkle more whisky atop of him. An’ den I tuck good drink o’ whisky, -dat dere’s nebber been no water in, myself.” - -But the other negroes conjuring with “de debbil” were too much for poor -Charles, whisky and all; and his wife’s foot had grown steadily worse. -When I first saw her, she was propped up in a chair, screaming every -minute or two as if she were in mortal agony, and employing the -alternate moments in gnawing at a huge stick of peppermint candy which -her husband had brought her. After the operation was performed, she -seemed highly pleased, and there was every reason to hope that she would -recover. - -“She not my wife berry long,” explained the driver, with an appearance -of actual pride in the announcement. “She done been my sweetheart, long -afore she been my wife. I had two or tree chil’en by her while she my -sweetheart. When my old wife die, de moder of dese gals you see here, I -tought dere was no use foolin’ ’bout so much, so I sends to de corral -where ’Manda was, an’ I done hab her ebber since.” - -In all this he was but a type of the whole class of plantation negroes -in Louisiana. I have seen hundreds of such cases. I do not think it too -strong an expression (judging from the evidences on every hand, and from -the concurrent testimony of all parties, Northerners, Southerners, -whites and blacks) to say that, among the old plantation slaves of -Louisiana and Mississippi, virtue was absolutely unknown. Neither men -nor women had any comprehension of it; nor could I learn that the -highest standing in their churches made the slightest difference. Yet -who shall deny the Christianizing influences of slavery? Have not -doctors of divinity attested it; and do we not know them, that their -testimony is true? - - * * * * * - -In the last days of March I was riding with a Northern lessee of a fine -plantation on the Mississippi, over his back land. Sixteen double plows -and a gang of fifty hoes were rapidly diminishing the distance between -the land “bedded up, ready for cotton-planting,” and the swamp at which -their labors were to terminate. The field resounded with the ringing -snatches of song from the merry women in the hoe-gang, and with the -cries of the plowmen: “Git up, Mule!” “You, Bully, I say, whar you gwine -to!” “Mule, didn’t I tell ye, las’ week, I’d thrash you if you sarve me -dat trick agin!” “Now, Mule, don’ you fool wid me any more!” “Git up, -Morgan, you heifer you!” - -The fiery-red clouds which marked the sun’s place, had sunk till they -were casting their shadows through the swaying moss on the cypress in -the swamp, and the overseer was just riding over from the hoe-gang to -tell the plowmen to turn out for the night. A stout, broad-faced woman, -big enough and strong enough to knock down almost any man on the -plantation, came stalking up to the proprietor, as he lounged in the -saddle, with his right leg thrown over his horse’s neck, watching the -last labors of the day: - -“If you please, sah, I’s a good han’ as everybody know, an’ I’ll go -farder, an’ do cleaner dan any woman on dis place; an’ I ax ob you juss -one favor; an’ I want you, sah, fur to please fur to grant it; an’ I’ll -be mightily obleged to you.” - -“What is it, Aunt Susan? I know you’re a good hand—none better.” - -“Dat’s so, sah. You set me to work by myself an’ you’ll be ’sprised. I’s -do more wuck one day dan you spec from any tree women you got on de -plantation. I allus good nigger, an’ I wucks faithful fur you allus. An’ -de favor what I ax of you, an’ I wan’ you to please fur to grant it, is -dat you let my daughter Maria, heah, come home to me from your upper -place, an’ stay heah wid me, her mudder.” - -“Why, auntie, she’s Jasper’s wife. You don’t want to take her away from -Jasper. He’s one of our drivers, and one of the smartest men on the -upper place.” - -“Well, I dunno ’bout dat. I tought him smart too; but Jasper done beat -my Maria hisself, an’ dat wat I don’ think he do right. But to-day de -women up dere, fur I tell you de trufe, dey all hate my Maria. You don’ -know dem niggers as I knows ’em. ’Fore God, dere aint nuffin in dis -wo’ld, as God is my helper, so mean as a mean nigger. I know dem -Scotland niggers. Dey’s a mighty mean set; and dey’s all togedder -’gainst my Maria. To-day at noon, you had Jasper away, and dem women -know’d it. So dey tole lie an’ sed Maria done tore up Flora’s dresses; -an’ dey gits around her, an’ double-teams on her an’ beats her mos’ to -death; an’ I wants you, sah, if you please, sah, to let Maria come down -from dat mean upper place, an’ stay heah wid me.” - -“What! and leave Jasper?” - -“Dunno nuffin ’bout Jasper. Reckon if he care much for her, he can come -and see her’n; if he don’ nobody’ll care. He can come or stay ’way, jus’ -as he please.” - -The girl, Maria, stoutly confirmed her mother’s story. “Dey all done -double-team on her, an’ beat her mos’ to deff. Ef Jasper’d been dere, -dey wouldn’t ’ve done it, but dey know’d Jasper was gone.” She was -altogether the prettiest girl on either of the plantations, with regular -and really quite expressive features, small hands and feet, and a -well-formed person. Withal, she was as black as jet. - -“De trufe is, sah, she won’ tell you, but I will. Jasper done been -runnin’ after oder women up dere too much, an’ dat’s de reason dey hates -Maria. Jasper’s mammy, she’s agin Maria, an’ de pore chile haint a fren -on de whole mean place, an’ I wish you would _please_ let her come down -an’ stay wid me. Dey try to poison her las’ yeah, an’ now dey try beat -her to deff. But _please_ let her come to her mammy, an’ I’s take care -ob her!” And she shook her mighty fist in earnest of the way she meant -to do it. - -It was finally arranged that she should bring Maria back to the upper -place, (from which she had run away after the quarrel at noon,) that -Jasper should be called in, and the affair arranged in any way they -could agree upon. - -So, by seven o’clock in the evening, up they came, sure enough. Meantime -it had been ascertained that the girl had really slipped into the house -of Flora Aitch, of whom she was particularly jealous, and had torn all -her fine dresses. Flora was in high dudgeon, swore she would strip dat -Maria naked ’fore God an’ man but she’d have pay or revenge. Jasper, -too, had been consulted. He said Maria was lazy, and he had been -compelled to whip her several times; but he would have got along well -enough if it had not been for that sneaking, meddling mother-in-law. -Altogether, it was very much such a complication as will break out -sometimes even in the social relations of the “master race.” - -The proprietor was by this time pretty well broken in. He had become -used to a great many droll performances, and divorcing a married couple -seemed about as easy to do as anything else. - -“Well, are you all satisfied to quit? Jasper, what do you say?” - -“I says dey do jus’ as dey please. Dey didn’t ’suit me fust, an’ I hab -no’ting to do wid it last. M’ria’s mammy done treat me like dog all de -time. If she want to take M’ria ’way, she can do it. I’s nuffin to say.” - -“Maria, you said, out in the field, you loved Jasper dearly. Do you want -to leave him?” - -“So I does lub Jasper. But I don’ wan’ dem women to double-team on me, -an’ beat me when he ’way.” - -“But do you want to leave him, and go to live with your mother again?” - -“No use axin’ her,” interrupted Jasper angrily. “Ax dat ’oman dere, her -mudder. She got all de say, an’ done hab it ebber sence I had her -daughter.” - -“Yes, you mean t’ing; an’ you beat my chile, an’ run off from her arter -oder women.” - -“Dat not true. I nebber done nuffin ob de sort, nebber; but you done -keep tellin’ pack lies on me all de time.” - -By this time both were talking at once, at the highest pitch of their -voices, and gesticulating with corresponding violence. The poor girl -stood between them, her hands meekly clasped together, awaiting the -result of the quarrel. The overseer looked on with a contemptuous smile, -“he’d seen such rows among niggers all his life;” and three or four -women—with the curiosity said to be occasionally evinced by some of -their sex—had slipped in the room to watch the contest. - -The proprietor quietly waited for one or other of the parties to get out -of breath. Each had a decided disposition to “get into the wool,” of the -other, but the presence of white folks prevented. At last Aunt Susan’s -tones could be made out amid the din: - -“You went off wid Flora Aitch, you good-for-nothin’ nigger! I was dar, -dough you didn’t know it! I seed you! Den w’en you cum back to your -wife, w’y didn’t you make much ob her, an’ try to make up? But, no! you -goes to wuck an’ beats her!” - -“Ob co’se I beats her, kase she need it; I allus will! Who’d hab a wife -ef he didn’t beat her w’en she didn’t behave herself? But I allus treats -M’ria well, an’ you knows it, an’ so does my mammy.” - -“I don’ care nuffin ’bout your beatin’ her w’en she deserve it, but w’en -you go off after oder women, you no business to come back an’ beat her.” - -And on that rock they split. Jasper maintained the indefeasible right of -a husband to flog his wife, and the mother, while admitting the general -principle, insisted that there ought to be exceptions. - -“Well, I’ll settle this very soon,” said the proprietor at last. “Aunt -Susan, take Maria down with you. I hold you responsible for making her -work as much as Jasper did.” - -“T’ank you berry much, sah!” And out they went, divorced by this summary -process, and apparently all the better friends for it. - -But in the quarters there was soon fresh uproar. They had gone to -Jasper’s cabin to get Maria’s clothes, and had here encountered Jasper’s -“mammy.” The two old women began storming at once, and the full -vocabulary of negro billingsgate rang through the entire quarters. A -crowd collected about the door, and in a moment Flora Aitch appeared, -rampant in her demands for pay for her torn dresses, “afore dat sneakin’ -gal carries her rags ’way from heah!” “Or I’ll strip you,” she yelled at -the open door, “’fore God! I’s strip you naked’s soon’s you set your -dirty foot outside. I’s pound you! I’s cut you up! I’s eat you -blood-raw! I’s mad, I is, an’ I’s do anyt’ing, if you don’ pay me for -dem tore dresses!” - -The calmer negresses approved the justice of Flora’s complaint. “She -ought to be made to pay for dem.” “It ought to be tuck out ob her -wages.” “If ’twas my dresses she done tore, she wouldn’ git off so -easy.” Nobody seemed to think anything of Flora’s alleged criminality -with Jasper. Maria’s provocation to the offense was as nothing. It was a -mere matter-of-course; “but dem tore dresses was a burnin’ shame.” - -At last Maria’s effects were all bundled up, and she her mother appeared -at the door. Flora was by this time quite composed, especially as she -saw the overseer near, and ready to prevent blows. “Dere she come, a -totin’ her rags. Leb her go. She done brought nuffin but rags when she -come heah, an’ she got nuffin but rags to take away, ’cept what Jasper -fool enough to gib her. But she pay me yet for dem tore dresses, or I -eat her blood.” It was hinted by some of the peaceably disposed that the -women might slip down the road, between the two plantations, and waylay -Maria. Accordingly the overseer, followed rather sulkily by Jasper, -accompanied them down to the “line ditch.” - -“Well, dat’s breakin’ up mighty easy,” said one of the women. “Lo’d help -me, _I’d_ make more fuss ’fore _my_ husband should leave me. I’d hold on -to him tight, I would. I’d tear him coat all off ob him, any way, ’fore -he git off.” - -“Dat wouldn’t help you none. I’s smarter’n dat,” said another. “I’d my -man afore white man up to Natchez; an’ I done got paper to hole him. -Jus’ lef him leab me if he dar’; I take dat paper to de provo’, an’ he -go to jail, or he come back an’ lib wid his wife, me.” She had procured -a marriage certificate. The most laughed at her; said that wouldn’t keep -a man, if he wanted to go, and that the best thing was to get somebody -else. - -“Tell Jasper come and see me,” said Maria to the overseer, as they -parted. “If he don’t, I’ll go back an’ see him.” - -“Dat won’t do her no good,” growled Jasper, when he heard it. “I’s glad -to git rid ob her, an’ she never need come back to me. I won’t hab her -no more.” - -“Pshaw, they’ll be better friends than ever in a month. Jasper will get -another wife now, and have Maria for his sweetheart.” Thus said the -practical overseer. - -And so ended the new proprietor’s first divorce case. It may serve to -give an insight into some of “our domestic relations.” - - - - - CHAPTER LI. - - Payments, Strikes, and other Illustrations of Plantation Negro - Character. - - -On one of the “best-stocked” plantations that I visited in Louisiana, I -witnessed, in March, a “strike” of the entire force. It was a curious -illustration, at once of the suspicions and the docility of the blacks. - -The negroes had been hired by a Southern agent, who had formerly acted -as factor for the plantation. These gentlemen are never likely to fail -in magnifying their offices; and in this particular case it happened -that the agent left very distinctly upon the minds of the negroes the -impression that he was hiring them on his own account. “When, therefore, -a month or two later, the proprietor went out and assumed charge, they -became suspicious that there was something wrong. If they had hired -themselves to the old factor, they didn’t see why this new man was -ordering them around, unless, indeed, he had bought them of the factor, -which looked to them too much like the old order of things. Not one word -of this, however, reached the ears of the proprietor. Before him all was -respectful obedience and industry.” - -It happened that some little difficulty occurred in procuring the large -amount of fractional currency needed to pay them off; and pay-day came -and passed before it was obtained. The negroes had never mentioned -payment to the proprietor. He asked the overseer, who replied that -probably they would never know it was the beginning of a new month, -unless he told them, and that therefore it was best to say nothing about -the payment till the money came up from New Orleans. - -One afternoon, a day or two later, the proprietor spent in the field -with the laborers. Riding up among the plow-gang, he dismounted, talked -with the plowmen about the best way of working, took hold of one of the -plows himself, and plowed for some little distance. Everybody seemed -cheerful. Going over to the trash-gang, he found there the same state of -feeling; and after mingling with them till nearly sundown, he returned -to the house without the remotest suspicion of any latent discontent; -or, indeed, as he said afterward, without having himself once thought of -the deferred payment. - -Next morning the overseer came dashing up to the house, before -breakfast, with the alarming news that “the hands were on a strike; -declared that they didn’t hire with the man who was now on the -plantation, that he hadn’t paid them, and they wouldn’t work for him.” -Not one, he said, would leave the quarters; and they were complaining -and plotting among themselves at a great rate. The proprietor took the -matter coolly, and acted on a shrewd estimate of human nature. -Fortunately for him, the house was, in this case, some distance from the -quarters. Directing the overseer to hurry off to the Freedman’s Bureau -and bring down the agent, he quietly resumed his easy chair and -newspaper. The mules had all been taken from the plowmen as soon as they -refused to work, and brought up to the house. They could not go to work, -therefore, without asking permission. - -The negroes expected to see the proprietor down at the quarters the -moment he heard of their action. He had peremptorily refused to give -them an acre of land apiece, to plant in cotton; and their plan was to -refuse now to work till he promised them this land, and satisfied them -about the payments. But hour after hour passed, and no proprietor was -seen. Growing uneasy, they sent out scouts, who speedily returned with -the news that he was reading his paper on the front gallery, just as if -nothing had happened. Manifestly, he was not alarmed, which greatly -disappointed them; and was waiting for something or somebody, which -might be cause of alarm to _them_. In short, instead of being masters of -the situation, they were suddenly eager to get out of a scrape, the -outlet from which began to look very uncertain. By-and-by, they sent the -plow-driver up to the house to ask if they could have the mules again. -The proprietor told him “not just at present;” and added that after a -while he should go down to the quarters. Meantime no person must on any -account go to work. - -About twelve o’clock the overseer returned with the agent of the -Freedman’s Bureau, a one-armed soldier from the Army of the Potomac. -They rode down to the quarters where the whole force was gathered, -uneasily waiting for developments. He asked what was the matter. - -“We’s not been paid di’s monf.” - -“Did you ask for your pay?” - -“N-n-no, sah.” - -“Did you make any inquiry whatever about it, to find out why you weren’t -paid?” - -“N-n-no, sah.” - -“Didn’t you have plenty of chance to ask? Wasn’t Mr. —— out among you -all yesterday afternoon? Why didn’t you ask him whether it wasn’t time -for your payment?” - -“Well, sah, we dono Missah ——; we hired ou’selves to Missah ——, (naming -the New Orleans factor,) and we’s afeard we git no money. We nebber -heern o’ dis man.” - -The agent read over their contract; and explained to them how, being -busy, the proprietor had simply sent an agent to attend to the business -for him. All professed themselves satisfied at once, save one lank, -shriveled, oldish-young fellow, who said, in a very insolent way, that -“He’d done been cheated las’ yeah, and he wanted his money now, straight -down. He was as good as any other man; but tree o’ four time now dis -yeah new man, wat pretended to be boss had passed him in de fiel’ -without ever lookin’ at him, much less speakin’ to him fren’ly-like; and -he was’n’ agoin’ to stand no sich ways.” The agent sharply rebuked him -for such language; and finally told him that he had already broken his -contract, by refusing to work without sufficient cause, and that if he -gave a particle more trouble, he would arrest him for breach of -contract, and throw him into jail. The rest seemed ashamed of his -manner. As it subsequently appeared, he had been the leader in the whole -matter. The plowmen had gone to the stable in the morning, as usual, for -their mules. This fellow met them there, persuaded them that they were -going to be cheated out of their money, and induced them to return to -the quarters. Several of them wanted to go to work; and took good care -to inform the proprietor that, “Dey didn’t want to quit, but dere was no -use in deir wuckin’ by demselves, cause de rest’d say dey was a turnin’ -gin deir own color an’ a sidin’ wid de wite folks.” - -By one o’clock, half an hour earlier than the required time, every man, -woman, and child of the working force was in the field. Since then there -has not been the slightest trouble on the plantation. - -In all such cases the Freedman’s Bureau seemed invaluable. The negroes -had confidence in its officers; and, in general, obeyed them implicitly. -I knew that but for this very agent not less than a dozen heavy planters -would have been compelled to suspend operations. All availed themselves -of his services. Rebel generals, and men whose families carefully -stepped aside into the street lest they should pass under the United -States flag, were equally ready to call on the agent on the occasion of -the slightest misunderstanding with their negroes. His authority was -never disputed. - - * * * * * - -Some negroes on a plantation which I visited in February, were -determined to wheedle or extort permission from the new lessee to plant -cotton on their own account. There were about forty men on the -plantation, each one of whom insisted upon at least an acre of land for -this purpose, besides his half acre for a garden, and an acre more for -corn and pumpkins. One Saturday afternoon, when they were up in Natchez, -they met the lessee on the streets, and at once began preferring their -claims. - -“Boys;” said he, “I have never thought of the matter at all. I don’t -know how much land I could spare you; and I don’t know whether there -would be objections to your growing cotton for yourselves or not. I’ll -look into the matter; and the first time I’m down there will give you my -conclusion about it.” - -“No, sah; one time’s juss as good as anoder. You can tell us now juss as -well’s any time.” - -“Can’t you wait till I look into the matter?” - -“No: you can tell us juss as well now’s two weeks later. Ob co’se you’m -got de lan’ dar, an’ you can gib it well’s not.” - -“You won’t wait for an answer then?” - -“No, sah; we wants it right off.” - -They thought they were sure of it, and determined to strike while the -iron was hot. - -“You must have an answer right off?” - -“Yes, sah.” - -“Very well. Here it is then. NO!” And without another word he walked off -and left them. His overseer had been watching the affair. “If you’d a -yielded an inch to ’em then,” he said, “you’d a been pestered and run -over by ’em all season. ’S long’s they think they can browbeat you into -givin’ ’em things, they’ll do it; an’ if you’d a let ’em plant cotton, -every acre they’d a had in would a brought three or four bales. They’d a -picked all over your fiel’ at night to get their cotton out.” - -One Sunday, a week or two later, the lessee was passing about among the -quarters. The men gathered around him, and one of them introduced the -cotton-planting question again. - -“Berry, wasn’t it you that spoke to me about this, up in Natchez, the -other day?” - -“Yes, sah, you said you’d tink about it.” - -“So I did; but you refused to let me. Didn’t you tell me you must have -an answer right off?” - -“Y-yas, sah; but may be, if you’d tink ’bout it, it’d be better for us.” - -“Didn’t you say though that you must have an answer right off?” - -“Y-yas, but”—— - -“_Stop!_ Didn’t you get your answer right off?” - -“Yas, but”—— - -“_Stop!_ You got it. Well, I always keep my word. If you had waited, I -might have given a different answer; but you wouldn’t wait so you got -your answer; and it is all the answer your going to get.” - -Meantime the crowd was chuckling at the discomfiture of Berry. It didn’t -seem to concern them so much that they were losing their case, as it -amused them to see how Berry had entrapped himself. Every time he -attempted to renew the discussion, the lessee stopped him with the -reminder that he had demanded an answer in Natchez, and had got it; and -each time the laughter of the crowd at their own champion grew more -uproarious. - - * * * * * - -While this was going on in the street between the quarters, I stepped -into one of the cabins. Stretched out on a bench lay the corpse of an -old man; for many years the head driver on this very plantation. His -head was partially covered; the body was rudely wrapped in cotton cloth; -and over his stomach was placed a delf saucer, full of coarse salt. - -“Dat’s to keep him from swellin’ ’fore we bury him,” explained the -bereaved wife; who, with a house-full of people looking on, was engaged -in dressing herself for the funeral. Her sick baby was in the hands of -another negress—its feverish and parched little head absolutely inside -the chimney, in which a great fire was blazing. The woman said they had -made so much noise last night, after the old man died, that the child -had got no sleep. “Reckon you’d make noise too, ef you los’ you’ -husban’. Husban’s ain’t picked up ebery day. Dey’s plenty ob men you can -hab, but taint ebery day you can git a good husban’.” - -In the afternoon they buried him. The rough board coffin was lifted into -a cart, to which one of the plantation mules was attached. A great -crowd, composed of negroes from three or four plantations followed, -singing a hymn in mournful, minor chords that, rendered in their -wonderfully musical voices, seemed at a little distance almost equal to -the finest performance of the “Dead March,” in Saul. The grave was in -the plantation burying-ground, in the common outside the levee. It was -only about four feet deep; yet it seemed half-full of water. A lusty -young fellow rolled up his pantaloons, jumped down into the grave and -vigorously baled out for ten minutes. Even then the coffin sank out of -sight, and the little clods which each one hastened to throw in upon it -only fell, with a splash, into the muddy water. “Dis is de length an’ -breadth of what we’s all a comin’ to,” began the old preacher; and for a -few moments he continued in the most sensible strain I had heard from -any one at any of their religious exercises. Then came more singing, -while the grave was filled up; and then they all started back, chatting -and laughing as they went. - -The passion for whisky is universal. I never saw man, woman, or child, -reckless young scapegrace, or sanctimonious old preacher among them, who -would refuse it; and the most had no hesitancy in begging it whenever -they could. Many of them spent half their earnings buying whisky. That -sold on the plantation was always watered down at least one-fourth. -Perhaps it was owing to this fact, though it seemed rather an evidence -of unexpected powers of self-restraint, that so few were to be seen -intoxicated. - -During the two or three months in which I was among them, seeing scores -and sometimes hundreds in a day, I saw but one man absolutely drunk. He -had bought a quart of whisky, one Saturday night, at a low liquor shop -in Natchez. Next morning early he attacked it, and in about an hour the -whisky and he were used up together. Hearing an unusual noise in the -quarters, I walked down that way and found the plow-driver and the -overseer both trying to quiet Horace. He was unable to stand alone, but -he contrived to do a vast deal of shouting. The driver said, “Horace, -don’t make so much noise; don’t you see the overseer?” He looked around, -as if surprised at learning it. - -“Boss, is dat you?” - -“Yes.” - -“Boss, I’s drunk; boss, I’s ’shamed o’ myself; but I’s drunk! I ’sarve -good w’ipping. Boss; boss, s-s-slap me in de face, boss.” - -The overseer did not seem much disposed to administer the “slapping;” -but Horace kept repeating, with a drunken man’s persistency, “slap me in -de face, boss; please, boss.” Finally the overseer did give him a -ringing cuff on the ear. Horace jerked off his cap, and ducked down his -head with great respect, saying, “T’ank you, boss.” Then, grinning his -maudlin smile on the overseer, he threw open his arms as if to embrace -him, and exclaimed, “_Now, kiss me, boss!_” - -Next morning Horace was at work with the rest; and, though he has bought -many quarts of whisky, he has never been drunk since. - -On one occasion I saw a novel example of the difficulties that sometimes -occur in the best regulated plantations. On this one, there were no -better plowmen than Alfred and Moses. Each, however, had a young and -pretty (i. e. jet black and regularly-featured) wife. The women were -disposed to attract all the admiration they could, and the boys grew -very jealous. Several times they gave their wives sound beatings; but -this didn’t seem to reach the root of the complaint. In their turn the -wives grew jealous, doubtless not without ample cause, and not being -able to beat their husbands, they did the next best thing, and attacked -their husbands’ “sweethearts.” In such encounters they came out second -best more than once. - -Finally they resolved that “Dey was mighty mean niggers on dis -plantation, an’ we’s gwine to leave it.” Accordingly next morning -neither they nor their husbands appeared in the field. The drivers -promptly reported the facts, and the overseer sent down to their cabins -to see what was the matter. Word was brought back that they couldn’t get -along wid de niggers, an’ they was gwine to leab. They were at once -ordered to come up and explain themselves; and, in a few moments, all -four made their appearance. They had no complaints to make; they were -well-fed and lodged, promptly-paid, kindly treated. - -“We likes you fus-rate, Missah, and we’s be glad to stay wid you, but -dese niggers is all de time a quarrelin’ an’ a fightin’ wid us; dey aint -like folks at all; dey’s mean, low-down niggers. We’s nebber been used -to ’sociate wid such; we wasn’ raised to it, an’ we can’t stand it no -longer. We’s mighty sorry to leab you; but we’s a gwine ’way.” Thus said -the women. The boys wanted to stay; but if their wives went they would -have to go with them. “Don’t you know that we entered into a contract at -the first of the year?” - -They said they did. - -“Suppose I should refuse to keep my part of it? I owe you now one-half -your wages for the last three months. Suppose I should tell you that -some of the white folks around here were very mean, and so I wouldn’t -pay you?” - -They thought he’d nebber do nuffin o’ dat sort. - -“Well, then; if I have to keep my side of the contract you’ll have to -keep yours. You bargained to work here for a year. If you can prove that -I have ill-treated you, you can get off. If you can’t prove that, you’ve -got to go to work and keep at it through the year, or go to jail.” - -“Well, we’s go to jail, den. Dat aint nuffin bad. I ’spec eberbody goes -to jail sometimes. I ’spec you been dere you’self, lots o’ times, Missah -——.” - -A house servant was called, furnished a revolver, and told to take the -four at once to the agent of the Freedman’s Bureau. They repeated to him -the same story. They had no complaints to make; but “dey was mighty mean -niggers on dat plantation, an’ dey wouldn’t wuck dere.” The agent talked -to them a few moments; then sent the two women off to jail. They went -singing camp-meeting tunes, bidding good-by to their friends with great -ostentation, and putting the bravest possible face on it. But when they -found that their husbands were to occupy a separate cell, their courage -forsook them. Meantime their husbands were begging permission to go back -to work. After a good lecture to them, the agent finally consented. -Thereupon they began begging to have their wives let out. - -“We’s make ’em wuck. If dey don’t, we’s whip ’em good. You juss try us. -Please, Missah Cap’en, please do. We’s whip ’em mighty hard, an’ make -’em wuck.” - -Finally, on these conditions, the women were released and turned over to -their husbands. Whether they have been whipped much or not has not -appeared; but it is certain that they have given the planter no further -trouble. - -The men all claim this privilege to beat their wives, and the women -freely concede it. In fact they seem to have less affection for a man, -unless he occasionally establishes his superiority by whipping them. The -men actually believe that a woman loves her husband all the better for -an occasional beating; and certainly the facts would seem to warrant -their theory. I have known cases in which the whole force was aroused at -night by the noise in some cabin, where a man was beating his wife—she -resisting, screaming, threatening, and finally seizing a knife and -rushing after him. Next morning I have seen such couples as loving and -bright as though their honeymoon was just beginning. - -Sometimes, however, their quarrels become serious. I saw one case in -which an overseer was aroused in the night by a repentant husband, who -said he’d been whipping his wife a little and he was afeard he’d a most -done killed her. She was badly bruised, and for a week or more she -required medical attention. In another case, on the same plantation, a -man’s wife in a fit of jealousy attacked his sweetheart. The latter -proved the stronger, and absolutely cut the wife’s head open with a hoe, -so that for weeks she was unable to go into the field. But, in the main, -they are surprisingly orderly, and cases of serious violence among them -are quite rare. - - - - - CHAPTER LII. - - Labor Experiments and Prospects. - - -The officers of a negro regiment at Natchez spent the month of March in -mustering it out of the service. First the muster-out rolls gave -interminable delays; then every body waited for the mustering officer; -then on the paymaster; and, meantime, the camp was inundated by a flood -of planters and speculators seeking to contract for hands. - -One Surgeon Dayton, late of our volunteer service, son of the late -United States Minister to France, had leased a plantation over on Black -River. He wanted hands badly, but they wouldn’t leave the Mississippi -River. And the truth was, he didn’t blame them very greatly. All his -neighbors were the old set; mad at him as a Northerner, and mad at the -negroes as freedmen. It wasn’t very pleasant for him and he supposed it -wouldn’t be very pleasant for the negroes. But, nevertheless, he must -have some hands if he could get them; and he was trying to get an -influential sergeant who would be able to carry a dozen or two wherever -he went. - -Colonel Wallace, late of an Illinois cavalry regiment,[80] was another. -He wanted hands for some plantation in which he was interested, but he -had about made up his mind that it would cost more than they were worth, -to get them. - -“Fact is, gentlemen,” I heard an officer wearing the United States -uniform say to planters, asking about the chances for hands, when the -regiment was disbanded; “Fact is, you had better make your bargains with -us than with the niggers. We control ’em; and we don’t mean to take ’em -to anybody’s plantation without being paid for it.” And, in truth, quite -a number of officers were bargaining all the time with the negro-seeking -planters for their valuable influence. Some insisted on a considerable -share of the crop in return for taking a specified number of negroes to -the place. Others preferred a fixed salary of two, three, or indeed, as -high as five or six thousand dollars a year, for their services—not as -overseers, for they knew absolutely nothing of cotton culture—but simply -in preserving order on the plantations and retaining the confidence of -the negro.[81] After making their own bargain on the most favorable -terms they could secure, it became their duty to persuade the negroes -that this was the identical place they had been looking for, all the -time, in their search for a good home. - -In most cases they knew nothing whatever about the homes which they thus -recommended; had never seen them, and had never heard of the proprietors -until they proved themselves adventurers by making these extravagant -offers. In other cases they knew that these men were dishonest and -unprincipled; and yet they encouraged their confiding subordinates to -bind themselves to such men for a year, in remote regions, where there -was little hope for protection from the Freedman’s Bureau or from civil -officers. “Why didn’t you warn the sergeant against that man with whom -he has contracted?” said the colonel of the regiment, one day to the -adjutant. “You had yourself found that the man didn’t keep his promises, -and couldn’t be depended on.” The adjutant blushed, stammered, and -explained: “I expect to stay in this country myself, and I didn’t want -to be making enemies of such men!” - -This flunkeyism of Northern men, who “expected to stay in this country -and didn’t want to make enemies,” was manifest everywhere. For a genuine -toady, commend me to a Northern adventurer, or “runner,” in the -cotton-growing regions. Through the winter of 1865-’66, the South was -full of them, looking for cotton-lands, soliciting custom for Northern -business houses, collecting old debts. They never spoke of Rebels, but -with great caution called them Confederates. The National armies became, -in their mouths, “the Federals.” They were always profound admirers of -General Lee, the “second Washington of Virginia;” they grew enthusiastic -over Stonewall Jackson; and, if it became necessary to speak kindly of -any Northern officers, they always, with delicate appreciation of the -proprieties, selected McClellan. If they were found out to be -Northerners, they were anxious to have it understood that, at any rate, -they were not Yankees; and were pretty sure to intimate that if they had -any hatred a little more intense than that which good Christians ought -to cherish toward the devil, it was evoked by the doings or the presence -of these Yankees aforesaid. - -Day after day, the camp of the negro regiment was filled with -Mississippi or Louisiana planters. It was refreshing to see with what -careful consideration and scrupulous politeness they approached the -“niggers.” Here was no longer “hatred of the upstarts,” “war of races,” -“unconquerable antagonism.” The negro was king. Men fawned upon him; -took him to the sutler’s shop and treated him; carried pockets full of -tobacco to bestow upon him; carefully explained to him the varied -delights of their respective plantations. Women came too—with coach and -coachman—drove into the camp, went out among the negroes, and with sweet -smiles and honeyed words sought to persuade them that such and such -plantations would be the very home they were looking for. Sambo -listened, took the tobacco, drank the whisky, grinned ample return for -every smile, and——cogitated. Scarcely an old planter got a negro, unless -by some bargain with the officers. Half of them made no engagements at -all; and, in a week after their discharge, the streets of Natchez were -full of ragged, hungry negroes who had spent all their money and lost -all their clothes; and were anxious to contract for a year’s work with -the first planter who came along. - -Competition had driven the planters who needed hands the worst to -offering extravagant wages. Twenty dollars per month, with rations, -lodging, etc., was a common offer; and some went as high as twenty-five. -Influential sergeants and corporals were offered thirty and forty -dollars a month, on condition that they brought a certain number of men -with them. In general, the more remote the plantation, the more backward -the work upon it; and the less reliable the owner or lessee, the higher -were the offered wages. The negroes displayed very little judgment, at -last, in making their selections; and, as a rule, the men who made the -most big promises, which they never meant to keep, got the most -laborers. - -About the same time the business of furnishing the labor for sugar and -cotton plantations had assumed another phase in New Orleans. A regular -system had been organized early in the year, by which agents, white or -black, undertook to furnish negroes to the planters who needed them, at -so much a head. This gradually degenerated until, in April, hundreds of -negroes were within call of these agents, ready to reenact the _rôle_ of -the Northern bounty-jumpers. The agent would hire them to a planter, -receive his twenty-five dollars a head, and turn them over. The planter -would start with them to his plantation. Sometimes they escaped from the -boat before it started; in other cases they even went to the plantation, -drew their rations for a week, and then ran away. On their return they -shared the proceeds of the little operation with the agent. In Vicksburg -a similar process of swindling was carried on, but on a smaller scale. - - * * * * * - -A Missouri cooper, who had managed to make enough money on cotton during -the war to secure a plantation, boasted of his better success in -securing labor: “I jist went over to Montgomery, Alabama, and from there -to Selma. I takes my landlord aside, and persuades him to jine me in a -straight drink. Then I told him I was after niggers, and asked him what -he thought of my chances. He tole me he had jist six men in the house on -the same business already. None of ’em had had any luck, and they was a -goin’ to Eufala by the Shamrock. All right, my covey, thinks I. So I -jist steps down to the Shamrock, bargained awhile with the captain, and -finally got the use of her yawl. He wasn’t agoin’ to start till Tuesday -mornin’ and that was Sunday. I puts my nigger into the yawl, and we -pulled down stream all night. Monday mornin’ we was in Eufala. I sends -my nigger out to talk to the people. They had nothin’ to do; Georgians -wanted to hire ’em for their board and clothes; and fifteen dollars a -month seemed enormous. Wednesday mornin’ the Shamrock got down, and as -the Selma nigger-hunters stepped off, I stepped on with sixty-five -niggers.” - -He said he had no trouble in getting as many as he wanted, except from -the apprehension of the negroes throughout all that region, that any one -who proposed to take them away anywhere to labor, really meant to run -them over to Cuba and sell them. Several asked him, confidentially, -whether Cuba wasn’t just across the Mississippi River. Even the white -men entertained no doubt of his being a negro smuggler. One -congratulated him on his remarkable luck, and “calculated that lot would -about make his fortune by the time he got them over.” - - * * * * * - -I saw but one successful experiment with white laborers on a cotton -plantation. This was in one of the northern parishes of Louisiana, where -seventy or eighty Germans, picked up from sponging-houses in New York -and elsewhere, had been engaged for the year. At first they worked very -badly. The overseer treated them as he had been in the habit of treating -the slaves; and, degraded as these Germans were, they would not submit -to it. A new overseer was engaged; and, after a time, matters seemed to -go on measurably well. But it was still too early (about the middle of -April) to tell how they would succeed during the unhealthy summer -months. None of the neighboring planters had any faith in the -experiment. These Germans, they said, were not by any means as good as -the niggers. If you sought Germans of a better class, they wouldn’t -contract with you, unless they saw a chance to become, after a time, the -owners of the soil they cultivated. - -Against this, and indeed against any subdivision of the great river -plantations, the feeling was very strong. That a German should buy a -hundred or two acres from the edge of a large plantation, was a thing -not to be tolerated. Even sales of entire tracts to new-comers were very -unpopular. “Johnson has gone and sold his plantation to a Yankee,” -exclaimed one. “Is it possible?” was the reply. “Why, I thought Johnson -was a better citizen than that. If he had to sell, why didn’t he hunt up -some Southern man who wanted to buy?” - -The negroes were all anxious to purchase land. “What’s de use of being -free,” said one, an old man of sixty, who was begging permission to -plant cotton; “What’s de use of being free if you don’t own land enough -to be buried in? Might juss as well stay slave all yo’ days.” “All I -wants,” said another, explaining what he was going to do with his money, -of which he had already saved four or five hundred dollars; “All I wants -is to git to own fo’ or five acres ob land, dat I can build me a little -house on and call my home.” In many portions of the Mississippi Valley -the feeling against any ownership of the soil by the negroes is so -strong, that the man who should sell small tracts to them would be in -actual personal danger. Every effort will be made to prevent negroes -from acquiring lands; and even the renting of small tracts to them is -held to be unpatriotic and unworthy of a good citizen. Through such -difficulties is it that the subject-race is called upon to prove, by its -prosperity, its fitness for freedom. - - * * * * * - -“I stops at your plantation de oder day, but I not know tat you had -goods of your own to sell mit your niggers. I vill not interfere mit no -man’s trade.” - -The speaker was a Jew peddler, who also kept up a little store in -Natchez-under-the-hill. He had been peddling down the river on the -Louisiana side, and had been driven away from the plantation, whose -proprietor he was addressing, by the overseer. Once before, the owner -said, the overseer had permitted him to stay all night and trade with -the negroes. He had sold, in a few hours, goods to the amount of nearly -two hundred dollars, and had received payment in full in greenbacks, -from ragged-looking blacks who would never have been suspected of having -a penny. Nearly all the negroes had money. Some saved it quite -carefully. On this very plantation he had field hands, working at -fifteen dollars a month, who had five or six hundred dollars hid away in -old stockings. Of course it wouldn’t do to look too closely into the -means by which they had acquired it. During the war, and especially in -the confusion following the surrender, they had great opportunities for -trade, and their master’s property constituted the stock from which they -drew. He had one man who had made several hundred dollars by killing his -hogs and selling the pork. - -But, with the cunning that seemed natural to them, they would rarely -acknowledge the possession of money. “I have had boys come to me with -the sorriest stories of their necessities, to get an advance of a few -dollars on their month’s wages, when I knew that they had as much money -in their pockets as I had in mine. The worst of it was, that what they -had rightfully belonged to me as much as that in my own pocket-book.” - -“Vat you tinks about de overflow?” asked the peddler, with an anxious -look at the river, which was then rapidly rising. - -“Why, what business is it of yours about the overflow? So you can -swindle my niggers, what do you care about the overflow?” - -“Vy, I wants you to make a pig crop. If tere’s an overflow, tere’ll pe -no monish in te country next fall, and my trade ish gone. But if you -makes pig crop, monish ish plenty, and I does pig business.” - -The planter subsequently explained, that this fellow had sold common -unbleached muslins and the cheapest calicoes at from seventy-five cents -to a dollar a yard; and that on the trinkets and gew gaws, with which -his pack was liberally supplied, his profits were from five to eight -hundred per cent.[82] The negroes bought readily, no matter what price -he asked; and for the average plantation hand, the more worthless the -article, the greater seemed, often, the desire to purchase it. - - * * * * * - -There could be no question of the zeal with which, through the exciting -spring months, the people in the interior of the cotton States, -supported the “President’s Policy” of Reconstruction; but it was rarely -a zeal according to knowledge. - -“Just think of the infamous lengths those cursed Radicals are going!” -exclaimed a wealthy and by no means illiterate or unpolished Mississippi -cotton-planter to me in April; “They’ve actually turned out Stockton, of -Missouri, from the Senate!” - -“I thought it was some New Jersey senator,” I ventured to suggest. - -“Oh, no!” (with great positiveness of manner.) “You got that into your -head from having New Jersey and the Stockton name associated. But -there’s a Missouri family of Stocktons, and its one of the finest in the -State. There never was a greater outrage than to turn Stockton out, just -to get a party majority.” - -“But how _can_ Mr. Stockton be from Missouri? Haven’t they got Mr. -Henderson and Gratz Brown there already?” - -“Well, what’s to hinder them from having three, I’d like to know, except -the infamous usurpation of these Radicals?” - -This gentleman owned five large plantations, had an annual income of -certainly not less than a hundred thousand dollars before the war, and -himself belonged to one of “our first families.” - -“Have you heard the news?” said a finely-educated and really very -skillful surgeon in one of the inland towns to me one day. “Johnson -isn’t going to put up with your Radicals any longer. He is going to -prorogue Congress at once, to get rid of its meddlesome interference -with his policy!” “I have no doubt,” he continued, in reply to some -incredulous expression of mine; “I have no doubt of it in the world. -Why, you can see yourself from Voor_hees_’ speech that, if he don’t, -they’re going to impeach him right off. Of course he wouldn’t stand -that, or wait for it!” Yet this believer in Voor_hees_ had been educated -in Europe, had traveled nearly over the world, and had the hearing and -manners of an intelligent and accomplished gentleman. - -“Johnson’ll be the next President, as sure as the Mississippi runs down -stream,” said a planter, waiting in a bar-room for the ferry-boat. -“Why?” “Because he’s got the South with him, sure, to start on. Then -he’s got Seward with him, and Seward has had the North in his -breeches-pocket for the last six years. I’d like to know how you are -going to beat that combination!” - - * * * * * - -Sitting in a Natchez parlor, one day, conversing with the hostess, we -were interrupted by the entrance of a smart, bright-looking negro girl, -clothed in a fashionably-short and fashionably-expanded skirt of common -striped bed-ticking. The child made its little courtesy to the stranger, -and timidly stole behind the chair and clung to the skirts of “Missey.” - -“This is our little Confederate nigger,” explained the lady. “She is the -only one I have been able to keep; and I only have her because her -parents haven’t yet been able to coax her away. You see she wears her -old Confederate clothes. When we could get nothing else we were forced -to the necessity of ripping up our mattresses to get material for -dresses; and we are all too poor yet to buy new things for their -every-day wear. - -“Did you notice,” she continued, patting the woolly head of the child as -it lay with its face buried in her lap, “that she called me ‘Missey,’ -just now? All the niggers have been trying to break her of that, but -they can’t. They tell her to call me Miss Lizzie, but she says ‘she may -be your Miss Lizzie, but she’s my Missey.’ The other day she made quite -a scene in church, by breaking away from the other servants and shouting -out, ‘I _will_ sit with my Missey to-day!’ You should have seen -everybody’s head turning to see who it was, in these sorrowful times, -that was still fortunate enough to be called Missey!” - - * * * * * - -On a Mississippi steamboat, one evening, I encountered an intelligent, -substantial-looking Arkansas planter, hirsute, and clad in Confederate -gray. The buttons had been removed from his military coat; but I soon -discovered that the companion, with whom I was passing an idle evening -in talk about planting and politics, was the Rebel General, E. C. -Cahell. - -He was giving the free-labor experiment a fair trial; and risking upon -it pretty nearly all he was worth. He paid his first-class hands a -dollar a day, and furnished them lodgings. They supplied themselves with -clothing and provisions, which he sold—there being no village, or even -store, within six miles of his landing—at a very slight advance on St. -Louis prices, barely enough to cover freight and waste. He felt that he -was paying very high wages; but he fixed upon this plan in preference to -paying them fifteen dollars a month and rations, because a negro seemed -to himself to be getting more for his work. “A dollar a day” was short -and very easily understood; and the negroes thought it had a big sound. - -Thus far he had less trouble with his laborers than he had anticipated. -They worked well and seemed contented; but he was by no means certain -that his hold upon them was secure enough to give him the slightest -guaranty of being able to gather what he was planting. Now and then he -found a troublesome negro; but, in the main, they had been unexpectedly -open to reason. “The mistake we have generally made in the South has -been that we have supposed nigger nature was something different from -human nature. But I find that they are just as easily controlled, when -sufficient motives are presented, as any other class of people would -be.” He was getting along without the aid of the Freedman’s Bureau; and, -indeed, without aid of any sort. He knew of no laws and of no officers; -he was off in the woods by himself; and his only resource had been to -try and do what was right, and then convince the negroes that he had -done so. - -On one point he had been closely pressed. His negroes all wanted to -plant cotton on their own account, and made a dead-set at him for an -acre of land apiece for that purpose. It would never do to tell them the -truth—that he was afraid to let them grow any, lest, when picking-time -came, they should steal from him to add to their own crops—but he had -approached the delicate point diplomatically. “Of course, Jim, it would -be all right with you; but then you know there are some of the boys here -that _will_ steal. They would bring a bad name on the whole of you, and -get you all into trouble.” And, “nigger nature being very much like -human nature,” his argument had been successful, and he had been -relieved from the embarrassment. - -He thought about three-fourths of the good cotton land directly fronting -on the Mississippi, so far as his observation extended, was under -cultivation and might be relied upon, with a favorable season, for an -average crop. Back from the river, through Mississippi, Arkansas, and -West Tennessee, he doubted whether one-fourth of the land was under -cultivation. - -Two or three days later, in another steamboat trip, I encountered a -heavy planter, who came to this country originally from Illinois. He -owned a fine plantation in Mississippi, fronting on the river, and with -the cultivation of this he had always been contented. But this year he -regarded as the golden opportunity. The free-labor project had not yet -settled down into a steadily-working system. Half these old planters in -the interior believed the niggers wouldn’t work, and were doing very -little to find out. When all made the discovery that they would work, -cotton would come down to nearly its old prices, and there would be no -great speculation in it. But this year, the men who “went in” would make -the money which the backward ones ought to make, as well as their own. -So he had leased, right and left. He had three plantations near his own, -in Mississippi, and three more across the river, in Louisiana. On all of -them he had plenty of negroes. At that time (3d April) he had a little -over seventeen hundred acres of cotton planted. With good weather, in -another week, he should have over four thousand. - -But this was the last year he would do anything of the sort. He didn’t -believe there would be so much money in it another year; but, at any -rate, he was kept forever running up and down the river, from one place -to another, buying supplies and giving directions. He had no peace, day -or night; and he meant to make enough this year to be able to retire and -have some comfort. - -He was trying all the different plans of paying negroes, and, next year, -planters would be welcome to his experience. On one place he gave them -fifteen dollars per month,[83] with rations, lodging, and medical -attendance. On another he gave twelve dollars per month, and furnished -clothing also. On one he gave a fifth of the crop, and supported the -negroes; on another, a fourth of the crop, and required them to furnish -a part of their own support. But on none would he permit any of the -hands to plant a stalk of cotton on their own account. Nobody need tell -_him_ anything about niggers. He had owned them long enough to know all -about them, and there wasn’t one in a hundred he would trust to pick -cotton for himself (the negro) out of a patch adjacent to the cotton -fields of his employer. - -He could as yet perceive no marked difference in the work of his hands -on the different plantations. None did as much as under the old system, -but all did more than was expected. Much depended on the overseer. Where -the hands thought he understood his business, and could tell when they -were doing their duty, and was, at the same time, disposed to treat them -justly, there was no trouble. But some of the old overseers made a good -deal of mischief on a plantation. They thought they could knock and cuff -niggers about as they used to; and by the time they discovered their -mistake, the niggers were leaving, and keeping others from coming in -their places. - -“One o’ my niggers left, the other day, without saying a word to me -about it. You couldn’t guess why. The cussed nigger had been lazy about -mending a plow which was badly needed in the field, and the -nigger-driver scolded him about it. He said he was a free man, and -wasn’t going to be insulted; so off he started. There’s one consolation; -he had only been paid half his wages at the end of each month; and so -there’s a matter of twenty-five or thirty dollars which he lost and I -gained by his running away.” - -This man had but an indifferent education; he had seen little of society -or the world; he knew nothing thoroughly, save cotton and the negro. -But, coming down, raw, from Illinois, years ago, he had won the good -opinions of the heiress to a plantation, and had married,——_it_ rather -than her, as an acquaintance expressed it. How he was wealthy, and, with -a fair season, was sure of not less than five thousand bales of cotton, -worth, at only twenty-five cents per pound, half a million dollars, as -the profits of this year’s operations. How he would spend his money when -he got it, it would be difficult to say. Horse-racing and hard drinking -were the amusements most congenial to his class. Gambling was pleasant, -but his business habits had given him a wholesome dread of it; and, -after all, there seemed more probability that he would soon return to -cotton, and end his days in worship at its kingly shrine. - ------ - -Footnote 80: - - Brother to General W. H. L. Wallace, whose death, while gallantly - leading his division at Pittsburg Landing, was so widely lamented. - -Footnote 81: - - “I told a nigger officer,” said a very consequential planter in the - vicinity of Jackson, Mississippi, to me in November, 1865, “that I’d - give him thirty dollars a month just to stay on my plantation and wear - his uniform. The fellow did it, and I’m havin’ no trouble with my - niggers. They’re afraid of the shoulder-straps.” - -Footnote 82: - - I have myself seen earrings that cost fifty cents sold for six - dollars. - -Footnote 83: - - The rate of wages named is that given first-class men. First-class - women get, generally, about two-thirds as much. It is rarely the case - that over one-third of the men and women on a place can be rated - first-class. All the rest receive lower wages, in proportion to their - value. - - - - - CHAPTER LIII. - - Concluding Suggestions. - - -The President’s vetoes of the Freedman’s Bureau Bill and the Civil -Rights Bill, with his Twenty-second of February speech and subsequent -utterances, were received throughout the South-Western Cotton States -with an exultation which drove the newspapers[84] to sad straits. To do -justice to the occasion, the leading journal of New Orleans was forced -to this: - - “In the midst of a storm of passion, beating angrily and furiously - against the bulwark of States’ rights, when the ambitious and - interested partisans who have raised it, attempt madly to ride into - power over the ruins of a shattered Constitution; when the bellowing - thunder roars on all sides, and the play of the forked lightning - serves only to reveal the thick and impenetrable darkness which - shrouds our political heavens, no sublimer spectacle can be - presented than that of an American President, who, with serene - countenance and determined spirit, appears on the arena of bitter - and destructive strife, and says, in tones of power to the warring - elements: ‘Peace! be still!’ and instantly the storm is hushed. The - growling thunder, though its mutterings are still faintly heard, - dies out in the distance: The denunciations of defeated partisans, - and of fanatical bloodhounds, cease to spread their alarms over the - land. The conflicting winds retire to their mountain cave. The - clouds enveloping the concave above us break asunder, and a rainbow - of varied dyes, which spans the heavens, gives full assurance of a - bright and glorious day for our country.” - -The rural journals were less glitteringly general: but they fairly -represented the prevailing public sentiment. One of the most outspoken -said:[85] - - “The old Tennesseean has shown his blood, and bearded the lion in - his lair, ‘The Douglass in his hall’—‘glory enough for one - day’—glorious old man, and let the earth ring his praise to the - heavens. - - The South and the Government are in the same boat one more time, - thank the gods! ‘now blow ye winds and crack your cheeks.’ If Black - Republicanism wishes to find out whether the South is loyal, there - is now a beautiful opportunity. If they wish to prove their false - assertion, let them now attempt any seditious move, and they will - find every blast from Johnson’s ‘Bugle horn, worth a thousand men;’ - and before the notes shall die away in the valleys of the South, a - soldier from the South will wave the old banner of the Stars and - Stripes on the Northern hills; and though we do not desire them to - do this, we defy them to do so. We will see then how they like the - fit of their own cap. - - States reduced to Territories? Indeed a little move in that - direction would be of service, we think, in bringing about a full - restoration of harmony between the sections. A little taste of their - own medicine.” - -And the enthusiastic writer proceeded to declare, that the fair regions -held by the Radical vipers were once more in the hands to which they -properly belonged; and that the vipers could, therefore, turn their -envenomed fangs upon each other, and with their forked tongues hiss -their slimy curses into their own hell-torn, shrieking souls; while the -South would, as a meteor shot from the electric realms of air, once more -sweep across the skies of the glorious old Republic, and spangle its -history with the splendors of her truth, her intellect, and her -chivalry. - -In spite, however, of such strong writing, and the stronger speaking -everywhere prevalent, I was convinced during my visits to New Orleans, -and Vicksburg, and the trip northward through the interior, which ended -my year’s experiences of Southern life, that there was little -probability of serious results. Undoubtedly the South would sympathize -with the President in any movement against Congress; but it is in no -condition to give valuable co-operation. In 1866, as in 1865, the work -of reorganization is entirely in the hands of the Government. The South -will take—now as at any time since the surrender—whatever it can get. - -“I believe in States Rights, of co’se,” said an old gentleman, at -Jackson, Mississippi; “but I think my faith is like that described in -the Bible: ‘The evidence of things not seen, _the substance of things -hoped for_.’ The person that can see anything of States’ Rights -now-a-days, has younger eyes than mine.” The same old man was very -bitter against the “infamous scoundrel,” who had written a recent -article about the South in the Atlantic Monthly. “There ought to be some -law to prevent such libels. You protect individuals against them; why -isn’t it more important to protect whole communities?” - -All complained of the changed front in the Senate on the Civil Rights -Bill. “What business had Dixon to be absent?” exclaimed an officer of -Lee’s staff. “What if he was sick? If he had been dead, even, they ought -to have carried him there and voted him!” - -The attitude of Congress was regarded with alarm. Even the unreflecting -masses were beginning to suspect that flattery of the President and -abuse of Congress would not be sufficient to carry them through the -difficulties that beset their political progress. - -In most cases, the hostility to the Freedman’s Bureau seemed to be -general in its nature, not specific. Men regarded it as tyrannical and -humiliating that Government hirelings should be sent among them to -supervise their relations with their old slaves; but, in practice, they -were very glad of the supervision. It was a degrading system, they -argued, but, so long as it existed, the negroes could not be controlled -except by the favor of the Bureau agents, “and so, of co’se, we have to -use them.” When the agents were removed from this prevailing respect for -their powers, few opportunities were lost to show them the estimation in -which they were held. - -A steamboat was lying at the New Orleans levee, discharging a quantity -of very miscellaneous freight. Among it was what the captain called “a -lot of nigger’s plunder.” The entire worldly effects of a negro family -seemed to be on board with little confinement from trunks or boxes. Half -a dozen squalling chickens were carried over the gang-plank by the old -auntie, in one hand, while in the other was held a squalling picaninny. -A bundle of very dirty and ragged bed-clothes, tied up with the -bed-cord, came next. There was a bedstead, apparently made with an ax, -and a table, on which no other tool could by any chance have been -employed. A lot of broken dishes, pots, and kettles followed. Then came -an old bureau. The top drawer was gone, the bottom drawer was gone, the -middle one had the knobs broken off, the frame remained to show that a -looking-glass had once surmounted it, and two of the feet were broken -off. - -“By the powers, there’s the Freedman’s Bureau,” exclaimed one of the -group of Southern spectators standing on the guards. An agent of the -Freedman’s Bureau, in uniform, was within hearing, and the taunting -laugh that rang over the boat seemed especially meant for his ears. To -have resented, or noticed it, in that crowd, would have been at least -foolish, if not worse. The agent was fortunate to escape with no more -pointed expression of the public opinion concerning his office and -duties. - -Little change in the actual Unionism of the people could be seen since -the surrender. In the year that had intervened, they had grown bolder, -as they had come to realize the lengths to which they might safely go. -They were “loyal” in May, 1865, in the sense of enforced submission to -the Government, and they are loyal in the same sense in May, 1866. At -neither time has the loyalty of the most had any wider meaning. But -scarcely any dream of further opposition to the Government. A “war -within the Union,” for their rights, seems now to be the universal -policy—a war in which they will act as a unit with whatever party at the -North favors the fewest possible changes from the old order of things, -and leaves them most at liberty to regulate their domestic institutions -in their own way. - - * * * * * - -Nothing but the prevalent sense of the insecurity attending all Southern -movements, during the political and social chaos that followed the -surrender, prevented a large immigration from the North in the winter of -1865-’66. That the openings which the South presents for Northern -capital and industry are unsurpassed, has been sufficiently illustrated. -With a capital of a few thousand dollars, and a personal supervision of -his work, a Northern farmer, devoting himself to cotton-growing, may -count with safety on a net profit of fifty per cent, on his investment. -With a good year and a good location he may do much better. Through -Tennessee and the same latitudes, east and west, he will find a climate -not very greatly different from his own, and a soil adapted to Northern -cereals as well as to the Southern staple. The pine forests still -embower untold riches; the cypress swamps of the lower Mississippi and -its tributaries, only await the advent of Northern lumbermen to be -converted into gold-mines; the mineral resources of Northern Georgia and -Alabama, in spite of the war’s developments, are yet as attractive as -those that are drawing emigration into the uninhabited wilds across the -Rocky Mountains. But capital and labor—especially agricultural -labor—demand security. - -Along the great highways of travel in the South, I judge investments by -Northern men to be nearly as safe as they could be anywhere. The great -cotton plantations bordering the Mississippi are largely in the hands of -Northern lessees; and few, if any of them have experienced the slightest -difficulty from any hostility of the inhabitants. So, along the great -lines of railroad, and through regions not too remote from the tide of -travel and trade, there are no complaints. It is chiefly in remote -sections, far from railroads or mails, and isolated among communities of -intense Southern prejudices, that Northern men have had trouble. - -Whenever it is desirable to settle in such localities, it should be done -in small associations. A dozen families, living near each other, would -be abundantly able to protect themselves almost anywhere in the -cotton-growing States. - -Whoever contemplates going South, in time for the operations of 1867, -should not delay his first visit later than November, 1866. Between -October and January last, the prices of lands through the South, either -for lease or sale, advanced fully fifty per cent. Upland cotton -plantations can now be bought, in most localities, in tracts of from one -hundred up to five thousand acres, for from eight to twenty dollars per -acre; and the richest Mississippi and Red River bottom plantations do -not command, in most cases, over forty dollars; the price being -generally reckoned only on the open land prepared for the culture of -cotton. But purchases should be made and arrangements for labor -perfected before the New Year’s rush comes on. - - * * * * * - -I have sought to show something of the actual character of the negroes, -as learned from a closer and longer experience than falls to the lot of -most tourists. The worst enemies to the enfranchised race, will at least -admit that ample prominence has been given to their faults. I shall be -glad if any satisfactory data have been furnished for determining their -place in the future of the country. - -They are not such material as, under ordinary circumstances, one would -now choose for the duties of American citizenship. But wherever they -have opportunity, they are fitting themselves for it with a zeal and -rapidity never equalled by any similar class. Their order and industry -are the only guaranty for the speedy return of prosperity to the South. -Their devotion to the Union may prove one of the strongest guarantees -for the speedy return of loyalty to the South. In any event, there can -be no question, in the pending reorganization, as to the policy of -seeking to ignore them. The Nation can not longer afford it. - - Better let them build who rear the house of nations, - Than that Fate should rock it to foundation stone; - Leave the Earth her storms, the stars their perturbations, - “_Steadfast welfare stays where_ JUSTICE _binds her zone_.” - ------ - -Footnote 84: - - It should be remembered, in any estimates of politics at the South, - that nearly all the leading Southern journals are still in the hands - of the men who, five years ago, in their columns wrote up the - rebellion. And, while the men who fought for the rebellion are - entirely subdued, the men who wrote for it have seven devils now for - every one that formerly possessed them. - -Footnote 85: - - Montgomery (Ala.) Ledger. - - - - - APPENDIX. - - - A. - -[The following is the speech made by Chief-Justice Chase to the negroes -at Charleston, under the circumstances narrated on page 83:] - -MY FRIENDS—In compliance with the request of General Saxton, your friend -and mine, I will say a few words. - -He has kindly introduced me as a friend of freedom; and such, since I -have taken a man’s part in life, I have always been. It has ever been my -earnest desire to see every man, of every race and every color, fully -secured in the enjoyment of all natural rights, and provided with every -legitimate means for the defense and maintenance of those rights. - -No man, perhaps, has more deplored the war, from which the country is -now emerging, than myself. No one would have made greater sacrifices to -avert it. Earnestly desirous, as I always was, of the enfranchisement of -every slave in the land, I never dreamed of seeking enfranchisement -through war. I expected it through peaceful measures. Never doubting -that it would come sometime; fully believing that by a wise and just -administration of the National Government, friendly to freedom, but in -strict conformity with the National Constitution, the time of its coming -might be hastened; I yet would gladly have put aside, if I could, the -cup of evil, of which our Nation has drunk so deeply. Not through those -seas of blood, and those vast gulfs of cost, would I have willingly -sought even the great good of universal emancipation. - -But God, in His providence, permitted the madness of slavery-extension -and slavery-domination to attempt the dismemberment of the Union by war. -And when war came, there came also the idea, gradually growing into -settled conviction in the hearts of the people, that slavery, having -taken the sword, must perish by the sword. It was quite natural, -perhaps, that I, having thought much on the relations of the enslaved -masses to the Republic, should be among the first to recognize the fact -that the colored people of the South, whether bond or free, were the -natural allies of the Nation, [prolonged cheers,] in its struggle with -rebellion, and the duty of the National Government to assert their -rights, and welcome their aid. A very few months of experience and -observation satisfied me that if we would succeed in the struggle we -must, as a first and most necessary measure, strike the fetters from the -bondsmen. [Cheers.] - -Such was my counsel in the Cabinet; and when our honored President, -whose martyrdom this Nation now mourns, in common with all lovers of -freedom throughout the world, after long forbearance, made up his mind -to declare all men in our land free, no one was more ready with his -sanction, or more hearty in his approval than myself. [Cheers.] - -So, too, when necessarily that other question arose: “Shall we give arms -to the black men?” I could not doubt or hesitate. The argument was plain -and irresistible: If we make them freemen, and their defense is the -defense of the Nation, whose right and duty is it to bear arms, if not -theirs? In this great struggle, now for universal freedom not less than -for perpetual Union, who ought to take part, if not they? And how can we -expect to succeed, if we fail to avail ourselves of the natural helps -created for us by the very conditions of the war? When, therefore, the -President, after much consideration, resolved to summon black soldiers -to battle for the flag, I felt that it was a wise act, only too long -delayed. [Cheers.] - -And now, who can say that the colored man has not done his full part in -the struggle? Who has made sacrifices which he has not made? Who has -endured hardships which he has not endured? What ills have any suffered -which he has not suffered? - -If, then, he has contributed in just measure to the victory, shall he -not partake of its fruits? If Union and Freedom have been secured -through courage, and fortitude, and zeal, displayed by black as well as -white soldiers, shall not the former be benefited in due measure as well -as the latter? And since we all know that natural rights can not be made -secure except through political rights, shall not the ballot—the -freeman’s weapon in peace—replace the bayonet—the freeman’s weapon in -war? - -I believe the right of the black man to freedom, and security for -freedom, as a result of the war, to be incontestible. I assert it as a -simple matter of justice. - -In my judgment, the safety of nations, as well as of individuals, stands -in justice. It is a true saying, that, “he who walketh uprightly walketh -surely.” The man or the nation that joins hands with justice and truth, -and relies steadfastly on God’s providence, is sure to issue from every -trial safely and triumphantly. Great struggles may have to be gone -through; great sacrifices made; great dangers encountered; even great -martyrdoms suffered. We have experienced all these. Multitudes of -martyrs have perished in this war; the noblest of them all fell but -lately by an assassin’s hand; but our great cause has thus far -triumphed. There may be still perils ahead. Other martyrdoms may be -needed. But over all, and through all, the just cause will surely come -out triumphant in the end; for a just God is on the throne, and He wills -the triumph of justice. - -I have said that the battle is over and the victory won. The armies of -rebellion are disbanded; peace is coming, and with it the duties of -peace. What are these? - -The condition of the country is peculiar. A great race, numbering four -millions of souls, has been suddenly enfranchised. All men are now -looking to see whether the prophecies of the enemies of that race will -be fulfilled or falsified. - -The answer to that question, men and women of color, is with you. Your -enemies say that you will be disorderly, improvident, lazy; that wages -will not tempt you to work; that you will starve rather than labor; that -you will become drones and vagabonds. And while your enemies scatter -these predictions, many who are not your enemies fear their fulfillment. -It remains with you whether they shall be fulfilled or not. - -You need not feel much anxiety about what people say of you. Feel rather -that, under God, your salvation must come of yourselves. If, caring -little about men’s sayings, you go straight on in the plain ways of -duty; if by honesty, temperance, and industry, by faithfulness in all -employments and to all trusts, and by readiness to work for fair wages, -you prove yourselves useful men and women; if out of economical savings -from each week’s earnings you lay up something for yourselves in a wet -day; if, as cultivators of the soil, as mechanics, as traders, in this -employment or that employment, you do all in your power to increase the -products and the resources of your county and State; and if, whatever -you do, you make proofs of honesty, sobriety, and good will, you will -save yourselves and fulfill the best hopes of your friends. - -God forbid that I shall have yet, before I die, to hang my head and -say—well, I expected a great deal of this people; that they would bear -freedom; that they would be honest, industrious, and orderly; that they -would make great progress in learning, in trades, in arts, and, finally, -run the race, side by side, with the whites; but I find I was mistaken; -they have allowed wretched prejudices and evil passions to grow up among -them; they have neglected their opportunities and wasted their means; -they have cherished mean envy and low jealousy, where they should have -fostered noble emulation and generous rivalry in all good works; they -have failed because unwilling to take their lot cheerfully, and -persevere courageously in the work of self-improvement. - -I may say, with the apostle, “I hope better things of you, though I thus -speak.” I know the heart of the working-man, for I have known his -experience. When a boy on a farm, in Ohio, where then the unbroken -forest lay close to our dwelling, I knew what work was. In our rough log -cabins we fared as hard and labored as hard as you fare or labor. All we -had to go upon—all the capital we had—was good wills to work, patient -endurance, and fair opportunity for education, which every white in the -country, thank God, could have then; and every black boy, thank God -again, can have now. It was on this capital we went to work, and we came -to something; [loud cheers, and cries of “That you did!”] and you may go -to work on the same capital and come to something also, if you will. I -believe you will. You wont spend your time in fretting because this or -that white man has a better time than you have, or more advantages; nor -will you, I hope, take short cuts to what looks like success, but nine -times out of ten will turn out to be failure. - -I talk to you frankly and sincerely, as one who has always been your -friend. As a friend, I earnestly advise you to lay your foundations well -in morality, industry, education, and, above all, religion. Go to work -patiently, and labor diligently; if you are soldiers, fight well; if -preachers, preach faithfully; if carpenters, shove the plane with might -and main; if you till the ground, grow as much cotton as the land will -yield; if hired, work honestly for honest wages, until you can afford to -hire laborers yourselves, and then pay honest wages. If you act thus, -nobody need doubt your future. The result will gloriously surpass your -hopes. - -Now about the elective franchise. Major Delany has told you that he -heard me say, in the Capitol at Washington, that the black man ought to -have his vote. If he had happened to hear me twenty years ago in -Cincinnati, he would have heard me say the same thing. [Cheers and -prolonged applause.] - -Matters have been working, since then, toward that result, and have a -much better look now than then. If all the people—all the white people, -I mean, for the colored people seem pretty well agreed—felt as I do, -that it is the interest of all that the rights of all, in suffrage as in -other matters, should be equal before the law, you would not have to -wait long for equal rights at the ballot-box; no longer than it would -take to pass the necessary law. [Cheers.] But very many of the white -people do not see things as I do; and I do not know what the National -Government proposes to do. I am not now, as you know, in the Cabinet -councils; nor am I a politician; nor do I meddle with politics. I can -only say this: I believe there is not a member of the Administration who -would not be pleased to see suffrage universal; but I can not say, for I -do not know, that the Administration is prepared to say that suffrage -shall be universal. - -What I do know is this; that if you are patient, and patiently claim -your rights, and show by your acts that you deserve to be entrusted with -suffrage, and inspire a confidence in the public mind that you will use -it honestly, and use it too on the side of liberty, and order, and -education, and improvement, you will not have to wait very long. I can -say this safely on general principles. Common sense tells us that -suffrage can not be denied long to large masses of people, who ask it -and are not disqualified for its exercise. Believing in your future as I -do, I feel sure you will have it sometime; perhaps very soon; perhaps a -good while hence. If I had the power it would be very soon. It would, in -my judgment, be safe in your hands to-day; and the whole country would -be better off if suffrage were now universal. - -But whatever may be the action of the white people here in Charleston, -or of the Government at Washington, be patient. That you will have -suffrage in the end, is just as sure as it is that you respect, -yourselves and respect others, and do your best to prove your worthiness -of it. Misconduct of any kind will not help you, but patience and -perseverance in well-doing will help you mightily. So, too, if the -National Government, taking all things into consideration, shall come to -a conclusion different from mine, and delay to enroll you as citizens -and voters, your best policy, in my judgment, is patience. I counsel no -surrender of principle—no abandonment of your just claims; but I counsel -patience. What good will fretting and worrying and complaining do? If I -were in your place I would just go to work for all good objects, and -show by my conduct that the Government, in making a delay, had made a -mistake. [Cheers.] If you do so and the mistake is made, it will be the -more speedily corrected. - -Let me repeat, that I think it best for all men—white men, black men, -and brown men, if you make that distinction, that all men of proper age -and unconvicted of crime, should have the right of suffrage. It is my -firm conviction, that suffrage is not only the best security for -freedom, but the most potent agent of amelioration and civilization. He -who has that right will usually respect himself more, be more respected, -perform more, and more productive work, and do more to increase the -wealth and welfare of the community, than he who has it not. Suffrage -makes nations great. Hence I am in favor of suffrage for all; but if the -Government shall think differently, or if circumstances delay its -action, I counsel calmness, patience, industry, self-respect, Respect -for others, and, with all these, firmness. - -Such, in my judgment, is your duty. Ordinarily the simple performance of -duty is so blessed of God, that men who live in the doing of it, are the -best off, in all respects, even in this world. But if these immediate -rewards do not attend its performance, still, if a man carries in his -heart the consciousness of doing right, as in the sight God, rendering -to each his due, withholding from none his right, contributing all he -can to the general improvement, and diffusing happiness to the extent of -his power through the sphere of which he is the center, he may go -through life as happy as a king, though he may never be a king, and go -at last where no wrong finds entrance, nor any error, because there -reigns one God and one Father, before whom all his children are equal. -[Prolonged cheers.] - - - B. - -[The following is a letter from Rev. Richard Fuller, D. D., of -Baltimore, whose visit to his former slaves on St. Helena Island has -been described. Dr. Fuller’s high position in the Baptist Church, and -his prominence in former times as a defender of the divinity of slavery, -in the discussions with President Wayland, give weight to his -indorsement of the substantial accuracy of what has been said, in the -foregoing pages, as to the condition and prospects of the Sea Island -negroes. A few sentences of a purely personal nature are omitted:] - - “MY DEAR SIR:—I could add very little to your clear and full - statements concerning our visit to St. Helena, and the condition in - which we found the negroes. I can only repeat that the freedmen at - Port Royal, under General Saxton, seemed to me to present a - favorable solution of the question of free labor. - - Against my convictions and apprehensions, I was brought to the - conclusion, that their former masters might cultivate their fields - profitably by these hired servants. - - You are mistaken, however, as I think, in speaking of the slaves on - these islands as less advanced in intelligence, or morals than the - colored people in the interior. - - My interest in these people makes me constantly solicitous about - their conduct. Never was there a problem more serious or difficult - than that which is now before the Nation, as to this race, whose - destiny has been confided to the wisdom and honor of our Government. - I can only pray that God will give our rulers His aid and blessing - in this critical and portentous crisis. - - Most sincerely, - RICHARD FULLER.” - - - C. - - LETTER FROM CHIEF JUSTICE CHASE TO A COMMITTEE OF COLORED MEN IN NEW - ORLEANS. - - NEW ORLEANS, June 6, 1865. - -_Gentlemen_—I should hardly feel at liberty to decline the invitation -you have tendered me, in behalf of the loyal colored Americans of New -Orleans, to speak to them on the subject of their rights and duties as -citizens, if I had not quite recently expressed my views at Charleston, -in an address, reported with substantial accuracy, and already published -in one of the most widely circulated journals of this city. But it seems -superfluous to repeat them before another audience. - -It is proper to say, however, that these views, having been formed years -since, on much reflection, and confirmed, in a new and broader -application, by the events of the civil war now happily ended, are not -likely to undergo, hereafter, any material change. - -That native freemen, of whatever complexion, are citizens of the United -States; that all men held as slaves in the States which joined in the -rebellion against the United States have become freemen through -executive and legislative acts during the war; and that these freemen -are now citizens, and consequently entitled to the rights of citizens, -are propositions which, in my judgment, can not be successfully -controverted. - -And it is both natural and right that colored Americans, entitled to the -rights of citizens, should claim their exercise. They should persist in -this claim respectfully, but firmly, taking care to bring no discredit -upon it by their own action. Its justice is already acknowledged by -great numbers of their white fellow-citizens, and these numbers -constantly increase. - -The peculiar conditions, however, under which these rights arise, seem -to impose on those who assert them peculiar duties, or rather special -obligations to the discharge of common duties. They should strive for -distinction by economy, by industry, by sobriety, by patient -perseverance in well-doing, by constant improvement of religious -instruction, and by the constant practice of Christian virtues. In this -way they will surely overcome unjust hostility, and convince even the -most prejudiced that the denial to them of any right which citizens may -properly exercise is equally unwise and wrong. - -Our national experience has demonstrated that public order reposes most -securely on the broad base of universal suffrage. It has proved, also, -that universal suffrage is the surest guarantee and most powerful -stimulus of individual, social and political progress. May it not prove, -moreover, in that work of reorganization, which now engages the thoughts -of all patriotic men, that universal suffrage is the best reconciler of -the most comprehensive lenity with the most perfect public security and -the most speedy and certain revival of general prosperity? - - Very respectfully, yours, - - S. P. CHASE. - - Messrs. J. B. ROUDANEZ, L. GOELIS and L. BANKS, Committee. - - - D. - -The Captain-General of Cuba, in a conversation with Chief-Justice Chase, -expressed the belief that Coolie labor would be gradually substituted -for slave labor, and that slavery itself would come to an end in Cuba -within ten years. - - - THE END. - - - - - PUBLICATIONS OF MOORE, WILSTACH & BALDWIN. - - - Any book in this list will be sent by mail for price annexed. - August, 1865. - - THE LOGIC OF SIR WILLIAM HAMILTON, BART., Professor of Logic and - Metaphysics in the University of Edinburgh. Reduced and - prepared for use in Colleges and Schools, by HENRY N. DAY, D. - D., LL. D., Author of the “Art of Elocution,” “Rhetorical - Praxis,” etc. 1 vol. 12mo, $1 25 - - RHETORICAL PRAXIS. The Principles of Rhetoric Exemplified and - Applied in Copious Exercises for Systematic Practice, Chiefly - in the Development of the Thought, By H. N. DAY, D. D., LL. 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D., late Professor of the Theory and Practice of - Medicine, in the “Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati,” - etc., etc. Extended and Revised at the request of the author, - by WM. SHERWOOD, M. D., formerly Professor of General, Special - and Pathological Anatomy, in the “Eclectic Medical Institute of - Cincinnati,” etc. 2 vols. 8vo. Sheep, 1600 pages, 10 00 - - KOST’S Elements of Materia Medica and Therapeutics. Adapted to - the American Eclectic or Reformed Practice, with numerous - Illustrations. By J. KOST, M. D., Professor of Materia Medica, - Therapeutics and Botany, in the American Medical College, - Cincinnati, etc., etc. 1 vol. 8vo., 700 pages. Sheep, 5 00 - - SCUDDER’S PRACTICAL TREATISE ON THE DISEASES OF WOMEN. By JOHN M. - SCUDDER, M. D., Professor of General, Special and Pathological - Anatomy, in the “Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati.” - Illustrated by Colored Plates, and numerous Wood Engravings. - With an Introduction by GEORGE W. BICKLEY, M. D., Professor of - Physiology, Institutes of Medicine, and Medical Jurisprudence, - in the “Eclectic Medical Institute of Cincinnati,” etc. And a - paper on the Diseases of the Breasts, by ROBERT S. NEWTON, M. - D., Professor of Surgery in the “Eclectic Medical Institute of - Cincinnati,” etc. 1 vol. 8vo. Sheep, 4 00 - - KOST’S TREATISE ON THE PRACTICE OF MEDICINE. Adapted to the - Reformed System, comprising a Materia Medica, with numerous - Illustrations, by JOHN KOST, M. D., author of “Elements of - Materia Medica and Therapeutics.” 1 vol. 8vo. Sheep. 625 pages, 3 50 - - SYME’S Principles and Practice of Surgery. By JAMES SYME, - Professor of Clinical Surgery, University of Edinburgh, Surgeon - to the Queen, etc. Edited, with Illustrations, by ROBERT S. - NEWTON, M. D., Professor of Surgery in the “Eclectic Medical - Institute of Cincinnati.” 1 vol. 8vo., 908 pages. Sheep 6 00 - - RENOUARD’S (Dr P. V., of Paris) HISTORY OF MEDICINE. From its - Origin to the Nineteenth Century, with an Appendix containing a - Philosophical and Historical Review of Medicine to the present - time. Translated from the French by CORNELIUS G. COMEGYS, M. - D., Professor of the Institutes of Medicine, in the “Ohio - Medical College.” 1 vol. octavo, 719 pages. Sheep, 4 00 - - ☞This work is without a rival in the language, and has been - noticed in the highest terms of Praise by all _the leading - English Medical Journals_, as well as by the American, and - recommended by Drs. Jackson, Dunglison, and other Professors in - Philadelphia and elsewhere. - - - - - MUSIC BOOKS, Etc. - - - JUST READY. HALLOWED SONGS. A collection of the most popular - Hymns and Tunes, both old and new, designed for Prayer and - Social Meetings, Revivals, Family Worship, and Sabbath Schools. - By THEO. E. PERKINS, PHILIP PHILLIPS and SYLVESTER MAIN, 1 00 - - SPRING BLOSSOMS. A Collection of Music for Sunday Schools. With - Rudiments. By PHILIP PHILLIPS. 1 vol. 128 pages. Paper, sewed, 25 - - Bound, 30 - - ORIOLA; A New and Complete Hymn and Tone Book for Sabbath - Schools. By WILLIAM B. BRADBURY, Author of “The Shawm,” - “Jubilee,” “The School Carol,” “Golden Chain,” “Golden Shower,” - etc. Thirtieth Edition, Enlarged. 272 pages, 60 - - ORIO. All the Sunday School Hymns from “Oriola, a complete Hymn - and Tune Book for Sabbath Schools.” By WM. B. BRADBURY. 32mo., - 277 pp. 25 - - THE HARP. A collection of choice Sacred Music; derived from the - composition of about one hundred eminent German, Swiss, - Italian, French, English, and other European Musicians; also, - original tunes by German, English and American authors. Many of - them having been arranged or composed expressly for this work. - By LOWELL MASON and T. B. MASON, 1 00 - - THE MISSOURI HARMONY; or, a Collection of Psalms, Hymns, Tunes - and Anthems, from Eminent Authors, with an Introduction to the - Grounds and Rudiments of Music, in four parts. By ELDEN D. - CARDEN. New Edition, revised, enlarged, and corrected by - CHARLES WARREN, Newly Stereotyped in Patent Notes, 80 - - THE SACRED MELODEON. Containing a great variety of approved - Church Music, selected chiefly from the old Standard Authors, - with many original compositions; on a New System of Notation, - designed for the use of Churches, Singing Societies, and - Academies. One Hundredth Edition. By A. S. HAYDEN, 1 10 - - - - - IN PRESS. - - - AFTER THE WAR; Down the Coast and Up the Mississippi. By - [“Agate”] WHITELAW REID, Special Correspondent of the - _Cincinnati Gazette_. 1 handsome volume, 12mo., of about 600 - pages. Illustrated. When the tour of inspection to the cities - of the Southern Coast was decided on by Chief Justice CHASE and - several officials of the Treasury Department, the Judge - complimented his friend, the Congressional Librarian, with an - invitation to accompany him on the trip. Duly provided with a - pass from President Johnson, Mr. REID accompanied the party, on - board the Government Steamer _Wayanda_, and spent a month or - more in the voyage to New Orleans, and in visiting with the - distinguished gentlemen the coast cities of the rebellious - States. Occurring immediately after the Rebel armies had been - disbanded, he became possessed of many facts, and witnessed - many incidents replete with interest, which he has here given - to the public in his own agreeable manner. As “Agate,” he is - well known as one of the most brilliant descriptive writers in - the country. - - - THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN. - - Now stereotyping and soon to be published by authority of the Secretary - of War and the Judge Advocate General, the only authorized edition of - - - THE TRIAL OF THE CONSPIRATORS, - - David E. Herold, Edward Spangler, Lewis Payne, Michael - O’Laughlin, Samuel Arnold, Mary E. Surratt, George A. Atzerodt, - Samuel A. Mudd, before a Military Commission, at Washington, - specially convened by President Johnson. President of the - Commission, Major-General David Hunter; Judge Advocate, - Brigadier-General Joseph Holt, Judge Advocate General; Special - Judge Advocates, Hon. J. A. Bingham and Brevet Colonel H. - L. Burnett; Special Provost Marshal of the Commission, - Major-General Hartranft. Containing the Testimony, Documents - introduced in Evidence, Discussion of Points of Law, Arguments - of Counsel for the Accused, and the Reply of Special Judge - Advocate, Hon. John A. Bingham; also, the Findings and - Sentences of the Accused; with Portraits, on steel, engraved by - Ritchie. _Compiled and arranged by_ BENN PITMAN, Recorder to - the Commission. 1 vol. royal octavo, double columns. This - Trial developed, not only the Plot and the details of the - Assassination of President Lincoln, but a series of crimes and - plots to which the more unscrupulous traitors resorted when the - Rebellion gave token of failure by a contest of arms on the - battle-field. - - - - ---------------------------------------------------------------------- - - - - -Transcriber’s note: - - 1. Items VI and VII are missing in the list in the footnote on p. 90. - - 2. Silently corrected typographical errors. - - 3. 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