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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/6764-h.zip b/6764-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..3835c8d --- /dev/null +++ b/6764-h.zip diff --git a/6764-h/6764-h.htm b/6764-h/6764-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..8e29757 --- /dev/null +++ b/6764-h/6764-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10855 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="us-ascii"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Army Life in a Black Regiment, By Thomas Wentworth Higginson + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd0; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + div.middle { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + .pagenum {display:inline; font-size: 70%; font-style:normal; + margin: 0; padding: 0; position: absolute; right: 1%; + text-align: right;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Army Life in a Black Regiment, by +Thomas Wentworth Higginson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Army Life in a Black Regiment + +Author: Thomas Wentworth Higginson + +Release Date: March 23, 2009 [EBook #6764] +Last Updated: February 4, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARMY LIFE IN A BLACK REGIMENT *** + + + + +Produced by Eric Eldred, and David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h1> + ARMY LIFE IN A BLACK REGIMENT + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Thomas Wentworth Higginson + </h2> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + (1823-1911) + </h3> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h3> + Originally published 1869 + </h3> + <p> + <br /> + </p> + <h4> + Reprinted, 1900, by Riverside Press + </h4> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <blockquote> + <p class="toc"> + <big><b>CONTENTS</b></big> + </p> + <p> + <br /> <a href="#link2HCH0001"> Chapter 1. </a> Introductory + <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0002"> Chapter 2. </a> Camp + Diary <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0003"> Chapter 3. </a> Up + the St. Mary's <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0004"> Chapter 4. </a> Up + the St. John's <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0005"> Chapter 5. </a> Out + on Picket <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0006"> Chapter 6. </a> A + Night in the Water <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0007"> Chapter 7. </a> Up + the Edisto <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0008"> Chapter 8. </a> The + Baby of the Regiment <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0009"> Chapter 9. </a> Negro + Spirituals <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0010"> Chapter 10. </a> Life + at Camp Shaw <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0011"> Chapter 11. </a> Florida + Again? <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0012"> Chapter 12. </a> The + Negro as a Soldier <br /><br /> <a href="#link2HCH0013"> Chapter 13. </a> Conclusion + <br /><br /><br /> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPE"> APPENDIX </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEa"> Appendix A </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEb"> Appendix B The First Black Soldiers </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEc"> Appendix C General Saxton's Instructions </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEd"> Appendix D The Struggle for Pay </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_APPEe"> Appendix E Farewell Address of Lt. Col. + Trowbridge </a> + </p> + </blockquote> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + Chapter 1. Introductory + </h2> + <p> + These pages record some of the adventures of the First South Carolina + Volunteers, the first slave regiment mustered into the service of the + United States during the late civil war. It was, indeed, the first colored + regiment of any kind so mustered, except a portion of the troops raised by + Major-General Butler at New Orleans. These scarcely belonged to the same + class, however, being recruited from the free colored population of that + city, a comparatively self-reliant and educated race. "The darkest of + them," said General Butler, "were about the complexion of the late Mr. + Webster." + </p> + <p> + The First South Carolina, on the other hand, contained scarcely a freeman, + had not one mulatto in ten, and a far smaller proportion who could read or + write when enlisted. The only contemporary regiment of a similar character + was the "First Kansas Colored," which began recruiting a little earlier, + though it was not mustered in the usual basis of military seniority till + later. [<i>See Appendix</i>] These were the only colored regiments + recruited during the year 1862. The Second South Carolina and the + Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts followed early in 1863. + </p> + <p> + This is the way in which I came to the command of this regiment. One day + in November, 1862, I was sitting at dinner with my lieutenants, John + Goodell and Luther Bigelow, in the barracks of the Fifty-First + Massachusetts, Colonel Sprague, when the following letter was put into my + hands: + </p> + <p> + BEAUFORT, S. C., November 5, 1862. + </p> + <p> + MY DEAR SIR. + </p> + <p> + I am organizing the First Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers, with + every prospect of success. Your name has been spoken of, in connection + with the command of this regiment, by some friends in whose judgment I + have confidence. I take great pleasure in offering you the position of + Colonel in it, and hope that you may be induced to accept. I shall not + fill the place until I hear from you, or sufficient time shall have passed + for me to receive your reply. Should you accept, I enclose a pass for Port + Royal, of which I trust you will feel disposed to avail yourself at once. + I am, with sincere regard, yours truly, + </p> + <p> + R. SAXTON, <i>Brig.-Genl, Mil. Gov.</i> + </p> + <p> + Had an invitation reached me to take command of a regiment of Kalmuck + Tartars, it could hardly have been more unexpected. I had always looked + for the arming of the blacks, and had always felt a wish to be associated + with them; had read the scanty accounts of General Hunter's abortive + regiment, and had heard rumors of General Saxton's renewed efforts. But + the prevalent tone of public sentiment was still opposed to any such + attempts; the government kept very shy of the experiment, and it did not + seem possible that the time had come when it could be fairly tried. + </p> + <p> + For myself, I was at the head of a fine company of my own raising, and in + a regiment to which I was already much attached. It did not seem desirable + to exchange a certainty for an uncertainty; for who knew but General + Saxton might yet be thwarted in his efforts by the pro-slavery influence + that had still so much weight at head-quarters? It would be intolerable to + go out to South Carolina, and find myself, after all, at the head of a + mere plantation-guard or a day-school in uniform. + </p> + <p> + I therefore obtained from the War Department, through Governor Andrew, + permission to go and report to General Saxton, without at once resigning + my captaincy. Fortunately it took but a few days in South Carolina to make + it clear that all was right, and the return steamer took back a + resignation of a Massachusetts commission. Thenceforth my lot was cast + altogether with the black troops, except when regiments or detachments of + white soldiers were also under my command, during the two years following. + </p> + <p> + These details would not be worth mentioning except as they show this fact: + that I did not seek the command of colored troops, but it sought me. And + this fact again is only important to my story for this reason, that under + these circumstances I naturally viewed the new recruits rather as subjects + for discipline than for philanthropy. I had been expecting a war for six + years, ever since the Kansas troubles, and my mind had dwelt on military + matters more or less during all that time. The best Massachusetts + regiments already exhibited a high standard of drill and discipline, and + unless these men could be brought tolerably near that standard, the fact + of their extreme blackness would afford me, even as a philanthropist, no + satisfaction. Fortunately, I felt perfect confidence that they could be so + trained, having happily known, by experience, the qualities of their race, + and knowing also that they had home and household and freedom to fight + for, besides that abstraction of "the Union." Trouble might perhaps be + expected from white officials, though this turned out far less than might + have been feared; but there was no trouble to come from the men, I + thought, and none ever came. On the other hand, it was a vast experiment + of indirect philanthropy, and one on which the result of the war and the + destiny of the negro race might rest; and this was enough to tax all one's + powers. I had been an abolitionist too long, and had known and loved John + Brown too well, not to feel a thrill of joy at last on finding myself in + the position where he only wished to be. + </p> + <p> + In view of all this, it was clear that good discipline must come first; + after that, of course, the men must be helped and elevated in all ways as + much as possible. + </p> + <p> + Of discipline there was great need, that is, of order and regular + instruction. Some of the men had already been under fire, but they were + very ignorant of drill and camp duty. The officers, being appointed from a + dozen different States, and more than as many regiments, infantry, + cavalry, artillery, and engineers, had all that diversity of methods which + so confused our army in those early days. The first need, therefore, was + of an unbroken interval of training. During this period, which fortunately + lasted nearly two months, I rarely left the camp, and got occasional + leisure moments for a fragmentary journal, to send home, recording the + many odd or novel aspects of the new experience. Camp-life was a + wonderfully strange sensation to almost all volunteer officers, and mine + lay among eight hundred men suddenly transformed from slaves into + soldiers, and representing a race affectionate, enthusiastic, grotesque, + and dramatic beyond all others. Being such, they naturally gave material + for description. There is nothing like a diary for freshness, at least so + I think, and I shall keep to the diary through the days of camp-life, and + throw the later experience into another form. Indeed, that matter takes + care of itself; diaries and letter-writing stop when field-service begins. + </p> + <p> + I am under pretty heavy bonds to tell the truth, and only the truth; for + those who look back to the newspaper correspondence of that period will + see that this particular regiment lived for months in a glare of + publicity, such as tests any regiment severely, and certainly prevents all + subsequent romancing in its historian. As the scene of the only effort on + the Atlantic coast to arm the negro, our camp attracted a continuous + stream of visitors, military and civil. A battalion of black soldiers, a + spectacle since so common, seemed then the most daring of innovations, and + the whole demeanor of this particular regiment was watched with + microscopic scrutiny by friends and foes. I felt sometimes as if we were a + plant trying to take root, but constantly pulled up to see if we were + growing. The slightest camp incidents sometimes came back to us, magnified + and distorted, in letters of anxious inquiry from remote parts of the + Union. It was no pleasant thing to live under such constant surveillance; + but it guaranteed the honesty of any success, while fearfully multiplying + the penalties had there been a failure. A single mutiny, such as has + happened in the infancy of a hundred regiments, a single miniature Bull + Run, a stampede of desertions, and it would have been all over with us; + the party of distrust would have got the upper hand, and there might not + have been, during the whole contest, another effort to arm the negro. + </p> + <p> + I may now proceed, without farther preparation to the Diary. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter 2. Camp Diary + </h2> + <p> + CAMP SAXTON, near Beaufort, S. C., November 24, 1862. + </p> + <p> + Yesterday afternoon we were steaming over a summer sea, the deck level as + a parlor-floor, no land in sight, no sail, until at last appeared one + light-house, said to be Cape Romaine, and then a line of trees and two + distant vessels and nothing more. The sun set, a great illuminated bubble, + submerged in one vast bank of rosy suffusion; it grew dark; after tea all + were on deck, the people sang hymns; then the moon set, a moon two days + old, a curved pencil of light, reclining backwards on a radiant couch + which seemed to rise from the waves to receive it; it sank slowly, and the + last tip wavered and went down like the mast of a vessel of the skies. + Towards morning the boat stopped, and when I came on deck, before six, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "The watch-lights glittered on the land, + The ship-lights on the sea." +</pre> + <p> + Hilton Head lay on one side, the gunboats on the other; all that was raw + and bare in the low buildings of the new settlement was softened into + picturesqueness by the early light. Stars were still overhead, gulls + wheeled and shrieked, and the broad river rippled duskily towards + Beaufort. + </p> + <p> + The shores were low and wooded, like any New England shore; there were a + few gunboats, twenty schooners, and some steamers, among them the famous + "Planter," which Robert Small, the slave, presented to the nation. The + river-banks were soft and graceful, though low, and as we steamed up to + Beaufort on the flood-tide this morning, it seemed almost as fair as the + smooth and lovely canals which Stedman traversed to meet his negro + soldiers in Surinam. The air was cool as at home, yet the foliage seemed + green, glimpses of stiff tropical vegetation appeared along the banks, + with great clumps of shrubs, whose pale seed-vessels looked like tardy + blossoms. Then we saw on a picturesque point an old plantation, with + stately magnolia avenue, decaying house, and tiny church amid the woods, + reminding me of Virginia; behind it stood a neat encampment of white + tents, "and there," said my companion, "is your future regiment." + </p> + <p> + Three miles farther brought us to the pretty town of Beaufort, with its + stately houses amid Southern foliage. Reporting to General Saxton, I had + the luck to encounter a company of my destined command, marched in to be + mustered into the United States service. They were unarmed, and all looked + as thoroughly black as the most faithful philanthropist could desire; + there did not seem to be so much as a mulatto among them. Their coloring + suited me, all but the legs, which were clad in a lively scarlet, as + intolerable to my eyes as if I had been a turkey. I saw them mustered; + General Saxton talked to them a little, in his direct, manly way; they + gave close attention, though their faces looked impenetrable. Then I + conversed with some of them. The first to whom I spoke had been wounded in + a small expedition after lumber, from which a party had just returned, and + in which they had been under fire and had done very well. I said, pointing + to his lame arm, + </p> + <p> + "Did you think that was more than you bargained for, my man?" + </p> + <p> + His answer came promptly and stoutly, + </p> + <p> + "I been a-tinking, Mas'r, dot's jess what I went for." + </p> + <p> + I thought this did well enough for my very first interchange of dialogue + with my recruits. + </p> + <p> + November 27, 1862. + </p> + <p> + Thanksgiving-Day; it is the first moment I have had for writing during + these three days, which have installed me into a new mode of life so + thoroughly that they seem three years. Scarcely pausing in New York or in + Beaufort, there seems to have been for me but one step from the camp of a + Massachusetts regiment to this, and that step over leagues of waves. + </p> + <p> + It is a holiday wherever General Saxton's proclamation reaches. The chilly + sunshine and the pale blue river seems like New England, but those alone. + The air is full of noisy drumming, and of gunshots; for the prize-shooting + is our great celebration of the day, and the drumming is chronic. My young + barbarians are all at play. I look out from the broken windows of this + forlorn plantation-house, through avenues of great live-oaks, with their + hard, shining leaves, and their branches hung with a universal drapery of + soft, long moss, like fringe-trees struck with grayness. Below, the sandy + soil, scantly covered with coarse grass, bristles with sharp palmettoes + and aloes; all the vegetation is stiff, shining, semi-tropical, with + nothing soft or delicate in its texture. Numerous plantation-buildings + totter around, all slovenly and unattractive, while the interspaces are + filled with all manner of wreck and refuse, pigs, fowls, dogs, and + omnipresent Ethiopian infancy. All this is the universal Southern + panorama; but five minutes' walk beyond the hovels and the live-oaks will + bring one to something so un-Southern that the whole Southern coast at + this moment trembles at the suggestion of such a thing, the camp of a + regiment of freed slaves. + </p> + <p> + One adapts one's self so readily to new surroundings that already the full + zest of the novelty seems passing away from my perceptions, and I write + these lines in an eager effort to retain all I can. Already I am growing + used to the experience, at first so novel, of living among five hundred + men, and scarce a white face to be seen, of seeing them go through all + their daily processes, eating, frolicking, talking, just as if they were + white. Each day at dress-parade I stand with the customary folding of the + arms before a regimental line of countenances so black that I can hardly + tell whether the men stand steadily or not; black is every hand which + moves in ready cadence as I vociferate, "Battalion! Shoulder arms!" nor is + it till the line of white officers moves forward, as parade is dismissed, + that I am reminded that my own face is not the color of coal. + </p> + <p> + The first few days on duty with a new regiment must be devoted almost + wholly to tightening reins; in this process one deals chiefly with the + officers, and I have as yet had but little personal intercourse with the + men. They concern me chiefly in bulk, as so many consumers of rations, + wearers of uniforms, bearers of muskets. But as the machine comes into + shape, I am beginning to decipher the individual parts. At first, of + course, they all looked just alike; the variety comes afterwards, and they + are just as distinguishable, the officers say, as so many whites. Most of + them are wholly raw, but there are many who have already been for months + in camp in the abortive "Hunter Regiment," yet in that loose kind of way + which, like average militia training, is a doubtful advantage. I notice + that some companies, too, look darker than others, though all are purer + African than I expected. This is said to be partly a geographical + difference between the South Carolina and Florida men. When the Rebels + evacuated this region they probably took with them the house-servants, + including most of the mixed blood, so that the residuum seems very black. + But the men brought from Fernandina the other day average lighter in + complexion, and look more intelligent, and they certainly take wonderfully + to the drill. + </p> + <p> + It needs but a few days to show the absurdity of distrusting the military + availability of these people. They have quite as much average + comprehension as whites of the need of the thing, as much courage (I doubt + not), as much previous knowledge of the gun, and, above all, a readiness + of ear and of imitation, which, for purposes of drill, counterbalances any + defect of mental training. To learn the drill, one does not want a set of + college professors; one wants a squad of eager, active, pliant + school-boys; and the more childlike these pupils are the better. There is + no trouble about the drill; they will surpass whites in that. As to + camp-life, they have little to sacrifice; they are better fed, housed, and + clothed than ever in their lives before, and they appear to have few + inconvenient vices. They are simple, docile, and affectionate almost to + the point of absurdity. The same men who stood fire in open field with + perfect coolness, on the late expedition, have come to me blubbering in + the most irresistibly ludicrous manner on being transferred from one + company in the regiment to another. + </p> + <p> + In noticing the squad-drills I perceive that the men learn less + laboriously than whites that "double, double, toil and trouble," which is + the elementary vexation of the drill-master, that they more rarely mistake + their left for their right, and are more grave and sedate while under + instruction. The extremes of jollity and sobriety, being greater with + them, are less liable to be intermingled; these companies can be driven + with a looser rein than my former one, for they restrain themselves; but + the moment they are dismissed from drill every tongue is relaxed and every + ivory tooth visible. This morning I wandered about where the different + companies were target-shooting, and their glee was contagious. Such + exulting shouts of "Ki! ole man," when some steady old turkey-shooter + brought his gun down for an instant's aim, and then unerringly hit the + mark; and then, when some unwary youth fired his piece into the ground at + half-cock such guffawing and delight, such rolling over and over on the + grass, such dances of ecstasy, as made the "Ethiopian minstrelsy" of the + stage appear a feeble imitation. + </p> + <p> + Evening. Better still was a scene on which I stumbled to-night. Strolling + in the cool moonlight, I was attracted by a brilliant light beneath the + trees, and cautiously approached it. A circle of thirty or forty soldiers + sat around a roaring fire, while one old uncle, Cato by name, was + narrating an interminable tale, to the insatiable delight of his audience. + I came up into the dusky background, perceived only by a few, and he still + continued. It was a narrative, dramatized to the last degree, of his + adventures in escaping from his master to the Union vessels; and even I, + who have heard the stories of Harriet Tubman, and such wonderful + slave-comedians, never witnessed such a piece of acting. When I came upon + the scene he had just come unexpectedly upon a plantation-house, and, + putting a bold face upon it, had walked up to the door. + </p> + <p> + "Den I go up to de white man, berry humble, and say, would he please gib + ole man a mouthful for eat? + </p> + <p> + "He say he must hab de valeration ob half a dollar. + </p> + <p> + "Den I look berry sorry, and turn for go away. + </p> + <p> + "Den he say I might gib him dat hatchet I had. + </p> + <p> + "Den I say" (this in a tragic vein) "dat I must hab dat hatchet for defend + myself <i>from de dogs</i>!" + </p> + <p> + [Immense applause, and one appreciating auditor says, chuckling, "Dat was + your <i>arms</i>, ole man," which brings down the house again.] + </p> + <p> + "Den he say de Yankee pickets was near by, and I must be very keerful. + </p> + <p> + "Den I say, 'Good Lord, Mas'r, am dey?'" + </p> + <p> + Words cannot express the complete dissimulation with which these accents + of terror were uttered, this being precisely the piece of information he + wished to obtain. + </p> + <p> + Then he narrated his devices to get into the house at night and obtain + some food, how a dog flew at him, how the whole household, black and + white, rose in pursuit, how he scrambled under a hedge and over a high + fence, etc., all in a style of which Gough alone among orators can give + the faintest impression, so thoroughly dramatized was every syllable. + </p> + <p> + Then he described his reaching the river-side at last, and trying to + decide whether certain vessels held friends or foes. + </p> + <p> + "Den I see guns on board, and sure sartin he Union boat, and I pop my head + up. Den I been-a-tink [think] Seceshkey hab guns too, and my head go down + again. Den I hide in de bush till morning. Den I open my bundle, and take + ole white shut and tie him on ole pole and wave him, and ebry time de wind + blow, I been-a-tremble, and drap down in de bushes," because, being + between two fires, he doubted whether friend or foe would see his signal + first. And so on, with a succession of tricks beyond Moliere, of acts of + caution, foresight, patient cunning, which were listened to with infinite + gusto and perfect comprehension by every listener. + </p> + <p> + And all this to a bivouac of negro soldiers, with the brilliant fire + lighting up their red trousers and gleaming from their shining black + faces, eyes and teeth all white with tumultuous glee. Overhead, the mighty + limbs of a great live-oak, with the weird moss swaying in the smoke, and + the high moon gleaming faintly through. + </p> + <p> + Yet to-morrow strangers will remark on the hopeless, impenetrable + stupidity in the daylight faces of many of these very men, the solid mask + under which Nature has concealed all this wealth of mother-wit. This very + comedian is one to whom one might point, as he hoed lazily in a + cotton-field, as a being the light of whose brain had utterly gone out; + and this scene seems like coming by night upon some conclave of black + beetles, and finding them engaged, with green-room and foot-lights, in + enacting "Poor Pillicoddy." This is their university; every young Sambo + before me, as he turned over the sweet potatoes and peanuts which were + roasting in the ashes, listened with reverence to the wiles of the ancient + Ulysses, and meditated the same. It is Nature's compensation; oppression + simply crushes the upper faculties of the head, and crowds everything into + the perceptive organs. Cato, thou reasonest well! When I get into any + serious scrape, in an enemy's country, may I be lucky enough to have you + at my elbow, to pull me out of it! + </p> + <p> + The men seem to have enjoyed the novel event of Thanksgiving-Day; they + have had company and regimental prize-shootings, a minimum of speeches and + a maximum of dinner. Bill of fare: two beef-cattle and a thousand oranges. + The oranges cost a cent apiece, and the cattle were Secesh, bestowed by + General Saxby, as they all call him. + </p> + <p> + December 1, 1862. + </p> + <p> + How absurd is the impression bequeathed by Slavery in regard to these + Southern blacks, that they are sluggish and inefficient in labor! Last + night, after a hard day's work (our guns and the remainder of our tents + being just issued), an order came from Beaufort that we should be ready in + the evening to unload a steamboat's cargo of boards, being some of those + captured by them a few weeks since, and now assigned for their use. I + wondered if the men would grumble at the night-work; but the steamboat + arrived by seven, and it was bright moonlight when they went at it. Never + have I beheld such a jolly scene of labor. Tugging these wet and heavy + boards over a bridge of boats ashore, then across the slimy beach at low + tide, then up a steep bank, and all in one great uproar of merriment for + two hours. Running most of the time, chattering all the time, snatching + the boards from each other's backs as if they were some coveted treasure, + getting up eager rivalries between different companies, pouring great + choruses of ridicule on the heads of all shirkers, they made the whole + scene so enlivening that I gladly stayed out in the moonlight for the + whole time to watch it. And all this without any urging or any promised + reward, but simply as the most natural way of doing the thing. The + steamboat captain declared that they unloaded the ten thousand feet of + boards quicker than any white gang could have done it; and they felt it so + little, that, when, later in the night, I reproached one whom I found + sitting by a campfire, cooking a surreptitious opossum, telling him that + he ought to be asleep after such a job of work, he answered, with the + broadest grin, "O no, Gunnel, da's no work at all, Gunnel; dat only jess + enough for stretch we." + </p> + <p> + December 2, 1862. + </p> + <p> + I believe I have not yet enumerated the probable drawbacks to the success + of this regiment, if any. We are exposed to no direct annoyance from the + white regiments, being out of their way; and we have as yet no discomforts + or privations which we do not share with them. I do not as yet see the + slightest obstacle, in the nature of the blacks, to making them good + soldiers, but rather the contrary. They take readily to drill, and do not + object to discipline; they are not especially dull or inattentive; they + seem fully to understand the importance of the contest, and of their share + in it. They show no jealousy or suspicion towards their officers. + </p> + <p> + They do show these feelings, however, towards the Government itself; and + no one can wonder. Here lies the drawback to rapid recruiting. Were this a + wholly new regiment, it would have been full to overflowing, I am + satisfied, ere now. The trouble is in the legacy of bitter distrust + bequeathed by the abortive regiment of General Hunter, into which they + were driven like cattle, kept for several months in camp, and then turned + off without a shilling, by order of the War Department. The formation of + that regiment was, on the whole, a great injury to this one; and the men + who came from it, though the best soldiers we have in other respects, are + the least sanguine and cheerful; while those who now refuse to enlist have + a great influence in deterring others. Our soldiers are constantly twitted + by their families and friends with their prospect of risking their lives + in the service, and being paid nothing; and it is in vain that we read + them the instructions of the Secretary of War to General Saxton, promising + them the full pay of soldiers. They only half believe it.* + </p> + <p> + *With what utter humiliation were we, their officers, obliged to confess + to them, eighteen months afterwards, that it was their distrust which was + wise, and our faith in the pledges of the United States Government which + was foolishness! + </p> + <p> + Another drawback is that some of the white soldiers delight in frightening + the women on the plantations with doleful tales of plans for putting us in + the front rank in all battles, and such silly talk,—the object being + perhaps, to prevent our being employed on active service at all. All these + considerations they feel precisely as white men would,—no less, no + more; and it is the comparative freedom from such unfavorable influences + which makes the Florida men seem more bold and manly, as they undoubtedly + do. To-day General Saxton has returned from Fernandina with seventy-six + recruits, and the eagerness of the captains to secure them was a sight to + see. Yet they cannot deny that some of the very best men in the regiment + are South Carolinians. + </p> + <p> + December 3, 1862.—7 P.M. + </p> + <p> + What a life is this I lead! It is a dark, mild, drizzling evening, and as + the foggy air breeds sand-flies, so it calls out melodies and strange + antics from this mysterious race of grown-up children with whom my lot is + cast. All over the camp the lights glimmer in the tents, and as I sit at + my desk in the open doorway, there come mingled sounds of stir and glee. + Boys laugh and shout,—a feeble flute stirs somewhere in some tent, + not an officer's,—a drum throbs far away in another,—wild + kildeer-plover flit and wail above us, like the haunting souls of dead + slave-masters,—and from a neighboring cook-fire comes the monotonous + sound of that strange festival, half pow-wow, half prayer-meeting, which + they know only as a "shout." These fires are usually enclosed in a little + booth, made neatly of palm-leaves and covered in at top, a regular native + African hut, in short, such as is pictured in books, and such as I once + got up from dried palm-leaves for a fair at home. This hut is now crammed + with men, singing at the top of their voices, in one of their quaint, + monotonous, endless, negro-Methodist chants, with obscure syllables + recurring constantly, and slight variations interwoven, all accompanied + with a regular drumming of the feet and clapping of the hands, like + castanets. Then the excitement spreads: inside and outside the enclosure + men begin to quiver and dance, others join, a circle forms, winding + monotonously round some one in the centre; some "heel and toe" + tumultuously, others merely tremble and stagger on, others stoop and rise, + others whirl, others caper sideways, all keep steadily circling like + dervishes; spectators applaud special strokes of skill; my approach only + enlivens the scene; the circle enlarges, louder grows the singing, rousing + shouts of encouragement come in, half bacchanalian, half devout, "Wake + 'em, brudder!" "Stan' up to 'em, brudder!"—and still the ceaseless + drumming and clapping, in perfect cadence, goes steadily on. Suddenly + there comes a sort of snap, and the spell breaks, amid general sighing and + laughter. And this not rarely and occasionally, but night after night, + while in other parts of the camp the soberest prayers and exhortations are + proceeding sedately. + </p> + <p> + A simple and lovable people, whose graces seem to come by nature, and + whose vices by training. Some of the best superintendents confirm the + first tales of innocence, and Dr. Zachos told me last night that on his + plantation, a sequestered one, "they had absolutely no vices." Nor have + these men of mine yet shown any worth mentioning; since I took command I + have heard of no man intoxicated, and there has been but one small + quarrel. I suppose that scarcely a white regiment in the army shows so + little swearing. Take the "Progressive Friends" and put them in red + trousers, and I verily believe they would fill a guard-house sooner than + these men. If camp regulations are violated, it seems to be usually + through heedlessness. They love passionately three things besides their + spiritual incantations; namely, sugar, home, and tobacco. This last + affection brings tears to their eyes, almost, when they speak of their + urgent need of pay; they speak of their last-remembered quid as if it were + some deceased relative, too early lost, and to be mourned forever. As for + sugar, no white man can drink coffee after they have sweetened it to their + liking. + </p> + <p> + I see that the pride which military life creates may cause the plantation + trickeries to diminish. For instance, these men make the most admirable + sentinels. It is far harder to pass the camp lines at night than in the + camp from which I came; and I have seen none of that disposition to + connive at the offences of members of one's own company which is so + troublesome among white soldiers. Nor are they lazy, either about work or + drill; in all respects they seem better material for soldiers than I had + dared to hope. + </p> + <p> + There is one company in particular, all Florida men, which I certainly + think the finest-looking company I ever saw, white or black; they range + admirably in size, have remarkable erectness and ease of carriage, and + really march splendidly. Not a visitor but notices them; yet they have + been under drill only a fortnight, and a part only two days. They have all + been slaves, and very few are even mulattoes. + </p> + <p> + December 4, 1862. + </p> + <p> + "Dwelling in tents, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." This condition is + certainly mine,—and with a multitude of patriarchs beside, not to + mention Caesar and Pompey, Hercules and Bacchus. + </p> + <p> + A moving life, tented at night, this experience has been mine in civil + society, if society be civil before the luxurious forest fires of Maine + and the Adirondack, or upon the lonely prairies of Kansas. But a + stationary tent life, deliberately going to housekeeping under canvas, I + have never had before, though in our barrack life at "Camp Wool" I often + wished for it. + </p> + <p> + The accommodations here are about as liberal as my quarters there, two + wall-tents being placed end to end, for office and bedroom, and separated + at will by a "fly" of canvas. There is a good board floor and mop-board, + effectually excluding dampness and draughts, and everything but sand, + which on windy days penetrates everywhere. The office furniture consists + of a good desk or secretary, a very clumsy and disastrous settee, and a + remarkable chair. The desk is a bequest of the slaveholders, and the + settee of the slaves, being ecclesiastical in its origin, and appertaining + to the little old church or "praise-house," now used for commissary + purposes. The chair is a composite structure: I found a cane seat on a + dust-heap, which a black sergeant combined with two legs from a broken + bedstead and two more from an oak-bough. I sit on it with a pride of + conscious invention, mitigated by profound insecurity. Bedroom furniture, + a couch made of gun-boxes covered with condemned blankets, another settee, + two pails, a tin cup, tin basin (we prize any tin or wooden ware as + savages prize iron), and a valise, regulation size. Seriously considered, + nothing more appears needful, unless ambition might crave another chair + for company, and, perhaps, something for a wash-stand higher than a + settee. + </p> + <p> + To-day it rains hard, and the wind quivers through the closed canvas, and + makes one feel at sea. All the talk of the camp outside is fused into a + cheerful and indistinguishable murmur, pierced through at every moment by + the wail of the hovering plover. Sometimes a face, black or white, peers + through the entrance with some message. Since the light readily + penetrates, though the rain cannot, the tent conveys a feeling of charmed + security, as if an invisible boundary checked the pattering drops and held + the moaning wind. The front tent I share, as yet, with my adjutant; in the + inner apartment I reign supreme, bounded in a nutshell, with no bad + dreams. + </p> + <p> + In all pleasant weather the outer "fly" is open, and men pass and repass, + a chattering throng. I think of Emerson's Saadi, "As thou sittest at thy + door, on the desert's yellow floor,"—for these bare sand-plains, + gray above, are always yellow when upturned, and there seems a tinge of + Orientalism in all our life. + </p> + <p> + Thrice a day we go to the plantation-houses for our meals, + camp-arrangements being yet very imperfect. The officers board in + different messes, the adjutant and I still clinging to the household of + William Washington,—William the quiet and the courteous, the pattern + of house-servants, William the noiseless, the observing, the + discriminating, who knows everything that can be got, and how to cook it. + William and his tidy, lady-like little spouse Hetty—a pair of wedded + lovers, if ever I saw one—set our table in their one room, half-way + between an un glazed window and a large wood-fire, such as is often + welcome. Thanks to the adjutant, we are provided with the social + magnificence of napkins; while (lest pride take too high a flight) our + table-cloth consists of two "New York Tribunes" and a "Leslie's + Pictorial." Every steamer brings us a clean table-cloth. Here are we + forever supplied with pork and oysters and sweet potatoes and rice and + hominy and corn-bread and milk; also mysterious griddle-cakes of corn and + pumpkin; also preserves made of pumpkin-chips, and other fanciful + productions of Ethiop art. Mr. E. promised the plantation-superintendents + who should come down here "all the luxuries of home," and we certainly + have much apparent, if little real variety. Once William produced with + some palpitation something fricasseed, which he boldly termed chicken; it + was very small, and seemed in some undeveloped condition of ante-natal + toughness. After the meal he frankly avowed it for a squirrel. + </p> + <p> + December 5, 1862. + </p> + <p> + Give these people their tongues, their feet, and their leisure, and they + are happy. At every twilight the air is full of singing, talking, and + clapping of hands in unison. One of their favorite songs is full of + plaintive cadences; it is not, I think, a Methodist tune, and I wonder + where they obtained a chant of such beauty. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I can't stay behind, my Lord, I can't stay behind! + O, my father is gone, my father is gone, + My father is gone into heaven, my Lord! + I can't stay behind! + Dere's room enough, room enough, + Room enough in de heaven for de sojer: + Can't stay behind!" +</pre> + <p> + It always excites them to have us looking on, yet they sing these songs at + all times and seasons. I have heard this very song dimly droning on near + midnight, and, tracing it into the recesses of a cook-house, have found an + old fellow coiled away among the pots and provisions, chanting away with + his "Can't stay behind, sinner," till I made him leave his song behind. + </p> + <p> + This evening, after working themselves up to the highest pitch, a party + suddenly rushed off, got a barrel, and mounted some man upon it, who said, + "Gib anoder song, boys, and I'se gib you a speech." After some hesitation + and sundry shouts of "Rise de sing, somebody," and "Stan' up for Jesus, + brud-der," irreverently put in by the juveniles, they got upon the John + Brown song, always a favorite, adding a jubilant verse which I had never + before heard,—"We'll beat Beauregard on de clare battlefield." Then + came the promised speech, and then no less than seven other speeches by as + many men, on a variety of barrels, each orator being affectionately tugged + to the pedestal and set on end by his special constituency. Every speech + was good, without exception; with the queerest oddities of phrase and + pronunciation, there was an invariable enthusiasm, a pungency of + statement, and an understanding of the points at issue, which made them + all rather thrilling. Those long-winded slaves in "Among the Pines" seemed + rather fictitious and literary in comparison. The most eloquent, perhaps, + was Corporal Price Lambkin, just arrived from Fernandina, who evidently + had a previous reputation among them. His historical references were very + interesting. He reminded them that he had predicted this war ever since + Fremont's time, to which some of the crowd assented; he gave a very + intelligent account of that Presidential campaign, and then described most + impressively the secret anxiety of the slaves in Florida to know all about + President Lincoln's election, and told how they all refused to work on the + fourth of March, expecting their freedom to date from that day. He finally + brought out one of the few really impressive appeals for the American flag + that I have ever heard. "Our mas'rs dey hab lib under de flag, dey got + dere wealth under it, and ebryting beautiful for dere chilen. Under it dey + hab grind us up, and put us in dere pocket for money. But de fus' minute + dey tink dat ole flag mean freedom for we colored people, dey pull it + right down, and run up de rag ob dere own." (Immense applause). "But we'll + neber desert de ole flag, boys, neber; we hab lib under it for eighteen + hundred sixty-two years, and we'll die for it now." With which + overpowering discharge of chronology-at-long-range, this most effective of + stump-speeches closed. I see already with relief that there will be small + demand in this regiment for harangues from the officers; give the men an + empty barrel for a stump, and they will do their own exhortation. + </p> + <p> + December 11, 1862. + </p> + <p> + Haroun Alraschid, wandering in disguise through his imperial streets, + scarcely happened upon a greater variety of groups than I, in my evening + strolls among our own camp-fires. + </p> + <p> + Beside some of these fires the men are cleaning their guns or rehearsing + their drill,—beside others, smoking in silence their very scanty + supply of the beloved tobacco,—beside others, telling stories and + shouting with laughter over the broadest mimicry, in which they excel, and + in which the officers come in for a full share. The everlasting "shout" is + always within hearing, with its mixture of piety and polka, and its + castanet-like clapping of the hands. Then there are quieter + prayer-meetings, with pious invocations and slow psalms, "deaconed out" + from memory by the leader, two lines at a time, in a sort of wailing + chant. Elsewhere, there are <i>conversazioni</i> around fires, with a + woman for queen of the circle,—her Nubian face, gay headdress, gilt + necklace, and white teeth, all resplendent in the glowing light. Sometimes + the woman is spelling slow monosyllables out of a primer, a feat which + always commands all ears,—they rightly recognizing a mighty spell, + equal to the overthrowing of monarchs, in the magic assonance of <i>cat, + hat, pat, bat</i>, and the rest of it. Elsewhere, it is some solitary old + cook, some aged Uncle Tiff, with enormous spectacles, who is perusing a + hymn-book by the light of a pine splinter, in his deserted cooking booth + of palmetto leaves. By another fire there is an actual dance, red-legged + soldiers doing right-and-left, and "now-lead-de-lady-ober," to the music + of a violin which is rather artistically played, and which may have guided + the steps, in other days, of Barnwells and Hugers. And yonder is a + stump-orator perched on his barrel, pouring out his exhortations to + fidelity in war and in religion. To-night for the first time I have heard + an harangue in a different strain, quite saucy, sceptical, and defiant, + appealing to them in a sort of French materialistic style, and claiming + some personal experience of warfare. "You don't know notin' about it, + boys. You tink you's brave enough; how you tink, if you stan' clar in de + open field,—here you, and dar de Secesh? You's got to hab de right + ting inside o' you. You must hab it 'served [preserved] in you, like dese + yer sour plums dey 'serve in de barr'l; you's got to harden it down inside + o' you, or it's notin'." Then he hit hard at the religionists: "When a + man's got de sperit ob de Lord in him, it weakens him all out, can't hoe + de corn." He had a great deal of broad sense in his speech; but presently + some others began praying vociferously close by, as if to drown this + free-thinker, when at last he exclaimed, "I mean to fight de war through, + an' die a good sojer wid de last kick, dat's <i>my</i> prayer!" and + suddenly jumped off the barrel. I was quite interested at discovering this + reverse side of the temperament, the devotional side preponderates so + enormously, and the greatest scamps kneel and groan in their + prayer-meetings with such entire zest. It shows that there is some + individuality developed among them, and that they will not become too + exclusively pietistic. + </p> + <p> + Their love of the spelling-book is perfectly inexhaustible,—they + stumbling on by themselves, or the blind leading the blind, with the same + pathetic patience which they carry into everything. The chaplain is + getting up a schoolhouse, where he will soon teach them as regularly as he + can. But the alphabet must always be a very incidental business in a camp. + </p> + <p> + December 14. + </p> + <p> + Passages from prayers in the camp:— + </p> + <p> + "Let me so lib dat when I die I shall <i>hab manners</i>, dat I shall know + what to say when I see my Heabenly Lord." + </p> + <p> + "Let me lib wid de musket in one hand an' de Bible in de oder,—dat + if I die at de muzzle ob de musket, die in de water, die on de land, I may + know I hab de bressed Jesus in my hand, an' hab no fear." + </p> + <p> + "I hab lef my wife in de land o' bondage; my little ones dey say eb'ry + night, Whar is my fader? But when I die, when de bressed mornin' rises, + when I shall stan' in de glory, wid one foot on de water an' one foot on + de land, den, O Lord, I shall see my wife an' my little chil'en once + more." + </p> + <p> + These sentences I noted down, as best I could, beside the glimmering + camp-fire last night. The same person was the hero of a singular little <i>contre-temps</i> + at a funeral in the afternoon. It was our first funeral. The man had died + in hospital, and we had chosen a picturesque burial-place above the river, + near the old church, and beside a little nameless cemetery, used by + generations of slaves. It was a regular military funeral, the coffin being + draped with the American flag, the escort marching behind, and three + volleys fired over the grave. During the services there was singing, the + chaplain deaconing out the hymn in their favorite way. This ended, he + announced his text,—"This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, + and delivered him out of all his trouble." Instantly, to my great + amazement, the cracked voice of the chorister was uplifted, intoning the + text, as if it were the first verse of another hymn. So calmly was it + done, so imperturbable were all the black countenances, that I half began + to conjecture that the chaplain himself intended it for a hymn, though I + could imagine no prospective rhyme for <i>trouble</i> unless it were + approximated by <i>debbil</i>, which is, indeed, a favorite reference, + both with the men and with his Reverence. But the chaplain, peacefully + awaiting, gently repeated his text after the chant, and to my great relief + the old chorister waived all further recitative, and let the funeral + discourse proceed. + </p> + <p> + Their memories are a vast bewildered chaos of Jewish history and + biography; and most of the great events of the past, down to the period of + the American Revolution, they instinctively attribute to Moses. There is a + fine bold confidence in all their citations, however, and the record never + loses piquancy in their hands, though strict accuracy may suffer. Thus, + one of my captains, last Sunday, heard a colored exhorter at Beaufort + proclaim, "Paul may plant, <i>and may polish wid water</i>, but it won't + do," in which the sainted Apollos would hardly have recognized himself. + </p> + <p> + Just now one of the soldiers came to me to say that he was about to be + married to a girl in Beaufort, and would I lend him a dollar and + seventy-five cents to buy the wedding outfit? It seemed as if matrimony on + such moderate terms ought to be encouraged in these days; and so I + responded to the appeal. + </p> + <p> + December 16. + </p> + <p> + To-day a young recruit appeared here, who had been the slave of Colonel + Sammis, one of the leading Florida refugees. Two white companions came + with him, who also appeared to be retainers of the Colonel, and I asked + them to dine. Being likewise refugees, they had stories to tell, and were + quite agreeable: one was English born, the other Floridian, a dark, sallow + Southerner, very well bred. After they had gone, the Colonel himself + appeared, I told him that I had been entertaining his white friends, and + after a while he quietly let out the remark,— + </p> + <p> + "Yes, one of those white friends of whom you speak is a boy raised on one + of my plantations; he has travelled with me to the North, and passed for + white, and he always keeps away from the negroes." + </p> + <p> + Certainly no such suspicion had ever crossed my mind. + </p> + <p> + I have noticed one man in the regiment who would easily pass for white,—a + little sickly drummer, aged fifty at least, with brown eyes and reddish + hair, who is said to be the son of one of our commodores. I have seen + perhaps a dozen persons as fair, or fairer, among fugitive slaves, but + they were usually young children. It touched me far more to see this man, + who had spent more than half a lifetime in this low estate, and for whom + it now seemed too late to be anything but a "nigger." This offensive word, + by the way, is almost as common with them as at the North, and far more + common than with well-bred slaveholders. They have meekly accepted it. + "Want to go out to de nigger houses, Sah," is the universal impulse of + sociability, when they wish to cross the lines. "He hab twenty + house-servants, an' two hundred head o' nigger," is a still more degrading + form of phrase, in which the epithet is limited to the field-hands, and + they estimated like so many cattle. This want of self-respect of course + interferes with the authority of the non-commissioned officers, which is + always difficult to sustain, even in white regiments. "He needn't try to + play de white man ober me," was the protest of a soldier against his + corporal the other day. To counteract this I have often to remind them + that they do not obey their officers because they are white, but because + they are their officers; and guard duty is an admirable school for this, + because they readily understand that the sergeant or corporal of the guard + has for the time more authority than any commissioned officer who is not + on duty. It is necessary also for their superiors to treat the + non-commissioned officers with careful courtesy, and I often caution the + line officers never to call them "Sam" or "Will," nor omit the proper + handle to their names. The value of the habitual courtesies of the regular + army is exceedingly apparent with these men: an officer of polished + manners can wind them round his finger, while white soldiers seem rather + to prefer a certain roughness. The demeanor of my men to each other is + very courteous, and yet I see none of that sort of upstart conceit which + is sometimes offensive among free negroes at the North, the dandy-barber + strut. This is an agreeable surprise, for I feared that freedom and + regimentals would produce precisely that. + </p> + <p> + They seem the world's perpetual children, docile, gay, and lovable, in the + midst of this war for freedom on which they have intelligently entered. + Last night, before "taps," there was the greatest noise in camp that I had + ever heard, and I feared some riot. On going out, I found the most + tumultuous sham-fight proceeding in total darkness, two companies playing + like boys, beating tin cups for drums. When some of them saw me they + seemed a little dismayed, and came and said, beseechingly,—"Gunnel, + Sah, you hab no objection to we playin', Sah?"—which objection I + disclaimed; but soon they all subsided, rather to my regret, and scattered + merrily. Afterward I found that some other officer had told them that I + considered the affair too noisy, so that I felt a mild self-reproach when + one said, "Cunnel, wish you had let we play a little longer, Sah." Still I + was not sorry, on the whole; for these sham-fights between companies would + in some regiments lead to real ones, and there is a latent jealousy here + between the Florida and South Carolina men, which sometimes makes me + anxious. + </p> + <p> + The officers are more kind and patient with the men than I should expect, + since the former are mostly young, and drilling tries the temper; but they + are aided by hearty satisfaction in the results already attained. I have + never yet heard a doubt expressed among the officers as to the <i>superiority</i> + of these men to white troops in aptitude for drill and discipline, because + of their imitativeness and docility, and the pride they take in the + service. One captain said to me to-day, "I have this afternoon taught my + men to load-in-nine-times, and they do it better than we did it in my + former company in three months." I can personally testify that one of our + best lieutenants, an Englishman, taught a part of his company the + essential movements of the "school for skirmishers" in a single lesson of + two hours, so that they did them very passably, though I feel bound to + discourage such haste. However, I "formed square" on the third battalion + drill. Three fourths of drill consist of attention, imitation, and a good + ear for time; in the other fourth, which consists of the application of + principles, as, for instance, performing by the left flank some movement + before learned by the right, they are perhaps slower than better educated + men. Having belonged to five different drill-clubs before entering the + army, I certainly ought to know something of the resources of human + awkwardness, and I can honestly say that they astonish me by the facility + with which they do things. I expected much harder work in this respect. + </p> + <p> + The habit of carrying burdens on the head gives them erectness of figure, + even where physically disabled. I have seen a woman, with a brimming + water-pail balanced on her head, or perhaps a cup, saucer, and spoon, stop + suddenly, turn round, stoop to pick up a missile, rise again, fling it, + light a pipe, and go through many evolutions with either hand or both, + without spilling a drop. The pipe, by the way, gives an odd look to a + well-dressed young girl on Sunday, but one often sees that spectacle. The + passion for tobacco among our men continues quite absorbing, and I have + piteous appeals for some arrangement by which they can buy it on credit, + as we have yet no sutler. Their imploring, "Cunnel, we can't <i>lib</i> + widout it, Sah," goes to my heart; and as they cannot read, I cannot even + have the melancholy satisfaction of supplying them with the excellent + anti-tobacco tracts of Mr. Trask. + </p> + <p> + December 19. + </p> + <p> + Last night the water froze in the adjutant's tent, but not in mine. To-day + has been mild and beautiful. The blacks say they do not feel the cold so + much as the white officers do, and perhaps it is so, though their health + evidently suffers more from dampness. On the other hand, while drilling on + very warm days, they have seemed to suffer more from the heat than their + officers. But they dearly love fire, and at night will always have it, if + possible, even on the minutest scale,—a mere handful of splinters, + that seems hardly more efficacious than a friction-match. Probably this is + a natural habit for the short-lived coolness of an out-door country; and + then there is something delightful in this rich pine, which burns like a + tar-barrel. It was, perhaps, encouraged by the masters, as the only cheap + luxury the slaves had at hand. + </p> + <p> + As one grows more acquainted with the men, their individualities emerge; + and I find, first their faces, then their characters, to be as distinct as + those of whites. It is very interesting the desire they show to do their + duty, and to improve as soldiers; they evidently think about it, and see + the importance of the thing; they say to me that we white men cannot stay + and be their leaders always and that they must learn to depend on + themselves, or else relapse into their former condition. + </p> + <p> + Beside the superb branch of uneatable bitter oranges which decks my + tent-pole, I have to-day hung up a long bough of finger-sponge, which + floated to the river-bank. As winter advances, butterflies gradually + disappear: one species (a <i>Vanessa</i>) lingers; three others have + vanished since I came. Mocking-birds are abundant, but rarely sing; once + or twice they have reminded me of the red thrush, but are inferior, as I + have always thought. The colored people all say that it will be much + cooler; but my officers do not think so, perhaps because last winter was + so unusually mild,—with only one frost, they say. + </p> + <p> + December 20. + </p> + <p> + Philoprogenitiveness is an important organ for an officer of colored + troops; and I happen to be well provided with it. It seems to be the + theory of all military usages, in fact, that soldiers are to be treated + like children; and these singular persons, who never know their own age + till they are past middle life, and then choose a birthday with such + precision,—"Fifty year old, Sah, de fus' last April,"—prolong + the privilege of childhood. + </p> + <p> + I am perplexed nightly for countersigns,—their range of proper names + is so distressingly limited, and they make such amazing work of every new + one. At first, to be sure, they did not quite recognize the need of any + variation: one night some officer asked a sentinel whether he had the + countersign yet, and was indignantly answered, "Should tink I hab 'em, hab + 'em for a fortnight"; which seems a long epoch for that magic word to hold + out. To-night I thought I would have "Fredericksburg," in honor of + Burnside's reported victory, using the rumor quickly, for fear of a + contradiction. Later, in comes a captain, gets the countersign for his own + use, but presently returns, the sentinel having pronounced it incorrect. + On inquiry, it appears that the sergeant of the guard, being weak in + geography, thought best to substitute the more familiar word, + "Crockery-ware"; which was, with perfect gravity, confided to all the + sentinels, and accepted without question. O life! what is the fun of + fiction beside thee? + </p> + <p> + I should think they would suffer and complain these cold nights; but they + say nothing, though there is a good deal of coughing. I should fancy that + the scarlet trousers must do something to keep them warm, and wonder that + they dislike them so much, when they are so much like their beloved fires. + They certainly multiply firelight in any case. I often notice that an + infinitesimal flame, with one soldier standing by it, looks like quite a + respectable conflagration, and it seems as if a group of them must dispel + dampness. + </p> + <p> + December 21. + </p> + <p> + To a regimental commander no book can be so fascinating as the + consolidated Morning Report, which is ready about nine, and tells how many + in each company are sick, absent, on duty, and so on. It is one's + newspaper and daily mail; I never grow tired of it. If a single recruit + has come in, I am always eager to see how he looks on paper. + </p> + <p> + To-night the officers are rather depressed by rumors of Burnside's being + defeated, after all. I am fortunately equable and undepressible; and it is + very convenient that the men know too little of the events of the war to + feel excitement or fear. They know General Saxton and me,—"de + General" and "de Gunnel,"—and seem to ask no further questions. We + are the war. It saves a great deal of trouble, while it lasts, this + childlike confidence; nevertheless, it is our business to educate them to + manhood, and I see as yet no obstacle. + </p> + <p> + As for the rumor, the world will no doubt roll round, whether Burnside is + defeated or succeeds. + </p> + <p> + Christmas Day. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "We'll fight for liberty + Till de Lord shall call us home; + We'll soon be free + Till de Lord shall call us home." +</pre> + <p> + This is the hymn which the slaves at Georgetown, South Carolina, were + whipped for singing when President Lincoln was elected. So said a little + drummer-boy, as he sat at my tent's edge last night and told me his story; + and he showed all his white teeth as he added, "Dey tink <i>'de Lord'</i> + meant for say de Yankees." + </p> + <p> + Last night, at dress-parade, the adjutant read General Saxton's + Proclamation for the New Year's Celebration. I think they understood it, + for there was cheering in all the company-streets afterwards. Christmas is + the great festival of the year for this people; but, with New Year's + coming after, we could have no adequate programme for to-day, and so + celebrated Christmas Eve with pattern simplicity. We omitted, namely, the + mystic curfew which we call "taps," and let them sit up and burn their + fires, and have their little prayer-meetings as late as they desired; and + all night, as I waked at intervals, I could hear them praying and + "shouting" and clattering with hands and heels. It seemed to make them + very happy, and appeared to be at least an innocent Christmas dissipation, + as compared with some of the convivialities of the "superior race" + hereabouts. + </p> + <p> + December 26. + </p> + <p> + The day passed with no greater excitement for the men than + target-shooting, which they enjoyed. I had the private delight of the + arrival of our much-desired surgeon and his nephew, the captain, with + letters and news from home. They also bring the good tidings that General + Saxton is not to be removed, as had been reported. + </p> + <p> + Two different stands of colors have arrived for us, and will be presented + at New Year's,—one from friends in New York, and the other from a + lady in Connecticut. I see that "Frank Leslie's Illustrated Weekly" of + December 20th has a highly imaginative picture of the muster-in of our + first company, and also of a skirmish on the late expedition. + </p> + <p> + I must not forget the prayer overheard last night by one of the captains: + "O Lord! when I tink ob dis Kismas and las' year de Kismas. Las' Kismas he + in de Secesh, and notin' to eat but grits, and no salt in 'em. Dis year in + de camp, and too much victual!" This "too much" is a favorite phrase out + of their grateful hearts, and did not in this case denote an excess of + dinner,—as might be supposed,—but of thanksgiving. + </p> + <p> + December 29. + </p> + <p> + Our new surgeon has begun his work most efficiently: he and the chaplain + have converted an old gin-house into a comfortable hospital, with ten nice + beds and straw pallets. He is now, with a hearty professional faith, + looking round for somebody to put into it. I am afraid the regiment will + accommodate him; for, although he declares that these men do not sham + sickness, as he expected, their catarrh is an unpleasant reality. They + feel the dampness very much, and make such a coughing at dress-parade, + that I have urged him to administer a dose of cough-mixture, all round, + just before that pageant. Are the colored race <i>tough?</i> is my present + anxiety; and it is odd that physical insufficiency, the only + discouragement not thrown in our way by the newspapers, is the only + discouragement which finds any place in our minds. They are used to + sleeping indoors in winter, herded before fires, and so they feel the + change. Still, the regiment is as healthy as the average, and experience + will teach us something.* + </p> + <p> + * A second winter's experience removed all this solicitude, for they + learned to take care of themselves. During the first February the + sick-list averaged about ninety, during the second about thirty, this + being the worst month in the year for blacks. + </p> + <p> + December 30. + </p> + <p> + On the first of January we are to have a slight collation, ten oxen or so, + barbecued,—or not properly barbecued, but roasted whole. Touching + the length of time required to "do" an ox, no two housekeepers appear to + agree. Accounts vary from two hours to twenty-four. We shall happily have + enough to try all gradations of roasting, and suit all tastes, from Miss + A.'s to mine. But fancy me proffering a spare-rib, well done, to some fair + lady! What ever are we to do for spoons and forks and plates? Each soldier + has his own, and is sternly held responsible for it by "Army Regulations." + But how provide for the multitude? Is it customary, I ask you, to help to + tenderloin with one's fingers? Fortunately, the Major is to see to that + department. Great are the advantages of military discipline: for anything + perplexing, detail a subordinate. + </p> + <p> + New Year's Eve. + </p> + <p> + My housekeeping at home is not, perhaps, on any very extravagant scale. + Buying beefsteak, I usually go to the extent of two or three pounds. Yet + when, this morning at daybreak, the quartermaster called to inquire how + many cattle I would have killed for roasting, I turned over in bed, and + answered composedly, "Ten,—and keep three to be fatted." + </p> + <p> + Fatted, quotha! Not one of the beasts at present appears to possess an + ounce of superfluous flesh. Never were seen such lean kine. As they swing + on vast spits, composed of young trees, the firelight glimmers through + their ribs, as if they were great lanterns. But no matter, they are + cooking,—nay, they are cooked. + </p> + <p> + One at least is taken off to cool, and will be replaced tomorrow to warm + up. It was roasted three hours, and well done, for I tasted it. It is so + long since I tasted fresh beef that forgetfulness is possible; but I + fancied this to be successful. I tried to imagine that I liked the Homeric + repast, and certainly the whole thing has been far more agreeable than was + to be expected. The doubt now is, whether I have made a sufficient + provision for my household. I should have roughly guessed that ten beeves + would feed as many million people, it has such a stupendous sound; but + General Saxton predicts a small social party of five thousand, and we fear + that meat will run short, unless they prefer bone. One of the cattle is so + small, we are hoping it may turn out veal. + </p> + <p> + For drink we aim at the simple luxury of molasses-and-water, a barrel per + company, ten in all. Liberal housekeepers may like to know that for a + barrel of water we allow three gallons of molasses, half a pound of + ginger, and a quart of vinegar,—this last being a new ingredient for + my untutored palate, though all the rest are amazed at my ignorance. Hard + bread, with more molasses, and a dessert of tobacco, complete the festive + repast, destined to cheer, but not inebriate. + </p> + <p> + On this last point, of inebriation, this is certainly a wonderful camp. + For us it is absolutely omitted from the list of vices. I have never heard + of a glass of liquor in the camp, nor of any effort either to bring it in + or to keep it out. A total absence of the circulating medium might explain + the abstinence,—not that it seems to have that effect with white + soldiers,—but it would not explain the silence. The craving for + tobacco is constant, and not to be allayed, like that of a mother for her + children; but I have never heard whiskey even wished for, save on + Christmas-Day, and then only by one man, and he spoke with a hopeless + ideal sighing, as one alludes to the Golden Age. I am amazed at this total + omission of the most inconvenient of all camp appetites. It certainly is + not the result of exhortation, for there has been no occasion for any, and + even the pledge would scarcely seem efficacious where hardly anybody can + write. + </p> + <p> + I do not think there is a great visible eagerness for tomorrow's festival: + it is not their way to be very jubilant over anything this side of the New + Jerusalem. They know also that those in this Department are nominally free + already, and that the practical freedom has to be maintained, in any + event, by military success. But they will enjoy it greatly, and we shall + have a multitude of people. + </p> + <p> + January 1, 1863 (evening). + </p> + <p> + A happy New Year to civilized people,—mere white folks. Our festival + has come and gone, with perfect success, and our good General has been + altogether satisfied. Last night the great fires were kept smouldering in + the pit, and the beeves were cooked more or less, chiefly more,—during + which time they had to be carefully watched, and the great spits turned by + main force. Happy were the merry fellows who were permitted to sit up all + night, and watch the glimmering flames that threw a thousand fantastic + shadows among the great gnarled oaks. And such a chattering as I was sure + to hear whenever I awoke that night! + </p> + <p> + My first greeting to-day was from one of the most stylish sergeants, who + approached me with the following little speech, evidently the result of + some elaboration:— + </p> + <p> + "I tink myself happy, dis New Year's Day, for salute my own Cunnel. Dis + day las' year I was servant to a Gunnel ob Secesh; but now I hab de + privilege for salute my own Cunnel." + </p> + <p> + That officer, with the utmost sincerity, reciprocated the sentiment. + </p> + <p> + About ten o'clock the people began to collect by land, and also by water,—in + steamers sent by General Saxton for the purpose; and from that time all + the avenues of approach were thronged. The multitude were chiefly colored + women, with gay handkerchiefs on their heads, and a sprinkling of men, + with that peculiarly respectable look which these people always have on + Sundays and holidays. There were many white visitors also,—ladies on + horseback and in carriages, superintendents and teachers, officers, and + cavalry-men. Our companies were marched to the neighborhood of the + platform, and allowed to sit or stand, as at the Sunday services; the + platform was occupied by ladies and dignitaries, and by the band of the + Eighth Maine, which kindly volunteered for the occasion; the colored + people filled up all the vacant openings in the beautiful grove around, + and there was a cordon of mounted visitors beyond. Above, the great + live-oak branches and their trailing moss; beyond the people, a glimpse of + the blue river. + </p> + <p> + The services began at half past eleven o'clock, with prayer by our + chaplain, Mr. Fowler, who is always, on such occasions, simple, + reverential, and impressive. Then the President's Proclamation was read by + Dr. W. H. Brisbane, a thing infinitely appropriate, a South Carolinian + addressing South Carolinians; for he was reared among these very islands, + and here long since emancipated his own slaves. Then the colors were + presented to us by the Rev. Mr. French, a chaplain who brought them from + the donors in New York. All this was according to the programme. Then + followed an incident so simple, so touching, so utterly unexpected and + startling, that I can scarcely believe it on recalling, though it gave the + keynote to the whole day. The very moment the speaker had ceased, and just + as I took and waved the flag, which now for the first time meant anything + to these poor people, there suddenly arose, close beside the platform, a + strong male voice (but rather cracked and elderly), into which two women's + voices instantly blended, singing, as if by an impulse that could no more + be repressed than the morning note of the song-sparrow.— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "My Country, 'tis of thee, + Sweet land of liberty, + Of thee I sing!" +</pre> + <p> + People looked at each other, and then at us on the platform, to see whence + came this interruption, not set down in the bills. Firmly and + irrepressibly the quavering voices sang on, verse after verse; others of + the colored people joined in; some whites on the platform began, but I + motioned them to silence. I never saw anything so electric; it made all + other words cheap; it seemed the choked voice of a race at last unloosed. + Nothing could be more wonderfully unconscious; art could not have dreamed + of a tribute to the day of jubilee that should be so affecting; history + will not believe it; and when I came to speak of it, after it was ended, + tears were everywhere. If you could have heard how quaint and innocent it + was! Old Tiff and his children might have sung it; and close before me was + a little slave-boy, almost white, who seemed to belong to the party, and + even he must join in. Just think of it!—the first day they had ever + had a country, the first flag they had ever seen which promised anything + to their people, and here, while mere spectators stood in silence, waiting + for my stupid words, these simple souls burst out in their lay, as if they + were by their own hearths at home! When they stopped, there was nothing to + do for it but to speak, and I went on; but the life of the whole day was + in those unknown people's song. + </p> + <p> + Receiving the flags, I gave them into the hands of two fine-looking men, + jet black, as color-guard, and they also spoke, and very effectively,—Sergeant + Prince Rivers and Corporal Robert Sutton. The regiment sang "Marching + Along," and then General Saxton spoke, in his own simple, manly way, and + Mrs. Francis D. Gage spoke very sensibly to the women, and Judge Stickney, + from Florida, added something; then some gentleman sang an ode, and the + regiment the John Brown song, and then they went to their beef and + molasses. Everything was very orderly, and they seemed to have a very gay + time. Most of the visitors had far to go, and so dispersed before + dress-parade, though the band stayed to enliven it. In the evening we had + letters from home, and General Saxton had a reception at his house, from + which I excused myself; and so ended one of the most enthusiastic and + happy gatherings I ever knew. The day was perfect, and there was nothing + but success. + </p> + <p> + I forgot to say, that, in the midst of the services, it was announced that + General Fremont was appointed Commander-in-Chief,—an announcement + which was received with immense cheering, as would have been almost + anything else, I verily believe, at that moment of high tide. It was + shouted across by the pickets above,—a way in which we often receive + news, but not always trustworthy. + </p> + <p> + January 3, 1863. + </p> + <p> + Once, and once only, thus far, the water has frozen in my tent; and the + next morning showed a dense white frost outside. We have still + mocking-birds and crickets and rosebuds, and occasional noonday baths in + the river, though the butterflies have vanished, as I remember to have + observed in Fayal, after December. I have been here nearly six weeks + without a rainy day; one or two slight showers there have been, once + interrupting a drill, but never dress-parade. For climate, by day, we + might be among the isles of Greece,—though it may be my constant + familiarity with the names of her sages which suggests that impression. + For instance, a voice just now called, near my tent,—"Cato, whar's + Plato?" The men have somehow got the impression that it is essential to + the validity of a marriage that they should come to me for permission, + just as they used to go to the master; and I rather encourage these little + confidences, because it is so entertaining to hear them. "Now, Cunnel," + said a faltering swam the other day, "I want for get me one good lady," + which I approved, especially the limitation as to number. Afterwards I + asked one of the bridegroom's friends whether he thought it a good match. + "O yes, Cunnel," said he, in all the cordiality of friendship, "John's + gwine for marry Venus." I trust the goddess will prove herself a better + lady than she appeared during her previous career upon this planet. But + this naturally suggests the isles of Greece again. + </p> + <p> + January 7. + </p> + <p> + On first arriving, I found a good deal of anxiety among the officers as to + the increase of desertions, that being the rock on which the "Hunter + Regiment" split. Now this evil is very nearly stopped, and we are every + day recovering the older absentees. One of the very best things that have + happened to us was the half-accidental shooting of a man who had escaped + from the guard-house, and was wounded by a squad sent in pursuit. He has + since died; and this very eve-rung another man, who escaped with him, came + and opened the door of my tent, after being five days in the woods, almost + without food. His clothes were in rags, and he was nearly starved, poor + foolish fellow, so that we can almost dispense with further punishment. + Severe penalties would be wasted on these people, accustomed as they have + been to the most violent passions on the part of white men; but a mild + inexorableness tells on them, just as it does on any other children. It is + something utterly new to me, and it is thus far perfectly efficacious. + They have a great deal of pride as soldiers, and a very little of severity + goes a great way, if it be firm and consistent. This is very encouraging. + </p> + <p> + The single question which I asked of some of the plantation + superintendents, on the voyage, was, "Do these people appreciate <i>justice</i>?" + If they did it was evident that all the rest would be easy. When a race is + degraded beyond that point it must be very hard to deal with them; they + must mistake all kindness for indulgence, all strictness for cruelty. With + these freed slaves there is no such trouble, not a particle: let an + officer be only just and firm, with a cordial, kindly nature, and he has + no sort of difficulty. The plantation superintendents and teachers have + the same experience, they say; but we have an immense advantage in the + military organization, which helps in two ways: it increases their + self-respect, and it gives us an admirable machinery for discipline, thus + improving both the fulcrum and the lever. + </p> + <p> + The wounded man died in the hospital, and the general verdict seemed to + be, "Him brought it on heself." Another soldier died of pneumonia on the + same day, and we had the funerals in the evening. It was very impressive. + A dense mist came up, with a moon behind it, and we had only the light of + pine-splinters, as the procession wound along beneath the mighty, + moss-hung branches of the ancient grove. The groups around the grave, the + dark faces, the red garments, the scattered lights, the misty boughs, were + weird and strange. The men sang one of their own wild chants. Two crickets + sang also, one on either side, and did not cease their little monotone, + even when the three volleys were fired above the graves. Just before the + coffins were lowered, an old man whispered to me that I must have their + position altered,—the heads must be towards the west; so it was + done,—though they are in a place so veiled in woods that either + rising or setting sun will find it hard to spy them. + </p> + <p> + We have now a good regimental hospital, admirably arranged in a deserted + gin-house,—a fine well of our own digging, within the camp lines,—a + full allowance of tents, all floored,—a wooden cook-house to every + company, with sometimes a palmetto mess-house beside,—a substantial + wooden guard-house, with a fireplace five feet "in de clar," where the men + off duty can dry themselves and sleep comfortably in bunks afterwards. We + have also a great circular school-tent, made of condemned canvas, thirty + feet in diameter, and looking like some of the Indian lodges I saw in + Kansas. We now meditate a regimental bakery. Our aggregate has increased + from four hundred and ninety to seven hundred and forty, besides a hundred + recruits now waiting at St. Augustine, and we have practised through all + the main movements in battalion drill. + </p> + <p> + Affairs being thus prosperous, and yesterday having been six weeks since + my last and only visit to Beaufort, I rode in, glanced at several camps, + and dined with the General. It seemed absolutely like re-entering the + world; and I did not fully estimate my past seclusion till it occurred to + me, as a strange and novel phenomenon, that the soldiers at the other + camps were white. + </p> + <p> + January 8. + </p> + <p> + This morning I went to Beaufort again, on necessary business, and by good + luck happened upon a review and drill of the white regiments. The thing + that struck me most was that same absence of uniformity, in minor points, + that I noticed at first in my own officers. The best regiments in the + Department are represented among my captains and lieutenants, and very + well represented too; yet it has cost much labor to bring them to any + uniformity in their drill. There is no need of this; for the prescribed + "Tactics" approach perfection; it is never left discretionary in what + place an officer shall stand, or in what words he shall give his order. + All variation would seem to imply negligence. Yet even West Point + occasionally varies from the "Tactics,"—as, for instance, in + requiring the line officers to face down the line, when each is giving the + order to his company. In our strictest Massachusetts regiments this is not + done. + </p> + <p> + It needs an artist's eye to make a perfect drill-master. Yet the small + points are not merely a matter of punctilio; for, the more perfectly a + battalion is drilled on the parade-ground the more quietly it can be + handled in action. Moreover, the great need of uniformity is this: that, + in the field, soldiers of different companies, and even of different + regiments, are liable to be intermingled, and a diversity of orders may + throw everything into confusion. Confusion means Bull Run. + </p> + <p> + I wished my men at the review to-day; for, amidst all the rattling and + noise of artillery and the galloping of cavalry, there was only one + infantry movement that we have not practised, and that was done by only + one regiment, and apparently considered quite a novelty, though it is + easily taught, + </p> + <p> + —forming square by Casey's method: forward on centre. It is really + just as easy to drill a regiment as a company, + </p> + <p> + —perhaps easier, because one has more time to think; but it is just + as essential to be sharp and decisive, perfectly clearheaded, and to put + life into the men. A regiment seems small when one has learned how to + handle it, a mere handful of men; and I have no doubt that a brigade or a + division would soon appear equally small. But to handle either <i>judiciously</i>, + ah, that is another affair! + </p> + <p> + So of governing; it is as easy to govern a regiment as a school or a + factory, and needs like qualities, system, promptness, patience, tact; + moreover, in a regiment one has the aid of the admirable machinery of the + army, so that I see very ordinary men who succeed very tolerably. + </p> + <p> + Reports of a six months' armistice are rife here, and the thought is + deplored by all. I cannot believe it; yet sometimes one feels very anxious + about the ultimate fate of these poor people. After the experience of + Hungary, one sees that revolutions may go backward; and the habit of + injustice seems so deeply impressed upon the whites, that it is hard to + believe in the possibility of anything better. I dare not yet hope that + the promise of the President's Proclamation will be kept. For myself I can + be indifferent, for the experience here has been its own daily and hourly + reward; and the adaptedness of the freed slaves for drill and discipline + is now thoroughly demonstrated, and must soon be universally acknowledged. + But it would be terrible to see this regiment disbanded or defrauded. + </p> + <p> + January 12. + </p> + <p> + Many things glide by without time to narrate them. On Saturday we had a + mail with the President's Second Message of Emancipation, and the next day + it was read to the men. The words themselves did not stir them very much, + because they have been often told that they were free, especially on New + Year's Day, and, being unversed in politics, they do not understand, as + well as we do, the importance of each additional guaranty. But the + chaplain spoke to them afterwards very effectively, as usual; and then I + proposed to them to hold up their hands and pledge themselves to be + faithful to those still in bondage. They entered heartily into this, and + the scene was quite impressive, beneath the great oak-branches. I heard + afterwards that only one man refused to raise his hand, saying bluntly + that his wife was out of slavery with him, and he did not care to fight. + The other soldiers of his company were very indignant, and shoved him + about among them while marching back to their quarters, calling him + "Coward." I was glad of their exhibition of feeling, though it is very + possible that the one who had thus the moral courage to stand alone among + his comrades might be more reliable, on a pinch, than some who yielded a + more ready assent. But the whole response, on their part, was very hearty, + and will be a good thing to which to hold them hereafter, at any time of + discouragement or demoralization,—which was my chief reason for + proposing it. With their simple natures it is a great thing to tie them to + some definite committal; they never forget a marked occurrence, and never + seem disposed to evade a pledge. + </p> + <p> + It is this capacity of honor and fidelity which gives me such entire faith + in them as soldiers. Without it all their religious demonstration would be + mere sentimentality. For instance, every one who visits the camp is struck + with their bearing as sentinels. They exhibit, in this capacity, not an + upstart conceit, but a steady, conscientious devotion to duty. They would + stop their idolized General Saxton, if he attempted to cross their beat + contrary to orders: I have seen them. No feeble or incompetent race could + do this. The officers tell many amusing instances of this fidelity, but I + think mine the best. + </p> + <p> + It was very dark the other night, an unusual thing here, and the rain fell + in torrents; so I put on my India-rubber suit, and went the rounds of the + sentinels, incognito, to test them. I can only say that I shall never try + such an experiment again and have cautioned my officers against it. Tis a + wonder I escaped with life and limb,—such a charging of bayonets and + clicking of gun-locks. Sometimes I tempted them by refusing to give any + countersign, but offering them a piece of tobacco, which they could not + accept without allowing me nearer than the prescribed bayonet's distance. + Tobacco is more than gold to them, and it was touching to watch the + struggle in their minds; but they always did their duty at last, and I + never could persuade them. One man, as if wishing to crush all his inward + vacillation at one fell stroke, told me stoutly that he never used + tobacco, though I found next day that he loved it as much as any one of + them. It seemed wrong thus to tamper with their fidelity; yet it was a + vital matter to me to know how far it could be trusted, out of my sight. + It was so intensely dark that not more than one or two knew me, even after + I had talked with the very next sentinel, especially as they had never + seen me in India-rubber clothing, and I can always disguise my voice. It + was easy to distinguish those who did make the discovery; they were always + conscious and simpering when their turn came; while the others were stout + and irreverent till I revealed myself, and then rather cowed and anxious, + fearing to have offended. + </p> + <p> + It rained harder and harder, and when I had nearly made the rounds I had + had enough of it, and, simply giving the countersign to the challenging + sentinel, undertook to pass within the lines. + </p> + <p> + "Halt!" exclaimed this dusky man and brother, bringing down his bayonet, + "de countersign not correck." + </p> + <p> + Now the magic word, in this case, was "Vicksburg," in honor of a rumored + victory. But as I knew that these hard names became quite transformed upon + their lips, "Carthage" being familiarized into Cartridge, and "Concord" + into Corn-cob, how could I possibly tell what shade of pronunciation my + friend might prefer for this particular proper name? + </p> + <p> + "Vicksburg," I repeated, blandly, but authoritatively, endeavoring, as + zealously as one of Christy's Minstrels, to assimilate my speech to any + supposed predilection of the Ethiop vocal organs. + </p> + <p> + "Halt dar! Countersign not correck," was the only answer. + </p> + <p> + The bayonet still maintained a position which, in a military point of + view, was impressive. + </p> + <p> + I tried persuasion, orthography, threats, tobacco, all in vain. I could + not pass in. Of course my pride was up; for was I to defer to an untutored + African on a point of pronunciation? Classic shades of Harvard, forbid! + Affecting scornful indifference, I tried to edge away, proposing to myself + to enter the camp at some other point, where my elocution would be better + appreciated. Not a step could I stir. + </p> + <p> + "Halt!" shouted my gentleman again, still holding me at his bayonet's + point, and I wincing and halting. + </p> + <p> + I explained to him the extreme absurdity of this proceeding, called his + attention to the state of the weather, which, indeed, spoke for itself so + loudly that we could hardly hear each other speak, and requested + permission to withdraw. The bayonet, with mute eloquence, refused the + application. + </p> + <p> + There flashed into my mind, with more enjoyment in the retrospect than I + had experienced at the time, an adventure on a lecturing tour in other + years, when I had spent an hour in trying to scramble into a country + tavern, after bed-time, on the coldest night of winter. On that occasion I + ultimately found myself stuck midway in the window, with my head in a + temperature of 80 degrees, and my heels in a temperature of -10 degrees, + with a heavy windowsash pinioning the small of my back. However, I had got + safe out of that dilemma, and it was time to put an end to this one, + </p> + <p> + "Call the corporal of the guard," said I at last, with dignity, unwilling + to make a night of it or to yield my incognito. + </p> + <p> + "Corporal ob de guard!" he shouted, lustily,—"Post Number Two!" + while I could hear another sentinel chuckling with laughter. This last was + a special guard, placed over a tent, with a prisoner in charge. Presently + he broke silence. + </p> + <p> + "Who am dat?" he asked, in a stage whisper. "Am he a buckra [white man]?" + </p> + <p> + "Dunno whether he been a buckra or not," responded, doggedly, my Cerberus + in uniform; "but I's bound to keep him here till de corporal ob de guard + come." + </p> + <p> + Yet, when that dignitary arrived, and I revealed myself, poor Number Two + appeared utterly transfixed with terror, and seemed to look for nothing + less than immediate execution. Of course I praised his fidelity, and the + next day complimented him before the guard, and mentioned him to his + captain; and the whole affair was very good for them all. Hereafter, if + Satan himself should approach them in darkness and storm, they will take + <i>him</i> for "de Cunnel," and treat him with special severity. + </p> + <p> + January 13. + </p> + <p> + In many ways the childish nature of this people shows itself. I have just + had to make a change of officers in a company which has constantly + complained, and with good reason, of neglect and improper treatment. Two + excellent officers have been assigned to them; and yet they sent a + deputation to me in the evening, in a state of utter wretchedness. "We's + bery grieved dis evening, Cunnel; 'pears like we couldn't bear it, to lose + de Cap'n and de Lieutenant, all two togeder." Argument was useless; and I + could only fall back on the general theory, that I knew what was best for + them, which had much more effect; and I also could cite the instance of + another company, which had been much improved by a new captain, as they + readily admitted. So with the promise that the new officers should not be + "savage to we," which was the one thing they deprecated, I assuaged their + woes. Twenty-four hours have passed, and I hear them singing most merrily + all down that company street. + </p> + <p> + I often notice how their griefs may be dispelled, like those of children, + merely by permission to utter them: if they can tell their sorrows, they + go away happy, even without asking to have anything done about them. I + observe also a peculiar dislike of all <i>intermediate</i> control: they + always wish to pass by the company officer, and deal with me personally + for everything. General Saxton notices the same thing with the people on + the plantations as regards himself. I suppose this proceeds partly from + the old habit of appealing to the master against the overseer. Kind words + would cost the master nothing, and he could easily put off any + non-fulfilment upon the overseer. Moreover, the negroes have acquired such + constitutional distrust of white people, that it is perhaps as much as + they can do to trust more than one person at a tune. Meanwhile this + constant personal intercourse is out of the question in a well-ordered + regiment; and the remedy for it is to introduce by degrees more and more + of system, so that their immediate officers will become all-sufficient for + the daily routine. + </p> + <p> + It is perfectly true (as I find everybody takes for granted) that the + first essential for an officer of colored troops is to gain their + confidence. But it is equally true, though many persons do not appreciate + it, that the admirable methods and proprieties of the regular army are + equally available for all troops, and that the sublimest philanthropist, + if he does not appreciate this, is unfit to command them. + </p> + <p> + Another childlike attribute in these men, which is less agreeable, is a + sort of blunt insensibility to giving physical pain. If they are cruel to + animals, for instance, it always reminds me of children pulling off flies' + legs, in a sort of pitiless, untaught, experimental way. Yet I should not + fear any wanton outrage from them. After all their wrongs, they are not + really revengeful; and I would far rather enter a captured city with them + than with white troops, for they would be more subordinate. But for mere + physical suffering they would have no fine sympathies. The cruel things + they have seen and undergone have helped to blunt them; and if I ordered + them to put to death a dozen prisoners, I think they would do it without + remonstrance. + </p> + <p> + Yet their religious spirit grows more beautiful to me in living longer + with them; it is certainly far more so than at first, when it seemed + rather a matter of phrase and habit. It influences them both on the + negative and the positive side. That is, it cultivates the feminine + virtues first,—makes them patient, meek, resigned. This is very + evident in the hospital; there is nothing of the restless, defiant habit + of white invalids. Perhaps, if they had more of this, they would resist + disease better. Imbued from childhood with the habit of submission, + drinking in through every pore that other-world trust which is the one + spirit of their songs, they can endure everything. This I expected; but I + am relieved to find that their religion strengthens them on the positive + side also,—gives zeal, energy, daring. They could easily be made + fanatics, if I chose; but I do not choose. Their whole mood is essentially + Mohammedan, perhaps, in its strength and its weakness; and I feel the same + degree of sympathy that I should if I had a Turkish command,—that + is, a sort of sympathetic admiration, not tending towards agreement, but + towards co-operation. Their philosophizing is often the highest form of + mysticism; and our dear surgeon declares that they are all natural + transcendentalists. The white camps seem rough and secular, after this; + and I hear our men talk about "a religious army," "a Gospel army," in + their prayer-meetings. They are certainly evangelizing the chaplain, who + was rather a heretic at the beginning; at least, this is his own + admission. We have recruits on their way from St. Augustine, where the + negroes are chiefly Roman Catholics; and it will be interesting to see how + their type of character combines with that elder creed. It is time for + rest; and I have just looked out into the night, where the eternal stars + shut down, in concave protection, over the yet glimmering camp, and Orion + hangs above my tent-door, giving to me the sense of strength and assurance + which these simple children obtain from their Moses and the Prophets. Yet + external Nature does its share in their training; witness that most poetic + of all their songs, which always reminds me of the "Lyke-Wake Dirge" in + the "Scottish Border Minstrelsy,"— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I know moon-rise, I know star-rise; + Lay dis body down. + I walk in de moonlight, I walk in de starlight, + To lay dis body down. + I'll walk in de graveyard, I'll walk through de graveyard, + To lay dis body down. + I'll lie in de grave and stretch out my arms; + Lay dis body down. + I go to de Judgment in de evening ob de day + When I lay dis body down; + And my soul and your soul will meet in de day + When I lay dis body down." +</pre> + <p> + January 14. + </p> + <p> + In speaking of the military qualities of the blacks, I should add, that + the only point where I am disappointed is one I have never seen raised by + the most incredulous newspaper critics,—namely, their physical + condition. To be sure they often look magnificently to my + gymnasium-trained eye; and I always like to observe them when bathing,—such + splendid muscular development, set off by that smooth coating of adipose + tissue which makes them, like the South-Sea Islanders appear even more + muscular than they are. Their skins are also of finer grain than those of + whites, the surgeons say, and certainly are smoother and far more free + from hair. But their weakness is pulmonary; pneumonia and pleurisy are + their besetting ailments; they are easily made ill,—and easily + cured, if promptly treated: childish organizations again. Guard-duty + injures them more than whites, apparently; and double-quick movements, in + choking dust, set them coughing badly. But then it is to be remembered + that this is their sickly season, from January to March, and that their + healthy season will come in summer, when the whites break down. Still my + conviction of the physical superiority of more highly civilized races is + strengthened on the whole, not weakened, by observing them. As to + availability for military drill and duty in other respects, the only + question I ever hear debated among the officers is, whether they are equal + or superior to whites. I have never heard it suggested that they were + inferior, although I expected frequently to hear such complaints from + hasty or unsuccessful officers. + </p> + <p> + Of one thing I am sure, that their best qualities will be wasted by merely + keeping them for garrison duty. They seem peculiarly fitted for offensive + operations, and especially for partisan warfare; they have so much dash + and such abundant resources, combined with such an Indian-like knowledge + of the country and its ways. These traits have been often illustrated in + expeditions sent after deserters. For instance, I despatched one of my + best lieutenants and my best sergeant with a squad of men to search a + certain plantation, where there were two separate negro villages. They + went by night, and the force was divided. The lieutenant took one set of + huts, the sergeant the other. Before the lieutenant had reached his first + house, every man in the village was in the woods, innocent and guilty + alike. But the sergeant's mode of operation was thus described by a + corporal from a white regiment who happened to be in one of the negro + houses. He said that not a sound was heard until suddenly a red leg + appeared in the open doorway, and a voice outside said, "Rally." Going to + the door, he observed a similar pair of red legs before every hut, and not + a person was allowed to go out, until the quarters had been thoroughly + searched, and the three deserters found. This was managed by Sergeant + Prince Rivers, our color-sergeant, who is provost-sergeant also, and has + entire charge of the prisoners and of the daily policing of the camp. He + is a man of distinguished appearance, and in old times was the crack + coachman of Beaufort, in which capacity he once drove Beauregard from this + plantation to Charleston, I believe. They tell me that he was once allowed + to present a petition to the Governor of South Carolina in behalf of + slaves, for the redress of certain grievances; and that a placard, + offering two thousand dollars for his recapture, is still to be seen by + the wayside between here and Charleston. He was a sergeant in the old + "Hunter Regiment," and was taken by General Hunter to New York last + spring, where the <i>chevrons</i> on his arm brought a mob upon him in + Broadway, whom he kept off till the police interfered. There is not a + white officer in this regiment who has more administrative ability, or + more absolute authority over the men; they do not love him, but his mere + presence has controlling power over them. He writes well enough to prepare + for me a daily report of his duties in the camp; if his education reached + a higher point, I see no reason why he should not command the Army of the + Potomac. He is jet-black, or rather, I should say, <i>wine-black</i>; his + complexion, like that of others of my darkest men, having a sort of rich, + clear depth, without a trace of sootiness, and to my eye very handsome. + His features are tolerably regular, and full of command, and his figure + superior to that of any of our white officers,—being six feet high, + perfectly proportioned, and of apparently inexhaustible strength and + activity. His gait is like a panther's; I never saw such a tread. No + anti-slavery novel has described a man of such marked ability. He makes + Toussaint perfectly intelligible; and if there should ever be a black + monarchy in South Carolina, he will be its king. + </p> + <p> + January 15. + </p> + <p> + This morning is like May. Yesterday I saw bluebirds and a butterfly; so + this whiter of a fortnight is over. I fancy there is a trifle less + coughing in the camp. We hear of other stations in the Department where + the mortality, chiefly from yellow fever, has been frightful. Dr. —— + is rubbing his hands professionally over the fearful tales of the surgeon + of a New York regiment, just from Key West, who has had two hundred cases + of the fever. "I suppose he is a skilful, highly educated man," said I. + "Yes," he responded with enthusiasm. "Why, he had seventy deaths!"—as + if that proved his superiority past question. + </p> + <p> + January 19. + </p> + <p> + "And first, sitting proud as a lung on his throne, At the head of them all + rode Sir Richard Tyrone." + </p> + <p> + But I fancy that Sir Richard felt not much better satisfied with his + following than I to-day. J. R. L. said once that nothing was quite so good + as turtle-soup, except mock-turtle; and I have heard officers declare that + nothing was so stirring as real war, except some exciting parade. To-day, + for the first time, I marched the whole regiment through Beaufort and + back,—the first appearance of such a novelty on any stage. They did + march splendidly; this all admit. M——'s prediction was + fulfilled: "Will not —— be in bliss? A thousand men, every one + as black as a coal!" I confess it. To look back on twenty broad + double-ranks of men (for they marched by platoons),—every polished + musket having a black face beside it, and every face set steadily to the + front,—a regiment of freed slaves marching on into the future,—it + was something to remember; and when they returned through the same + streets, marching by the flank, with guns at a "support," and each man + covering his file-leader handsomely, the effect on the eye was almost as + fine. The band of the Eighth Maine joined us at the entrance of the town, + and escorted us in. Sergeant Rivers said ecstatically afterwards, in + describing the affair, "And when dat band wheel in before us, and march + on,—my God! I quit dis world altogeder." I wonder if he pictured to + himself the many dusky regiments, now unformed, which I seemed to see + marching up behind us, gathering shape out of the dim air. + </p> + <p> + I had cautioned the men, before leaving camp, not to be staring about them + as they marched, but to look straight to the front, every man; and they + did it with their accustomed fidelity, aided by the sort of spontaneous + eye-for-effect which is in all their melodramatic natures. One of them was + heard to say exultingly afterwards, "We didn't look to de right nor to de + leff. I didn't see notin' in Beaufort. Eb'ry step was worth a half a + dollar." And they all marched as if it were so. They knew well that they + were marching through throngs of officers and soldiers who had drilled as + many months as we had drilled weeks, and whose eyes would readily spy out + every defect. And I must say, that, on the whole, with a few trivial + exceptions, those spectators behaved in a manly and courteous manner, and + I do not care to write down all the handsome things that were said. + Whether said or not, they were deserved; and there is no danger that our + men will not take sufficient satisfaction in their good appearance. I was + especially amused at one of our recruits, who did not march in the ranks, + and who said, after watching the astonishment of some white soldiers, "De + buckra sojers look like a man who been-a-steal a sheep,"—that is, I + suppose, sheepish. + </p> + <p> + After passing and repassing through the town, we marched to the + parade-ground, and went through an hour's drill, forming squares and + reducing them, and doing other things which look hard on paper, and are + perfectly easy in fact; and we were to have been reviewed by General + Saxton, but he had been unexpectedly called to Ladies Island, and did not + see us at all, which was the only thing to mar the men's enjoyment. Then + we marched back to camp (three miles), the men singing the "John Brown + Song," and all manner of things,—as happy creatures as one can well + conceive. + </p> + <p> + It is worth mentioning, before I close, that we have just received an + article about "Negro Troops," from the <i>London Spectator</i>, which is + so admirably true to our experience that it seems as if written by one of + us. I am confident that there never has been, in any American newspaper, a + treatment of the subject so discriminating and so wise. + </p> + <p> + January 21. + </p> + <p> + To-day brought a visit from Major-General Hunter and his staff, by General + Saxton's invitation,—the former having just arrived in the + Department. I expected them at dress-parade, but they came during + battalion drill, rather to my dismay, and we were caught in our old + clothes. It was our first review, and I dare say we did tolerably; but of + course it seemed to me that the men never appeared so ill before,—just + as one always thinks a party at one's own house a failure, even if the + guests seem to enjoy it, because one is so keenly sensitive to every + little thing that goes wrong. After review and drill, General Hunter made + the men a little speech, at my request, and told them that he wished there + were fifty thousand of them. General Saxton spoke to them afterwards, and + said that fifty thousand muskets were on their way for colored troops. The + men cheered both the generals lustily; and they were complimentary + afterwards, though I knew that the regiment could not have appeared nearly + so well as on its visit to Beaufort. I suppose I felt like some anxious + mamma whose children have accidentally appeared at dancing-school in their + old clothes. + </p> + <p> + General Hunter promises us all we want,—pay when the funds arrive, + Springfield rifled muskets, and blue trousers. Moreover, he has graciously + consented that we should go on an expedition along the coast, to pick up + cotton, lumber, and, above all, recruits. I declined an offer like this + just after my arrival, because the regiment was not drilled or + disciplined, not even the officers; but it is all we wish for now. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "What care I how black I be? + Forty pounds will marry me," +</pre> + <p> + quoth Mother Goose. <i>Forty rounds</i> will marry us to the American + Army, past divorcing, if we can only use them well. Our success or failure + may make or mar the prospects of colored troops. But it is well to + remember in advance that military success is really less satisfactory than + any other, because it may depend on a moment's turn of events, and that + may be determined by some trivial thing, neither to be anticipated nor + controlled. Napoleon ought to have won at Waterloo by all reasonable + calculations; but who cares? All that one can expect is, to do one's best, + and to take with equanimity the fortune of war. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter 3. Up the St. Mary's + </h2> + <p> + If Sergeant Rivers was a natural king among my dusky soldiers, Corporal + Robert Sutton was the natural prime-minister. If not in all respects the + ablest, he was the wisest man in our ranks. As large, as powerful, and as + black as our good-looking Color-Sergeant, but more heavily built and with + less personal beauty, he had a more massive brain and a far more + meditative and systematic intellect. Not yet grounded even in the + spelling-book, his modes of thought were nevertheless strong, lucid, and + accurate; and he yearned and pined for intellectual companionship beyond + all ignorant men whom I have ever met. I believe that he would have talked + all day and all night, for days together, to any officer who could + instruct him, until his companions, at least, fell asleep exhausted. His + comprehension of the whole problem of Slavery was more thorough and + far-reaching than that of any Abolitionist, so far as its social and + military aspects went; in that direction I could teach him nothing, and he + taught me much. But it was his methods of thought which always impressed + me chiefly: superficial brilliancy he left to others, and grasped at the + solid truth. + </p> + <p> + Of course his interest in the war and in the regiment was unbounded; he + did not take to drill with especial readiness, but he was insatiable of + it, and grudged every moment of relaxation. Indeed, he never had any such + moments; his mind was at work all the time, even when he was singing + hymns, of which he had endless store. He was not, however, one of our + leading religionists, but his moral code was solid and reliable, like his + mental processes. Ignorant as he was, the "years that bring the + philosophic mind" had yet been his, and most of my young officers seemed + boys beside him. He was a Florida man, and had been chiefly employed in + lumbering and piloting on the St. Mary's River, which divides Florida from + Georgia. Down this stream he had escaped in a "dug-out," and after thus + finding the way, had returned (as had not a few of my men in other cases) + to bring away wife and child. "I wouldn't have left my child, Cunnel," he + said, with an emphasis that sounded the depths of his strong nature. And + up this same river he was always imploring to be allowed to guide an + expedition. + </p> + <p> + Many other men had rival propositions to urge, for they gained + self-confidence from drill and guard-duty, and were growing impatient of + inaction. "Ought to go to work, Sa,—don't believe in we lyin' in + camp eatin' up de perwisions." Such were the quaint complaints, which I + heard with joy. Looking over my note-books of that period, I find them + filled with topographical memoranda, jotted down by a flickering candle, + from the evening talk of the men,—notes of vulnerable points along + the coast, charts of rivers, locations of pickets. I prized these + conversations not more for what I thus learned of the country than for + what I learned of the men. One could thus measure their various degrees of + accuracy and their average military instinct; and I must say that in every + respect, save the accurate estimate of distances, they stood the test + well. But no project took my fancy so much, after all, as that of the + delegate from the St. Mary's River. + </p> + <p> + The best peg on which to hang an expedition in the Department of the + South, in those days, was the promise of lumber. Dwelling in the very land + of Southern pine, the Department authorities had to send North for it, at + a vast expense. There was reported to be plenty in the enemy's country, + but somehow the colored soldiers were the only ones who had been lucky + enough to obtain any, thus far, and the supply brought in by our men, + after flooring the tents of the white regiments and our own, was running + low. An expedition of white troops, four companies, with two steamers and + two schooners, had lately returned empty-handed, after a week's foraging; + and now it was our turn. They said the mills were all burned; but should + we go up the St. Mary's, Corporal Sutton was prepared to offer more lumber + than we had transportation to carry. This made the crowning charm of his + suggestion. But there is never any danger of erring on the side of + secrecy, in a military department; and I resolved to avoid all undue + publicity for our plans, by not finally deciding on any until we should + get outside the bar. This was happily approved by my superior officers, + Major-General Hunter and Brigadier-General Saxton; and I was accordingly + permitted to take three steamers, with four hundred and sixty-two officers + and men, and two or three invited guests, and go down the coast on my own + responsibility. We were, in short, to win our spurs; and if, as among the + Araucanians, our spurs were made of lumber, so much the better. The whole + history of the Department of the South had been defined as "a military + picnic," and now we were to take our share of the entertainment. + </p> + <p> + It seemed a pleasant share, when, after the usual vexations and delays, we + found ourselves (January 23, 1863) gliding down the full waters of + Beaufort River, the three vessels having sailed at different hours, with + orders to rendezvous at St. Simon's Island, on the coast of Georgia. Until + then, the flagship, so to speak, was to be the "Ben De Ford," Captain + Hallet,—this being by far the largest vessel, and carrying most of + the men. Major Strong was in command upon the "John Adams," an army + gunboat, carrying a thirty-pound Parrott gun, two ten-pound Parrotts, and + an eight-inch howitzer. Captain Trowbridge (since promoted + Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment) had charge of the famous "Planter," + brought away from the Rebels by Robert Small; she carried a ten-pound + Parrott gun, and two howitzers. The John Adams was our main reliance. She + was an old East Boston ferry-boat, a "double-ender," admirable for + river-work, but unfit for sea-service. She drew seven feet of water; the + Planter drew only four; but the latter was very slow, and being obliged to + go to St. Simon's by an inner passage, would delay us from the beginning. + She delayed us so much, before the end, that we virtually parted company, + and her career was almost entirely separated from our own. + </p> + <p> + From boyhood I have had a fancy for boats, and have seldom been without a + share, usually more or less fractional, in a rather indeterminate number + of punts and wherries. But when, for the first time, I found myself at sea + as Commodore of a fleet of armed steamers,—for even the Ben De Ford + boasted a six-pounder or so,—it seemed rather an unexpected + promotion. But it is a characteristic of army life, that one adapts one's + self, as coolly as in a dream, to the most novel responsibilities. One + sits on court-martial, for instance, and decides on the life of a + fellow-creature, without being asked any inconvenient questions as to + previous knowledge of Blackstone; and after such an experience, shall one + shrink from wrecking a steamer or two in the cause of the nation? So I + placidly accepted my naval establishment, as if it were a new form of + boat-club, and looked over the charts, balancing between one river and + another, as if deciding whether to pull up or down Lake Quinsigamond. If + military life ever contemplated the exercise of the virtue of humility + under any circumstances this would perhaps have been a good opportunity to + begin its practice. But as the "Regulations" clearly contemplated nothing + of the kind, and as I had never met with any precedent which looked in + that direction, I had learned to check promptly all such weak + proclivities. + </p> + <p> + Captain Hallett proved the most frank and manly of sailors, and did + everything for our comfort. He was soon warm in his praises of the + demeanor of our men, which was very pleasant to hear, as this was the + first time that colored soldiers in any number had been conveyed on board + a transport, and I know of no place where a white volunteer appears to so + much disadvantage. His mind craves occupation, his body is intensely + uncomfortable, the daily emergency is not great enough to call out his + heroic qualities, and he is apt to be surly, discontented, and impatient + even of sanitary rules. The Southern black soldier, on the other hand, is + seldom sea-sick (at least, such is my experience), and, if properly + managed, is equally contented, whether idle or busy; he is, moreover, so + docile that all needful rules are executed with cheerful acquiescence, and + the quarters can therefore be kept clean and wholesome. Very forlorn faces + were soon visible among the officers in the cabin, but I rarely saw such + among the men. + </p> + <p> + Pleasant still seemed our enterprise, as we anchored at early morning in + the quiet waters of St. Simon's Sound, and saw the light fall softly on + the beach and the low bluffs, on the picturesque plantation-houses which + nestled there, and the graceful naval vessels that lay at anchor before + us. When we afterwards landed the air had that peculiar Mediterranean + translucency which Southern islands wear; and the plantation we visited + had the loveliest tropical garden, though tangled and desolate, which I + have ever seen in the South. The deserted house was embowered In great + blossoming shrubs, and filled with hyacinthine odors, among which + predominated that of the little Chickasaw roses which everywhere bloomed + and trailed around. There were fig-trees and date-palms, crape-myrtles and + wax-myrtles, Mexican agaves and English ivies, japonicas, bananas, + oranges, lemons, oleanders, jonquils, great cactuses, and wild Florida + lilies. This was not the plantation which Mrs. Kemble has since made + historic, although that was on the same island; and I could not waste much + sentiment over it, for it had belonged to a Northern renegade, Thomas + Butler King. Yet I felt then, as I have felt a hundred times since, an + emotion of heart-sickness at this desecration of a homestead,—and + especially when, looking from a bare upper window of the empty house upon + a range of broad, flat, sunny roofs, such as children love to play on, I + thought how that place might have been loved by yet Innocent hearts, and I + mourned anew the sacrilege of war. + </p> + <p> + I had visited the flag-ship Wabash ere we left Port Royal Harbor, and had + obtained a very kind letter of introduction from Admiral Dupont, that + stately and courtly potentate, elegant as one's ideal French marquis; and + under these credentials I received polite attention from the naval + officers at St. Simon's,—Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Budd, of the + gunboat Potomska, and Acting Master Moses, of the barque Fernandina. They + made valuable suggestions in regard to the different rivers along the + coast, and gave vivid descriptions of the last previous trip up the St. + Mary's undertaken by Captain Stevens, U.S.N., in the gunboat Ottawa, when + he had to fight his way past batteries at every bluff in descending the + narrow and rapid stream. I was warned that no resistance would be offered + to the ascent, but only to our return; and was further cautioned against + the mistake, then common, of underrating the courage of the Rebels. "It + proved impossible to dislodge those fellows from the banks," my informant + said; "they had dug rifle-pits, and swarmed like hornets, and when fairly + silenced in one direction they were sure to open upon us from another." + All this sounded alarming, but it was nine months since the event had + happened; and although nothing had gone up the river meanwhile, I counted + on less resistance now. And something must be risked anywhere. + </p> + <p> + We were delayed all that day in waiting for our consort, and improved our + time by verifying certain rumors about a quantity of new railroad-iron + which was said to be concealed in the abandoned Rebel forts on St. Simon's + and Jekyll Islands, and which would have much value at Port Royal, if we + could unearth it. Some of our men had worked upon these very batteries, so + that they could easily guide us; and by the additional discovery of a + large flat-boat we were enabled to go to work in earnest upon the removal + of the treasure. These iron bars, surmounted by a dozen feet of sand, + formed an invulnerable roof for the magazines and bomb-proofs of the fort, + and the men enjoyed demolishing them far more than they had relished their + construction. Though the day was the 24th of January, 1863, the sun was + very oppressive upon the sands; but all were in the highest spirits, and + worked with the greatest zeal. The men seemed to regard these massive bars + as their first trophies; and if the rails had been wreathed with roses, + they could not have been got out in more holiday style. Nearly a hundred + were obtained that day, besides a quantity of five-inch plank with which + to barricade the very conspicuous pilot-houses of the John Adams. Still + another day we were delayed, and could still keep at this work, not + neglecting some foraging on the island from which horses, cattle, and + agricultural implements were to be removed, and the few remaining colored + families transferred to Fernandina. I had now become quite anxious about + the missing steamboat, as the inner passage, by which alone she could + arrive, was exposed at certain points to fire from Rebel batteries, and it + would have been unpleasant to begin with a disaster. I remember that, as I + stood on deck, in the still and misty evening, listening with strained + senses for some sound of approach, I heard a low continuous noise from the + distance, more wild and desolate than anything in my memory can parallel. + It came from within the vast girdle of mist, and seemed like the cry of a + myriad of lost souls upon the horizon's verge; it was Dante become + audible: and yet it was but the accumulated cries of innumerable seafowl + at the entrance of the outer bay. + </p> + <p> + Late that night the Planter arrived. We left St. Simon's on the following + morning, reached Fort Clinch by four o'clock, and there transferring two + hundred men to the very scanty quarters of the John Adams, allowed the + larger transport to go into Fernandina, while the two other vessels were + to ascend the St. Mary's River, unless (as proved inevitable in the end) + the defects in the boiler of the Planter should oblige her to remain + behind. That night I proposed to make a sort of trial-trip up stream, as + far as Township landing, some fifteen miles, there to pay our respects to + Captain Clark's company of cavalry, whose camp was reported to lie near + by. This was included in Corporal Sutton's programme, and seemed to me + more inviting, and far more useful to the men, than any amount of mere + foraging. The thing really desirable appeared to be to get them under fire + as soon as possible, and to teach them, by a few small successes, the + application of what they had learned in camp-. + </p> + <p> + I had ascertained that the camp of this company lay five miles from the + landing, and was accessible by two roads, one of which was a lumber-path, + not commonly used, but which Corporal Sutton had helped to construct, and + along which he could easily guide us. The plan was to go by night, + surround the house and negro cabins at the landing (to prevent an alarm + from being given), then to take the side path, and if all went well, to + surprise the camp; but if they got notice of our approach, through their + pickets, we should, at worst, have a fight, in which the best man must + win. + </p> + <p> + The moon was bright, and the river swift, but easy of navigation thus far. + Just below Township I landed a small advance force, to surround the houses + silently. With them went Corporal Sutton; and when, after rounding the + point, I went on shore with a larger body of men, he met me with a silent + chuckle of delight, and with the information that there was a negro in a + neighboring cabin who had just come from the Rebel camp, and could give + the latest information. While he hunted up this valuable auxiliary, I + mustered my detachment, winnowing out the men who had coughs (not a few), + and sending them ignominiously on board again: a process I had regularly + to perform, during this first season of catarrh, on all occasions where + quiet was needed. The only exception tolerated at this time was in the + case of one man who offered a solemn pledge, that, if unable to restrain + his cough, he would lie down on the ground, scrape a little hole, and + cough into it unheard. The ingenuity of this proposition was irresistible, + and the eager patient was allowed to pass muster. + </p> + <p> + It was after midnight when we set off upon our excursion. I had about a + hundred men, marching by the flank, with a small advanced guard, and also + a few flankers, where the ground permitted. I put my Florida company at + the head of the column, and had by my side Captain Metcalf, an excellent + officer, and Sergeant Mclntyre, his first sergeant. We plunged presently + in pine woods, whose resinous smell I can still remember. Corporal Sutton + marched near me, with his captured negro guide, whose first fear and + sullenness had yielded to the magic news of the President's Proclamation, + then just issued, of which Governor Andrew had sent me a large printed + supply;—we seldom found men who could read it, but they all seemed + to feel more secure when they held it in their hands. We marched on + through the woods, with no sound but the peeping of the frogs in a + neighboring marsh, and the occasional yelping of a dog, as we passed the + hut of some "cracker." This yelping always made Corporal Sutton uneasy; + dogs are the detective officers of Slavery's police. + </p> + <p> + We had halted once or twice to close up the ranks, and had marched some + two miles, seeing and hearing nothing more. I had got all I could out of + our new guide, and was striding on, rapt in pleasing contemplation. All + had gone so smoothly that I had merely to fancy the rest as being equally + smooth. Already I fancied our little detachment bursting out of the woods, + in swift surprise, upon the Rebel quarters,—already the opposing + commander, after hastily firing a charge or two from his revolver (of + course above my head), had yielded at discretion, and was gracefully + tendering, in a stage attitude, his unavailing sword,—when suddenly— + </p> + <p> + There was a trampling of feet among the advanced guard as they came + confusedly to a halt, and almost at the same instant a more ominous sound, + as of galloping horses in the path before us. The moonlight outside the + woods gave that dimness of atmosphere within which is more bewildering + than darkness, because the eyes cannot adapt themselves to it so well. Yet + I fancied, and others aver, that they saw the leader of an approaching + party mounted on a white horse and reining up in the pathway; others, + again, declare that he drew a pistol from the holster and took aim; others + heard the words, "Charge in upon them! Surround them!" But all this was + confused by the opening rifle-shots of our advanced guard, and, as clear + observation was impossible, I made the men fix their bayonets and kneel in + the cover on each side the pathway, and I saw with delight the brave + fellows, with Sergeant Mclntyre at their head, settling down in the grass + as coolly and warily as if wild turkeys were the only game. Perhaps at the + first shot a man fell at my elbow. I felt it no more than if a tree had + fallen,—I was so busy watching my own men and the enemy, and + planning what to do next. Some of our soldiers, misunderstanding the + order, "Fix bayonets," were actually <i>charging</i> with them, dashing + off into the dim woods, with nothing to charge at but the vanishing tail + of an imaginary horse,—for we could really see nothing. This zeal I + noted with pleasure, and also with anxiety, as our greatest danger was + from confusion and scattering; and for infantry to pursue cavalry would be + a novel enterprise. Captain Metcalf stood by me well in keeping the men + steady, as did Assistant Surgeon Minor, and Lieutenant, now Captain, + Jackson. How the men in the rear were behaving I could not tell,—not + so coolly, I afterwards found, because they were more entirely bewildered, + supposing, until the shots came, that the column had simply halted for a + moment's rest, as had been done once or twice before. They did not know + who or where their assailants might be, and the fall of the man beside me + created a hasty rumor that I was killed, so that it was on the whole an + alarming experience for them. They kept together very tolerably, however, + while our assailants, dividing, rode along on each side through the open + pine-barren, firing into our ranks, but mostly over the heads of the men. + My soldiers in turn fired rapidly,—too rapidly, being yet beginners,—and + it was evident that, dim as it was, both sides had opportunity to do some + execution. + </p> + <p> + I could hardly tell whether the fight had lasted ten minutes or an hour, + when, as the enemy's fire had evidently ceased or slackened, I gave the + order to cease firing. But it was very difficult at first to make them + desist: the taste of gunpowder was too intoxicating. One of them was heard + to mutter, indignantly, "Why de Cunnel order <i>Cease firing</i>, when de + Secesh blazin' away at de rate ob ten dollar a day?" Every incidental + occurrence seemed somehow to engrave itself upon my perceptions, without + interrupting the main course of thought. Thus I know, that, in one of the + pauses of the affair, there came wailing through the woods a cracked + female voice, as if calling back some stray husband who had run out to + join in the affray, "John, John, are you going to leave me, John? Are you + going to let me and the children be killed, John?" I suppose the poor + thing's fears of gunpowder were very genuine; but it was such a wailing + squeak, and so infinitely ludicrous, and John was probably ensconced so + very safely in some hollow tree, that I could see some of the men showing + all their white teeth in the very midst of the fight. But soon this sound, + with all others, had ceased, and left us in peaceful possession of the + field. + </p> + <p> + I have made the more of this little affair because it was the first + stand-up fight in which my men had been engaged, though they had been + under fire, in an irregular way, in their small early expeditions. To me + personally the event was of the greatest value: it had given us all an + opportunity to test each other, and our abstract surmises were changed + into positive knowledge. Hereafter it was of small importance what + nonsense might be talked or written about colored troops; so long as mine + did not flinch, it made no difference to me. My brave young officers, + themselves mostly new to danger, viewed the matter much as I did; and yet + we were under bonds of life and death to form a correct opinion, which was + more than could be said of the Northern editors, and our verdict was + proportionately of greater value. + </p> + <p> + I was convinced from appearances that we had been victorious, so far, + though I could not suppose that this would be the last of it. We knew + neither the numbers of the enemy, nor their plans, nor their present + condition: whether they had surprised us or whether we had surprised them + was all a mystery. Corporal Sutton was urgent to go on and complete the + enterprise. All my impulses said the same thing; but then I had the most + explicit injunctions from General Saxton to risk as little as possible in + this first enterprise, because of the fatal effect on public sentiment of + even an honorable defeat. We had now an honorable victory, so far as it + went; the officers and men around me were in good spirits, but the rest of + the column might be nervous; and it seemed so important to make the first + fight an entire success, that I thought it wiser to let well alone; nor + have I ever changed this opinion. For one's self, Montrose's verse may be + well applied, "To win or lose it all." But one has no right to deal thus + lightly with the fortunes of a race, and that was the weight which I + always felt as resting on our action. If my raw infantry force had stood + unflinchingly a night-surprise from "de boss cavalry," as they + reverentially termed them, I felt that a good beginning had been made. All + hope of surprising the enemy's camp was now at an end; I was willing and + ready to fight the cavalry over again, but it seemed wiser that we, not + they, should select the ground. + </p> + <p> + Attending to the wounded, therefore, and making as we best could + stretchers for those who were to be carried, including the remains of the + man killed at the first discharge (Private William Parsons of Company G), + and others who seemed at the point of death, we marched through the woods + to the landing,—expecting at every moment to be involved in another + fight. This not occurring, I was more than ever satisfied that we had won + a victory; for it was obvious that a mounted force would not allow a + detachment of infantry to march two miles through open woods by night + without renewing the fight, unless they themselves had suffered a good + deal. On arrival at the landing, seeing that there was to be no immediate + affray, I sent most of the men on board, and called for volunteers to + remain on shore with me and hold the plantation-house till morning. They + eagerly offered; and I was glad to see them, when posted as sentinels by + Lieutenants Hyde and Jackson, who stayed with me, pace their beats as + steadily and challenge as coolly as veterans, though of course there was + some powder wasted on imaginary foes. Greatly to my surprise, however, we + had no other enemies to encounter. We did not yet know that we had killed + the first lieutenant of the cavalry, and that our opponents had retreated + to the woods in dismay, without daring to return to their camp. This at + least was the account we heard from prisoners afterwards, and was + evidently the tale current in the neighborhood, though the statements + published in Southern newspapers did not correspond. Admitting the death + of Lieutenant Jones, the Tallahassee Floridian of February 14th stated + that "Captain Clark, finding the enemy in strong force, fell back with his + command to camp, and removed his ordnance and commissary and other stores, + with twelve negroes on their way to the enemy, captured on that day." + </p> + <p> + In the morning, my invaluable surgeon, Dr. Rogers, sent me his report of + killed and wounded; and I have been since permitted to make the following + extracts from his notes: "One man killed instantly by ball through the + heart, and seven wounded, one of whom will die. Braver men never lived. + One man with two bullet-holes through the large muscles of the shoulders + and neck brought off from the scene of action, two miles distant, two + muskets; and not a murmur has escaped his lips. Another, Robert Sutton, + with three wounds,—one of which, being on the skull, may cost him + his life,—would not report himself till compelled to do so by his + officers. While dressing his wounds, he quietly talked of what they had + done, and of what they yet could do. To-day I have had the Colonel <i>order</i> + him to obey me. He is perfectly quiet and cool, but takes this whole + affair with the religious bearing of a man who realizes that freedom is + sweeter than life. Yet another soldier did not report himself at all, but + remained all night on guard, and possibly I should not have known of his + having had a buck-shot in his shoulder, if some duty requiring a sound + shoulder had not been required of him to-day." This last, it may be added, + had persuaded a comrade to dig out the buck-shot, for fear of being + ordered on the sick-list. And one of those who were carried to the vessel—a + man wounded through the lungs—asked only if I were safe, the + contrary having been reported. An officer may be pardoned some enthusiasm + for such men as these. + </p> + <p> + The anxious night having passed away without an attack, another problem + opened with the morning. For the first time, my officers and men found + themselves in possession of an enemy's abode; and though there was but + little temptation to plunder, I knew that I must here begin to draw the + line. I had long since resolved to prohibit absolutely all indiscriminate + pilfering and wanton outrage, and to allow nothing to be taken or + destroyed but by proper authority. The men, to my great satisfaction, + entered into this view at once, and so did (perhaps a shade less readily, + in some cases) the officers. The greatest trouble was with the steamboat + hands, and I resolved to let them go ashore as little as possible. Most + articles of furniture were already, however, before our visit, gone from + the plantation-house, which was now used only as a picket-station. The + only valuable article was a pianoforte, for which a regular packing-box + lay invitingly ready outside. I had made up my mind, in accordance with + the orders given to naval commanders in that department,* to burn all + picket-stations, and all villages from which I should be covertly + attacked, and nothing else; and as this house was destined to the flames, + I should have left the piano in it, but for the seductions of that box. + With such a receptacle all ready, even to the cover, it would have seemed + like flying in the face of Providence not to put the piano in. I ordered + it removed, therefore, and afterwards presented it to the school for + colored children at Fernandina. This I mention because it was the only + article of property I ever took, or knowingly suffered to be taken, in the + enemy's country, save for legitimate military uses, from first to last; + nor would I have taken this, but for the thought of the school, and, as + aforesaid, the temptation of the box. If any other officer has been more + rigid, with equal opportunities, let him cast the first stone. + </p> + <p> + * "It is my desire to avoid the destruction of private property, unless + used for picket or guard-stations, or for other military purposes, by the + enemy.... Of course, if fired upon from any place, it is your duty, if + possible, to destroy it." Letter of ADMIRAL DUPONT, commanding South + Atlantic Squadron, to LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER HUGHES of United States Gunboat + Mohawk, Fernandina Harbor. + </p> + <p> + I think the zest with which the men finally set fire to the house at my + order was enhanced by this previous abstemiousness; but there is a fearful + fascination in the use of fire, which every child knows in the abstract, + and which I found to hold true in the practice. On our way down river we + had opportunity to test this again. + </p> + <p> + The ruined town of St. Mary's had at that time a bad reputation, among + both naval and military men. Lying but a short distance above Fernandina, + on the Georgia side, it was occasionally visited by our gunboats. I was + informed that the only residents of the town were three old women, who + were apparently kept there as spies,—that, on our approach, the aged + crones would come out and wave white handkerchiefs,—that they would + receive us hospitably, profess to be profoundly loyal, and exhibit a + portrait of Washington,—that they would solemnly assure us that no + Rebel pickets had been there for many weeks,—but that in the + adjoining yard we should find fresh horse-tracks, and that we should be + fired upon by guerillas the moment we left the wharf. My officers had been + much excited by these tales; and I had assured them that, if this + programme were literally carried out, we would straightway return and burn + the town, or what was left of it, for our share. It was essential to show + my officers and men that, while rigid against irregular outrage, we could + still be inexorable against the enemy. + </p> + <p> + We had previously planned to stop at this town, on our way down river, for + some valuable lumber which we had espied on a wharf; and gliding down the + swift current, shelling a few bluffs as we passed, we soon reached it. + Punctual as the figures in a panorama appeared the old ladies with their + white handkerchiefs. Taking possession of the town, much of which had + previously been destroyed by the gunboats, and stationing the color-guard, + to their infinite delight, in the cupola of the most conspicuous house, I + deployed skirmishers along the exposed suburb, and set a detail of men at + work on the lumber. After a stately and decorous interview with the queens + of society of St. Mary's,—is it Scott who says that nothing improves + the manners like piracy?—I peacefully withdrew the men when the work + was done. There were faces of disappointment among the officers,—for + all felt a spirit of mischief after the last night's adventure,—when, + just as we had fairly swung out into the stream and were under way, there + came, like the sudden burst of a tropical tornado, a regular little + hail-storm of bullets into the open end of the boat, driving every gunner + in an instant from his post, and surprising even those who were looking to + be surprised. The shock was but for a second; and though the bullets had + pattered precisely like the sound of hail upon the iron cannon, yet nobody + was hurt. With very respectable promptness, order was restored, our own + shells were flying into the woods from which the attack proceeded, and we + were steaming up to the wharf again, according to promise. + </p> + <p> + Who shall describe the theatrical attitudes assumed by the old ladies as + they reappeared at the front-door,—being luckily out of direct + range,—and set the handkerchiefs in wilder motion than ever? They + brandished them, they twirled them after the manner of the domestic mop, + they clasped their hands, handkerchiefs included. Meanwhile their friends + in the wood popped away steadily at us, with small effect; and + occasionally an invisible field-piece thundered feebly from another + quarter, with equally invisible results. Reaching the wharf, one company, + under Lieutenant (now Captain) Danil-son, was promptly deployed in search + of our assailants, who soon grew silent. Not so the old ladies, when I + announced to them my purpose, and added, with extreme regret, that, as the + wind was high, I should burn only that half of the town which lay to + leeward of their house, which did not, after all, amount to much. Between + gratitude for this degree of mercy, and imploring appeals for greater, the + treacherous old ladies manoeuvred with clasped hands and demonstrative + handkerchiefs around me, impairing the effect of their eloquence by + constantly addressing me as "Mr. Captain"; for I have observed, that, + while the sternest officer is greatly propitiated by attributing to him a + rank a little higher than his own, yet no one is ever mollified by an + error in the opposite direction. I tried, however, to disregard such low + considerations, and to strike the correct mean between the sublime patriot + and the unsanctified incendiary, while I could find no refuge from weak + contrition save in greater and greater depths of courtesy; and so + melodramatic became our interview that some of the soldiers still maintain + that "dem dar ole Secesh women been a-gwine for kiss de Cunnel," before we + ended. But of this monstrous accusation I wish to register an explicit + denial, once for all. + </p> + <p> + Dropping down to Fernandina unmolested after this affair, we were kindly + received by the military and naval commanders,—Colonel Hawley, of + the Seventh Connecticut (now Brigadier-General Hawley), and + Lieutenant-Commander Hughes, of the gunboat Mohawk. It turned out very + opportunely that both of these officers had special errands to suggest + still farther up the St. Mary's, and precisely in the region where I + wished to go. Colonel Hawley showed me a letter from the War Department, + requesting him to ascertain the possibility of obtaining a supply of brick + for Fort Clinch from the brickyard which had furnished the original + materials, but which had not been visited since the perilous river-trip of + the Ottawa. Lieutenant Hughes wished to obtain information for the Admiral + respecting a Rebel steamer,—the Berosa,—said to be lying + somewhere up the river, and awaiting her chance to run the blockade. I + jumped at the opportunity. Berosa and brickyard,—both were near + Wood-stock, the former home of Corporal Sutton; he was ready and eager to + pilot us up the river; the moon would be just right that evening, setting + at 3h. 19m. A.M.; and our boat was precisely the one to undertake the + expedition. Its double-headed shape was just what was needed in that swift + and crooked stream; the exposed pilot-houses had been tolerably barricaded + with the thick planks from St. Simon's; and we further obtained some + sand-bags from Fort Clinch, through the aid of Captain Sears, the officer + in charge, who had originally suggested the expedition after brick. In + return for this aid, the Planter was sent back to the wharf at St. Mary's, + to bring away a considerable supply of the same precious article, which we + had observed near the wharf. Meanwhile the John Adams was coaling from + naval supplies, through the kindness of Lieutenant Hughes; and the Ben De + Ford was taking in the lumber which we had yesterday brought down. It was + a great disappointment to be unable to take the latter vessel up the + river; but I was unwillingly convinced that, though the depth of water + might be sufficient, yet her length would be unmanageable in the swift + current and sharp turns. The Planter must also be sent on a separate + cruise, as her weak and disabled machinery made her useless for my + purpose. Two hundred men were therefore transferred, as before, to the + narrow hold of the John Adams, in addition to the company permanently + stationed on board to work the guns. At seven o'clock on the evening of + January 29th, beneath a lovely moon, we steamed up the river. + </p> + <p> + Never shall I forget the mystery and excitement of that night. I know + nothing in life more fascinating than the nocturnal ascent of an unknown + river, leading far into an enemy's country, where one glides in the dim + moonlight between dark hills and meadows, each turn of the channel making + it seem like an inland lake, and cutting you off as by a barrier from all + behind,—with no sign of human life, but an occasional picket-fire + left glimmering beneath the bank, or the yelp of a dog from some low-lying + plantation. On such occasions every nerve is strained to its utmost + tension; all dreams of romance appear to promise immediate fulfilment; all + lights on board the vessel are obscured, loud voices are hushed; you fancy + a thousand men on shore, and yet see nothing; the lonely river, + unaccustomed to furrowing keels, lapses by the vessel with a treacherous + sound; and all the senses are merged in a sort of anxious trance. Three + tunes I have had in full perfection this fascinating experience; but that + night was the first, and its zest was the keenest. It will come back to me + in dreams, if I live a thousand years. + </p> + <p> + I feared no attack during our ascent,—that danger was for our + return; but I feared the intricate navigation of the river, though I did + not fully know, till the actual experience, how dangerous it was. We + passed without trouble far above the scene of our first fight,—the + Battle of the Hundred Pines, as my officers had baptized it; and ever, as + we ascended, the banks grew steeper, the current swifter, the channel more + tortuous and more encumbered with projecting branches and drifting wood. + No piloting less skilful than that of Corporal Sutton and his mate, James + Bezzard, could have carried us through, I thought; and no side-wheel + steamer less strong than a ferry-boat could have borne the crash and force + with which we struck the wooded banks of the river. But the powerful + paddles, built to break the Northern ice, could crush the Southern pine as + well; and we came safely out of entanglements that at first seemed + formidable. We had the tide with us, which makes steering far more + difficult; and, in the sharp angles of the river, there was often no + resource but to run the bow boldly on shore, let the stern swing round, + and then reverse the motion. As the reversing machinery was generally out + of order, the engineer stupid or frightened, and the captain excited, this + involved moments of tolerably concentrated anxiety. Eight times we + grounded in the upper waters, and once lay aground for half an hour; but + at last we dropped anchor before the little town of Woodstock, after + moonset and an hour before daybreak, just as I had planned, and so quietly + that scarcely a dog barked, and not a soul in the town, as we afterwards + found, knew of our arrival. + </p> + <p> + As silently as possible, the great flat-boat which we had brought from St. + Simon's was filled with men. Major Strong was sent on shore with two + companies,—those of Captain James and Captain Metcalf,—with + instructions to surround the town quietly, allow no one to leave it, + molest no one, and hold as temporary prisoners every man whom he found. I + watched them push off into the darkness, got the remaining force ready to + land, and then paced the deck for an hour in silent watchfulness, waiting + for rifle-shots. Not a sound came from the shore, save the barking of dogs + and the morning crow of cocks; the time seemed interminable; but when + daylight came, I landed, and found a pair of scarlet trousers pacing on + their beat before every house in the village, and a small squad of + prisoners, stunted and forlorn as Falstaff's ragged regiment, already hi + hand. I observed with delight the good demeanor of my men towards these + forlorn Anglo-Saxons, and towards the more tumultuous women. Even one + soldier, who threatened to throw an old termagant into the river, took + care to append the courteous epithet "Madam." + </p> + <p> + I took a survey of the premises. The chief house, a pretty one with + picturesque outbuildings, was that of Mrs. A., who owned the mills and + lumber-wharves adjoining. The wealth of these wharves had not been + exaggerated. There was lumber enough to freight half a dozen steamers, and + I half regretted that I had agreed to take down a freight of bricks + instead. Further researches made me grateful that I had already explained + to my men the difference between public foraging and private plunder. + Along the river-bank I found building after building crowded with costly + furniture, all neatly packed, just as it was sent up from St. Mary's when + that town was abandoned. Pianos were a drug; china, glass-ware, mahogany, + pictures, all were here. And here were my men, who knew that their own + labor had earned for their masters these luxuries, or such as these; their + own wives and children were still sleeping on the floor, perhaps, at + Beaufort or Fernandina; and yet they submitted, almost without a murmur, + to the enforced abstinence. Bed and bedding for our hospitals they might + take from those store-rooms,—such as the surgeon selected,—also + an old flag which we found in a corner, and an old field-piece (which the + regiment still possesses),—but after this the doors were closed and + left unmolested. It cost a struggle to some of the men, whose wives were + destitute, I know; but their pride was very easily touched, and when this + abstinence was once recognized as a rule, they claimed it as an honor, in + this and all succeeding expeditions. I flatter myself that, if they had + once been set upon wholesale plundering, they would have done it as + thoroughly as their betters; but I have always been infinitely grateful, + both for the credit and for the discipline of the regiment,—as well + as for the men's subsequent lives,—that the opposite method was + adopted. + </p> + <p> + When the morning was a little advanced, I called on Mrs. A., who received + me in quite a stately way at her own door with "To what am I indebted for + the honor of this visit, Sir?" The foreign name of the family, and the + tropical look of the buildings, made it seem (as, indeed, did all the rest + of the adventure) like a chapter out of "Amyas Leigh"; but as I had + happened to hear that the lady herself was a Philadelphian, and her + deceased husband a New-Yorker, I could not feel even that modicum of + reverence due to sincere Southerners. However, I wished to present my + credentials; so, calling up my companion, I said that I believed she had + been previously acquainted with Corporal Robert Sutton? I never saw a + finer bit of unutterable indignation than came over the face of my + hostess, as she slowly recognized him. She drew herself up, and dropped + out the monosyllables of her answer as if they were so many drops of + nitric acid. "Ah," quoth my lady, "we called him Bob!" + </p> + <p> + It was a group for a painter. The whole drama of the war seemed to reverse + itself in an instant, and my tall, well-dressed, imposing, philosophic + Corporal dropped down the immeasurable depth into a mere plantation "Bob" + again. So at least in my imagination; not to that person himself. Too + essentially dignified in his nature to be moved by words where substantial + realities were in question, he simply turned from the lady, touched his + hat to me, and asked if I would wish to see the slave-jail, as he had the + keys in his possession. + </p> + <p> + If he fancied that I was in danger of being overcome by blandishments, and + needed to be recalled to realities, it was a master-stroke. + </p> + <p> + I must say that, when the door of that villanous edifice was thrown open + before me, I felt glad that my main interview with its lady proprietor had + passed before I saw it. It was a small building, like a Northern + corn-barn, and seemed to have as prominent and as legitimate a place among + the outbuildings of the establishment. In the middle of the door was a + large staple with a rusty chain, like an ox-chain, for fastening a victim + down. When the door had been opened after the death of the late + proprietor, my informant said, a man was found padlocked in that chain. We + found also three pairs of stocks of various construction, two of which had + smaller as well as larger holes, evidently for the feet of women or + children. In a building near by we found something far more complicated, + which was perfectly unintelligible till the men explained all its parts: a + machine so contrived that a person once imprisoned in it could neither + sit, stand, nor lie, but must support the body half raised, in a position + scarcely endurable. I have since bitterly reproached myself for leaving + this piece of ingenuity behind; but it would have cost much labor to + remove it, and to bring away the other trophies seemed then enough. I + remember the unutterable loathing with which I leaned against the door of + that prison-house; I had thought myself seasoned to any conceivable + horrors of Slavery, but it seemed as if the visible presence of that den + of sin would choke me. Of course it would have been burned to the ground + by us, but that this would have involved the sacrifice of every other + building and all the piles of lumber, and for the moment it seemed as if + the sacrifice would be righteous. But I forbore, and only took as trophies + the instruments of torture and the keys of the jail. + </p> + <p> + We found but few colored people in this vicinity; some we brought away + with us, and an old man and woman preferred to remain. All the white males + whom we found I took as hostages, in order to shield us, if possible, from + attack on our way down river, explaining to them that they would be put on + shore when the dangerous points were passed. I knew that their wives could + easily send notice of this fact to the Rebel forces along the river. My + hostages were a forlorn-looking set of "crackers," far inferior to our + soldiers in <i>physique</i>, and yet quite equal, the latter declared, to + the average material of the Southern armies. None were in uniform, but + this proved nothing as to their being soldiers. One of them, a mere boy, + was captured at his own door, with gun in hand. It was a fowling-piece, + which he used only, as his mother plaintively assured me, "to shoot little + birds with." As the guileless youth had for this purpose loaded the gun + with eighteen buck-shot, we thought it justifiable to confiscate both the + weapon and the owner, in mercy to the birds. + </p> + <p> + We took from this place, for the use of the army, a flock of some thirty + sheep, forty bushels of rice, some other provisions, tools, oars, and a + little lumber, leaving all possible space for the bricks which we expected + to obtain just below. I should have gone farther up the river, but for a + dangerous boom which kept back a great number of logs in a large brook + that here fell into the St. Mary's; the stream ran with force, and if the + Rebels had wit enough to do it, they might in ten minutes so choke the + river with drift-wood as infinitely to enhance our troubles. So we dropped + down stream a mile or two, found the very brickyard from which Fort Clinch + had been constructed,—still stored with bricks, and seemingly + unprotected. Here Sergeant Rivers again planted his standard, and the men + toiled eagerly, for several hours, in loading our boat to the utmost with + the bricks. Meanwhile we questioned black and white witnesses, and learned + for the first tune that the Rebels admitted a repulse at Township Landing, + and that Lieutenant Jones and ten of their number were killed,—though + this I fancy to have been an exaggeration. They also declared that the + mysterious steamer Berosa was lying at the head of the river, but was a + broken-down and worthless affair, and would never get to sea. The result + has since proved this; for the vessel subsequently ran the blockade and + foundered near shore, the crew barely escaping with their lives. I had the + pleasure, as it happened, of being the first person to forward this + information to Admiral Dupont, when it came through the pickets, many + months after,—thus concluding my report on the Berosa. + </p> + <p> + Before the work at the yard was over the pickets reported mounted men in + the woods near by, as had previously been the report at Woodstock. This + admonished us to lose no time; and as we left the wharf, immediate + arrangements were made to have the gun crews all in readiness, and to keep + the rest of the men below, since their musketry would be of little use + now, and I did not propose to risk a life unnecessarily. The chief + obstacle to this was their own eagerness; penned down on one side, they + popped up on the other; their officers, too, were eager to see what was + going on, and were almost as hard to cork down as the men. Add to this, + that the vessel was now very crowded, and that I had to be chiefly on the + hurricane-deck with the pilots. Captain Clifton, master of the vessel, was + brave to excess, and as much excited as the men; he could no more be kept + in the little pilot-house than they below; and when we had passed one or + two bluffs, with no sign of an enemy, he grew more and more irrepressible, + and exposed himself conspicuously on the upper deck. Perhaps we all were a + little lulled by apparent safety; for myself, I lay down for a moment on a + settee in a state-room, having been on my feet, almost without cessation, + for twenty-four hours. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly there swept down from a bluff above us, on the Georgia side, a + mingling of shout and roar and rattle as of a tornado let loose; and as a + storm of bullets came pelting against the sides of the vessel, and through + a window, there went up a shrill answering shout from our own men. It took + but an instant for me to reach the gun-deck. After all my efforts the men + had swarmed once more from below, and already, crowding at both ends of + the boat, were loading and firing with inconceivable rapidity, shouting to + each other, "Nebber gib it up!" and of course having no steady aim, as the + vessel glided and whirled in the swift current. Meanwhile the officers in + charge of the large guns had their crews in order, and our shells began to + fly over the bluffs, which, as we now saw, should have been shelled in + advance, only that we had to economize ammunition. The other soldiers I + drove below, almost by main force, with the aid of their officers, who + behaved exceedingly well, giving the men leave to fire from the open + port-holes which lined the lower deck, almost at the water's level. In the + very midst of the <i>melee</i> Major Strong came from the upper deck, with + a face of horror, and whispered to me, "Captain Clifton was killed at the + first shot by my side." + </p> + <p> + If he had said that the vessel was on fire the shock would hardly have + been greater. Of course, the military commander on board a steamer is + almost as helpless as an unarmed man, so far as the risks of water go. A + seaman must command there. In the hazardous voyage of last night, I had + learned, though unjustly, to distrust every official on board the + steamboat except this excitable, brave, warm-hearted sailor; and now, + among these added dangers, to lose him! The responsibility for his life + also thrilled me; he was not among my soldiers, and yet he was killed. I + thought of his wife and children, of whom he had spoken; but one learns to + think rapidly in war, and, cautioning the Major to silence, I went up to + the hurricane-deck and drew in the helpless body, that it should be safe + from further desecration, and then looked to see where we were. + </p> + <p> + We were now gliding past a safe reach of marsh, while our assailants were + riding by cross-paths to attack us at the next bluff. It was Reed's Bluff + where we were first attacked, and Scrubby Bluff, I think, was next. They + were shelled in advance, but swarmed manfully to the banks again as we + swept round one of the sharp angles of the stream beneath their fire. My + men were now pretty well imprisoned below in the hot and crowded hold, and + actually fought each other, the officers afterwards said, for places at + the open port-holes, from which to aim. Others implored to be landed, + exclaiming that they "supposed de Cunnel knew best," but it was "mighty + mean" to be shut up down below, when they might be "fightin' de Secesh <i>in + de clar field</i>." This clear field, and no favor, was what they + thenceforward sighed for. But in such difficult navigation it would have + been madness to think of landing, although one daring Rebel actually + sprang upon the large boat which we towed astern, where he was shot down + by one of our sergeants. This boat was soon after swamped and abandoned, + then taken and repaired by the Rebels at a later date, and finally, by a + piece of dramatic completeness, was seized by a party of fugitive slaves, + who escaped in it to our lines, and some of whom enlisted in my own + regiment. + </p> + <p> + It has always been rather a mystery to me why the Rebels did not fell a + few trees across the stream at some of the many sharp angles where we + might so easily have been thus imprisoned. This, however, they did not + attempt, and with the skilful pilotage of our trusty Corporal,—philosophic + as Socrates through all the din, and occasionally relieving his mind by + taking a shot with his rifle through the high portholes of the + pilot-house,—we glided safely on. The steamer did not ground once on + the descent, and the mate in command, Mr. Smith, did his duty very well. + The plank sheathing of the pilot-house was penetrated by few bullets, + though struck by so many outside that it was visited as a curiosity after + our return; and even among the gun-crews, though they had no protection, + not a man was hurt. As we approached some wooded bluff, usually on the + Georgia side, we could see galloping along the hillside what seemed a + regiment of mounted riflemen, and could see our shell scatter them ere we + approached. Shelling did not, however, prevent a rather fierce fusilade + from our old friends of Captain dark's company at Waterman's Bluff, near + Township Landing; but even this did no serious damage, and this was the + last. + </p> + <p> + It was of course impossible, while thus running the gauntlet, to put our + hostages ashore, and I could only explain to them that they must thank + their own friends for their inevitable detention. I was by no means proud + of their forlorn appearance, and besought Colonel Hawley to take them off + my hands; but he was sending no flags of truce at that time, and liked + their looks no better than I did. So I took them to Port Royal, where they + were afterwards sent safely across the lines. Our men were pleased at + taking them back with us, as they had already said, regretfully, "S'pose + we leave dem Secesh at Fernandina, General Saxby won't see 'em,"—as + if they were some new natural curiosity, which indeed they were. One + soldier further suggested the expediency of keeping them permanently in + camp, to be used as marks for the guns of the relieved guard every + morning. But this was rather an ebullition of fancy than a sober + proposition. + </p> + <p> + Against these levities I must put a piece of more tragic eloquence, which + I took down by night on the steamer's deck from the thrilling harangue of + Corporal Adam Allston, one of our most gifted prophets, whose influence + over the men was unbounded. "When I heard," he said, "de bombshell + a-screamin' troo de woods like de Judgment Day, I said to myself, 'If my + head was took off to-night, dey couldn't put my soul in de torments, + perceps [except] God was my enemy!' And when de rifle-bullets came + whizzin' across de deck, I cried aloud, 'God help my congregation! Boys, + load and fire!'" + </p> + <p> + I must pass briefly over the few remaining days of our cruise. At + Fernandina we met the Planter, which had been successful on her separate + expedition, and had destroyed extensive salt-works at Crooked River, under + charge of the energetic Captain Trowbridge, efficiently aided by Captain + Rogers. Our commodities being in part delivered at Fernandina, our decks + being full, coal nearly out, and time up, we called once more at St. + Simon's Sound, bringing away the remainder of our railroad-iron, with some + which the naval officers had previously disinterred, and then steamed back + to Beaufort. Arriving there at sunrise (February 2, 1863), I made my way + with Dr. Rogers to General Saxton's bedroom, and laid before him the keys + and shackles of the slave-prison, with my report of the good conduct of + the men,—as Dr. Rogers remarked, a message from heaven and another + from hell. + </p> + <p> + Slight as this expedition now seems among the vast events of the war, the + future student of the newspapers of that day will find that it occupied no + little space in their columns, so intense was the interest which then + attached to the novel experiment of employing black troops. So obvious, + too, was the value, during this raid, of their local knowledge and their + enthusiasm, that it was impossible not to find in its successes new + suggestions for the war. Certainly I would not have consented to repeat + the enterprise with the bravest white troops, leaving Corporal Sutton and + his mates behind, for I should have expected to fail. For a year after our + raid the Upper St. Mary's remained unvisited, till in 1864 the large force + with which we held Florida secured peace upon its banks; then Mrs. A. took + the oath of allegiance, the Government bought her remaining lumber, and + the John Adams again ascended with a detachment of my men under Lieutenant + Parker, and brought a portion of it to Fernandina. By a strange turn of + fortune, Corporal Sutton (now Sergeant) was at this time in jail at Hilton + Head, under sentence of court-martial for an alleged act of mutiny,—an + affair in which the general voice of our officers sustained him and + condemned his accusers, so that he soon received a full pardon, and was + restored in honor to his place in the regiment, which he has ever since + held. + </p> + <p> + Nothing can ever exaggerate the fascinations of war, whether on the + largest or smallest scale. When we settled down into camp-life again, it + seemed like a butterfly's folding its wings to re-enter the chrysalis. + None of us could listen to the crack of a gun without recalling instantly + the sharp shots that spilled down from the bluffs of the St. Mary's, or + hear a sudden trampling of horsemen by night without recalling the sounds + which startled us on the Field of the Hundred Pines. The memory of our + raid was preserved in the camp by many legends of adventure, growing + vaster and more incredible as time wore on,—and by the morning + appeals to the surgeon of some veteran invalids, who could now cut off all + reproofs and suspicions with "Doctor, I's been a sickly pusson eber since + de <i>expeditious</i>." But to me the most vivid remembrancer was the + flock of sheep which we had "lifted." The Post Quartermaster discreetly + gave us the charge of them, and they rilled a gap in the landscape and in + the larder,—which last had before presented one unvaried round of + impenetrable beef. Mr. Obabiah Oldbuck, when he decided to adopt a + pastoral life, and assumed the provisional name of Thyrsis, never looked + upon his flocks and herds with more unalloyed contentment than I upon that + fleecy family. I had been familiar, in Kansas, with the metaphor by which + the sentiments of an owner were credited to his property, and had heard of + a proslavery colt and an antislavery cow. The fact that these sheep were + but recently converted from "Se-cesh" sentiments was their crowning charm. + Methought they frisked and fattened in the joy of their deliverance from + the shadow of Mrs. A.'s slave-jail, and gladly contemplated translation + into mutton-broth for sick or wounded soldiers. The very slaves who once, + perchance, were sold at auction with yon aged patriarch of the flock, had + now asserted their humanity, and would devour him as hospital rations. + Meanwhile our shepherd bore a sharp bayonet without a crook, and I felt + myself a peer of Ulysses and Rob Roy,—those sheep-stealers of less + elevated aims,—when I met in my daily rides these wandering trophies + of our wider wanderings. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter 4. Up the St. John's + </h2> + <p> + There was not much stirring in the Department of the South early in 1863, + and the St. Mary's expedition had afforded a new sensation. Of course the + few officers of colored troops, and a larger number who wished to become + such, were urgent for further experiments in the same line; and the + Florida tax-commissioners were urgent likewise. I well remember the + morning when, after some preliminary correspondence, I steamed down from + Beaufort, S. C., to Hilton Head, with General Saxton, Judge S., and one or + two others, to have an interview on the matter with Major-General Hunter, + then commanding the Department. + </p> + <p> + Hilton Head, in those days, seemed always like some foreign military + station in the tropics. The long, low, white buildings, with piazzas and + verandas on the water-side; the general impression of heat and lassitude, + existence appearing to pulsate only with the sea-breeze; the sandy, almost + impassable streets; and the firm, level beach, on which everybody walked + who could get there: all these suggested Jamaica or the East Indies. Then + the head-quarters at the end of the beach, the Zouave sentinels, the + successive anterooms, the lounging aids, the good-natured and easy + General,—easy by habit and energetic by impulse,—all had a + certain air of Southern languor, rather picturesque, but perhaps not + altogether bracing. General Hunter received us, that day, with his usual + kindliness; there was a good deal of pleasant chat; Miles O'Reilly was + called in to read his latest verses; and then we came to the matter in + hand. + </p> + <p> + Jacksonville, on the St. John's River, in Florida, had been already twice + taken and twice evacuated; having been occupied by Brigadier-General + Wright, in March, 1862, and by Brigadier-General Brannan, in October of + the same year. The second evacuation was by Major-General Hunter's own + order, on the avowed ground that a garrison of five thousand was needed to + hold the place, and that this force could not be spared. The present + proposition was to take and hold it with a brigade of less than a thousand + men, carrying, however, arms and uniforms for twice that number, and a + month's rations. The claim was, that there were fewer rebel troops in the + Department than formerly, and that the St. Mary's expedition had shown the + advantage possessed by colored troops, in local knowledge, and in the + confidence of the loyal blacks. It was also urged, that it was worth while + to risk something, in the effort to hold Florida, and perhaps bring it + back into the Union. + </p> + <p> + My chief aim in the negotiation was to get the men into action, and that + of the Florida Commissioners to get them into Florida. Thus far + coinciding, we could heartily co-operate; and though General Hunter made + some reasonable objections, they were yielded more readily than I had + feared; and finally, before half our logical ammunition was exhausted, the + desired permission was given, and the thing might be considered as done. + </p> + <p> + We were now to leave, as we supposed forever, the camp which had thus far + been our home. Our vast amount of surplus baggage made a heavy job in the + loading, inasmuch as we had no wharf, and everything had to be put on + board by means of flat-boats. It was completed by twenty-four hours of + steady work; and after some of the usual uncomfortable delays which wait + on military expeditions, we were at last afloat. + </p> + <p> + I had tried to keep the plan as secret as possible, and had requested to + have no definite orders, until we should be on board ship. But this larger + expedition was less within my own hands than was the St. Mary's affair, + and the great reliance for concealment was on certain counter reports, + ingeniously set afloat by some of the Florida men. These reports rapidly + swelled into the most enormous tales, and by the time they reached the New + York newspapers, the expedition was "a great volcano about bursting, whose + lava will burn, flow, and destroy," "the sudden appearance in arms of no + less than five thousand negroes," "a liberating host," "not the phantom, + but the reality, of servile insurrection." What the undertaking actually + was may be best seen in the instructions which guided it.* + </p> + <p> + * HEAD-QUARTERS, BEAUFORT, S. C., + </p> + <p> + March 5, 1863. + </p> + <p> + COLONEL,—You will please proceed with your command, the First and + Second Regiments South Carolina Volunteers, which are now embarked upon + the steamers John Adams, Boston, and Burn-side, to Fernandina, Florida. + </p> + <p> + Relying upon your military skill and judgment. I shall give you no special + directions as to your procedure after you leave Fernandina. I expect, + however, that you will occupy Jacksonville, Florida, and intrench + yourselves there. + </p> + <p> + The main objects of your expedition are to carry the proclamation of + freedom to the enslaved; to call all loyal men into the service of the + United States; to occupy as much of the State of Florida as possible with + the forces under your command; and to neglect no means consistent with the + usages of civilized warfare to weaken, harass, and annoy those who are in + rebellion against the Government of the United States. + </p> + <p> + Trusting that the blessing of our Heavenly Father will rest upon your + noble enterprise, + </p> + <p> + I am yours, sincerely, + </p> + <p> + R. SAXTON, + </p> + <p> + Brig.-Gen., Mil. Gov. Dept. of the South. Colonel Higginson, Comdg. + Expeditionary Corps. + </p> + <p> + In due time, after touching at Fernandina, we reached the difficult bar of + the St. John's, and were piloted safely over. Admiral Dupont had furnished + a courteous letter of introduction.* and we were cordially received by + Commander Duncan of the Norwich, and Lieutenant Watson, commanding the + Uncas. Like all officers on blockade duty, they were impatient of their + enforced inaction, and gladly seized the opportunity for a different + service. It was some time since they had ascended as high as Jacksonville, + for their orders were strict, one vessel's coal was low, the other was in + infirm condition, and there were rumors of cotton-clads and torpedoes. But + they gladly agreed to escort us up the river, so soon as our own armed + gunboat, the John Adams, should arrive,—she being unaccountably + delayed. + </p> + <p> + FLAG SHIP WABASH, + </p> + <p> + PORT ROYAL HARBOR, S. C., March 6, 1863. SIR,—I am informed by + Major-General Hunter that he is sending Colonel Higginson on an important + mission in the southerly part of his Department. + </p> + <p> + I have not been made acquainted with the objects of this mission, but any + assistance that you can offer Colonel Higginson, which will not interfere + with your other duties, you are authorized to give. + </p> + <p> + Respectfully your obedient servant, + </p> + <p> + S. F. DUPONT, Rear-Adm. Comdg. S. Atl. Block. Squad. + </p> + <p> + To the Senior Officer at the different Blockading Stations on the Coast of + Georgia and Florida. + </p> + <p> + We waited twenty-four hours for her, at the sultry mouth of that glassy + river, watching the great pelicans which floated lazily on its tide, or + sometimes shooting one, to admire the great pouch, into which one of the + soldiers could insert his foot, as into a boot. "He hold one quart," said + the admiring experimentalist. "Hi! boy," retorted another quickly, "neber + you bring dat quart measure in <i>my</i> peck o' corn." The protest came + very promptly, and was certainly fair; for the strange receptacle would + have held nearly a gallon. + </p> + <p> + We went on shore, too, and were shown a rather pathetic little garden, + which the naval officers had laid out, indulging a dream of vegetables. + They lingered over the little microscopic sprouts, pointing them out + tenderly, as if they were cradled babies. I have often noticed this + touching weakness, in gentlemen of that profession, on lonely stations. + </p> + <p> + We wandered among the bluffs, too, in the little deserted hamlet called + "Pilot Town." The ever-shifting sand had in some cases almost buried the + small houses, and had swept around others a circular drift, at a few + yards' distance, overtopping then: eaves, and leaving each the untouched + citadel of this natural redoubt. There was also a dismantled lighthouse, + an object which always seems the most dreary symbol of the barbarism of + war, when one considers the national beneficence which reared and kindled + it. Despite the service rendered by this once brilliant light, there were + many wrecks which had been strown upon the beach, victims of the most + formidable of the Southern river-bars. As I stood with my foot on the + half-buried ribs of one of these vessels,—so distinctly traced that + one might almost fancy them human,—the old pilot, my companion, told + me the story of the wreck. The vessel had formerly been in the Cuba trade; + and her owner, an American merchant residing in Havana, had christened her + for his young daughter. I asked the name, and was startled to recognize + that of a favorite young cousin of mine, besides the bones of whose + representative I was thus strangely standing, upon this lonely shore. + </p> + <p> + It was well to have something to relieve the anxiety naturally felt at the + delay of the John Adams,—anxiety both for her safety and for the + success of our enterprise, The Rebels had repeatedly threatened to burn + the whole of Jacksonville, in case of another attack, as they had + previously burned its mills and its great hotel. It seemed as if the news + of our arrival must surely have travelled thirty miles by this time. All + day we watched every smoke that rose among the wooded hills, and consulted + the compass and the map, to see if that sign announced the doom of our + expected home. At the very last moment of the tide, just in time to cross + the bar that day, the missing vessel arrived; all anxieties vanished; I + transferred my quarters on board, and at two the next morning we steamed + up the river. + </p> + <p> + Again there was the dreamy delight of ascending an unknown stream, beneath + a sinking moon, into a region where peril made fascination. Since the time + of the first explorers, I suppose that those Southern waters have known no + sensations so dreamy and so bewitching as those which this war has brought + forth. I recall, in this case, the faintest sensations of our voyage, as + Ponce de Leon may have recalled those of his wandering search, in the same + soft zone, for the secret of the mystic fountain. I remember how, during + that night, I looked for the first time through a powerful night-glass. It + had always seemed a thing wholly inconceivable, that a mere lens could + change darkness into light; and as I turned the instrument on the + preceding gunboat, and actually discerned the man at the wheel and the + others standing about him,—all relapsing into vague gloom again at + the withdrawal of the glass,—it gave a feeling of childish delight. + Yet it seemed only in keeping with the whole enchantment of the scene; and + had I been some Aladdin, convoyed by genii or giants, I could hardly have + felt more wholly a denizen of some world of romance. + </p> + <p> + But the river was of difficult navigation; and we began to feel sometimes, + beneath the keel, that ominous, sliding, grating, treacherous arrest of + motion which makes the heart shudder, as the vessel does. There was some + solicitude about torpedoes, also,—a peril which became a formidable + thing, one year later, in the very channel where we found none. Soon one + of our consorts grounded, then another, every vessel taking its turn, I + believe, and then in turn getting off, until the Norwich lay hopelessly + stranded, for that tide at least, a few miles below Jacksonville, and out + of sight of the city, so that she could not even add to our dignity by her + visible presence from afar. + </p> + <p> + This was rather a serious matter, as the Norwich was our main naval + reliance, the Uncas being a small steamer of less than two hundred tons, + and in such poor condition that Commander Duncan, on finding himself + aground, at first quite declined to trust his consort any farther alone. + But, having got thus far, it was plainly my duty to risk the remainder + with or without naval assistance; and this being so, the courageous + officer did not long object, but allowed his dashing subordinate to steam + up with us to the city. This left us one naval and one army gunboat; and, + fortunately, the Burn-side, being a black propeller, always passed for an + armed vessel among the Rebels, and we rather encouraged that pleasing + illusion. + </p> + <p> + We had aimed to reach Jacksonville at daybreak; but these mishaps delayed + us, and we had several hours of fresh, early sunshine, lighting up the + green shores of that lovely river, wooded to the water's edge, with + sometimes an emerald meadow, opening a vista to some picturesque house,—all + utterly unlike anything we had yet seen in the South, and suggesting + rather the Penobscot or Kennebec. Here and there we glided by the ruins of + some saw-mill burned by the Rebels on General Wright's approach; but + nothing else spoke of war, except, perhaps, the silence. It was a + delicious day, and a scene of fascination. Our Florida men were wild with + delight; and when we rounded the point below the city, and saw from afar + its long streets, its brick warehouses, its white cottages, and its + overshadowing trees,—all peaceful and undisturbed by flames,—it + seemed, in the men's favorite phrase, "too much good," and all discipline + was merged, for the moment, in a buzz of ecstasy. + </p> + <p> + The city was still there for us, at any rate; though none knew what perils + might be concealed behind those quiet buildings. Yet there were children + playing on the wharves; careless men, here and there, lounged down to look + at us, hands in pockets; a few women came to their doors, and gazed + listlessly upon us, shading their eyes with their hands. We drew momently + nearer, in silence and with breathless attention. The gunners were at + their posts, and the men in line. It was eight o'clock. We were now + directly opposite the town: yet no sign of danger was seen; not a + rifle-shot was heard; not a shell rose hissing in the air. The Uncas + rounded to, and dropped anchor in the stream; by previous agreement, I + steamed to an upper pier of the town, Colonel Montgomery to a lower one; + the little boat-howitzers were run out upon the wharves, and presently to + the angles of the chief streets; and the pretty town was our own without a + shot. In spite of our detention, the surprise had been complete, and not a + soul in Jacksonville had dreamed of our coming. + </p> + <p> + The day passed quickly, in eager preparations for defence; the people + could or would give us no definite information about the Rebel camp, which + was, however, known to be near, and our force did not permit our going out + to surprise it. The night following was the most anxious I ever spent. We + were all tired out; the companies were under arms, in various parts of the + town, to be ready for an attack at any moment. My temporary quarters were + beneath the loveliest grove of linden-trees, and as I reclined, + half-dozing, the mocking-birds sang all night like nightingales,—their + notes seeming to trickle down through the sweet air from amid the + blossoming boughs. Day brought relief and the sense of due possession, and + we could see what we had won. + </p> + <p> + Jacksonville was now a United States post again: the only post on the + main-land in the Department of the South. Before the war it had three or + four thousand inhabitants, and a rapidly growing lumber-trade, for which + abundant facilities were evidently provided. The wharves were capacious, + and the blocks of brick warehouses along the lower street were utterly + unlike anything we had yet seen in that region, as were the neatness and + thrift everywhere visible. It had been built up by Northern enterprise, + and much of the property was owned by loyal men. It had been a great + resort for invalids, though the Rebels had burned the large hotel which + once accommodated them. Mills had also been burned; but the + dwelling-houses were almost all in good condition. The quarters for the + men were admirable; and I took official possession of the handsome brick + house of Colonel Sunder-land, the established head-quarters through every + occupation, whose accommodating flag-staff had literally and repeatedly + changed its colors. The seceded Colonel, reputed author of the State + ordinance of Secession, was a New-Yorker by birth, and we found his + law-card, issued when in practice in Easton, Washington County, New York. + He certainly had good taste in planning the inside of a house, though time + had impaired its condition. There was a neat office with ample bookcases + and no books, a billiard-table with no balls, gas-fixtures without gas, + and a bathing-room without water. There was a separate building for + servants' quarters, and a kitchen with every convenience, even to a few + jars of lingering pickles. On the whole, there was an air of substance and + comfort about the town, quite alien from the picturesque decadence of + Beaufort. + </p> + <p> + The town rose gradually from the river, and was bounded on the rear by a + long, sluggish creek, beyond which lay a stretch of woods, affording an + excellent covert for the enemy, but without great facilities for attack, + as there were but two or three fords and bridges. This brook could easily + be held against a small force, but could at any time and at almost any + point be readily crossed by a large one. North of the town the land rose a + little, between the river and the sources of the brook, and then sank to a + plain, which had been partially cleared by a previous garrison. For so + small a force as ours, however, this clearing must be extended nearer to + the town; otherwise our lines would be too long for our numbers. + </p> + <p> + This deficiency in numbers at once became a source of serious anxiety. + While planning the expedition, it had seemed so important to get the men a + foothold in Florida that I was willing to risk everything for it. But this + important post once in our possession, it began to show some analogies to + the proverbial elephant in the lottery. To hold it permanently with nine + hundred men was not, perhaps, impossible, with the aid of a gunboat (I had + left many of my own regiment sick and on duty in Beaufort, and Colonel + Montgomery had as yet less than one hundred and fifty); but to hold it, + and also to make forays up the river, certainly required a larger number. + We came in part to recruit, but had found scarcely an able-bodied negro in + the city; all had been removed farther up, and we must certainly contrive + to follow them. I was very unwilling to have, as yet, any white troops + under my command, with the blacks. Finally, however, being informed by + Judge S. of a conversation with Colonel Hawley, commanding at Fernandina, + in which the latter had offered to send four companies and a light battery + to swell our force,—in view of the aid given to his position by this + more advanced post, I decided to authorize the energetic Judge to go back + to Fernandina and renew the negotiation, as the John Adams must go thither + at any rate for coal. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile all definite display of our force was avoided; dress-parades + were omitted; the companies were so distributed as to tell for the utmost; + and judicious use was made, here and there, of empty tents. The gunboats + and transports moved impressively up and down the river, from time to + time. The disposition of pickets was varied each night to perplex the + enemy, and some advantage taken of his distrust, which might be assumed as + equalling our own. The citizens were duly impressed by our supply of + ammunition, which was really enormous, and all these things soon took + effect. A loyal woman, who came into town, said that the Rebel scouts, + stopping at her house, reported that there were "sixteen hundred negroes + all over the woods, and the town full of them besides." "It was of no use + to go in. General Finnegan had driven them into a bad place once, and + should not do it again." "They had lost their captain and their best + surgeon in the first skirmish, and if the Savannah people wanted the + negroes driven away, they might come and do it themselves." Unfortunately, + we knew that they could easily come from Savannah at any time, as there + was railroad communication nearly all the way; and every time we heard the + steam-whistle, the men were convinced of their arrival. Thus we never + could approach to any certainty as to their numbers, while they could + observe, from the bluffs, every steamboat that ascended the river. + </p> + <p> + To render our weak force still more available, we barricaded the + approaches to the chief streets by constructing barriers or felling trees. + It went to my heart to sacrifice, for this purpose, several of my + beautiful lindens; but it was no time for aesthetics. As the giants lay on + the ground, still scenting the air with their abundant bloom, I used to + rein up my horse and watch the children playing hide-and-seek amongst + their branches, or some quiet cow grazing at the foliage. Nothing + impresses the mind in war like some occasional object or association that + belongs apparently to peace alone. + </p> + <p> + Among all these solicitudes, it was a great thing that one particular + anxiety vanished in a day. On the former expedition the men were upon + trial as to their courage; now they were to endure another test, as to + their demeanor as victors. Here were five hundred citizens, nearly all + white, at the mercy of their former slaves. To some of these whites it was + the last crowning humiliation, and they were, or professed to be, in + perpetual fear. On the other hand, the most intelligent and lady-like + woman I saw, the wife of a Rebel captain, rather surprised me by saying + that it seemed pleasanter to have these men stationed there, whom they had + known all their lives, and who had generally borne a good character, than + to be in the power of entire strangers. Certainly the men deserved the + confidence, for there was scarcely an exception to their good behavior. I + think they thoroughly felt that their honor and dignity were concerned in + the matter, and took too much pride in their character as soldiers,—to + say nothing of higher motives,—to tarnish it by any misdeeds. They + watched their officers vigilantly and even suspiciously, to detect any + disposition towards compromise; and so long as we pursued a just course it + was evident that they could be relied on. Yet the spot was pointed out to + me where two of our leading men had seen their brothers hanged by Lynch + law; many of them had private wrongs to avenge; and they all had utter + disbelief in all pretended loyalty, especially on the part of the women. + </p> + <p> + One citizen alone was brought to me in a sort of escort of honor by + Corporal Prince Lambkin,—one of the color-guard, and one of our + ablest men,—the same who had once made a speech in camp, reminding + his hearers that they had lived under the American flag for eighteen + hundred and sixty-two years, and ought to live and die under it. Corporal + Lambkin now introduced his man, a German, with the highest compliment in + his power, "He hab true colored-man heart." Surrounded by mean, cajoling, + insinuating white men and women who were all that and worse, I was quite + ready to appreciate the quality he thus proclaimed. A colored-man heart, + in the Rebel States, is a fair synonyme for a loyal heart, and it is about + the only such synonyme. In this case, I found afterwards that the man in + question, a small grocer, had been an object of suspicion to the whites + from his readiness to lend money to the negroes, or sell to them on + credit; in which, perhaps, there may have been some mixture of + self-interest with benevolence. + </p> + <p> + I resort to a note-book of that period, well thumbed and pocket-worn, + which sometimes received a fragment of the day's experience. + </p> + <p> + "March 16, 1863. + </p> + <p> + "Of course, droll things are constantly occurring. Every white man, woman, + and child is flattering, seductive, and professes Union sentiment; every + black ditto believes that every white ditto is a scoundrel, and ought to + be shot, but for good order and military discipline. The Provost Marshal + and I steer between them as blandly as we can. Such scenes as succeed each + other! Rush of indignant Africans. A white man, in woman's clothes, has + been seen to enter a certain house,—undoubtedly a spy. Further + evidence discloses the Roman Catholic priest, a peaceful little Frenchman, + in his professional apparel.—Anxious female enters. Some sentinel + has shot her cow by mistake for a Rebel. The United States cannot think of + paying the desired thirty dollars. Let her go to the Post-Quartermaster + and select a cow from his herd. If there is none to suit her (and, indeed, + not one of them gave a drop of milk,—neither did hers), let her wait + till the next lot comes in,—that is all.—Yesterday's + operations gave the following total yield: Thirty 'contrabands,' eighteen + horses, eleven cattle, ten saddles and bridles, and one new army-wagon. At + this rate we shall soon be self-supporting <i>cavalry</i>. + </p> + <p> + "Where complaints are made of the soldiers, it almost always turns out + that the women have insulted them most grossly, swearing at them, and the + like. One unpleasant old Dutch woman came in, bursting with wrath, and + told the whole narrative of her blameless life, diversified with sobs:— + </p> + <p> + "'Last January I ran off two of my black people from St. Mary's to + Fernandina,' (sob,)—'then I moved down there myself, and at Lake + City I lost six women and a boy,' (sob,)—'then I stopped at Baldwin + for one of the wenches to be confined,' (sob,)—'then I brought them + all here to live in a Christian country' (sob, sob). "Then the blockheads' + [blockades, that is, gunboats] 'came, and they all ran off with the + blockheads,' (sob, sob, sob,) 'and left me, an old lady of forty-six, + obliged to work for a living.' (Chaos of sobs, without cessation.) + </p> + <p> + "But when I found what the old sinner had said to the soldiers I rather + wondered at their self-control in not throttling her." + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile skirmishing went on daily in the outskirts of the town. There + was a fight on the very first day, when our men killed, as before hinted, + a Rebel surgeon, which was oddly metamorphosed in the Southern newspapers + into their killing one of ours, which certainly never happened. Every day, + after this, they appeared in small mounted squads in the neighborhood, and + exchanged shots with our pickets, to which the gunboats would contribute + their louder share, their aim being rather embarrassed by the woods and + hills. We made reconnoissances, too, to learn the country in different + directions, and were apt to be fired upon during these. Along the farther + side of what we called the "Debatable Land" there was a line of cottages, + hardly superior to negro huts, and almost all empty, where the Rebel + pickets resorted, and from whose windows they fired. By degrees all these + nests were broken up and destroyed, though it cost some trouble to do it, + and the hottest skirmishing usually took place around them. + </p> + <p> + Among these little affairs was one which we called "Company K's Skirmish," + because it brought out the fact that this company, which was composed + entirely of South Carolina men, and had never shone in drill or + discipline, stood near the head of the regiment for coolness and courage,—the + defect of discipline showing itself only in their extreme unwillingness to + halt when once let loose. It was at this time that the small comedy of the + Goose occurred,—an anecdote which Wendell Phillips has since made + his own. + </p> + <p> + One of the advancing line of skirmishers, usually an active fellow enough, + was observed to move clumsily and irregularly. It soon appeared that he + had encountered a fine specimen of the domestic goose, which had + surrendered at discretion. Not wishing to lose it, he could yet find no + way to hold it but between his legs; and so he went on, loading, firing, + advancing, halting, always with the goose writhing and struggling and + hissing in this natural pair of stocks. Both happily came off unwounded, + and retired in good order at the signal, or some time after it; but I have + hardly a cooler thing to put on record. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, another fellow left the field less exultingly; for, after a + thoroughly courageous share in the skirmish, he came blubbering to his + captain, and said,—"Cappen, make Caesar gib me my cane." It seemed + that, during some interval of the fighting, he had helped himself to an + armful of Rebel sugar-cane, such as they all delighted in chewing. The + Roman hero, during another pause, had confiscated the treasure; whence + these tears of the returning warrior. I never could accustom myself to + these extraordinary interminglings of manly and childish attributes. + </p> + <p> + Our most untiring scout during this period was the chaplain of my + regiment,—the most restless and daring spirit we had, and now + exulting in full liberty of action. He it was who was daily permitted to + stray singly where no other officer would have been allowed to go, so + irresistible was his appeal, "You know I am only a chaplain." Methinks I + see our regimental saint, with pistols in belt and a Ballard rifle slung + on shoulder, putting spurs to his steed, and cantering away down some + questionable wood-path, or returning with some tale of Rebel haunt + discovered, or store of foraging. He would track an enemy like an Indian, + or exhort him, when apprehended, like an early Christian. Some of our + devout soldiers shook their heads sometimes over the chaplain's little + eccentricities. "Woffor Mr. Chapman made a preacher for?" said one of + them, as usual transforming his title into a patronymic. "He's <i>de + fightingest more Yankee</i> I eber see in all my days." + </p> + <p> + And the criticism was very natural, though they could not deny that, when + the hour for Sunday service came, Mr. F. commanded the respect and + attention of all. That hour never came, however, on our first Sunday in + Jacksonville; we were too busy and the men too scattered; so the chaplain + made his accustomed foray beyond the lines instead. + </p> + <p> + "Is it not Sunday?" slyly asked an unregenerate lieutenant. "Nay," quoth + his Reverence, waxing fervid; "it is the Day of Judgment" + </p> + <p> + This reminds me of a raid up the river, conducted by one of our senior + captains, an enthusiast whose gray beard and prophetic manner always took + me back to the Fifth-Monarchy men. He was most successful that day, + bringing back horses, cattle, provisions, and prisoners; and one of the + latter complained bitterly to me of being held, stating that Captain R. + had promised him speedy liberty. But that doughty official spurned the + imputation of such weak blandishments, in this day of triumphant + retribution. + </p> + <p> + "Promise him!" said he, "I promised him nothing but the Day of Judgment + and Periods of Damnation!" + </p> + <p> + Often since have I rolled beneath my tongue this savory and solemn + sentence, and I do not believe that since the days of the Long Parliament + there has been a more resounding anathema. + </p> + <p> + In Colonel Montgomery's hands these up-river raids reached the dignity of + a fine art. His conceptions of foraging were rather more Western and + liberal than mine, and on these excursions he fully indemnified himself + for any undue abstinence demanded of him when in camp. I remember being on + the wharf, with some naval officers, when he came down from his first + trip. The steamer seemed an animated hen-coop. Live poultry hung from the + foremast shrouds, dead ones from the mainmast, geese hissed from the + binnacle, a pig paced the quarter-deck, and a duck's wings were seen + fluttering from a line which was wont to sustain duck trousers. The naval + heroes, mindful of their own short rations, and taking high views of one's + duties in a conquered country, looked at me reproachfully, as who should + say, "Shall these things be?" In a moment or two the returning foragers + had landed. + </p> + <p> + "Captain ——," said Montgomery, courteously, "would you allow + me to send a remarkably fine turkey for your use on board ship?" + </p> + <p> + "Lieutenant ——," said Major Corwin, "may I ask your acceptance + of a pair of ducks for your mess?" + </p> + <p> + Never did I behold more cordial relations between army and navy than + sprang into existence at those sentences. So true it is, as Charles Lamb + says, that a single present of game may diffuse kindly sentiments through + a whole community. These little trips were called "rest"; there was no + other rest during those ten days. An immense amount of picket and fatigue + duty had to be done. Two redoubts were to be built to command the Northern + Valley; all the intervening grove, which now afforded lurking-ground for a + daring enemy, must be cleared away; and a few houses must be reluctantly + razed for the same purpose. The fort on the left was named Fort Higginson, + and that built by my own regiment, in return, Fort Montgomery. The former + was necessarily a hasty work, and is now, I believe, in ruins; the latter + was far more elaborately constructed, on lines well traced by the Fourth + New Hampshire during the previous occupation. It did great credit to + Captain Trowbridge, of my regiment (formerly of the New York Volunteer + Engineers), who had charge of its construction. + </p> + <p> + How like a dream seems now that period of daily skirmishes and nightly + watchfulness! The fatigue was so constant that the days hurried by. I felt + the need of some occasional change of ideas, and having just received from + the North Mr. Brook's beautiful translation of Jean Paul's "Titan," I used + to retire to my bedroom for some ten minutes every afternoon, and read a + chapter or two. It was more refreshing than a nap, and will always be to + me one of the most fascinating books in the world, with this added + association. After all, what concerned me was not so much the fear of an + attempt to drive us out and retake the city,—for that would be + against the whole policy of the Rebels in that region,—as of an + effort to fulfil their threats and burn it, by some nocturnal dash. The + most valuable buildings belonged to Union men, and the upper part of the + town, built chiefly of resinous pine, was combustible to the last degree. + In case of fire, if the wind blew towards the river, we might lose + steamers and all. I remember regulating my degree of disrobing by the + direction of the wind; if it blew from the river, it was safe to make + one's self quite comfortable; if otherwise, it was best to conform to + Suwarrow's idea of luxury, and take off one spur. + </p> + <p> + So passed our busy life for ten days. There were no tidings of + reinforcements, and I hardly knew whether I wished for them,—or + rather, I desired them as a choice of evils; for our men were giving out + from overwork, and the recruiting excursions, for which we had mainly + come, were hardly possible. At the utmost, I had asked for the addition of + four companies and a light battery. Judge of my surprise when two infantry + regiments successively arrived! I must resort to a scrap from the diary. + Perhaps diaries are apt to be thought tedious; but I would rather read a + page of one, whatever the events described, than any more deliberate + narrative,—it gives glimpses so much more real and vivid. + </p> + <p> + "HEAD-QUARTERS, JACKSONVILLE, + </p> + <p> + "March 20, 1863, Midnight. + </p> + <p> + "For the last twenty-four hours we have been sending women and children + out of town, in answer to a demand by flag of truce, with a threat of + bombardment. [N. B. I advised them not to go, and the majority declined + doing so.] It was designed, no doubt, to intimidate; and in our ignorance + of the force actually outside, we have had to recognize the possibility of + danger, and work hard at our defences. At any time, by going into the + outskirts, we can have a skirmish, which is nothing but fun; but when + night closes in over a small and weary garrison, there sometimes steals + into my mind, like a chill, that most sickening of all sensations, the + anxiety of a commander. This was the night generally set for an attack, if + any, though I am pretty well satisfied that they have not strength to dare + it, and the worst they could probably do is to burn the town. But + to-night, instead of enemies, appear friends,—our devoted civic + ally, Judge S., and a whole Connecticut regiment, the Sixth, under Major + Meeker; and though the latter are aground, twelve miles below, yet they + enable one to breathe more freely. I only wish they were black; but now I + have to show, not only that blacks can fight, but that they and white + soldiers can act in harmony together." + </p> + <p> + That evening the enemy came up for a reconnoissance, in the deepest + darkness, and there were alarms all night. The next day the Sixth + Connecticut got afloat, and came up the river; and two days after, to my + continued amazement, arrived a part of the Eighth Maine, under + Lieutenant-Colonel Twichell. This increased my command to four regiments, + or parts of regiments, half white and half black. Skirmishing had almost + ceased,—our defences being tolerably complete, and looking from + without much more effective than they really were. We were safe from any + attack by a small force, and hoped that the enemy could not spare a large + one from Charleston or Savannah. All looked bright without, and gave + leisure for some small anxieties within. + </p> + <p> + It was the first time in the war (so far as I know) that white and black + soldiers had served together on regular duty. Jealousy was still felt + towards even the officers of colored regiments, and any difficult + contingency would be apt to bring it out. The white soldiers, just from + ship-board, felt a natural desire to stray about the town; and no attack + from an enemy would be so disastrous as the slightest collision between + them and the black provost-guard. I shudder, even now, to think of the + train of consequences, bearing on the whole course of subsequent national + events, which one such mishap might then have produced. It is almost + impossible for us now to remember in what a delicate balance then hung the + whole question of negro enlistments, and consequently of Slavery. + Fortunately for my own serenity, I had great faith in the intrinsic power + of military discipline, and also knew that a common service would soon + produce mutual respect among good soldiers; and so it proved. But the + first twelve hours of this mixed command were to me a more anxious period + than any outward alarms had created. + </p> + <p> + Let us resort to the note-book again. + </p> + <p> + "JACKSONVILLE, March 22, 1863. + </p> + <p> + "It is Sunday; the bell is ringing for church, and Rev. Mr. F., from + Beaufort, is to preach. This afternoon our good quartermaster establishes + a Sunday-school for our little colony of 'contrabands,' now numbering + seventy. + </p> + <p> + "Sunday Afternoon. + </p> + <p> + "The bewildering report is confirmed; and in addition to the Sixth + Connecticut, which came yesterday, appears part of the Eighth Maine. The + remainder, with its colonel, will be here to-morrow, and, report says, + Major-General Hunter. Now my hope is that we may go to some point higher + up the river, which we can hold for ourselves. There are two other points + [Magnolia and Pilatka], which, in themselves, are as favorable as this, + and, for getting recruits, better. So I shall hope to be allowed to go. To + take posts, and then let white troops garrison them,—that is my + programme. + </p> + <p> + "What makes the thing more puzzling is, that the Eighth Maine has only + brought ten days' rations, so that they evidently are not to stay here; + and yet where they go, or why they come, is a puzzle. Meanwhile we can + sleep sound o' nights; and if the black and white babies do not quarrel + and pull hair, we shall do very well." + </p> + <p> + Colonel Rust, on arriving, said frankly that he knew nothing of the plans + prevailing in the Department, but that General Hunter was certainly coming + soon to act for himself; that it had been reported at the North, and even + at Port Royal, that we had all been captured and shot (and, indeed, I had + afterwards the pleasure of reading my own obituary in a Northern + Democratic journal), and that we certainly needed reinforcements; that he + himself had been sent with orders to carry out, so far as possible, the + original plans of the expedition; that he regarded himself as only a + visitor, and should remain chiefly on shipboard,—which he did. He + would relieve the black provost-guard by a white one, if I approved,—which + I certainly did. But he said that he felt bound to give the chief + opportunities of action to the colored troops,—which I also + approved, and which he carried out, not quite to the satisfaction of his + own eager and daring officers. + </p> + <p> + I recall one of these enterprises, out of which we extracted a good deal + of amusement; it was baptized the Battle of the Clothes-Lines. A white + company was out scouting in the woods behind the town, with one of my best + Florida men for a guide; and the captain sent back a message that he had + discovered a Rebel camp with twenty-two tents, beyond a creek, about four + miles away; the officers and men had been distinctly seen, and it would be + quite possible to capture it. Colonel Rust at once sent me out with two + hundred men to do the work, recalling the original scouts, and + disregarding the appeals of his own eager officers. We marched through the + open pine woods, on a delightful afternoon, and met the returning party. + Poor fellows! I never shall forget the longing eyes they cast on us, as we + marched forth to the field of glory, from which they were debarred. We + went three or four miles out, sometimes halting to send forward a scout, + while I made all the men lie down in the long, thin grass and beside the + fallen trees, till one could not imagine that there was a person there. I + remember how picturesque the effect was, when, at the signal, all rose + again, like Roderick Dhu's men, and the green wood appeared suddenly + populous with armed life. At a certain point forces were divided, and a + detachment was sent round the head of the creek, to flank the unsuspecting + enemy; while we of the main body, stealing with caution nearer and nearer, + through ever denser woods, swooped down at last in triumph upon a solitary + farmhouse,—where the family-washing had been hung out to dry! This + was the "Rebel camp"! + </p> + <p> + It is due to Sergeant Greene, my invaluable guide, to say that he had from + the beginning discouraged any high hopes of a crossing of bayonets. He had + early explained that it was not he who claimed to have seen the tents and + the Rebel soldiers, but one of the officers,—and had pointed out + that our undisturbed approach was hardly reconcilable with the existence + of a hostile camp so near. This impression had also pressed more and more + upon my own mind, but it was our business to put the thing beyond a doubt. + Probably the place may have been occasionally used for a picket-station, + and we found fresh horse-tracks in the vicinity, and there was a quantity + of iron bridle-bits in the house, of which no clear explanation could be + given; so that the armed men may not have been wholly imaginary. But camp + there was none. After enjoying to the utmost the fun of the thing, + therefore, we borrowed the only horse on the premises, hung all the bits + over his neck, and as I rode him back to camp, they clanked like broken + chains. We were joined on the way by our dear and devoted surgeon, whom I + had left behind as an invalid, but who had mounted his horse and ridden + out alone to attend to our wounded, his green sash looking quite in + harmony with the early spring verdure of those lovely woods. So came we + back in triumph, enjoying the joke all the more because some one else was + responsible. We mystified the little community at first, but soon let out + the secret, and witticisms abounded for a day or two, the mildest of which + was the assertion that the author of the alarm must have been "three + sheets in the wind." + </p> + <p> + Another expedition was of more exciting character. For several days before + the arrival of Colonel Rust a reconnaissance had been planned in the + direction of the enemy's camp, and he finally consented to its being + carried out. By the energy of Major Corwin, of the Second South Carolina + Volunteers, aided by Mr. Holden, then a gunner on the Paul Jones, and + afterwards made captain of the same regiment, one of the ten-pound Parrott + guns had been mounted on a hand-car, for use on the railway. This it was + now proposed to bring into service. I took a large detail of men from the + two white regiments and from my own, and had instructions to march as far + as the four-mile station on the railway, if possible, examine the country, + and ascertain if the Rebel camp had been removed, as was reported, beyond + that distance. I was forbidden going any farther from camp, or attacking + the Rebel camp, as my force comprised half our garrison, and should the + town meanwhile be attacked from some other direction, it would be in great + danger. + </p> + <p> + I never shall forget the delight of that march through the open pine + barren, with occasional patches of uncertain swamp. The Eighth Maine, + under Lieutenant-Colonel Twichell, was on the right, the Sixth + Connecticut, under Major Meeker, on the left, and my own men, under Major + Strong, in the centre, having in charge the cannon, to which they had been + trained. Mr. Heron, from the John Adams, acted as gunner. The mounted + Rebel pickets retired before us through the woods, keeping usually beyond + range of the skirmishers, who in a long line—white, black, white—were + deployed transversely. For the first time I saw the two colors fairly + alternate on the military chessboard; it had been the object of much labor + and many dreams, and I liked the pattern at last. Nothing was said about + the novel fact by anybody,—it all seemed to come as + matter-of-course; there appeared to be no mutual distrust among the men, + and as for the officers, doubtless "each crow thought its own young the + whitest,"—I certainly did, although doing full justice to the eager + courage of the Northern portion of my command. Especially I watched with + pleasure the fresh delight of the Maine men, who had not, like the rest, + been previously in action, and who strode rapidly on with their long legs, + irresistibly recalling, as their gaunt, athletic frames and sunburnt faces + appeared here and there among the pines, the lumber regions of their + native State, with which I was not unfamiliar. + </p> + <p> + We passed through a former camp of the Rebels, from which everything had + been lately removed; but when the utmost permitted limits of our + reconnoissance were reached, there were still no signs of any other camp, + and the Rebel cavalry still kept provokingly before us. Their evident + object was to lure us on to their own stronghold, and had we fallen into + the trap, it would perhaps have resembled, on a smaller scale, the Olustee + of the following year. With a good deal of reluctance, however, I caused + the recall to be sounded, and, after a slight halt, we began to retrace + our steps. + </p> + <p> + Straining our eyes to look along the reach of level railway which + stretched away through the pine barren, we began to see certain ominous + puffs of smoke, which might indeed proceed from some fire in the woods, + but were at once set down by the men as coming from the mysterious + locomotive battery which the Rebels were said to have constructed. + Gradually the smoke grew denser, and appeared to be moving up along the + track, keeping pace with our motion, and about two miles distant. I + watched it steadily through a field-glass from our own slowly moving + battery: it seemed to move when we moved and to halt when we halted. + Sometimes in the dun smoke I caught a glimpse of something blacker, raised + high in the air like the threatening head of some great gliding serpent. + Suddenly there came a sharp puff of lighter smoke that seemed like a + forked tongue, and then a hollow report, and we could see a great black + projectile hurled into the air, and falling a quarter of a mile away from + us, in the woods. I did not at once learn that this first shot killed two + of the Maine men, and wounded two more. This was fired wide, but the + numerous shots which followed were admirably aimed, and seldom failed to + fall or explode close to our own smaller battery. + </p> + <p> + It was the first time that the men had been seriously exposed to artillery + fire,—a danger more exciting to the ignorant mind than any other, as + this very war has shown.* So I watched them anxiously. Fortunately there + were deep trenches on each side the railway, with many stout, projecting + roots, forming very tolerable bomb-proofs for those who happened to be + near them. The enemy's gun was a sixty-four-pound Blakely, as we afterward + found, whose enormous projectile moved very slowly and gave ample time to + cover,—insomuch, that, while the fragments of shell fell all around + and amongst us, not a man was hurt. This soon gave the men the most + buoyant confidence, and they shouted with childish delight over every + explosion. + </p> + <p> + *Take this for example: "The effect was electrical. The Rebels were the + best men in Ford's command, being Lieutenant-Colonel Showalter's + Californians, and they are brave men. They had dismounted and sent their + horses to the rear, and were undoubtedly determined upon a desperate + fight, and their superior numbers made them confident of success. But they + never fought with artillery, and a cannon has more terror for them than + ten thousand rifles and all the wild Camanches on the plains of Texas. At + first glimpse of the shining brass monsters there was a visible wavering + in the determined front of the enemy, and as the shells came screaming + over their heads the scare was complete. They broke ranks, fled for their + horses, scrambled on the first that came to hand, and skedaddled in the + direction of Brownsville."<i>New York Evening Post</i>, September 25, + 1864. + </p> + <p> + The moment a shell had burst or fallen unburst, our little gun was + invariably fired in return, and that with some precision, so far as we + could judge, its range also being nearly as great. For some reason they + showed no disposition to overtake us, in which attempt their locomotive + would have given them an immense advantage over our heavy hand-car, and + their cavalry force over our infantry. Nevertheless, I rather hoped that + they would attempt it, for then an effort might have been made to cut them + off in the rear by taking up some rails. As it was, this was out of the + question, though they moved slowly, as we moved, keeping always about two + miles away. When they finally ceased firing we took up the rails beyond us + before withdrawing, and thus kept the enemy from approaching so near the + city again. But I shall never forget that Dantean monster, rearing its + black head amid the distant smoke, nor the solicitude with which I watched + for the puff which meant danger, and looked round to see if my chickens + were all under cover. The greatest peril, after all, was from the possible + dismounting of our gun, in which case we should have been very apt to lose + it, if the enemy had showed any dash. There may be other such tilts of + railway artillery on record during the war; but if so, I have not happened + to read of them, and so have dwelt the longer on this. + </p> + <p> + This was doubtless the same locomotive battery which had previously fired + more than once upon the town,—running up within two miles and then + withdrawing, while it was deemed inexpedient to destroy the railroad, on + our part, lest it might be needed by ourselves in turn. One night, too, + the Rebel threat had been fulfilled, and they had shelled the town with + the same battery. They had the range well, and every shot fell near the + post headquarters. It was exciting to see the great Blakely shell, showing + a light as it rose, and moving slowly towards us like a comet, then + exploding and scattering its formidable fragments. Yet, strange to say, no + serious harm was done to life or limb, and the most formidable casualty + was that of a citizen who complained that a shell had passed through the + wall of his bedroom, and carried off his mosquito curtain in its transit. + </p> + <p> + Little knew we how soon these small entertainments would be over. Colonel + Montgomery had gone up the river with his two companies, perhaps to remain + permanently; and I was soon to follow. On Friday, March 27th, I wrote + home: "The Burnside has gone to Beaufort for rations, and the John Adams + to Fernandina for coal; we expect both back by Sunday, and on Monday I + hope to get the regiment off to a point farther up,—Magnolia, + thirty-five miles, or Pilatka, seventy-five,—either of which would + be a good post for us. General Hunter is expected every day, and it is + strange he has not come." The very next day came an official order + recalling the whole expedition, and for the third time evacuating + Jacksonville. + </p> + <p> + A council of military and naval officers was at once called (though there + was but one thing to be done), and the latter were even more disappointed + and amazed than the former. This was especially the case with the senior + naval officer, Captain Steedman, a South-Carolinian by birth, but who had + proved himself as patriotic as he was courteous and able, and whose + presence and advice had been of the greatest value to me. He and all of us + felt keenly the wrongfulness of breaking the pledges which we had been + authorized to make to these people, and of leaving them to the mercy of + the Rebels once more. Most of the people themselves took the same view, + and eagerly begged to accompany us on our departure. They were allowed to + bring their clothing and furniture also, and at once developed that insane + mania for aged and valueless trumpery which always seizes upon the human + race, I believe, in moments of danger. With the greatest difficulty we + selected between the essential and the non-essential, and our few + transports were at length loaded to the very water's edge on the morning + of March 29th,—Colonel Montgomery having by this time returned from + up-river, with sixteen prisoners, and the fruits of foraging in plenty. + </p> + <p> + And upon that last morning occurred an act on the part of some of the + garrison most deeply to be regretted, and not to be excused by the natural + indignation at their recall,—an act which, through the unfortunate + eloquence of one newspaper correspondent, rang through the nation,—the + attempt to burn the town. I fortunately need not dwell much upon it, as I + was not at the time in command of the post,—as the white soldiers + frankly took upon themselves the whole responsibility,—and as all + the fires were made in the wooden part of the city, which was occupied by + them, while none were made in the brick part, where the colored soldiers + were quartered. It was fortunate for our reputation that the newspaper + accounts generally agreed in exculpating us from all share in the matter;* + and the single exception, which one correspondent asserted, I could never + verify, and do not believe to have existed. It was stated by Colonel Rust, + in his official report, that some twenty-five buildings in all were + burned, and I doubt if the actual number was greater; but this was + probably owing in part to a change of wind, and did not diminish the + discredit of the transaction. It made our sorrow at departure no less, + though it infinitely enhanced the impressiveness of the scene. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + *"The colored regiments had nothing at all to do with it; + they behaved with propriety throughout" <i>Boston Journal</i> + Correspondence. ("Carleton.") +</pre> + <p> + "The negro troops took no part whatever in the perpetration of this + Vandalism."<i>New York Tribune</i> Correspondence. ("N. P.") + </p> + <p> + "We know not whether we are most rejoiced or saddened to observe, by the + general concurrence of accounts, that the negro soldiers had nothing to do + with the barbarous act" <i>Boston Journal</i> Editorial, April 10, 1863. + </p> + <p> + The excitement of the departure was intense. The embarkation was so + laborious that it seemed as if the flames must be upon us before we could + get on board, and it was also generally expected that the Rebel + skirmishers would be down among the houses, wherever practicable, to annoy + us to the utmost, as had been the case at the previous evacuation. They + were, indeed, there, as we afterwards heard, but did not venture to molest + us. The sight and roar of the flames, and the rolling clouds of smoke, + brought home to the impressible minds of the black soldiers all their + favorite imagery of the Judgment-Day; and those who were not too much + depressed by disappointment were excited by the spectacle, and sang and + exhorted without ceasing. + </p> + <p> + With heavy hearts their officers floated down the lovely river, which we + had ascended with hopes so buoyant; and from that day to this, the reasons + for our recall have never been made public. It was commonly attributed to + proslavery advisers, acting on the rather impulsive nature of + Major-General Hunter, with a view to cut short the career of the colored + troops, and stop their recruiting. But it may have been simply the + scarcity of troops in the Department, and the renewed conviction at + head-quarters that we were too few to hold the post alone. The latter + theory was strengthened by the fact that, when General Seymour reoccupied + Jacksonville, the following year, he took with him twenty thousand men + instead of one thousand,—and the sanguinary battle of Olustee found + him with too few. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter 5. Out on Picket + </h2> + <p> + One can hardly imagine a body of men more disconsolate than a regiment + suddenly transferred from an adventurous life in the enemy's country to + the quiet of a sheltered camp, on safe and familiar ground. The men under + my command were deeply dejected when, on a most appropriate day,—the + First of April, 1863,—they found themselves unaccountably recalled + from Florida, that region of delights which had seemed theirs by the right + of conquest. My dusky soldiers, who based their whole walk and + conversation strictly on the ancient Israelites, felt that the prophecies + were all set at naught, and that they were on the wrong side of the Red + Sea; indeed, I fear they regarded even me as a sort of reversed Moses, + whose Pisgah fronted in the wrong direction. Had they foreseen how the + next occupation of the Promised Land was destined to result, they might + have acquiesced with more of their wonted cheerfulness. As it was, we were + very glad to receive, after a few days of discontented repose on the very + ground where we had once been so happy, an order to go out on picket at + Port Royal Ferry, with the understanding that we might remain there for + some time. This picket station was regarded as a sort of military picnic + by the regiments stationed at Beaufort, South Carolina; it meant + blackberries and oysters, wild roses and magnolias, flowery lanes instead + of sandy barrens, and a sort of guerilla existence in place of the camp + routine. To the colored soldiers especially, with their love of country + life, and their extensive personal acquaintance on the plantations, it + seemed quite like a Christmas festival. Besides, they would be in sight of + the enemy, and who knew but there might, by the blessing of Providence, be + a raid or a skirmish? If they could not remain on the St. John's River, it + was something to dwell on the Coosaw. In the end they enjoyed it as much + as they expected, and though we "went out" several times subsequently, + until it became an old story, the enjoyment never waned. And as even the + march from the camp to the picket lines was something that could not + possibly have been the same for any white regiment in the service, it is + worth while to begin at the beginning and describe it. + </p> + <p> + A regiment ordered on picket was expected to have reveille at daybreak, + and to be in line for departure by sunrise. This delighted our men, who + always took a childlike pleasure in being out of bed at any unreasonable + hour; and by the time I had emerged, the tents were nearly all struck, and + the great wagons were lumbering into camp to receive them, with whatever + else was to be transported. The first rays of the sun must fall upon the + line of these wagons, moving away across the wide parade-ground, followed + by the column of men, who would soon outstrip them. But on the occasion + which I especially describe the sun was shrouded, and, when once upon the + sandy plain, neither camp nor town nor river could be seen in the dimness; + and when I rode forward and looked back there was only visible the long, + moving, shadowy column, seeming rather awful in its snake-like advance. + There was a swaying of flags and multitudinous weapons that might have + been camels' necks for all one could see, and the whole thing might have + been a caravan upon the desert. Soon we debouched upon the "Shell Road," + the wagon-train drew on one side into the fog, and by the time the sun + appeared the music ceased, the men took the "route step," and the fun + began. + </p> + <p> + The "route step" is an abandonment of all military strictness, and nothing + is required of the men but to keep four abreast, and not lag behind. They + are not required to keep step, though, with the rhythmical ear of our + soldiers, they almost always instinctively did so; talking and singing are + allowed, and of this privilege, at least, they eagerly availed themselves. + On this day they were at the top of exhilaration. There was one broad grin + from one end of the column to the other; it might soon have been a caravan + of elephants instead of camels, for the ivory and the blackness; the + chatter and the laughter almost drowned the tramp of feet and the clatter + of equipments. At cross-roads and plantation gates the colored people + thronged to see us pass; every one found a friend and a greeting. "How you + do, aunty?" "Huddy (how d'ye), Budder Benjamin?" "How you find yourself + dis mor-nin', Tittawisa (Sister Louisa)?" Such saluations rang out to + everybody, known or unknown. In return, venerable, kerchiefed matrons + courtesied laboriously to every one, with an unfailing "Bress de Lord, + budder." Grave little boys, blacker than ink, shook hands with our + laughing and utterly unmanageable drummers, who greeted them with this + sure word of prophecy, "Dem's de drummers for de nex' war!" Pretty mulatto + girls ogled and coquetted, and made eyes, as Thackeray would say, at half + the young fellows in the battalion. Meantime the singing was brisk along + the whole column, and when I sometimes reined up to see them pass, the + chant of each company, entering my ear, drove out from the other ear the + strain of the preceding. Such an odd mixture of things, military and + missionary, as the successive waves of song drifted byl First, "John + Brown," of course; then, "What make old Satan for follow me so?" then, + "Marching Along"; then, "Hold your light on Canaan's shore"; then, "When + this cruel war is over" (a new favorite, sung by a few); yielding + presently to a grand burst of the favorite marching song among them all, + and one at which every step instinctively quickened, so light and jubilant + its rhythm,— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "All true children gwine in de wilderness, + Gwine in de wilderness, gwine in de wilderness, + True believers gwine in de wilderness, + To take away de sins ob de world,"— +</pre> + <p> + ending in a "Hoigh!" after each verse,—a sort of Irish yell. For all + the songs, but especially for their own wild hymns, they constantly + improvised simple verses, with the same odd mingling,—the little + facts of to-day's march being interwoven with the depths of theological + gloom, and the same jubilant chorus annexed to all; thus,— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "We're gwin to de Ferry, + De bell done ringing; + Gwine to de landing, + De bell done ringing; + Trust, believer + O, de bell done ringing; + Satan's behind me, + De bell done ringing; + 'T is a misty morning, + De bell done ringing; + O de road am sandy, + De bell done ringing; + Hell been open, + De bell done ringing";— +</pre> + <p> + and so on indefinitely. + </p> + <p> + The little drum-corps kept in advance, a jolly crew, their drums slung on + their backs, and the drum-sticks perhaps balanced on their heads. With + them went the officers' servant-boys, more uproarious still, always ready + to lend their shrill treble to any song. At the head of the whole force + there walked, by some self-imposed pre-eminence, a respectable elderly + female, one of the company laundresses, whose vigorous stride we never + could quite overtake, and who had an enormous bundle balanced on her head, + while she waved in her hand, like a sword, a long-handled tin dipper. Such + a picturesque medley of fun, war, and music I believe no white regiment in + the service could have shown; and yet there was no straggling, and a + single tap of the drum would at any moment bring order out of this seeming + chaos. So we marched our seven miles out upon the smooth and shaded road,—beneath + jasmine clusters, and great pine-cones dropping, and great bunches of + misletoe still in bloom among the branches. Arrived at the station, the + scene soon became busy and more confused; wagons were being unloaded, + tents pitched, water brought, wood cut, fires made, while the "field and + staff" could take possession of the abandoned quarters of their + predecessors, and we could look round in the lovely summer morning to + "survey our empire and behold our home." + </p> + <p> + The only thoroughfare by land between Beaufort and Charleston is the + "Shell Road," a beautiful avenue, which, about nine miles from Beaufort, + strikes a ferry across the Coosaw River. War abolished the ferry, and made + the river the permanent barrier between the opposing picket lines. For ten + miles, right and left, these lines extended, marked by well-worn + footpaths, following the endless windings of the stream; and they never + varied until nearly the end of the war. Upon their maintenance depended + our whole foothold on the Sea Islands; and upon that again finally + depended the whole campaign of Sherman. But for the services of the + colored troops, which finally formed the main garrison of the Department + of the South, the Great March would never have been performed. + </p> + <p> + There was thus a region ten or twelve miles square of which I had + exclusive military command. It was level, but otherwise broken and + bewildering to the last degree. No road traversed it, properly speaking, + but the Shell Road. All the rest was a wild medley of cypress swamp, pine + barren, muddy creek, and cultivated plantation, intersected by + interminable lanes and bridle-paths, through which we must ride day and + night, and which our horses soon knew better than ourselves. The regiment + was distributed at different stations, the main force being under my + immediate command, at a plantation close by the Shell Road, two miles from + the ferry, and seven miles from Beaufort. Our first picket duty was just + at the time of the first attack on Charleston, under Dupont and Hunter; + and it was generally supposed that the Confederates would make an effort + to recapture the Sea Islands. My orders were to watch the enemy closely, + keep informed as to his position and movements, attempt no advance, and, + in case any were attempted from the other side, to delay it as long as + possible, sending instant notice to head-quarters. As to the delay, that + could be easily guaranteed. There were causeways on the Shell Road which a + single battery could hold against a large force; and the plantations were + everywhere so intersected by hedges and dikes that they seemed expressly + planned for defence. Although creeks wound in and out everywhere, yet + these were only navigable at high tide, and at all other times were + impassable marshes. There were but few posts where the enemy were within + rifle range, and their occasional attacks at those points were soon + stopped by our enforcement of a pithy order from General Hunter, "Give + them as good as they send." So that, with every opportunity for being kept + on the alert, there was small prospect of serious danger; and all promised + an easy life, with only enough of care to make it pleasant. The picket + station was therefore always a coveted post among the regiments, combining + some undeniable importance with a kind of relaxation; and as we were there + three months on our first tour of duty, and returned there several times + afterwards, we got well acquainted with it. The whole region always + reminded me of the descriptions of La Vende'e, and I always expected to + meet Henri Larochejaquelein riding in the woods. + </p> + <p> + How can I ever describe the charm and picturesqueness of that summer life? + Our house possessed four spacious rooms and a <i>piazza</i>; around it + were grouped sheds and tents; the camp was a little way off on one side, + the negro-quarters of the plantation on the other; and all was immersed in + a dense mass of waving and murmuring locust-blossoms. The spring days were + always lovely, while the evenings were always conveniently damp; so that + we never shut the windows by day, nor omitted our cheerful fire by night. + Indoors, the main head-quarters seemed like the camp of some party of + young engineers in time of peace, only with a little female society added, + and a good many martial associations thrown in. A large, low, dilapidated + room, with an immense fireplace, and with window-panes chiefly broken, so + that the sashes were still open even when closed,—such was our home. + The walls were scrawled with capital charcoal sketches by R. of the Fourth + New Hampshire, and with a good map of the island and its wood-paths by C. + of the First Massachusetts Cavalry. The room had the picturesqueness which + comes everywhere from the natural grouping of articles of daily use,—swords, + belts, pistols, rifles, field-glasses, spurs, canteens, gauntlets,—while + wreaths of gray moss above the windows, and a pelican's wing three feet + long over the high mantel-piece, indicated more deliberate decoration. + This, and the whole atmosphere of the place, spoke of the refining + presence of agreeable women; and it was pleasant when they held their + little court in the evening, and pleasant all day, with the different + visitors who were always streaming in and out,—officers and soldiers + on various business; turbaned women from the plantations, coming with + complaints or questionings; fugitives from the main-land to be + interrogated; visitors riding up on horseback, their hands full of jasmine + and wild roses; and the sweet sunny air all perfumed with magnolias and + the Southern pine. From the neighboring camp there was a perpetual low + hum. Louder voices and laughter re-echoed, amid the sharp sounds of the + axe, from the pine woods; and sometimes, when the relieved pickets were + discharging their pieces, there came the hollow sound of dropping + rifle-shots, as in skirmishing,—perhaps the most unmistakable and + fascinating association that war bequeaths to the memory of the ear. + </p> + <p> + Our domestic arrangements were of the oddest description. From the time + when we began housekeeping by taking down the front-door to complete + therewith a little office for the surgeon on the <i>piazza</i>, everything + seemed upside down. I slept on a shelf in the corner of the parlor, + bequeathed me by Major F., my jovial predecessor, and, if I waked at any + time, could put my head through the broken window, arouse my orderly, and + ride off to see if I could catch a picket asleep. We used to spell the + word <i>picquet</i>, because that was understood to be the correct thing, + in that Department at least; and they used to say at post head-quarters + that as soon as the officer in command of the outposts grew negligent, and + was guilty of a <i>k</i>, he was ordered in immediately. Then the + arrangements for ablution were peculiar. We fitted up a bathing-place in a + brook, which somehow got appropriated at once by the company laundresses; + but I had my revenge, for I took to bathing in the family washtub. After + all, however, the kitchen department had the advantage, for they used my + solitary napkin to wipe the mess-table. As for food, we found it + impossible to get chickens, save in the immature shape of eggs; fresh pork + was prohibited by the surgeon, and other fresh meat came rarely. We could, + indeed, hunt for wild turkeys, and even deer, but such hunting was found + only to increase the appetite, without corresponding supply. Still we had + our luxuries,—large, delicious drum-fish, and alligator steaks,—like + a more substantial fried halibut,—which might have afforded the + theme for Charles Lamb's dissertation on Roast Pig, and by whose aid "for + the first time in our lives we tested <i>crackling</i>" The post bakery + yielded admirable bread; and for vegetables and fruit we had very poor + sweet potatoes, and (in their season) an unlimited supply of the largest + blackberries. For beverage, we had the vapid milk of that region, in + which, if you let it stand, the water sinks instead of the cream's rising; + and the delicious sugar-cane syrup, which we had brought from Florida, and + which we drank at all hours. Old Floridians say that no one is justified + in drinking whiskey, while he can get cane-juice; it is sweet and + spirited, without cloying, foams like ale, and there were little spots on + the ceiling of the dining-room where our lively beverage had popped out + its cork. We kept it in a whiskey-bottle; and as whiskey itself was + absolutely prohibited among us, it was amusing to see the surprise of our + military visitors when this innocent substitute was brought in. They + usually liked it in the end, but, like the old Frenchwoman over her glass + of water, wished that it were a sin to give it a relish. As the foaming + beakers of molasses and water were handed round, the guests would make + with them the courteous little gestures of polite imbiding, and would then + quaff the beverage, some with gusto, others with a slight afterlook of + dismay. But it was a delicious and cooling drink while it lasted; and at + all events was the best and the worst we had. + </p> + <p> + We used to have reveille at six, and breakfast about seven; then the + mounted couriers began to arrive from half a dozen different directions, + with written reports of what had happened during the night,—a boat + seen, a picket fired upon, a battery erecting. These must be consolidated + and forwarded to head-quarters, with the daily report of the command,—so + many sick, so many on detached service, and all the rest. This was our + morning newspaper, our Herald and Tribune; I never got tired of it. Then + the couriers must be furnished with countersign and instructions, and sent + off again. Then we scattered to our various rides, all disguised as duty; + one to inspect pickets, one to visit a sick soldier, one to build a bridge + or clear a road, and still another to head-quarters for ammunition or + commissary stores. Galloping through green lanes, miles of triumphal + arches of wild roses,—roses pale and large and fragrant, mingled + with great boughs of the white cornel, fantastic masses, snowy surprises,—such + were our rides, ranging from eight to fifteen and even twenty miles. Back + to a late dinner with our various experiences, and perhaps specimens to + match,—a thunder-snake, eight feet long; a live opossum, with a + young clinging to the natural pouch; an armful of great white, scentless + pond-lilies. After dinner, to the tangled garden for rosebuds or early + magnolias, whose cloying fragrance will always bring back to me the full + zest of those summer days; then dress-parade and a little drill as the day + grew cool. In the evening, tea; and then the piazza or the fireside, as + the case might be,—chess, cards,—perhaps a little music by aid + of the assistant surgeon's melodeon, a few pages of Jean Paul's "Titan," + almost my only book, and carefully husbanded,—perhaps a mail, with + its infinite felicities. Such was our day. + </p> + <p> + Night brought its own fascinations, more solitary and profound. The darker + they were, the more clearly it was our duty to visit the pickets. The + paths that had grown so familiar by day seemed a wholly new labyrinth by + night; and every added shade of darkness seemed to shift and complicate + them all anew, till at last man's skill grew utterly baffled, and the clew + must be left to the instinct of the horse. Riding beneath the solemn + starlight, or soft, gray mist, or densest blackness, the frogs croaking, + the strange "chuckwuts-widow" droning his ominous note above my head, the + mocking-bird dreaming in music, the great Southern fireflies rising to the + tree-tops, or hovering close to the ground like glowworms, till the horse + raised his hoofs to avoid them; through pine woods and cypress swamps, or + past sullen brooks, or white tents, or the dimly seen huts of sleeping + negroes; down to the glimmering shore, where black statues leaned against + trees or stood alert in the pathways;—never, in all the days of my + life, shall I forget the magic of those haunted nights. + </p> + <p> + We had nocturnal boat service, too, for it was a part of our instructions + to obtain all possible information about the enemy's position; and we + accordingly, as usual in such cases, incurred a great many risks that + harmed nobody, and picked up much information which did nobody any good. + The centre of these nightly reconnoissances, for a long time, was the + wreck of the George Washington, the story of whose disaster is perhaps + worth telling. + </p> + <p> + Till about the time when we went on picket, it had been the occasional + habit of the smaller gunboats to make the circuit of Port Royal Island,—a + practice which was deemed very essential to the safety of our position, + but which the Rebels effectually stopped, a few days after our arrival, by + destroying the army gunboat George Washington with a single shot from a + light battery. I was roused soon after daybreak by the firing, and a + courier soon came dashing in with the particulars. Forwarding these + hastily to Beaufort (for we had then no telegraph), I was soon at the + scene of action, five miles away. Approaching, I met on the picket paths + man after man who had escaped from the wreck across a half-mile of almost + impassable marsh. Never did I see such objects,—some stripped to + their shirts, some fully clothed, but all having every garment literally + pasted to them—bodies with mud. Across the river, the Rebels were + retiring, having done their work, but were still shelling, from greater + and greater distances, the wood through which I rode. Arrived at the spot + nearest the wreck (a point opposite to what we called the Brickyard + Station), I saw the burning vessel aground beyond a long stretch of marsh, + out of which the forlorn creatures were still floundering. Here and there + in the mud and reeds we could see the laboring heads, slowly advancing, + and could hear excruciating cries from wounded men in the more distant + depths. It was the strangest mixture of war and Dante and Robinson Crusoe. + Our energetic chaplain coming up, I sent him with four men, under a flag + of truce, to the place whence the worst cries proceeded, while I went to + another part of the marsh. During that morning we got them all out, our + last achievement being the rescue of the pilot, an immense negro with a + wooden leg,—an article so particularly unavailable for mud + travelling, that it would have almost seemed better, as one of the men + suggested, to cut the traces, and leave it behind. + </p> + <p> + A naval gunboat, too, which had originally accompanied this vessel, and + should never have left it, now came back and took off the survivors, + though there had been several deaths from scalding and shell. It proved + that the wreck was not aground after all, but at anchor, having foolishly + lingered till after daybreak, and having thus given time for the enemy to + bring down then: guns. The first shot had struck the boiler, and set the + vessel on fire; after which the officer in command had raised a white + flag, and then escaped with his men to our shore; and it was for this + flight in the wrong direction that they were shelled in the marshes by the + Rebels. The case furnished in this respect some parallel to that of the + Kearsage and Alabama, and it was afterwards cited, I believe, officially + or unofficially, to show that the Rebels had claimed the right to punish, + in this case, the course of action which they approved in Semmes. I know + that they always asserted thenceforward that the detachment on board the + George Washington had become rightful prisoners of war, and were justly + fired upon when they tried to escape. + </p> + <p> + This was at the tune of the first attack on Charleston, and the noise of + this cannonading spread rapidly thither, and brought four regiments to + reinforce Beaufort in a hurry, under the impression that the town was + already taken, and that they must save what remnants they could. General + Saxton, too, had made such capital plans for defending the post that he + could not bear not to have it attacked; so, while the Rebels brought down + a force to keep us from taking the guns off the wreck, I was also supplied + with a section or two of regular artillery, and some additional infantry, + with which to keep them from it; and we tried to "make believe very hard," + and rival the Charleston expedition on our own island. Indeed, our affair + came to about as much,—nearly nothing,—and lasted decidedly + longer; for both sides nibbled away at the guns, by night, for weeks + afterward, though I believe the mud finally got them,—at least, we + did not. We tried in vain to get the use of a steamboat or floating + derrick of any kind; for it needed more mechanical ingenuity than we + possessed to transfer anything so heavy to our small boats by night, while + by day we did not go near the wreck in anything larger than a "dug-out." + </p> + <p> + One of these nocturnal visits to the wreck I recall with peculiar gusto, + because it brought back that contest with catarrh and coughing among my + own warriors which had so ludicrously beset me in Florida. It was always + fascinating to be on those forbidden waters by night, stealing out with + muffled oars through the creeks and reeds, our eyes always strained for + other voyagers, our ears listening breathlessly to all the marsh sounds,—blackflsh + splashing, and little wakened reed-birds that fled wailing away over the + dim river, equally safe on either side. But it always appeared to the + watchful senses that we were making noise enough to be heard at Fort + Sumter; and somehow the victims of catarrh seemed always the most eager + for any enterprise requiring peculiar caution. In this case I thought I + had sifted them before-hand; but as soon as we were afloat, one poor boy + near me began to wheeze, and I turned upon him in exasperation. He saw his + danger, and meekly said, "I won't cough, Gunnel!" and he kept his word. + For two mortal hours he sat grasping his gun, with never a chirrup. But + two unfortunates in the bow of the boat developed symptoms which I could + not suppress; so, putting in at a picket station, with some risk I dumped + them in mud knee-deep, and embarked a substitute, who after the first five + minutes absolutely coughed louder than both the others united. + Handkerchiefs, blankets, over-coats, suffocation in its direst forms, were + tried in vain, but apparently the Rebel pickets slept through it all, and + we exploded the wreck in safety. I think they were asleep, for certainly + across the level marshes there came a nasal sound, as of the + "Con-thieveracy" in its slumbers. It may have been a bull-frog, but it + sounded like a human snore. + </p> + <p> + Picket life was of course the place to feel the charm of natural beauty on + the Sea Islands. We had a world of profuse and tangled vegetation around + us, such as would have been a dream of delight to me, but for the constant + sense of responsibility and care which came between. Amid this + preoccupation, Nature seemed but a mirage, and not the close and intimate + associate I had before known. I pressed no flowers, collected no insects + or birds' eggs, made no notes on natural objects, reversing in these + respects all previous habits. Yet now, in the retrospect, there seems to + have been infused into me through every pore the voluptuous charm of the + season and the place; and the slightest corresponding sound or odor now + calls back the memory of those delicious days. Being afterwards on picket + at almost every season, I tasted the sensations of all; and though I + hardly then thought of such a result, the associations of beauty will + remain forever. + </p> + <p> + In February, for instance,—though this was during a later period of + picket service,—the woods were usually draped with that "net of + shining haze" which marks our Northern May; and the house was embowered in + wild-plum-blossoms, small, white, profuse, and tenanted by murmuring bees. + There were peach-blossoms, too, and the yellow jasmine was opening its + multitudinous buds, climbing over tall trees, and waving from bough to + bough. There were fresh young ferns and white bloodroot in the edges of + woods, matched by snowdrops in the garden, beneath budded myrtle and <i>Petisporum</i>. + In this wilderness the birds were busy; the two main songsters being the + mocking-bird and the cardinal-grosbeak, which monopolized all the parts of + our more varied Northern orchestra save the tender and liquid notes, which + in South Carolina seemed unattempted except by some stray blue-bird. Jays + were as loud and busy as at the North in autumn; there were sparrows and + wrens; and sometimes I noticed the shy and whimsical chewink. + </p> + <p> + From this early spring-time onward, there seemed no great difference in + atmospheric sensations, and only a succession of bloom. After two months + one's notions of the season grew bewildered, just as very early rising + bewilders the day. In the army one is perhaps roused after a bivouac, + marches before daybreak, halts, fights, somebody is killed, a long day's + life has been lived, and after all it is not seven o'clock, and breakfast + is not ready. So when we had lived in summer so long as hardly to remember + winter, it suddenly occurred to us that it was not yet June. One escapes + at the South that mixture of hunger and avarice which is felt in the + Northern summer, counting each hour's joy with the sad consciousness that + an hour is gone. The compensating loss is in missing those soft, sweet, + liquid sensations of the Northern spring, that burst of life and joy, + those days of heaven that even April brings; and this absence of childhood + in the year creates a feeling of hardness in the season, like that I have + suggested in the melody of the Southern birds. It seemed to me also that + the woods had not those pure, clean, <i>innocent</i> odors which so abound + in the New England forest in early spring; but there was something + luscious, voluptuous, almost oppressively fragrant about the magnolias, as + if they belonged not to Hebe, but to Magdalen. + </p> + <p> + Such immense and lustrous butterflies I had never seen but in dreams; and + not even dreams had prepared me for sand-flies. Almost too small to be + seen, they inflicted a bite which appeared larger than themselves,—a + positive wound, more torturing than that of a mosquito, and leaving more + annoyance behind. These tormentors elevated dress-parade into the dignity + of a military engagement. I had to stand motionless, with my head a mere + nebula of winged atoms, while tears rolled profusely down my face, from + mere muscular irritation. Had I stirred a finger, the whole battalion + would have been slapping its cheeks. Such enemies were, however, a + valuable aid to discipline, on the whole, as they abounded in the + guard-house, and made that institution an object of unusual abhorrence + among the men. + </p> + <p> + The presence of ladies and the homelike air of everything, made the picket + station a very popular resort while we were there. It was the one + agreeable ride from Beaufort, and we often had a dozen people unexpectedly + to dinner. On such occasions there was sometimes mounting in hot haste, + and an eager search among the outlying plantations for additional chickens + and eggs, or through the company kitchens for some of those villanous tin + cans which everywhere marked the progress of our army. In those cans, so + far as my observation went, all fruits relapsed into a common acidulation, + and all meats into a similarity of tastelessness; while the "condensed + milk" was best described by the men, who often unconsciously stumbled on a + better joke than they knew, and always spoke of it as <i>condemned</i> + milk. + </p> + <p> + We had our own excursions too,—to the Barnwell plantations, with + their beautiful avenues and great live-oaks, the perfection of Southern + beauty,—to Hall's Island, debatable ground, close under the enemy's + fire, where half-wild cattle were to be shot, under military precautions, + like Scottish moss-trooping,—or to the ferry, where it was + fascinating to the female mind to scan the Rebel pickets through a + field-glass. Our horses liked the by-ways far better than the level + hardness of the Shell Road, especially those we had brought from Florida, + which enjoyed the wilderness as if they had belonged to Marion's men. They + delighted to feel the long sedge brush their flanks, or to gallop down the + narrow wood-paths, leaping the fallen trees, and scaring the bright little + lizards which shot across our track like live rays broken from the + sunbeams. We had an abundance of horses, mostly captured and left in our + hands by some convenient delay of the post quartermaster. We had also two + side-saddles, which, not being munitions of war, could not properly (as we + explained) be transferred like other captured articles to the general + stock; otherwise the P. Q. M. (a married man) would have showed no + unnecessary delay in their case. For miscellaneous accommodation was there + not an ambulance,—that most inestimable of army conveniences, + equally ready to carry the merry to a feast or the wounded from a fray. + "Ambulance" was one of those words, rather numerous, which Ethiopian lips + were not framed by Nature to articulate. Only the highest stages of + colored culture could compass it; on the tongue of the many it was + transformed mystically as "amulet," or ambitiously as "epaulet," or in + culinary fashion as "omelet." But it was our experience that an ambulance + under any name jolted equally hard. + </p> + <p> + Besides these divertisements, we had more laborious vocations,—a + good deal of fatigue, and genuine though small alarms. The men went on + duty every third day at furthest, and the officers nearly as often,—most + of the tours of duty lasting twenty-four hours, though the stream was + considered to watch itself tolerably well by daylight. This kind of + responsibility suited the men; and we had already found, as the whole army + afterwards acknowledged, that the constitutional watchfulness and + distrustfulness of the colored race made them admirable sentinels. Soon + after we went on picket, the commanding general sent an aid, with a + cavalry escort, to visit all the stations, without my knowledge. They + spent the whole night, and the officer reported that he could not get + within thirty yards of any post without a challenge. This was a pleasant + assurance for me; since our position seemed so secure, compared with + Jacksonville, that I had feared some relaxation of vigilance, while yet + the safety of all depended on our thorough discharge of duty. + </p> + <p> + Jacksonville had also seasoned the men so well that they were no longer + nervous, and did not waste much powder on false alarms. The Rebels made no + formal attacks, and rarely attempted to capture pickets. Sometimes they + came stealing through the creeks in "dugouts," as we did on their side of + the water, and occasionally an officer of ours was fired upon while making + his rounds by night. Often some boat or scow would go adrift, and + sometimes a mere dark mass of river-weed would be floated by the tide past + the successive stations, eliciting a challenge and perhaps a shot from + each. I remember the vivid way in which one of the men stated to his + officer the manner in which a faithful picket should do his duty, after + challenging, in case a boat came in sight. "Fus' ting I shoot, and den I + shoot, and den I shoot again. Den I creep-creep up near de boat, and see + who dey in 'em; and s'pose anybody pop up he head, den I shoot again. + S'pose I fire my forty rounds. I tink he hear at de camp and send more + mans,"—which seemed a reasonable presumption. This soldier's name + was Paul Jones, a daring fellow, quite worthy of his namesake. + </p> + <p> + In time, however, they learned quieter methods, and would wade far out in + the water, there standing motionless at last, hoping to surround and + capture these floating boats, though, to their great disappointment, the + prize usually proved empty. On one occasion they tried a still profounder + strategy; for an officer visiting the pickets after midnight, and hearing + in the stillness a portentous snore from the end of the causeway (our most + important station), straightway hurried to the point of danger, with wrath + in his soul. But the sergeant of the squad came out to meet him, imploring + silence, and explaining that they had seen or suspected a boat hovering + near, and were feigning sleep in order to lure and capture those who would + entrap them. + </p> + <p> + The one military performance at the picket station of which my men were + utterly intolerant was an occasional flag of truce, for which this was the + appointed locality. These farces, for which it was our duty to furnish the + stock actors, always struck them as being utterly despicable, and unworthy + the serious business of war. They felt, I suppose, what Mr. Pickwick felt, + when he heard his counsel remark to the counsel for the plaintiff, that it + was a very fine morning. It goaded their souls to see the young officers + from the two opposing armies salute each other courteously, and + interchange cigars. They despised the object of such negotiations, which + was usually to send over to the enemy some family of Rebel women who had + made themselves quite intolerable on our side, but were not above + collecting a subscription among the Union officers, before departure, to + replenish their wardrobes. The men never showed disrespect to these women + by word or deed, but they hated them from the bottom of their souls. + Besides, there was a grievance behind all this. + </p> + <p> + The Rebel order remained unrevoked which consigned the new colored troops + and their officers to a felon's death, if captured; and we all felt that + we fought with ropes round our necks. "Dere's no flags ob truce for us," + the men would contemptuously say. "When de Secesh fight de <i>Fus' Souf</i>" + (First South Carolina), "he fight in earnest." Indeed, I myself took it as + rather a compliment when the commander on the other side—though an + old acquaintance of mine in Massachusetts and in Kansas—at first + refused to negotiate through me or my officers,—a refusal which was + kept up, greatly to the enemy's inconvenience, until our men finally + captured some of the opposing pickets, and their friends had to waive all + scruples in order to send them supplies. After this there was no trouble, + and I think that the first Rebel officer in South Carolina who officially + met any officer of colored troops under a flag of truce was Captain John + C. Calhoun. In Florida we had been so recognized long before; but that was + when they wished to frighten us out of Jacksonville. + </p> + <p> + Such was our life on picket at Port Royal,—a thing whose memory is + now fast melting into such stuff as dreams are made of. We stayed there + more than two months at that tune; the first attack on Charleston exploded + with one puff, and had its end; General Hunter was ordered North, and the + busy Gilmore reigned in his stead; and in June, when the blackberries were + all eaten, we were summoned, nothing loath, to other scenes and + encampments new. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter 6. A Night in the Water + </h2> + <p> + Yes, that was a pleasant life on picket, in the delicious early summer of + the South, and among the endless flowery forests of that blossoming isle. + In the retrospect I seem to see myself adrift upon a horse's back amid a + sea of roses. The various outposts were within a six-mile radius, and it + was one long, delightful gallop, day and night. I have a faint impression + that the moon shone steadily every night for two months; and yet I + remember certain periods of such dense darkness that in riding through the + wood-paths it was really unsafe to go beyond a walk, for fear of branches + above and roots below; and one of my officers was once shot at by a Rebel + scout who stood unperceived at his horse's bridle. + </p> + <p> + To those doing outpost-duty on an island, however large, the main-land has + all the fascination of forbidden fruit, and on a scale bounded only by the + horizon. Emerson says that every house looks ideal until we enter it,—and + it is certainly so, if it be just the other side of the hostile lines. + Every grove in that blue distance appears enchanted ground, and yonder + loitering gray-back leading his horse to water in the farthest distance, + makes one thrill with a desire to hail him, to shoot at him, to capture + him, to do anything to bridge this inexorable dumb space that lies + between. A boyish feeling, no doubt, and one that time diminishes, without + effacing; yet it is a feeling which lies at the bottom of many rash + actions in war, and of some brilliant ones. For one, I could never quite + outgrow it, though restricted by duty from doing many foolish things in + consequence, and also restrained by reverence for certain confidential + advisers whom I had always at hand, and who considered it their mission to + keep me always on short rations of personal adventure. Indeed, most of + that sort of entertainment in the army devolves upon scouts detailed for + the purpose, volunteer aides-de-camp and newspaper-reporters,—other + officers being expected to be about business more prosaic. + </p> + <p> + All the excitements of war are quadrupled by darkness; and as I rode along + our outer lines at night, and watched the glimmering flames which at + regular intervals starred the opposite river-shore, the longing was + irresistible to cross the barrier of dusk, and see whether it were men or + ghosts who hovered round those dying embers. I had yielded to these + impulses in boat-adventures by night,—for it was a part of my + instructions to obtain all possible information about the Rebel outposts,—and + fascinating indeed it was to glide along, noiselessly paddling, with a + dusky guide, through the endless intricacies of those Southern marshes, + scaring the reed-birds, which wailed and fled away into the darkness, and + penetrating several miles into the ulterior, between hostile fires, where + discovery might be death. Yet there were drawbacks as to these + enterprises, since it is not easy for a boat to cross still water, even on + the darkest night, without being seen by watchful eyes; and, moreover, the + extremes of high and low tide transform so completely the whole condition + of those rivers that it needs very nice calculation to do one's work at + precisely the right tune. To vary the experiment, I had often thought of + trying a personal reconnoissance by swimming, at a certain point, whenever + circumstances should make it an object. + </p> + <p> + The opportunity at last arrived, and I shall never forget the glee with + which, after several postponements, I finally rode forth, a little before + midnight, on a night which seemed made for the purpose. I had, of course, + kept my own secret, and was entirely alone. The great Southern fireflies + were out, not haunting the low ground merely, like ours, but rising to the + loftiest tree-tops with weird illumination, and anon hovering so low that + my horse often stepped the higher to avoid them. The dewy Cherokee roses + brushed my face, the solemn "Chuckwill's-widow" croaked her incantation, + and the rabbits raced phantom-like across the shadowy road. Slowly in the + darkness I followed the well-known path to the spot where our most + advanced outposts were stationed, holding a causeway which thrust itself + far out across the separating river,—thus fronting a similar + causeway on the other side, while a channel of perhaps three hundred + yards, once traversed by a ferry-boat, rolled between. At low tide this + channel was the whole river, with broad, oozy marshes on each side; at + high tide the marshes were submerged, and the stream was a mile wide. This + was the point which I had selected. To ascertain the numbers and position + of the picket on the opposite causeway was my first object, as it was a + matter on which no two of our officers agreed. + </p> + <p> + To this point, therefore, I rode, and dismounting, after being duly + challenged by the sentinel at the causeway-head, walked down the long and + lonely path. The tide was well up, though still on the flood, as I + desired; and each visible tuft of marsh-grass might, but for its + motionlessness, have been a prowling boat. Dark as the night had appeared, + the water was pale, smooth, and phosphorescent, and I remember that the + phrase "wan water," so familiar in the Scottish ballards, struck me just + then as peculiarly appropriate, though its real meaning is quite + different. A gentle breeze, from which I had hoped for a ripple, had + utterly died away, and it was a warm, breathless Southern night. There was + no sound but the faint swash of the coming tide, the noises of the + reed-birds in the marshes, and the occasional leap of a fish; and it + seemed to my overstrained ear as if every footstep of my own must be heard + for miles. However, I could have no more postponements, and the thing must + be tried now or never. + </p> + <p> + Reaching the farther end of the causeway, I found my men couched, like + black statues, behind the slight earthwork there constructed. I expected + that my proposed immersion would rather bewilder them, but knew that they + would say nothing, as usual. As for the lieutenant on that post, he was a + steady, matter-of-fact, perfectly disciplined Englishman, who wore a + Crimean medal, and never asked a superfluous question in his life. If I + had casually remarked to him, "Mr. Hooper, the General has ordered me on a + brief personal reconnoissance to the Planet Jupiter, and I wish you to + take care of my watch, lest it should be damaged by the Precession of the + Equinoxes," he would have responded with a brief "All right, Sir," and a + quick military gesture, and have put the thing in his pocket. As it was, I + simply gave him the watch, and remarked that I was going to take a swim. + </p> + <p> + I do not remember ever to have experienced a greater sense of exhilaration + than when I slipped noiselessly into the placid water, and struck out into + the smooth, eddying current for the opposite shore. The night was so still + and lovely, my black statues looked so dream-like at their posts behind + the low earthwork, the opposite arm of the causeway stretched so + invitingly from the Rebel main, the horizon glimmered so low around me,—for + it always appears lower to a swimmer than even to an oarsman,—that I + seemed floating in some concave globe, some magic crystal, of which I was + the enchanted centre. With each little ripple of my steady progress all + things hovered and changed; the stars danced and nodded above; where the + stars ended the great Southern fireflies began; and closer than the + fireflies, there clung round me a halo of phosphorescent sparkles from the + soft salt water. + </p> + <p> + Had I told any one of my purpose, I should have had warnings and + remonstrances enough. The few negroes who did not believe in alligators + believed in sharks; the sceptics as to sharks were orthodox in respect to + alligators; while those who rejected both had private prejudices as to + snapping-turtles. The surgeon would have threatened intermittent fever, + the first assistant rheumatism, and the second assistant congestive + chills; non-swimmers would have predicted exhaustion, and swimmers cramp; + and all this before coming within bullet-range of any hospitalities on the + other shore. But I knew the folly of most alarms about reptiles and + fishes; man's imagination peoples the water with many things which do not + belong there, or prefer to keep out of his way, if they do; fevers and + congestions were the surgeon's business, and I always kept people to their + own department; cramp and exhaustion were dangers I could measure, as I + had often done; bullets were a more substantial danger, and I must take + the chance,—if a loon could dive at the flash, why not I? If I were + once ashore, I should have to cope with the Rebels on their own ground, + which they knew better than I; but the water was my ground, where I, too, + had been at home from boyhood. + </p> + <p> + I swam as swiftly and softly as I could, although it seemed as if water + never had been so still before. It appeared impossible that anything + uncanny should hide beneath that lovely mirror; and yet when some floating + wisp of reeds suddenly coiled itself around my neck, or some unknown + thing, drifting deeper, coldly touched my foot, it caused that undefinable + shudder which every swimmer knows, and which especially comes over one by + night. Sometimes a slight sip of brackish water would enter my lips,—for + I naturally tried to swim as low as possible,—and then would follow + a slight gasping and contest against chocking, that seemed to me a perfect + convulsion; for I suppose the tendency to choke and sneeze is always + enhanced by the circumstance that one's life may depend on keeping still, + just as yawning becomes irresistible where to yawn would be social ruin, + and just as one is sure to sleep in church, if one sits in a conspicuous + pew. At other times, some unguarded motion would create a splashing which + seemed, in the tension of my senses, to be loud enough to be heard at + Richmond, although it really mattered not, since there are fishes in those + rivers which make as much noise on special occasions as if they were + misguided young whales. + </p> + <p> + As I drew near the opposite shore, the dark causeway projected more and + more distinctly, to my fancy at least, and I swam more softly still, + utterly uncertain as to how far, in the stillness of air and water, my + phosphorescent course could be traced by eye or ear. A slight ripple would + have saved me from observation, I was more than ever sure, and I would + have whistled for a fair wind as eagerly as any sailor, but that my breath + was worth to me more than anything it was likely to bring. The water + became smoother and smoother, and nothing broke the dim surface except a + few clumps of rushes and my unfortunate head. The outside of this member + gradually assumed to its inside a gigantic magnitude; it had always + annoyed me at the hatter's from a merely animal bigness, with no + commensurate contents to show for it, and now I detested it more than + ever. A physical feeling of turgescence and congestion in that region, + such as swimmers often feel, probably increased the impression. I thought + with envy of the Aztec children, of the headless horseman of Sleepy + Hollow, of Saint Somebody with his head tucked under his arm. Plotinus was + less ashamed of his whole body than I of this inconsiderate and stupid + appendage. To be sure, I might swim for a certain distance under water. + But that accomplishment I had reserved for a retreat, for I knew that the + longer I stayed down the more surely I should have to snort like a walrus + when I came up again, and to approach an enemy with such a demonstration + was not to be thought of. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly a dog barked. We had certain information that a pack of hounds + was kept at a Rebel station a few miles off, on purpose to hunt runaways, + and I had heard from the negroes almost fabulous accounts of the instinct + of these animals. I knew that, although water baffled their scent, they + yet could recognize in some manner the approach of any person across water + as readily as by land; and of the vigilance of all dogs by night every + traveller among Southern plantations has ample demonstration. I was now so + near that I could dimly see the figures of men moving to and fro upon the + end of the causeway, and could hear the dull knock, when one struck his + foot against a piece of limber. + </p> + <p> + As my first object was to ascertain whether there were sentinels at that + time at that precise point, I saw that I was approaching the end of my + experiment Could I have once reached the causeway unnoticed, I could have + lurked in the water beneath its projecting timbers, and perhaps made my + way along the main shore, as I had known fugitive slaves to do, while + coming from that side. Or had there been any ripple on the water, to + confuse the aroused and watchful eyes, I could have made a circuit and + approached the causeway at another point, though I had already satisfied + myself that there was only a narrow channel on each side of it, even at + high tide, and not, as on our side, a broad expanse of water. Indeed, this + knowledge alone was worth all the trouble I had taken, and to attempt much + more than this, in the face of a curiosity already roused, would have been + a waste of future opportunities. I could try again, with the benefit of + this new knowledge, on a point where the statements of the negroes had + always been contradictory. + </p> + <p> + Resolving, however, to continue the observation a very little longer, + since the water felt much warmer than I had expected, and there was no + sense of chill or fatigue, I grasped at some wisps of straw or rushes that + floated near, gathering them round my face a little, and then drifting + nearer the wharf in what seemed a sort of eddy was able, without creating + further alarm, to make some additional observations on points which it is + not best now to particularize. Then, turning my back upon the mysterious + shore which had thus far lured me, I sank softly below the surface, and + swam as far as I could under water. + </p> + <p> + During this unseen retreat, I heard, of course, all manner of gurglings + and hollow reverberations, and could fancy as many rifle-shots as I + pleased. But on rising to the surface all seemed quiet, and even I did not + create as much noise as I should have expected. I was now at a safe + distance, since the enemy were always chary of showing their boats, and + always tried to convince us they had none. What with absorbed attention + first, and this submersion afterwards, I had lost all my bearings but the + stars, having been long out of sight of my original point of departure. + However, the difficulties of the return were nothing; making a slight + allowance for the floodtide, which could not yet have turned, I should + soon regain the place I had left. So I struck out freshly against the + smooth water, feeling just a little stiffened by the exertion, and with an + occasional chill running up the back of the neck, but with no nips from + sharks, no nudges from alligators, and not a symptom of fever-and-ague. + </p> + <p> + Time I could not, of course, measure,—one never can in a novel + position; but, after a reasonable amount of swimming, I began to look, + with a natural interest, for the pier which I had quitted. I noticed, with + some solicitude, that the woods along the friendly shore made one + continuous shadow, and that the line of low bushes on the long causeway + could scarcely be relieved against them, yet I knew where they ought to + be, and the more doubtful I felt about it, the more I put down my doubts, + as if they were unreasonable children. One can scarcely conceive of the + alteration made in familiar objects by bringing the eye as low as the + horizon, especially by night; to distinguish foreshortening is impossible, + and every low near object is equivalent to one higher and more remote. + Still I had the stars; and soon my eye, more practised, was enabled to + select one precise line of bushes as that which marked the causeway, and + for which I must direct my course. + </p> + <p> + As I swam steadily, but with some sense of fatigue, towards this + phantom-line, I found it difficult to keep my faith steady and my progress + true; everything appeared to shift and waver, in the uncertain light. The + distant trees seemed not trees, but bushes, and the bushes seemed not + exactly bushes, but might, after all, be distant trees. Could I be so + confident that, out of all that low stretch of shore, I could select the + one precise point where the friendly causeway stretched its long arm to + receive me from the water? How easily (some tempter whispered at my ear) + might one swerve a little, on either side, and be compelled to flounder + over half a mile of oozy marsh on an ebbing tide, before reaching our own + shore and that hospitable volley of bullets with which it would probably + greet me! Had I not already (thus the tempter continued) been swimming + rather unaccountably far, supposing me on a straight track for that + inviting spot where my sentinels and my drapery were awaiting my return? + </p> + <p> + Suddenly I felt a sensation as of fine ribbons drawn softly across my + person, and I found myself among some rushes. But what business had rushes + there, or I among them? I knew that there was not a solitary spot of shoal + in the deep channel where I supposed myself swimming, and it was plain in + an instant that I had somehow missed my course, and must be getting among + the marshes. I felt confident, to be sure, that I could not have widely + erred, but was guiding my course for the proper side of tie river. But + whether I had drifted above or below the causeway I had not the slightest + clew to tell. + </p> + <p> + I pushed steadily forward, with some increasing sense of lassitude, + passing one marshy islet after another, all seeming strangely out of + place, and sometimes just reaching with my foot a soft tremulous shoal + which gave scarce the shadow of a support, though even that shadow rested + my feet. At one of these moments of stillness it suddenly occurred to my + perception (what nothing but this slight contact could have assured me, in + the darkness) that I was in a powerful current, and that this current set + <i>the wrong way</i>. Instantly a flood of new intelligence came. Either I + had unconsciously turned and was rapidly nearing the Rebel shore,—a + suspicion which a glance at the stars corrected,—or else it was the + tide itself which had turned, and which was sweeping me down the river + with all its force, and was also sucking away at every moment the + narrowing water from that treacherous expanse of mud out of whose horrible + miry embrace I had lately helped to rescue a shipwrecked crew. + </p> + <p> + Either alternative was rather formidable. I can distinctly remember that + for about one half-minute the whole vast universe appeared to swim in the + same watery uncertainty in which I floated. I began to doubt everything, + to distrust the stars, the line of low bushes for which I was wearily + striving, the very land on which they grew, if such visionary things could + be rooted anywhere. Doubts trembled in my mind like the weltering water, + and that awful sensation of having one's feet unsupported, which benumbs + the spent swimmer's heart, seemed to clutch at mine, though not yet to + enter it. I was more absorbed in that singular sensation of nightmare, + such as one may feel equally when lost by land or by water, as if one's + own position were all right, but the place looked for had somehow been + preternaturally abolished out of the universe. At best, might not a man in + the water lose all his power of direction, and so move in an endless + circle until he sank exhausted? It required a deliberate and conscious + effort to keep my brain quite cool. I have not the reputation of being of + an excitable temperament, but the contrary; yet I could at that moment see + my way to a condition in which one might become insane in an instant. It + was as if a fissure opened somewhere, and I saw my way into a mad-house; + then it closed, and everything went on as before. Once in my life I had + obtained a slight glimpse of the same sensation, and then, too, strangely + enough, while swimming,—in the mightiest ocean-surge into which I + had ever dared plunge my mortal body. Keats hints at the same sudden + emotion, in a wild poem written among the Scottish mountains. It was not + the distinctive sensation which drowning men are said to have, that + spasmodic passing in review of one's whole personal history. I had no + well-defined anxiety, felt no fear, was moved to no prayer, did not give a + thought to home or friends; only it swept over me, as with a sudden + tempest, that, if I meant to get back to my own camp, I must keep my wits + about me. I must not dwell on any other alternative, any more than a boy + who climbs a precipice must look down. Imagination had no business here. + That way madness lay. There was a shore somewhere before me, and I must + get to it, by the ordinary means, before the ebb laid bare the flats, or + swept me below the lower bends of the stream. That was all. + </p> + <p> + Suddenly a light gleamed for an instant before me, as if from a house in a + grove of great trees upon a bank; and I knew that it came from the window + of a ruined plantation-building, where our most advanced outposts had + their headquarters. The flash revealed to me every point of the situation. + I saw at once where I was, and how I got there: that the tide had turned + while I was swimming, and with a much briefer interval of slack-water than + I had been led to suppose,—that I had been swept a good way down + stream, and was far beyond all possibility of regaining the point I had + left. + </p> + <p> + Could I, however, retain my strength to swim one or two hundred yards + farther, of which I had no doubt,—and if the water did not ebb too + rapidly, of which I had more fear,—then I was quite safe. Every + stroke took me more and more out of the power of the current, and there + might even be an eddy to aid me. I could not afford to be carried down + much farther, for there the channel made a sweep toward the wrong side of + the river; but there was now no reason why I should not reach land. I + could dismiss all fear, indeed, except that of being fired upon by our own + sentinels, many of whom were then new recruits, and with the usual + disposition to shoot first and investigate afterwards. + </p> + <p> + I found myself swimming in shallow and shallower water, and the flats + seemed almost bare when I neared the shore, where the great gnarled + branches of the liveoaks hung far over the muddy bank. Floating on my back + for noiselessness, I paddled rapidly in with my hands, expecting + momentarily to hear the challenge of the picket, and the ominous click so + likely to follow. I knew that some one should be pacing to and fro, along + that beat, but could not tell at what point he might be at that precise + moment. Besides, there was a faint possibility that some chatty corporal + might have carried the news of my bath thus far along the line, and they + might be partially prepared for this unexpected visitor. Suddenly, like + another flash, came the quick, quaint challenge,— + </p> + <p> + "Halt! Who's go dar?" + </p> + <p> + "F-f-friend with the c-c-countersign," retorted I, with chilly, but + conciliatory energy, rising at full length out of the shallow water, to + show myself a man and a brother. + </p> + <p> + "Ac-vance, friend, and give de countersign," responded the literal + soldier, who at such a tune would have accosted: a spirit of light or + goblin damned with no other formula. + </p> + <p> + I advanced and gave it, he recognized my voice at once. | And then and + there, as I stood, a dripping ghost, beneath the f trees before him, the + unconscionable fellow, wishing to exhaust upon me the utmost resources of + military hospitality, deliberately presented arms! + </p> + <p> + Now a soldier on picket, or at night, usually presents arms to nobody; but + a sentinel on camp-guard by day is expected to perform that ceremony to + anything in human shape that has two rows of buttons. Here was a human + shape, but so utterly buttonless that it exhibited not even a rag to which + a button could by any earthly possibility be appended, button-less even + potentially; and my blameless Ethiopian presented arms to even this. + Where, then, are the theories of Carlyle, the axioms of "Sartor Resartus," + the inability of humanity to conceive "a naked Duke of Windlestraw + addressing a naked House of Lords"? Cautioning my adherent, however, as to + the proprieties suitable for such occasions thenceforward, I left him + watching the river with renewed vigilance, and awaiting the next merman + who should report himself. + </p> + <p> + Finding my way to the building, I hunted up a sergeant and a blanket, got + a fire kindled in the dismantled chimney, and sat before it in my single + garment, like a moist but undismayed Choctaw, until horse and clothing + could be brought round from the causeway. It seemed strange that the + morning had not yet dawned, after the uncounted periods that must have + elapsed; but when the wardrobe arrived I looked at my watch and found that + my night in the water had lasted precisely one hour. + </p> + <p> + Galloping home, I turned in with alacrity, and without a drop of whiskey, + and waked a few hours after in excellent condition. The rapid changes of + which that Department has seen so many—and, perhaps, to so little + purpose—soon transferred us to a different scene. I have been on + other scouts since then, and by various processes, but never with a zest + so novel as was afforded by that night's experience. The thing soon got + wind in the regiment, and led to only one ill consequence, so far as I + know. It rather suppressed a way I had of lecturing the officers on the + importance of reducing their personal baggage to a minimum. They got a + trick of congratulating me, very respectfully, on the thoroughness with + which I had once conformed my practice to my precepts. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter 7. Up the Edisto + </h2> + <p> + In reading military history, one finds the main interest to lie, + undoubtedly, in the great campaigns, where a man, a regiment, a brigade, + is but a pawn in the game. But there is a charm also in the more free and + adventurous life of partisan warfare, where, if the total sphere be + humbler, yet the individual has more relative importance, and the sense of + action is more personal and keen. This is the reason given by the + eccentric Revolutionary biographer, Weems, for writing the Life of + Washington first, and then that of Marion. And there were, certainly, hi + the early adventures of the colored troops in the Department of the South, + some of the same elements of picturesqueness that belonged to Marion's + band, on the same soil, with the added feature that the blacks were + fighting for their personal liberties, of which Marion had helped to + deprive them. + </p> + <p> + It is stated by Major-General Gillmore, in his "Siege of Charleston," as + one of the three points in his preliminary strategy, that an expedition + was sent up the Edisto River to destroy a bridge on the Charleston and + Savannah Railway. As one of the early raids of the colored troops, this + expedition may deserve narration, though it was, in a strategic point of + view, a disappointment. It has already been told, briefly and on the whole + with truth, by Greeley and others, but I will venture on a more complete + account. + </p> + <p> + The project dated back earlier than General Gillmore's siege, and had + originally no connection with that movement. It had been formed by Captain + Trowbridge and myself in camp, and was based on facts learned from the + men. General Saxton and Colonel W. W. H. Davis, the successive + post-commanders, had both favored it. It had been also approved by General + Hunter, before his sudden removal, though he regarded the bridge as a + secondary affair, because there was another railway communication between + the two cities. But as my main object was to obtain permission to go, I + tried to make the most of all results which might follow, while it was + very clear that the raid would harass and confuse the enemy, and be the + means of bringing away many of the slaves. General Hunter had, therefore, + accepted the project mainly as a stroke for freedom and black recruits; + and General Gillmore, because anything that looked toward action found + favor in his eyes, and because it would be convenient to him at that time + to effect a diversion, if nothing more. + </p> + <p> + It must be remembered that, after the first capture of Port Royal, the + outlying plantations along the whole Southern coast were abandoned, and + the slaves withdrawn into the interior. It was necessary to ascend some + river for thirty miles in order to reach the black population at all. This + ascent could only be made by night, as it was a slow process, and the + smoke of a steamboat could be seen for a great distance. The streams were + usually shallow, winding, and muddy, and the difficulties of navigation + were such as to require a full moon and a flood tide. It was really no + easy matter to bring everything to bear, especially as every projected + raid must be kept a secret so far as possible. However, we were now + somewhat familiar with such undertakings, half military, half naval, and + the thing to be done on the Edisto was precisely what we had proved to be + practicable on the St. Mary's and the St. John's,—to drop anchor + before the enemy's door some morning at daybreak, without his having + dreamed of our approach. + </p> + <p> + Since a raid made by Colonel Montgomery up the Combahee, two months + before, the vigilance of the Rebels had increased. But we had information + that upon the South Edisto, or Pon-Pon River, the rice plantations were + still being actively worked by a large number of negroes, in reliance on + obstructions placed at the mouth of that narrow stream, where it joins the + main river, some twenty miles from the coast. This point was known to be + further protected by a battery of unknown strength, at Wiltown Bluff, a + commanding and defensible situation. The obstructions consisted of a row + of strong wooden piles across the river; but we convinced ourselves that + these must now be much decayed, and that Captain Trowbridge, an excellent + engineer officer, could remove them by the proper apparatus. Our + proposition was to man the John Adams, an armed ferry-boat, which had + before done us much service,—and which has now reverted to the + pursuits of peace, it is said, on the East Boston line,—to ascend in + this to Wiltown Bluff, silence the battery, and clear a passage through + the obstructions. Leaving the John Adams to protect this point, we could + then ascend the smaller stream with two light-draft boats, and perhaps + burn the bridge, which was ten miles higher, before the enemy could bring + sufficient force to make our position at Wiltown Bluff untenable. + </p> + <p> + The expedition was organized essentially upon this plan. The smaller boats + were the Enoch Dean,—a river steamboat, which carried a ten-pound + Parrott gun, and a small howitzer,—and a little mosquito of a tug, + the Governor Milton, upon which, with the greatest difficulty, we found + room for two twelve-pound Armstrong guns, with their gunners, forming a + section of the First Connecticut Battery, under Lieutenant Clinton, aided + by a squad from my own regiment, under Captain James. The John Adams + carried, I if I remember rightly, two Parrott guns (of twenty and ten | + pounds calibre) and a howitzer or two. The whole force of men did not + exceed two hundred and fifty. + </p> + <p> + We left Beaufort, S. C., on the afternoon of July 9th, 1863. In former + narrations I have sufficiently described the charm of a moonlight ascent + into a hostile country, upon an unknown stream, the dark and silent banks, + the rippling water, the wail of the reed-birds, the anxious watch, the + breathless listening, the veiled lights, the whispered orders. To this was + now to be added the vexation of an insufficient pilotage, for our negro + guide knew only the upper river, and, as it finally proved, not even that, + while, to take us over the bar which obstructed the main stream, we must + borrow a pilot from Captain Dutch, whose gunboat blockaded that point. + This active naval officer, however, whose boat expeditions had penetrated + all the lower branches of those rivers, could supply our want, and we + borrowed from him not only a pilot, but a surgeon, to replace our own, who + had been prevented by an accident from coming with us. Thus accompanied, + we steamed over the bar in safety, had a peaceful ascent, passed the + island of Jehossee,—the fine estate of Governor Aiken, then left + undisturbed by both sides,—and fired our first shell into the camp + at Wiltown Bluff at four o'clock in the morning. + </p> + <p> + The battery—whether fixed or movable we knew not—met us with a + promptness that proved very shortlived. After three shots it was silent, + but we could not tell why. The bluff was wooded, and we could see but + little. The only course was to land, under cover of the guns. As the + firing ceased and the smoke cleared away, I looked across the rice-fields + which lay beneath the bluff. The first sunbeams glowed upon their emerald + levels, and on the blossoming hedges along the rectangular dikes. What + were those black dots which everywhere appeared? Those moist meadows had + become alive with human heads, and along each narrow path came a + straggling file of men and women, all on a run for the river-side. I went + ashore with a boat-load of troops at once. The landing was difficult and + marshy. The astonished negroes tugged us up the bank, and gazed on us as + if we had been Cortez and Columbus. They kept arriving by land much faster + than we could come by water; every moment increased the crowd, the + jostling, the mutual clinging, on that miry foothold. What a scene it was! + With the wild faces, eager figures, strange garments, it seemed, as one of + the poor things reverently suggested, "like notin' but de judgment day." + Presently they began to come from the houses also, with their little + bundles on their heads; then with larger bundles. Old women, trotting on + the narrow paths, would kneel to pray a little prayer, still balancing the + bundle; and then would suddenly spring up, urged by the accumulating + procession behind, and would move on till irresistibly compelled by + thankfulness to dip down for another invocation. + </p> + <p> + Reaching us, every human being must grasp our hands, amid exclamations of + "Bress you, mas'r," and "Bress de Lord," at the rate of four of the latter + ascriptions to one of the former. + </p> + <p> + Women brought children on their shoulders; small black boys learned on + their back little brothers equally inky, and, gravely depositing them, + shook hands. Never had I seen human beings so clad, or rather so unclad, + in such amazing squalid-ness and destitution of garments. I recall one + small urchin without a rag of clothing save the basque waist of a lady's + dress, bristling with whalebones, and worn wrong side before, beneath + which his smooth ebony legs emerged like those of an ostrich from its + plumage. How weak is imagination, how cold is memory, that I ever cease, + for a day of my life, to see before me the picture of that astounding + scene! + </p> + <p> + Yet at the time we were perforce a little impatient of all this piety, + protestation, and hand-pressing; for the vital thing was to ascertain what + force had been stationed at the bluff, and whether it was yet withdrawn. + The slaves, on the other hand, were too much absorbed in their prospective + freedom to aid us in taking any further steps to secure it. Captain + Trowbridge, who had by this time landed at a different point, got quite + into despair over the seeming deafness of the people to all questions. + "How many soldiers are there on the bluff?" he asked of the first-comer. + </p> + <p> + "Mas'r," said the man, stuttering terribly, "I c-c-c—" + </p> + <p> + "Tell me how many soldiers there are!" roared Trowbridge, in his mighty + voice, and all but shaking the poor old thing, in his thirst for + information. + </p> + <p> + "O mas'r," recommenced in terror the incapacitated wit-ness, "I + c-c-carpenter!" holding up eagerly a little stump of a hatchet, his sole + treasure, as if his profession ought to excuse from all military opinions. + </p> + <p> + I wish that it were possible to present all this scene from the point of + view of the slaves themselves. It can be most nearly done, perhaps, by + quoting the description given of a similar scene on the Combahee River, by + a very aged man, who had been brought down on the previous raid, already + mentioned. I wrote it down in tent, long after, while the old man recited + the tale, with much gesticulation, at the door; and it is by far the best + glimpse I have ever had, through a negro's eyes, at these wonderful + birthdays of freedom. + </p> + <p> + "De people was all a hoein', mas'r," said the old man. "Dey was a hoein' + in the rice-field, when de gunboats come. Den ebry man drap dem hoe, and + leff de rice. De mas'r he stand and call, 'Run to de wood for hide! Yankee + come, sell you to Cuba! run for hide!' Ebry man he run, and, my God! run + all toder way! + </p> + <p> + "Mas'r stand in de wood, peep, peep, faid for truss [afraid to trust]. He + say, 'Run to de wood!' and ebry man run by him, straight to de boat. + </p> + <p> + "De brack sojer so presumptious, dey come right ashore, hold up dere head. + Fus' ting I know, dere was a barn, ten tousand bushel rough rice, all in a + blaze, den mas'r's great house, all cracklin' up de roof. Didn't I keer + for see 'em blaze? Lor, mas'r, didn't care notin' at all, <i>was gwine to + de boat</i>." + </p> + <p> + Dore's Don Quixote could not surpass the sublime absorption in which the + gaunt old man, with arm uplifted, described this stage of affairs, till he + ended in a shrewd chuckle, worthy of Sancho Panza. Then he resumed. + </p> + <p> + "De brack sojers so presumptious!" This he repeated three times, slowly + shaking his head in an ecstasy of admiration. It flashed upon me that the + apparition of a black soldier must amaze those still in bondage, much as a + butterfly just from the chrysalis might astound his fellow-grubs. I + inwardly vowed that my soldiers, at least, should be as "presumptious" as + I could make them. Then he went on. + </p> + <p> + "Ole woman and I go down to de boat; den dey say behind us, 'Rebels + comin'l Rebels comin'!' Ole woman say, 'Come ahead, come plenty ahead!' I + hab notin' on but my shirt and pantaloon; ole woman one single frock he + hab on, and one handkerchief on he head; I leff all-two my blanket and run + for de Rebel come, and den dey didn't come, didn't truss for come. + </p> + <p> + "Ise eighty-eight year old, mas'r. My ole Mas'r Lowndes keep all de ages + in a big book, and when we come to age ob sense we mark em down ebry year, + so I know. Too ole for come? Mas'r joking. Neber too ole for leave de land + o' bondage. I old, but great good for chil'en, gib tousand tank ebry day. + Young people can go through, <i>force</i> [forcibly], mas'r, but de ole + folk mus' go slow." + </p> + <p> + Such emotions as these, no doubt, were inspired by our arrival, but we + could only hear their hasty utterance in passing; our duty being, with the + small force already landed, to take possession of the bluff. Ascending, + with proper precautions, the wooded hill, we soon found ourselves in the + deserted camp of a light battery, amid scattered equipments and + suggestions of a very unattractive breakfast. As soon as possible, + skirmishers were thrown out through the woods to the farther edge of the + bluff, while a party searched the houses, finding the usual large supply + of furniture and pictures,—brought up for safety from below,—but + no soldiers. Captain Trowbridge then got the John Adams beside the row of + piles, and went to work for their removal. + </p> + <p> + Again I had the exciting sensation of being within the hostile lines,—the + eager explorations, the doubts, the watchfulness, the listening for every + sound of coming hoofs. Presently a horse's tread was heard in earnest, but + it was a squad of our own men bringing in two captured cavalry soldiers. + One of these, a sturdy fellow, submitted quietly to his lot, only begging + that, whenever we should evacuate the bluff, a note should be left behind + stating that he was a prisoner. The other, a very young man, and a member + of the "Rebel Troop," a sort of Cadet corps among the Charleston youths, + came to me in great wrath, complaining that the corporal of our squad had + kicked him after he had surrendered. His air of offended pride was very + rueful, and it did indeed seem a pathetic reversal of fortunes for the two + races. To be sure, the youth was a scion of one of the foremost families + of South Carolina, and when I considered the wrongs which the black race + had encountered from those of his blood, first and last, it seemed as if + the most scrupulous Recording Angel might tolerate one final kick to + square the account. But I reproved the corporal, who respectfully + disclaimed the charge, and said the kick was an incident of the scuffle. + It certainly was not their habit to show such poor malice; they thought + too well of themselves. + </p> + <p> + His demeanor seemed less lofty, but rather piteous, when he implored me + not to put him on board any vessel which was to ascend the upper stream, + and hinted, by awful implications, the danger of such ascent. This meant + torpedoes, a peril which we treated, in those days, with rather mistaken + contempt. But we found none on the Edisto, and it may be that it was only + a foolish attempt to alarm us. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, Trowbridge was toiling away at the row of piles, which proved + easier to draw out than to saw asunder, either work being hard enough. It + took far longer than we had hoped, and we saw noon approach and the tide + rapidly fall, taking with it, inch by inch, our hopes of effecting a + surprise at the bridge. During this time, and indeed all day, the + detachments on shore, under Captains Whitney and Sampson, were having + occasional skirmishes with the enemy, while the colored people were + swarming to the shore, or running to and fro like ants, with the poor + treasures of their houses. Our busy Quartermaster, Mr. Bingham—who + died afterwards from the overwork of that sultry day—was + transporting the refugees on board the steamer, or hunting up bales of + cotton, or directing the burning of rice-houses, in accordance with our + orders. No dwelling-houses were destroyed or plundered by our men,—Sherman's + "bummers" not having yet arrived,—though I asked no questions as to + what the plantation negroes might bring in their great bundles. One piece + of property, I must admit, seemed a lawful capture,—a United States + dress-sword, of the old pattern, which had belonged to the Rebel general + who afterwards gave the order to bury Colonel Shaw "with his niggers." + That I have retained, not without some satisfaction, to this day. + </p> + <p> + A passage having been cleared at last, and the tide having turned by noon, + we lost no time in attempting the ascent, leaving the bluff to be held by + the John Adams, and by the small force on shore. We were scarcely above + the obstructions, however, when the little tug went aground, and the Enoch + Dean, ascending a mile farther, had an encounter with a battery on the + right,—perhaps our old enemy,—and drove it back. Soon after, + she also ran aground, a misfortune of which our opponent strangely took no + advantage; and, on getting off, I thought it best to drop down to the + bluff again, as the tide was still hopelessly low. None can tell, save + those who have tried them, the vexations of those muddy Southern streams, + navigable only during a few hours of flood-tide. + </p> + <p> + After waiting an hour, the two small vessels again tried the ascent. The + enemy on the right had disappeared; but we could now see, far off on our + left, another light battery moving parallel with the river, apparently to + meet us at some upper bend. But for the present we were safe, with the low + rice-fields on each side of us; and the scene was so peaceful, it seemed + as if all danger were done. For the first time, we saw in South Carolina + blossoming river-banks and low emerald meadows, that seemed like New + England. Everywhere there were the same rectangular fields, smooth canals, + and bushy dikes. A few negroes stole out to us in dugouts, and + breathlessly told us how others had been hurried away by the overseers. We + glided safely on, mile after mile. The day was unutterably hot, but all + else seemed propitious. The men had their combustibles all ready to fire + the bridge, and our hopes were unbounded. + </p> + <p> + But by degrees the channel grew more tortuous and difficult, and while the + little Milton glided smoothly over everything, the Enoch Dean, my own + boat, repeatedly grounded. On every occasion of especial need, too, + something went wrong in her machinery,—her engine being constructed + on some wholly new patent, of which, I should hope, this trial would prove + entirely sufficient. The black pilot, who was not a soldier, grew more and + more bewildered, and declared that it was the channel, not his brain, + which had gone wrong; the captain, a little elderly man, sat wringing his + hands in the pilot-box; and the engineer appeared to be mingling his + groans with those of the diseased engine. Meanwhile I, in equal ignorance + of machinery and channel, had to give orders only justified by minute + acquaintance with both. So I navigated on general principles, until they + grounded us on a mud-bank, just below a wooded point, and some two miles + from the bridge of our destination. It was with a pang that I waved to + Major Strong, who was on the other side of the channel in a tug, not to + risk approaching us, but to steam on and finish the work, if he could. + </p> + <p> + Short was his triumph. Gliding round the point, he found himself instantly + engaged with a light battery of four or six guns, doubtless the same we + had seen in the distance. The Milton was within two hundred and fifty + yards. The Connecticut men fought then: guns well, aided by the blacks, + and it was exasperating for us to hear the shots, while we could see + nothing and do nothing. The scanty ammunition of our bow gun was + exhausted, and the gun in the stern was useless, from the position in + which we lay. In vain we moved the men from side to side, rocking the + vessel, to dislodge it. The heat was terrific that August afternoon; I + remember I found myself constantly changing places, on the scorched deck, + to keep my feet from being blistered. At last the officer in charge of the + gun, a hardy lumberman from Maine, got the stern of the vessel so far + round that he obtained the range of the battery through the cabin windows, + "but it would be necessary," he cooly added, on reporting to me this fact, + "to shoot away the corner of the cabin." I knew that this apartment was + newly painted and gilded, and the idol of the poor captain's heart; but it + was plain that even the thought of his own upholstery could not make the + poor soul more wretched than he was. So I bade Captain Dolly blaze away, + and thus we took our hand in the little game, though at a sacrifice. + </p> + <p> + It was of no use. Down drifted out little consort round the point, her + engine disabled and her engineer killed, as we afterwards found, though + then we could only look and wonder. Still pluckily firing, she floated by + upon the tide, which had now just turned; and when, with a last desperate + effort, we got off, our engine had one of its impracticable fits, and we + could only follow her. The day was waning, and all its range of + possibility had lain within the limits of that one tide. + </p> + <p> + All our previous expeditions had been so successful it now seemed hard to + turn back; the river-banks and rice-fields, so beautiful before, seemed + only a vexation now. But the swift current bore us on, and after our + Parthian shots had died away, a new discharge of artillery opened upon us, + from our first antagonist of the morning, which still kept the other side + of the stream. It had taken up a strong position on another bluff, almost + out of range of the John Adams, but within easy range of us. The sharpest + contest of the day was before us. Happily the engine and engineer were now + behaving well, and we were steering in a channel already traversed, and of + which the dangerous points were known. But we had a long, straight reach + of river before us, heading directly toward the battery, which, having + once got our range, had only to keep it, while we could do nothing in + return. The Rebels certainly served then: guns well. For the first time I + discovered that there were certain compensating advantages in a slightly + built craft, as compared with one more substantial; the missiles never + lodged in the vessel, but crashed through some thin partition as if it + were paper, to explode beyond us, or fall harmless in the water. + Splintering, the chief source of wounds and death in wooden ships, was + thus entirely avoided; the danger was that our machinery might be + disabled, or that shots might strike below the water-line and sink us. + </p> + <p> + This, however, did not happen. Fifteen projectiles, as we afterwards + computed, passed through the vessel or cut the rigging. Yet few casualties + occurred, and those instantly fatal. As my orderly stood leaning on a + comrade's shoulder, the head of the latter was shot off. At last I myself + felt a sudden blow in the side, as if from some prize-fighter, doubling me + up for a moment, while I sank upon a seat. It proved afterwards to have + been produced by the grazing of a ball, which, without tearing a garment, + had yet made a large part of my side black and blue, leaving a sensation + of paralysis which made it difficult to stand. Supporting myself on + Captain Rogers, I tried to comprehend what had happened, and I remember + being impressed by an odd feeling that I had now got my share, and should + henceforth be a great deal safer than any of the rest. I am told that this + often follows one's first experience of a wound. + </p> + <p> + But this immediate contest, sharp as it was, proved brief; a turn in the + river enabled us to use our stern gun, and we soon glided into the + comparative shelter of Wiltown Bluff. There, however, we were to encounter + the danger of shipwreck, superadded to that of fight. When the passage + through the piles was first cleared, it had been marked by stakes, lest + the rising tide should cover the remaining piles, and make it difficult to + run the passage. But when we again reached it, the stakes had somehow been + knocked away, the piles were just covered by the swift current, and the + little tug-boat was aground upon them. She came off easily, however, with + our aid, and, when we in turn essayed the passage, we grounded also, but + more firmly. We getting off at last, and making the passage, the tug again + became lodged, when nearly past danger, and all our efforts proved + powerless to pull her through. I therefore dropped down below, and sent + the John Adams to her aid, while I superintended the final recall of the + pickets, and the embarkation of the remaining refugees. + </p> + <p> + While thus engaged, I felt little solicitude about the boats above. It was + certain that the John Adams could safely go close to the piles on the + lower side, that she was very strong, and that the other was very light. + Still, it was natural to cast some anxious glances up the river, and it + was with surprise that I presently saw a canoe descending, which contained + Major Strong. Coming on board, he told me with some excitement that the + tug could not possibly be got off, and he wished for orders. + </p> + <p> + It was no time to consider whether it was not his place to have given + orders, instead of going half a mile to seek them. I was by this time so + far exhausted that everything seemed to pass by me as by one in a dream; + but I got into a boat, pushed up stream, met presently the John Adams + returning, and was informed by the officer in charge of the Connecticut + battery that he had abandoned the tug, and—worse news yet—that + his guns had been thrown overboard. It seemed to me then, and has always + seemed, that this sacrifice was utterly needless, because, although the + captain of the John Adams had refused to risk his vessel by going near + enough to receive the guns, he should have been compelled to do so. Though + the thing was done without my knowledge, and beyond my reach, yet, as + commander of the expedition, I was technically responsible. It was hard to + blame a lieutenant when his senior had shrunk from a decision, and left + him alone; nor was it easy to blame Major Strong, whom I knew to be a man + of personal courage though without much decision of character. He was + subsequently tried by court-martial and acquitted, after which he + resigned, and was lost at sea on his way home. + </p> + <p> + The tug, being thus abandoned, must of course be burned to prevent her + falling into the enemy's hands. Major Strong went with prompt fearlessness + to do this, at my order; after which he remained on the Enoch Dean, and I + went on board the John Adams, being compelled to succumb at last, and + transfer all remaining responsibility to Captain Trowbridge. Exhausted as + I was, I could still observe, in a vague way, the scene around me. Every + available corner of the boat seemed like some vast auction-room of + second-hand goods. Great piles of bedding and bundles lay on every side, + with black heads emerging and black forms reclining in every stage of + squalidness. Some seemed ill, or wounded, or asleep, others were + chattering eagerly among themselves, singing, praying, or soliloquizing on + joys to come. "Bress de Lord," I heard one woman say, "I spec' I got salt + victual now,—notin' but fresh victual dese six months, but Ise get + salt victual now,"—thus reversing, under pressure of the + salt-embargo, the usual anticipations of voyagers. + </p> + <p> + Trowbridge told me, long after, that, on seeking a fan for my benefit, he + could find but one on board. That was in the hands of a fat old "aunty," + who had just embarked, and sat on an enormous bundle of her goods, in + everybody's way, fanning herself vehemently, and ejaculating, as her + gasping breath would permit, "Oh! Do, Jesus! Oh! Do, Jesus!" when the + captain abruptly disarmed her of the fan, and left her continuing her + pious exercises. + </p> + <p> + Thus we glided down the river in the waning light. Once more we + encountered a battery, making five in all; I could hear the guns of the + assailants, and could not distinguish the explosion of their shells from + the answering throb of our own guns. The kind Quartermaster kept bringing + me news of what occurred, like Rebecca in Front-de-Boeuf s castle, but + discreetly withholding any actual casualties. Then all faded into safety + and sleep; and we reached Beaufort in the morning, after thirty-six hours + of absence. A kind friend, who acted in South Carolina a nobler part amid + tragedies than in any of her early stage triumphs, met us with an + ambulance at the wharf, and the prisoners, the wounded, and the dead were + duly attended. + </p> + <p> + The reader will not care for any personal record of convalescence; though, + among the general military laudations of whiskey, it is worth while to say + that one life was saved, in the opinion of my surgeons, by an habitual + abstinence from it, leaving no food for peritoneal inflammation to feed + upon. The able-bodied men who had joined us were, sent to aid General + Gillmore in the trenches, while their families were established in huts + and tents on St. Helena Island. A year after, greatly to the delight of + the regiment, in taking possession of a battery which they had helped to + capture on James Island, they found in their hands the selfsame guns which + they had seen thrown overboard from the Governor Milton. They then felt + that their account with the enemy was squared, and could proceed to + further operations. + </p> + <p> + Before the war, how great a thing seemed the rescue of even one man from + slavery; and since the war has emancipated all, how little seems the + liberation of two hundred! But no one then knew how the contest might end; + and when I think of that morning sunlight, those emerald fields, those + thronging numbers, the old women with their prayers, and the little boys + with them: living burdens, I know that the day was worth all it cost, and + more. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter 8. The Baby of the Regiment + </h2> + <p> + We were in our winter camp on Port Royal Island. It was a lovely November + morning, soft and spring-like; the mocking-birds were singing, and the + cotton-fields still white with fleecy pods. Morning drill was over, the + men were cleaning their guns and singing very happily; the officers were + in their tents, reading still more happily their letters just arrived from + home. Suddenly I heard a knock at my tent-door, and the latch clicked. It + was the only latch in camp, and I was very proud of it, and the officers + always clicked it as loudly as possible, in order to gratify my feelings. + The door opened, and the Quartermaster thrust in the most beaming face I + ever saw. + </p> + <p> + "Colonel," said he, "there are great news for the regiment. My wife and + baby are coming by the next steamer!" + </p> + <p> + "Baby!" said I, in amazement. "Q. M., you are beside yourself." (We always + called the Quartermaster Q. M. for shortness.) "There was a pass sent to + your wife, but nothing was ever said about a baby. Baby indeed!" + </p> + <p> + "But the baby was included in the pass," replied the triumphant + father-of-a-family. "You don't suppose my wife would come down here + without her baby! Besides, the pass itself permits her to bring necessary + baggage, and is not a baby six months old necessary baggage?" + </p> + <p> + "But, my dear fellow," said I, rather anxiously, "how can you make the + little thing comfortable in a tent, amidst these rigors of a South + Carolina winter, when it is uncomfortably hot for drill at noon, and ice + forms by your bedside at night?" + </p> + <p> + "Trust me for that," said the delighted papa, and went off whistling. I + could hear him telling the same news to three others, at least, before he + got to his own tent. + </p> + <p> + That day the preparations began, and soon his abode was a wonder of + comfort. There were posts and rafters, and a raised floor, and a great + chimney, and a door with hinges,—every luxury except a latch, and + that he could not have, for mine was the last that could be purchased. One + of the regimental carpenters was employed to make a cradle, and another to + make a bedstead high enough for the cradle to go under. Then there must be + a bit of red carpet beside the bedstead, and thus the progress of splendor + went on. The wife of one of the colored sergeants was engaged to act as + nursery-maid. She was a very respectable young woman; the only objection + to her being that she smoked a pipe. But we thought that perhaps Baby + might not dislike tobacco; and if she did, she would have excellent + opportunities to break the pipe in pieces. + </p> + <p> + In due time the steamer arrived, and Baby and her mother were among the + passengers. The little recruit was soon settled in her new cradle, and + slept in it as if she had never known any other. The sergeant's wife soon + had her on exhibition through the neighborhood, and from that time forward + she was quite a queen among us. She had sweet blue eyes and pretty brown + hair, with round, dimpled cheeks, and that perfect dignity which is so + beautiful in a baby. She hardly ever cried, and was not at all timid. She + would go to anybody, and yet did not encourage any romping from any but + the most intimate friends. She always wore a warm long-sleeved scarlet + cloak with a hood, and in this costume was carried or "toted," as the + soldiers said, all about the camp. At "guard-mounting" in the morning, + when the men who are to go on guard duty for the day are drawn up to be + inspected, Baby was always there, to help inspect them. She did not say + much, but she eyed them very closely, and seemed fully to appreciate their + bright buttons. Then the Officer-of-the-Day, who appears at guard-mounting + with his sword and sash, and comes afterwards to the Colonel's tent for + orders, would come and speak to Baby on his way, and receive her orders + first. When the time came for drill she was usually present to watch the + troops; and when the drum beat for dinner she liked to see the long row of + men in each company march up to the cookhouse, in single file, each with + tin cup and plate. + </p> + <p> + During the day, in pleasant weather, she might be seen in her nurse's + arms, about the company streets, the centre of an admiring circle, her + scarlet costume looking very pretty amidst the shining black cheeks and + neat blue uniforms of the soldiers. At "dress-parade," just before sunset, + she was always an attendant. As I stood before the regiment, I could see + the little spot of red out of the corner of my eye, at one end of the long + line of men; and I looked with so much interest for her small person, + that, instead of saying at the proper time, "Attention, Battalion! + Shoulder arms!"—it is a wonder that I did not say, "Shoulder + babies!" + </p> + <p> + Our little lady was very impartial, and distributed her kind looks to + everybody. She had not the slightest prejudice against color, and did not + care in the least whether her particular friends were black or white. Her + especial favorites, I think, were the drummer-boys, who were not my + favorites by any means, for they were a roguish set of scamps, and gave + more trouble than all the grown men in the regiment. I think Annie liked + them because they were small, and made a noise, and had red caps like her + hood, and red facings on their jackets, and also because they occasionally + stood on their heads for her amusement. After dress-parade the whole + drum-corps would march to the great flag-staff, and wait till just + sunset-time, when they would beat "the retreat," and then the flag would + be hauled down,—a great festival for Annie. Sometimes the + Sergeant-Major would wrap her in the great folds of the flag, after it was + taken down, and she would peep out very prettily from amidst the stars and + stripes, like a new-born Goddess of Liberty. + </p> + <p> + About once a month, some inspecting officer was sent to the camp by the + general in command, to see to the condition of everything in the regiment, + from bayonets to buttons. It was usually a long and tiresome process, and, + when everything else was done, I used to tell the officer that I had one + thing more for him to inspect, which was peculiar to our regiment. Then I + would send for Baby to be exhibited, and I never saw an inspecting + officer, old or young, who did not look pleased at the sudden appearance + of the little, fresh, smiling creature,—a flower in the midst of + war. And Annie in her turn would look at them, with the true baby dignity + La her face,—that deep, earnest look which babies often have, and + which people think so wonderful when Raphael paints it, although they + might often see just the same expression in the faces of their own + darlings at home. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile Annie seemed to like the camp style of housekeeping very much. + Her father's tent was double, and he used the front apartment for his + office, and the inner room for parlor and bedroom; while the nurse had a + separate tent and wash-room behind all. I remember that, the first time I + went there in the evening, it was to borrow some writing-paper; and while + Baby's mother was hunting for it in the front tent, I heard a great cooing + and murmuring in the inner room. I asked if Annie was still awake, and her + mother told me to go in and see. Pushing aside the canvas door, I entered. + No sign of anybody was to be seen; but a variety of soft little happy + noises seemed to come from some unseen corner. Mrs. C. came quietly in, + pulled away the counterpane of her own bed, and drew out the rough cradle + where lay the little damsel, perfectly happy, and wider awake than + anything but a baby possibly can be. She looked as if the seclusion of a + dozen family bedsteads would not be enough to discourage her spirits, and + I saw that camp life was likely to suit her very well. + </p> + <p> + A tent can be kept very warm, for it is merely a house with a thinner wall + than usual; and I do not think that Baby felt the cold much more than if + she had been at home that winter. The great trouble is, that a + tent-chimney, not being built very high, is apt to smoke when the wind is + in a certain direction; and when that happens it is hardly possible to + stay inside. So we used to build the chimneys of some tents on the east + side, and those of others on the west, and thus some of the tents were + always comfortable. I have seen Baby's mother running in a hard rain, with + little Red-Riding-Hood in her arms, to take refuge with the Adjutant's + wife, when every other abode was full of smoke; and I must admit that + there were one or two windy days that season when nobody could really keep + warm, and Annie had to remain ignominiously in her cradle, with as many + clothes on as possible, for almost the whole time. + </p> + <p> + The Quartermaster's tent was very attractive to us in the evening. I + remember that once, on passing near it after nightfall, I heard our + Major's fine voice singing Methodist hymns within, and Mrs. C.'s sweet + tones chiming in. So I peeped through the outer door. The fire was burning + very pleasantly in the inner tent, and the scrap of new red carpet made + the floor look quite magnificent. The Major sat on a box, our surgeon on a + stool; "Q. M." and his wife, and the Adjutant's wife, and one of the + captains, were all sitting on the bed, singing as well as they knew how; + and the baby was under the bed. Baby had retired for the night, was + overshadowed, suppressed, sat upon; the singing went on, and she had + wandered away into her own land of dreams, nearer to heaven, perhaps, than + any pitch their voices could attain. I went in, and joined the party. + Presently the music stopped, and another officer was sent for, to sing + some particular song. At this pause the invisible innocent waked a little, + and began to cluck and coo. + </p> + <p> + "It's the kitten," exclaimed somebody. + </p> + <p> + "It's my baby!" exclaimed Mrs. C. triumphantly, in that tone of unfailing + personal pride which belongs to young mothers. + </p> + <p> + The people all got up from the bed for a moment, while Annie was pulled + from beneath, wide awake and placid as usual; and she sat in one lap or + another during the rest of the concert, sometimes winking at the candle, + but usually listening to the songs, with a calm and critical expression, + as if she could make as much noise as any of them, whenever she saw fit to + try. Not a sound did she make, however, except one little soft sneeze, + which led to an immediate flood-tide of red shawl, covering every part of + her but the forehead. But I soon hinted that the concert had better be + ended, because I knew from observation that the small damsel had Carefully + watched a regimental inspection and a brigade drill on that day, and that + an interval of repose was certainly necessary. + </p> + <p> + Annie did not long remain the only baby in camp. One day, on going out to + the stables to look at a horse, I heard a sound of baby-talk, addressed by + some man to a child near by, and, looking round the corner of a tent, I + saw that one of the hostlers had something black and round, lying on the + sloping side of a tent, with which he was playing very eagerly. It proved + to be his baby, a plump, shiny thing, younger than Annie; and I never saw + a merrier picture than the happy father frolicking with his child, while + the mother stood quietly by. This was Baby Number Two, and she stayed in + camp several weeks, the two innocents meeting each other every day, in the + placid indifference that belonged to their years; both were happy little + healthy things, and it never seemed to cross their minds that there was + any difference in their complexions. As I said before, Annie was not + troubled by any prejudice in regard to color, nor do I suppose that the + other little maiden was. + </p> + <p> + Annie enjoyed the tent-life very much; but when we were Sent out on picket + soon after, she enjoyed it still more. Our head-quarters were at a + deserted plantation house, with one large parlor, a dining-room, and a few + bedrooms. Baby's father and mother had a room up stairs, with a stove + whose pipe went straight out at the window. This was quite comfortable, + though half the windows were broken, and there was no glass and no glazier + to mend them. The windows of the large parlor were in much the same + condition, though we had an immense fireplace, where we had a bright fire + whenever it was cold, and always in the evening. The walls of this room + were very dirty, and it took our ladies several days to cover all the + unsightly places with wreaths and hangings of evergreen. In the + performance Baby took an active part. Her duties consisted in sitting in a + great nest of evergreen, pulling and fingering the fragrant leaves, and + occasionally giving a little cry of glee when she had accomplished some + piece of decided mischief. + </p> + <p> + There was less entertainment to be found in the camp itself at this time; + but the household at head-quarters was larger than Baby had been + accustomed to. We had a great deal of company, moreover, and she had quite + a gay life of it. She usually made her appearance in the large parlor soon + after breakfast; and to dance her for a few moments in our arms was one of + the first daily duties of each one. Then the morning reports began to + arrive from the different outposts,—a mounted officer or courier + coming in from each place, dismounting at the door, and clattering in with + jingling arms and spurs, each a new excitement for Annie. She usually got + some attention from any officer who came, receiving with her wonted + dignity any daring caress. When the messengers had ceased to be + interesting, there were always the horses to look at, held or tethered + under the trees beside the sunny <i>piazza</i>. After the various couriers + had been received, other messengers would be despatched to the town, seven + miles away, and Baby had all the excitement of their mounting and + departure. Her father was often one of the riders, and would sometimes + seize Annie for a good-by kiss, place her on the saddle before him, gallop + her round the house once or twice, and then give her back to her nurse's + arms again. She was perfectly fearless, and such boisterous attentions + never frightened her, nor did they ever interfere with her sweet, + infantine self-possession. + </p> + <p> + After the riding-parties had gone, there was the <i>piazza</i> still for + entertainment, with a sentinel pacing up and down before it; but Annie did + not enjoy the sentinel, though his breastplate and buttons shone like + gold, so much as the hammock which always hung swinging between the + pillars. It was a pretty hammock, with great open meshes; and she + delighted to lie in it, and have the netting closed above her, so that she + could only be seen through the apertures. I can see her now, the fresh + little rosy thing, in her blue and scarlet wrappings, with one round and + dimpled arm thrust forth through the netting, and the other grasping an + armful of blushing roses and fragrant magnolias. She looked like those + pretty French bas-reliefs of Cupids imprisoned in baskets, and peeping + through. That hammock was a very useful appendage; it was a couch for us, + a cradle for Baby, a nest for the kittens; and we had, moreover, a little + hen, which tried to roost there every night. + </p> + <p> + When the mornings were colder, and the stove up stairs smoked the wrong + way, Baby was brought down in a very incomplete state of toilet, and + finished her dressing by the great fire. We found her bare shoulders very + becoming, and she was very much interested in her own little pink toes. + After a very slow dressing, she had a still slower breakfast out of a tin + cup of warm milk, of which she generally spilt a good deal, as she had + much to do in watching everybody who came into the room, and seeing that + there was no mischief done. Then she would be placed on the floor, on our + only piece of carpet, and the kittens would be brought in for her to play + with. + </p> + <p> + We had, at different times, a variety of pets, of whom Annie did not take + much notice. Sometimes we had young partridges, caught by the drummer-boys + in trap-cages. The children called them "Bob and Chloe," because the first + notes of the male and female sound like those names. One day I brought + home an opossum, with her blind bare little young clinging to the droll + pouch where their mothers keep them. Sometimes we had pretty green + lizards, their color darkening or deepening, like that of chameleons, in + light or shade. But the only pets that took Baby's fancy were the kittens. + They perfectly delighted her, from the first moment she saw them; they + were the only things younger than herself that she had ever beheld, and + the only things softer than themselves that her small hands had grasped. + It was astonishing to see how much the kittens would endure from her. They + could scarcely be touched by any one else without mewing; but when Annie + seized one by the head and the other by the tail, and rubbed them + violently together, they did not make a sound. I suppose that a baby's + grasp is really soft, even if it seems ferocious, and so it gives less + pain than one would think. At any rate, the little animals had the best of + it very soon; for they entirely outstripped Annie in learning to walk, and + they could soon scramble away beyond her reach, while she sat in a sort of + dumb despair, unable to comprehend why anything so much smaller than + herself should be so much nimbler. Meanwhile, the kittens would sit up and + look at her with the most provoking indifference, just out of arm's + length, until some of us would take pity on the young lady, and toss her + furry playthings back to her again. "Little baby," she learned to call + them; and these were the very first words she spoke. + </p> + <p> + Baby had evidently a natural turn for war, further cultivated by an + intimate knowledge of drills and parades. The nearer she came to actual + conflict the better she seemed to like it, peaceful as her own little ways + might be. Twice, at least, while she was with us on picket, we had alarms + from the Rebel troops, who would bring down cannon to the opposite side of + the Ferry, about two miles beyond us, and throw shot and shell over upon + our side. Then the officer at the Ferry would think that there was to be + an attack made, and couriers would be sent, riding to and fro, and the men + would all be called to arms in a hurry, and the ladies at headquarters + would all put on their best bonnets and come down stairs, and the + ambulance would be made ready to carry them to a place of safety before + the expected fight. On such occasions Baby was in all her glory. She + shouted with delight at being suddenly uncribbed and thrust into her + little scarlet cloak, and brought down stairs, at an utterly unusual and + improper hour, to a <i>piazza</i> with lights and people and horses and + general excitement. She crowed and gurgled and made gestures with her + little fists, and screamed out what seemed to be her advice on the + military situation, as freely as if she had been a newspaper editor. + Except that it was rather difficult to understand her precise direction, I + do not know but the whole Rebel force might have been captured through her + plans. And at any rate, I should much rather obey her orders than those of + some generals whom I have known; for she at least meant no harm, and would + lead one into no mischief. + </p> + <p> + However, at last the danger, such as it was, would be all over, and the + ladies would be induced to go peacefully to bed again; and Annie would + retreat with them to her ignoble cradle, very much disappointed, and + looking vainly back at the more martial scene below. The next morning she + would seem to have forgotten all about it, and would spill her bread and + milk by the fire as if nothing had happened. + </p> + <p> + I suppose we hardly knew, at the time, how large a part of the sunshine of + our daily lives was contributed by dear little Annie. Yet, when I now look + back on that pleasant Southern home, she seems as essential a part of it + as the mocking-birds or the magnolias, and I cannot convince myself that + in returning to it I should not find her there. But Annie went back, with + the spring, to her Northern birthplace, and then passed away from this + earth before her little feet had fairly learned to tread its paths; and + when I meet her next it must be in some world where there is triumph + without armies, and where innocence is trained in scenes of peace. I know, + however, that her little life, short as it seemed, was a blessing to us + all, giving a perpetual image of serenity and sweetness, recalling the + lovely atmosphere of far-off homes, and holding us by unsuspected ties to + whatsoever things were pure. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter 9. Negro Spirituals + </h2> + <p> + The war brought to some of us, besides its direct experiences, many a + strange fulfilment of dreams of other days. For instance, the present + writer had been a faithful student of the Scottish ballads, and had always + envied Sir Walter the delight of tracing them out amid their own heather, + and of writing them down piecemeal from the lips of aged crones. It was a + strange enjoyment, therefore, to be suddenly brought into the midst of a + kindred world of unwritten songs, as simple and indigenous as the Border + Minstrelsy, more uniformly plaintive, almost always more quaint, and often + as essentially poetic. + </p> + <p> + This interest was rather increased by the fact that I had for many years + heard of this class of songs under the name of "Negro Spirituals," and had + even heard some of them sung by friends from South Carolina. I could now + gather on their own soil these strange plants, which I had before seen as + in museums alone. True, the individual songs rarely coincided; there was a + line here, a chorus there,—just enough to fix the class, but this + was unmistakable. It was not strange that they differed, for the range + seemed almost endless, and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida seemed to + have nothing but the generic character in common, until all were mingled + in the united stock of camp-melodies. + </p> + <p> + Often in the starlit evening, I have returned from some lonely ride by the + swift river, or on the plover-haunted barrens, and, entering the camp, + have silently approached some glimmering fire, round which the dusky + figures moved in the rhythmical barbaric dance the negroes call a "shout," + chanting, often harshly, but always in the most perfect time, some + monotonous refrain. Writing down in the darkness, as I best could,—perhaps + with my hand in the safe covert of my pocket,—the words of the song, + I have afterwards carried it to my tent, like some captured bird or + insect, and then, after examination, put it by. Or, summoning one of the + men at some period of leisure,—Corporal Robert Sutton, for instance, + whose iron memory held all the details of a song as if it were a ford or a + forest,—I have completed the new specimen by supplying the absent + parts. The music I could only retain by ear, and though the more common + strains were repeated often enough to fix their impression, there were + others that occurred only once or twice. + </p> + <p> + The words will be here given, as nearly as possible, in the original + dialect; and if the spelling seems sometimes inconsistent, or the + misspelling insufficient, it is because I could get no nearer. I wished to + avoid what seems to me the only error of Lowell's "Biglow Papers" in + respect to dialect, the occasional use of an extreme misspelling, which + merely confuses the eye, without taking us any closer to the peculiarity + of sound. + </p> + <p> + The favorite song in camp was the following, sung with no accompaniment + but the measured clapping of hands and the clatter of many feet. It was + sung perhaps twice as often as any other. This was partly due to the fact + that it properly consisted of a chorus alone, with which the verses of + other songs might be combined at random. + </p> + <p> + I. HOLD YOUR LIGHT. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Hold your light, Brudder Robert, + Hold your light, + Hold your light on Canaan's shore. + "What make ole Satan for follow me so? + Satan ain't got notin' for do wid me. + Hold your light, + Hold your light, + Hold your light on Canaan's shore." +</pre> + <p> + This would be sung for half an hour at a time, perhaps each person present + being named in turn. It seemed the simplest primitive type of "spiritual." + The next in popularity was almost as elementary, and, like this, named + successively each one of the circle. It was, however, much more resounding + and convivial in its music. + </p> + <p> + II. BOUND TO GO. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Jordan River, I'm bound to go, + Bound to go, bound to go,— + Jordan River, I'm bound to go, + And bid 'em fare ye well. + + "My Brudder Robert, I'm bound to go, + Bound to go," &c. + + "My Sister Lucy, I'm bound to go, + Bound to go," &c. +</pre> + <p> + Sometimes it was "tink 'em" (think them) "fare ye well." The <i>ye</i> was + so detached that I thought at first it was "very" or "vary well." + </p> + <p> + Another picturesque song, which seemed immensely popular, was at first + very bewildering to me. I could not make out the first words of the + chorus, and called it the "Roman-dar," being reminded of some Romaic song + which I had formerly heard. That association quite fell in with the + Orientalism of the new tent-life. + </p> + <p> + III. ROOM IN THERE. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "O, my mudder is gone! my mudder is gone! + My mudder is gone into heaven, my Lord! + I can't stay behind! + Dere's room in dar, room in dar, + Room in dar, in de heaven, my Lord! + I can't stay behind! + Can't stay behind, my dear, + I can't stay behind! + + "O, my fader is gone!" &c. + + "O, de angels are gone!" &c. + + "O, I'se been on de road! I'se been on de road! + I'se been on de road into heaven, my Lord! + I can't stay behind! + O, room in dar, room in dar, + Room in dar, in de heaven, my Lord! + I can't stay behind! +</pre> + <p> + By this time every man within hearing, from oldest to youngest, would be + wriggling and shuffling, as if through some magic piper's bewitchment; for + even those who at first affected contemptuous indifference would be drawn + into the vortex erelong. + </p> + <p> + Next to these in popularity ranked a class of songs belonging emphatically + to the Church Militant, and available for camp purposes with very little + strain upon their symbolism. This, for instance, had a true + companion-in-arms heartiness about it, not impaired by the feminine + invocation at the end. + </p> + <p> + IV. HAIL MARY. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "One more valiant soldier here, + One more valiant soldier here, + One more valiant soldier here, + To help me bear de cross. + O hail, Mary, hail! + Hail, Mary, hail! + Hail, Mary, hail! + To help me bear de cross." +</pre> + <p> + I fancied that the original reading might have been "soul," instead of + "soldier,"—with some other syllable inserted to fill out the metre,—and + that the "Hail, Mary," might denote a Roman Catholic origin, as I had + several men from St. Augustine who held in a dim way to that faith. It was + a very ringing song, though not so grandly jubilant as the next, which was + really impressive as the singers pealed it out, when marching or rowing or + embarking. + </p> + <p> + V. MY ARMY CROSS OVER. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "My army cross over, + My army cross over, + O, Pharaoh's army drowndedl + My army cross over. + + "We'll cross de mighty river, + My army cross over; + We'll cross de river Jordan, + My army cross over; + We'll cross de danger water, + My army cross over; + We'll cross de mighty Myo, + My army cross over. <i>(Thrice.)</i> + O, Pharaoh's army drowndedl + My army cross over." +</pre> + <p> + I could get no explanation of the "mighty Myo," except that one of the old + men thought it meant the river of death. Perhaps it is an African word. In + the Cameroon dialect, "Mawa" signifies "to die." + </p> + <p> + The next also has a military ring about it, and the first line is well + matched by the music. The rest is conglomerate, and one or two lines show + a more Northern origin. "Done" is a Virginia shibboleth, quite distinct + from the "been" which replaces it in South Carolina. Yet one of their best + choruses, without any fixed words, was, "De bell done ringing," for which, + in proper South Carolina dialect, would have been substituted, "De bell + been a-ring." This refrain may have gone South with our army. + </p> + <p> + VI. RIDE IN, KIND SAVIOUR. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Ride in, kind Saviour! + No man can hinder me. + O, Jesus is a mighty man! + No man, &c. + We're marching through Virginny fields. + No man, &c. + O, Satan is a busy man, + No man, &c. + And he has his sword and shield, + No man, &c. + O, old Secesh done come and gone! + No man can hinder me." +</pre> + <p> + Sometimes they substituted "binder <i>we</i>," which was more spicy to the + ear, and more in keeping with the usual head-over-heels arrangement of + their pronouns. + </p> + <p> + Almost all their songs were thoroughly religious in their tone, however + quaint then: expression, and were in a minor key, both as to words and + music. The attitude is always the same, and, as a commentary on the life + of the race, is infinitely pathetic. Nothing but patience for this life,—nothing + but triumph in the next. Sometimes the present predominates, sometimes the + future; but the combination is always implied. In the following, for + instance, we hear simply the patience. + </p> + <p> + VII. THIS WORLD ALMOST DONE. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Brudder, keep your lamp trimmin' and a-burnin', + Keep your lamp trimmin' and a-burnin', + Keep your lamp trimmin' and a-burnin', + For dis world most done. + So keep your lamp, &c. + Dis world most done." +</pre> + <p> + But in the next, the final reward of patience is proclaimed as + plaintively. + </p> + <p> + VIII. I WANT TO GO HOME. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Dere's no rain to wet you, + O, yes, I want to go home. + Dere's no sun to burn you, + O, yes, I want to go home; + O, push along, believers, + O, yes, &c. + Dere's no hard trials, + O, yes, &c. + Dere's no whips a-crackin', + O, yes, &c. + My brudder on de wayside, + O, yes, &c. + O, push along, my brudder, + O, yes, &c. + Where dere's no stormy weather, + O, yes, &c. + Dere's no tribulation, + O, yes, &c. +</pre> + <p> + This next was a boat-song, and timed well with the tug of the oar. + </p> + <p> + IX. THE COMING DAY + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I want to go to Canaan, + I want to go to Canaan, + I want to go to Canaan, + To meet 'em at de comin' day. + O, remember, let me go to Canaan, <i>(Thrice.)</i> + To meet "em, &c. + O brudder, let me go to Canaan, <i>(Thrice.)</i> + To meet 'em, &c. + My brudder, you—oh!—remember, <i>(Thrice.)</i> + To meet 'em at de comin' day." +</pre> + <p> + The following begins with a startling affirmation, yet the last line quite + outdoes the first. This, too, was a capital boat-song. + </p> + <p> + X. ONE MORE RIVER. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "O, Jordan bank was a great old bank, + Dere ain't but one more river to cross. + We have some valiant soldier here, + Dere ain't, &c. + O, Jordan stream will never run dry, + Dere ain't, &c. + Dere's a hill on my leff, and he catch on my right, + Dere ain't but one more river to cross." +</pre> + <p> + I could get no explanation of this last riddle, except, "Dat mean, if you + go on de leff, go to 'struction, and if you go on de right, go to God, for + sure." + </p> + <p> + In others, more of spiritual conflict is implied, as in this next + </p> + <p> + XI. O THE DYING LAMB! + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I wants to go where Moses trod, + O de dying Lamb! + For Moses gone to de promised land, + O de dying Lamb! + To drink from springs dat never run dry, + O, &c. + Cry O my Lord! + O, &c. + Before I'll stay in hell one day, + O, &c. + I'm in hopes to pray my sins away, + O, &c. + Cry O my Lord! + 0,&c. + Brudder Moses promised for be dar too, + O, &c. + To drink from streams dat never run dry, + O de dying Lamb!" +</pre> + <p> + In the next, the conflict is at its height, and the lurid imagery of the + Apocalypse is brought to bear. This book, with the books of Moses, + constituted their Bible; all that lay between, even the narratives of the + life of Jesus, they hardly cared to read or to hear. + </p> + <p> + XII. DOWN IN THE VALLEY. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "We'll run and never tire, + We'll run and never tire, + We'll run and never tire, + Jesus set poor sinners free. + Way down in de valley, + Who will rise and go with me? + You've heern talk of Jesus, + Who set poor sinners free. + + "De lightnin' and de flashin' + De lightnin' and de flashin', + De lightnin' and de flashin', + Jesus set poor shiners free. + I can't stand the fire. <i>(Thrice.)</i> + Jesus set poor sinners free, + De green trees a-flamin'. <i>(Thrice</i>.) + Jesus set poor shiners free, + Way down in de valley, + Who will rise and go with me? + You've heern talk of Jesus + Who set poor shiners free." +</pre> + <p> + "De valley" and "de lonesome valley" were familiar words in their + religious experience. To descend into that region implied the same process + with the "anxious-seat" of the camp-meeting. When a young girl was + supposed to enter it, she bound a handkerchief by a peculiar knot over her + head, and made it a point of honor not to change a single garment till the + day of her baptism, so that she was sure of being in physical readiness + for the cleansing rite, whatever her spiritual mood might be. More than + once, in noticing a damsel thus mystically kerchiefed, I have asked some + dusky attendant its meaning, and have received the unfailing answer,—framed + with their usual indifference to the genders of pronouns—"He in de + lonesome valley, sa." + </p> + <p> + The next gives the same dramatic conflict, while its detached and + impersonal refrain gives it strikingly the character of the Scotch and + Scandinavian ballads. + </p> + <p> + XIII. CRY HOLY. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Cry holy, holy! + Look at de people dat is born of God. + And I run down de valley, and I run down to pray, + Says, look at de people dat is born of God. + When I get dar, Cappen Satan was dar, + Says, look at, &c. + Says, young man, young man, dere's no use for pray, + Says, look at, &c. + For Jesus is dead, and God gone away, + Says, look at, &c. + And I made him out a liar, and I went my way, + Says, look at, &c. + Sing holy, holy! + + "O, Mary was a woman, and he had a one Son, + Says, look at, &c. + And de Jews and de Romans had him hung, + Says, look at, &c. Cry holy, holy! + + "And I tell you, sinner, you had better had pray, + Says, look at, &c. + For hell is a dark and dismal place, + Says, look at, &c. + + And I tell you, sinner, and I wouldn't go dar! + Says, look at, &c. + Cry holy, holy!" +</pre> + <p> + Here is an infinitely quaint description of the length of the heavenly + road:— + </p> + <p> + XIV. O'ER THE CROSSING. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Vender's my old mudder, + Been a-waggin' at de hill so long. + It's about time she'll cross over; + Get home bimeby. + Keep prayin', I do believe + We're a long time waggin' o'er de crossin'. + Keep prayin', I do believe + We'll get home to heaven bimeby. + + "Hear dat mournful thunder + Roll from door to door, + Calling home God's children; + Get home bimeby. + Little chil'en, I do believe + We're a long time, &c. + Little chil'en, I do believe + We'll get home, &c. + + "See dat forked lightnin' + Flash from tree to tree, + Callin' home God's chil'en; + Get home bimeby. + True believer, I do believe + We're a long time, &c. + O brudders, I do believe, + We'll get home to heaven bimeby." +</pre> + <p> + One of the most singular pictures of future joys, and with fine flavor of + hospitality about it, was this:— + </p> + <p> + XV. WALK 'EM EASY. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "O, walk 'em easy round de heaven, + Walk 'em easy round de heaven, + Walk 'em easy round de heaven, + Dat all de people may join de band. + Walk 'em easy round de heaven. (<i>Thrice</i>.) + O, shout glory till 'em join dat band!" +</pre> + <p> + The chorus was usually the greater part of the song, and often came in + paradoxically, thus:— + </p> + <p> + XVI. O YES, LORD. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "O, must I be like de foolish mans? + O yes, Lord! + Will build de house on de sandy hill. + O yes, Lord! + I'll build my house on Zion hill, + O yes, Lord! + No wind nor rain can blow me down, + O yes, Lord!" +</pre> + <p> + The next is very graceful and lyrical, and with more variety of rhythm + than usual:— + </p> + <p> + XVII. BOW LOW, MARY. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Bow low, Mary, bow low, Martha, + For Jesus come and lock de door, + And carry de keys away. + Sail, sail, over yonder, + And view de promised land. + For Jesus come, &c. + Weep, O Mary, bow low, Martha, + For Jesus come, &c. + Sail, sail, my true believer; + Sail, sail, over yonder; + Mary, bow low, Martha, bow low, + For Jesus come and lock de door + And carry de keys away." +</pre> + <p> + But of all the "spirituals" that which surprised me the most, I think,—perhaps + because it was that in which external nature furnished the images most + directly,—was this. With all my experience of their ideal ways of + speech, I was startled when first I came on such a flower of poetry in + that dark soil. + </p> + <p> + XVIII. I KNOW MOON-RISE. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I know moon-rise, I know star-rise, + Lay dis body down. + I walk in de moonlight, I walk in de starlight, + To lay dis body down. + I'll walk in de graveyard, I'll walk through de graveyard, + To lay dis body down. + I'll lie in de grave and stretch out my arms; + Lay dis body down. + I go to de judgment in de evenin' of de day, + When I lay dis body down; + And my soul and your soul will meet in de day + When I lay dis body down." +</pre> + <p> + "I'll lie in de grave and stretch out my arms." Never, it seems to me, + since man first lived and suffered, was his infinite longing for peace + uttered more plaintively than in that line. + </p> + <p> + The next is one of the wildest and most striking of the whole series: + there is a mystical effect and a passionate striving throughout the whole. + The Scriptural struggle between Jacob and the angel, which is only dimly + expressed in the words, seems all uttered in the music. I think it + impressed my imagination more powerfully than any other of these songs. + </p> + <p> + XIX. WRESTLING JACOB. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "O wrestlin' Jacob, Jacob, day's a-breakin'; + I will not let thee go! + O wrestlin' Jacob, Jacob, day's a-breakin'; + He will not let me go! + O, I hold my brudder wid a tremblin' hand + I would not let him go! + I hold my sister wid a tremblin' hand; + I would not let her go! + + "O, Jacob do hang from a tremblin' limb, + He would not let him go! + O, Jacob do hang from a tremblin' limb; + De Lord will bless my soul. + O wrestlin' Jacob, Jacob," &c. +</pre> + <p> + Of "occasional hymns," properly so called, I noticed but one, a funeral + hymn for an infant, which is sung plaintively over and over, without + variety of words. + </p> + <p> + XX. THE BABY GONE HOME. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "De little baby gone home, + De little baby gone home, + De little baby gone along, + For to climb up Jacob's ladder. + And I wish I'd been dar, + I wish I'd been dar, + I wish I'd been dar, my Lord, + For to climb up Jacob's ladder." +</pre> + <p> + Still simpler is this, which is yet quite sweet and touching. + </p> + <p> + XXI. JESUS WITH US. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "He have been wid us, Jesus + He still wid us, Jesus, + He will be wid us, Jesus, + Be wid us to the end." +</pre> + <p> + The next seemed to be a favorite about Christmas time, when meditations on + "de rollin' year" were frequent among them. + </p> + <p> + XXII. LORD, REMEMBER ME. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "O do, Lord, remember me! + O do, Lord, remember me! + O, do remember me, until de year roll round! + Do, Lord, remember me! + + "If you want to die like Jesus died, + Lay in de grave, + You would fold your arms and close your eyes + And die wid a free good will. + + "For Death is a simple ting, + And he go from door to door, + And he knock down some, and he cripple op some, + And he leave some here to pray. + + "O do, Lord remember me! + O do, Lord, remember me! + My old fader's gone till de year roll round; + Do, Lord, remember me!" +</pre> + <p> + The next was sung in such an operatic and rollicking way that it was quite + hard to fancy it a religious performance, which, however, it was. I heard + it but once. + </p> + <p> + XXIH. EARLY IN THE MORNING. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "I meet little Rosa early in de mornin', + O Jerusalem! early in de mornin'; + And I ax her, How you do, my darter? + O Jerusalem! early in de mornin'. + + "I meet my mudder early in de mornin', + O Jerusalem! &c. + And I ax her, How you do, my mudder? + O Jerusalem! &c. + + "I meet Brudder Robert early in de mornin', + O Jerusalem! &c. + And I ax him, How you do, my sonny? + O Jerusalem! &c. + + "I meet Tittawisa early in de mornin', + O Jerusalem! &c. + And I ax her, How you do, my darter? + O Jerusalem!" &c. +</pre> + <p> + "Tittawisa" means "Sister Louisa." In songs of this class the name of + every person present successively appears. + </p> + <p> + Their best marching song, and one which was invaluable to lift their feet + along, as they expressed it, was the following. There was a kind of spring + and lilt to it, quite indescribable by words. + </p> + <p> + XXIV. GO IN THE WILDERNESS. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Jesus call you. Go in de wilderness, + Go in de wilderness, go in de wilderness, + Jesus call you. Go in de wilderness + To wait upon de Lord. + Go wait upon de Lord, + Go wait upon de Lord, + Go wait upon de Lord, my God, + He take away de sins of de world. + + "Jesus a-waitin'. Go in de wilderness, + Go, &c. + All dem chil'en go in de wilderness + To wait upon de Lord." +</pre> + <p> + The next was one of those which I had heard in boyish days, brought North + from Charleston. But the chorus alone was identical; the words were mainly + different, and those here given are quaint enough. + </p> + <p> + XXV. BLOW YOUR TRUMPET, GABRIEL. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "O, blow your trumpet, Gabriel, + Blow your trumpet louder; + And I want dat trumpet to blow me home + To my new Jerusalem. + + "De prettiest ting dat ever I done + Was to serve de Lord when I was young. + So blow your trumpet, Gabriel, &c. + + "O, Satan is a liar, and he conjure too, + And if you don't mind, he'll conjure you. + So blow your trumpet, Gabriel, &c. + + "O, I was lost in de wilderness. + King Jesus hand me de candle down. + So blow your trumpet, Gabriel," &c. +</pre> + <p> + The following contains one of those odd transformations of proper names + with which their Scriptural citations were often enriched. It rivals their + text, "Paul may plant, and may polish wid water," which I have elsewhere + quoted, and in which the sainted Apollos would hardly have recognized + himself. + </p> + <p> + XXVI. IN THE MORNING. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "In de mornin', + In de mornin', + Chil'en? Yes, my Lord! + Don't you hear de trumpet sound? + If I had a-died when I was young, + I never would had de race for run. + Don't you hear de trumpet sound? + + "O Sam and Peter was fishin' in de sea, + And dey drop de net and follow my Lord. + Don't you hear de trumpet sound? + + "Dere's a silver spade for to dig my grave + And a golden chain for to let me down. + Don't you hear de trumpet sound? + In de mornin', In de mornin', + Chil'en? Yes, my Lord! + Don't you hear de trumpet sound?" +</pre> + <p> + These golden and silver fancies remind one of the King of Spain's daughter + in "Mother Goose," and the golden apple, and the silver pear, which are + doubtless themselves but the vestiges of some simple early composition + like this. The next has a humbler and more domestic style of fancy. + </p> + <p> + XXVII. FARE YE WELL. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "My true believers, fare ye well, + Fare ye well, fare ye well, + Fare ye well, by de grace of God, + For I'm going home. + + Massa Jesus give me a little broom + For to sweep my heart clean, + And I will try, by de grace of God, + To win my way home." +</pre> + <p> + Among the songs not available for marching, but requiring the concentrated + enthusiasm of the camp, was "The Ship of Zion," of which they had three + wholly distinct versions, all quite exuberant and tumultuous. + </p> + <p> + XXVIII. THE SHIP OF ZION. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Come along, come along, + And let us go home, + O, glory, hallelujah? + Dis de ole ship o' Zion, + Halleloo! Halleloo! + Dis de ole ship o' Zion, + Hallelujah! + + "She has landed many a tousand, + She can land as many more. + O, glory, hallelujah! &c. + + "Do you tink she will be able + For to take us all home? + O, glory, hallelujah! &c. + + "You can tell 'em I'm a comin', + Halleloo! Halleloo! + You can tell 'em I'm a comin', + Hallelujah! + Come along, come along," &c. +</pre> + <p> + XXIX. THE SHIP OF ZION. <i>(Second version.)</i> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Dis de good ole ship o' Zion, + Dis de good ole ship o' Zion, + Dis de good ole ship o' Zion, + And she's makin' for de Promise Land. + She hab angels for de sailors, <i>(Thrice.)</i> + And she's, &c. + And how you know dey's angels? <i>(Thrice.)</i> + And she's, &c. + Good Lord, Shall I be one? <i>(Thrice.)</i> + And she's, &c. + + "Dat ship is out a-sailin', sailin', sailin', + And she's, &c. + She's a-sailin' mighty steady, steady, steady, + And she's, &c. + She'll neither reel nor totter, totter, totter, + And she's, &c. + She's a-sailin' away cold Jordan, Jordan, Jordan, + And she's, &c. + King Jesus is de captain, captain, captain, + And she's makin' for de Promise Land." +</pre> + <p> + XXX. THE SHIP OF ZION. <i>(Third version.)</i> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "De Gospel ship is sailin', + Hosann—sann. + O, Jesus is de captain, + Hosann—sann. + De angels are de sailors, + Hosann—sann. + O, is your bundle ready? + Hosann—sann. + O, have you got your ticket? + Hosann—sann." +</pre> + <p> + This abbreviated chorus is given with unspeakable unction. + </p> + <p> + The three just given are modifications of an old camp-meeting melody; and + the same may be true of the three following, although I cannot find them + in the Methodist hymn-books. Each, however, has its characteristic + modifications, which make it well worth giving. In the second verse of + this next, for instance, "Saviour" evidently has become "soldier." + </p> + <p> + XXXI. SWEET MUSIC + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Sweet music in heaven, + Just beginning for to roll. + Don't you love God? + Glory, hallelujah! + + "Yes, late I heard my soldier say, + Come, heavy soul, I am de way. + Don't you love God? + Glory, hallelujah! + + "I'll go and tell to sinners round + What a kind Saviour I have found. + Don't you love God? + Glory, hallelujah! + + "My grief my burden long has been, + Because I was not cease from sin. + Don't you love God? + Glory, hallelujahl" +</pre> + <p> + XXXII. GOOD NEWS. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "O, good news! O, good news! + De angels brought de tidings down, + Just comin' from de trone. + + "As grief from out my soul shall fly, + Just comin' from de trone; + I'll shout salvation when I die, + Good news, O, good news! + Just comin' from de trone. + + "Lord, I want to go to heaven when I die, + Good news, O, good news! &c. + + "De white folks call us a noisy crew, + Good news, O, good news! + But dis I know, we are happy too, + Just comin' from de trone." +</pre> + <p> + XXXIII. THE HEAVENLY ROAD. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "You may talk of my name as much as you please, + And carry my name abroad, + But I really do believe I'm a child of God + As I walk in de heavenly road. + O, won't you go wid me? <i>(Thrice.)</i> + For to keep our garments clean. + + "O Satan is a mighty busy ole man, + And roll rocks in my way; + But Jesus is my bosom friend, + And roll 'em out of de way. + O, won't you go wid me? <i>(Thrice.)</i> + For to keep our garments clean. + + "Come, my brudder, if you never did pray, + I hope you may pray to-night; + For I really believe I'm a child of God + As I walk in de heavenly road. + O, won't you," &c. +</pre> + <p> + Some of the songs had played an historic part during the war. For singing + the next, for instance, the negroes had been put in jail in Georgetown, S. + C., at the outbreak of the Rebellion. "We'll soon be free" was too + dangerous an assertion; and though the chant was an old one, it was no + doubt sung with redoubled emphasis during the new events. "De Lord will + call us home," was evidently thought to be a symbolical verse; for, as a + little drummer-boy explained to me, showing all his white teeth as he sat + in the moonlight by the door of my tent, "Dey tink <i>de Lord</i> mean for + say <i>de Yankees</i>." + </p> + <p> + XXXIV. WE'LL SOON BE FREE. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "We'll soon be free, + We'll soon be free, + We'll soon be free, + When de Lord will call us home. + My brudder, how long, + My brudder, how long, + My brudder, how long, + 'Fore we done sufferin' here? + It won't be long <i>(Thrice.)</i> + 'Fore de Lord will call us home. + We'll walk de miry road <i>(Thrice.)</i> + Where pleasure never dies. + We'll walk de golden street <i>(Thrice.)</i> + Where pleasure never dies. + My brudder, how long <i>(Thrice.)</i> + 'Fore we done sufferin' here? + We'll soon be free <i>(Thrice.)</i> + When Jesus sets me free. + We'll fight for liberty <i>(Thrice.)</i> + When de Lord will call us home." +</pre> + <p> + The suspicion in this case was unfounded, but they had another song to + which the Rebellion had actually given rise. This was composed by nobody + knew whom,—though it was the most recent, doubtless, of all these + "spirituals,"—and had been sung in secret to avoid detection. It is + certainly plaintive enough. The peck of corn and pint of salt were + slavery's rations. + </p> + <p> + XXXV. MANY THOUSAND GO. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "No more peck o' corn for me, + No more, no more,— + No more peck o' corn for me, + Many tousand go. + + "No more driver's lash for me, <i>(Twice.)</i> + No more, &c. + + "No more pint o' salt for me, <i>(Twice</i>.) + No more, &c. + + "No more hundred lash for me, <i>(Twice</i>.) + No more, &c. + + "No more mistress' call for me, + No more, no more,— + No more mistress' call for me, + Many tousand go." +</pre> + <p> + Even of this last composition, however, we have only the approximate date + and know nothing of the mode of composition. Allan Ramsay says of the + Scotch songs, that, no matter who made them, they were soon attributed to + the minister of the parish whence they sprang. And I always wondered, + about these, whether they had always a conscious and definite origin in + some leading mind, or whether they grew by gradual accretion, in an almost + unconscious way. On this point I could get no information, though I asked + many questions, until at last, one day when I was being rowed across from + Beaufort to Ladies' Island, I found myself, with delight, on the actual + trail of a song. One of the oarsmen, a brisk young fellow, not a soldier, + on being asked for his theory of the matter, dropped out a coy confession. + "Some good sperituals," he said, "are start jess out o' curiosity. I been + a-raise a sing, myself, once." + </p> + <p> + My dream was fulfilled, and I had traced out, not the poem alone, but the + poet. I implored him to proceed. + </p> + <p> + "Once we boys," he said, "went for tote some rice and de nigger-driver he + keep a-callin' on us; and I say, 'O, de ole nigger-driver!' Den anudder + said, 'Fust ting my mammy tole me was, notin' so bad as nigger-driver.' + Den I made a sing, just puttin' a word, and den anudder word." + </p> + <p> + Then he began singing, and the men, after listening a moment, joined in + the chorus, as if it were an old acquaintance, though they evidently had + never heard it before. I saw how easily a new "sing" took root among them. + </p> + <p> + XXXVI. THE DRIVER. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "O, de ole nigger-driver! + O, gwine away! + Fust ting my mammy tell me, + O, gwine away! + Tell me 'bout de nigger-driver, + O, gwine away! + Nigger-driver second devil, + O, gwine away! + Best ting for do he driver, + O, gwine away! + Knock he down and spoil he labor, + O, gwine away!" +</pre> + <p> + It will be observed that, although this song is quite secular in its + character, yet its author called it a "spiritual." I heard but two songs + among them, at any time, to which they would not, perhaps, have given this + generic name. One of these consisted simply in the endless repetition—after + the manner of certain college songs—of the mysterious line,— + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Rain fall and wet Becky Lawton." +</pre> + <p> + But who Becky Lawton was, and why she should or should not be wet, and + whether the dryness was a reward or a penalty, none could say. I got the + impression that, in either case, the event was posthumous, and that there + was some tradition of grass not growing over the grave of a sinner; but + even this was vague, and all else vaguer. + </p> + <p> + The other song I heard but once, on a morning when a squad of men came in + from picket duty, and chanted it in the most rousing way. It had been a + stormy and comfortless night, and the picket station was very exposed. It + still rained in the morning when I strolled to the edge of the camp, + looking out for the men, and wondering how they had stood it. Presently + they came striding along the road, at a great pace, with their shining + rubber blankets worn as cloaks around them, the rain streaming from these + and from their equally shining faces, which were almost all upon the broad + grin, as they pealed out this remarkable ditty:— + </p> + <p> + HANGMAN JOHNNY. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "O, dey call me Hangman Johnny! + O, ho! O, ho! + But I never hang nobody, + O, hang, boys, hang! + O dey, call me Hangman Johnny! + O, ho! O, ho! + But we'll all hang togedder, + O, hang, boys, hang!" +</pre> + <p> + My presence apparently checked the performance of another verse, + beginning, "De buckra 'list for money," apparently in reference to the + controversy about the pay-question, then just beginning, and to the more + mercenary aims they attributed to the white soldiers. But "Hangman Johnny" + remained always a myth as inscrutable as "Becky Lawton." + </p> + <p> + As they learned all their songs by ear, they often strayed into wholly new + versions, which sometimes became popular, and entirely banished the + others. This was amusingly the case, for instance, with one phrase in the + popular camp-song of "Marching Along," which was entirely new to them + until our quartermaster taught it to them, at my request. The words, "Gird + on the armor," were to them a stumbling-block, and no wonder, until some + ingenious ear substituted, "Guide on de army," which was at once accepted, + and became universal. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "We'll guide on de army, and be marching along" +</pre> + <p> + is now the established version on the Sea Islands. + </p> + <p> + These quaint religious songs were to the men more than a source of + relaxation; they were a stimulus to courage and a tie to heaven. I never + overheard in camp a profane or vulgar song. With the trifling exceptions + given, all had a religious motive, while the most secular melody could not + have been more exciting. A few youths from Savannah, who were + comparatively men of the world, had learned some of the "Ethiopian + Minstrel" ditties, imported from the North. These took no hold upon the + mass; and, on the other hand, they sang reluctantly, even on Sunday, the + long and short metres of the hymn-books, always gladly yielding to the + more potent excitement of their own "spirituals." By these they could sing + themselves, as had their fathers before them, out of the contemplation of + their own low estate, into the sublime scenery of the Apocalypse. I + remember that this minor-keyed pathos used to seem to me almost too sad to + dwell upon, while slavery seemed destined to last for generations; but now + that their patience has had its perfect work, history cannot afford to + lose this portion of its record. There is no parallel instance of an + oppressed race thus sustained by the religious sentiment alone. These + songs are but the vocal expression of the simplicity of their faith and + the sublimity of their long resignation. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter 10 Life at Camp Shaw + </h2> + <p> + The Edisto expedition cost me the health and strength of several years. I + could say, long after, in the words of one of the men, "I'se been a sickly + person, eber since de expeditious." Justice to a strong constitution and + good habits compels me, however, to say that, up to the time of my injury, + I was almost the only officer in the regiment who had not once been off + duty from illness. But at last I had to yield, and went North for a month. + </p> + <p> + We heard much said, during the war, of wounded officers who stayed + unreasonably long at home. I think there were more instances of those who + went back too soon. Such at least was my case. On returning to the + regiment I found a great accumulation of unfinished business; every member + of the field and staff was prostrated by illness or absent on detailed + service; two companies had been sent to Hilton Head on fatigue duty, and + kept there unexpectedly long: and there was a visible demoralization among + the rest, especially from the fact that their pay had just been cut down, + in violation of the express pledges of the government. A few weeks of + steady sway made all right again; and during those weeks I felt a perfect + exhilaration of health, followed by a month or two of complete + prostration, when the work was done. This passing, I returned to duty, + buoyed up by the fallacious hope that the winter months would set me right + again. + </p> + <p> + We had a new camp on Port Royal Island, very pleasantly situated, just out + of Beaufort. It stretched nearly to the edge of a shelving bluff, fringed + with pines and overlooking the river; below the bluff was a hard, narrow + beach, where one might gallop a mile and bathe at the farther end. We + could look up and down the curving stream, and watch the few vessels that + came and went. Our first encampment had been lower down that same river, + and we felt at home. + </p> + <p> + The new camp was named Camp Shaw, in honor of the noble young officer who + had lately fallen at Fort Wagner, under circumstances which had endeared + him to all the men. As it happened, they had never seen him, nor was my + regiment ever placed within immediate reach of the Fifty-Fourth + Massachusetts. This I always regretted, feeling very desirous to compare + the military qualities of the Northern and Southern blacks. As it was, the + Southern regiments with which the Massachusetts troops were brigaded were + hardly a fair specimen of their kind, having been raised chiefly by + drafting, and, for this and other causes, being afflicted with perpetual + discontent and desertion. + </p> + <p> + We had, of course, looked forward with great interest to the arrival of + these new colored regiments, and I had ridden in from the picket-station + to see the Fifty-Fourth. Apart from the peculiarity of its material, it + was fresh from my own State, and I had relatives and acquaintances among + its officers. Governor Andrew, who had formed it, was an old friend, and + had begged me, on departure from Massachusetts, to keep him informed as to + our experiment I had good reason to believe that my reports had helped to + prepare the way for this new battalion, and I had sent him, at his + request, some hints as to its formation.* + </p> + <p> + *COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, Executive Department, + </p> + <p> + Boston, February 5, 1863. + </p> + <p> + To COL. T. W. HIGGINSON, Commanding 1st Regt. S. C. Vols., + </p> + <p> + Port Royal Id., S. C. + </p> + <p> + COLONEL,—I am under obligations to you for your very interesting + letter of January 19th, which I considered to be too important in its + testimony to the efficiency of colored troops to be allowed to remain + hidden on my files. I therefore placed some portions of it in the hands of + Hon. Stephen M. Weld, of Jamaica Plain, for publication, and you will find + enclosed the newspaper slip from the "Journal" of February 3d, in which it + appeared. During a recent visit at Washington I have obtained permission + from the Department of War to enlist colored troops as part of the + Massachusetts quota, and I am about to begin to organize a colored + infantry regiment, to be numbered the "54th Massachusetts Volunteers." + </p> + <p> + I shall be greatly obliged by any suggestions which your experience may + afford concerning it, and I am determined that it shall serve as a model, + in the high character of its officers and the thorough discipline of its + men, for all subsequent corps of the like material. + </p> + <p> + Please present to General Saxton the assurances of my respectful regard. + </p> + <p> + I have the honor to be, respectfully and obediently yours, + </p> + <p> + JOHN A. ANDREW, Governor of Massachusetts. + </p> + <p> + In the streets of Beaufort I had met Colonel Shaw, riding with his + lieutenant-colonel and successor, Edward Hallowell, and had gone back with + them to share their first meal in camp. I should have known Shaw anywhere + by his resemblance to his kindred, nor did it take long to perceive that + he shared their habitual truthfulness and courage. Moreover, he and + Hallowell had already got beyond the commonplaces of inexperience, in + regard to colored troops, and, for a wonder, asked only sensible + questions. For instance, he admitted the mere matter of courage to be + settled, as regarded the colored troops, and his whole solicitude bore on + this point, Would they do as well in line-of-battle as they had already + done in more irregular service, and on picket and guard duty? Of this I + had, of course, no doubt, nor, I think, had he; though I remember his + saying something about the possibility of putting them between two fires + in case of need, and so cutting off their retreat. I should never have + thought of such a project, but I could not have expected bun to trust them + as I did, until he had been actually under fire with them. That, + doubtless, removed all his anxieties, if he really had any. + </p> + <p> + This interview had occurred on the 4th of June. Shaw and his regiment had + very soon been ordered to Georgia, then to Morris Island; Fort Wagner had + been assaulted, and he had been killed. Most of the men knew about the + circumstances of his death, and many of them had subscribed towards a + monument for him,—a project which originated with General Saxton, + and which was finally embodied in the "Shaw School-house" at Charleston. + So it gave us all pleasure to name this camp for him, as its predecessor + had been named for General Saxton. + </p> + <p> + The new camp was soon brought into good order. The men had great ingenuity + in building screens and shelters of light poles, filled in with the gray + moss from the live-oaks. The officers had vestibules built in this way, + before all their tents; the cooking-places were walled round in the same + fashion; and some of the wide company-streets had sheltered sidewalks down + the whole line of tents. The sergeant on duty at the entrance of the camp + had a similar bower, and the architecture culminated in a "Praise-House" + for school and prayer-meetings, some thirty feet in diameter. As for + chimneys and flooring, they were provided with that magic and invisible + facility which marks the second year of a regiment's life. + </p> + <p> + That officer is happy who, besides a constitutional love of adventure, has + also a love for the details of camp life, and likes to bring them to + perfection. Nothing but a hen with her chickens about her can symbolize + the content I felt on getting my scattered companies together, after some + temporary separation on picket or fatigue duty. Then we went to work upon + the nest. The only way to keep a camp in order is to set about everything + as if you expected to stay there forever; if you stay, you get the comfort + of it; if ordered away in twenty-four hours, you forget all wasted labor + in the excitement of departure. Thus viewed, a camp is a sort of model + farm or bit of landscape gardening; there is always some small improvement + to be made, a trench, a well, more shade against the sun, an increased + vigilance in sweeping. Then it is pleasant to take care of the men, to see + them happy, to hear them purr. + </p> + <p> + Then the duties of inspection and drill, suspended during active service, + resume their importance with a month or two of quiet. It really costs + unceasing labor to keep a regiment in perfect condition and ready for + service. The work is made up of minute and endless details, like a bird's + pruning her feathers or a cat's licking her kittens into their proper + toilet. Here are eight hundred men, every one of whom, every Sunday + morning at farthest, must be perfectly <i>soigne</i> in all personal + proprieties; he must exhibit himself provided with every article of + clothing, buttons, shoe-strings, hooks and eyes, company letter, + regimental number, rifle, bayonet, bayonet-scabbard, cap-pouch, + cartridge-box, cartridge-box belt, cartridge-box belt-plate, gun-sling, + canteen, haversack, knapsack, packed according to rule, forty cartridges, + forty percussion caps; and every one of these articles polished to the + highest brightness or blackness as the case may be, and moreover hung or + slung or tied or carried in precisely the correct manner. + </p> + <p> + What a vast and formidable housekeeping is here, my patriotic sisters! + Consider, too, that every corner of the camp is to be kept absolutely + clean and ready for exhibition at the shortest notice; hospital, stables, + guard-house, cook-houses, company tents, must all be brought to + perfection, and every square inch of this "farm of four acres" must look + as smooth as an English lawn, twice a day. All this, beside the discipline + and the drill and the regimental and company books, which must keep rigid + account of all these details; consider all this, and then wonder no more + that officers and men rejoice in being ordered on active service, where a + few strokes of the pen will dispose of all this multiplicity of trappings + as "expended in action" or "lost in service." + </p> + <p> + For one, the longer I remained in service, the better I appreciated the + good sense of most of the regular army niceties. True, these things must + all vanish when the time of action comes, but it is these things that have + prepared you for action. Of course, if you dwell on them only, military + life becomes millinery life alone. Kinglake says that the Russian + Grand-Duke Constantine, contemplating his beautiful toy-regiments, said + that he dreaded war, for he knew that it would spoil the troops. The + simple fact is, that a soldier is like the weapon he carries; service + implies soiling, but you must have it clean in advance, that when soiled + it may be of some use. + </p> + <p> + The men had that year a Christmas present which they enjoyed to the + utmost,—furnishing the detail, every other day, for provost-guard + duty in Beaufort. It was the only military service which they had ever + shared within the town, and it moreover gave a sense of self-respect to be + keeping the peace of their own streets. I enjoyed seeing them put on duty + those mornings; there was such a twinkle of delight in their eyes, though + their features were immovable. As the "reliefs" went round, posting the + guard, under charge of a corporal, one could watch the black sentinels + successively dropped and the whites picked up,—gradually changing + the complexion, like Lord Somebody's black stockings which became white + stockings,—till at last there was only a squad of white soldiers + obeying the "Support Arms! Forward, March!" of a black corporal. + </p> + <p> + Then, when once posted, they glorified their office, you may be sure. + Discipline had grown rather free-and-easy in the town about that time, and + it is said that the guard-house never was so full within human memory as + after their first tour of duty. I remember hearing that one young + reprobate, son of a leading Northern philanthropist in those parts, was + much aggrieved at being taken to the lock-up merely because he was found + drunk in the streets. "Why," said he, "the white corporals always showed + me the way home." And I can testify that, after an evening party, some + weeks later, I beard with pleasure the officers asking eagerly for the + countersign. "Who has the countersign?" said they. "The darkeys are on + guard to-night, and we must look out for our lives." Even after a + Christmas party at General Saxton's, the guard at the door very properly + refused to let the ambulance be brought round from the stable for the + ladies because the driver had not the countersign. + </p> + <p> + One of the sergeants of the guard, on one of these occasions, made to one + who questioned his authority an answer that could hardly have been + improved. The questioner had just been arrested for some offence. + </p> + <p> + "Know what dat mean?" said the indignant sergeant, pointing to the + chevrons on his own sleeve. "Dat mean <i>Guv'ment</i>." Volumes could not + have said more, and the victim collapsed. The thing soon settled itself, + and nobody remembered to notice whether the face beside the musket of a + sentinel were white or black. It meant Government, all the same. + </p> + <p> + The men were also indulged with several raids on the mainland, under the + direction of Captain J. E. Bryant, of the Eighth Maine, the most + experienced scout in that region, who was endeavoring to raise by + enlistment a regiment of colored troops. On one occasion Captains Whitney + and Heasley, with their companies, penetrated nearly to Pocataligo, + capturing some pickets and bringing away all the slaves of a plantation,—the + latter operation being entirely under the charge of Sergeant Harry + Williams (Co. K), without the presence of any white man. The whole command + was attacked on the return by a rebel force, which turned out to be what + was called in those regions a "dog-company," consisting of mounted + riflemen with half a dozen trained bloodhounds. The men met these dogs + with their bayonets, killed four or five of their old tormentors with + great relish, and brought away the carcass of one. I had the creature + skinned, and sent the skin to New York to be stuffed and mounted, meaning + to exhibit it at the Sanitary Commission Fair hi Boston; but it spoiled on + the passage. These quadruped allies were not originally intended as "dogs + of war," but simply to detect fugitive slaves, and the men were delighted + at this confirmation of their tales of dog-companies, which some of the + officers had always disbelieved. + </p> + <p> + Captain Bryant, during his scouting adventures, had learned to outwit + these bloodhounds, and used his skill in eluding escape, during another + expedition of the same kind. He was sent with Captain Metcalf's company + far up the Combahee River to cut the telegraphic wires and intercept + despatches. Our adventurous chaplain and a telegraphic operator went with + the party. They ascended the river, cut the wires, and read the despatches + for an hour or two. Unfortunately, the attached wire was too conspicuously + hung, and was seen by a passenger on the railway train in passing. The + train was stopped and a swift stampede followed; a squad of cavalry was + sent in pursuit, and our chaplain, with Lieutenant Osborn, of Bryant's + projected regiment, were captured; also one private,—the first of + our men who had ever been taken prisoners. In spite of an agreement at + Washington to the contrary, our chaplain was held as prisoner of war, the + only spiritual adviser in uniform, so far as I know, who had that honor. I + do not know but his reverence would have agreed with Scott's + pirate-lieutenant, that it was better to live as plain Jack Bunce than die + as Frederick Altamont; but I am very sure that he would rather have been + kept prisoner to the close of the war, as a combatant, than have been + released on parole as a non-resistant. + </p> + <p> + After his return, I remember, he gave the most animated accounts of the + whole adventure, of which he had enjoyed every instant, from the first + entrance on the enemy's soil to the final capture. I suppose we should all + like to tap the telegraphic wires anywhere and read our neighbor's + messages, if we could only throw round this process the dignity of a + Sacred Cause. This was what our good chaplain had done, with the same + conscientious zest with which he had conducted his Sunday foraging in + Florida. But he told me that nothing so impressed him on the whole trip as + the sudden transformation in the black soldier who was taken prisoner with + him. The chaplain at once adopted the policy, natural to him, of talking + boldly and even defiantly to his captors, and commanding instead of + beseeching. He pursued the same policy always and gained by it, he + thought. But the negro adopted the diametrically opposite policy, also + congenial to his crushed race,—all the force seemed to go out of + him, and he surrendered himself like a tortoise to be kicked and trodden + upon at their will. This manly, well-trained soldier at once became a + slave again, asked no questions, and, if any were asked, made meek and + conciliatory answers. He did not know, nor did any of us know, whether he + would be treated as a prisoner of war, or shot, or sent to a + rice-plantation. He simply acted according to the traditions of his race, + as did the chaplain on his side. In the end the soldier's cunning was + vindicated by the result; he escaped, and rejoined us in six months, while + the chaplain was imprisoned for a year. + </p> + <p> + The men came back very much exhausted from this expedition, and those who + were in the chaplain's squad narrowly escaped with their lives. One brave + fellow had actually not a morsel to eat for four days, and then could keep + nothing on his stomach for two days more, so that his life was despaired + of; and yet he brought all his equipments safe into camp. Some of these + men had led such wandering lives, in woods and swamps, that to hunt them + was like hunting an otter; shyness and concealment had grown to be their + second nature. + </p> + <p> + After these little episodes came two months of peace. We were clean, + comfortable, quiet, and consequently discontented. It was therefore with + eagerness that we listened to a rumor of a new Florida expedition, in + which we might possibly take a hand. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter 11. Florida Again? + </h2> + <p> + Let me revert once more to my diary, for a specimen of the sharp changes + and sudden disappointments that may come to troops in service. But for a + case or two of varioloid in the regiment, we should have taken part in the + battle of Olustee, and should have had (as was reported) the right of the + line. At any rate we should have shared the hard knocks and the glory, + which were distributed pretty freely to the colored troops then and there. + The diary will give, better than can any continuous narrative, our ups and + down of expectation in those days. + </p> + <p> + "CAMP SHAW, BEAUFORT, S. C., + </p> + <p> + "February 7, 1864. + </p> + <p> + "Great are the uncertainties of military orders! Since our recall from + Jacksonville we have had no such surprises as came to us on Wednesday + night. It was our third day of a new tour of duty at the picket station. + We had just got nicely settled,—men well tented, with good floors, + and in high spirits, officers at out-stations all happy, Mrs. —— + coming to stay with her husband, we at head-quarters just in order, house + cleaned, moss-garlands up, camellias and jessamines in the tin + wash-basins, baby in bliss;—our usual run of visitors had just set + in, two Beaufort captains and a surgeon had just risen from a late dinner + after a flag of truce, General Saxton and his wife had driven away but an + hour or two before, we were all sitting about busy, with a great fire + blazing, Mrs. D. had just remarked triumphantly, 'Last time I had but a + mouthful here, and now I shall be here three weeks'—when— + </p> + <p> + "In dropped, like a bombshell, a despatch announcing that we were to be + relieved by the Eighth Maine, the next morning, as General Gillmore had + sent an order that we should be ready for departure from Beaufort at any + moment. + </p> + <p> + "Conjectures, orders, packing, sending couriers to out-stations, were the + employments of the evening; the men received the news with cheers, and we + all came in next morning." + </p> + <p> + "February 11, 1864. + </p> + <p> + "For three days we have watched the river, and every little steamboat that + comes up for coal brings out spy-glasses and conjectures, and 'Dar's de + Fourf New Hampshire,'—for when that comes, it is said, we go. + Meanwhile we hear stirring news from Florida, and the men are very + impatient to be off. It is remarkable how much more thoroughly they look + at things as soldiers than last year, and how much less as home-bound men,—the + South-Carolinians, I mean, for of course the Floridians would naturally + wish to go to Florida. + </p> + <p> + "But in every way I see the gradual change in them, sometimes with a sigh, + as parents watch their children growing up and miss the droll speeches and + the confiding ignorance of childhood. Sometimes it comes over me with a + pang that they are growing more like white men,—less naive and less + grotesque. Still, I think there is enough of it to last, and that their + joyous buoyancy, at least, will hold out while life does. + </p> + <p> + "As for our destination, our greatest fear is of finding ourselves posted + at Hilton Head and going no farther. As a dashing Irish officer remarked + the other day, 'If we are ordered away anywhere, I hope it will be either + to go to Florida or else stay here!'" + </p> + <p> + "Sublime uncertainties again! + </p> + <p> + "After being ordered in from picket, under marching orders; after the + subsequent ten days of uncertainty; after watching every steamboat that + came up the river, to see if the Fourth New Hampshire was on board,—at + last the regiment came. + </p> + <p> + "Then followed another break; there was no transportation to take us. At + last a boat was notified. + </p> + <p> + "Then General Saxton, as anxious to keep us as was the regiment to go, + played his last card in small-pox, telegraphing to department + head-quarters that we had it dangerously in the regiment. (N. B. All + varioloid, light at that, and besides, we always have it.) + </p> + <p> + "Then the order came to leave behind the sick and those who had been + peculiarly exposed, and embark the rest next day. + </p> + <p> + "Great was the jubilee! The men were up, I verily believe, by three in the + morning, and by eight the whole camp was demolished or put in wagons, and + we were on our way. The soldiers of the Fourth New Hampshire swarmed in; + every board was swept away by them; there had been a time when colored + boards (if I may delicately so express myself) were repudiated by white + soldiers, but that epoch had long since passed. I gave my new tent-frame, + even the latch, to Colonel Bell; ditto Lieutenant-Colonel to + Lieutenant-Colonel. + </p> + <p> + "Down we marched, the men singing 'John Brown' and 'Marching Along' and + 'Gwine in de Wilderness'; women in tears and smiles lined the way. We + halted opposite the dear General's; we cheered, he speeched, I speeched, + we all embraced symbolically, and cheered some more. Then we went to work + at the wharf; vast wagon-loads of tents, rations, ordnance, and what-not + disappeared in the capacious maw of the Delaware. In the midst of it all + came riding down General Saxton with a despatch from Hilton Head:— + </p> + <p> + "'If you think the amount of small-pox in the First South Carolina + Volunteers sufficient, the order will be countermanded.' + </p> + <p> + "'What shall I say?' quoth the guilty General, perceiving how + preposterously too late the negotiation was reopened. + </p> + <p> + "'Say, sir?' quoth I. 'Say that we are on board already and the small-pox + left behind. Say we had only thirteen cases, chiefly varioloid, and ten + almost well.' + </p> + <p> + "Our blood was up with a tremendous morning's work done, and, rather than + turn back, we felt ready to hold down Major-General Gillmore, commanding + department, and all his staff upon the wharf, and vaccinate them by main + force. + </p> + <p> + "So General Saxton rode away, and we worked away. Just as the last + wagon-load but one was being transferred to the omnivorous depths of the + Delaware,—which I should think would have been filled ten times over + with what we had put into it,—down rode the General with a fiendish + joy in his bright eyes and held out a paper,—one of the familiar + rescripts from headquarters. + </p> + <p> + "'The marching orders of the First South Carolina Volunteers are hereby + countermanded.' + </p> + <p> + "'Major Trowbridge,' said I, 'will you give my compliments to Lieutenant + Hooper, somewhere in the hold of that steamer, and direct him to set his + men at work to bring out every individual article which they have carried + hi.' And I sat down on a pile of boards. + </p> + <p> + "'You will return to your old camping-ground, Colonel,' said the General, + placidly. 'Now,' he added with serene satisfaction, 'we will have some + brigade drills!' + </p> + <p> + "Brigade drills! Since Mr. Pickwick, with his heartless tomato-sauce and + warming-pans, there had been nothing so aggravating as to try to solace + us, who were as good as on board ship and under way,—nay, in + imagination as far up the St. John's as Pilatka at least,—with + brigade drills! It was very kind and flattering in him to wish to keep us. + But unhappily we had made up our minds to go. + </p> + <p> + "Never did officer ride at the head of a battalion of more wobegone, + spiritless wretches than I led back from Beaufort that day. 'When I march + down to de landin',' said one of the men afterwards, 'my knapsack full of + feathers. Comin' back, <i>he lead</i>!' And the lead, instead of the + feathers, rested on the heart of every one. + </p> + <p> + "As if the disappointment itself were not sufficient, we had to return to + our pretty camp, accustomed to its drawing-room order, and find it a + desert. Every board gone from the floors, the screens torn down from the + poles, all the little conveniences scattered, and, to crown all, a cold + breeze such as we had not known since New-Year's Day blowing across the + camp and flooding everything with dust. I sincerely hope the regiment + would never behave after a defeat as they behaved then. Every man seemed + crushed, officers and soldiers alike; when they broke ranks, they went and + lay down like sheep where their tents used to be, or wandered + disconsolately about, looking for their stray belongings. The scene was so + infinitely dolorous that it gradually put me in the highest spirits; the + ludicrousness of the whole affair was so complete, there was nothing to do + but laugh. The horrible dust blew till every officer had some black spot + on his nose which paralyzed pathos. Of course the only way was to set them + all at work as soon as possible; and work them we did,—I at the camp + and the Major at the wharf,—loading and unloading wagons and just + reversing all which the morning had done. + </p> + <p> + "The New Hampshire men were very considerate, and gave back most of what + they had taken, though many of our men were really too delicate or proud + to ask or even take what they had once given to soldiers or to the colored + people. I had no such delicacy about my tent-frame, and by night things + had resumed something of their old aspect, and cheerfulness was in part + restored. Yet long after this I found one first sergeant absolutely in + tears,—a Florida man, most of whose kindred were up the St. John's. + It was very natural that the men from that region should feel thus + bitterly, but it shows how much of the habit of soldiers they have all + acquired, that the South Carolina men, who were leaving the neighborhood + of their families for an indefinite time, were just as eager to go, and + not one deserted, though they knew it for a week beforehand. No doubt my + precarious health makes it now easier for me personally to remain here—easier + on reflection at least—than for the others. At the same time Florida + is fascinating, and offers not only adventure, but the command of a + brigade. Certainly at the last moment there was not a sacrifice I would + not have made rather than wrench myself and others away from the + expedition. We are, of course, thrown back into the old uncertainty, and + if the small-pox subsides (and it is really diminishing decidedly) we may + yet come in at the wrong end of the Florida affair." + </p> + <p> + "February 19. + </p> + <p> + "Not a bit of it! This morning the General has ridden up radiant, has seen + General Gillmore, who has decided not to order us to Florida at all, nor + withdraw any of this garrison. Moreover, he says that all which is + intended in Florida is done,—that there will be no advance to + Tallahassee, and General Seymour will establish a camp of instruction in + Jacksonville. Well, if that is all, it is a lucky escape." + </p> + <p> + We little dreamed that on that very day the march toward Olustee was + beginning. The battle took place next day, and I add one more extract to + show how the news reached Beaufort. + </p> + <p> + "February 23, 1864. + </p> + <p> + "There was the sound of revelry by night at a ball in Beaufort last night, + in a new large building beautifully decorated. All the collected flags of + the garrison hung round and over us, as if the stars and stripes were + devised for an ornament alone. The array of uniforms was such that a + civilian became a distinguished object, much more a lady. All would have + gone according to the proverbial marriage-bell, I suppose, had there not + been a slight palpable shadow over all of us from hearing vague stories of + a lost battle in Florida, and from the thought that perhaps the very + ambulances in which we rode to the ball were ours only until the wounded + or the dead might tenant them. + </p> + <p> + "General Gillmore only came, I supposed, to put a good face upon the + matter. He went away soon, and General Saxton went; then came a rumor that + the Cosmopolitan had actually arrived with wounded, but still the dance + went on. There was nothing unfeeling about it,—one gets used to + things,—when suddenly, in the midst of the 'Lancers,' there came a + perfect hush, the music ceasing, a few surgeons went hastily to and fro, + as if conscience-stricken (I should think they might have been),—then + there 'waved a mighty shadow in,' as in Uhland's 'Black Knight,' and as we + all stood wondering we were 'ware of General Saxton, who strode hastily + down the hall, his pale face very resolute, and looking almost sick with + anxiety. He had just been on board the steamer; there were two hundred and + fifty wounded men just arrived, and the ball must end. Not that there was + anything for us to do; but the revel was mistimed, and must be ended; it + was wicked to be dancing, with such a scene of suffering near by. + </p> + <p> + "Of course the ball was instantly broken up, though with some murmurings + and some longings of appetite, on the part of some, toward the wasted + supper. + </p> + <p> + "Later, I went on board the boat. Among the long lines of wounded, black + and white intermingled, there was the wonderful quiet which usually + prevails on such occasions. Not a sob nor a groan, except from those + undergoing removal. It is not self-control, but chiefly the shock to the + system produced by severe wounds, especially gunshot wounds, and which + usually keeps the patient stiller at first than any later time. + </p> + <p> + "A company from my regiment waited on the wharf, in their accustomed dusky + silence, and I longed to ask them what they thought of our Florida + disappointment now? In view of what they saw, did they still wish we had + been there? I confess that in presence of all that human suffering, I + could not wish it. But I would not have suggested any such thought to + them. + </p> + <p> + "I found our kind-hearted ladies, Mrs. Chamberlin and Mrs. Dewhurst, on + board the steamer, but there was nothing for them to do, and we walked + back to camp in the radiant moonlight; Mrs. Chamberlin more than ever + strengthened in her blushing woman's philosophy, 'I don't care who wins + the laurels, provided we don't!'" + </p> + <p> + "February 29. + </p> + <p> + "But for a few trivial cases of varioloid, we should certainly have been + in that disastrous fight. We were confidently expected for several days at + Jacksonville, and the commanding general told Colonel Hallowell that we, + being the oldest colored regiment, would have the right of the line. This + was certainly to miss danger and glory very closely." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter 12. The Negro as a Soldier + </h2> + <p> + There was in our regiment a very young recruit, named Sam Roberts, of whom + Trowbridge used to tell this story. Early in the war Trowbridge had been + once sent to Amelia Island with a squad of men, under direction of + Commodore Goldsborough, to remove the negroes from the island. As the + officers stood on the beach, talking to some of the older freedmen, they + saw this urchin peeping at them from front and rear in a scrutinizing way, + for which his father at last called him to account, as thus:— + </p> + <p> + "Hi! Sammy, what you's doin', chile?" + </p> + <p> + "Daddy," said the inquisitive youth, "don't you know mas'r tell us Yankee + hab tail? I don't see no tail, daddy!" + </p> + <p> + There were many who went to Port Royal during the war, in civil or + military positions, whose previous impressions of the colored race were + about as intelligent as Sam's view of themselves. But, for once, I had + always had so much to do with fugitive slaves, and had studied the whole + subject with such interest, that I found not much to learn or unlearn as + to this one point. Their courage I had before seen tested; their docile + and lovable qualities I had known; and the only real surprise that + experience brought me was in finding them so little demoralized. I had not + allowed for the extreme remoteness and seclusion of their lives, + especially among the Sea Islands. Many of them had literally spent their + whole existence on some lonely island or remote plantation, where the + master never came, and the overseer only once or twice a week. With these + exceptions, such persons had never seen a white face, and of the + excitements or sins of larger communities they had not a conception. My + friend Colonel Hallo-well, of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, told me that + he had among his men some of the worst reprobates of Northern cities. + While I had some men who were unprincipled and troublesome, there was not + one whom I could call a hardened villain. I was constantly expecting to + find male Topsies, with no notions of good and plenty of evil. But I never + found one. Among the most ignorant there was very often a childlike + absence of vices, which was rather to be classed as inexperience than as + innocence, but which had some of the advantages of both. + </p> + <p> + Apart from this, they were very much like other men. General Saxton, + examining with some impatience a long list of questions from some + philanthropic Commission at the North, respecting the traits and habits of + the freedmen, bade some staff-officer answer them all in two words,—"Intensely + human." We all admitted that it was a striking and comprehensive + description. + </p> + <p> + For instance, as to courage. So far as I have seen, the mass of men are + naturally courageous up to a certain point. A man seldom runs away from + danger which he ought to face, unless others run; each is apt to keep with + the mass, and colored soldiers have more than usual of this + gregariousness. In almost every regiment, black or white, there are a + score or two of men who are naturally daring, who really hunger after + dangerous adventures, and are happiest when allowed to seek them. Every + commander gradually finds out who these men are, and habitually uses them; + certainly I had such, and I remember with delight their bearing, their + coolness, and their dash. Some of them were negroes, some mulattoes. One + of them would have passed for white, with brown hair and blue eyes, while + others were so black you could hardly see their features. These picked men + varied in other respects too; some were neat and well-drilled soldiers, + while others were slovenly, heedless fellows,—the despair of their + officers at inspection, their pride on a raid. They were the natural + scouts and rangers of the regiment; they had the + two-o'clock-in-the-morning courage, which Napoleon thought so rare. The + mass of the regiment rose to the same level under excitement, and were + more excitable, I think, than whites, but neither more nor less + courageous. + </p> + <p> + Perhaps the best proof of a good average of courage among them was in the + readiness they always showed for any special enterprise. I do not remember + ever to have had the slightest difficulty in obtaining volunteers, but + rather in keeping down the number. The previous pages include many + illustrations of this, as well as of then: endurance of pain and + discomfort. For instance, one of my lieutenants, a very daring Irishman, + who had served for eight years as a sergeant of regular artillery in + Texas, Utah, and South Carolina, said he had never been engaged in + anything so risky as our raid up the St. Mary's. But in truth it seems to + me a mere absurdity to deliberately argue the question of courage, as + applied to men among whom I waked and slept, day and night, for so many + months together. As well might he who has been wandering for years upon + the desert, with a Bedouin escort, discuss the courage of the men whose + tents have been his shelter and whose spears his guard. We, their + officers, did not go there to teach lessons, but to receive them. There + were more than a hundred men in the ranks who had voluntarily met more + dangers in their escape from slavery than any of my young captains had + incurred in all their lives. + </p> + <p> + There was a family named Wilson, I remember, of which we had several + representatives. Three or four brothers had planned an escape from the + interior to our lines; they finally decided that the youngest should stay + and take care of the old mother; the rest, with their sister and her + children, came in a "dug-out" down one of the rivers. They were fired + upon, again and again, by the pickets along the banks, until finally every + man on board was wounded; and still they got safely through. When the + bullets began to fly about them, the woman shed tears, and her little girl + of nine said to her, "Don't cry, mother, Jesus will help you," and then + the child began praying as the wounded men still urged the boat along. + This the mother told me, but I had previously heard it from on officer who + was on the gunboat that picked them up,—a big, rough man, whose + voice fairly broke as he described their appearance. He said that the + mother and child had been hid for nine months in the woods before + attempting their escape, and the child would speak to no one,—indeed, + she hardly would when she came to our camp. She was almost white, and this + officer wished to adopt her, but the mother said, "I would do anything but + that for <i>oonah</i>," this being a sort of Indian formation of the + second-person-plural, such as they sometimes use. This same officer + afterwards saw a reward offered for this family in a Savannah paper. + </p> + <p> + I used to think that I should not care to read "Uncle Tom's Cabin" hi our + camp; it would have seemed tame. Any group of men in a tent would have had + more exciting tales to tell. I needed no fiction when I had Fanny Wright, + for instance, daily passing to and fro before my tent, with her shy little + girl clinging to her skirts. Fanny was a modest little mulatto woman, a + soldier's wife, and a company laundress. She had escaped from the + main-land in a boat, with that child and another. Her baby was shot dead + in her arms, and she reached our lines with one child safe on earth and + the other in heaven. I never found it needful to give any elementary + instructions in courage to Fanny's husband, you may be sure. + </p> + <p> + There was another family of brothers in the regiment named Miller. Their + grandmother, a fine-looking old woman, nearly seventy, I should think, but + erect as a pine-tree, used sometimes to come and visit them. She and her + husband had once tried to escape from a plantation near Savannah. They had + failed, and had been brought back; the husband had received five hundred + lashes, and while the white men on the plantation were viewing the + punishment, she was collecting her children and grandchildren, to the + number of twenty-two, in a neighboring marsh, preparatory to another + attempt that night. They found a flat-boat which had been rejected as + unseaworthy, got on board,—still under the old woman's orders,—and + drifted forty miles down the river to our lines. Trowbridge happened to be + on board the gunboat which picked them up, and he said that when the + "flat" touched the side of the vessel, the grandmother rose to her full + height, with her youngest grandchild in her arms, and said only, "My God! + are we free?" By one of those coincidences of which life is full, her + husband escaped also, after his punishment, and was taken up by the same + gunboat. + </p> + <p> + I hardly need point out that my young lieutenants did not have to teach + the principles of courage to this woman's grandchildren. + </p> + <p> + I often asked myself why it was that, with this capacity of daring and + endurance, they had not kept the land in a perpetual flame of + insurrection; why, especially since the opening of the war, they had kept + so still. The answer was to be found in the peculiar temperament of the + races, in their religious faith, and in the habit of patience that + centuries had fortified. The shrewder men all said substantially the same + thing. What was the use of insurrection, where everything was against + them? They had no knowledge, no money, no arms, no drill, no organization,—above + all, no mutual confidence. It was the tradition among them that all + insurrections were always betrayed by somebody. They had no mountain + passes to defend like the Maroons of Jamaica,—no unpenetrable + swamps, like the Maroons of Surinam. Where they had these, even on a small + scale, they had used them,—as in certain swamps round Savannah and + in the everglades of Florida, where they united with the Indians, and + would stand fire—so I was told by General Saxton, who had fought + them there—when the Indians would retreat. + </p> + <p> + It always seemed to me that, had I been a slave, my life would have been + one long scheme of insurrection. But I learned to respect the patient + self-control of those who had waited till the course of events should open + a better way. When it came they accepted it. Insurrection on their part + would at once have divided the Northern sentiment; and a large part of our + army would have joined with the Southern army to hunt them down. By their + waiting till we needed them, their freedom was secured. + </p> + <p> + Two things chiefly surprised me in their feeling toward their former + masters,—the absence of affection and the absence of revenge. I + expected to find a good deal of the patriarchal feeling. It always seemed + to me a very ill-applied emotion, as connected with the facts and laws of + American slavery,—still I expected to find it. I suppose that my men + and their families and visitors may have had as much of it as the mass of + freed slaves; but certainly they had not a particle. I never could cajole + one of them, in his most discontented moment, into regretting "ole mas'r + time" for a single instant. I never heard one speak of the masters except + as natural enemies. Yet they were perfectly discriminating as to + individuals; many of them claimed to have had kind owners, and some + expressed great gratitude to them for particular favors received. It was + not the individuals, but the ownership, of which they complained. That + they saw to be a wrong which no special kindnesses could right. On this, + as on all points connected with slavery, they understood the matter as + clearly as Garrison or Phillips; the wisest philosophy could teach them + nothing as to that, nor could any false philosophy befog them. After all, + personal experience is the best logician. + </p> + <p> + Certainly this indifference did not proceed from any want of personal + affection, for they were the most affectionate people among whom I had + ever lived. They attached themselves to every officer who deserved love, + and to some who did not; and if they failed to show it to their masters, + it proved the wrongfulness of the mastery. On the other hand, they rarely + showed one gleam of revenge, and I shall never forget the self-control + with which one of our best sergeants pointed out to me, at Jacksonville, + the very place where one of his brothers had been hanged by the whites for + leading a party of fugitive slaves. He spoke of it as a historic matter, + without any bearing on the present issue. + </p> + <p> + But side by side with this faculty of patience, there was a certain + tropical element in the men, a sort of fiery ecstasy when aroused, which + seemed to link them by blood with the French Turcos, and made them really + resemble their natural enemies, the Celts, far more than the Anglo-Saxon + temperament. To balance this there were great individual resources when + alone,—a sort of Indian wiliness and subtlety of resource. Their + gregariousness and love of drill made them more easy to keep in hand than + white American troops, who rather like to straggle or go in little squads, + looking out for themselves, without being bothered with officers. The + blacks prefer organization. + </p> + <p> + The point of inferiority that I always feared, though I never had occasion + to prove it, was that they might show less fibre, less tough and dogged + resistance, than whites, during a prolonged trial,—a long, + disastrous march, for instance, or the hopeless defence of a besieged + town. I should not be afraid of their mutinying or running away, but of + their drooping and dying. It might not turn out so; but I mention it for + the sake of fairness, and to avoid overstating the merits of these troops. + As to the simple general fact of courage and reliability I think no + officer in our camp ever thought of there being any difference between + black and white. And certainly the opinions of these officers, who for + years risked their lives every moment on the fidelity of their men, were + worth more than those of all the world beside. + </p> + <p> + No doubt there were reasons why this particular war was an especially + favorable test of the colored soldiers. They had more to fight for than + the whites. Besides the flag and the Union, they had home and wife and + child. They fought with ropes round their necks, and when orders were + issued that the officers of colored troops should be put to death on + capture, they took a grim satisfaction. It helped their <i>esprit de corps</i> + immensely. With us, at least, there was to be no play-soldier. Though they + had begun with a slight feeling of inferiority to the white troops, this + compliment substituted a peculiar sense of self-respect. And even when the + new colored regiments began to arrive from the North my men still pointed + out this difference,—that in case of ultimate defeat, the Northern + troops, black or white, would go home, while the First South Carolina must + fight it out or be re-enslaved. This was one thing that made the St. + John's River so attractive to them and even to me;—it was so much + nearer the everglades. I used seriously to ponder, during the darker + periods of the war, whether I might not end my days as an outlaw,—a + leader of Maroons. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, I used to try to make some capital for the Northern troops, in + their estimate, by pointing out that it was a disinterested thing in these + men from the free States, to come down there and fight, that the slaves + might be free. But they were apt keenly to reply, that many of the white + soldiers disavowed this object, and said that that was not the object of + the war, nor even likely to be its end. Some of them even repeated Mr. + Seward's unfortunate words to Mr. Adams, which some general had been heard + to quote. So, on the whole, I took nothing by the motion, as was apt to be + the case with those who spoke a good word for our Government, in those + vacillating and half proslavery days. + </p> + <p> + At any rate, this ungenerous discouragement had this good effect, that it + touched their pride; they would deserve justice, even if they did not + obtain it. This pride was afterwards severely tested during the + disgraceful period when the party of repudiation in Congress temporarily + deprived them of their promised pay. In my regiment the men never + mutinied, nor even threatened mutiny; they seemed to make it a matter of + honor to do then: part, even if the Government proved a defaulter; but one + third of them, including the best men in the regiment, quietly refused to + take a dollar's pay, at the reduced price. "We'se gib our sogerin' to de + Guv'ment, Gunnel," they said, "but we won't 'spise ourselves so much for + take de seben dollar." They even made a contemptuous ballad, of which I + once caught a snatch. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + "Ten dollar a month! + Tree ob dat for clothin'l + Go to Washington + Fight for Linkum's darter!" +</pre> + <p> + This "Lincoln's daughter" stood for the Goddess of Liberty, it would seem. + They would be true to her, but they would not take the half-pay. This was + contrary to my advice, and to that of other officers; but I now think it + was wise. Nothing less than this would have called the attention of the + American people to this outrageous fraud.* + </p> + <p> + * See Appendix. + </p> + <p> + The same slow forecast had often marked their action in other ways. One of + our ablest sergeants, Henry Mclntyre, who had earned two dollars and a + half per day as a master-carpenter in Florida, and paid one dollar and a + half to his master, told me that he had deliberately refrained from + learning to read, because that knowledge exposed the slaves to so much + more watching and suspicion. This man and a few others had built on + contract the greater part of the town of Micanopy in Florida, and was a + thriving man when his accustomed discretion failed for once, and he lost + all. He named his child William Lincoln, and it brought upon him such + suspicion that he had to make his escape. + </p> + <p> + I cannot conceive what people at the North mean by speaking of the negroes + as a bestial or brutal race. Except in some insensibility to animal pain, + I never knew of an act in my regiment which I should call brutal. In + reading Kay's "Condition of the English Peasantry" I was constantly struck + with the unlikeness of my men to those therein described. This could not + proceed from my prejudices as an abolitionist, for they would have led me + the other way, and indeed I had once written a little essay to show the + brutalizing influences of slavery. I learned to think that we + abolitionists had underrated the suffering produced by slavery among the + negroes, but had overrated the demoralization. Or rather, we did not know + how the religious temperament of the negroes had checked the + demoralization. Yet again, it must be admitted that this temperament, born + of sorrow and oppression, is far more marked in the slave than in the + native African. + </p> + <p> + Theorize as we may, there was certainly in our camp an average tone of + propriety which all visitors noticed, and which was not created, but only + preserved by discipline. I was always struck, not merely by the courtesy + of the men, but also by a certain sober decency of language. If a man had + to report to me any disagreeable fact, for instance, he was sure to do it + with gravity and decorum, and not blurt it out in an offensive way. And it + certainly was a significant fact that the ladies of our camp, when we were + so fortunate as to have such guests, the young wives, especially, of the + adjutant and quartermaster, used to go among the tents when the men were + off duty, in order to hear their big pupils read and spell, without the + slightest fear of annoyance. I do not mean direct annoyance or insult, for + no man who valued his life would have ventured that in presence of the + others, but I mean the annoyance of accidentally seeing or hearing + improprieties not intended for them. They both declared that they would + not have moved about with anything like the same freedom in any white camp + they had ever entered, and it always roused their indignation to hear the + negro race called brutal or depraved. + </p> + <p> + This came partly from natural good manners, partly from the habit of + deference, partly from ignorance of the refined and ingenious evil which + is learned in large towns; but a large part came from their strongly + religious temperament. Their comparative freedom from swearing, for + instance,—an abstinence which I fear military life did not + strengthen,—was partly a matter of principle. Once I heard one of + them say to another, in a transport of indignation, "Ha-a-a, boy, s'pose I + no be a Christian, I cuss you sol"—which was certainly drawing + pretty hard upon the bridle. "Cuss," however, was a generic term for all + manner of evil speaking; they would say, "He cuss me fool," or "He cuss me + coward," as if the essence of propriety were in harsh and angry speech,—which + I take to be good ethics. But certainly, if Uncle Toby could have + recruited his army in Flanders from our ranks, their swearing would have + ceased to be historic. + </p> + <p> + It used to seem to me that never, since Cromwell's time, had there been + soldiers in whom the religious element held such a place. "A religious + army," "a gospel army," were their frequent phrases. In their + prayer-meetings there was always a mingling, often quaint enough, of the + warlike and the pious. "If each one of us was a praying man," said + Corporal Thomas Long in a sermon, "it appears to me that we could fight as + well with prayers as with bullets,—for the Lord has said that if you + have faith even as a grain of mustard-seed cut into four parts, you can + say to the sycamore-tree, Arise, and it will come up." And though Corporal + Long may have got a little perplexed in his botany, his faith proved + itself by works, for he volunteered and went many miles on a solitary + scouting expedition into the enemy's country in Florida, and got back + safe, after I had given him up for lost. + </p> + <p> + The extremes of religious enthusiasm I did not venture to encourage, for I + could not do it honestly; neither did I discourage them, but simply + treated them with respect, and let them have their way, so long as they + did not interfere with discipline. In general they promoted it. The + mischievous little drummer-boys, whose scrapes and quarrels were the + torment of my existence, might be seen kneeling together in their tents to + say their prayers at night, and I could hope that their slumbers were + blessed by some spirit of peace, such as certainly did not rule over their + waking. The most reckless and daring fellows in the regiment were perfect + fatalists in theur confidence that God would watch over them, and that if + they died, it would be because theur time had come. This almost excessive + faith, and the love of freedom and of their families, all co-operated with + their pride as soldiers to make them do their duty. I could not have + spared any of these incentives. Those of our officers who were personally + the least influenced by such considerations, still saw the need of + encouraging them among the men. + </p> + <p> + I am bound to say that this strongly devotional turn was not always + accompanied by the practical virtues; but neither was it strikingly + divorced from them. A few men, I remember, who belonged to the ancient + order of hypocrites, but not many. Old Jim Cushman was our favorite + representative scamp. He used to vex his righteous soul over the admission + of the unregenerate to prayer-meetings, and went off once shaking his head + and muttering, "Too much goat shout wid de sheep." But he who objected to + this profane admixture used to get our mess-funds far more hopelessly + mixed with his own, when he went out to buy chickens. And I remember that, + on being asked by our Major, in that semi-Ethiopian dialect into which we + sometimes slid, "How much wife you got, Jim?" the veteran replied, with a + sort of penitence for lost opportunities, "On'y but four, Sah!" + </p> + <p> + Another man of somewhat similar quality went among us by the name of Henry + Ward Beecher, from a remarkable resemblance in face and figure to that + sturdy divine. I always felt a sort of admiration for this worthy, because + of the thoroughness with which he outwitted me, and the sublime impudence + in which he culminated. He got a series of passes from me, every week or + two, to go and see his wife on a neighboring plantation, and finally, when + this resource seemed exhausted, he came boldly for one more pass, that he + might go and be married. + </p> + <p> + We used to quote <i>him</i> a good deal, also, as a sample of a certain + Shakespearian boldness of personification in which the men sometimes + indulged. Once, I remember, his captain had given him a fowling-piece to + clean. Henry Ward had left it in the captain's tent, and the latter, + finding it, had transferred the job to some one else. + </p> + <p> + Then came a confession, in this precise form, with many dignified + gesticulations:— + </p> + <p> + "Cappen! I took dat gun, and I put bun in Cappen tent. Den I look, and de + gun not dar! Den Conscience say, Cappen mus' hab gib dat gun to somebody + else for clean. Den I say, Conscience, you reason correck." + </p> + <p> + Compare Lancelot Gobbo's soliloquy in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona"! + </p> + <p> + Still, I maintain that, as a whole, the men were remarkably free from + inconvenient vices. There was no more lying and stealing than in average + white regiments. The surgeon was not much troubled by shamming sickness, + and there were not a great many complaints of theft. There was less + quarrelling than among white soldiers, and scarcely ever an instance of + drunkenness. Perhaps the influence of their officers had something to do + with this; for not a ration of whiskey was ever issued to the men, nor did + I ever touch it, while in the army, nor approve a requisition for any of + the officers, without which it could not easily be obtained. In this + respect our surgeons fortunately agreed with me, and we never had reason + to regret it. I believe the use of ardent spirits to be as useless and + injurious in the army as on board ship, and among the colored troops, + especially, who had never been accustomed to it, I think that it did only + harm. + </p> + <p> + The point of greatest laxity in their moral habits—the want of a + high standard of chastity—was not one which affected their camp life + to any great extent, and it therefore came less under my observation. But + I found to my relief that, whatever their deficiency in this respect, it + was modified by the general quality of their temperament, and indicated + rather a softening and relaxation than a hardening and brutalizing of + their moral natures. Any insult or violence in this direction was a thing + unknown. I never heard of an instance. It was not uncommon for men to have + two or three wives in different plantations,—the second, or remoter, + partner being called a "'broad wife,"—i.e. wife abroad. But the + whole tendency was toward marriage, and this state of things was only + regarded as a bequest from "mas'r time." + </p> + <p> + I knew a great deal about their marriages, for they often consulted me, + and took my counsel as lovers are wont to do,—that is, when it + pleased their fancy. Sometimes they would consult their captains first, + and then come to me in despairing appeal. "Cap'n Scroby [Trowbridge] he + acvise me not for marry dis lady, 'cause she hab seben chil'en. What for + use? Cap'n Scroby can't lub for me. I mus' lub for myself, and I lub he." + I remember that on this occasion "he" stood by, a most unattractive woman, + jet black, with an old pink muslin dress, torn white cotton gloves, and a + very flowery bonnet, that must have descended through generations of + tawdry mistresses. + </p> + <p> + I felt myself compelled to reaffirm the decision of the inferior court. + The result was as usual. They were married the next day, and I believe + that she proved an excellent wife, though she had seven children, whose + father was also in the regiment. If she did not, I know many others who + did, and certainly I have never seen more faithful or more happy marriages + than among that people. + </p> + <p> + The question was often asked, whether the Southern slaves or the Northern + free blacks made the best soldiers. It was a compliment to both classes + that each officer usually preferred those whom he had personally + commanded. I preferred those who had been slaves, for their greater + docility and affectionateness, for the powerful stimulus which their new + freedom gave, and for the fact that they were fighting, in a manner, for + their own homes and firesides. Every one of these considerations afforded + a special aid to discipline, and cemented a peculiar tie of sympathy + between them and their officers. They seemed like clansmen, and had a more + confiding and filial relation to us than seemed to me to exist in the + Northern colored regiments. + </p> + <p> + So far as the mere habits of slavery went, they were a poor preparation + for military duty. Inexperienced officers often assumed that, because + these men had been slaves before enlistment, they would bear to be treated + as such afterwards. Experience proved the contrary. The more strongly we + marked the difference between the slave and the soldier, the better for + the regiment. One half of military duty lies in obedience, the other half + in self-respect. A soldier without self-respect is worthless. Consequently + there were no regiments in which it was so important to observe the + courtesies and proprieties of military life as in these. I had to caution + the officers to be more than usually particular in returning the + salutations of the men; to be very careful in their dealings with those on + picket or guard-duty; and on no account to omit the titles of the + non-commissioned officers. So, in dealing out punishments, we had + carefully to avoid all that was brutal and arbitrary, all that savored of + the overseer. Any such dealing found them as obstinate and contemptuous as + was Topsy when Miss Ophelia undertook to chastise her. A system of light + punishments, rigidly administered according to the prescribed military + forms, had more weight with them than any amount of angry severity. To + make them feel as remote as possible from the plantation, this was + essential. By adhering to this, and constantly appealing to their pride as + soldiers and their sense of duty, we were able to maintain a high standard + of discipline,—so, at least, the inspecting officers said,—and + to get rid, almost entirely, of the more degrading class of punishments,—standing + on barrels, tying up by the thumbs, and the ball and chain. + </p> + <p> + In all ways we had to educate their self-respect. For instance, at first + they disliked to obey their own non-commissioned officers. "I don't want + him to play de white man ober me," was a sincere objection. They had been + so impressed with a sense of inferiority that the distinction extended to + the very principles of honor. "I ain't got colored-man principles," said + Corporal London Simmons, indignantly defending himself from some charge + before me. "I'se got white-gemman principles. I'se do my best. If Cap'n + tell me to take a man, s'pose de man be as big as a house, I'll clam hold + on him till I die, inception [excepting] I'm sick." + </p> + <p> + But it was plain that this feeling was a bequest of slavery, which + military life would wear off. We impressed it upon them that they did not + obey their officers because they were white, but because they were their + officers, just as the Captain must obey me, and I the General; that we + were all subject to military law, and protected by it in turn. Then we + taught them to take pride in having good material for noncommissioned + officers among themselves, and in obeying them. On my arrival there was + one white first sergeant, and it was a question whether to appoint others. + This I prevented, but left that one, hoping the men themselves would at + last petition for his removal, which at length they did. He was at once + detailed on other duty. The picturesqueness of the regiment suffered, for + he was very tall and fair, and I liked to see him step forward in the + centre when the line of first sergeants came together at dress-parade. But + it was a help to discipline to eliminate the Saxon, for it recognized a + principle. + </p> + <p> + Afterwards I had excellent battalion-drills without a single white + officer, by way of experiment; putting each company under a sergeant, and + going through the most difficult movements, such as division-columns and + oblique-squares. And as to actual discipline, it is doing no injustice to + the line-officers of the regiment to say that none of them received from + the men more implicit obedience than Color-Sergeant Rivers. I should have + tried to obtain commissions for him and several others before I left the + regiment, had their literary education been sufficient; and such an + attempt was finally made by Lieutenant-Colonel Trowbridge, my successor in + immediate command, but it proved unsuccessful. It always seemed to me an + insult to those brave men to have novices put over their heads, on the + ground of color alone; and the men felt it the more keenly as they + remained longer in service. There were more than seven hundred enlisted + men in the regiment, when mustered out after more than three years' + service. The ranks had been kept full by enlistment, but there were only + fourteen line-officers instead of the full thirty. The men who should have + filled those vacancies were doing duty as sergeants in the ranks. + </p> + <p> + In what respect were the colored troops a source of disappointment? To me + in one respect only,—that of health. Their health improved, indeed, + as they grew more familiar with military life; but I think that neither + their physical nor moral temperament gave them that toughness, that + obstinate purpose of living, which sustains the more materialistic + Anglo-Saxon. They had not, to be sure, the same predominant diseases, + suffering in the pulmonary, not in the digestive organs; but they suffered + a good deal. They felt malaria less, but they were more easily choked by + dust and made ill by dampness. On the other hand, they submitted more + readily to sanitary measures than whites, and, with efficient officers, + were more easily kept clean. They were injured throughout the army by an + undue share of fatigue duty, which is not only exhausting but demoralizing + to a soldier; by the un-suitableness of the rations, which gave them salt + meat instead of rice and hominy; and by the lack of good medical + attendance. Their childlike constitutions peculiarly needed prompt and + efficient surgical care; but almost all the colored troops were enlisted + late in the war, when it was hard to get good surgeons for any regiments, + and especially for these. In this respect I had nothing to complain of, + since there were no surgeons in the army for whom I would have exchanged + my own. + </p> + <p> + And this late arrival on the scene affected not only the medical + supervision of the colored troops, but their opportunity for a career. It + is not my province to write their history, nor to vindicate them, nor to + follow them upon those larger fields compared with which the adventures of + my regiment appear but a partisan warfare. Yet this, at least, may be + said. The operations on the South Atlantic coast, which long seemed a + merely subordinate and incidental part of the great contest, proved to be + one of the final pivots on which it turned. All now admit that the fate of + the Confederacy was decided by Sherman's march to the sea. Port Royal was + the objective point to which he marched, and he found the Department of + the South, when he reached it, held almost exclusively by colored troops. + Next to the merit of those who made the march was that of those who held + open the door. That service will always remain among the laurels of the + black regiments. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Chapter 13. Conclusion + </h2> + <p> + My personal forebodings proved to be correct, and so were the threats of + the surgeons. In May, 1864, I went home invalided, was compelled to resign + in October from the same cause, and never saw the First South Carolina + again. Nor did any one else see it under that appellation, for about that + time its name was changed to the Thirty-Third United States Colored + Troops, "a most vague and heartless baptism," as the man in the story + says. It was one of those instances of injudicious sacrifice of <i>esprit + de corps</i> which were so frequent in our army. All the pride of my men + was centred in "de Fus' Souf"; the very words were a recognition of the + loyal South as against the disloyal. To make the matter worse, it had been + originally designed to apply the new numbering only to the new regiments, + and so the early numbers were all taken up before the older regiments came + in. The governors of States, by especial effort, saved their colored + troops from this chagrin; but we found here, as more than once before, the + disadvantage of having no governor to stand by us. "It's a far cry to Loch + Awe," said the Highland proverb. We knew to our cost that it was a far cry + to Washington in those days, unless an officer left his duty and stayed + there all the time. + </p> + <p> + In June, 1864, the regiment was ordered to Folly Island, and remained + there and on Cole's Island till the siege of Charleston was done. It took + part in the battle of Honey Hill, and in the capture of a fort on James + Island, of which Corporal Robert Vendross wrote triumphantly in a letter, + "When we took the pieces we found that we recapt our own pieces back that + we lost on Willtown Revear (River) and thank the Lord did not lose but + seven men out of our regiment." + </p> + <p> + In February, 1865, the regiment was ordered to Charleston to do provost + and guard duty, in March to Savannah, in June to Hamburg and Aiken, in + September to Charleston and its neighborhood, and was finally mustered out + of service—after being detained beyond its three years, so great was + the scarcity of troops—on the 9th of February, 1866. With dramatic + fitness this muster-out took place at Fort Wagner, above the graves of + Shaw and his men. I give in the Appendix the farewell address of + Lieutenant-Colonel Trowbridge, who commanded the regiment from the time I + left it. Brevet Brigadier-General W. T. Bennett, of the One Hundred and + Second United States Colored Troops, who was assigned to the command, + never actually held it, being always in charge of a brigade. + </p> + <p> + The officers and men are scattered far and wide. One of our captains was a + member of the South Carolina Constitutional Convention, and is now State + Treasurer; three of our sergeants were in that Convention, including + Sergeant Prince Rivers; and he and Sergeant Henry Hayne are still members + of the State Legislature. Both in that State and hi Florida the former + members of the regiment are generally prospering, so far as I can hear. + The increased self-respect of army life fitted them to do the duties of + civil life. It is not in nature that the jealousy of race should die out + in this generation, but I trust they will not see the fulfilment of + Corporal Simon Cram's prediction. Simon was one of the shrewdest old + fellows in the regiment, and he said to me once, as he was jogging out of + Beaufort behind me, on the Shell Road, "I'se goin' to leave de Souf, + Cunnel, when de war is over. I'se made up my mind dat dese yere Secesh + will neber be cibilized in my time." + </p> + <p> + The only member of the regiment whom I have seen since leaving it is a + young man, Cyrus Wiggins, who was brought off from the main-land in a + dug-out, in broad day, before the very eyes of the rebel pickets, by + Captain James S. Rogers, of my regiment. It was one of the most daring + acts I ever saw, and as it happened under my own observation I was glad + when the Captain took home with him this "captive of his bow and spear" to + be educated under his eye in Massachusetts. Cyrus has done credit to his + friends, and will be satisfied with nothing short of a college-training at + Howard University. I have letters from the men, very quaint in handwriting + and spelling; but he is the only one whom I have seen. Some time I hope to + revisit those scenes, and shall feel, no doubt, like a bewildered Rip Van + Winkle who once wore uniform. + </p> + <p> + We who served with the black troops have this peculiar satisfaction, that, + whatever dignity or sacredness the memories of the war may have to others, + they have more to us. In that contest all the ordinary ties of patriotism + were the same, of course, to us as to the rest; they had no motives which + we had not, as they have now no memories which are not also ours. But the + peculiar privilege of associating with an outcast race, of training it to + defend its rights and to perform its duties, this was our especial meed. + The vacillating policy of the Government sometimes filled other officers + with doubt and shame; until the negro had justice, they were but defending + liberty with one hand and crushing it with the other. From this + inconsistency we were free. Whatever the Government did, we at least were + working in the right direction. If this was not recognized on our side of + the lines, we knew that it was admitted on the other. Fighting with ropes + round our necks, denied the ordinary courtesies of war till we ourselves + compelled then: concession, we could at least turn this outlawry into a + compliment. We had touched the pivot of the war. Whether this vast and + dusky mass should prove the weakness of the nation or its strength, must + depend in great measure, we knew, upon our efforts. Till the blacks were + armed, there was no guaranty of their freedom. It was their demeanor under + arms that shamed the nation into recognizing them as men. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPE" id="link2H_APPE"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + APPENDIX + </h2> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEa" id="link2H_APPEa"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix A + </h2> + <h3> + Roster of Officers + </h3> + <p> + FIRST SOUTH CAROLINA VOLUNTEERS, + </p> + <p> + Afterwards Thirty-Third United States Colored Troops. + </p> + <p> + Colonels + </p> + <p> + T. W. HIGGINSON, 51st Mass. Vols., Nov. 10, 1862; Resigned, + </p> + <p> + Oct. 27, 1864. WM. T. BENNETT, 102d U. S. C. T., Dec. 18, 1864; Mustered + out + </p> + <p> + with regiment + </p> + <p> + Lieutenant-Colonels + </p> + <p> + LIBERTY BILLINGS, Civil Life, Nov. 1, 1862; Dismissed by Examining Board, + July 28, 1863. + </p> + <p> + JOHN D. STRONG, Promotion, July 28, 1863; Resigned, Aug. 15, 1864. + </p> + <p> + CHAS. T. TROWBRIDGE, Promotion, Dec. 9, 1864; Mustered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + Majors + </p> + <p> + JOHN D. STRONG, Civil Life, Oct. 21, 1862; Lt-Col., July 28, 1863. CHAS. + </p> + <p> + T. TROWBRIDGE, Promotion, Aug. 11, 1863; Lt.-Col., Dec. 9, 1864. + </p> + <p> + H. A. WHTTNEY, Promotion, Dec. 9, 1864; Mustered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + Surgeons + </p> + <p> + SETH ROGERS, Civil Life, Dec. 2, 1862; Resigned, Dec. 21, 1863. + </p> + <p> + WM. B. CRANDALL, 29th Ct, June 8, 1864; Mustered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + Assistant Surgeons + </p> + <p> + J. M. HAWKS, Civil Life, Oct 20, 1862; Surgeon 3d S. C. Vols., + </p> + <p> + Oct. 29, 1863. + </p> + <p> + THOS. T. MINOR, 7th Ct., Jan. 8, 1863; Resigned, Nov. 21, 1864. + </p> + <p> + E. S. STUARD, Civil Life, Sept. 4, 1865; Mustered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + Chaplain + </p> + <p> + JAS. H. FOWLER, Civil Life, Oct. 24, 1862; Mustered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + Captains + </p> + <p> + CHAS. T. TROWBRIDGE, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Oct. 13, 1862; Major, Aug. 11, 1863. + </p> + <p> + WM. JAMES, 100th Pa., Oct. 13, 1862; Mustered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + W. J. RANDOLPH, 100th Pa., Oct. 13, 1862; Resigned, Jan. 29, 1864. + </p> + <p> + H. A. WHITNEY, 8th Me., Oct. 13, 1862; Major, Dec. 9, 1864. + </p> + <p> + ALEX. HEASLEY, 100th Pa., Oct 13, 1862; Killed at Augusta, Ga., Sept. 6, + 1865. + </p> + <p> + GEORGE DOLLY, 8th Me., Nov. 1, 1862; Resigned, Oct. 30, 1863. + </p> + <p> + L. W. METCALF, 8th Me., Nov. 11, 1862; Mustered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + JAS. H. TONKING, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Nov. 17, 1862; Resigned, July 28, 1863. + </p> + <p> + JAS. S. ROGERS, 51st Mass., Dec. 6, 1862; Resigned, Oct. 20, 1863. + </p> + <p> + J. H. THIBADEAU, Promotion, Jan. 10, 1863; Mustered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + GEORGE D. WALKER, Promotion, July 28, 1863; Resigned, Sept 1, 1864. + </p> + <p> + WM. H. DANILSON, Promotion, July 28, 1863; Major 128th U. S. C. T., May, + 1865 [now 1st Lt 40th U. S. Infantry]. + </p> + <p> + WM. W. SAMPSON, Promotion, Nov. 5, 1863; Mustered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + JOHN M. THOMPSON, Promotion, Nov. 7, 1863; Mustered out, &c. [Now 1st + Lt. and Bvt Capt. 38th U. S. Infy.] + </p> + <p> + ABR. W. JACKSON, Promotion, April 30, 1864; Resigned, Aug. 15, 1865. + </p> + <p> + NILES G. PARKER, Promotion, Feb., 1865; Mustered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + CHAS. W. HOOPER, Promotion, Sept, 1865; Mustered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + E. C. MERMAM, Promotion, Sept., 1865; Resigned, Dec. 4, 1865. + </p> + <p> + E. W. ROBBINS, Promotion, Nov. 1, 1865; Mustered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + N. S. WHITE, Promotion, Nov. 18, 1865; Mustered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + First Lieutenants + </p> + <p> + G. W. DEWHURST (Adjutant), Civil Life, Oct 20, 1862; Resigned, Aug. 31, + 1865. + </p> + <p> + J. M. BINOHAM (Quartermaster), Civil Life, Oct. 20, 1862; Died from effect + of exhaustion on a military expedition, July 20, 1863. + </p> + <p> + G. M. CHAMBERUN (Quartermaster), llth Mass. Battery, Aug. 29, 1863; + Mustered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + GEO. D. WALKER, N. Y. VoL Eng., Oct 13, 1862; Captain, Aug. 11, 1863. + </p> + <p> + W. H. DANILSON, 48th N. Y., Oct 13, 1862; Captain, July 26, 1863. + </p> + <p> + J. H. THTBADEAU, 8th Me., Oct 13, 1862; Captain, Jan. 10, 1863. + </p> + <p> + EPHRAIM P. WHITE, 8th Me., Nov. 14, 1862; Resigned, March 9, 1864. + </p> + <p> + JAS. POMEROY, 100th Pa., Oct 13,1862; Resigned, Feb. 9, 1863. + </p> + <p> + JAS. F. JOHNSTON, 100th Pa., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, March 26, 1863. + </p> + <p> + JESSE FISHER, 48th N. Y., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, Jan. 26, 1863. + </p> + <p> + CHAS. I. DAVIS, 8th Me., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, Feb. 28, 1863. + </p> + <p> + WM. STOCKDALE, 8th Me., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, May 2, 1863. + </p> + <p> + JAS. B. O'NEIL, Promotion, Jan. 10, 1863; Resigned, May 2, 1863. + </p> + <p> + W. W. SAMPSON, Promotion, Jan. 10, 1863; Captain, Oct 30, + </p> + <p> + 1863. J. M. THOMPSON, Promotion, Jan. 27, 1863; Captain, Oct. 30, + </p> + <p> + 1863. R. M. GASTON, Promotion, April 15, 1863; Killed at Coosaw Ferry, S. + C., May 27, 1863. + </p> + <p> + JAS. B. WEST, Promotion, Feb. 28, 1863; Resigned, June 14, 1865. + </p> + <p> + N. G. PARKER, Promotion, May 5, 1863; Captain, Feb., 1865. + </p> + <p> + W. H. HYDE, Promotion, May 5, 1863; Resigned, April 3, 1865. + </p> + <p> + HENRY A. STONE, 8th Me., June 26, 1863; Resigned, Dec. 16, 1864. + </p> + <p> + J. A. TROWBRTDGE, Promotion, Aug. 11, 1863; Resigned, Nov. 29, 1864. + </p> + <p> + A. W. JACKSON, Promotion, Aug. 26, 1863; Captain, April 30, 1864. + </p> + <p> + CHAS. E. PARKER, Promotion, Aug. 26, 1863; Resigned, Nov. 29, 1864. + </p> + <p> + CHAS. W. HOOPER, Promotion, Nov. 8, 1863; Captain, Sept., 1865. + </p> + <p> + E. C. MERRIAM, Promotion, Nov. 19, 1863; Captain, Sept., 1865. + </p> + <p> + HENRY A. BEACH, Promotion, April 30, 1864; Resigned, Sept 23, 1864. + </p> + <p> + E. W. ROBBINS, Promotion, April 30, 1864; Captain, Nov. 1, 1865. + </p> + <p> + ASA CHILD, Promotion, Sept, 1865; Mastered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + N. S. WHITE, Promotion, Sept, 1865; Captain, Nov. 18, 1865. + </p> + <p> + F. S. GOODRICH, Promotion, Oct., 1865; Mustered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + E. W. HYDE, Promotion, Oct 27, 1865; Mustered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + HENRY WOOD, Promotion, Nov., 1865; Mustered out, &c. + </p> + <p> + Second Lieutenants + </p> + <p> + J. A. TROWBMDGE, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, Aug. 11, 1863. + </p> + <p> + JAS. B. O-NBIL, 1st U. S. Art'y, Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, Jan. 10, 1863. + </p> + <p> + W. W. SAMPSON, 8th Me., Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, Jan 10, 1863. + </p> + <p> + J. M. THOMPSON, 7th N. H., Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, Jan. 27, 1863. + </p> + <p> + R. M. GASTON, 100th Pa., Oct. 13, 1862; First Lt, April 15, 1863. + </p> + <p> + W. H. HYDE, 6th Ct, Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, May 5, 1863. + </p> + <p> + JAS. B. WEST, 100th Pa., Oct. 13. 1862; First Lt, Feb. 28, 1863. + </p> + <p> + HARRY C. WEST, 100th Pa., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, Nov. 4, 1864. + </p> + <p> + E. C. MERRIAM, 8th Me., Nov. 17, 1862; First Lt., Nov. 19, 1863. + </p> + <p> + CHAS. E. PARKER, 8th Me., Nov. 17, 1862; First Lt, Aug. 26, 1863. + </p> + <p> + C. W. HOOPER, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Feb. 17, 1863; First Lt, April 15, 1863. + </p> + <p> + N. G. PARKER, 1st Mass. Cavalry, March, 1863; First Lt, May 5, 1863. + </p> + <p> + A. H. TIRRELL, 1st Mass. Cav., March 6, 1863; Resigned, July 22, 1863. + </p> + <p> + A. W. JACKSON, 8th Me., March 6, 1863; First Lt, Aug. 26, 1863. + </p> + <p> + HENRY A. BEACH, 48th N. Y., April 5, 1863; First Lt, April 30, 1864. + </p> + <p> + E. W. ROBBINS, 8th Me., April 5, 1863; First Lt, April 30, 1864. + </p> + <p> + A. B. BROWN, Civil Life, April 17, 1863; Resigned, Nov. 27, 1863. + </p> + <p> + F. M. GOULD, 3d R. I. Battery, June 1, 1863; Resigned, June 8, 1864. + </p> + <p> + ASA CHILD, 8th Me., Aug. 7, 1863; First Lt, Sept., 1865. + </p> + <p> + JEROME T. FURMAN, 52d Pa., Aug. 30, 1863; Killed at Walhalla, S. C., Aug. + 26, 1865. + </p> + <p> + JOHN W. SELVAGE, 48th N. Y., Sept 10, 1863; First Lt. 36th U. S. C. T., + March, 1865. + </p> + <p> + MIRAND W. SAXTON, Civil Life, Nov. 19, 1863; Captain 128th U. S. C. T., + June 25, 1864 [now Second Lt 38th U. S. Infantry]. + </p> + <p> + NELSON S. WHITE, Dec. 22, 1863; First Lt, Sept., 1865. + </p> + <p> + EDW. W. HYDE, Civil Life, May 4, 1864; First Lt, Oct. 27, 1865. + </p> + <p> + F. S. GOODRICH, 115th N. Y., May, 1864; First Lt., Oct., 1865. + </p> + <p> + B. H. MANNING, Aug. 11, 1864; Capt 128th U. S. C. T., March 17, 1865. + </p> + <p> + R. M. DAVIS, 4th Mass. Cavalry, Nov. 19, 1864; Capt. 104th U. S. C. T., + May 11, 1865. + </p> + <p> + HENRY WOOD, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Aug., 1865; First Lt, Nov., 1865. + </p> + <p> + JOHN M. SEAKLES, 1st N. Y. Mounted Rifles, June 15, 1865; Mustered out, + &c. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEb" id="link2H_APPEb"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix B The First Black Soldiers + </h2> + <p> + It is well known that the first systematic attempt to organize colored + troops during the war of the rebellion was the so-called "Hunter + Regiment." The officer originally detailed to recruit for this purpose was + Sergeant C. T. Trowbridge, of the New York Volunteer Engineers (Col. + Serrell). His detail was dated May 7, 1862, S. O. 84 Dept. South. + </p> + <p> + Enlistments came in very slowly, and no wonder. The white officers and + soldiers were generally opposed to the experiment, and filled the ears of + the negroes with the same tales which had been told them by their masters,—that + the Yankees really meant to sell them to Cuba, and the like. The mildest + threats were that they would be made to work without pay (which turned out + to be the case), and that they would be put in the front rank in every + battle. Nobody could assure them that they and their families would be + freed by the Government, if they fought for it, since no such policy had + been adopted. Nevertheless, they gradually enlisted, the most efficient + recruiting officer being Sergeant William Bronson, of Company A, in my + regiment, who always prided himself on this service, and used to sign + himself by the very original title, "No. 1, African Foundations" in + commemoration of his deeds. + </p> + <p> + By patience and tact these obstacles would in time have been overcome. But + before long, unfortunately, some of General Hunter's staff became + impatient, and induced him to take the position that the blacks <i>must</i> + enlist. Accordingly, squads of soldiers were sent to seize all the + able-bodied men on certain plantations, and bring them to the camp. The + immediate consequence was a renewal of the old suspicion, ending in a + widespread belief that they were to be sent to Cuba, as their masters had + predicted. The ultimate result was a habit of distrust, discontent, and + desertion, that it was almost impossible to surmount. All the men who knew + anything about General Hunter believed in him; but they all knew that + there were bad influences around him, and that the Government had + repudiated his promises. They had been kept four months in service, and + then had been dismissed without pay. That having been the case, why should + not the Government equally repudiate General Saxton's promises or mine? As + a matter of fact, the Government did repudiate these pledges for years, + though we had its own written authority to give them. But that matter + needs an appendix by itself. + </p> + <p> + The "Hunter Regiment" remained in camp on Hilton Head Island until the + beginning of August, 1862, kept constantly under drill, but much + demoralized by desertion. It was then disbanded, except one company. That + company, under command of Sergeant Trowbridge, then acting as Captain, but + not commissioned, was kept in service, and was sent (August 5, 1862) to + garrison St. Simon's Island, on the coast of Georgia. On this island (made + famous by Mrs. Kemble's description) there were then five hundred colored + people, and not a single white man. + </p> + <p> + The black soldiers were sent down on the Ben De Ford, Captain Hallett. On + arriving, Trowbridge was at once informed by Commodore Goldsborough, naval + commander at that station, that there was a party of rebel guerillas on + the island, and was asked whether he would trust his soldiers in pursuit + of them. Trowbridge gladly assented; and the Commodore added, "If you + should capture them, it will be a great thing for you." + </p> + <p> + They accordingly went on shore, and found that the colored men of the + island had already undertaken the enterprise. Twenty-five of them had + armed themselves, under the command of one of their own number, whose name + was John Brown. The second in command was Edward Gould, who was afterwards + a corporal in my own regiment The rebel party retreated before these men, + and drew them into a swamp. There was but one path, and the negroes + entered single file. The rebels lay behind a great log, and fired upon + them. John Brown, the leader, fell dead within six feet of the log,—probably + the first black man who fell under arms in the war,—several other + were wounded, and the band of raw recruits retreated; as did also the + rebels, in the opposite direction. This was the first armed encounter, so + far as I know, between the rebels and their former slaves; and it is worth + noticing that the attempt was a spontaneous thing and not accompanied by + any white man. The men were not soldiers, nor in uniform, though some of + them afterwards enlisted in Trowbridge's company. + </p> + <p> + The father of this John Brown was afterwards a soldier in my regiment; + and, after his discharge for old age, was, for a time, my servant. "Uncle + York," as we called him, was as good a specimen of a saint as I have ever + met, and was quite the equal of Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom." He was a + fine-looking old man, with dignified and courtly manners, and his gray + head was a perfect benediction, as he sat with us on the platform at our + Sunday meetings. He fully believed, to his dying day, that the "John Brown + Song" related to his son, and to him only. + </p> + <p> + Trowbridge, after landing on the island, hunted the rebels all day with + his colored soldiers, and a posse of sailors. In one place, he found by a + creek a canoe, with a tar-kettle, and a fire burning; and it was + afterwards discovered that, at that very moment, the guerillas were hid in + a dense palmetto thicket, near by, and so eluded pursuit The rebel leader + was one Miles Hazard, who had a plantation on the island, and the party + escaped at last through the aid of his old slave, Henry, who found them a + boat One of my sergeants, Clarence Kennon, who had not then escaped from + slavery, was present when they reached the main-land; and he described + them as being tattered and dirty from head to foot, after their efforts to + escape their pursuers. + </p> + <p> + When the troops under my command occupied Jacksonville, Fla., in March of + the following year, we found at the railroad station, packed for + departure, a box of papers, some of them valuable. Among them was a letter + from this very Hazard to some friend, describing the perils of that + adventure, and saying, "If you wish to know hell before your time, go to + St Simon's and be hunted ten days by niggers." + </p> + <p> + I have heard Trowbridge say that not one of his men flinched; and they + seemed to take delight in the pursuit, though the weather was very hot, + and it was fearfully exhausting. + </p> + <p> + This was early in August; and the company remained two months at St + Simon's, doing picket duty within hearing of the rebel drums, though not + another scout ever ventured on the island, to their knowledge. Every + Saturday Trowbridge summoned the island people to drill with his soldiers; + and they came in hordes, men, women, and children, in every imaginable + garb, to the number of one hundred and fifty or two hundred. + </p> + <p> + His own men were poorly clothed and hardly shod at all; and, as no new + supply of uniform was provided, they grew more and more ragged. They got + poor rations, and no pay; but they kept up their spirits. Every week or so + some of them would go on scouting excursions to the main-land; one scout + used to go regularly to his old mother's hut, and keep himself hid under + her bed, while she collected for him all the latest news of rebel + movements. This man never came back without bringing recruits with him. + </p> + <p> + At last the news came that Major-General Mitchell had come to relieve + General Hunter, and that Brigadier-General Saxton had gone North; and + Trowbridge went to Hilton Head in some anxiety to see if he and his men + were utterly forgotten. He prepared a report, showing the services and + claims of his men, and took it with him. This was early in October, 1862. + The first person he met was Brigadier-General Saxton, who informed him + that he had authority to organize five thousand colored troops, and that + he (Trowbridge) should be senior captain of the first regiment + </p> + <p> + This was accordingly done; and Company A of the First South Carolina could + honestly claim to date its enlistment back to May, 1862, although they + never got pay for that period of their service, and their date of muster + was November, IS, 1862. + </p> + <p> + The above facts were written down from the narration of Lieutenant-Colonel + Trowbridge, who may justly claim to have been the first white officer to + recruit and command colored troops in this war. He was constantly in + command of them from May 9, 1862, to February 9, 1866. + </p> + <p> + Except the Louisiana soldiers mentioned in the Introduction,—of whom + no detailed reports have, I think, been published,—my regiment was + unquestionably the first mustered into the service of the United States; + the first company muster bearing date, November 7, 1862, and the others + following in quick succession. + </p> + <p> + The second regiment in order of muster was the "First Kansas Colored," + dating from January 13, 1863. The first enlistment in the Kansas regiment + goes back to August 6, 1862; while the earliest technical date of + enlistment in my regiment was October 19, 1862, although, as was stated + above, one company really dated its organization back to May, 1862. My + muster as colonel dates back to November 10, 1862, several months earlier + than any other of which I am aware, among colored regiments, except that + of Colonel Stafford (First Louisiana Native Guards), September 27, 1862. + Colonel Williams, of the "First Kansas Colored," was mustered as + lieutenant-colonel on January 13, 1863; as colonel, March 8, 1863. These + dates I have (with the other facts relating to the regiment) from Colonel + R. J. Hinton, the first officer detailed to recruit it. + </p> + <p> + To sum up the above facts: my late regiment had unquestioned priority in + muster over all but the Louisiana regiments. It had priority over those in + the actual organization and term of service of one company. On the other + hand, the Kansas regiment had the priority in average date of enlistment, + according to the muster-rolls. + </p> + <p> + The first detachment of the Second South Carolina Volunteers (Colonel + Montgomery) went into camp at Port Royal Island, February 23, 1863, + numbering one hundred and twenty men. I do not know the date of his + muster; it was somewhat delayed, but was probably dated back to about that + time. + </p> + <p> + Recruiting for the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts (colored) began on February + 9, 1863, and the first squad went into camp at Readville, Massachusetts, + on February 21, 1863, numbering twenty-five men. Colonel Shaw's commission + (and probably his muster) was dated April 17, 1863. (Report of + Adjutant-General of Massachusetts for 1863, pp. 896-899.) + </p> + <p> + These were the earliest colored regiments, so far as I know. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEc" id="link2H_APPEc"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix C General Saxton's Instructions + </h2> + <p> + [The following are the instructions under which my regiment was raised. It + will be seen how unequivocal were the provisions in respect to pay, upon + which so long and weary a contest was waged by our friends in Congress, + before the fulfilment of the contract could be secured.] + </p> + <p> + WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON CITY, D. C., August 25, 1862. + </p> + <p> + GENERAL, Your despatch of the 16th has this moment been received. It is + considered by the Department that the instructions given at the time of + your appointment were sufficient to enable you to do what you have now + requested authority for doing. But in order to place your authority beyond + all doubt, you are hereby authorized and instructed, + </p> + <p> + 1st, To organize in any convenient organization, by squads, companies, + battalions, regiments, and brigades, or otherwise, colored persons of + African descent for volunteer laborers, to a number not exceeding fifty + thousand, and muster them into the service of the United States for the + term of the war, at a rate of compensation not exceeding five dollars per + month for common laborers, and eight dollars per month for mechanical or + skilled laborers, and assign them to the Quartermaster's Department, to do + and perform such laborer's duty as may be required during the present war, + and to be subject to the rules and articles of war. + </p> + <p> + 2d. The laboring forces herein authorized shall, under the order of the + General-in-Chief, or of this Department, be detailed by the + Quartermaster-General for laboring service with the armies of the United + States; and they shall be clothed and subsisted, after enrolment, in the + same manner as other persons in the Quartermaster's service. + </p> + <p> + 3d. In view of the small force under your command, and the inability of + the Government at the present time to increase it, in order to guard the + plantations and settlements occupied by the United States from invasion, + and protect the inhabitants thereof from captivity and murder by the + enemy, you are also authorized to arm, uniform, equip, and receive into + the service of the United States, such number of volunteers of African + descent as you may deem expedient, not exceeding five thousand, and may + detail officers to instruct them in military drill, discipline, and duty, + and to command them. The persons so received into service, and their + officers, to be entitled to, and receive, the same pay and rations as are + allowed, by law, to volunteers in the service. + </p> + <p> + 4th. You will occupy, if possible, all the islands and plantations + heretofore occupied by the Government, and secure and harvest the crops, + and cultivate and improve the plantations. + </p> + <p> + 5th. The population of African descent that cultivate the lands and + perform the labor of the rebels constitute a large share of their military + strength, and enable the white masters to fill the rebel armies, and wage + a cruel and murderous war against the people of the Northern States. By + reducing the laboring strength of the rebels, their military power will be + reduced. You are therefore authorized by every means in your power, to + withdraw from the enemy their laboring force and population, and to spare + no effort, consistent with civilized warfare, to weaken, harass, and annoy + them, and to establish the authority of the Government of the United + States within your Department. + </p> + <p> + 6th. You may turn over to the navy any number of colored volunteers that + may be required for the naval service. + </p> + <p> + 7th. By recent act of Congress, all men and boys received into the service + of the United States, who may have been the slaves of rebel masters, are, + with their wives, mothers, and children, declared to be forever free. You + and all in your command will so treat and regard them. + </p> + <p> + Yours truly, + </p> + <p> + EDWIN M. STANTON, + </p> + <p> + Secretary of War. BRIGADIER-GENERAL SAXTON. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEd" id="link2H_APPEd"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix D The Struggle for Pay + </h2> + <p> + The story of the attempt to cut down the pay of the colored troops is too + long, too complicated, and too humiliating, to be here narrated. In the + case of my regiment there stood on record the direct pledge of the War + Department to General Saxton that their pay should be the same as that of + whites. So clear was this that our kind paymaster, Major W. J. Wood, of + New Jersey, took upon himself the responsibility of paying the price + agreed upon, for five months, till he was compelled by express orders to + reduce it from thirteen dollars per month to ten dollars, and from that to + seven dollars,—the pay of quartermaster's men and day-laborers. At + the same time the "stoppages" from the pay-rolls for the loss of all + equipments and articles of clothing remained the same as for all other + soldiers, so that it placed the men in the most painful and humiliating + condition. Many of them had families to provide for, and between the + actual distress, the sense of wrong, the taunts of those who had refused + to enlist from the fear of being cheated, and the doubt how much farther + the cheat might be carried, the poor fellows were goaded to the utmost. In + the Third South Carolina regiment, Sergeant William Walker was shot, by + order of court-marital, for leading his company to stack arms before their + captain's tent, on the avowed ground that they were released from duty by + the refusal of the Government to fulfill its share of the contract. The + fear of such tragedies spread a cloud of solicitude over every camp of + colored soldiers for more than a year, and the following series of letters + will show through what wearisome labors the final triumph of justice was + secured. In these labors the chief credit must be given to my admirable + Adjutant, Lieutenant G. W. Dewhurst In the matter of bounty justice is not + yet obtained; there is a discrimination against those colored soldiers who + were slaves on April 19, 1861. Every officer, who through indolence or + benevolent design claimed on his muster-rolls that all his men had been + free on that day, secured for them the bounty; while every officer who, + like myself, obeyed orders and told the truth in each case, saw his men + and their families suffer for it, as I have done. A bill to abolish this + distinction was introduced by Mr. Wilson at the last session, but failed + to pass the House. It is hoped that next winter may remove this last + vestige of the weary contest + </p> + <p> + To show how persistently and for how long a period these claims had to be + urged on Congress, I reprint such of my own printed letters on the subject + as are now in my possession. There are one or two of which I have no + copies. It was especially in the Senate that it was so difficult to get + justice done; and our thanks will always be especially due to Hon. Charles + Sumner and Hon. Henry Wilson for their advocacy of our simple rights. The + records of those sessions will show who advocated the fraud. + </p> + <p> + To the Editor of the <i>New York Tribune</i>: + </p> + <p> + SIR,—No one can overstate the intense anxiety with which the + officers of colored regiments in this Department are awaiting action from + Congress in regard to arrears of pay of their men. + </p> + <p> + It is not a matter of dollars and cents only; it is a question of common + honesty,—whether the United States Government has sufficient + integrity for the fulfillment of an explicit business contract. + </p> + <p> + The public seems to suppose that all required justice will be done by the + passage of a bill equalizing the pay of all soldiers for the future. But, + so far as my own regiment is concerned, this is but half the question. My + men have been nearly sixteen months in the service, and for them the + immediate issue is the question of arrears. + </p> + <p> + They understand the matter thoroughly, if the public do not Every one of + them knows that he volunteered under an explicit <i>written assurance</i> + from the War Department that he should have the pay of a white soldier. He + knows that for five months the regiment received that pay, after which it + was cut down from the promised thirteen dollars per month to ten dollars, + for some reason to him inscrutable. + </p> + <p> + He does <i>not</i> know for I have not yet dared to tell the men—that + the Paymaster has been already reproved by the Pay Department for + fulfilling even in part the pledges of the War Department; that at the + next payment the ten dollars are to be further reduced to seven; and that, + to crown the whole, all the previous overpay is to be again deducted or + "stopped" from the future wages, thus leaving them a little more than a + dollar a month for six months to come, unless Congress interfere! + </p> + <p> + Yet so clear were the terms of the contract that Mr. Solicitor Whiting, + having examined the original instructions from the War Department issued + to Brigadier-General Saxton, Military Governor, admits to me (under date + of December 4, 1863,) that "the faith of the Government was thereby + pledged to every officer and soldier enlisted under that call." + </p> + <p> + He goes on to express the generous confidence that "the pledge will be + honorably fulfilled." I observe that every one at the North seems to feel + the same confidence, but that, meanwhile, the pledge is unfulfilled. + Nothing is said in Congress about fulfilling it. I have not seen even a + proposition in Congress to pay the colored soldiers, <i>from date of + enlistment</i>, the same pay with white soldiers; and yet anything short + of that is an unequivocal breach of contract, so far as this regiment is + concerned. + </p> + <p> + Meanwhile, the land sales are beginning, and there is danger of every foot + of land being sold from beneath my soldiers' feet, because they have not + the petty sum which Government first promised, and then refused to pay. + </p> + <p> + The officers' pay comes promptly and fully enough, and this makes the + position more embarrassing. For how are we to explain to the men the + mystery that Government can afford us a hundred or two dollars a month, + and yet must keep back six of the poor thirteen which it promised them? + Does it not naturally suggest the most cruel suspicions in regard to us? + And yet nothing but their childlike faith in their officers, and in that + incarnate soul of honor, General Saxton, has sustained their faith, or + kept them patient, thus far. + </p> + <p> + There is nothing mean or mercenary about these men in general. Convince + them that the Government actually needs their money, and they would serve + it barefooted and on half-rations, and without a dollar—for a time. + But, unfortunately, they see white soldiers beside them, whom they know to + be in no way their superiors for any military service, receiving hundreds + of dollars for re-enlisting for this impoverished Government, which can + only pay seven dollars out of thirteen to its black regiments. And they + see, on the other hand, those colored men who refused to volunteer as + soldiers, and who have found more honest paymasters than the United States + Government, now exulting in well-filled pockets, and able to buy the + little homesteads the soldiers need, and to turn the soldiers' families + into the streets. Is this a school for self-sacrificing patriotism? + </p> + <p> + I should not speak thus urgently were it not becoming manifest that there + is to be no promptness of action in Congress, even as regards the future + pay of colored soldiers,—and that there is especial danger of the + whole matter of <i>arrears</i> going by default Should it be so, it will + be a repudiation more ungenerous than any which Jefferson Davis advocated + or Sydney Smith denounced. It will sully with dishonor all the nobleness + of this opening page of history, and fix upon the North a brand of + meanness worse than either Southerner or Englishman has yet dared to + impute. The mere delay in the fulfillment of this contract has already + inflicted untold suffering, has impaired discipline, has relaxed loyalty, + and has begun to implant a feeling of sullen distrust in the very + regiments whose early career solved the problem of the nation, created a + new army, and made peaceful emancipation possible. + </p> + <p> + T. W. HIGGINSON, Colonel commanding 1st S. C. Vols. + </p> + <p> + BEAUFORT, S. C., January 22, 1864. + </p> + <p> + HEADQUARTERS FIRST SOUTH CAROLINA VOLUNTEERS, BEAUFORT, S. C., Sunday, + February 14, 1864. + </p> + <p> + To the Editor of the <i>New York Times</i>: + </p> + <p> + May I venture to call your attention to the great and cruel injustice + which is impending over the brave men of this regiment? + </p> + <p> + They have been in military service for over a year, having volunteered, + every man, without a cent of bounty, on the written pledge of the War + Department that they should receive the same pay and rations with white + soldiers. + </p> + <p> + This pledge is contained in the written instructions of Brigadier-General + Saxton, Military Governor, dated August 25, 1862. Mr. Solicitor Whiting, + having examined those instructions, admits to me that "the faith of the + Government was thereby pledged to every officer and soldier under that + call." + </p> + <p> + Surely, if this fact were understood, every man in the nation would see + that the Government is degraded by using for a year the services of the + brave soldiers, and then repudiating the contract under which they were + enlisted. This is what will be done, should Mr. Wilson's bill, legalizing + the back pay of the army, be defeated. + </p> + <p> + We presume too much on the supposed ignorance of these men. I have never + yet found a man in my regiment so stupid as not to know when he was + cheated. If fraud proceeds from Government itself, so much the worse, for + this strikes at the foundation of all rectitude, all honor, all + obligation. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Senator Fessenden said, in the debate on Mr. Wilson's bill, January 4, + that the Government was not bound by the unauthorized promises of + irresponsible recruiting officers. But is the Government itself an + irresponsible recruiting officer? and if men have volunteered in good + faith on the written assurances of the Secretary of War, is not Congress + bound, in all decency, either to fulfill those pledges or to disband the + regiments? + </p> + <p> + Mr. Senator Doolittle argued in the same debate that white soldiers should + receive higher pay than black ones, because the families of the latter + were often supported by Government What an astounding statement of fact is + this! In the white regiment in which I was formerly an officer (the + Massachusetts Fifty-First) nine tenths of the soldiers' families, in + addition to the pay and bounties, drew regularly their "State aid." Among + my black soldiers, with half-pay and no bounty, not a family receives any + aid. Is there to be no limit, no end to the injustice we heap upon this + unfortunate people? Cannot even the fact of their being in arms for the + nation, liable to die any day in its defence, secure them ordinary + justice? Is the nation so poor, and so utterly demoralized by its + pauperism, that after it has had the lives of these men, it must turn + round to filch six dollars of the monthly pay which the Secretary of War + promised to their widows? It is even so, if the excuses of Mr. Fressenden + and Mr. Doolittle are to be accepted by Congress and by the people. + </p> + <p> + Very respectfully, your obedient servant, + </p> + <p> + T, W. HIGGINSON, Colonel commanding 1st S. C. Volunteers. + </p> + <p> + NEW VICTORIES AND OLD WRONGS To the Editors of the Evening Post: + </p> + <p> + On the 2d of July, at James Island, S. C., a battery was taken by three + regiments, under the following circumstances: + </p> + <p> + The regiments were the One Hundred and Third New York (white), the + Thirty-Third United States (formerly First South Carolina Volunteers), and + the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts, the two last being colored. They marched at + one A. M., by the flank, in the above order, hoping to surprise the + battery. As usual the rebels were prepared for them, and opened upon them + as they were deep in one of those almost impassable Southern marshes. The + One Hundred and Third New York, which had previously been in twenty + battles, was thrown into confusion; the Thirty-Third United States did + better, being behind; the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts being in the rear, did + better still. All three formed in line, when Colonel Hartwell, commanding + the brigade, gave the order to retreat. The officer commanding the + Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts, either misunderstanding the order, or hearing + it countermanded, ordered his regiment to charge. This order was at once + repeated by Major Trowbridge, commanding the Thirty-Third United States, + and by the commander of the One Hundred and Third New York, so that the + three regiments reached the fort in reversed order. The color-bearers of + the Thirty-Third United States and of the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts had a + race to be first in, the latter winning. The One Hundred and Third New + York entered the battery immediately after. + </p> + <p> + These colored regiments are two of the five which were enlisted in South + Carolina and Massachusetts, under the written pledge of the War Department + that they should have the same pay and allowances as white soldiers. That + pledge has been deliberately broken by the War Department, or by Congress, + or by both, except as to the short period, since last New-Year's Day. + Every one of those killed in this action from these two colored regiments + under a fire before which the veterans of twenty battles recoiled <i>died + defrauded by the Government of nearly one half his petty pay</i>. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Fessenden, who defeated in the Senate the bill for the fulfillment of + the contract with these soldiers, is now Secretary of the Treasury. Was + the economy of saving six dollars per man worth to the Treasury the + ignominy of the repudiation? + </p> + <p> + Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, on his triumphal return to his constituents, + used to them this language: "He had no doubt whatever as to the final + result of the present contest between liberty and slavery. The only doubt + he had was whether the nation had yet been satisfactorily chastised for + their cruel oppression of a harmless and long-suffering race." Inasmuch as + it was Mr. Stevens himself who induced the House of Representatives, most + unexpectedly to all, to defeat the Senate bill for the fulfillment of the + national contract with these soldiers, I should think he had excellent + reasons for the doubt. + </p> + <p> + Very respectfully, + </p> + <p> + T. W. HIGGINSON, Colonel 1st S. C. Vols (now 33d U. S.) July 10, 1864. + </p> + <p> + To the Editor of the <i>New York Tribune</i>: + </p> + <p> + No one can possibly be so weary of reading of the wrongs done by + Government toward the colored soldiers as am I of writing about them. This + is my only excuse for intruding on your columns again. + </p> + <p> + By an order of the War Department, dated August 1, 1864, it is at length + ruled that colored soldiers shall be paid the full pay of soldiers from + date of enlistment, provided they were free on April 19, 1861,—not + otherwise; and this distinction is to be noted on the pay-rolls. In other + words, if one half of a company escaped from slavery on April 18, 1861, + they are to be paid thirteen dollars per month and allowed three dollars + and a half per month for clothing. If the other half were delayed two + days, they receive seven dollars per month and are allowed three dollars + per month for precisely the same articles of clothing. If one of the + former class is made first sergeant, Us pay is put up to twenty-one + dollars per month; but if he escaped two days later, his pay is still + estimated at seven dollars. + </p> + <p> + It had not occurred to me that anything could make the payrolls of these + regiments more complicated than at present, or the men more rationally + discontented. I had not the ingenuity to imagine such an order. Yet it is + no doubt in accordance with the spirit, if not with the letter, of the + final bill which was adopted by Congress under the lead of Mr. Thaddeus + Stevens. + </p> + <p> + The ground taken by Mr. Stevens apparently was that the country might + honorably save a few dollars by docking the promised pay of those colored + soldiers whom the war had made free. <i>But the Government should have + thought of this before it made the contract with these men and received + their services</i>. When the War Department instructed Brigadier-General + Saxton, August 25, 1862, to raise five regiments of negroes in South + Carolina, it was known very well that the men so enlisted had only + recently gained their freedom. But the instructions said: "The persons so + received into service, and their officers, to be entitled to and receive + the same pay and rations as are allowed by law to volunteers in the + service." Of this passage Mr. Solicitor Whiting wrote to me: "I have no + hesitation in saying that the faith of the Government was thereby pledged + to every officer and soldier enlisted under that call." Where is that + faith of the Government now? + </p> + <p> + The men who enlisted under the pledge were volunteers, every one; they did + not get their freedom by enlisting; they had it already. They enlisted to + serve the Government, trusting in its honor. Now the nation turns upon + them and says: Your part of the contract is fulfilled; we have had your + services. If you can show that you had previously been free for a certain + length of time, we will fulfil the other side of the contract. If not, we + repudiate it Help yourselves, if you can. + </p> + <p> + In other words, a freedman (since April 19, 1861) has no rights which a + white man is bound to respect. He is incapable of making a contract No man + is bound by a contract made with him. Any employer, following the example + of the United States Government, may make with him a written agreement + receive his services, and then withhold the wages. He has no motive to + honest industry, or to honesty of any kind. He is virtually a slave, and + nothing else, to the end of time. + </p> + <p> + Under this order, the greater part of the Massachusetts colored regiments + will get their pay at last and be able to take their wives and children + out of the almshouses, to which, as Governor Andrew informs us, the + gracious charity of the nation has consigned so many. For so much I am + grateful. But toward my regiment, which had been in service and under + fire, months before a Northern colored soldier was recruited, the policy + of repudiation has at last been officially adopted. There is no + alternative for the officers of South Carolina regiments but to wait for + another session of Congress, and meanwhile, if necessary, act as + executioners for those soldiers who, like Sergeant Walker, refuse to + fulfil their share of a contract where the Government has openly + repudiated the other share. If a year's discussion, however, has at length + secured the arrears of pay for the Northern colored regiments, possibly + two years may secure it for the Southern. + </p> + <p> + T. W. HIGGINSON, Colonel 1st S. C. Vols. (now 33d V. S.) + </p> + <p> + August 12, 1864. + </p> + <p> + To the Editor of the <i>New York Tribune</i>: + </p> + <p> + SIR,—An impression seems to prevail in the newspapers that the + lately published "opinion" of Attorney-General Bates (dated in July last) + at length secures justice to the colored soldiers in respect to arrears of + pay. This impression is a mistake. + </p> + <p> + That "opinion" does indeed show that there never was any excuse for + refusing them justice; but it does not, of itself, secure justice to them. + </p> + <p> + It <i>logically</i> covers the whole ground, and was doubtless intended to + do so; but <i>technically</i> it can only apply to those soldiers who were + free at the commencement of the war. For it was only about these that the + Attorney-General was officially consulted. + </p> + <p> + Under this decision the Northern colored regiments have already got their + arrears of pay,—and those few members of the Southern regiments who + were free on April 19, 1861. But in the South Carolina regiments this only + increases the dissatisfaction among the remainder, who volunteered under + the same pledge of full pay from the War Department, and who do not see + how the question of their <i>status</i> at some antecedent period can + affect an express contract If, in 1862, they were free enough to make a + bargain with, they were certainly free enough to claim its fulfilment. + </p> + <p> + The unfortunate decision of Mr. Solicitor Whiting, under which all our + troubles arose, is indeed superseded by the reasoning of the + Attorney-General. But unhappily that does not remedy the evil, which is + already embodied in an Act of Congress, making the distinction between + those who were and those who were not free on April 19, 1861. + </p> + <p> + The question is, whether those who were not free at the breaking out of + the war are still to be defrauded, after the Attorney-General has shown + that there is no excuse for defrauding them? + </p> + <p> + I call it defrauding, because it is not a question of abstract justice, + but of the fulfilment of an express contract + </p> + <p> + I have never met with a man, whatever might be his opinions as to the + enlistment of colored soldiers, who did not admit that if they had + volunteered under the direct pledge of full pay from the War Department, + they were entitled to every cent of it. That these South Carolina + regiments had such direct pledge is undoubted, for it still exists in + writing, signed by the Secretary of War, and has never been disputed. + </p> + <p> + It is therefore the plain duty of Congress to repeal the law which + discriminates between different classes of colored soldiers, or at least + so to modify it as to secure the fulfilment of actual contracts. Until + this is done the nation is still disgraced. The few thousand dollars in + question are nothing compared with the absolute wrong done and the + discredit it has brought, both here and in Europe, upon the national name. + </p> + <p> + T. W. HIGGINSON, + </p> + <p> + Late Col. 1st S. C. Vols. (now 33d U. S. C. T.) NEWPORT, R. I, December 8, + 1864. + </p> + <p> + PETITION + </p> + <p> + "To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the United States + in Congress assembled: + </p> + <p> + "The undersigned respectfully petitions for the repeal of so much of + Section IV. of the Act of Congress making appropriations for the army and + approved July 4, 1864, as makes a distinction, in respect to pay due, + between those colored soldiers who were free on or before April 19, 1861, + and those who were not free until a later date; + </p> + <p> + "Or at least that there may be such legislation as to secure the + fulfillment of pledges of full pay from date of enlistment, made by direct + authority of the War Department to the colored soldiers of South Carolina, + on the faith of which pledges they enlisted. + </p> + <p> + "THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON, Late Colonel 1st S. C. Vols. (now 33d U. S. + C. Vols.) + </p> + <p> + "NEWPORT, R. L, December 9, 1864." + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_APPEe" id="link2H_APPEe"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + Appendix E Farewell Address of Lt. Col. Trowbridge + </h2> + <p> + HEADQUARTERS 33d UNITED STATES COLORED TROOPS, LATE 1ST SOUTH CAROLINA + VOLUNTEERS, + </p> + <p> + MORRIS ISLAND, S. C., + </p> + <p> + February 9, 1866. GENERAL ORDERS, No. 1. + </p> + <p> + COMRADES,—The hour is at hand when we must separate forever, and + nothing can ever take from us the pride we feel, when we look back upon + the history of the First South Carolina Volunteers,—the first black + regiment that ever bore arms in defence of freedom on the continent of + America. + </p> + <p> + On the ninth day of May, 1862, at which time there were nearly four + millions of your race in a bondage sanctioned by the laws of the land, and + protected by our flag,—on that day, in the face of floods of + prejudice, that wellnigh deluged every avenue to manhood and true liberty, + you came forth to do battle for your country and your kindred. For long + and weary months without pay, or even the privilege of being recognized as + soldiers, you labored on, only to be disbanded and sent to your homes, + without even a hope of reward. And when our country, necessitated by the + deadly struggle with armed traitors, finally granted you the opportunity + <i>again</i> to come forth in defence of the nation's life, the alacrity + with which you responded to the call gave abundant evidence of your + readiness to strike a manly blow for the liberty of your race. And from + that little band of hopeful, trusting, and brave men, who gathered at Camp + Saxton, on Port Royal Island, in the fall of 1862, amidst the terrible + prejudices that then surrounded us, has grown an army of a hundred and + forty thousand black soldiers, whose valor and heroism has won for your + race a name which will live as long as the undying pages of history shall + endure; and by whose efforts, united with those of the white man, armed + rebellion has been conquered, the millions of bondmen have been + emancipated, and the fundamental law of the land has been so altered as to + remove forever the possibility of human slavery being re-established + within the borders of redeemed America. The flag of our fathers, restored + to its rightful significance, now floats over every foot of our territory, + from Maine to California, and beholds only freemen! The prejudices which + formerly existed against you are wellnigh rooted out + </p> + <p> + Soldiers, you have done your duty, and acquitted yourselves like men, who, + actuated by such ennobling motives, could not fail; and as the result of + your fidelity and obedience, you have won your freedom. And O, how great + the reward! + </p> + <p> + It seems fitting to me that the last hours of our existence as a regiment + should be passed amidst the unmarked graves of your comrades,—at + Fort Wagner. Near you rest the bones of Colonel Shaw, buried by an enemy's + hand, in the same grave with his black soldiers, who fell at his side; + where, in future, your children's children will come on pilgrimages to do + homage to the ashes of those that fell in this glorious struggle. + </p> + <p> + The flag which was presented to us by the Rev. George B. Cheever and his + congregation, of New York City, on the first of January, 1863,—the + day when Lincoln's immortal proclamation of freedom was given to the + world,—and which you have borne so nobly through the war, is now to + be rolled up forever, and deposited in our nation's capital. And while + there it shall rest, with the battles in which you have participated + inscribed upon its folds, it will be a source of pride to us all to + remember that it has never been disgraced by a cowardly faltering in the + hour of danger or polluted by a traitor's touch. + </p> + <p> + Now that you are to lay aside your arms, and return to the peaceful + avocations of life, I adjure you, by the associations and history of the + past, and the love you bear for your liberties, to harbor no feelings of + hatred toward your former masters, but to seek in the paths of honesty, + virtue, sobriety, and industry, and by a willing obedience to the laws of + the land, to grow up to the full stature of American citizens. The church, + the school-house, and the right forever to be free are now secured to you, + and every prospect before you is full of hope and encouragement. The + nation guarantees to you full protection and justice, and will require + from you in return the respect for the laws and orderly deportment which + will prove to every one your right to all the privileges of freemen. + </p> + <p> + To the officers of the regiment I would say, your toils are ended, your + mission is fulfilled, and we separate forever. The fidelity, patience, and + patriotism with which you have discharged your duties, to your men and to + your country, entitle you to a far higher tribute than any words of + thankfulness which I can give you from the bottom of my heart You will + find your reward in the proud conviction that the cause for which you have + battled so nobly has been crowned with abundant success. + </p> + <p> + Officers and soldiers of the Thirty-Third United States Colored Troops, + once the First South Carolina Volunteers, I bid you all farewell! + </p> + <p> + By order of Lt.-Col. C. T. TROWBRIDGE, commanding Regiment + </p> + <p> + E. W. HYDE, Lieutenant and Acting Adjutant. + </p> + <p> + INDEX + </p> + <p> + [page numbers have been retained for the W. W. Norton paperback reprint to + show relative location in file.] + </p> + <p> + Index + </p> + <p> + Aiken, William, GOT., 166 + </p> + <p> + Aiken, South Carolina, 249 + </p> + <p> + Allston, Adam, Corp., 103 + </p> + <p> + Andrew, J. A., Gov., 29, 215, 216, sends Emancipation Proclamation to + Higginson, 85 + </p> + <p> + Bates, Edward, 275 + </p> + <p> + Battle of the Hundred Pines, 95, 104 + </p> + <p> + Beach, H. A., Lt, 257, 258 + </p> + <p> + Beaufort, South Carolina, 33, 34, 38, 106, 142, 215 Higginson visits, 64 + Negro troops march through, 74 picket station near, 134 residents visit + camp, 147 Negro troops patrol, 219 + </p> + <p> + Beauregard, P. G.T., Gen., 45, 73 + </p> + <p> + Beecher, H. R., Rev., 241 + </p> + <p> + Bell, Louis, Col., 225 + </p> + <p> + Bennett, W. T., Gen., 249, 255 + </p> + <p> + Bezzard, James, 95 + </p> + <p> + Bigelow, L. F., Lt, 28 + </p> + <p> + Billings, L., Lt.-Col., 255 + </p> + <p> + Bingham, J. M., Lt, 170, 257 + </p> + <p> + Brannan, J. M, Gen., 107 + </p> + <p> + Brisbane, W. H., 60 + </p> + <p> + Bronson, William, Sgt, 260 + </p> + <p> + Brown, A. B., Lt, 258 + </p> + <p> + Brown, John, 29, 45, 61, 76 + </p> + <p> + Brown, John (Negro), 262 + </p> + <p> + Brown, York, 262 Bryant, J. E., Capt, 220 + </p> + <p> + Budd, Lt, 83 + </p> + <p> + Burnside, A. E., Gen., 54, 55 + </p> + <p> + Butler, B. F., Gen., 27 + </p> + <p> + Calhoun, J. C., Capt., 150 Camplife, 30 evening activities, 36-39, 44-49 + Casualties, 89 + </p> + <p> + Chamberlin, G. B., Lt., 177, 257 Chamberlin, Mrs., 229 + </p> + <p> + Charleston, South Carolina, attacked, 137, 143, 150 Negro troops in, 249 + Charleston and Savannah Railway, 163 + </p> + <p> + Cheever, G. B., Rev., 278 + </p> + <p> + Child, A. Lt, 258 + </p> + <p> + Christmas, 55, 56 + </p> + <p> + Clark, Capt, 84, 89, 102 + </p> + <p> + Clifton, Capt, 100, 101 + </p> + <p> + Clinton, J. B., Lt, 165 + </p> + <p> + Colors, Stands of, 56, 60 + </p> + <p> + Confederates, 35 use spies, 91, 93 attack Negro troops, 86-87, 100-102 + threaten to burn Jacksonville, 110 civilians fear Negro troops, 116 + retreat, 126-127,142 + </p> + <p> + Connecticut Regiment, Sixth, 122, 124, 126 Seventh, 93 + </p> + <p> + Corwin, B. R., MaJ., 120, 126 + </p> + <p> + Crandall, W. B., Surg., 255 + </p> + <p> + Crum, Simon, Corp., 249 + </p> + <p> + Cushman, James, 241 + </p> + <p> + Danilson, W. H., Maj., 93, 256, + </p> + <p> + Davis, C. I., Lt., 257 + </p> + <p> + Davis., R. M., Lt., 259 + </p> + <p> + Davis, W. W. H., Gen., 164 + </p> + <p> + Department of the South, 15, 80 quiet, 106 colored troops in, 137 + </p> + <p> + Desertions, 62 + </p> + <p> + Dewhurst, G. W., Adjt, 256 + </p> + <p> + Dewhurst, Mrs., 229 + </p> + <p> + Discipline, need for, 29 Negroes accept, 39 + </p> + <p> + Dolly, George, Capt., 172, 256 + </p> + <p> + Doolittle, J. R., 271 + </p> + <p> + Drill, of Negroes, 46, 51, 245 whites, 64-65 + </p> + <p> + Drinking, absence of, 58 + </p> + <p> + Duncan, Lt. Com., 109, 111 + </p> + <p> + Dupont, S. F., Admiral, 15, 82, 91, 99, 108, 137 + </p> + <p> + Dutch, Capt., 166 + </p> + <p> + Edisto expedition, 163-176, 214 + </p> + <p> + Education, desire for, 48 + </p> + <p> + Emancipation Proclamation, 65 read, 60 sent to Higginson, 85 + </p> + <p> + Fernandina, Florida, 84, 91, 104 + </p> + <p> + Fessenden, W. P., 271, 272 + </p> + <p> + Finnegan, Gen., 115 + </p> + <p> + Fisher, J., Lt., 257 + </p> + <p> + Florida, 221 men under Higginson, 35 slaves know about Lincoln, 46 + refugees from, 49 Foraging, 99, 104, 117, 120 restraint in, 96-97 in + Florida, 221 + </p> + <p> + Fowler, J. H., Chap., 59, 119, 221, + </p> + <p> + Fremont, J. C., Gen., 46, 61 + </p> + <p> + French, J., Rev., 60, 123 + </p> + <p> + Furman, J. T., Lt, 258 + </p> + <p> + Gage, F. D., Mrs., 61 + </p> + <p> + Garrison, W. L., 236 + </p> + <p> + Gaston, William, Lt., 257 + </p> + <p> + Gilmore, Q. A., Gen., 176, 224, 226, 228 writes on Charleston, 163 + approves Edisto expedition, 164 + </p> + <p> + Goldsborough, Commodore, 231, + </p> + <p> + Goodell, J. B., Lt., 28 + </p> + <p> + Goodrich, F. S., Lt., 258, 259 + </p> + <p> + Gould, E. Corp., 261 + </p> + <p> + Gould, F. M., Lt, 258 + </p> + <p> + Greeley, Horace, 164 + </p> + <p> + Greene, Sgt, 125 + </p> + <p> + Hallett, Capt, 80, 81, 261 + </p> + <p> + Hallowell, E. N., Gen., 216, 230, + </p> + <p> + Hamburg, South Carolina, 249 + </p> + <p> + Hartwell, A. S., Gen., 272 + </p> + <p> + Hawks, J. M., Surg., 256 + </p> + <p> + Hawley, J. R., Gen., 93,102,114 + </p> + <p> + Hayne, H. E., Sgt., 249 + </p> + <p> + Hazard, Miles, 262 + </p> + <p> + Heasley, A, Capt., 220, 256 + </p> + <p> + Heron, Charles, 126 + </p> + <p> + Hilton Head, 32 Higginson visits, 106 troops on duty at, 214 + </p> + <p> + Hinton, R. J., Col., 264 + </p> + <p> + Holden, Lt, 126 + </p> + <p> + Hooper, C. W., Capt., 154, 226, 256, 257, 258 + </p> + <p> + Hospital, camp, 56, 63 + </p> + <p> + Howard University, 250 + </p> + <p> + Hughes, Lt. Com., 91, 93, 94 + </p> + <p> + Hunter, David., Gen.-28, 35, 40, 62, 80, 124, 130, 131, 138, 164, 260, + 261, 263 takes Negro sgt to N.Y., 73 visits camp, 76 speaks to Negro + troops, 76 Higginson confers with, 106 orders evacuation of Jacksonville, + 107 attacks Charleston, 137 goes North, 150 + </p> + <p> + Hyde, E. W., Lt, 258, 259, 279 + </p> + <p> + Hyde, W. H., Lt, 89, 257 + </p> + <p> + Jackson, A. W., Capt, 87, 89, 256, 257, 258 + </p> + <p> + Jacksonville, Florida Confederates threaten to burn, 110 Higginson's men + reach, 112-113 description of, 114-115 order to evacuate, 130 attempts to + bum, 130-131 + </p> + <p> + James, William, Capt., 96,165,256 + </p> + <p> + Jekyll Island, 83 + </p> + <p> + Johnston, J. F., Lt, 257 + </p> + <p> + Jones, Lt., 89 + </p> + <p> + Kansas, 29, 43, 64 + </p> + <p> + Kemble, Fanny, 82, 261 + </p> + <p> + Kennon, Clarence, Cpl., 262 + </p> + <p> + King, T. B., 82 + </p> + <p> + Lambkin, Prince, Cpl., 45, 116 + </p> + <p> + Leslie's Illustrated Weekly, 56 + </p> + <p> + Lincoln, Abraham, 46, 238 + </p> + <p> + London Spectator, 76 + </p> + <p> + Long, Thomas, CpL, 240 + </p> + <p> + Mclntyre, H., Sgt., 85, 86, 239 + </p> + <p> + Maine, 43 + </p> + <p> + Maine Regiment, Eighth, 75, 123, 124, 126 + </p> + <p> + Manning, B. H., Lt, 259 + </p> + <p> + Maroons, 235, 237 + </p> + <p> + Massachusetts Regiment, First, 139 Fifty-Fourth, 27, 215, 232 + </p> + <p> + Meeker, L., Maj., 122, 126 + </p> + <p> + Merriam, E. C., Capt, 256, 257 + </p> + <p> + Metcalf, L. W., Capt, 85, 87, 96, 220, 256 + </p> + <p> + Miller family, 234 + </p> + <p> + Minor, T. T, Surg., 87, 256 + </p> + <p> + Mitchell, O. M., Gen., 263 + </p> + <p> + Montgomery, James, Col., 114, 120, 130, 264 enters Jacksonville, 112 river + raid led by, 120, 129, 164 + </p> + <p> + Moses, Acting Master, 83 + </p> + <p> + Mulattoes, 33, 42, 234 pass for white, 49-50 + </p> + <p> + Music, troops play, 47, 187-213 + </p> + <p> + Negro soldiers visited, 30 work at night, 38-39 as sentinels, 42, 66-69 + honor and fidelity, 66 march to Beaufort, 74-75 conduct under fire, 86-87, + 100-101, 128-129 treatment of whites by, 116 on picket duty, 133 on raid + up Edisto, 167-176 appraisal of, 231-247 from North and South compared, + </p> + <p> + Negro spirituals, 187-213 + </p> + <p> + Negroes, traits of, 66, 69-71 physical condition of, 72, 246 set free by + Higginson's men, 166-169 + </p> + <p> + New Hampshire Regiment, Fourth, 139, 225 + </p> + <p> + New Year's celebration, 55, 56, 57-61 + </p> + <p> + New York, 34 Officers, white, 51 + </p> + <p> + O'Neil, J. B., Lt., 257 + </p> + <p> + Osborne, Lt., 220 + </p> + <p> + Parker, C. E., Lt., 257 + </p> + <p> + Parker, N. B., Capt., 256, 257, 258 + </p> + <p> + Parsons, William, 89 + </p> + <p> + Phillips, Wendell, 118, 236 + </p> + <p> + Pomeroy, J., Lt, 257 + </p> + <p> + Port Royal, 82, 83, 124 capture of, 164 as winter camp, 177 new camp at, + 215 objective of Sherman, 247 + </p> + <p> + Ramsay, Allan, 209 + </p> + <p> + Randolph, W. J., Capt, 120, 256 + </p> + <p> + Rebels. See Confederates Religious activities, 47, 48, 240-241 + </p> + <p> + Rivers, Prince, Sgt., 61,75,245,249 qualities of, 73, 78 plants colors, 99 + </p> + <p> + Robbins, E. W., Capt, 256, 257, + </p> + <p> + Roberts, Samuel, 231 + </p> + <p> + Rogers, J. S., Capt, 103, 173, 250, 256 + </p> + <p> + Rogers, Seth, Surg., 89, 103, 255 + </p> + <p> + Rust, J. D., Col., 124, 125,126,131 + </p> + <p> + Sammis, Col., 49 + </p> + <p> + St. Simon's Island, 83, 84 + </p> + <p> + Sampson, W. W., Capt, 170, 256, + </p> + <p> + Savannah, Georgia, 115, 249 + </p> + <p> + Saxton, M. W., Lt., 258 + </p> + <p> + Saxton, Rufus, Gen., 29, 55, 58, 59, 61,70,76,80,88,102,108, 143, 164, + 216, 224, 225, 229, 232, 235, 261, 263, 267, 269, 270, 273 offers command + to Higginson, 78 Higginson reports to, 33 issues proclamation, 34 receives + recruits, 40 speaks on New Year's program, Negroes idolize, 66 speaks to + troops, 76 initiates plans for Shaw monument, 217 Christmas party, 219 + </p> + <p> + Searles, J. M., Lt., 259 + </p> + <p> + Sears, Capt., 94 + </p> + <p> + Selvage, J. M., Lt, 258 + </p> + <p> + Serrell, E. W., Col., 260 + </p> + <p> + Seward, W. H., 238 + </p> + <p> + Seymour, T., Gen., 132, 228 + </p> + <p> + Shaw, R. G., Col., 170, 264, 278 camp named for, 215 Higginson meets, 216 + killed, 217 + </p> + <p> + Sherman, W. T., Gen., 170, 247 + </p> + <p> + Showalter, Lt.-Col, 128 + </p> + <p> + "Siege of Charleston," 163 + </p> + <p> + Simmons, London, Cpl., 245 + </p> + <p> + Slavery, effect of, 38, 244 + </p> + <p> + Smalls, Robert, Capt, 33, 80 + </p> + <p> + Songs, Negro, 136, 187-213 + </p> + <p> + South Carolina, 29 men under Higginson, 35, 40 man reads Emancipation + Proclamation, 59-60 + </p> + <p> + South Carolina Volunteers, First, 27, 237 order to Florida countermanded, + 225 becomes Thirty-third U.S. Colored Troops, 248 South Carolina + Volunteers, Second, 27, 126, 264 + </p> + <p> + Sprague, A. B. R., Col., 28 + </p> + <p> + Stafford, Col., 264 + </p> + <p> + Stanton, E. M., 266 + </p> + <p> + Steedman, Capt, 130 + </p> + <p> + Stevens, Capt, 83 + </p> + <p> + Stevens, Thaddeus, 272, 273 + </p> + <p> + Stickney, Judge, 61, 106, 114 + </p> + <p> + Stockdale, W, Lt, 257 + </p> + <p> + Stone, H. A., Lt, 257 + </p> + <p> + Strong, J. D., Lt.-Col., 80, 121, 126, 172, 174, 175, 255 + </p> + <p> + Stuard, E. S., Surg., 256 + </p> + <p> + Sumner, Charles, 268 + </p> + <p> + Sunderland, Col., 113 + </p> + <p> + Sutton, Robert, Sgt, 61, 88, 94, 95, 188 character of, 78-79 leads men, + 85-86 wounded, 90 exhibits slave jail, 97-98 court-martialed, 104 + </p> + <p> + Thibadeau, J. H., Capt, 257 + </p> + <p> + Thompson, J. M., Capt, 256, 257 + </p> + <p> + Tirrell, A. H., Lt, 258 + </p> + <p> + Tobacco, use of, 58 + </p> + <p> + Tonking, J. H., Capt, 256 + </p> + <p> + Trowbridge, C. T., Lt-Col., 164, 167, 169, 175, 226, 231, 235, 243, 245, + 249, 255, 256, 260, 262, 263, 272, 277-279 commands "Planter," 80,103 and + men construct Ft Montgomery, 121 on river raid, 165 + </p> + <p> + Trowbridge, J. A., Lt, 257, 258 + </p> + <p> + Tubman, Harriet 37 Twichell, J. F., Lt-CoL, 123, 126 Virginia + </p> + <p> + Vendross, Robert, Cpl., 249 + </p> + <p> + Walker, G. D., Capt, 257 + </p> + <p> + Walker, William, Sgt., 267, 274 + </p> + <p> + War Department, 40, 93 + </p> + <p> + Washington, William, 44 + </p> + <p> + Watson, Lt., 109 + </p> + <p> + Webster, Daniel, 27 + </p> + <p> + Weld, S. M., 216 + </p> + <p> + West, H. C., Lt, 258 + </p> + <p> + West, J. B., Lt, 257, 258 + </p> + <p> + White, E. P., Lt, 257 + </p> + <p> + White, N. S, Capt, 256, 258, 259 + </p> + <p> + Whiting, William, 269, 270, 274, 275 + </p> + <p> + Whitney, H. A., Maj, 170, 220, 255, 256 + </p> + <p> + Wiggins, Cyrus, 250 + </p> + <p> + Williams, Harry, Sgt., 220 + </p> + <p> + Williams, Col., 264 + </p> + <p> + Wilson, Henry, 268, 271 + </p> + <p> + Wilson family, 233 + </p> + <p> + Wood, H., Lt, 258, 25? + </p> + <p> + Wood, W. J., Maj., 267 + </p> + <p> + Woodstock, Georgia, 95 + </p> + <p> + Wright, Gen., 107, 112 + </p> + <p> + Wright, Fanny, 234 + </p> + <p> + Yellow Fever, fear of, 74 + </p> + <p> + Zachos, Dr., 41 + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Army Life in a Black Regiment, by +Thomas Wentworth Higginson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARMY LIFE IN A BLACK REGIMENT *** + +***** This file should be named 6764-h.htm or 6764-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/7/6/6764/ + +Produced by Eric Eldred, and David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Army Life in a Black Regiment + +Author: Thomas Wentworth Higginson + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6764] +Posting Date: March 23, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARMY LIFE IN A BLACK REGIMENT *** + + + + +Produced by Eric Eldred + + + + + +ARMY LIFE IN A BLACK REGIMENT + + +Thomas Wentworth Higginson + +(1823-1911) + + +Originally published 1869 + +Reprinted, 1900, by Riverside Press + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER 1 Introductory + +CHAPTER 2 Camp Diary + +CHAPTER 3 Up the St. Mary's + +CHAPTER 4 Up the St. John's + +CHAPTER 5 Out on Picket + +CHAPTER 6 A Night in the Water + +CHAPTER 7 Up the Edisto + +CHAPTER 8 The Baby of the Regiment + +CHAPTER 9 Negro Spirituals + +CHAPTER 10 Life at Camp Shaw + +CHAPTER 11 Florida Again? + +CHAPTER 12 The Negro as a Soldier + +CHAPTER 13 Conclusion + +APPENDIX + + A. Roster of Officers + B. The First Black Soldiers + C. General Saxton's Instructions + D. The Struggle for Pay + E. Farewell Address + +Index + + + + +Chapter 1. Introductory + + +These pages record some of the adventures of the First South Carolina +Volunteers, the first slave regiment mustered into the service of the +United States during the late civil war. It was, indeed, the first +colored regiment of any kind so mustered, except a portion of the troops +raised by Major-General Butler at New Orleans. These scarcely belonged +to the same class, however, being recruited from the free colored +population of that city, a comparatively self-reliant and educated race. +"The darkest of them," said General Butler, "were about the complexion +of the late Mr. Webster." + +The First South Carolina, on the other hand, contained scarcely a +freeman, had not one mulatto in ten, and a far smaller proportion who +could read or write when enlisted. The only contemporary regiment of a +similar character was the "First Kansas Colored," which began recruiting +a little earlier, though it was not mustered in the usual basis of +military seniority till later. [_See Appendix_] These were the only +colored regiments recruited during the year 1862. The Second South +Carolina and the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts followed early in 1863. + +This is the way in which I came to the command of this regiment. One +day in November, 1862, I was sitting at dinner with my lieutenants, +John Goodell and Luther Bigelow, in the barracks of the Fifty-First +Massachusetts, Colonel Sprague, when the following letter was put into +my hands: + +BEAUFORT, S. C., November 5, 1862. + +MY DEAR SIR. + +I am organizing the First Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers, with +every prospect of success. Your name has been spoken of, in connection +with the command of this regiment, by some friends in whose judgment I +have confidence. I take great pleasure in offering you the position of +Colonel in it, and hope that you may be induced to accept. I shall not +fill the place until I hear from you, or sufficient time shall have +passed for me to receive your reply. Should you accept, I enclose a +pass for Port Royal, of which I trust you will feel disposed to avail +yourself at once. I am, with sincere regard, yours truly, + +R. SAXTON, _Brig.-Genl, Mil. Gov._ + +Had an invitation reached me to take command of a regiment of Kalmuck +Tartars, it could hardly have been more unexpected. I had always +looked for the arming of the blacks, and had always felt a wish to be +associated with them; had read the scanty accounts of General Hunter's +abortive regiment, and had heard rumors of General Saxton's renewed +efforts. But the prevalent tone of public sentiment was still opposed to +any such attempts; the government kept very shy of the experiment, and +it did not seem possible that the time had come when it could be fairly +tried. + +For myself, I was at the head of a fine company of my own raising, and +in a regiment to which I was already much attached. It did not seem +desirable to exchange a certainty for an uncertainty; for who knew but +General Saxton might yet be thwarted in his efforts by the pro-slavery +influence that had still so much weight at head-quarters? It would be +intolerable to go out to South Carolina, and find myself, after all, at +the head of a mere plantation-guard or a day-school in uniform. + +I therefore obtained from the War Department, through Governor Andrew, +permission to go and report to General Saxton, without at once resigning +my captaincy. Fortunately it took but a few days in South Carolina to +make it clear that all was right, and the return steamer took back a +resignation of a Massachusetts commission. Thenceforth my lot was cast +altogether with the black troops, except when regiments or detachments +of white soldiers were also under my command, during the two years +following. + +These details would not be worth mentioning except as they show this +fact: that I did not seek the command of colored troops, but it sought +me. And this fact again is only important to my story for this reason, +that under these circumstances I naturally viewed the new recruits +rather as subjects for discipline than for philanthropy. I had been +expecting a war for six years, ever since the Kansas troubles, and my +mind had dwelt on military matters more or less during all that time. +The best Massachusetts regiments already exhibited a high standard of +drill and discipline, and unless these men could be brought tolerably +near that standard, the fact of their extreme blackness would afford me, +even as a philanthropist, no satisfaction. Fortunately, I felt perfect +confidence that they could be so trained, having happily known, by +experience, the qualities of their race, and knowing also that they had +home and household and freedom to fight for, besides that abstraction +of "the Union." Trouble might perhaps be expected from white officials, +though this turned out far less than might have been feared; but there +was no trouble to come from the men, I thought, and none ever came. On +the other hand, it was a vast experiment of indirect philanthropy, and +one on which the result of the war and the destiny of the negro race +might rest; and this was enough to tax all one's powers. I had been an +abolitionist too long, and had known and loved John Brown too well, not +to feel a thrill of joy at last on finding myself in the position where +he only wished to be. + +In view of all this, it was clear that good discipline must come first; +after that, of course, the men must be helped and elevated in all ways +as much as possible. + +Of discipline there was great need, that is, of order and regular +instruction. Some of the men had already been under fire, but they were +very ignorant of drill and camp duty. The officers, being appointed from +a dozen different States, and more than as many regiments, infantry, +cavalry, artillery, and engineers, had all that diversity of methods +which so confused our army in those early days. The first need, +therefore, was of an unbroken interval of training. During this period, +which fortunately lasted nearly two months, I rarely left the camp, and +got occasional leisure moments for a fragmentary journal, to send home, +recording the many odd or novel aspects of the new experience. Camp-life +was a wonderfully strange sensation to almost all volunteer officers, +and mine lay among eight hundred men suddenly transformed from slaves +into soldiers, and representing a race affectionate, enthusiastic, +grotesque, and dramatic beyond all others. Being such, they naturally +gave material for description. There is nothing like a diary for +freshness, at least so I think, and I shall keep to the diary through +the days of camp-life, and throw the later experience into another form. +Indeed, that matter takes care of itself; diaries and letter-writing +stop when field-service begins. + +I am under pretty heavy bonds to tell the truth, and only the truth; for +those who look back to the newspaper correspondence of that period +will see that this particular regiment lived for months in a glare of +publicity, such as tests any regiment severely, and certainly prevents +all subsequent romancing in its historian. As the scene of the only +effort on the Atlantic coast to arm the negro, our camp attracted a +continuous stream of visitors, military and civil. A battalion of black +soldiers, a spectacle since so common, seemed then the most daring of +innovations, and the whole demeanor of this particular regiment was +watched with microscopic scrutiny by friends and foes. I felt sometimes +as if we were a plant trying to take root, but constantly pulled up to +see if we were growing. The slightest camp incidents sometimes came +back to us, magnified and distorted, in letters of anxious inquiry from +remote parts of the Union. It was no pleasant thing to live under such +constant surveillance; but it guaranteed the honesty of any success, +while fearfully multiplying the penalties had there been a failure. +A single mutiny, such as has happened in the infancy of a hundred +regiments, a single miniature Bull Run, a stampede of desertions, and it +would have been all over with us; the party of distrust would have got +the upper hand, and there might not have been, during the whole contest, +another effort to arm the negro. + +I may now proceed, without farther preparation to the Diary. + + + + +Chapter 2. Camp Diary + + +CAMP SAXTON, near Beaufort, S. C., November 24, 1862. + +Yesterday afternoon we were steaming over a summer sea, the deck level +as a parlor-floor, no land in sight, no sail, until at last appeared one +light-house, said to be Cape Romaine, and then a line of trees and +two distant vessels and nothing more. The sun set, a great illuminated +bubble, submerged in one vast bank of rosy suffusion; it grew dark; +after tea all were on deck, the people sang hymns; then the moon set, +a moon two days old, a curved pencil of light, reclining backwards on a +radiant couch which seemed to rise from the waves to receive it; it sank +slowly, and the last tip wavered and went down like the mast of a vessel +of the skies. Towards morning the boat stopped, and when I came on deck, +before six, + + "The watch-lights glittered on the land, + The ship-lights on the sea." + +Hilton Head lay on one side, the gunboats on the other; all that was raw +and bare in the low buildings of the new settlement was softened into +picturesqueness by the early light. Stars were still overhead, gulls +wheeled and shrieked, and the broad river rippled duskily towards +Beaufort. + +The shores were low and wooded, like any New England shore; there were a +few gunboats, twenty schooners, and some steamers, among them the famous +"Planter," which Robert Small, the slave, presented to the nation. The +river-banks were soft and graceful, though low, and as we steamed up to +Beaufort on the flood-tide this morning, it seemed almost as fair as +the smooth and lovely canals which Stedman traversed to meet his negro +soldiers in Surinam. The air was cool as at home, yet the foliage seemed +green, glimpses of stiff tropical vegetation appeared along the banks, +with great clumps of shrubs, whose pale seed-vessels looked like tardy +blossoms. Then we saw on a picturesque point an old plantation, with +stately magnolia avenue, decaying house, and tiny church amid the woods, +reminding me of Virginia; behind it stood a neat encampment of white +tents, "and there," said my companion, "is your future regiment." + +Three miles farther brought us to the pretty town of Beaufort, with its +stately houses amid Southern foliage. Reporting to General Saxton, I had +the luck to encounter a company of my destined command, marched in to +be mustered into the United States service. They were unarmed, and all +looked as thoroughly black as the most faithful philanthropist could +desire; there did not seem to be so much as a mulatto among them. +Their coloring suited me, all but the legs, which were clad in a lively +scarlet, as intolerable to my eyes as if I had been a turkey. I saw them +mustered; General Saxton talked to them a little, in his direct, manly +way; they gave close attention, though their faces looked impenetrable. +Then I conversed with some of them. The first to whom I spoke had been +wounded in a small expedition after lumber, from which a party had just +returned, and in which they had been under fire and had done very well. +I said, pointing to his lame arm, + +"Did you think that was more than you bargained for, my man?" + +His answer came promptly and stoutly, + +"I been a-tinking, Mas'r, dot's jess what I went for." + +I thought this did well enough for my very first interchange of dialogue +with my recruits. + + +November 27, 1862. + +Thanksgiving-Day; it is the first moment I have had for writing during +these three days, which have installed me into a new mode of life so +thoroughly that they seem three years. Scarcely pausing in New York or +in Beaufort, there seems to have been for me but one step from the +camp of a Massachusetts regiment to this, and that step over leagues of +waves. + +It is a holiday wherever General Saxton's proclamation reaches. The +chilly sunshine and the pale blue river seems like New England, but +those alone. The air is full of noisy drumming, and of gunshots; for the +prize-shooting is our great celebration of the day, and the drumming is +chronic. My young barbarians are all at play. I look out from the broken +windows of this forlorn plantation-house, through avenues of great +live-oaks, with their hard, shining leaves, and their branches hung with +a universal drapery of soft, long moss, like fringe-trees struck with +grayness. Below, the sandy soil, scantly covered with coarse grass, +bristles with sharp palmettoes and aloes; all the vegetation is stiff, +shining, semi-tropical, with nothing soft or delicate in its texture. +Numerous plantation-buildings totter around, all slovenly and +unattractive, while the interspaces are filled with all manner of wreck +and refuse, pigs, fowls, dogs, and omnipresent Ethiopian infancy. All +this is the universal Southern panorama; but five minutes' walk beyond +the hovels and the live-oaks will bring one to something so un-Southern +that the whole Southern coast at this moment trembles at the suggestion +of such a thing, the camp of a regiment of freed slaves. + +One adapts one's self so readily to new surroundings that already the +full zest of the novelty seems passing away from my perceptions, and I +write these lines in an eager effort to retain all I can. Already I am +growing used to the experience, at first so novel, of living among +five hundred men, and scarce a white face to be seen, of seeing them go +through all their daily processes, eating, frolicking, talking, just as +if they were white. Each day at dress-parade I stand with the customary +folding of the arms before a regimental line of countenances so black +that I can hardly tell whether the men stand steadily or not; black is +every hand which moves in ready cadence as I vociferate, "Battalion! +Shoulder arms!" nor is it till the line of white officers moves forward, +as parade is dismissed, that I am reminded that my own face is not the +color of coal. + +The first few days on duty with a new regiment must be devoted almost +wholly to tightening reins; in this process one deals chiefly with the +officers, and I have as yet had but little personal intercourse with the +men. They concern me chiefly in bulk, as so many consumers of rations, +wearers of uniforms, bearers of muskets. But as the machine comes into +shape, I am beginning to decipher the individual parts. At first, of +course, they all looked just alike; the variety comes afterwards, and +they are just as distinguishable, the officers say, as so many whites. +Most of them are wholly raw, but there are many who have already been +for months in camp in the abortive "Hunter Regiment," yet in that +loose kind of way which, like average militia training, is a doubtful +advantage. I notice that some companies, too, look darker than others, +though all are purer African than I expected. This is said to be partly +a geographical difference between the South Carolina and Florida men. +When the Rebels evacuated this region they probably took with them the +house-servants, including most of the mixed blood, so that the residuum +seems very black. But the men brought from Fernandina the other day +average lighter in complexion, and look more intelligent, and they +certainly take wonderfully to the drill. + +It needs but a few days to show the absurdity of distrusting the +military availability of these people. They have quite as much average +comprehension as whites of the need of the thing, as much courage (I +doubt not), as much previous knowledge of the gun, and, above all, +a readiness of ear and of imitation, which, for purposes of drill, +counterbalances any defect of mental training. To learn the drill, one +does not want a set of college professors; one wants a squad of eager, +active, pliant school-boys; and the more childlike these pupils are the +better. There is no trouble about the drill; they will surpass whites +in that. As to camp-life, they have little to sacrifice; they are better +fed, housed, and clothed than ever in their lives before, and they +appear to have few inconvenient vices. They are simple, docile, and +affectionate almost to the point of absurdity. The same men who stood +fire in open field with perfect coolness, on the late expedition, have +come to me blubbering in the most irresistibly ludicrous manner on being +transferred from one company in the regiment to another. + +In noticing the squad-drills I perceive that the men learn less +laboriously than whites that "double, double, toil and trouble," which +is the elementary vexation of the drill-master, that they more rarely +mistake their left for their right, and are more grave and sedate while +under instruction. The extremes of jollity and sobriety, being greater +with them, are less liable to be intermingled; these companies can +be driven with a looser rein than my former one, for they restrain +themselves; but the moment they are dismissed from drill every tongue +is relaxed and every ivory tooth visible. This morning I wandered about +where the different companies were target-shooting, and their glee was +contagious. Such exulting shouts of "Ki! ole man," when some steady +old turkey-shooter brought his gun down for an instant's aim, and then +unerringly hit the mark; and then, when some unwary youth fired his +piece into the ground at half-cock such guffawing and delight, such +rolling over and over on the grass, such dances of ecstasy, as made the +"Ethiopian minstrelsy" of the stage appear a feeble imitation. + +Evening. Better still was a scene on which I stumbled to-night. +Strolling in the cool moonlight, I was attracted by a brilliant light +beneath the trees, and cautiously approached it. A circle of thirty or +forty soldiers sat around a roaring fire, while one old uncle, Cato by +name, was narrating an interminable tale, to the insatiable delight of +his audience. I came up into the dusky background, perceived only by a +few, and he still continued. It was a narrative, dramatized to the +last degree, of his adventures in escaping from his master to the Union +vessels; and even I, who have heard the stories of Harriet Tubman, and +such wonderful slave-comedians, never witnessed such a piece of +acting. When I came upon the scene he had just come unexpectedly upon a +plantation-house, and, putting a bold face upon it, had walked up to the +door. + +"Den I go up to de white man, berry humble, and say, would he please gib +ole man a mouthful for eat? + +"He say he must hab de valeration ob half a dollar. + +"Den I look berry sorry, and turn for go away. + +"Den he say I might gib him dat hatchet I had. + +"Den I say" (this in a tragic vein) "dat I must hab dat hatchet for +defend myself _from de dogs_!" + +[Immense applause, and one appreciating auditor says, chuckling, "Dat +was your _arms_, ole man," which brings down the house again.] + +"Den he say de Yankee pickets was near by, and I must be very keerful. + +"Den I say, 'Good Lord, Mas'r, am dey?'" + +Words cannot express the complete dissimulation with which these accents +of terror were uttered, this being precisely the piece of information he +wished to obtain. + +Then he narrated his devices to get into the house at night and obtain +some food, how a dog flew at him, how the whole household, black and +white, rose in pursuit, how he scrambled under a hedge and over a high +fence, etc., all in a style of which Gough alone among orators can give +the faintest impression, so thoroughly dramatized was every syllable. + +Then he described his reaching the river-side at last, and trying to +decide whether certain vessels held friends or foes. + +"Den I see guns on board, and sure sartin he Union boat, and I pop my +head up. Den I been-a-tink [think] Seceshkey hab guns too, and my head +go down again. Den I hide in de bush till morning. Den I open my bundle, +and take ole white shut and tie him on ole pole and wave him, and +ebry time de wind blow, I been-a-tremble, and drap down in de bushes," +because, being between two fires, he doubted whether friend or foe would +see his signal first. And so on, with a succession of tricks beyond +Moliere, of acts of caution, foresight, patient cunning, which were +listened to with infinite gusto and perfect comprehension by every +listener. + +And all this to a bivouac of negro soldiers, with the brilliant fire +lighting up their red trousers and gleaming from their shining black +faces, eyes and teeth all white with tumultuous glee. Overhead, the +mighty limbs of a great live-oak, with the weird moss swaying in the +smoke, and the high moon gleaming faintly through. + +Yet to-morrow strangers will remark on the hopeless, impenetrable +stupidity in the daylight faces of many of these very men, the solid +mask under which Nature has concealed all this wealth of mother-wit. +This very comedian is one to whom one might point, as he hoed lazily +in a cotton-field, as a being the light of whose brain had utterly gone +out; and this scene seems like coming by night upon some conclave +of black beetles, and finding them engaged, with green-room and +foot-lights, in enacting "Poor Pillicoddy." This is their university; +every young Sambo before me, as he turned over the sweet potatoes and +peanuts which were roasting in the ashes, listened with reverence to +the wiles of the ancient Ulysses, and meditated the same. It is Nature's +compensation; oppression simply crushes the upper faculties of the head, +and crowds everything into the perceptive organs. Cato, thou reasonest +well! When I get into any serious scrape, in an enemy's country, may I +be lucky enough to have you at my elbow, to pull me out of it! + +The men seem to have enjoyed the novel event of Thanksgiving-Day; they +have had company and regimental prize-shootings, a minimum of speeches +and a maximum of dinner. Bill of fare: two beef-cattle and a thousand +oranges. The oranges cost a cent apiece, and the cattle were Secesh, +bestowed by General Saxby, as they all call him. + + +December 1, 1862. + +How absurd is the impression bequeathed by Slavery in regard to these +Southern blacks, that they are sluggish and inefficient in labor! Last +night, after a hard day's work (our guns and the remainder of our tents +being just issued), an order came from Beaufort that we should be ready +in the evening to unload a steamboat's cargo of boards, being some of +those captured by them a few weeks since, and now assigned for their +use. I wondered if the men would grumble at the night-work; but the +steamboat arrived by seven, and it was bright moonlight when they went +at it. Never have I beheld such a jolly scene of labor. Tugging these +wet and heavy boards over a bridge of boats ashore, then across the +slimy beach at low tide, then up a steep bank, and all in one great +uproar of merriment for two hours. Running most of the time, chattering +all the time, snatching the boards from each other's backs as if they +were some coveted treasure, getting up eager rivalries between different +companies, pouring great choruses of ridicule on the heads of all +shirkers, they made the whole scene so enlivening that I gladly stayed +out in the moonlight for the whole time to watch it. And all this +without any urging or any promised reward, but simply as the most +natural way of doing the thing. The steamboat captain declared that they +unloaded the ten thousand feet of boards quicker than any white gang +could have done it; and they felt it so little, that, when, later in the +night, I reproached one whom I found sitting by a campfire, cooking a +surreptitious opossum, telling him that he ought to be asleep after such +a job of work, he answered, with the broadest grin, "O no, Gunnel, da's +no work at all, Gunnel; dat only jess enough for stretch we." + + +December 2, 1862. + +I believe I have not yet enumerated the probable drawbacks to the +success of this regiment, if any. We are exposed to no direct annoyance +from the white regiments, being out of their way; and we have as yet no +discomforts or privations which we do not share with them. I do not as +yet see the slightest obstacle, in the nature of the blacks, to making +them good soldiers, but rather the contrary. They take readily to +drill, and do not object to discipline; they are not especially dull +or inattentive; they seem fully to understand the importance of the +contest, and of their share in it. They show no jealousy or suspicion +towards their officers. + +They do show these feelings, however, towards the Government itself; and +no one can wonder. Here lies the drawback to rapid recruiting. Were +this a wholly new regiment, it would have been full to overflowing, I +am satisfied, ere now. The trouble is in the legacy of bitter distrust +bequeathed by the abortive regiment of General Hunter, into which they +were driven like cattle, kept for several months in camp, and then +turned off without a shilling, by order of the War Department. The +formation of that regiment was, on the whole, a great injury to this +one; and the men who came from it, though the best soldiers we have in +other respects, are the least sanguine and cheerful; while those who +now refuse to enlist have a great influence in deterring others. Our +soldiers are constantly twitted by their families and friends with their +prospect of risking their lives in the service, and being paid nothing; +and it is in vain that we read them the instructions of the Secretary +of War to General Saxton, promising them the full pay of soldiers. They +only half believe it.* + +*With what utter humiliation were we, their officers, obliged to confess +to them, eighteen months afterwards, that it was their distrust which +was wise, and our faith in the pledges of the United States Government +which was foolishness! + +Another drawback is that some of the white soldiers delight in +frightening the women on the plantations with doleful tales of plans for +putting us in the front rank in all battles, and such silly talk,--the +object being perhaps, to prevent our being employed on active service +at all. All these considerations they feel precisely as white men +would,--no less, no more; and it is the comparative freedom from such +unfavorable influences which makes the Florida men seem more bold and +manly, as they undoubtedly do. To-day General Saxton has returned from +Fernandina with seventy-six recruits, and the eagerness of the captains +to secure them was a sight to see. Yet they cannot deny that some of the +very best men in the regiment are South Carolinians. + + +December 3, 1862.--7 P.M. + +What a life is this I lead! It is a dark, mild, drizzling evening, and +as the foggy air breeds sand-flies, so it calls out melodies and strange +antics from this mysterious race of grown-up children with whom my lot +is cast. All over the camp the lights glimmer in the tents, and as I sit +at my desk in the open doorway, there come mingled sounds of stir and +glee. Boys laugh and shout,--a feeble flute stirs somewhere in some +tent, not an officer's,--a drum throbs far away in another,--wild +kildeer-plover flit and wail above us, like the haunting souls of dead +slave-masters,--and from a neighboring cook-fire comes the monotonous +sound of that strange festival, half pow-wow, half prayer-meeting, +which they know only as a "shout." These fires are usually enclosed in +a little booth, made neatly of palm-leaves and covered in at top, a +regular native African hut, in short, such as is pictured in books, and +such as I once got up from dried palm-leaves for a fair at home. This +hut is now crammed with men, singing at the top of their voices, in +one of their quaint, monotonous, endless, negro-Methodist chants, +with obscure syllables recurring constantly, and slight variations +interwoven, all accompanied with a regular drumming of the feet and +clapping of the hands, like castanets. Then the excitement spreads: +inside and outside the enclosure men begin to quiver and dance, others +join, a circle forms, winding monotonously round some one in the centre; +some "heel and toe" tumultuously, others merely tremble and stagger on, +others stoop and rise, others whirl, others caper sideways, all keep +steadily circling like dervishes; spectators applaud special strokes of +skill; my approach only enlivens the scene; the circle enlarges, +louder grows the singing, rousing shouts of encouragement come in, +half bacchanalian, half devout, "Wake 'em, brudder!" "Stan' up to 'em, +brudder!"--and still the ceaseless drumming and clapping, in perfect +cadence, goes steadily on. Suddenly there comes a sort of snap, and the +spell breaks, amid general sighing and laughter. And this not rarely and +occasionally, but night after night, while in other parts of the camp +the soberest prayers and exhortations are proceeding sedately. + +A simple and lovable people, whose graces seem to come by nature, and +whose vices by training. Some of the best superintendents confirm the +first tales of innocence, and Dr. Zachos told me last night that on his +plantation, a sequestered one, "they had absolutely no vices." Nor have +these men of mine yet shown any worth mentioning; since I took command +I have heard of no man intoxicated, and there has been but one small +quarrel. I suppose that scarcely a white regiment in the army shows +so little swearing. Take the "Progressive Friends" and put them in red +trousers, and I verily believe they would fill a guard-house sooner +than these men. If camp regulations are violated, it seems to be usually +through heedlessness. They love passionately three things besides their +spiritual incantations; namely, sugar, home, and tobacco. This last +affection brings tears to their eyes, almost, when they speak of their +urgent need of pay; they speak of their last-remembered quid as if it +were some deceased relative, too early lost, and to be mourned forever. +As for sugar, no white man can drink coffee after they have sweetened it +to their liking. + +I see that the pride which military life creates may cause the +plantation trickeries to diminish. For instance, these men make the most +admirable sentinels. It is far harder to pass the camp lines at night +than in the camp from which I came; and I have seen none of that +disposition to connive at the offences of members of one's own company +which is so troublesome among white soldiers. Nor are they lazy, either +about work or drill; in all respects they seem better material for +soldiers than I had dared to hope. + +There is one company in particular, all Florida men, which I certainly +think the finest-looking company I ever saw, white or black; they range +admirably in size, have remarkable erectness and ease of carriage, and +really march splendidly. Not a visitor but notices them; yet they have +been under drill only a fortnight, and a part only two days. They have +all been slaves, and very few are even mulattoes. + + +December 4, 1862. + +"Dwelling in tents, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." This condition +is certainly mine,--and with a multitude of patriarchs beside, not to +mention Caesar and Pompey, Hercules and Bacchus. + +A moving life, tented at night, this experience has been mine in civil +society, if society be civil before the luxurious forest fires of +Maine and the Adirondack, or upon the lonely prairies of Kansas. But a +stationary tent life, deliberately going to housekeeping under canvas, I +have never had before, though in our barrack life at "Camp Wool" I often +wished for it. + +The accommodations here are about as liberal as my quarters there, +two wall-tents being placed end to end, for office and bedroom, and +separated at will by a "fly" of canvas. There is a good board floor and +mop-board, effectually excluding dampness and draughts, and everything +but sand, which on windy days penetrates everywhere. The office +furniture consists of a good desk or secretary, a very clumsy and +disastrous settee, and a remarkable chair. The desk is a bequest of the +slaveholders, and the settee of the slaves, being ecclesiastical in its +origin, and appertaining to the little old church or "praise-house," +now used for commissary purposes. The chair is a composite structure: I +found a cane seat on a dust-heap, which a black sergeant combined with +two legs from a broken bedstead and two more from an oak-bough. I sit +on it with a pride of conscious invention, mitigated by profound +insecurity. Bedroom furniture, a couch made of gun-boxes covered with +condemned blankets, another settee, two pails, a tin cup, tin basin +(we prize any tin or wooden ware as savages prize iron), and a valise, +regulation size. Seriously considered, nothing more appears needful, +unless ambition might crave another chair for company, and, perhaps, +something for a wash-stand higher than a settee. + +To-day it rains hard, and the wind quivers through the closed canvas, +and makes one feel at sea. All the talk of the camp outside is fused +into a cheerful and indistinguishable murmur, pierced through at every +moment by the wail of the hovering plover. Sometimes a face, black or +white, peers through the entrance with some message. Since the light +readily penetrates, though the rain cannot, the tent conveys a feeling +of charmed security, as if an invisible boundary checked the pattering +drops and held the moaning wind. The front tent I share, as yet, with my +adjutant; in the inner apartment I reign supreme, bounded in a nutshell, +with no bad dreams. + +In all pleasant weather the outer "fly" is open, and men pass and +repass, a chattering throng. I think of Emerson's Saadi, "As thou +sittest at thy door, on the desert's yellow floor,"--for these bare +sand-plains, gray above, are always yellow when upturned, and there +seems a tinge of Orientalism in all our life. + +Thrice a day we go to the plantation-houses for our meals, +camp-arrangements being yet very imperfect. The officers board in +different messes, the adjutant and I still clinging to the household of +William Washington,--William the quiet and the courteous, the pattern +of house-servants, William the noiseless, the observing, the +discriminating, who knows everything that can be got, and how to cook +it. William and his tidy, lady-like little spouse Hetty--a pair of +wedded lovers, if ever I saw one--set our table in their one room, +half-way between an un glazed window and a large wood-fire, such as is +often welcome. Thanks to the adjutant, we are provided with the social +magnificence of napkins; while (lest pride take too high a flight) +our table-cloth consists of two "New York Tribunes" and a "Leslie's +Pictorial." Every steamer brings us a clean table-cloth. Here are we +forever supplied with pork and oysters and sweet potatoes and rice and +hominy and corn-bread and milk; also mysterious griddle-cakes of corn +and pumpkin; also preserves made of pumpkin-chips, and other +fanciful productions of Ethiop art. Mr. E. promised the +plantation-superintendents who should come down here "all the luxuries +of home," and we certainly have much apparent, if little real variety. +Once William produced with some palpitation something fricasseed, +which he boldly termed chicken; it was very small, and seemed in some +undeveloped condition of ante-natal toughness. After the meal he frankly +avowed it for a squirrel. + + +December 5, 1862. + +Give these people their tongues, their feet, and their leisure, and they +are happy. At every twilight the air is full of singing, talking, and +clapping of hands in unison. One of their favorite songs is full of +plaintive cadences; it is not, I think, a Methodist tune, and I wonder +where they obtained a chant of such beauty. + + "I can't stay behind, my Lord, I can't stay behind! + O, my father is gone, my father is gone, + My father is gone into heaven, my Lord! + I can't stay behind! + Dere's room enough, room enough, + Room enough in de heaven for de sojer: + Can't stay behind!" + +It always excites them to have us looking on, yet they sing these songs +at all times and seasons. I have heard this very song dimly droning on +near midnight, and, tracing it into the recesses of a cook-house, have +found an old fellow coiled away among the pots and provisions, chanting +away with his "Can't stay behind, sinner," till I made him leave his +song behind. + +This evening, after working themselves up to the highest pitch, a party +suddenly rushed off, got a barrel, and mounted some man upon it, who +said, "Gib anoder song, boys, and I'se gib you a speech." After some +hesitation and sundry shouts of "Rise de sing, somebody," and "Stan' +up for Jesus, brud-der," irreverently put in by the juveniles, they got +upon the John Brown song, always a favorite, adding a jubilant verse +which I had never before heard,--"We'll beat Beauregard on de clare +battlefield." Then came the promised speech, and then no less than seven +other speeches by as many men, on a variety of barrels, each orator +being affectionately tugged to the pedestal and set on end by his +special constituency. Every speech was good, without exception; with the +queerest oddities of phrase and pronunciation, there was an invariable +enthusiasm, a pungency of statement, and an understanding of the points +at issue, which made them all rather thrilling. Those long-winded +slaves in "Among the Pines" seemed rather fictitious and literary in +comparison. The most eloquent, perhaps, was Corporal Price Lambkin, just +arrived from Fernandina, who evidently had a previous reputation among +them. His historical references were very interesting. He reminded them +that he had predicted this war ever since Fremont's time, to which +some of the crowd assented; he gave a very intelligent account of that +Presidential campaign, and then described most impressively the secret +anxiety of the slaves in Florida to know all about President Lincoln's +election, and told how they all refused to work on the fourth of March, +expecting their freedom to date from that day. He finally brought out +one of the few really impressive appeals for the American flag that I +have ever heard. "Our mas'rs dey hab lib under de flag, dey got dere +wealth under it, and ebryting beautiful for dere chilen. Under it dey +hab grind us up, and put us in dere pocket for money. But de fus' minute +dey tink dat ole flag mean freedom for we colored people, dey pull it +right down, and run up de rag ob dere own." (Immense applause). "But +we'll neber desert de ole flag, boys, neber; we hab lib under it for +eighteen hundred sixty-two years, and we'll die for it now." With which +overpowering discharge of chronology-at-long-range, this most effective +of stump-speeches closed. I see already with relief that there will be +small demand in this regiment for harangues from the officers; give the +men an empty barrel for a stump, and they will do their own exhortation. + + +December 11, 1862. + +Haroun Alraschid, wandering in disguise through his imperial streets, +scarcely happened upon a greater variety of groups than I, in my evening +strolls among our own camp-fires. + +Beside some of these fires the men are cleaning their guns or rehearsing +their drill,--beside others, smoking in silence their very scanty supply +of the beloved tobacco,--beside others, telling stories and shouting +with laughter over the broadest mimicry, in which they excel, and in +which the officers come in for a full share. The everlasting "shout" +is always within hearing, with its mixture of piety and polka, and +its castanet-like clapping of the hands. Then there are quieter +prayer-meetings, with pious invocations and slow psalms, "deaconed out" +from memory by the leader, two lines at a time, in a sort of wailing +chant. Elsewhere, there are _conversazioni_ around fires, with a woman +for queen of the circle,--her Nubian face, gay headdress, gilt necklace, +and white teeth, all resplendent in the glowing light. Sometimes the +woman is spelling slow monosyllables out of a primer, a feat which +always commands all ears,--they rightly recognizing a mighty spell, +equal to the overthrowing of monarchs, in the magic assonance of _cat, +hat, pat, bat_, and the rest of it. Elsewhere, it is some solitary old +cook, some aged Uncle Tiff, with enormous spectacles, who is perusing a +hymn-book by the light of a pine splinter, in his deserted cooking booth +of palmetto leaves. By another fire there is an actual dance, red-legged +soldiers doing right-and-left, and "now-lead-de-lady-ober," to the music +of a violin which is rather artistically played, and which may have +guided the steps, in other days, of Barnwells and Hugers. And yonder is +a stump-orator perched on his barrel, pouring out his exhortations to +fidelity in war and in religion. To-night for the first time I have +heard an harangue in a different strain, quite saucy, sceptical, and +defiant, appealing to them in a sort of French materialistic style, and +claiming some personal experience of warfare. "You don't know notin' +about it, boys. You tink you's brave enough; how you tink, if you stan' +clar in de open field,--here you, and dar de Secesh? You's got to hab +de right ting inside o' you. You must hab it 'served [preserved] in you, +like dese yer sour plums dey 'serve in de barr'l; you's got to harden +it down inside o' you, or it's notin'." Then he hit hard at the +religionists: "When a man's got de sperit ob de Lord in him, it weakens +him all out, can't hoe de corn." He had a great deal of broad sense in +his speech; but presently some others began praying vociferously close +by, as if to drown this free-thinker, when at last he exclaimed, "I mean +to fight de war through, an' die a good sojer wid de last kick, dat's +_my_ prayer!" and suddenly jumped off the barrel. I was quite interested +at discovering this reverse side of the temperament, the devotional side +preponderates so enormously, and the greatest scamps kneel and groan in +their prayer-meetings with such entire zest. It shows that there is some +individuality developed among them, and that they will not become too +exclusively pietistic. + +Their love of the spelling-book is perfectly inexhaustible,--they +stumbling on by themselves, or the blind leading the blind, with the +same pathetic patience which they carry into everything. The chaplain is +getting up a schoolhouse, where he will soon teach them as regularly as +he can. But the alphabet must always be a very incidental business in a +camp. + + +December 14. + +Passages from prayers in the camp:-- + +"Let me so lib dat when I die I shall _hab manners_, dat I shall know +what to say when I see my Heabenly Lord." + +"Let me lib wid de musket in one hand an' de Bible in de oder,--dat if +I die at de muzzle ob de musket, die in de water, die on de land, I may +know I hab de bressed Jesus in my hand, an' hab no fear." + +"I hab lef my wife in de land o' bondage; my little ones dey say eb'ry +night, Whar is my fader? But when I die, when de bressed mornin' rises, +when I shall stan' in de glory, wid one foot on de water an' one foot +on de land, den, O Lord, I shall see my wife an' my little chil'en once +more." + +These sentences I noted down, as best I could, beside the glimmering +camp-fire last night. The same person was the hero of a singular little +_contre-temps_ at a funeral in the afternoon. It was our first +funeral. The man had died in hospital, and we had chosen a picturesque +burial-place above the river, near the old church, and beside a little +nameless cemetery, used by generations of slaves. It was a regular +military funeral, the coffin being draped with the American flag, the +escort marching behind, and three volleys fired over the grave. During +the services there was singing, the chaplain deaconing out the hymn in +their favorite way. This ended, he announced his text,--"This poor +man cried, and the Lord heard him, and delivered him out of all his +trouble." Instantly, to my great amazement, the cracked voice of the +chorister was uplifted, intoning the text, as if it were the first verse +of another hymn. So calmly was it done, so imperturbable were all the +black countenances, that I half began to conjecture that the chaplain +himself intended it for a hymn, though I could imagine no prospective +rhyme for _trouble_ unless it were approximated by _debbil_, which is, +indeed, a favorite reference, both with the men and with his Reverence. +But the chaplain, peacefully awaiting, gently repeated his text after +the chant, and to my great relief the old chorister waived all further +recitative, and let the funeral discourse proceed. + +Their memories are a vast bewildered chaos of Jewish history and +biography; and most of the great events of the past, down to the period +of the American Revolution, they instinctively attribute to Moses. +There is a fine bold confidence in all their citations, however, and the +record never loses piquancy in their hands, though strict accuracy may +suffer. Thus, one of my captains, last Sunday, heard a colored exhorter +at Beaufort proclaim, "Paul may plant, _and may polish wid water_, but +it won't do," in which the sainted Apollos would hardly have recognized +himself. + +Just now one of the soldiers came to me to say that he was about to +be married to a girl in Beaufort, and would I lend him a dollar and +seventy-five cents to buy the wedding outfit? It seemed as if matrimony +on such moderate terms ought to be encouraged in these days; and so I +responded to the appeal. + + +December 16. + +To-day a young recruit appeared here, who had been the slave of Colonel +Sammis, one of the leading Florida refugees. Two white companions came +with him, who also appeared to be retainers of the Colonel, and I asked +them to dine. Being likewise refugees, they had stories to tell, and +were quite agreeable: one was English born, the other Floridian, a dark, +sallow Southerner, very well bred. After they had gone, the Colonel +himself appeared, I told him that I had been entertaining his white +friends, and after a while he quietly let out the remark,-- + +"Yes, one of those white friends of whom you speak is a boy raised on +one of my plantations; he has travelled with me to the North, and passed +for white, and he always keeps away from the negroes." + +Certainly no such suspicion had ever crossed my mind. + +I have noticed one man in the regiment who would easily pass for +white,--a little sickly drummer, aged fifty at least, with brown eyes +and reddish hair, who is said to be the son of one of our commodores. +I have seen perhaps a dozen persons as fair, or fairer, among fugitive +slaves, but they were usually young children. It touched me far more +to see this man, who had spent more than half a lifetime in this +low estate, and for whom it now seemed too late to be anything but a +"nigger." This offensive word, by the way, is almost as common with them +as at the North, and far more common than with well-bred slaveholders. +They have meekly accepted it. "Want to go out to de nigger houses, Sah," +is the universal impulse of sociability, when they wish to cross the +lines. "He hab twenty house-servants, an' two hundred head o' nigger," +is a still more degrading form of phrase, in which the epithet is +limited to the field-hands, and they estimated like so many cattle. +This want of self-respect of course interferes with the authority of the +non-commissioned officers, which is always difficult to sustain, even in +white regiments. "He needn't try to play de white man ober me," was the +protest of a soldier against his corporal the other day. To counteract +this I have often to remind them that they do not obey their officers +because they are white, but because they are their officers; and guard +duty is an admirable school for this, because they readily understand +that the sergeant or corporal of the guard has for the time more +authority than any commissioned officer who is not on duty. It is +necessary also for their superiors to treat the non-commissioned +officers with careful courtesy, and I often caution the line officers +never to call them "Sam" or "Will," nor omit the proper handle to their +names. The value of the habitual courtesies of the regular army is +exceedingly apparent with these men: an officer of polished manners can +wind them round his finger, while white soldiers seem rather to prefer +a certain roughness. The demeanor of my men to each other is very +courteous, and yet I see none of that sort of upstart conceit which is +sometimes offensive among free negroes at the North, the dandy-barber +strut. This is an agreeable surprise, for I feared that freedom and +regimentals would produce precisely that. + +They seem the world's perpetual children, docile, gay, and lovable, +in the midst of this war for freedom on which they have intelligently +entered. Last night, before "taps," there was the greatest noise in camp +that I had ever heard, and I feared some riot. On going out, I found the +most tumultuous sham-fight proceeding in total darkness, two companies +playing like boys, beating tin cups for drums. When some of +them saw me they seemed a little dismayed, and came and said, +beseechingly,--"Gunnel, Sah, you hab no objection to we playin', +Sah?"--which objection I disclaimed; but soon they all subsided, rather +to my regret, and scattered merrily. Afterward I found that some other +officer had told them that I considered the affair too noisy, so that +I felt a mild self-reproach when one said, "Cunnel, wish you had let +we play a little longer, Sah." Still I was not sorry, on the whole; for +these sham-fights between companies would in some regiments lead to real +ones, and there is a latent jealousy here between the Florida and South +Carolina men, which sometimes makes me anxious. + +The officers are more kind and patient with the men than I should +expect, since the former are mostly young, and drilling tries the +temper; but they are aided by hearty satisfaction in the results already +attained. I have never yet heard a doubt expressed among the officers as +to the _superiority_ of these men to white troops in aptitude for drill +and discipline, because of their imitativeness and docility, and the +pride they take in the service. One captain said to me to-day, "I have +this afternoon taught my men to load-in-nine-times, and they do it +better than we did it in my former company in three months." I can +personally testify that one of our best lieutenants, an Englishman, +taught a part of his company the essential movements of the "school for +skirmishers" in a single lesson of two hours, so that they did them +very passably, though I feel bound to discourage such haste. However, +I "formed square" on the third battalion drill. Three fourths of drill +consist of attention, imitation, and a good ear for time; in the +other fourth, which consists of the application of principles, as, for +instance, performing by the left flank some movement before learned +by the right, they are perhaps slower than better educated men. Having +belonged to five different drill-clubs before entering the army, I +certainly ought to know something of the resources of human awkwardness, +and I can honestly say that they astonish me by the facility with which +they do things. I expected much harder work in this respect. + +The habit of carrying burdens on the head gives them erectness of +figure, even where physically disabled. I have seen a woman, with a +brimming water-pail balanced on her head, or perhaps a cup, saucer, +and spoon, stop suddenly, turn round, stoop to pick up a missile, rise +again, fling it, light a pipe, and go through many evolutions with +either hand or both, without spilling a drop. The pipe, by the way, +gives an odd look to a well-dressed young girl on Sunday, but one often +sees that spectacle. The passion for tobacco among our men continues +quite absorbing, and I have piteous appeals for some arrangement +by which they can buy it on credit, as we have yet no sutler. Their +imploring, "Cunnel, we can't _lib_ widout it, Sah," goes to my heart; +and as they cannot read, I cannot even have the melancholy satisfaction +of supplying them with the excellent anti-tobacco tracts of Mr. Trask. + + +December 19. + +Last night the water froze in the adjutant's tent, but not in mine. +To-day has been mild and beautiful. The blacks say they do not feel +the cold so much as the white officers do, and perhaps it is so, though +their health evidently suffers more from dampness. On the other hand, +while drilling on very warm days, they have seemed to suffer more from +the heat than their officers. But they dearly love fire, and at night +will always have it, if possible, even on the minutest scale,--a +mere handful of splinters, that seems hardly more efficacious than a +friction-match. Probably this is a natural habit for the short-lived +coolness of an out-door country; and then there is something delightful +in this rich pine, which burns like a tar-barrel. It was, perhaps, +encouraged by the masters, as the only cheap luxury the slaves had at +hand. + +As one grows more acquainted with the men, their individualities emerge; +and I find, first their faces, then their characters, to be as distinct +as those of whites. It is very interesting the desire they show to do +their duty, and to improve as soldiers; they evidently think about it, +and see the importance of the thing; they say to me that we white men +cannot stay and be their leaders always and that they must learn to +depend on themselves, or else relapse into their former condition. + +Beside the superb branch of uneatable bitter oranges which decks my +tent-pole, I have to-day hung up a long bough of finger-sponge, which +floated to the river-bank. As winter advances, butterflies gradually +disappear: one species (a _Vanessa_) lingers; three others have vanished +since I came. Mocking-birds are abundant, but rarely sing; once or twice +they have reminded me of the red thrush, but are inferior, as I have +always thought. The colored people all say that it will be much cooler; +but my officers do not think so, perhaps because last winter was so +unusually mild,--with only one frost, they say. + + +December 20. + +Philoprogenitiveness is an important organ for an officer of colored +troops; and I happen to be well provided with it. It seems to be the +theory of all military usages, in fact, that soldiers are to be treated +like children; and these singular persons, who never know their own age +till they are past middle life, and then choose a birthday with such +precision,--"Fifty year old, Sah, de fus' last April,"--prolong the +privilege of childhood. + +I am perplexed nightly for countersigns,--their range of proper names is +so distressingly limited, and they make such amazing work of every new +one. At first, to be sure, they did not quite recognize the need of any +variation: one night some officer asked a sentinel whether he had the +countersign yet, and was indignantly answered, "Should tink I hab 'em, +hab 'em for a fortnight"; which seems a long epoch for that magic word +to hold out. To-night I thought I would have "Fredericksburg," in honor +of Burnside's reported victory, using the rumor quickly, for fear of a +contradiction. Later, in comes a captain, gets the countersign for +his own use, but presently returns, the sentinel having pronounced it +incorrect. On inquiry, it appears that the sergeant of the guard, being +weak in geography, thought best to substitute the more familiar word, +"Crockery-ware"; which was, with perfect gravity, confided to all the +sentinels, and accepted without question. O life! what is the fun of +fiction beside thee? + +I should think they would suffer and complain these cold nights; but +they say nothing, though there is a good deal of coughing. I should +fancy that the scarlet trousers must do something to keep them warm, and +wonder that they dislike them so much, when they are so much like their +beloved fires. They certainly multiply firelight in any case. I often +notice that an infinitesimal flame, with one soldier standing by it, +looks like quite a respectable conflagration, and it seems as if a group +of them must dispel dampness. + + +December 21. + +To a regimental commander no book can be so fascinating as the +consolidated Morning Report, which is ready about nine, and tells how +many in each company are sick, absent, on duty, and so on. It is one's +newspaper and daily mail; I never grow tired of it. If a single recruit +has come in, I am always eager to see how he looks on paper. + +To-night the officers are rather depressed by rumors of Burnside's being +defeated, after all. I am fortunately equable and undepressible; and it +is very convenient that the men know too little of the events of the +war to feel excitement or fear. They know General Saxton and me,--"de +General" and "de Gunnel,"--and seem to ask no further questions. We +are the war. It saves a great deal of trouble, while it lasts, this +childlike confidence; nevertheless, it is our business to educate them +to manhood, and I see as yet no obstacle. + +As for the rumor, the world will no doubt roll round, whether Burnside +is defeated or succeeds. + + +Christmas Day. + + "We'll fight for liberty + Till de Lord shall call us home; + We'll soon be free + Till de Lord shall call us home." + +This is the hymn which the slaves at Georgetown, South Carolina, were +whipped for singing when President Lincoln was elected. So said a little +drummer-boy, as he sat at my tent's edge last night and told me his +story; and he showed all his white teeth as he added, "Dey tink _'de +Lord'_ meant for say de Yankees." + +Last night, at dress-parade, the adjutant read General Saxton's +Proclamation for the New Year's Celebration. I think they understood it, +for there was cheering in all the company-streets afterwards. Christmas +is the great festival of the year for this people; but, with New Year's +coming after, we could have no adequate programme for to-day, and so +celebrated Christmas Eve with pattern simplicity. We omitted, namely, +the mystic curfew which we call "taps," and let them sit up and burn +their fires, and have their little prayer-meetings as late as they +desired; and all night, as I waked at intervals, I could hear them +praying and "shouting" and clattering with hands and heels. It seemed to +make them very happy, and appeared to be at least an innocent Christmas +dissipation, as compared with some of the convivialities of the +"superior race" hereabouts. + + +December 26. + +The day passed with no greater excitement for the men than +target-shooting, which they enjoyed. I had the private delight of the +arrival of our much-desired surgeon and his nephew, the captain, with +letters and news from home. They also bring the good tidings that +General Saxton is not to be removed, as had been reported. + +Two different stands of colors have arrived for us, and will be +presented at New Year's,--one from friends in New York, and the other +from a lady in Connecticut. I see that "Frank Leslie's Illustrated +Weekly" of December 20th has a highly imaginative picture of the +muster-in of our first company, and also of a skirmish on the late +expedition. + +I must not forget the prayer overheard last night by one of the +captains: "O Lord! when I tink ob dis Kismas and las' year de Kismas. +Las' Kismas he in de Secesh, and notin' to eat but grits, and no salt +in 'em. Dis year in de camp, and too much victual!" This "too much" is +a favorite phrase out of their grateful hearts, and did not in this case +denote an excess of dinner,--as might be supposed,--but of thanksgiving. + + +December 29. + +Our new surgeon has begun his work most efficiently: he and the chaplain +have converted an old gin-house into a comfortable hospital, with ten +nice beds and straw pallets. He is now, with a hearty professional +faith, looking round for somebody to put into it. I am afraid the +regiment will accommodate him; for, although he declares that these men +do not sham sickness, as he expected, their catarrh is an unpleasant +reality. They feel the dampness very much, and make such a coughing +at dress-parade, that I have urged him to administer a dose of +cough-mixture, all round, just before that pageant. Are the colored +race _tough?_ is my present anxiety; and it is odd that physical +insufficiency, the only discouragement not thrown in our way by the +newspapers, is the only discouragement which finds any place in our +minds. They are used to sleeping indoors in winter, herded before fires, +and so they feel the change. Still, the regiment is as healthy as the +average, and experience will teach us something.* + +* A second winter's experience removed all this solicitude, for they +learned to take care of themselves. During the first February the +sick-list averaged about ninety, during the second about thirty, this +being the worst month in the year for blacks. + + +December 30. + +On the first of January we are to have a slight collation, ten oxen or +so, barbecued,--or not properly barbecued, but roasted whole. Touching +the length of time required to "do" an ox, no two housekeepers appear +to agree. Accounts vary from two hours to twenty-four. We shall happily +have enough to try all gradations of roasting, and suit all tastes, from +Miss A.'s to mine. But fancy me proffering a spare-rib, well done, to +some fair lady! What ever are we to do for spoons and forks and plates? +Each soldier has his own, and is sternly held responsible for it by +"Army Regulations." But how provide for the multitude? Is it customary, +I ask you, to help to tenderloin with one's fingers? Fortunately, the +Major is to see to that department. Great are the advantages of military +discipline: for anything perplexing, detail a subordinate. + + +New Year's Eve. + +My housekeeping at home is not, perhaps, on any very extravagant scale. +Buying beefsteak, I usually go to the extent of two or three pounds. Yet +when, this morning at daybreak, the quartermaster called to inquire how +many cattle I would have killed for roasting, I turned over in bed, and +answered composedly, "Ten,--and keep three to be fatted." + +Fatted, quotha! Not one of the beasts at present appears to possess +an ounce of superfluous flesh. Never were seen such lean kine. As they +swing on vast spits, composed of young trees, the firelight glimmers +through their ribs, as if they were great lanterns. But no matter, they +are cooking,--nay, they are cooked. + +One at least is taken off to cool, and will be replaced tomorrow to warm +up. It was roasted three hours, and well done, for I tasted it. It is +so long since I tasted fresh beef that forgetfulness is possible; but +I fancied this to be successful. I tried to imagine that I liked +the Homeric repast, and certainly the whole thing has been far more +agreeable than was to be expected. The doubt now is, whether I have made +a sufficient provision for my household. I should have roughly guessed +that ten beeves would feed as many million people, it has such a +stupendous sound; but General Saxton predicts a small social party of +five thousand, and we fear that meat will run short, unless they prefer +bone. One of the cattle is so small, we are hoping it may turn out veal. + +For drink we aim at the simple luxury of molasses-and-water, a barrel +per company, ten in all. Liberal housekeepers may like to know that for +a barrel of water we allow three gallons of molasses, half a pound of +ginger, and a quart of vinegar,--this last being a new ingredient for my +untutored palate, though all the rest are amazed at my ignorance. +Hard bread, with more molasses, and a dessert of tobacco, complete the +festive repast, destined to cheer, but not inebriate. + +On this last point, of inebriation, this is certainly a wonderful camp. +For us it is absolutely omitted from the list of vices. I have never +heard of a glass of liquor in the camp, nor of any effort either to +bring it in or to keep it out. A total absence of the circulating medium +might explain the abstinence,--not that it seems to have that effect +with white soldiers,--but it would not explain the silence. The craving +for tobacco is constant, and not to be allayed, like that of a mother +for her children; but I have never heard whiskey even wished for, save +on Christmas-Day, and then only by one man, and he spoke with a hopeless +ideal sighing, as one alludes to the Golden Age. I am amazed at this +total omission of the most inconvenient of all camp appetites. It +certainly is not the result of exhortation, for there has been no +occasion for any, and even the pledge would scarcely seem efficacious +where hardly anybody can write. + +I do not think there is a great visible eagerness for tomorrow's +festival: it is not their way to be very jubilant over anything this +side of the New Jerusalem. They know also that those in this Department +are nominally free already, and that the practical freedom has to be +maintained, in any event, by military success. But they will enjoy it +greatly, and we shall have a multitude of people. + + +January 1, 1863 (evening). + +A happy New Year to civilized people,--mere white folks. Our festival +has come and gone, with perfect success, and our good General has been +altogether satisfied. Last night the great fires were kept smouldering +in the pit, and the beeves were cooked more or less, chiefly +more,--during which time they had to be carefully watched, and the +great spits turned by main force. Happy were the merry fellows who were +permitted to sit up all night, and watch the glimmering flames that +threw a thousand fantastic shadows among the great gnarled oaks. And +such a chattering as I was sure to hear whenever I awoke that night! + +My first greeting to-day was from one of the most stylish sergeants, who +approached me with the following little speech, evidently the result of +some elaboration:-- + +"I tink myself happy, dis New Year's Day, for salute my own Cunnel. +Dis day las' year I was servant to a Gunnel ob Secesh; but now I hab de +privilege for salute my own Cunnel." + +That officer, with the utmost sincerity, reciprocated the sentiment. + +About ten o'clock the people began to collect by land, and also by +water,--in steamers sent by General Saxton for the purpose; and from +that time all the avenues of approach were thronged. The multitude were +chiefly colored women, with gay handkerchiefs on their heads, and a +sprinkling of men, with that peculiarly respectable look which these +people always have on Sundays and holidays. There were many white +visitors also,--ladies on horseback and in carriages, superintendents +and teachers, officers, and cavalry-men. Our companies were marched to +the neighborhood of the platform, and allowed to sit or stand, as at the +Sunday services; the platform was occupied by ladies and dignitaries, +and by the band of the Eighth Maine, which kindly volunteered for the +occasion; the colored people filled up all the vacant openings in the +beautiful grove around, and there was a cordon of mounted visitors +beyond. Above, the great live-oak branches and their trailing moss; +beyond the people, a glimpse of the blue river. + +The services began at half past eleven o'clock, with prayer by our +chaplain, Mr. Fowler, who is always, on such occasions, simple, +reverential, and impressive. Then the President's Proclamation was +read by Dr. W. H. Brisbane, a thing infinitely appropriate, a South +Carolinian addressing South Carolinians; for he was reared among these +very islands, and here long since emancipated his own slaves. Then +the colors were presented to us by the Rev. Mr. French, a chaplain who +brought them from the donors in New York. All this was according to the +programme. Then followed an incident so simple, so touching, so utterly +unexpected and startling, that I can scarcely believe it on recalling, +though it gave the keynote to the whole day. The very moment the speaker +had ceased, and just as I took and waved the flag, which now for the +first time meant anything to these poor people, there suddenly arose, +close beside the platform, a strong male voice (but rather cracked and +elderly), into which two women's voices instantly blended, singing, as +if by an impulse that could no more be repressed than the morning note +of the song-sparrow.-- + + "My Country, 'tis of thee, + Sweet land of liberty, + Of thee I sing!" + +People looked at each other, and then at us on the platform, to see +whence came this interruption, not set down in the bills. Firmly and +irrepressibly the quavering voices sang on, verse after verse; others of +the colored people joined in; some whites on the platform began, but I +motioned them to silence. I never saw anything so electric; it made +all other words cheap; it seemed the choked voice of a race at last +unloosed. Nothing could be more wonderfully unconscious; art could +not have dreamed of a tribute to the day of jubilee that should be so +affecting; history will not believe it; and when I came to speak of it, +after it was ended, tears were everywhere. If you could have heard how +quaint and innocent it was! Old Tiff and his children might have sung +it; and close before me was a little slave-boy, almost white, who seemed +to belong to the party, and even he must join in. Just think of it!--the +first day they had ever had a country, the first flag they had ever seen +which promised anything to their people, and here, while mere spectators +stood in silence, waiting for my stupid words, these simple souls burst +out in their lay, as if they were by their own hearths at home! When +they stopped, there was nothing to do for it but to speak, and I went +on; but the life of the whole day was in those unknown people's song. + +Receiving the flags, I gave them into the hands of two fine-looking +men, jet black, as color-guard, and they also spoke, and very +effectively,--Sergeant Prince Rivers and Corporal Robert Sutton. The +regiment sang "Marching Along," and then General Saxton spoke, in his +own simple, manly way, and Mrs. Francis D. Gage spoke very sensibly to +the women, and Judge Stickney, from Florida, added something; then some +gentleman sang an ode, and the regiment the John Brown song, and then +they went to their beef and molasses. Everything was very orderly, and +they seemed to have a very gay time. Most of the visitors had far to go, +and so dispersed before dress-parade, though the band stayed to enliven +it. In the evening we had letters from home, and General Saxton had a +reception at his house, from which I excused myself; and so ended one +of the most enthusiastic and happy gatherings I ever knew. The day was +perfect, and there was nothing but success. + +I forgot to say, that, in the midst of the services, it was announced +that General Fremont was appointed Commander-in-Chief,--an announcement +which was received with immense cheering, as would have been almost +anything else, I verily believe, at that moment of high tide. It was +shouted across by the pickets above,--a way in which we often receive +news, but not always trustworthy. + + +January 3, 1863. + +Once, and once only, thus far, the water has frozen in my tent; and +the next morning showed a dense white frost outside. We have still +mocking-birds and crickets and rosebuds, and occasional noonday baths in +the river, though the butterflies have vanished, as I remember to have +observed in Fayal, after December. I have been here nearly six weeks +without a rainy day; one or two slight showers there have been, once +interrupting a drill, but never dress-parade. For climate, by day, +we might be among the isles of Greece,--though it may be my constant +familiarity with the names of her sages which suggests that impression. +For instance, a voice just now called, near my tent,--"Cato, whar's +Plato?" The men have somehow got the impression that it is essential to +the validity of a marriage that they should come to me for permission, +just as they used to go to the master; and I rather encourage these +little confidences, because it is so entertaining to hear them. "Now, +Cunnel," said a faltering swam the other day, "I want for get me one +good lady," which I approved, especially the limitation as to number. +Afterwards I asked one of the bridegroom's friends whether he thought +it a good match. "O yes, Cunnel," said he, in all the cordiality of +friendship, "John's gwine for marry Venus." I trust the goddess will +prove herself a better lady than she appeared during her previous career +upon this planet. But this naturally suggests the isles of Greece again. + + +January 7. + +On first arriving, I found a good deal of anxiety among the officers as +to the increase of desertions, that being the rock on which the "Hunter +Regiment" split. Now this evil is very nearly stopped, and we are every +day recovering the older absentees. One of the very best things that +have happened to us was the half-accidental shooting of a man who +had escaped from the guard-house, and was wounded by a squad sent in +pursuit. He has since died; and this very eve-rung another man, who +escaped with him, came and opened the door of my tent, after being five +days in the woods, almost without food. His clothes were in rags, and he +was nearly starved, poor foolish fellow, so that we can almost dispense +with further punishment. Severe penalties would be wasted on these +people, accustomed as they have been to the most violent passions on the +part of white men; but a mild inexorableness tells on them, just as it +does on any other children. It is something utterly new to me, and it +is thus far perfectly efficacious. They have a great deal of pride as +soldiers, and a very little of severity goes a great way, if it be firm +and consistent. This is very encouraging. + +The single question which I asked of some of the plantation +superintendents, on the voyage, was, "Do these people appreciate +_justice_?" If they did it was evident that all the rest would be easy. +When a race is degraded beyond that point it must be very hard to deal +with them; they must mistake all kindness for indulgence, all strictness +for cruelty. With these freed slaves there is no such trouble, not a +particle: let an officer be only just and firm, with a cordial, kindly +nature, and he has no sort of difficulty. The plantation superintendents +and teachers have the same experience, they say; but we have an immense +advantage in the military organization, which helps in two ways: it +increases their self-respect, and it gives us an admirable machinery for +discipline, thus improving both the fulcrum and the lever. + +The wounded man died in the hospital, and the general verdict seemed to +be, "Him brought it on heself." Another soldier died of pneumonia on +the same day, and we had the funerals in the evening. It was very +impressive. A dense mist came up, with a moon behind it, and we had only +the light of pine-splinters, as the procession wound along beneath the +mighty, moss-hung branches of the ancient grove. The groups around the +grave, the dark faces, the red garments, the scattered lights, the +misty boughs, were weird and strange. The men sang one of their own wild +chants. Two crickets sang also, one on either side, and did not cease +their little monotone, even when the three volleys were fired above the +graves. Just before the coffins were lowered, an old man whispered to me +that I must have their position altered,--the heads must be towards the +west; so it was done,--though they are in a place so veiled in woods +that either rising or setting sun will find it hard to spy them. + +We have now a good regimental hospital, admirably arranged in a deserted +gin-house,--a fine well of our own digging, within the camp lines,--a +full allowance of tents, all floored,--a wooden cook-house to every +company, with sometimes a palmetto mess-house beside,--a substantial +wooden guard-house, with a fireplace five feet "in de clar," where +the men off duty can dry themselves and sleep comfortably in bunks +afterwards. We have also a great circular school-tent, made of condemned +canvas, thirty feet in diameter, and looking like some of the Indian +lodges I saw in Kansas. We now meditate a regimental bakery. Our +aggregate has increased from four hundred and ninety to seven hundred +and forty, besides a hundred recruits now waiting at St. Augustine, and +we have practised through all the main movements in battalion drill. + +Affairs being thus prosperous, and yesterday having been six weeks since +my last and only visit to Beaufort, I rode in, glanced at several camps, +and dined with the General. It seemed absolutely like re-entering the +world; and I did not fully estimate my past seclusion till it occurred +to me, as a strange and novel phenomenon, that the soldiers at the other +camps were white. + + +January 8. + +This morning I went to Beaufort again, on necessary business, and by +good luck happened upon a review and drill of the white regiments. The +thing that struck me most was that same absence of uniformity, in minor +points, that I noticed at first in my own officers. The best regiments +in the Department are represented among my captains and lieutenants, and +very well represented too; yet it has cost much labor to bring them +to any uniformity in their drill. There is no need of this; for the +prescribed "Tactics" approach perfection; it is never left discretionary +in what place an officer shall stand, or in what words he shall give his +order. All variation would seem to imply negligence. Yet even West Point +occasionally varies from the "Tactics,"--as, for instance, in requiring +the line officers to face down the line, when each is giving the order +to his company. In our strictest Massachusetts regiments this is not +done. + +It needs an artist's eye to make a perfect drill-master. Yet the small +points are not merely a matter of punctilio; for, the more perfectly +a battalion is drilled on the parade-ground the more quietly it can be +handled in action. Moreover, the great need of uniformity is this: that, +in the field, soldiers of different companies, and even of different +regiments, are liable to be intermingled, and a diversity of orders may +throw everything into confusion. Confusion means Bull Run. + +I wished my men at the review to-day; for, amidst all the rattling and +noise of artillery and the galloping of cavalry, there was only one +infantry movement that we have not practised, and that was done by only +one regiment, and apparently considered quite a novelty, though it is +easily taught, + +--forming square by Casey's method: forward on centre. It is really just +as easy to drill a regiment as a company, + +--perhaps easier, because one has more time to think; but it is just as +essential to be sharp and decisive, perfectly clearheaded, and to put +life into the men. A regiment seems small when one has learned how to +handle it, a mere handful of men; and I have no doubt that a brigade +or a division would soon appear equally small. But to handle either +_judiciously_, ah, that is another affair! + +So of governing; it is as easy to govern a regiment as a school or a +factory, and needs like qualities, system, promptness, patience, tact; +moreover, in a regiment one has the aid of the admirable machinery of +the army, so that I see very ordinary men who succeed very tolerably. + +Reports of a six months' armistice are rife here, and the thought is +deplored by all. I cannot believe it; yet sometimes one feels very +anxious about the ultimate fate of these poor people. After the +experience of Hungary, one sees that revolutions may go backward; and +the habit of injustice seems so deeply impressed upon the whites, that +it is hard to believe in the possibility of anything better. I dare not +yet hope that the promise of the President's Proclamation will be kept. +For myself I can be indifferent, for the experience here has been its +own daily and hourly reward; and the adaptedness of the freed slaves for +drill and discipline is now thoroughly demonstrated, and must soon be +universally acknowledged. But it would be terrible to see this regiment +disbanded or defrauded. + + +January 12. + +Many things glide by without time to narrate them. On Saturday we had a +mail with the President's Second Message of Emancipation, and the next +day it was read to the men. The words themselves did not stir them very +much, because they have been often told that they were free, especially +on New Year's Day, and, being unversed in politics, they do not +understand, as well as we do, the importance of each additional +guaranty. But the chaplain spoke to them afterwards very effectively, +as usual; and then I proposed to them to hold up their hands and pledge +themselves to be faithful to those still in bondage. They entered +heartily into this, and the scene was quite impressive, beneath the +great oak-branches. I heard afterwards that only one man refused to +raise his hand, saying bluntly that his wife was out of slavery with +him, and he did not care to fight. The other soldiers of his company +were very indignant, and shoved him about among them while marching back +to their quarters, calling him "Coward." I was glad of their exhibition +of feeling, though it is very possible that the one who had thus the +moral courage to stand alone among his comrades might be more reliable, +on a pinch, than some who yielded a more ready assent. But the whole +response, on their part, was very hearty, and will be a good thing +to which to hold them hereafter, at any time of discouragement or +demoralization,--which was my chief reason for proposing it. With +their simple natures it is a great thing to tie them to some definite +committal; they never forget a marked occurrence, and never seem +disposed to evade a pledge. + +It is this capacity of honor and fidelity which gives me such entire +faith in them as soldiers. Without it all their religious demonstration +would be mere sentimentality. For instance, every one who visits the +camp is struck with their bearing as sentinels. They exhibit, in this +capacity, not an upstart conceit, but a steady, conscientious devotion +to duty. They would stop their idolized General Saxton, if he attempted +to cross their beat contrary to orders: I have seen them. No feeble or +incompetent race could do this. The officers tell many amusing instances +of this fidelity, but I think mine the best. + +It was very dark the other night, an unusual thing here, and the rain +fell in torrents; so I put on my India-rubber suit, and went the rounds +of the sentinels, incognito, to test them. I can only say that I shall +never try such an experiment again and have cautioned my officers +against it. Tis a wonder I escaped with life and limb,--such a charging +of bayonets and clicking of gun-locks. Sometimes I tempted them by +refusing to give any countersign, but offering them a piece of tobacco, +which they could not accept without allowing me nearer than the +prescribed bayonet's distance. Tobacco is more than gold to them, and it +was touching to watch the struggle in their minds; but they always did +their duty at last, and I never could persuade them. One man, as if +wishing to crush all his inward vacillation at one fell stroke, told +me stoutly that he never used tobacco, though I found next day that he +loved it as much as any one of them. It seemed wrong thus to tamper with +their fidelity; yet it was a vital matter to me to know how far it could +be trusted, out of my sight. It was so intensely dark that not more than +one or two knew me, even after I had talked with the very next sentinel, +especially as they had never seen me in India-rubber clothing, and I can +always disguise my voice. It was easy to distinguish those who did make +the discovery; they were always conscious and simpering when their turn +came; while the others were stout and irreverent till I revealed myself, +and then rather cowed and anxious, fearing to have offended. + +It rained harder and harder, and when I had nearly made the rounds I had +had enough of it, and, simply giving the countersign to the challenging +sentinel, undertook to pass within the lines. + +"Halt!" exclaimed this dusky man and brother, bringing down his bayonet, +"de countersign not correck." + +Now the magic word, in this case, was "Vicksburg," in honor of a rumored +victory. But as I knew that these hard names became quite transformed +upon their lips, "Carthage" being familiarized into Cartridge, and +"Concord" into Corn-cob, how could I possibly tell what shade of +pronunciation my friend might prefer for this particular proper name? + +"Vicksburg," I repeated, blandly, but authoritatively, endeavoring, as +zealously as one of Christy's Minstrels, to assimilate my speech to any +supposed predilection of the Ethiop vocal organs. + +"Halt dar! Countersign not correck," was the only answer. + +The bayonet still maintained a position which, in a military point of +view, was impressive. + +I tried persuasion, orthography, threats, tobacco, all in vain. I +could not pass in. Of course my pride was up; for was I to defer to +an untutored African on a point of pronunciation? Classic shades of +Harvard, forbid! Affecting scornful indifference, I tried to edge away, +proposing to myself to enter the camp at some other point, where my +elocution would be better appreciated. Not a step could I stir. + +"Halt!" shouted my gentleman again, still holding me at his bayonet's +point, and I wincing and halting. + +I explained to him the extreme absurdity of this proceeding, called his +attention to the state of the weather, which, indeed, spoke for itself +so loudly that we could hardly hear each other speak, and requested +permission to withdraw. The bayonet, with mute eloquence, refused the +application. + +There flashed into my mind, with more enjoyment in the retrospect than +I had experienced at the time, an adventure on a lecturing tour in other +years, when I had spent an hour in trying to scramble into a country +tavern, after bed-time, on the coldest night of winter. On that occasion +I ultimately found myself stuck midway in the window, with my head in a +temperature of 80 degrees, and my heels in a temperature of -10 degrees, +with a heavy windowsash pinioning the small of my back. However, I had +got safe out of that dilemma, and it was time to put an end to this one, + +"Call the corporal of the guard," said I at last, with dignity, +unwilling to make a night of it or to yield my incognito. + +"Corporal ob de guard!" he shouted, lustily,--"Post Number Two!" while +I could hear another sentinel chuckling with laughter. This last was a +special guard, placed over a tent, with a prisoner in charge. Presently +he broke silence. + +"Who am dat?" he asked, in a stage whisper. "Am he a buckra [white +man]?" + +"Dunno whether he been a buckra or not," responded, doggedly, my +Cerberus in uniform; "but I's bound to keep him here till de corporal ob +de guard come." + +Yet, when that dignitary arrived, and I revealed myself, poor Number Two +appeared utterly transfixed with terror, and seemed to look for nothing +less than immediate execution. Of course I praised his fidelity, and +the next day complimented him before the guard, and mentioned him to his +captain; and the whole affair was very good for them all. Hereafter, if +Satan himself should approach them in darkness and storm, they will take +_him_ for "de Cunnel," and treat him with special severity. + + +January 13. + +In many ways the childish nature of this people shows itself. I have +just had to make a change of officers in a company which has constantly +complained, and with good reason, of neglect and improper treatment. +Two excellent officers have been assigned to them; and yet they sent a +deputation to me in the evening, in a state of utter wretchedness. "We's +bery grieved dis evening, Cunnel; 'pears like we couldn't bear it, to +lose de Cap'n and de Lieutenant, all two togeder." Argument was useless; +and I could only fall back on the general theory, that I knew what was +best for them, which had much more effect; and I also could cite the +instance of another company, which had been much improved by a new +captain, as they readily admitted. So with the promise that the new +officers should not be "savage to we," which was the one thing they +deprecated, I assuaged their woes. Twenty-four hours have passed, and I +hear them singing most merrily all down that company street. + +I often notice how their griefs may be dispelled, like those of +children, merely by permission to utter them: if they can tell their +sorrows, they go away happy, even without asking to have anything done +about them. I observe also a peculiar dislike of all _intermediate_ +control: they always wish to pass by the company officer, and deal with +me personally for everything. General Saxton notices the same thing +with the people on the plantations as regards himself. I suppose this +proceeds partly from the old habit of appealing to the master against +the overseer. Kind words would cost the master nothing, and he could +easily put off any non-fulfilment upon the overseer. Moreover, the +negroes have acquired such constitutional distrust of white people, that +it is perhaps as much as they can do to trust more than one person at +a tune. Meanwhile this constant personal intercourse is out of the +question in a well-ordered regiment; and the remedy for it is to +introduce by degrees more and more of system, so that their immediate +officers will become all-sufficient for the daily routine. + +It is perfectly true (as I find everybody takes for granted) that +the first essential for an officer of colored troops is to gain +their confidence. But it is equally true, though many persons do not +appreciate it, that the admirable methods and proprieties of the regular +army are equally available for all troops, and that the sublimest +philanthropist, if he does not appreciate this, is unfit to command +them. + +Another childlike attribute in these men, which is less agreeable, is a +sort of blunt insensibility to giving physical pain. If they are cruel +to animals, for instance, it always reminds me of children pulling off +flies' legs, in a sort of pitiless, untaught, experimental way. Yet I +should not fear any wanton outrage from them. After all their wrongs, +they are not really revengeful; and I would far rather enter a +captured city with them than with white troops, for they would be more +subordinate. But for mere physical suffering they would have no fine +sympathies. The cruel things they have seen and undergone have helped to +blunt them; and if I ordered them to put to death a dozen prisoners, I +think they would do it without remonstrance. + +Yet their religious spirit grows more beautiful to me in living longer +with them; it is certainly far more so than at first, when it seemed +rather a matter of phrase and habit. It influences them both on the +negative and the positive side. That is, it cultivates the feminine +virtues first,--makes them patient, meek, resigned. This is very evident +in the hospital; there is nothing of the restless, defiant habit of +white invalids. Perhaps, if they had more of this, they would resist +disease better. Imbued from childhood with the habit of submission, +drinking in through every pore that other-world trust which is the one +spirit of their songs, they can endure everything. This I expected; +but I am relieved to find that their religion strengthens them on the +positive side also,--gives zeal, energy, daring. They could easily be +made fanatics, if I chose; but I do not choose. Their whole mood is +essentially Mohammedan, perhaps, in its strength and its weakness; and +I feel the same degree of sympathy that I should if I had a Turkish +command,--that is, a sort of sympathetic admiration, not tending towards +agreement, but towards co-operation. Their philosophizing is often the +highest form of mysticism; and our dear surgeon declares that they are +all natural transcendentalists. The white camps seem rough and secular, +after this; and I hear our men talk about "a religious army," "a Gospel +army," in their prayer-meetings. They are certainly evangelizing the +chaplain, who was rather a heretic at the beginning; at least, this is +his own admission. We have recruits on their way from St. Augustine, +where the negroes are chiefly Roman Catholics; and it will be +interesting to see how their type of character combines with that elder +creed. It is time for rest; and I have just looked out into the night, +where the eternal stars shut down, in concave protection, over the yet +glimmering camp, and Orion hangs above my tent-door, giving to me the +sense of strength and assurance which these simple children obtain from +their Moses and the Prophets. Yet external Nature does its share in +their training; witness that most poetic of all their songs, which +always reminds me of the "Lyke-Wake Dirge" in the "Scottish Border +Minstrelsy,"-- + + "I know moon-rise, I know star-rise; + Lay dis body down. + I walk in de moonlight, I walk in de starlight, + To lay dis body down. + I'll walk in de graveyard, I'll walk through de graveyard, + To lay dis body down. + I'll lie in de grave and stretch out my arms; + Lay dis body down. + I go to de Judgment in de evening ob de day + When I lay dis body down; + And my soul and your soul will meet in de day + When I lay dis body down." + + +January 14. + +In speaking of the military qualities of the blacks, I should add, that +the only point where I am disappointed is one I have never seen raised +by the most incredulous newspaper critics,--namely, their +physical condition. To be sure they often look magnificently to +my gymnasium-trained eye; and I always like to observe them when +bathing,--such splendid muscular development, set off by that smooth +coating of adipose tissue which makes them, like the South-Sea Islanders +appear even more muscular than they are. Their skins are also of finer +grain than those of whites, the surgeons say, and certainly are smoother +and far more free from hair. But their weakness is pulmonary; pneumonia +and pleurisy are their besetting ailments; they are easily made +ill,--and easily cured, if promptly treated: childish organizations +again. Guard-duty injures them more than whites, apparently; and +double-quick movements, in choking dust, set them coughing badly. But +then it is to be remembered that this is their sickly season, from +January to March, and that their healthy season will come in summer, +when the whites break down. Still my conviction of the physical +superiority of more highly civilized races is strengthened on the whole, +not weakened, by observing them. As to availability for military drill +and duty in other respects, the only question I ever hear debated among +the officers is, whether they are equal or superior to whites. I have +never heard it suggested that they were inferior, although I expected +frequently to hear such complaints from hasty or unsuccessful officers. + +Of one thing I am sure, that their best qualities will be wasted by +merely keeping them for garrison duty. They seem peculiarly fitted for +offensive operations, and especially for partisan warfare; they have so +much dash and such abundant resources, combined with such an Indian-like +knowledge of the country and its ways. These traits have been often +illustrated in expeditions sent after deserters. For instance, I +despatched one of my best lieutenants and my best sergeant with a squad +of men to search a certain plantation, where there were two separate +negro villages. They went by night, and the force was divided. The +lieutenant took one set of huts, the sergeant the other. Before the +lieutenant had reached his first house, every man in the village was +in the woods, innocent and guilty alike. But the sergeant's mode of +operation was thus described by a corporal from a white regiment who +happened to be in one of the negro houses. He said that not a sound was +heard until suddenly a red leg appeared in the open doorway, and a voice +outside said, "Rally." Going to the door, he observed a similar pair of +red legs before every hut, and not a person was allowed to go out, +until the quarters had been thoroughly searched, and the three deserters +found. This was managed by Sergeant Prince Rivers, our color-sergeant, +who is provost-sergeant also, and has entire charge of the prisoners +and of the daily policing of the camp. He is a man of distinguished +appearance, and in old times was the crack coachman of Beaufort, +in which capacity he once drove Beauregard from this plantation to +Charleston, I believe. They tell me that he was once allowed to present +a petition to the Governor of South Carolina in behalf of slaves, for +the redress of certain grievances; and that a placard, offering two +thousand dollars for his recapture, is still to be seen by the wayside +between here and Charleston. He was a sergeant in the old "Hunter +Regiment," and was taken by General Hunter to New York last spring, +where the _chevrons_ on his arm brought a mob upon him in Broadway, whom +he kept off till the police interfered. There is not a white officer +in this regiment who has more administrative ability, or more absolute +authority over the men; they do not love him, but his mere presence has +controlling power over them. He writes well enough to prepare for me +a daily report of his duties in the camp; if his education reached a +higher point, I see no reason why he should not command the Army of the +Potomac. He is jet-black, or rather, I should say, _wine-black_; his +complexion, like that of others of my darkest men, having a sort of +rich, clear depth, without a trace of sootiness, and to my eye very +handsome. His features are tolerably regular, and full of command, and +his figure superior to that of any of our white officers,--being six +feet high, perfectly proportioned, and of apparently inexhaustible +strength and activity. His gait is like a panther's; I never saw such a +tread. No anti-slavery novel has described a man of such marked ability. +He makes Toussaint perfectly intelligible; and if there should ever be a +black monarchy in South Carolina, he will be its king. + + +January 15. + +This morning is like May. Yesterday I saw bluebirds and a butterfly; +so this whiter of a fortnight is over. I fancy there is a trifle less +coughing in the camp. We hear of other stations in the Department where +the mortality, chiefly from yellow fever, has been frightful. Dr. +---- is rubbing his hands professionally over the fearful tales of the +surgeon of a New York regiment, just from Key West, who has had two +hundred cases of the fever. "I suppose he is a skilful, highly educated +man," said I. "Yes," he responded with enthusiasm. "Why, he had seventy +deaths!"--as if that proved his superiority past question. + + +January 19. + +"And first, sitting proud as a lung on his throne, At the head of them +all rode Sir Richard Tyrone." + +But I fancy that Sir Richard felt not much better satisfied with his +following than I to-day. J. R. L. said once that nothing was quite +so good as turtle-soup, except mock-turtle; and I have heard officers +declare that nothing was so stirring as real war, except some exciting +parade. To-day, for the first time, I marched the whole regiment through +Beaufort and back,--the first appearance of such a novelty on any +stage. They did march splendidly; this all admit. M----'s prediction +was fulfilled: "Will not ---- be in bliss? A thousand men, every one +as black as a coal!" I confess it. To look back on twenty broad +double-ranks of men (for they marched by platoons),--every polished +musket having a black face beside it, and every face set steadily to the +front,--a regiment of freed slaves marching on into the future,--it was +something to remember; and when they returned through the same streets, +marching by the flank, with guns at a "support," and each man covering +his file-leader handsomely, the effect on the eye was almost as fine. +The band of the Eighth Maine joined us at the entrance of the town, +and escorted us in. Sergeant Rivers said ecstatically afterwards, in +describing the affair, "And when dat band wheel in before us, and march +on,--my God! I quit dis world altogeder." I wonder if he pictured to +himself the many dusky regiments, now unformed, which I seemed to see +marching up behind us, gathering shape out of the dim air. + +I had cautioned the men, before leaving camp, not to be staring about +them as they marched, but to look straight to the front, every man; +and they did it with their accustomed fidelity, aided by the sort of +spontaneous eye-for-effect which is in all their melodramatic natures. +One of them was heard to say exultingly afterwards, "We didn't look to +de right nor to de leff. I didn't see notin' in Beaufort. Eb'ry step was +worth a half a dollar." And they all marched as if it were so. They knew +well that they were marching through throngs of officers and soldiers +who had drilled as many months as we had drilled weeks, and whose eyes +would readily spy out every defect. And I must say, that, on the whole, +with a few trivial exceptions, those spectators behaved in a manly +and courteous manner, and I do not care to write down all the handsome +things that were said. Whether said or not, they were deserved; and +there is no danger that our men will not take sufficient satisfaction in +their good appearance. I was especially amused at one of our recruits, +who did not march in the ranks, and who said, after watching the +astonishment of some white soldiers, "De buckra sojers look like a man +who been-a-steal a sheep,"--that is, I suppose, sheepish. + +After passing and repassing through the town, we marched to the +parade-ground, and went through an hour's drill, forming squares and +reducing them, and doing other things which look hard on paper, and are +perfectly easy in fact; and we were to have been reviewed by General +Saxton, but he had been unexpectedly called to Ladies Island, and did +not see us at all, which was the only thing to mar the men's enjoyment. +Then we marched back to camp (three miles), the men singing the "John +Brown Song," and all manner of things,--as happy creatures as one can +well conceive. + +It is worth mentioning, before I close, that we have just received an +article about "Negro Troops," from the _London Spectator_, which is so +admirably true to our experience that it seems as if written by one of +us. I am confident that there never has been, in any American newspaper, +a treatment of the subject so discriminating and so wise. + + +January 21. + +To-day brought a visit from Major-General Hunter and his staff, by +General Saxton's invitation,--the former having just arrived in the +Department. I expected them at dress-parade, but they came during +battalion drill, rather to my dismay, and we were caught in our old +clothes. It was our first review, and I dare say we did tolerably; +but of course it seemed to me that the men never appeared so ill +before,--just as one always thinks a party at one's own house a failure, +even if the guests seem to enjoy it, because one is so keenly sensitive +to every little thing that goes wrong. After review and drill, General +Hunter made the men a little speech, at my request, and told them that +he wished there were fifty thousand of them. General Saxton spoke to +them afterwards, and said that fifty thousand muskets were on their way +for colored troops. The men cheered both the generals lustily; and they +were complimentary afterwards, though I knew that the regiment could not +have appeared nearly so well as on its visit to Beaufort. I suppose I +felt like some anxious mamma whose children have accidentally appeared +at dancing-school in their old clothes. + +General Hunter promises us all we want,--pay when the funds arrive, +Springfield rifled muskets, and blue trousers. Moreover, he has +graciously consented that we should go on an expedition along the coast, +to pick up cotton, lumber, and, above all, recruits. I declined an offer +like this just after my arrival, because the regiment was not drilled or +disciplined, not even the officers; but it is all we wish for now. + + "What care I how black I be? + Forty pounds will marry me," + +quoth Mother Goose. _Forty rounds_ will marry us to the American Army, +past divorcing, if we can only use them well. Our success or failure may +make or mar the prospects of colored troops. But it is well to remember +in advance that military success is really less satisfactory than any +other, because it may depend on a moment's turn of events, and that +may be determined by some trivial thing, neither to be anticipated nor +controlled. Napoleon ought to have won at Waterloo by all reasonable +calculations; but who cares? All that one can expect is, to do one's +best, and to take with equanimity the fortune of war. + + + + +Chapter 3. Up the St. Mary's + + +If Sergeant Rivers was a natural king among my dusky soldiers, Corporal +Robert Sutton was the natural prime-minister. If not in all respects the +ablest, he was the wisest man in our ranks. As large, as powerful, and +as black as our good-looking Color-Sergeant, but more heavily built and +with less personal beauty, he had a more massive brain and a far more +meditative and systematic intellect. Not yet grounded even in the +spelling-book, his modes of thought were nevertheless strong, lucid, and +accurate; and he yearned and pined for intellectual companionship beyond +all ignorant men whom I have ever met. I believe that he would have +talked all day and all night, for days together, to any officer +who could instruct him, until his companions, at least, fell asleep +exhausted. His comprehension of the whole problem of Slavery was more +thorough and far-reaching than that of any Abolitionist, so far as its +social and military aspects went; in that direction I could teach him +nothing, and he taught me much. But it was his methods of thought which +always impressed me chiefly: superficial brilliancy he left to others, +and grasped at the solid truth. + +Of course his interest in the war and in the regiment was unbounded; he +did not take to drill with especial readiness, but he was insatiable +of it, and grudged every moment of relaxation. Indeed, he never had +any such moments; his mind was at work all the time, even when he was +singing hymns, of which he had endless store. He was not, however, one +of our leading religionists, but his moral code was solid and reliable, +like his mental processes. Ignorant as he was, the "years that bring the +philosophic mind" had yet been his, and most of my young officers seemed +boys beside him. He was a Florida man, and had been chiefly employed in +lumbering and piloting on the St. Mary's River, which divides Florida +from Georgia. Down this stream he had escaped in a "dug-out," and after +thus finding the way, had returned (as had not a few of my men in other +cases) to bring away wife and child. "I wouldn't have left my child, +Cunnel," he said, with an emphasis that sounded the depths of his strong +nature. And up this same river he was always imploring to be allowed to +guide an expedition. + +Many other men had rival propositions to urge, for they gained +self-confidence from drill and guard-duty, and were growing impatient of +inaction. "Ought to go to work, Sa,--don't believe in we lyin' in camp +eatin' up de perwisions." Such were the quaint complaints, which I heard +with joy. Looking over my note-books of that period, I find them filled +with topographical memoranda, jotted down by a flickering candle, from +the evening talk of the men,--notes of vulnerable points along +the coast, charts of rivers, locations of pickets. I prized these +conversations not more for what I thus learned of the country than for +what I learned of the men. One could thus measure their various degrees +of accuracy and their average military instinct; and I must say that in +every respect, save the accurate estimate of distances, they stood the +test well. But no project took my fancy so much, after all, as that of +the delegate from the St. Mary's River. + +The best peg on which to hang an expedition in the Department of the +South, in those days, was the promise of lumber. Dwelling in the very +land of Southern pine, the Department authorities had to send North for +it, at a vast expense. There was reported to be plenty in the enemy's +country, but somehow the colored soldiers were the only ones who had +been lucky enough to obtain any, thus far, and the supply brought in by +our men, after flooring the tents of the white regiments and our own, +was running low. An expedition of white troops, four companies, with two +steamers and two schooners, had lately returned empty-handed, after a +week's foraging; and now it was our turn. They said the mills were all +burned; but should we go up the St. Mary's, Corporal Sutton was prepared +to offer more lumber than we had transportation to carry. This made +the crowning charm of his suggestion. But there is never any danger of +erring on the side of secrecy, in a military department; and I resolved +to avoid all undue publicity for our plans, by not finally deciding on +any until we should get outside the bar. This was happily approved by +my superior officers, Major-General Hunter and Brigadier-General Saxton; +and I was accordingly permitted to take three steamers, with four +hundred and sixty-two officers and men, and two or three invited +guests, and go down the coast on my own responsibility. We were, in +short, to win our spurs; and if, as among the Araucanians, our spurs +were made of lumber, so much the better. The whole history of the +Department of the South had been defined as "a military picnic," and now +we were to take our share of the entertainment. + +It seemed a pleasant share, when, after the usual vexations and delays, +we found ourselves (January 23, 1863) gliding down the full waters of +Beaufort River, the three vessels having sailed at different hours, with +orders to rendezvous at St. Simon's Island, on the coast of Georgia. +Until then, the flagship, so to speak, was to be the "Ben De Ford," +Captain Hallet,--this being by far the largest vessel, and carrying most +of the men. Major Strong was in command upon the "John Adams," an army +gunboat, carrying a thirty-pound Parrott gun, two ten-pound Parrotts, +and an eight-inch howitzer. Captain Trowbridge (since promoted +Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment) had charge of the famous "Planter," +brought away from the Rebels by Robert Small; she carried a ten-pound +Parrott gun, and two howitzers. The John Adams was our main reliance. +She was an old East Boston ferry-boat, a "double-ender," admirable for +river-work, but unfit for sea-service. She drew seven feet of water; the +Planter drew only four; but the latter was very slow, and being obliged +to go to St. Simon's by an inner passage, would delay us from the +beginning. She delayed us so much, before the end, that we virtually +parted company, and her career was almost entirely separated from our +own. + +From boyhood I have had a fancy for boats, and have seldom been without +a share, usually more or less fractional, in a rather indeterminate +number of punts and wherries. But when, for the first time, I found +myself at sea as Commodore of a fleet of armed steamers,--for even the +Ben De Ford boasted a six-pounder or so,--it seemed rather an unexpected +promotion. But it is a characteristic of army life, that one adapts +one's self, as coolly as in a dream, to the most novel responsibilities. +One sits on court-martial, for instance, and decides on the life of a +fellow-creature, without being asked any inconvenient questions as to +previous knowledge of Blackstone; and after such an experience, shall +one shrink from wrecking a steamer or two in the cause of the nation? So +I placidly accepted my naval establishment, as if it were a new form of +boat-club, and looked over the charts, balancing between one river and +another, as if deciding whether to pull up or down Lake Quinsigamond. If +military life ever contemplated the exercise of the virtue of humility +under any circumstances this would perhaps have been a good opportunity +to begin its practice. But as the "Regulations" clearly contemplated +nothing of the kind, and as I had never met with any precedent which +looked in that direction, I had learned to check promptly all such weak +proclivities. + +Captain Hallett proved the most frank and manly of sailors, and did +everything for our comfort. He was soon warm in his praises of the +demeanor of our men, which was very pleasant to hear, as this was the +first time that colored soldiers in any number had been conveyed on +board a transport, and I know of no place where a white volunteer +appears to so much disadvantage. His mind craves occupation, his body is +intensely uncomfortable, the daily emergency is not great enough to call +out his heroic qualities, and he is apt to be surly, discontented, and +impatient even of sanitary rules. The Southern black soldier, on the +other hand, is seldom sea-sick (at least, such is my experience), and, +if properly managed, is equally contented, whether idle or busy; he is, +moreover, so docile that all needful rules are executed with cheerful +acquiescence, and the quarters can therefore be kept clean and +wholesome. Very forlorn faces were soon visible among the officers in +the cabin, but I rarely saw such among the men. + +Pleasant still seemed our enterprise, as we anchored at early morning in +the quiet waters of St. Simon's Sound, and saw the light fall softly on +the beach and the low bluffs, on the picturesque plantation-houses which +nestled there, and the graceful naval vessels that lay at anchor before +us. When we afterwards landed the air had that peculiar Mediterranean +translucency which Southern islands wear; and the plantation we visited +had the loveliest tropical garden, though tangled and desolate, which I +have ever seen in the South. The deserted house was embowered In great +blossoming shrubs, and filled with hyacinthine odors, among which +predominated that of the little Chickasaw roses which everywhere bloomed +and trailed around. There were fig-trees and date-palms, crape-myrtles +and wax-myrtles, Mexican agaves and English ivies, japonicas, bananas, +oranges, lemons, oleanders, jonquils, great cactuses, and wild Florida +lilies. This was not the plantation which Mrs. Kemble has since made +historic, although that was on the same island; and I could not waste +much sentiment over it, for it had belonged to a Northern renegade, +Thomas Butler King. Yet I felt then, as I have felt a hundred +times since, an emotion of heart-sickness at this desecration of a +homestead,--and especially when, looking from a bare upper window of the +empty house upon a range of broad, flat, sunny roofs, such as children +love to play on, I thought how that place might have been loved by yet +Innocent hearts, and I mourned anew the sacrilege of war. + +I had visited the flag-ship Wabash ere we left Port Royal Harbor, and +had obtained a very kind letter of introduction from Admiral Dupont, +that stately and courtly potentate, elegant as one's ideal French +marquis; and under these credentials I received polite attention from +the naval officers at St. Simon's,--Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Budd, of +the gunboat Potomska, and Acting Master Moses, of the barque Fernandina. +They made valuable suggestions in regard to the different rivers along +the coast, and gave vivid descriptions of the last previous trip up the +St. Mary's undertaken by Captain Stevens, U.S.N., in the gunboat Ottawa, +when he had to fight his way past batteries at every bluff in descending +the narrow and rapid stream. I was warned that no resistance would be +offered to the ascent, but only to our return; and was further cautioned +against the mistake, then common, of underrating the courage of the +Rebels. "It proved impossible to dislodge those fellows from the banks," +my informant said; "they had dug rifle-pits, and swarmed like hornets, +and when fairly silenced in one direction they were sure to open upon us +from another." All this sounded alarming, but it was nine months since +the event had happened; and although nothing had gone up the river +meanwhile, I counted on less resistance now. And something must be +risked anywhere. + +We were delayed all that day in waiting for our consort, and +improved our time by verifying certain rumors about a quantity of new +railroad-iron which was said to be concealed in the abandoned Rebel +forts on St. Simon's and Jekyll Islands, and which would have much value +at Port Royal, if we could unearth it. Some of our men had worked upon +these very batteries, so that they could easily guide us; and by the +additional discovery of a large flat-boat we were enabled to go to work +in earnest upon the removal of the treasure. These iron bars, surmounted +by a dozen feet of sand, formed an invulnerable roof for the magazines +and bomb-proofs of the fort, and the men enjoyed demolishing them far +more than they had relished their construction. Though the day was the +24th of January, 1863, the sun was very oppressive upon the sands; but +all were in the highest spirits, and worked with the greatest zeal. The +men seemed to regard these massive bars as their first trophies; and if +the rails had been wreathed with roses, they could not have been got out +in more holiday style. Nearly a hundred were obtained that day, +besides a quantity of five-inch plank with which to barricade the very +conspicuous pilot-houses of the John Adams. Still another day we were +delayed, and could still keep at this work, not neglecting some foraging +on the island from which horses, cattle, and agricultural implements +were to be removed, and the few remaining colored families transferred +to Fernandina. I had now become quite anxious about the missing +steamboat, as the inner passage, by which alone she could arrive, was +exposed at certain points to fire from Rebel batteries, and it would +have been unpleasant to begin with a disaster. I remember that, as I +stood on deck, in the still and misty evening, listening with strained +senses for some sound of approach, I heard a low continuous noise from +the distance, more wild and desolate than anything in my memory can +parallel. It came from within the vast girdle of mist, and seemed like +the cry of a myriad of lost souls upon the horizon's verge; it was Dante +become audible: and yet it was but the accumulated cries of innumerable +seafowl at the entrance of the outer bay. + +Late that night the Planter arrived. We left St. Simon's on the +following morning, reached Fort Clinch by four o'clock, and there +transferring two hundred men to the very scanty quarters of the John +Adams, allowed the larger transport to go into Fernandina, while the +two other vessels were to ascend the St. Mary's River, unless (as proved +inevitable in the end) the defects in the boiler of the Planter should +oblige her to remain behind. That night I proposed to make a sort of +trial-trip up stream, as far as Township landing, some fifteen miles, +there to pay our respects to Captain Clark's company of cavalry, whose +camp was reported to lie near by. This was included in Corporal Sutton's +programme, and seemed to me more inviting, and far more useful to +the men, than any amount of mere foraging. The thing really desirable +appeared to be to get them under fire as soon as possible, and to teach +them, by a few small successes, the application of what they had learned +in camp-. + +I had ascertained that the camp of this company lay five miles from +the landing, and was accessible by two roads, one of which was a +lumber-path, not commonly used, but which Corporal Sutton had helped to +construct, and along which he could easily guide us. The plan was to go +by night, surround the house and negro cabins at the landing (to prevent +an alarm from being given), then to take the side path, and if all went +well, to surprise the camp; but if they got notice of our approach, +through their pickets, we should, at worst, have a fight, in which the +best man must win. + +The moon was bright, and the river swift, but easy of navigation thus +far. Just below Township I landed a small advance force, to surround +the houses silently. With them went Corporal Sutton; and when, after +rounding the point, I went on shore with a larger body of men, he met +me with a silent chuckle of delight, and with the information that there +was a negro in a neighboring cabin who had just come from the Rebel +camp, and could give the latest information. While he hunted up this +valuable auxiliary, I mustered my detachment, winnowing out the men who +had coughs (not a few), and sending them ignominiously on board again: a +process I had regularly to perform, during this first season of catarrh, +on all occasions where quiet was needed. The only exception tolerated at +this time was in the case of one man who offered a solemn pledge, that, +if unable to restrain his cough, he would lie down on the ground, +scrape a little hole, and cough into it unheard. The ingenuity of this +proposition was irresistible, and the eager patient was allowed to pass +muster. + +It was after midnight when we set off upon our excursion. I had about +a hundred men, marching by the flank, with a small advanced guard, +and also a few flankers, where the ground permitted. I put my Florida +company at the head of the column, and had by my side Captain Metcalf, +an excellent officer, and Sergeant Mclntyre, his first sergeant. We +plunged presently in pine woods, whose resinous smell I can still +remember. Corporal Sutton marched near me, with his captured negro +guide, whose first fear and sullenness had yielded to the magic news of +the President's Proclamation, then just issued, of which Governor Andrew +had sent me a large printed supply;--we seldom found men who could read +it, but they all seemed to feel more secure when they held it in their +hands. We marched on through the woods, with no sound but the peeping of +the frogs in a neighboring marsh, and the occasional yelping of a +dog, as we passed the hut of some "cracker." This yelping always made +Corporal Sutton uneasy; dogs are the detective officers of Slavery's +police. + +We had halted once or twice to close up the ranks, and had marched some +two miles, seeing and hearing nothing more. I had got all I could out of +our new guide, and was striding on, rapt in pleasing contemplation. +All had gone so smoothly that I had merely to fancy the rest as being +equally smooth. Already I fancied our little detachment bursting out +of the woods, in swift surprise, upon the Rebel quarters,--already +the opposing commander, after hastily firing a charge or two from his +revolver (of course above my head), had yielded at discretion, and was +gracefully tendering, in a stage attitude, his unavailing sword,--when +suddenly-- + +There was a trampling of feet among the advanced guard as they came +confusedly to a halt, and almost at the same instant a more ominous +sound, as of galloping horses in the path before us. The moonlight +outside the woods gave that dimness of atmosphere within which is more +bewildering than darkness, because the eyes cannot adapt themselves to +it so well. Yet I fancied, and others aver, that they saw the leader +of an approaching party mounted on a white horse and reining up in the +pathway; others, again, declare that he drew a pistol from the holster +and took aim; others heard the words, "Charge in upon them! Surround +them!" But all this was confused by the opening rifle-shots of our +advanced guard, and, as clear observation was impossible, I made the +men fix their bayonets and kneel in the cover on each side the pathway, +and I saw with delight the brave fellows, with Sergeant Mclntyre at +their head, settling down in the grass as coolly and warily as if wild +turkeys were the only game. Perhaps at the first shot a man fell at +my elbow. I felt it no more than if a tree had fallen,--I was so busy +watching my own men and the enemy, and planning what to do next. Some of +our soldiers, misunderstanding the order, "Fix bayonets," were actually +_charging_ with them, dashing off into the dim woods, with nothing to +charge at but the vanishing tail of an imaginary horse,--for we could +really see nothing. This zeal I noted with pleasure, and also with +anxiety, as our greatest danger was from confusion and scattering; and +for infantry to pursue cavalry would be a novel enterprise. Captain +Metcalf stood by me well in keeping the men steady, as did Assistant +Surgeon Minor, and Lieutenant, now Captain, Jackson. How the men in the +rear were behaving I could not tell,--not so coolly, I afterwards found, +because they were more entirely bewildered, supposing, until the shots +came, that the column had simply halted for a moment's rest, as had +been done once or twice before. They did not know who or where their +assailants might be, and the fall of the man beside me created a +hasty rumor that I was killed, so that it was on the whole an alarming +experience for them. They kept together very tolerably, however, while +our assailants, dividing, rode along on each side through the open +pine-barren, firing into our ranks, but mostly over the heads of +the men. My soldiers in turn fired rapidly,--too rapidly, being yet +beginners,--and it was evident that, dim as it was, both sides had +opportunity to do some execution. + +I could hardly tell whether the fight had lasted ten minutes or an hour, +when, as the enemy's fire had evidently ceased or slackened, I gave the +order to cease firing. But it was very difficult at first to make them +desist: the taste of gunpowder was too intoxicating. One of them was +heard to mutter, indignantly, "Why de Cunnel order _Cease firing_, when +de Secesh blazin' away at de rate ob ten dollar a day?" Every incidental +occurrence seemed somehow to engrave itself upon my perceptions, without +interrupting the main course of thought. Thus I know, that, in one of +the pauses of the affair, there came wailing through the woods a cracked +female voice, as if calling back some stray husband who had run out to +join in the affray, "John, John, are you going to leave me, John? Are +you going to let me and the children be killed, John?" I suppose the +poor thing's fears of gunpowder were very genuine; but it was such +a wailing squeak, and so infinitely ludicrous, and John was probably +ensconced so very safely in some hollow tree, that I could see some of +the men showing all their white teeth in the very midst of the fight. +But soon this sound, with all others, had ceased, and left us in +peaceful possession of the field. + +I have made the more of this little affair because it was the first +stand-up fight in which my men had been engaged, though they had been +under fire, in an irregular way, in their small early expeditions. To me +personally the event was of the greatest value: it had given us all an +opportunity to test each other, and our abstract surmises were changed +into positive knowledge. Hereafter it was of small importance what +nonsense might be talked or written about colored troops; so long +as mine did not flinch, it made no difference to me. My brave young +officers, themselves mostly new to danger, viewed the matter much as +I did; and yet we were under bonds of life and death to form a correct +opinion, which was more than could be said of the Northern editors, and +our verdict was proportionately of greater value. + +I was convinced from appearances that we had been victorious, so far, +though I could not suppose that this would be the last of it. We knew +neither the numbers of the enemy, nor their plans, nor their present +condition: whether they had surprised us or whether we had surprised +them was all a mystery. Corporal Sutton was urgent to go on and complete +the enterprise. All my impulses said the same thing; but then I had +the most explicit injunctions from General Saxton to risk as little as +possible in this first enterprise, because of the fatal effect on public +sentiment of even an honorable defeat. We had now an honorable victory, +so far as it went; the officers and men around me were in good spirits, +but the rest of the column might be nervous; and it seemed so important +to make the first fight an entire success, that I thought it wiser to +let well alone; nor have I ever changed this opinion. For one's self, +Montrose's verse may be well applied, "To win or lose it all." But one +has no right to deal thus lightly with the fortunes of a race, and that +was the weight which I always felt as resting on our action. If my raw +infantry force had stood unflinchingly a night-surprise from "de +boss cavalry," as they reverentially termed them, I felt that a good +beginning had been made. All hope of surprising the enemy's camp was now +at an end; I was willing and ready to fight the cavalry over again, but +it seemed wiser that we, not they, should select the ground. + +Attending to the wounded, therefore, and making as we best could +stretchers for those who were to be carried, including the remains +of the man killed at the first discharge (Private William Parsons of +Company G), and others who seemed at the point of death, we marched +through the woods to the landing,--expecting at every moment to be +involved in another fight. This not occurring, I was more than ever +satisfied that we had won a victory; for it was obvious that a mounted +force would not allow a detachment of infantry to march two miles +through open woods by night without renewing the fight, unless they +themselves had suffered a good deal. On arrival at the landing, seeing +that there was to be no immediate affray, I sent most of the men on +board, and called for volunteers to remain on shore with me and hold the +plantation-house till morning. They eagerly offered; and I was glad to +see them, when posted as sentinels by Lieutenants Hyde and Jackson, who +stayed with me, pace their beats as steadily and challenge as coolly +as veterans, though of course there was some powder wasted on imaginary +foes. Greatly to my surprise, however, we had no other enemies to +encounter. We did not yet know that we had killed the first lieutenant +of the cavalry, and that our opponents had retreated to the woods in +dismay, without daring to return to their camp. This at least was the +account we heard from prisoners afterwards, and was evidently the tale +current in the neighborhood, though the statements published in Southern +newspapers did not correspond. Admitting the death of Lieutenant Jones, +the Tallahassee Floridian of February 14th stated that "Captain Clark, +finding the enemy in strong force, fell back with his command to camp, +and removed his ordnance and commissary and other stores, with twelve +negroes on their way to the enemy, captured on that day." + +In the morning, my invaluable surgeon, Dr. Rogers, sent me his report +of killed and wounded; and I have been since permitted to make the +following extracts from his notes: "One man killed instantly by ball +through the heart, and seven wounded, one of whom will die. Braver men +never lived. One man with two bullet-holes through the large muscles of +the shoulders and neck brought off from the scene of action, two miles +distant, two muskets; and not a murmur has escaped his lips. Another, +Robert Sutton, with three wounds,--one of which, being on the skull, may +cost him his life,--would not report himself till compelled to do so by +his officers. While dressing his wounds, he quietly talked of what they +had done, and of what they yet could do. To-day I have had the Colonel +_order_ him to obey me. He is perfectly quiet and cool, but takes this +whole affair with the religious bearing of a man who realizes that +freedom is sweeter than life. Yet another soldier did not report himself +at all, but remained all night on guard, and possibly I should not +have known of his having had a buck-shot in his shoulder, if some duty +requiring a sound shoulder had not been required of him to-day." This +last, it may be added, had persuaded a comrade to dig out the buck-shot, +for fear of being ordered on the sick-list. And one of those who were +carried to the vessel--a man wounded through the lungs--asked only if I +were safe, the contrary having been reported. An officer may be pardoned +some enthusiasm for such men as these. + +The anxious night having passed away without an attack, another problem +opened with the morning. For the first time, my officers and men found +themselves in possession of an enemy's abode; and though there was but +little temptation to plunder, I knew that I must here begin to draw +the line. I had long since resolved to prohibit absolutely all +indiscriminate pilfering and wanton outrage, and to allow nothing to +be taken or destroyed but by proper authority. The men, to my great +satisfaction, entered into this view at once, and so did (perhaps a +shade less readily, in some cases) the officers. The greatest trouble +was with the steamboat hands, and I resolved to let them go ashore as +little as possible. Most articles of furniture were already, however, +before our visit, gone from the plantation-house, which was now used +only as a picket-station. The only valuable article was a pianoforte, +for which a regular packing-box lay invitingly ready outside. I had made +up my mind, in accordance with the orders given to naval commanders in +that department,* to burn all picket-stations, and all villages from +which I should be covertly attacked, and nothing else; and as this house +was destined to the flames, I should have left the piano in it, but for +the seductions of that box. With such a receptacle all ready, even to +the cover, it would have seemed like flying in the face of Providence +not to put the piano in. I ordered it removed, therefore, and afterwards +presented it to the school for colored children at Fernandina. This +I mention because it was the only article of property I ever took, +or knowingly suffered to be taken, in the enemy's country, save for +legitimate military uses, from first to last; nor would I have taken +this, but for the thought of the school, and, as aforesaid, the +temptation of the box. If any other officer has been more rigid, with +equal opportunities, let him cast the first stone. + +* "It is my desire to avoid the destruction of private property, unless +used for picket or guard-stations, or for other military purposes, by +the enemy.... Of course, if fired upon from any place, it is your duty, +if possible, to destroy it." Letter of ADMIRAL DUPONT, commanding South +Atlantic Squadron, to LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER HUGHES of United States +Gunboat Mohawk, Fernandina Harbor. + +I think the zest with which the men finally set fire to the house at +my order was enhanced by this previous abstemiousness; but there is a +fearful fascination in the use of fire, which every child knows in the +abstract, and which I found to hold true in the practice. On our way +down river we had opportunity to test this again. + +The ruined town of St. Mary's had at that time a bad reputation, +among both naval and military men. Lying but a short distance above +Fernandina, on the Georgia side, it was occasionally visited by our +gunboats. I was informed that the only residents of the town were +three old women, who were apparently kept there as spies,--that, on +our approach, the aged crones would come out and wave white +handkerchiefs,--that they would receive us hospitably, profess to be +profoundly loyal, and exhibit a portrait of Washington,--that they +would solemnly assure us that no Rebel pickets had been there for +many weeks,--but that in the adjoining yard we should find fresh +horse-tracks, and that we should be fired upon by guerillas the moment +we left the wharf. My officers had been much excited by these tales; and +I had assured them that, if this programme were literally carried out, +we would straightway return and burn the town, or what was left of it, +for our share. It was essential to show my officers and men that, while +rigid against irregular outrage, we could still be inexorable against +the enemy. + +We had previously planned to stop at this town, on our way down river, +for some valuable lumber which we had espied on a wharf; and gliding +down the swift current, shelling a few bluffs as we passed, we soon +reached it. Punctual as the figures in a panorama appeared the old +ladies with their white handkerchiefs. Taking possession of the town, +much of which had previously been destroyed by the gunboats, and +stationing the color-guard, to their infinite delight, in the cupola +of the most conspicuous house, I deployed skirmishers along the exposed +suburb, and set a detail of men at work on the lumber. After a stately +and decorous interview with the queens of society of St. Mary's,--is +it Scott who says that nothing improves the manners like piracy?--I +peacefully withdrew the men when the work was done. There were faces of +disappointment among the officers,--for all felt a spirit of mischief +after the last night's adventure,--when, just as we had fairly swung out +into the stream and were under way, there came, like the sudden burst of +a tropical tornado, a regular little hail-storm of bullets into the open +end of the boat, driving every gunner in an instant from his post, and +surprising even those who were looking to be surprised. The shock was +but for a second; and though the bullets had pattered precisely like +the sound of hail upon the iron cannon, yet nobody was hurt. With very +respectable promptness, order was restored, our own shells were flying +into the woods from which the attack proceeded, and we were steaming up +to the wharf again, according to promise. + +Who shall describe the theatrical attitudes assumed by the old ladies +as they reappeared at the front-door,--being luckily out of direct +range,--and set the handkerchiefs in wilder motion than ever? They +brandished them, they twirled them after the manner of the domestic +mop, they clasped their hands, handkerchiefs included. Meanwhile their +friends in the wood popped away steadily at us, with small effect; and +occasionally an invisible field-piece thundered feebly from another +quarter, with equally invisible results. Reaching the wharf, one +company, under Lieutenant (now Captain) Danil-son, was promptly deployed +in search of our assailants, who soon grew silent. Not so the old +ladies, when I announced to them my purpose, and added, with extreme +regret, that, as the wind was high, I should burn only that half of +the town which lay to leeward of their house, which did not, after +all, amount to much. Between gratitude for this degree of mercy, and +imploring appeals for greater, the treacherous old ladies manoeuvred +with clasped hands and demonstrative handkerchiefs around me, impairing +the effect of their eloquence by constantly addressing me as "Mr. +Captain"; for I have observed, that, while the sternest officer is +greatly propitiated by attributing to him a rank a little higher than +his own, yet no one is ever mollified by an error in the opposite +direction. I tried, however, to disregard such low considerations, +and to strike the correct mean between the sublime patriot and the +unsanctified incendiary, while I could find no refuge from weak +contrition save in greater and greater depths of courtesy; and so +melodramatic became our interview that some of the soldiers still +maintain that "dem dar ole Secesh women been a-gwine for kiss de +Cunnel," before we ended. But of this monstrous accusation I wish to +register an explicit denial, once for all. + +Dropping down to Fernandina unmolested after this affair, we were kindly +received by the military and naval commanders,--Colonel Hawley, of +the Seventh Connecticut (now Brigadier-General Hawley), and +Lieutenant-Commander Hughes, of the gunboat Mohawk. It turned out very +opportunely that both of these officers had special errands to suggest +still farther up the St. Mary's, and precisely in the region where I +wished to go. Colonel Hawley showed me a letter from the War Department, +requesting him to ascertain the possibility of obtaining a supply +of brick for Fort Clinch from the brickyard which had furnished the +original materials, but which had not been visited since the perilous +river-trip of the Ottawa. Lieutenant Hughes wished to obtain information +for the Admiral respecting a Rebel steamer,--the Berosa,--said to +be lying somewhere up the river, and awaiting her chance to run the +blockade. I jumped at the opportunity. Berosa and brickyard,--both were +near Wood-stock, the former home of Corporal Sutton; he was ready +and eager to pilot us up the river; the moon would be just right that +evening, setting at 3h. 19m. A.M.; and our boat was precisely the one +to undertake the expedition. Its double-headed shape was just what was +needed in that swift and crooked stream; the exposed pilot-houses had +been tolerably barricaded with the thick planks from St. Simon's; and +we further obtained some sand-bags from Fort Clinch, through the aid of +Captain Sears, the officer in charge, who had originally suggested the +expedition after brick. In return for this aid, the Planter was sent +back to the wharf at St. Mary's, to bring away a considerable supply +of the same precious article, which we had observed near the wharf. +Meanwhile the John Adams was coaling from naval supplies, through the +kindness of Lieutenant Hughes; and the Ben De Ford was taking in +the lumber which we had yesterday brought down. It was a great +disappointment to be unable to take the latter vessel up the river; but +I was unwillingly convinced that, though the depth of water might be +sufficient, yet her length would be unmanageable in the swift current +and sharp turns. The Planter must also be sent on a separate cruise, +as her weak and disabled machinery made her useless for my purpose. Two +hundred men were therefore transferred, as before, to the narrow hold +of the John Adams, in addition to the company permanently stationed on +board to work the guns. At seven o'clock on the evening of January 29th, +beneath a lovely moon, we steamed up the river. + +Never shall I forget the mystery and excitement of that night. I know +nothing in life more fascinating than the nocturnal ascent of an unknown +river, leading far into an enemy's country, where one glides in the +dim moonlight between dark hills and meadows, each turn of the channel +making it seem like an inland lake, and cutting you off as by a +barrier from all behind,--with no sign of human life, but an occasional +picket-fire left glimmering beneath the bank, or the yelp of a dog from +some low-lying plantation. On such occasions every nerve is strained to +its utmost tension; all dreams of romance appear to promise immediate +fulfilment; all lights on board the vessel are obscured, loud voices +are hushed; you fancy a thousand men on shore, and yet see nothing; the +lonely river, unaccustomed to furrowing keels, lapses by the vessel with +a treacherous sound; and all the senses are merged in a sort of anxious +trance. Three tunes I have had in full perfection this fascinating +experience; but that night was the first, and its zest was the keenest. +It will come back to me in dreams, if I live a thousand years. + +I feared no attack during our ascent,--that danger was for our return; +but I feared the intricate navigation of the river, though I did not +fully know, till the actual experience, how dangerous it was. We passed +without trouble far above the scene of our first fight,--the Battle +of the Hundred Pines, as my officers had baptized it; and ever, as we +ascended, the banks grew steeper, the current swifter, the channel more +tortuous and more encumbered with projecting branches and drifting wood. +No piloting less skilful than that of Corporal Sutton and his mate, +James Bezzard, could have carried us through, I thought; and no +side-wheel steamer less strong than a ferry-boat could have borne the +crash and force with which we struck the wooded banks of the river. But +the powerful paddles, built to break the Northern ice, could crush the +Southern pine as well; and we came safely out of entanglements that at +first seemed formidable. We had the tide with us, which makes steering +far more difficult; and, in the sharp angles of the river, there was +often no resource but to run the bow boldly on shore, let the stern +swing round, and then reverse the motion. As the reversing machinery +was generally out of order, the engineer stupid or frightened, and +the captain excited, this involved moments of tolerably concentrated +anxiety. Eight times we grounded in the upper waters, and once lay +aground for half an hour; but at last we dropped anchor before the +little town of Woodstock, after moonset and an hour before daybreak, +just as I had planned, and so quietly that scarcely a dog barked, and +not a soul in the town, as we afterwards found, knew of our arrival. + +As silently as possible, the great flat-boat which we had brought from +St. Simon's was filled with men. Major Strong was sent on shore with +two companies,--those of Captain James and Captain Metcalf,--with +instructions to surround the town quietly, allow no one to leave it, +molest no one, and hold as temporary prisoners every man whom he found. +I watched them push off into the darkness, got the remaining force ready +to land, and then paced the deck for an hour in silent watchfulness, +waiting for rifle-shots. Not a sound came from the shore, save +the barking of dogs and the morning crow of cocks; the time seemed +interminable; but when daylight came, I landed, and found a pair of +scarlet trousers pacing on their beat before every house in the village, +and a small squad of prisoners, stunted and forlorn as Falstaff's ragged +regiment, already hi hand. I observed with delight the good demeanor +of my men towards these forlorn Anglo-Saxons, and towards the more +tumultuous women. Even one soldier, who threatened to throw an old +termagant into the river, took care to append the courteous epithet +"Madam." + +I took a survey of the premises. The chief house, a pretty one with +picturesque outbuildings, was that of Mrs. A., who owned the mills +and lumber-wharves adjoining. The wealth of these wharves had not been +exaggerated. There was lumber enough to freight half a dozen steamers, +and I half regretted that I had agreed to take down a freight of +bricks instead. Further researches made me grateful that I had already +explained to my men the difference between public foraging and private +plunder. Along the river-bank I found building after building crowded +with costly furniture, all neatly packed, just as it was sent up from +St. Mary's when that town was abandoned. Pianos were a drug; china, +glass-ware, mahogany, pictures, all were here. And here were my men, who +knew that their own labor had earned for their masters these luxuries, +or such as these; their own wives and children were still sleeping on +the floor, perhaps, at Beaufort or Fernandina; and yet they submitted, +almost without a murmur, to the enforced abstinence. Bed and bedding +for our hospitals they might take from those store-rooms,--such as the +surgeon selected,--also an old flag which we found in a corner, and an +old field-piece (which the regiment still possesses),--but after this +the doors were closed and left unmolested. It cost a struggle to some +of the men, whose wives were destitute, I know; but their pride was very +easily touched, and when this abstinence was once recognized as a rule, +they claimed it as an honor, in this and all succeeding expeditions. +I flatter myself that, if they had once been set upon wholesale +plundering, they would have done it as thoroughly as their betters; but +I have always been infinitely grateful, both for the credit and for +the discipline of the regiment,--as well as for the men's subsequent +lives,--that the opposite method was adopted. + +When the morning was a little advanced, I called on Mrs. A., who +received me in quite a stately way at her own door with "To what am +I indebted for the honor of this visit, Sir?" The foreign name of +the family, and the tropical look of the buildings, made it seem (as, +indeed, did all the rest of the adventure) like a chapter out of "Amyas +Leigh"; but as I had happened to hear that the lady herself was a +Philadelphian, and her deceased husband a New-Yorker, I could not feel +even that modicum of reverence due to sincere Southerners. However, I +wished to present my credentials; so, calling up my companion, I said +that I believed she had been previously acquainted with Corporal Robert +Sutton? I never saw a finer bit of unutterable indignation than came +over the face of my hostess, as she slowly recognized him. She drew +herself up, and dropped out the monosyllables of her answer as if they +were so many drops of nitric acid. "Ah," quoth my lady, "we called him +Bob!" + +It was a group for a painter. The whole drama of the war seemed to +reverse itself in an instant, and my tall, well-dressed, imposing, +philosophic Corporal dropped down the immeasurable depth into a mere +plantation "Bob" again. So at least in my imagination; not to that +person himself. Too essentially dignified in his nature to be moved by +words where substantial realities were in question, he simply turned +from the lady, touched his hat to me, and asked if I would wish to see +the slave-jail, as he had the keys in his possession. + +If he fancied that I was in danger of being overcome by blandishments, +and needed to be recalled to realities, it was a master-stroke. + +I must say that, when the door of that villanous edifice was thrown open +before me, I felt glad that my main interview with its lady proprietor +had passed before I saw it. It was a small building, like a Northern +corn-barn, and seemed to have as prominent and as legitimate a place +among the outbuildings of the establishment. In the middle of the door +was a large staple with a rusty chain, like an ox-chain, for fastening +a victim down. When the door had been opened after the death of the late +proprietor, my informant said, a man was found padlocked in that chain. +We found also three pairs of stocks of various construction, two of +which had smaller as well as larger holes, evidently for the feet of +women or children. In a building near by we found something far more +complicated, which was perfectly unintelligible till the men explained +all its parts: a machine so contrived that a person once imprisoned in +it could neither sit, stand, nor lie, but must support the body +half raised, in a position scarcely endurable. I have since bitterly +reproached myself for leaving this piece of ingenuity behind; but it +would have cost much labor to remove it, and to bring away the other +trophies seemed then enough. I remember the unutterable loathing with +which I leaned against the door of that prison-house; I had thought +myself seasoned to any conceivable horrors of Slavery, but it seemed as +if the visible presence of that den of sin would choke me. Of course +it would have been burned to the ground by us, but that this would have +involved the sacrifice of every other building and all the piles of +lumber, and for the moment it seemed as if the sacrifice would be +righteous. But I forbore, and only took as trophies the instruments of +torture and the keys of the jail. + +We found but few colored people in this vicinity; some we brought away +with us, and an old man and woman preferred to remain. All the white +males whom we found I took as hostages, in order to shield us, if +possible, from attack on our way down river, explaining to them that +they would be put on shore when the dangerous points were passed. I +knew that their wives could easily send notice of this fact to the +Rebel forces along the river. My hostages were a forlorn-looking set of +"crackers," far inferior to our soldiers in _physique_, and yet quite +equal, the latter declared, to the average material of the Southern +armies. None were in uniform, but this proved nothing as to their being +soldiers. One of them, a mere boy, was captured at his own door, with +gun in hand. It was a fowling-piece, which he used only, as his mother +plaintively assured me, "to shoot little birds with." As the guileless +youth had for this purpose loaded the gun with eighteen buck-shot, we +thought it justifiable to confiscate both the weapon and the owner, in +mercy to the birds. + +We took from this place, for the use of the army, a flock of some thirty +sheep, forty bushels of rice, some other provisions, tools, oars, and +a little lumber, leaving all possible space for the bricks which we +expected to obtain just below. I should have gone farther up the river, +but for a dangerous boom which kept back a great number of logs in a +large brook that here fell into the St. Mary's; the stream ran with +force, and if the Rebels had wit enough to do it, they might in ten +minutes so choke the river with drift-wood as infinitely to enhance +our troubles. So we dropped down stream a mile or two, found the very +brickyard from which Fort Clinch had been constructed,--still stored +with bricks, and seemingly unprotected. Here Sergeant Rivers again +planted his standard, and the men toiled eagerly, for several hours, in +loading our boat to the utmost with the bricks. Meanwhile we questioned +black and white witnesses, and learned for the first tune that the +Rebels admitted a repulse at Township Landing, and that Lieutenant Jones +and ten of their number were killed,--though this I fancy to have been +an exaggeration. They also declared that the mysterious steamer Berosa +was lying at the head of the river, but was a broken-down and worthless +affair, and would never get to sea. The result has since proved this; +for the vessel subsequently ran the blockade and foundered near shore, +the crew barely escaping with their lives. I had the pleasure, as it +happened, of being the first person to forward this information +to Admiral Dupont, when it came through the pickets, many months +after,--thus concluding my report on the Berosa. + +Before the work at the yard was over the pickets reported mounted men in +the woods near by, as had previously been the report at Woodstock. +This admonished us to lose no time; and as we left the wharf, immediate +arrangements were made to have the gun crews all in readiness, and to +keep the rest of the men below, since their musketry would be of little +use now, and I did not propose to risk a life unnecessarily. The chief +obstacle to this was their own eagerness; penned down on one side, they +popped up on the other; their officers, too, were eager to see what was +going on, and were almost as hard to cork down as the men. Add to this, +that the vessel was now very crowded, and that I had to be chiefly +on the hurricane-deck with the pilots. Captain Clifton, master of the +vessel, was brave to excess, and as much excited as the men; he could no +more be kept in the little pilot-house than they below; and when we had +passed one or two bluffs, with no sign of an enemy, he grew more and +more irrepressible, and exposed himself conspicuously on the upper deck. +Perhaps we all were a little lulled by apparent safety; for myself, I +lay down for a moment on a settee in a state-room, having been on my +feet, almost without cessation, for twenty-four hours. + +Suddenly there swept down from a bluff above us, on the Georgia side, a +mingling of shout and roar and rattle as of a tornado let loose; and +as a storm of bullets came pelting against the sides of the vessel, and +through a window, there went up a shrill answering shout from our own +men. It took but an instant for me to reach the gun-deck. After all my +efforts the men had swarmed once more from below, and already, crowding +at both ends of the boat, were loading and firing with inconceivable +rapidity, shouting to each other, "Nebber gib it up!" and of course +having no steady aim, as the vessel glided and whirled in the swift +current. Meanwhile the officers in charge of the large guns had their +crews in order, and our shells began to fly over the bluffs, which, as +we now saw, should have been shelled in advance, only that we had to +economize ammunition. The other soldiers I drove below, almost by main +force, with the aid of their officers, who behaved exceedingly well, +giving the men leave to fire from the open port-holes which lined +the lower deck, almost at the water's level. In the very midst of the +_melee_ Major Strong came from the upper deck, with a face of horror, +and whispered to me, "Captain Clifton was killed at the first shot by my +side." + +If he had said that the vessel was on fire the shock would hardly have +been greater. Of course, the military commander on board a steamer is +almost as helpless as an unarmed man, so far as the risks of water go. A +seaman must command there. In the hazardous voyage of last night, I +had learned, though unjustly, to distrust every official on board the +steamboat except this excitable, brave, warm-hearted sailor; and now, +among these added dangers, to lose him! The responsibility for his life +also thrilled me; he was not among my soldiers, and yet he was killed. I +thought of his wife and children, of whom he had spoken; but one learns +to think rapidly in war, and, cautioning the Major to silence, I went up +to the hurricane-deck and drew in the helpless body, that it should be +safe from further desecration, and then looked to see where we were. + +We were now gliding past a safe reach of marsh, while our assailants +were riding by cross-paths to attack us at the next bluff. It was Reed's +Bluff where we were first attacked, and Scrubby Bluff, I think, was +next. They were shelled in advance, but swarmed manfully to the banks +again as we swept round one of the sharp angles of the stream beneath +their fire. My men were now pretty well imprisoned below in the hot and +crowded hold, and actually fought each other, the officers afterwards +said, for places at the open port-holes, from which to aim. Others +implored to be landed, exclaiming that they "supposed de Cunnel knew +best," but it was "mighty mean" to be shut up down below, when they +might be "fightin' de Secesh _in de clar field_." This clear field, and +no favor, was what they thenceforward sighed for. But in such difficult +navigation it would have been madness to think of landing, although one +daring Rebel actually sprang upon the large boat which we towed astern, +where he was shot down by one of our sergeants. This boat was soon after +swamped and abandoned, then taken and repaired by the Rebels at a later +date, and finally, by a piece of dramatic completeness, was seized by +a party of fugitive slaves, who escaped in it to our lines, and some of +whom enlisted in my own regiment. + +It has always been rather a mystery to me why the Rebels did not fell +a few trees across the stream at some of the many sharp angles where we +might so easily have been thus imprisoned. This, however, they did +not attempt, and with the skilful pilotage of our trusty +Corporal,--philosophic as Socrates through all the din, and occasionally +relieving his mind by taking a shot with his rifle through the high +portholes of the pilot-house,--we glided safely on. The steamer did not +ground once on the descent, and the mate in command, Mr. Smith, did his +duty very well. The plank sheathing of the pilot-house was penetrated by +few bullets, though struck by so many outside that it was visited as a +curiosity after our return; and even among the gun-crews, though they +had no protection, not a man was hurt. As we approached some wooded +bluff, usually on the Georgia side, we could see galloping along the +hillside what seemed a regiment of mounted riflemen, and could see our +shell scatter them ere we approached. Shelling did not, however, prevent +a rather fierce fusilade from our old friends of Captain dark's company +at Waterman's Bluff, near Township Landing; but even this did no serious +damage, and this was the last. + +It was of course impossible, while thus running the gauntlet, to put our +hostages ashore, and I could only explain to them that they must thank +their own friends for their inevitable detention. I was by no means +proud of their forlorn appearance, and besought Colonel Hawley to take +them off my hands; but he was sending no flags of truce at that time, +and liked their looks no better than I did. So I took them to Port +Royal, where they were afterwards sent safely across the lines. Our +men were pleased at taking them back with us, as they had already said, +regretfully, "S'pose we leave dem Secesh at Fernandina, General Saxby +won't see 'em,"--as if they were some new natural curiosity, which +indeed they were. One soldier further suggested the expediency of +keeping them permanently in camp, to be used as marks for the guns of +the relieved guard every morning. But this was rather an ebullition of +fancy than a sober proposition. + +Against these levities I must put a piece of more tragic eloquence, +which I took down by night on the steamer's deck from the thrilling +harangue of Corporal Adam Allston, one of our most gifted prophets, +whose influence over the men was unbounded. "When I heard," he said, +"de bombshell a-screamin' troo de woods like de Judgment Day, I said to +myself, 'If my head was took off to-night, dey couldn't put my soul +in de torments, perceps [except] God was my enemy!' And when de +rifle-bullets came whizzin' across de deck, I cried aloud, 'God help my +congregation! Boys, load and fire!'" + +I must pass briefly over the few remaining days of our cruise. At +Fernandina we met the Planter, which had been successful on her separate +expedition, and had destroyed extensive salt-works at Crooked River, +under charge of the energetic Captain Trowbridge, efficiently aided by +Captain Rogers. Our commodities being in part delivered at Fernandina, +our decks being full, coal nearly out, and time up, we called once more +at St. Simon's Sound, bringing away the remainder of our railroad-iron, +with some which the naval officers had previously disinterred, and then +steamed back to Beaufort. Arriving there at sunrise (February 2, 1863), +I made my way with Dr. Rogers to General Saxton's bedroom, and laid +before him the keys and shackles of the slave-prison, with my report +of the good conduct of the men,--as Dr. Rogers remarked, a message from +heaven and another from hell. + +Slight as this expedition now seems among the vast events of the war, +the future student of the newspapers of that day will find that it +occupied no little space in their columns, so intense was the interest +which then attached to the novel experiment of employing black troops. +So obvious, too, was the value, during this raid, of their local +knowledge and their enthusiasm, that it was impossible not to find in +its successes new suggestions for the war. Certainly I would not have +consented to repeat the enterprise with the bravest white troops, +leaving Corporal Sutton and his mates behind, for I should have expected +to fail. For a year after our raid the Upper St. Mary's remained +unvisited, till in 1864 the large force with which we held Florida +secured peace upon its banks; then Mrs. A. took the oath of allegiance, +the Government bought her remaining lumber, and the John Adams again +ascended with a detachment of my men under Lieutenant Parker, and +brought a portion of it to Fernandina. By a strange turn of fortune, +Corporal Sutton (now Sergeant) was at this time in jail at Hilton Head, +under sentence of court-martial for an alleged act of mutiny,--an affair +in which the general voice of our officers sustained him and condemned +his accusers, so that he soon received a full pardon, and was restored +in honor to his place in the regiment, which he has ever since held. + +Nothing can ever exaggerate the fascinations of war, whether on the +largest or smallest scale. When we settled down into camp-life again, it +seemed like a butterfly's folding its wings to re-enter the chrysalis. +None of us could listen to the crack of a gun without recalling +instantly the sharp shots that spilled down from the bluffs of the +St. Mary's, or hear a sudden trampling of horsemen by night without +recalling the sounds which startled us on the Field of the Hundred +Pines. The memory of our raid was preserved in the camp by many legends +of adventure, growing vaster and more incredible as time wore on,--and +by the morning appeals to the surgeon of some veteran invalids, who +could now cut off all reproofs and suspicions with "Doctor, I's been +a sickly pusson eber since de _expeditious_." But to me the most vivid +remembrancer was the flock of sheep which we had "lifted." The Post +Quartermaster discreetly gave us the charge of them, and they rilled a +gap in the landscape and in the larder,--which last had before presented +one unvaried round of impenetrable beef. Mr. Obabiah Oldbuck, when he +decided to adopt a pastoral life, and assumed the provisional name of +Thyrsis, never looked upon his flocks and herds with more unalloyed +contentment than I upon that fleecy family. I had been familiar, in +Kansas, with the metaphor by which the sentiments of an owner were +credited to his property, and had heard of a proslavery colt and an +antislavery cow. The fact that these sheep were but recently converted +from "Se-cesh" sentiments was their crowning charm. Methought they +frisked and fattened in the joy of their deliverance from the shadow +of Mrs. A.'s slave-jail, and gladly contemplated translation into +mutton-broth for sick or wounded soldiers. The very slaves who once, +perchance, were sold at auction with yon aged patriarch of the flock, +had now asserted their humanity, and would devour him as hospital +rations. Meanwhile our shepherd bore a sharp bayonet without a crook, +and I felt myself a peer of Ulysses and Rob Roy,--those sheep-stealers +of less elevated aims,--when I met in my daily rides these wandering +trophies of our wider wanderings. + + + +Chapter 4. Up the St. John's + + +There was not much stirring in the Department of the South early in +1863, and the St. Mary's expedition had afforded a new sensation. Of +course the few officers of colored troops, and a larger number who +wished to become such, were urgent for further experiments in the same +line; and the Florida tax-commissioners were urgent likewise. I well +remember the morning when, after some preliminary correspondence, I +steamed down from Beaufort, S. C., to Hilton Head, with General Saxton, +Judge S., and one or two others, to have an interview on the matter with +Major-General Hunter, then commanding the Department. + +Hilton Head, in those days, seemed always like some foreign military +station in the tropics. The long, low, white buildings, with piazzas +and verandas on the water-side; the general impression of heat and +lassitude, existence appearing to pulsate only with the sea-breeze; the +sandy, almost impassable streets; and the firm, level beach, on which +everybody walked who could get there: all these suggested Jamaica or the +East Indies. Then the head-quarters at the end of the beach, the Zouave +sentinels, the successive anterooms, the lounging aids, the good-natured +and easy General,--easy by habit and energetic by impulse,--all had a +certain air of Southern languor, rather picturesque, but perhaps not +altogether bracing. General Hunter received us, that day, with his usual +kindliness; there was a good deal of pleasant chat; Miles O'Reilly was +called in to read his latest verses; and then we came to the matter in +hand. + +Jacksonville, on the St. John's River, in Florida, had been +already twice taken and twice evacuated; having been occupied by +Brigadier-General Wright, in March, 1862, and by Brigadier-General +Brannan, in October of the same year. The second evacuation was by +Major-General Hunter's own order, on the avowed ground that a garrison +of five thousand was needed to hold the place, and that this force could +not be spared. The present proposition was to take and hold it with +a brigade of less than a thousand men, carrying, however, arms and +uniforms for twice that number, and a month's rations. The claim was, +that there were fewer rebel troops in the Department than formerly, +and that the St. Mary's expedition had shown the advantage possessed by +colored troops, in local knowledge, and in the confidence of the loyal +blacks. It was also urged, that it was worth while to risk something, in +the effort to hold Florida, and perhaps bring it back into the Union. + +My chief aim in the negotiation was to get the men into action, and +that of the Florida Commissioners to get them into Florida. Thus far +coinciding, we could heartily co-operate; and though General Hunter made +some reasonable objections, they were yielded more readily than I had +feared; and finally, before half our logical ammunition was exhausted, +the desired permission was given, and the thing might be considered as +done. + +We were now to leave, as we supposed forever, the camp which had thus +far been our home. Our vast amount of surplus baggage made a heavy job +in the loading, inasmuch as we had no wharf, and everything had to be +put on board by means of flat-boats. It was completed by twenty-four +hours of steady work; and after some of the usual uncomfortable delays +which wait on military expeditions, we were at last afloat. + +I had tried to keep the plan as secret as possible, and had requested +to have no definite orders, until we should be on board ship. But this +larger expedition was less within my own hands than was the St. Mary's +affair, and the great reliance for concealment was on certain counter +reports, ingeniously set afloat by some of the Florida men. These +reports rapidly swelled into the most enormous tales, and by the time +they reached the New York newspapers, the expedition was "a great +volcano about bursting, whose lava will burn, flow, and destroy," "the +sudden appearance in arms of no less than five thousand negroes," +"a liberating host," "not the phantom, but the reality, of servile +insurrection." What the undertaking actually was may be best seen in the +instructions which guided it.* + +* HEAD-QUARTERS, BEAUFORT, S. C., + +March 5, 1863. + +COLONEL,--You will please proceed with your command, the First and +Second Regiments South Carolina Volunteers, which are now embarked upon +the steamers John Adams, Boston, and Burn-side, to Fernandina, Florida. + +Relying upon your military skill and judgment. I shall give you no +special directions as to your procedure after you leave Fernandina. +I expect, however, that you will occupy Jacksonville, Florida, and +intrench yourselves there. + +The main objects of your expedition are to carry the proclamation of +freedom to the enslaved; to call all loyal men into the service of the +United States; to occupy as much of the State of Florida as possible +with the forces under your command; and to neglect no means consistent +with the usages of civilized warfare to weaken, harass, and annoy those +who are in rebellion against the Government of the United States. + +Trusting that the blessing of our Heavenly Father will rest upon your +noble enterprise, + +I am yours, sincerely, + +R. SAXTON, + +Brig.-Gen., Mil. Gov. Dept. of the South. Colonel Higginson, Comdg. +Expeditionary Corps. + + +In due time, after touching at Fernandina, we reached the difficult +bar of the St. John's, and were piloted safely over. Admiral Dupont had +furnished a courteous letter of introduction.* and we were cordially +received by Commander Duncan of the Norwich, and Lieutenant Watson, +commanding the Uncas. Like all officers on blockade duty, they were +impatient of their enforced inaction, and gladly seized the opportunity +for a different service. It was some time since they had ascended as +high as Jacksonville, for their orders were strict, one vessel's coal +was low, the other was in infirm condition, and there were rumors of +cotton-clads and torpedoes. But they gladly agreed to escort us up +the river, so soon as our own armed gunboat, the John Adams, should +arrive,--she being unaccountably delayed. + +FLAG SHIP WABASH, + +PORT ROYAL HARBOR, S. C., March 6, 1863. SIR,--I am informed by +Major-General Hunter that he is sending Colonel Higginson on an +important mission in the southerly part of his Department. + +I have not been made acquainted with the objects of this mission, but +any assistance that you can offer Colonel Higginson, which will not +interfere with your other duties, you are authorized to give. + +Respectfully your obedient servant, + +S. F. DUPONT, Rear-Adm. Comdg. S. Atl. Block. Squad. + +To the Senior Officer at the different Blockading Stations on the Coast +of Georgia and Florida. + + +We waited twenty-four hours for her, at the sultry mouth of that glassy +river, watching the great pelicans which floated lazily on its tide, or +sometimes shooting one, to admire the great pouch, into which one of +the soldiers could insert his foot, as into a boot. "He hold one quart," +said the admiring experimentalist. "Hi! boy," retorted another quickly, +"neber you bring dat quart measure in _my_ peck o' corn." The protest +came very promptly, and was certainly fair; for the strange receptacle +would have held nearly a gallon. + +We went on shore, too, and were shown a rather pathetic little garden, +which the naval officers had laid out, indulging a dream of vegetables. +They lingered over the little microscopic sprouts, pointing them out +tenderly, as if they were cradled babies. I have often noticed this +touching weakness, in gentlemen of that profession, on lonely stations. + +We wandered among the bluffs, too, in the little deserted hamlet called +"Pilot Town." The ever-shifting sand had in some cases almost buried +the small houses, and had swept around others a circular drift, at a few +yards' distance, overtopping then: eaves, and leaving each the untouched +citadel of this natural redoubt. There was also a dismantled lighthouse, +an object which always seems the most dreary symbol of the barbarism +of war, when one considers the national beneficence which reared and +kindled it. Despite the service rendered by this once brilliant light, +there were many wrecks which had been strown upon the beach, victims of +the most formidable of the Southern river-bars. As I stood with my foot +on the half-buried ribs of one of these vessels,--so distinctly traced +that one might almost fancy them human,--the old pilot, my companion, +told me the story of the wreck. The vessel had formerly been in the +Cuba trade; and her owner, an American merchant residing in Havana, +had christened her for his young daughter. I asked the name, and was +startled to recognize that of a favorite young cousin of mine, besides +the bones of whose representative I was thus strangely standing, upon +this lonely shore. + +It was well to have something to relieve the anxiety naturally felt at +the delay of the John Adams,--anxiety both for her safety and for the +success of our enterprise, The Rebels had repeatedly threatened to +burn the whole of Jacksonville, in case of another attack, as they had +previously burned its mills and its great hotel. It seemed as if the +news of our arrival must surely have travelled thirty miles by this +time. All day we watched every smoke that rose among the wooded hills, +and consulted the compass and the map, to see if that sign announced the +doom of our expected home. At the very last moment of the tide, just +in time to cross the bar that day, the missing vessel arrived; all +anxieties vanished; I transferred my quarters on board, and at two the +next morning we steamed up the river. + +Again there was the dreamy delight of ascending an unknown stream, +beneath a sinking moon, into a region where peril made fascination. +Since the time of the first explorers, I suppose that those Southern +waters have known no sensations so dreamy and so bewitching as those +which this war has brought forth. I recall, in this case, the faintest +sensations of our voyage, as Ponce de Leon may have recalled those +of his wandering search, in the same soft zone, for the secret of the +mystic fountain. I remember how, during that night, I looked for the +first time through a powerful night-glass. It had always seemed a thing +wholly inconceivable, that a mere lens could change darkness into light; +and as I turned the instrument on the preceding gunboat, and actually +discerned the man at the wheel and the others standing about him,--all +relapsing into vague gloom again at the withdrawal of the glass,--it +gave a feeling of childish delight. Yet it seemed only in keeping +with the whole enchantment of the scene; and had I been some Aladdin, +convoyed by genii or giants, I could hardly have felt more wholly a +denizen of some world of romance. + +But the river was of difficult navigation; and we began to feel +sometimes, beneath the keel, that ominous, sliding, grating, treacherous +arrest of motion which makes the heart shudder, as the vessel does. +There was some solicitude about torpedoes, also,--a peril which became +a formidable thing, one year later, in the very channel where we found +none. Soon one of our consorts grounded, then another, every vessel +taking its turn, I believe, and then in turn getting off, until the +Norwich lay hopelessly stranded, for that tide at least, a few miles +below Jacksonville, and out of sight of the city, so that she could not +even add to our dignity by her visible presence from afar. + +This was rather a serious matter, as the Norwich was our main naval +reliance, the Uncas being a small steamer of less than two hundred tons, +and in such poor condition that Commander Duncan, on finding himself +aground, at first quite declined to trust his consort any farther alone. +But, having got thus far, it was plainly my duty to risk the remainder +with or without naval assistance; and this being so, the courageous +officer did not long object, but allowed his dashing subordinate to +steam up with us to the city. This left us one naval and one army +gunboat; and, fortunately, the Burn-side, being a black propeller, +always passed for an armed vessel among the Rebels, and we rather +encouraged that pleasing illusion. + +We had aimed to reach Jacksonville at daybreak; but these mishaps +delayed us, and we had several hours of fresh, early sunshine, lighting +up the green shores of that lovely river, wooded to the water's edge, +with sometimes an emerald meadow, opening a vista to some picturesque +house,--all utterly unlike anything we had yet seen in the South, and +suggesting rather the Penobscot or Kennebec. Here and there we glided +by the ruins of some saw-mill burned by the Rebels on General Wright's +approach; but nothing else spoke of war, except, perhaps, the silence. +It was a delicious day, and a scene of fascination. Our Florida men were +wild with delight; and when we rounded the point below the city, and saw +from afar its long streets, its brick warehouses, its white cottages, +and its overshadowing trees,--all peaceful and undisturbed by +flames,--it seemed, in the men's favorite phrase, "too much good," and +all discipline was merged, for the moment, in a buzz of ecstasy. + +The city was still there for us, at any rate; though none knew what +perils might be concealed behind those quiet buildings. Yet there were +children playing on the wharves; careless men, here and there, lounged +down to look at us, hands in pockets; a few women came to their doors, +and gazed listlessly upon us, shading their eyes with their hands. We +drew momently nearer, in silence and with breathless attention. The +gunners were at their posts, and the men in line. It was eight o'clock. +We were now directly opposite the town: yet no sign of danger was seen; +not a rifle-shot was heard; not a shell rose hissing in the air. +The Uncas rounded to, and dropped anchor in the stream; by previous +agreement, I steamed to an upper pier of the town, Colonel Montgomery +to a lower one; the little boat-howitzers were run out upon the wharves, +and presently to the angles of the chief streets; and the pretty town +was our own without a shot. In spite of our detention, the surprise had +been complete, and not a soul in Jacksonville had dreamed of our coming. + +The day passed quickly, in eager preparations for defence; the people +could or would give us no definite information about the Rebel camp, +which was, however, known to be near, and our force did not permit our +going out to surprise it. The night following was the most anxious I +ever spent. We were all tired out; the companies were under arms, in +various parts of the town, to be ready for an attack at any moment. My +temporary quarters were beneath the loveliest grove of linden-trees, +and as I reclined, half-dozing, the mocking-birds sang all night like +nightingales,--their notes seeming to trickle down through the sweet air +from amid the blossoming boughs. Day brought relief and the sense of due +possession, and we could see what we had won. + +Jacksonville was now a United States post again: the only post on the +main-land in the Department of the South. Before the war it had three or +four thousand inhabitants, and a rapidly growing lumber-trade, for which +abundant facilities were evidently provided. The wharves were capacious, +and the blocks of brick warehouses along the lower street were utterly +unlike anything we had yet seen in that region, as were the neatness and +thrift everywhere visible. It had been built up by Northern enterprise, +and much of the property was owned by loyal men. It had been a great +resort for invalids, though the Rebels had burned the large hotel +which once accommodated them. Mills had also been burned; but the +dwelling-houses were almost all in good condition. The quarters for the +men were admirable; and I took official possession of the handsome brick +house of Colonel Sunder-land, the established head-quarters through +every occupation, whose accommodating flag-staff had literally and +repeatedly changed its colors. The seceded Colonel, reputed author of +the State ordinance of Secession, was a New-Yorker by birth, and we +found his law-card, issued when in practice in Easton, Washington +County, New York. He certainly had good taste in planning the inside of +a house, though time had impaired its condition. There was a neat office +with ample bookcases and no books, a billiard-table with no balls, +gas-fixtures without gas, and a bathing-room without water. There was +a separate building for servants' quarters, and a kitchen with every +convenience, even to a few jars of lingering pickles. On the whole, +there was an air of substance and comfort about the town, quite alien +from the picturesque decadence of Beaufort. + +The town rose gradually from the river, and was bounded on the rear by a +long, sluggish creek, beyond which lay a stretch of woods, affording an +excellent covert for the enemy, but without great facilities for attack, +as there were but two or three fords and bridges. This brook could +easily be held against a small force, but could at any time and at +almost any point be readily crossed by a large one. North of the town +the land rose a little, between the river and the sources of the brook, +and then sank to a plain, which had been partially cleared by a previous +garrison. For so small a force as ours, however, this clearing must be +extended nearer to the town; otherwise our lines would be too long for +our numbers. + +This deficiency in numbers at once became a source of serious anxiety. +While planning the expedition, it had seemed so important to get the men +a foothold in Florida that I was willing to risk everything for it. +But this important post once in our possession, it began to show +some analogies to the proverbial elephant in the lottery. To hold it +permanently with nine hundred men was not, perhaps, impossible, with the +aid of a gunboat (I had left many of my own regiment sick and on duty +in Beaufort, and Colonel Montgomery had as yet less than one hundred and +fifty); but to hold it, and also to make forays up the river, certainly +required a larger number. We came in part to recruit, but had found +scarcely an able-bodied negro in the city; all had been removed farther +up, and we must certainly contrive to follow them. I was very unwilling +to have, as yet, any white troops under my command, with the blacks. +Finally, however, being informed by Judge S. of a conversation with +Colonel Hawley, commanding at Fernandina, in which the latter had +offered to send four companies and a light battery to swell our +force,--in view of the aid given to his position by this more advanced +post, I decided to authorize the energetic Judge to go back to +Fernandina and renew the negotiation, as the John Adams must go thither +at any rate for coal. + +Meanwhile all definite display of our force was avoided; dress-parades +were omitted; the companies were so distributed as to tell for the +utmost; and judicious use was made, here and there, of empty tents. The +gunboats and transports moved impressively up and down the river, +from time to time. The disposition of pickets was varied each night to +perplex the enemy, and some advantage taken of his distrust, which might +be assumed as equalling our own. The citizens were duly impressed by our +supply of ammunition, which was really enormous, and all these things +soon took effect. A loyal woman, who came into town, said that the Rebel +scouts, stopping at her house, reported that there were "sixteen hundred +negroes all over the woods, and the town full of them besides." "It was +of no use to go in. General Finnegan had driven them into a bad place +once, and should not do it again." "They had lost their captain and +their best surgeon in the first skirmish, and if the Savannah people +wanted the negroes driven away, they might come and do it themselves." +Unfortunately, we knew that they could easily come from Savannah at any +time, as there was railroad communication nearly all the way; and +every time we heard the steam-whistle, the men were convinced of their +arrival. Thus we never could approach to any certainty as to their +numbers, while they could observe, from the bluffs, every steamboat that +ascended the river. + +To render our weak force still more available, we barricaded the +approaches to the chief streets by constructing barriers or felling +trees. It went to my heart to sacrifice, for this purpose, several of my +beautiful lindens; but it was no time for aesthetics. As the giants lay +on the ground, still scenting the air with their abundant bloom, I used +to rein up my horse and watch the children playing hide-and-seek amongst +their branches, or some quiet cow grazing at the foliage. Nothing +impresses the mind in war like some occasional object or association +that belongs apparently to peace alone. + +Among all these solicitudes, it was a great thing that one particular +anxiety vanished in a day. On the former expedition the men were upon +trial as to their courage; now they were to endure another test, as to +their demeanor as victors. Here were five hundred citizens, nearly all +white, at the mercy of their former slaves. To some of these whites it +was the last crowning humiliation, and they were, or professed to be, +in perpetual fear. On the other hand, the most intelligent and lady-like +woman I saw, the wife of a Rebel captain, rather surprised me by saying +that it seemed pleasanter to have these men stationed there, whom they +had known all their lives, and who had generally borne a good character, +than to be in the power of entire strangers. Certainly the men deserved +the confidence, for there was scarcely an exception to their good +behavior. I think they thoroughly felt that their honor and dignity were +concerned in the matter, and took too much pride in their character +as soldiers,--to say nothing of higher motives,--to tarnish it by any +misdeeds. They watched their officers vigilantly and even suspiciously, +to detect any disposition towards compromise; and so long as we pursued +a just course it was evident that they could be relied on. Yet the +spot was pointed out to me where two of our leading men had seen their +brothers hanged by Lynch law; many of them had private wrongs to avenge; +and they all had utter disbelief in all pretended loyalty, especially on +the part of the women. + +One citizen alone was brought to me in a sort of escort of honor by +Corporal Prince Lambkin,--one of the color-guard, and one of our ablest +men,--the same who had once made a speech in camp, reminding his hearers +that they had lived under the American flag for eighteen hundred and +sixty-two years, and ought to live and die under it. Corporal Lambkin +now introduced his man, a German, with the highest compliment in his +power, "He hab true colored-man heart." Surrounded by mean, cajoling, +insinuating white men and women who were all that and worse, I was quite +ready to appreciate the quality he thus proclaimed. A colored-man heart, +in the Rebel States, is a fair synonyme for a loyal heart, and it is +about the only such synonyme. In this case, I found afterwards that the +man in question, a small grocer, had been an object of suspicion to the +whites from his readiness to lend money to the negroes, or sell to +them on credit; in which, perhaps, there may have been some mixture of +self-interest with benevolence. + +I resort to a note-book of that period, well thumbed and pocket-worn, +which sometimes received a fragment of the day's experience. + + +"March 16, 1863. + +"Of course, droll things are constantly occurring. Every white +man, woman, and child is flattering, seductive, and professes Union +sentiment; every black ditto believes that every white ditto is a +scoundrel, and ought to be shot, but for good order and military +discipline. The Provost Marshal and I steer between them as blandly as +we can. Such scenes as succeed each other! Rush of indignant Africans. +A white man, in woman's clothes, has been seen to enter a certain +house,--undoubtedly a spy. Further evidence discloses the Roman +Catholic priest, a peaceful little Frenchman, in his professional +apparel.--Anxious female enters. Some sentinel has shot her cow by +mistake for a Rebel. The United States cannot think of paying the +desired thirty dollars. Let her go to the Post-Quartermaster and select +a cow from his herd. If there is none to suit her (and, indeed, not one +of them gave a drop of milk,--neither did hers), let her wait till +the next lot comes in,--that is all.--Yesterday's operations gave the +following total yield: Thirty 'contrabands,' eighteen horses, eleven +cattle, ten saddles and bridles, and one new army-wagon. At this rate we +shall soon be self-supporting _cavalry_. + +"Where complaints are made of the soldiers, it almost always turns out +that the women have insulted them most grossly, swearing at them, and +the like. One unpleasant old Dutch woman came in, bursting with wrath, +and told the whole narrative of her blameless life, diversified with +sobs:-- + +"'Last January I ran off two of my black people from St. Mary's to +Fernandina,' (sob,)--'then I moved down there myself, and at Lake City I +lost six women and a boy,' (sob,)--'then I stopped at Baldwin for one +of the wenches to be confined,' (sob,)--'then I brought them all here +to live in a Christian country' (sob, sob). "Then the blockheads' +[blockades, that is, gunboats] 'came, and they all ran off with the +blockheads,' (sob, sob, sob,) 'and left me, an old lady of forty-six, +obliged to work for a living.' (Chaos of sobs, without cessation.) + +"But when I found what the old sinner had said to the soldiers I rather +wondered at their self-control in not throttling her." + +Meanwhile skirmishing went on daily in the outskirts of the town. +There was a fight on the very first day, when our men killed, as before +hinted, a Rebel surgeon, which was oddly metamorphosed in the Southern +newspapers into their killing one of ours, which certainly never +happened. Every day, after this, they appeared in small mounted squads +in the neighborhood, and exchanged shots with our pickets, to which the +gunboats would contribute their louder share, their aim being rather +embarrassed by the woods and hills. We made reconnoissances, too, to +learn the country in different directions, and were apt to be fired upon +during these. Along the farther side of what we called the "Debatable +Land" there was a line of cottages, hardly superior to negro huts, +and almost all empty, where the Rebel pickets resorted, and from whose +windows they fired. By degrees all these nests were broken up and +destroyed, though it cost some trouble to do it, and the hottest +skirmishing usually took place around them. + +Among these little affairs was one which we called "Company K's +Skirmish," because it brought out the fact that this company, which was +composed entirely of South Carolina men, and had never shone in drill +or discipline, stood near the head of the regiment for coolness and +courage,--the defect of discipline showing itself only in their extreme +unwillingness to halt when once let loose. It was at this time that the +small comedy of the Goose occurred,--an anecdote which Wendell Phillips +has since made his own. + +One of the advancing line of skirmishers, usually an active fellow +enough, was observed to move clumsily and irregularly. It soon appeared +that he had encountered a fine specimen of the domestic goose, which had +surrendered at discretion. Not wishing to lose it, he could yet find no +way to hold it but between his legs; and so he went on, loading, firing, +advancing, halting, always with the goose writhing and struggling and +hissing in this natural pair of stocks. Both happily came off unwounded, +and retired in good order at the signal, or some time after it; but I +have hardly a cooler thing to put on record. + +Meanwhile, another fellow left the field less exultingly; for, after a +thoroughly courageous share in the skirmish, he came blubbering to his +captain, and said,--"Cappen, make Caesar gib me my cane." It seemed +that, during some interval of the fighting, he had helped himself to an +armful of Rebel sugar-cane, such as they all delighted in chewing. The +Roman hero, during another pause, had confiscated the treasure; whence +these tears of the returning warrior. I never could accustom myself to +these extraordinary interminglings of manly and childish attributes. + +Our most untiring scout during this period was the chaplain of my +regiment,--the most restless and daring spirit we had, and now exulting +in full liberty of action. He it was who was daily permitted to +stray singly where no other officer would have been allowed to go, so +irresistible was his appeal, "You know I am only a chaplain." Methinks I +see our regimental saint, with pistols in belt and a Ballard rifle slung +on shoulder, putting spurs to his steed, and cantering away down some +questionable wood-path, or returning with some tale of Rebel haunt +discovered, or store of foraging. He would track an enemy like an +Indian, or exhort him, when apprehended, like an early Christian. Some +of our devout soldiers shook their heads sometimes over the chaplain's +little eccentricities. "Woffor Mr. Chapman made a preacher for?" said +one of them, as usual transforming his title into a patronymic. "He's +_de fightingest more Yankee_ I eber see in all my days." + +And the criticism was very natural, though they could not deny that, +when the hour for Sunday service came, Mr. F. commanded the respect and +attention of all. That hour never came, however, on our first Sunday +in Jacksonville; we were too busy and the men too scattered; so the +chaplain made his accustomed foray beyond the lines instead. + +"Is it not Sunday?" slyly asked an unregenerate lieutenant. "Nay," quoth +his Reverence, waxing fervid; "it is the Day of Judgment" + +This reminds me of a raid up the river, conducted by one of our senior +captains, an enthusiast whose gray beard and prophetic manner always +took me back to the Fifth-Monarchy men. He was most successful that day, +bringing back horses, cattle, provisions, and prisoners; and one of the +latter complained bitterly to me of being held, stating that Captain R. +had promised him speedy liberty. But that doughty official spurned +the imputation of such weak blandishments, in this day of triumphant +retribution. + +"Promise him!" said he, "I promised him nothing but the Day of Judgment +and Periods of Damnation!" + +Often since have I rolled beneath my tongue this savory and solemn +sentence, and I do not believe that since the days of the Long +Parliament there has been a more resounding anathema. + +In Colonel Montgomery's hands these up-river raids reached the dignity +of a fine art. His conceptions of foraging were rather more Western and +liberal than mine, and on these excursions he fully indemnified himself +for any undue abstinence demanded of him when in camp. I remember being +on the wharf, with some naval officers, when he came down from his first +trip. The steamer seemed an animated hen-coop. Live poultry hung from +the foremast shrouds, dead ones from the mainmast, geese hissed from +the binnacle, a pig paced the quarter-deck, and a duck's wings were +seen fluttering from a line which was wont to sustain duck trousers. The +naval heroes, mindful of their own short rations, and taking high views +of one's duties in a conquered country, looked at me reproachfully, +as who should say, "Shall these things be?" In a moment or two the +returning foragers had landed. + +"Captain ----," said Montgomery, courteously, "would you allow me to +send a remarkably fine turkey for your use on board ship?" + +"Lieutenant ----," said Major Corwin, "may I ask your acceptance of a +pair of ducks for your mess?" + +Never did I behold more cordial relations between army and navy than +sprang into existence at those sentences. So true it is, as Charles +Lamb says, that a single present of game may diffuse kindly sentiments +through a whole community. These little trips were called "rest"; there +was no other rest during those ten days. An immense amount of picket and +fatigue duty had to be done. Two redoubts were to be built to command +the Northern Valley; all the intervening grove, which now afforded +lurking-ground for a daring enemy, must be cleared away; and a few +houses must be reluctantly razed for the same purpose. The fort on the +left was named Fort Higginson, and that built by my own regiment, in +return, Fort Montgomery. The former was necessarily a hasty work, and +is now, I believe, in ruins; the latter was far more elaborately +constructed, on lines well traced by the Fourth New Hampshire during the +previous occupation. It did great credit to Captain Trowbridge, of my +regiment (formerly of the New York Volunteer Engineers), who had charge +of its construction. + +How like a dream seems now that period of daily skirmishes and nightly +watchfulness! The fatigue was so constant that the days hurried by. +I felt the need of some occasional change of ideas, and having just +received from the North Mr. Brook's beautiful translation of Jean Paul's +"Titan," I used to retire to my bedroom for some ten minutes every +afternoon, and read a chapter or two. It was more refreshing than a nap, +and will always be to me one of the most fascinating books in the world, +with this added association. After all, what concerned me was not so +much the fear of an attempt to drive us out and retake the city,--for +that would be against the whole policy of the Rebels in that region,--as +of an effort to fulfil their threats and burn it, by some nocturnal +dash. The most valuable buildings belonged to Union men, and the upper +part of the town, built chiefly of resinous pine, was combustible to +the last degree. In case of fire, if the wind blew towards the river, +we might lose steamers and all. I remember regulating my degree of +disrobing by the direction of the wind; if it blew from the river, it +was safe to make one's self quite comfortable; if otherwise, it was best +to conform to Suwarrow's idea of luxury, and take off one spur. + +So passed our busy life for ten days. There were no tidings of +reinforcements, and I hardly knew whether I wished for them,--or rather, +I desired them as a choice of evils; for our men were giving out from +overwork, and the recruiting excursions, for which we had mainly come, +were hardly possible. At the utmost, I had asked for the addition +of four companies and a light battery. Judge of my surprise when two +infantry regiments successively arrived! I must resort to a scrap from +the diary. Perhaps diaries are apt to be thought tedious; but I would +rather read a page of one, whatever the events described, than any more +deliberate narrative,--it gives glimpses so much more real and vivid. + + +"HEAD-QUARTERS, JACKSONVILLE, + +"March 20, 1863, Midnight. + +"For the last twenty-four hours we have been sending women and children +out of town, in answer to a demand by flag of truce, with a threat of +bombardment. [N. B. I advised them not to go, and the majority declined +doing so.] It was designed, no doubt, to intimidate; and in our +ignorance of the force actually outside, we have had to recognize the +possibility of danger, and work hard at our defences. At any time, by +going into the outskirts, we can have a skirmish, which is nothing but +fun; but when night closes in over a small and weary garrison, there +sometimes steals into my mind, like a chill, that most sickening of all +sensations, the anxiety of a commander. This was the night generally set +for an attack, if any, though I am pretty well satisfied that they have +not strength to dare it, and the worst they could probably do is to burn +the town. But to-night, instead of enemies, appear friends,--our devoted +civic ally, Judge S., and a whole Connecticut regiment, the Sixth, under +Major Meeker; and though the latter are aground, twelve miles below, yet +they enable one to breathe more freely. I only wish they were black; but +now I have to show, not only that blacks can fight, but that they and +white soldiers can act in harmony together." + +That evening the enemy came up for a reconnoissance, in the deepest +darkness, and there were alarms all night. The next day the Sixth +Connecticut got afloat, and came up the river; and two days after, to +my continued amazement, arrived a part of the Eighth Maine, under +Lieutenant-Colonel Twichell. This increased my command to four +regiments, or parts of regiments, half white and half black. Skirmishing +had almost ceased,--our defences being tolerably complete, and looking +from without much more effective than they really were. We were safe +from any attack by a small force, and hoped that the enemy could +not spare a large one from Charleston or Savannah. All looked bright +without, and gave leisure for some small anxieties within. + +It was the first time in the war (so far as I know) that white and black +soldiers had served together on regular duty. Jealousy was still felt +towards even the officers of colored regiments, and any difficult +contingency would be apt to bring it out. The white soldiers, just from +ship-board, felt a natural desire to stray about the town; and no attack +from an enemy would be so disastrous as the slightest collision between +them and the black provost-guard. I shudder, even now, to think of +the train of consequences, bearing on the whole course of subsequent +national events, which one such mishap might then have produced. It is +almost impossible for us now to remember in what a delicate balance +then hung the whole question of negro enlistments, and consequently +of Slavery. Fortunately for my own serenity, I had great faith in the +intrinsic power of military discipline, and also knew that a common +service would soon produce mutual respect among good soldiers; and so +it proved. But the first twelve hours of this mixed command were to me a +more anxious period than any outward alarms had created. + +Let us resort to the note-book again. + +"JACKSONVILLE, March 22, 1863. + +"It is Sunday; the bell is ringing for church, and Rev. Mr. F., +from Beaufort, is to preach. This afternoon our good quartermaster +establishes a Sunday-school for our little colony of 'contrabands,' now +numbering seventy. + +"Sunday Afternoon. + +"The bewildering report is confirmed; and in addition to the Sixth +Connecticut, which came yesterday, appears part of the Eighth Maine. The +remainder, with its colonel, will be here to-morrow, and, report says, +Major-General Hunter. Now my hope is that we may go to some point higher +up the river, which we can hold for ourselves. There are two other +points [Magnolia and Pilatka], which, in themselves, are as favorable as +this, and, for getting recruits, better. So I shall hope to be allowed +to go. To take posts, and then let white troops garrison them,--that is +my programme. + +"What makes the thing more puzzling is, that the Eighth Maine has only +brought ten days' rations, so that they evidently are not to stay here; +and yet where they go, or why they come, is a puzzle. Meanwhile we can +sleep sound o' nights; and if the black and white babies do not quarrel +and pull hair, we shall do very well." + +Colonel Rust, on arriving, said frankly that he knew nothing of +the plans prevailing in the Department, but that General Hunter was +certainly coming soon to act for himself; that it had been reported at +the North, and even at Port Royal, that we had all been captured and +shot (and, indeed, I had afterwards the pleasure of reading my own +obituary in a Northern Democratic journal), and that we certainly needed +reinforcements; that he himself had been sent with orders to carry +out, so far as possible, the original plans of the expedition; that +he regarded himself as only a visitor, and should remain chiefly on +shipboard,--which he did. He would relieve the black provost-guard by +a white one, if I approved,--which I certainly did. But he said that +he felt bound to give the chief opportunities of action to the colored +troops,--which I also approved, and which he carried out, not quite to +the satisfaction of his own eager and daring officers. + +I recall one of these enterprises, out of which we extracted a good deal +of amusement; it was baptized the Battle of the Clothes-Lines. A white +company was out scouting in the woods behind the town, with one of my +best Florida men for a guide; and the captain sent back a message that +he had discovered a Rebel camp with twenty-two tents, beyond a creek, +about four miles away; the officers and men had been distinctly seen, +and it would be quite possible to capture it. Colonel Rust at once +sent me out with two hundred men to do the work, recalling the original +scouts, and disregarding the appeals of his own eager officers. We +marched through the open pine woods, on a delightful afternoon, and met +the returning party. Poor fellows! I never shall forget the longing eyes +they cast on us, as we marched forth to the field of glory, from which +they were debarred. We went three or four miles out, sometimes halting +to send forward a scout, while I made all the men lie down in the long, +thin grass and beside the fallen trees, till one could not imagine that +there was a person there. I remember how picturesque the effect was, +when, at the signal, all rose again, like Roderick Dhu's men, and the +green wood appeared suddenly populous with armed life. At a certain +point forces were divided, and a detachment was sent round the head of +the creek, to flank the unsuspecting enemy; while we of the main body, +stealing with caution nearer and nearer, through ever denser woods, +swooped down at last in triumph upon a solitary farmhouse,--where the +family-washing had been hung out to dry! This was the "Rebel camp"! + +It is due to Sergeant Greene, my invaluable guide, to say that he had +from the beginning discouraged any high hopes of a crossing of bayonets. +He had early explained that it was not he who claimed to have seen the +tents and the Rebel soldiers, but one of the officers,--and had pointed +out that our undisturbed approach was hardly reconcilable with the +existence of a hostile camp so near. This impression had also pressed +more and more upon my own mind, but it was our business to put the thing +beyond a doubt. Probably the place may have been occasionally used for +a picket-station, and we found fresh horse-tracks in the vicinity, and +there was a quantity of iron bridle-bits in the house, of which no clear +explanation could be given; so that the armed men may not have been +wholly imaginary. But camp there was none. After enjoying to the utmost +the fun of the thing, therefore, we borrowed the only horse on the +premises, hung all the bits over his neck, and as I rode him back to +camp, they clanked like broken chains. We were joined on the way by our +dear and devoted surgeon, whom I had left behind as an invalid, but who +had mounted his horse and ridden out alone to attend to our wounded, +his green sash looking quite in harmony with the early spring verdure +of those lovely woods. So came we back in triumph, enjoying the joke all +the more because some one else was responsible. We mystified the little +community at first, but soon let out the secret, and witticisms abounded +for a day or two, the mildest of which was the assertion that the author +of the alarm must have been "three sheets in the wind." + +Another expedition was of more exciting character. For several days +before the arrival of Colonel Rust a reconnaissance had been planned in +the direction of the enemy's camp, and he finally consented to its being +carried out. By the energy of Major Corwin, of the Second South Carolina +Volunteers, aided by Mr. Holden, then a gunner on the Paul Jones, and +afterwards made captain of the same regiment, one of the ten-pound +Parrott guns had been mounted on a hand-car, for use on the railway. +This it was now proposed to bring into service. I took a large detail of +men from the two white regiments and from my own, and had instructions +to march as far as the four-mile station on the railway, if possible, +examine the country, and ascertain if the Rebel camp had been removed, +as was reported, beyond that distance. I was forbidden going any farther +from camp, or attacking the Rebel camp, as my force comprised half our +garrison, and should the town meanwhile be attacked from some other +direction, it would be in great danger. + +I never shall forget the delight of that march through the open pine +barren, with occasional patches of uncertain swamp. The Eighth Maine, +under Lieutenant-Colonel Twichell, was on the right, the Sixth +Connecticut, under Major Meeker, on the left, and my own men, under +Major Strong, in the centre, having in charge the cannon, to which they +had been trained. Mr. Heron, from the John Adams, acted as gunner. +The mounted Rebel pickets retired before us through the woods, keeping +usually beyond range of the skirmishers, who in a long line--white, +black, white--were deployed transversely. For the first time I saw the +two colors fairly alternate on the military chessboard; it had been the +object of much labor and many dreams, and I liked the pattern at last. +Nothing was said about the novel fact by anybody,--it all seemed to come +as matter-of-course; there appeared to be no mutual distrust among the +men, and as for the officers, doubtless "each crow thought its own young +the whitest,"--I certainly did, although doing full justice to the eager +courage of the Northern portion of my command. Especially I watched with +pleasure the fresh delight of the Maine men, who had not, like the rest, +been previously in action, and who strode rapidly on with their long +legs, irresistibly recalling, as their gaunt, athletic frames and +sunburnt faces appeared here and there among the pines, the lumber +regions of their native State, with which I was not unfamiliar. + +We passed through a former camp of the Rebels, from which everything +had been lately removed; but when the utmost permitted limits of our +reconnoissance were reached, there were still no signs of any other +camp, and the Rebel cavalry still kept provokingly before us. Their +evident object was to lure us on to their own stronghold, and had we +fallen into the trap, it would perhaps have resembled, on a smaller +scale, the Olustee of the following year. With a good deal of +reluctance, however, I caused the recall to be sounded, and, after a +slight halt, we began to retrace our steps. + +Straining our eyes to look along the reach of level railway which +stretched away through the pine barren, we began to see certain ominous +puffs of smoke, which might indeed proceed from some fire in the woods, +but were at once set down by the men as coming from the mysterious +locomotive battery which the Rebels were said to have constructed. +Gradually the smoke grew denser, and appeared to be moving up along +the track, keeping pace with our motion, and about two miles distant. +I watched it steadily through a field-glass from our own slowly moving +battery: it seemed to move when we moved and to halt when we halted. +Sometimes in the dun smoke I caught a glimpse of something blacker, +raised high in the air like the threatening head of some great gliding +serpent. Suddenly there came a sharp puff of lighter smoke that seemed +like a forked tongue, and then a hollow report, and we could see a great +black projectile hurled into the air, and falling a quarter of a mile +away from us, in the woods. I did not at once learn that this first shot +killed two of the Maine men, and wounded two more. This was fired wide, +but the numerous shots which followed were admirably aimed, and seldom +failed to fall or explode close to our own smaller battery. + +It was the first time that the men had been seriously exposed to +artillery fire,--a danger more exciting to the ignorant mind than +any other, as this very war has shown.* So I watched them anxiously. +Fortunately there were deep trenches on each side the railway, with many +stout, projecting roots, forming very tolerable bomb-proofs for those +who happened to be near them. The enemy's gun was a sixty-four-pound +Blakely, as we afterward found, whose enormous projectile moved +very slowly and gave ample time to cover,--insomuch, that, while the +fragments of shell fell all around and amongst us, not a man was hurt. +This soon gave the men the most buoyant confidence, and they shouted +with childish delight over every explosion. + +*Take this for example: "The effect was electrical. The Rebels were +the best men in Ford's command, being Lieutenant-Colonel Showalter's +Californians, and they are brave men. They had dismounted and sent their +horses to the rear, and were undoubtedly determined upon a desperate +fight, and their superior numbers made them confident of success. But +they never fought with artillery, and a cannon has more terror for them +than ten thousand rifles and all the wild Camanches on the plains +of Texas. At first glimpse of the shining brass monsters there was a +visible wavering in the determined front of the enemy, and as the shells +came screaming over their heads the scare was complete. They broke +ranks, fled for their horses, scrambled on the first that came to hand, +and skedaddled in the direction of Brownsville."_New York Evening Post_, +September 25, 1864. + +The moment a shell had burst or fallen unburst, our little gun was +invariably fired in return, and that with some precision, so far as we +could judge, its range also being nearly as great. For some reason they +showed no disposition to overtake us, in which attempt their locomotive +would have given them an immense advantage over our heavy hand-car, and +their cavalry force over our infantry. Nevertheless, I rather hoped that +they would attempt it, for then an effort might have been made to cut +them off in the rear by taking up some rails. As it was, this was out +of the question, though they moved slowly, as we moved, keeping always +about two miles away. When they finally ceased firing we took up +the rails beyond us before withdrawing, and thus kept the enemy from +approaching so near the city again. But I shall never forget that +Dantean monster, rearing its black head amid the distant smoke, nor the +solicitude with which I watched for the puff which meant danger, and +looked round to see if my chickens were all under cover. The greatest +peril, after all, was from the possible dismounting of our gun, in which +case we should have been very apt to lose it, if the enemy had showed +any dash. There may be other such tilts of railway artillery on record +during the war; but if so, I have not happened to read of them, and so +have dwelt the longer on this. + +This was doubtless the same locomotive battery which had previously +fired more than once upon the town,--running up within two miles +and then withdrawing, while it was deemed inexpedient to destroy the +railroad, on our part, lest it might be needed by ourselves in turn. One +night, too, the Rebel threat had been fulfilled, and they had shelled +the town with the same battery. They had the range well, and every +shot fell near the post headquarters. It was exciting to see the great +Blakely shell, showing a light as it rose, and moving slowly towards us +like a comet, then exploding and scattering its formidable fragments. +Yet, strange to say, no serious harm was done to life or limb, and the +most formidable casualty was that of a citizen who complained that a +shell had passed through the wall of his bedroom, and carried off his +mosquito curtain in its transit. + +Little knew we how soon these small entertainments would be over. +Colonel Montgomery had gone up the river with his two companies, perhaps +to remain permanently; and I was soon to follow. On Friday, March 27th, +I wrote home: "The Burnside has gone to Beaufort for rations, and the +John Adams to Fernandina for coal; we expect both back by Sunday, and on +Monday I hope to get the regiment off to a point farther up,--Magnolia, +thirty-five miles, or Pilatka, seventy-five,--either of which would be +a good post for us. General Hunter is expected every day, and it is +strange he has not come." The very next day came an official order +recalling the whole expedition, and for the third time evacuating +Jacksonville. + +A council of military and naval officers was at once called (though +there was but one thing to be done), and the latter were even more +disappointed and amazed than the former. This was especially the case +with the senior naval officer, Captain Steedman, a South-Carolinian by +birth, but who had proved himself as patriotic as he was courteous and +able, and whose presence and advice had been of the greatest value +to me. He and all of us felt keenly the wrongfulness of breaking the +pledges which we had been authorized to make to these people, and of +leaving them to the mercy of the Rebels once more. Most of the people +themselves took the same view, and eagerly begged to accompany us on our +departure. They were allowed to bring their clothing and furniture also, +and at once developed that insane mania for aged and valueless trumpery +which always seizes upon the human race, I believe, in moments of +danger. With the greatest difficulty we selected between the essential +and the non-essential, and our few transports were at length loaded to +the very water's edge on the morning of March 29th,--Colonel Montgomery +having by this time returned from up-river, with sixteen prisoners, and +the fruits of foraging in plenty. + +And upon that last morning occurred an act on the part of some of the +garrison most deeply to be regretted, and not to be excused by the +natural indignation at their recall,--an act which, through the +unfortunate eloquence of one newspaper correspondent, rang through the +nation,--the attempt to burn the town. I fortunately need not dwell much +upon it, as I was not at the time in command of the post,--as the white +soldiers frankly took upon themselves the whole responsibility,--and +as all the fires were made in the wooden part of the city, which was +occupied by them, while none were made in the brick part, where the +colored soldiers were quartered. It was fortunate for our reputation +that the newspaper accounts generally agreed in exculpating us from all +share in the matter;* and the single exception, which one correspondent +asserted, I could never verify, and do not believe to have existed. +It was stated by Colonel Rust, in his official report, that some +twenty-five buildings in all were burned, and I doubt if the actual +number was greater; but this was probably owing in part to a change of +wind, and did not diminish the discredit of the transaction. It made +our sorrow at departure no less, though it infinitely enhanced the +impressiveness of the scene. + + *"The colored regiments had nothing at all to do with it; + they behaved with propriety throughout" _Boston Journal_ + Correspondence. ("Carleton.") + +"The negro troops took no part whatever in the perpetration of this +Vandalism."_New York Tribune_ Correspondence. ("N. P.") + +"We know not whether we are most rejoiced or saddened to observe, by the +general concurrence of accounts, that the negro soldiers had nothing to +do with the barbarous act" _Boston Journal_ Editorial, April 10, 1863. + + +The excitement of the departure was intense. The embarkation was so +laborious that it seemed as if the flames must be upon us before we +could get on board, and it was also generally expected that the Rebel +skirmishers would be down among the houses, wherever practicable, to +annoy us to the utmost, as had been the case at the previous evacuation. +They were, indeed, there, as we afterwards heard, but did not venture to +molest us. The sight and roar of the flames, and the rolling clouds of +smoke, brought home to the impressible minds of the black soldiers all +their favorite imagery of the Judgment-Day; and those who were not too +much depressed by disappointment were excited by the spectacle, and sang +and exhorted without ceasing. + +With heavy hearts their officers floated down the lovely river, which +we had ascended with hopes so buoyant; and from that day to this, the +reasons for our recall have never been made public. It was commonly +attributed to proslavery advisers, acting on the rather impulsive nature +of Major-General Hunter, with a view to cut short the career of the +colored troops, and stop their recruiting. But it may have been simply +the scarcity of troops in the Department, and the renewed conviction at +head-quarters that we were too few to hold the post alone. The +latter theory was strengthened by the fact that, when General Seymour +reoccupied Jacksonville, the following year, he took with him twenty +thousand men instead of one thousand,--and the sanguinary battle of +Olustee found him with too few. + + + + +Chapter 5. Out on Picket + + +One can hardly imagine a body of men more disconsolate than a regiment +suddenly transferred from an adventurous life in the enemy's country +to the quiet of a sheltered camp, on safe and familiar ground. The +men under my command were deeply dejected when, on a most appropriate +day,--the First of April, 1863,--they found themselves unaccountably +recalled from Florida, that region of delights which had seemed theirs +by the right of conquest. My dusky soldiers, who based their whole +walk and conversation strictly on the ancient Israelites, felt that the +prophecies were all set at naught, and that they were on the wrong +side of the Red Sea; indeed, I fear they regarded even me as a sort of +reversed Moses, whose Pisgah fronted in the wrong direction. Had they +foreseen how the next occupation of the Promised Land was destined +to result, they might have acquiesced with more of their wonted +cheerfulness. As it was, we were very glad to receive, after a few days +of discontented repose on the very ground where we had once been so +happy, an order to go out on picket at Port Royal Ferry, with the +understanding that we might remain there for some time. This picket +station was regarded as a sort of military picnic by the regiments +stationed at Beaufort, South Carolina; it meant blackberries and +oysters, wild roses and magnolias, flowery lanes instead of sandy +barrens, and a sort of guerilla existence in place of the camp routine. +To the colored soldiers especially, with their love of country life, +and their extensive personal acquaintance on the plantations, it seemed +quite like a Christmas festival. Besides, they would be in sight of the +enemy, and who knew but there might, by the blessing of Providence, be a +raid or a skirmish? If they could not remain on the St. John's River, it +was something to dwell on the Coosaw. In the end they enjoyed it as much +as they expected, and though we "went out" several times subsequently, +until it became an old story, the enjoyment never waned. And as even +the march from the camp to the picket lines was something that could not +possibly have been the same for any white regiment in the service, it is +worth while to begin at the beginning and describe it. + +A regiment ordered on picket was expected to have reveille at daybreak, +and to be in line for departure by sunrise. This delighted our men, who +always took a childlike pleasure in being out of bed at any unreasonable +hour; and by the time I had emerged, the tents were nearly all struck, +and the great wagons were lumbering into camp to receive them, with +whatever else was to be transported. The first rays of the sun must +fall upon the line of these wagons, moving away across the wide +parade-ground, followed by the column of men, who would soon outstrip +them. But on the occasion which I especially describe the sun was +shrouded, and, when once upon the sandy plain, neither camp nor town nor +river could be seen in the dimness; and when I rode forward and looked +back there was only visible the long, moving, shadowy column, seeming +rather awful in its snake-like advance. There was a swaying of flags +and multitudinous weapons that might have been camels' necks for all +one could see, and the whole thing might have been a caravan upon the +desert. Soon we debouched upon the "Shell Road," the wagon-train drew +on one side into the fog, and by the time the sun appeared the music +ceased, the men took the "route step," and the fun began. + +The "route step" is an abandonment of all military strictness, and +nothing is required of the men but to keep four abreast, and not lag +behind. They are not required to keep step, though, with the rhythmical +ear of our soldiers, they almost always instinctively did so; talking +and singing are allowed, and of this privilege, at least, they eagerly +availed themselves. On this day they were at the top of exhilaration. +There was one broad grin from one end of the column to the other; it +might soon have been a caravan of elephants instead of camels, for the +ivory and the blackness; the chatter and the laughter almost drowned +the tramp of feet and the clatter of equipments. At cross-roads and +plantation gates the colored people thronged to see us pass; every one +found a friend and a greeting. "How you do, aunty?" "Huddy (how d'ye), +Budder Benjamin?" "How you find yourself dis mor-nin', Tittawisa (Sister +Louisa)?" Such saluations rang out to everybody, known or unknown. In +return, venerable, kerchiefed matrons courtesied laboriously to every +one, with an unfailing "Bress de Lord, budder." Grave little boys, +blacker than ink, shook hands with our laughing and utterly unmanageable +drummers, who greeted them with this sure word of prophecy, "Dem's de +drummers for de nex' war!" Pretty mulatto girls ogled and coquetted, +and made eyes, as Thackeray would say, at half the young fellows in the +battalion. Meantime the singing was brisk along the whole column, and +when I sometimes reined up to see them pass, the chant of each company, +entering my ear, drove out from the other ear the strain of the +preceding. Such an odd mixture of things, military and missionary, as +the successive waves of song drifted byl First, "John Brown," of course; +then, "What make old Satan for follow me so?" then, "Marching Along"; +then, "Hold your light on Canaan's shore"; then, "When this cruel war +is over" (a new favorite, sung by a few); yielding presently to a grand +burst of the favorite marching song among them all, and one at which +every step instinctively quickened, so light and jubilant its rhythm,-- + + "All true children gwine in de wilderness, + Gwine in de wilderness, gwine in de wilderness, + True believers gwine in de wilderness, + To take away de sins ob de world,"-- + +ending in a "Hoigh!" after each verse,--a sort of Irish yell. For all +the songs, but especially for their own wild hymns, they constantly +improvised simple verses, with the same odd mingling,--the little facts +of to-day's march being interwoven with the depths of theological gloom, +and the same jubilant chorus annexed to all; thus,-- + + "We're gwin to de Ferry, + De bell done ringing; + Gwine to de landing, + De bell done ringing; + Trust, believer + O, de bell done ringing; + Satan's behind me, + De bell done ringing; + 'T is a misty morning, + De bell done ringing; + O de road am sandy, + De bell done ringing; + Hell been open, + De bell done ringing";-- + +and so on indefinitely. + +The little drum-corps kept in advance, a jolly crew, their drums slung +on their backs, and the drum-sticks perhaps balanced on their heads. +With them went the officers' servant-boys, more uproarious still, always +ready to lend their shrill treble to any song. At the head of the whole +force there walked, by some self-imposed pre-eminence, a respectable +elderly female, one of the company laundresses, whose vigorous stride we +never could quite overtake, and who had an enormous bundle balanced on +her head, while she waved in her hand, like a sword, a long-handled tin +dipper. Such a picturesque medley of fun, war, and music I believe no +white regiment in the service could have shown; and yet there was no +straggling, and a single tap of the drum would at any moment bring order +out of this seeming chaos. So we marched our seven miles out upon the +smooth and shaded road,--beneath jasmine clusters, and great pine-cones +dropping, and great bunches of misletoe still in bloom among the +branches. Arrived at the station, the scene soon became busy and more +confused; wagons were being unloaded, tents pitched, water brought, wood +cut, fires made, while the "field and staff" could take possession of +the abandoned quarters of their predecessors, and we could look round in +the lovely summer morning to "survey our empire and behold our home." + +The only thoroughfare by land between Beaufort and Charleston is the +"Shell Road," a beautiful avenue, which, about nine miles from Beaufort, +strikes a ferry across the Coosaw River. War abolished the ferry, and +made the river the permanent barrier between the opposing picket lines. +For ten miles, right and left, these lines extended, marked by well-worn +footpaths, following the endless windings of the stream; and they never +varied until nearly the end of the war. Upon their maintenance depended +our whole foothold on the Sea Islands; and upon that again finally +depended the whole campaign of Sherman. But for the services of the +colored troops, which finally formed the main garrison of the Department +of the South, the Great March would never have been performed. + +There was thus a region ten or twelve miles square of which I had +exclusive military command. It was level, but otherwise broken and +bewildering to the last degree. No road traversed it, properly speaking, +but the Shell Road. All the rest was a wild medley of cypress swamp, +pine barren, muddy creek, and cultivated plantation, intersected by +interminable lanes and bridle-paths, through which we must ride day +and night, and which our horses soon knew better than ourselves. The +regiment was distributed at different stations, the main force being +under my immediate command, at a plantation close by the Shell Road, two +miles from the ferry, and seven miles from Beaufort. Our first picket +duty was just at the time of the first attack on Charleston, under +Dupont and Hunter; and it was generally supposed that the Confederates +would make an effort to recapture the Sea Islands. My orders were to +watch the enemy closely, keep informed as to his position and movements, +attempt no advance, and, in case any were attempted from the other +side, to delay it as long as possible, sending instant notice to +head-quarters. As to the delay, that could be easily guaranteed. There +were causeways on the Shell Road which a single battery could +hold against a large force; and the plantations were everywhere so +intersected by hedges and dikes that they seemed expressly planned for +defence. Although creeks wound in and out everywhere, yet these were +only navigable at high tide, and at all other times were impassable +marshes. There were but few posts where the enemy were within rifle +range, and their occasional attacks at those points were soon stopped by +our enforcement of a pithy order from General Hunter, "Give them as good +as they send." So that, with every opportunity for being kept on the +alert, there was small prospect of serious danger; and all promised +an easy life, with only enough of care to make it pleasant. The picket +station was therefore always a coveted post among the regiments, +combining some undeniable importance with a kind of relaxation; and as +we were there three months on our first tour of duty, and returned there +several times afterwards, we got well acquainted with it. The whole +region always reminded me of the descriptions of La Vende'e, and I +always expected to meet Henri Larochejaquelein riding in the woods. + +How can I ever describe the charm and picturesqueness of that summer +life? Our house possessed four spacious rooms and a _piazza_; around it +were grouped sheds and tents; the camp was a little way off on one side, +the negro-quarters of the plantation on the other; and all was immersed +in a dense mass of waving and murmuring locust-blossoms. The spring days +were always lovely, while the evenings were always conveniently damp; so +that we never shut the windows by day, nor omitted our cheerful fire +by night. Indoors, the main head-quarters seemed like the camp of some +party of young engineers in time of peace, only with a little female +society added, and a good many martial associations thrown in. A large, +low, dilapidated room, with an immense fireplace, and with window-panes +chiefly broken, so that the sashes were still open even when +closed,--such was our home. The walls were scrawled with capital +charcoal sketches by R. of the Fourth New Hampshire, and with a good +map of the island and its wood-paths by C. of the First Massachusetts +Cavalry. The room had the picturesqueness which comes everywhere from +the natural grouping of articles of daily use,--swords, belts, pistols, +rifles, field-glasses, spurs, canteens, gauntlets,--while wreaths of +gray moss above the windows, and a pelican's wing three feet long over +the high mantel-piece, indicated more deliberate decoration. This, and +the whole atmosphere of the place, spoke of the refining presence of +agreeable women; and it was pleasant when they held their little court +in the evening, and pleasant all day, with the different visitors who +were always streaming in and out,--officers and soldiers on various +business; turbaned women from the plantations, coming with complaints or +questionings; fugitives from the main-land to be interrogated; visitors +riding up on horseback, their hands full of jasmine and wild roses; and +the sweet sunny air all perfumed with magnolias and the Southern pine. +From the neighboring camp there was a perpetual low hum. Louder voices +and laughter re-echoed, amid the sharp sounds of the axe, from the pine +woods; and sometimes, when the relieved pickets were discharging their +pieces, there came the hollow sound of dropping rifle-shots, as in +skirmishing,--perhaps the most unmistakable and fascinating association +that war bequeaths to the memory of the ear. + +Our domestic arrangements were of the oddest description. From the time +when we began housekeeping by taking down the front-door to complete +therewith a little office for the surgeon on the _piazza_, everything +seemed upside down. I slept on a shelf in the corner of the parlor, +bequeathed me by Major F., my jovial predecessor, and, if I waked at any +time, could put my head through the broken window, arouse my orderly, +and ride off to see if I could catch a picket asleep. We used to spell +the word _picquet_, because that was understood to be the correct thing, +in that Department at least; and they used to say at post head-quarters +that as soon as the officer in command of the outposts grew negligent, +and was guilty of a _k_, he was ordered in immediately. Then the +arrangements for ablution were peculiar. We fitted up a bathing-place +in a brook, which somehow got appropriated at once by the company +laundresses; but I had my revenge, for I took to bathing in the family +washtub. After all, however, the kitchen department had the advantage, +for they used my solitary napkin to wipe the mess-table. As for food, we +found it impossible to get chickens, save in the immature shape of eggs; +fresh pork was prohibited by the surgeon, and other fresh meat came +rarely. We could, indeed, hunt for wild turkeys, and even deer, but such +hunting was found only to increase the appetite, without corresponding +supply. Still we had our luxuries,--large, delicious drum-fish, and +alligator steaks,--like a more substantial fried halibut,--which might +have afforded the theme for Charles Lamb's dissertation on Roast Pig, +and by whose aid "for the first time in our lives we tested _crackling_" +The post bakery yielded admirable bread; and for vegetables and fruit we +had very poor sweet potatoes, and (in their season) an unlimited supply +of the largest blackberries. For beverage, we had the vapid milk of that +region, in which, if you let it stand, the water sinks instead of the +cream's rising; and the delicious sugar-cane syrup, which we had brought +from Florida, and which we drank at all hours. Old Floridians say that +no one is justified in drinking whiskey, while he can get cane-juice; it +is sweet and spirited, without cloying, foams like ale, and there were +little spots on the ceiling of the dining-room where our lively beverage +had popped out its cork. We kept it in a whiskey-bottle; and as whiskey +itself was absolutely prohibited among us, it was amusing to see the +surprise of our military visitors when this innocent substitute +was brought in. They usually liked it in the end, but, like the old +Frenchwoman over her glass of water, wished that it were a sin to give +it a relish. As the foaming beakers of molasses and water were handed +round, the guests would make with them the courteous little gestures +of polite imbiding, and would then quaff the beverage, some with gusto, +others with a slight afterlook of dismay. But it was a delicious and +cooling drink while it lasted; and at all events was the best and the +worst we had. + +We used to have reveille at six, and breakfast about seven; then the +mounted couriers began to arrive from half a dozen different directions, +with written reports of what had happened during the night,--a +boat seen, a picket fired upon, a battery erecting. These must be +consolidated and forwarded to head-quarters, with the daily report of +the command,--so many sick, so many on detached service, and all the +rest. This was our morning newspaper, our Herald and Tribune; I never +got tired of it. Then the couriers must be furnished with countersign +and instructions, and sent off again. Then we scattered to our various +rides, all disguised as duty; one to inspect pickets, one to visit a +sick soldier, one to build a bridge or clear a road, and still another +to head-quarters for ammunition or commissary stores. Galloping through +green lanes, miles of triumphal arches of wild roses,--roses pale and +large and fragrant, mingled with great boughs of the white cornel, +fantastic masses, snowy surprises,--such were our rides, ranging from +eight to fifteen and even twenty miles. Back to a late dinner with our +various experiences, and perhaps specimens to match,--a thunder-snake, +eight feet long; a live opossum, with a young clinging to the natural +pouch; an armful of great white, scentless pond-lilies. After dinner, +to the tangled garden for rosebuds or early magnolias, whose cloying +fragrance will always bring back to me the full zest of those summer +days; then dress-parade and a little drill as the day grew cool. In the +evening, tea; and then the piazza or the fireside, as the case might +be,--chess, cards,--perhaps a little music by aid of the assistant +surgeon's melodeon, a few pages of Jean Paul's "Titan," almost my +only book, and carefully husbanded,--perhaps a mail, with its infinite +felicities. Such was our day. + +Night brought its own fascinations, more solitary and profound. The +darker they were, the more clearly it was our duty to visit the +pickets. The paths that had grown so familiar by day seemed a wholly new +labyrinth by night; and every added shade of darkness seemed to shift +and complicate them all anew, till at last man's skill grew utterly +baffled, and the clew must be left to the instinct of the horse. Riding +beneath the solemn starlight, or soft, gray mist, or densest blackness, +the frogs croaking, the strange "chuckwuts-widow" droning his ominous +note above my head, the mocking-bird dreaming in music, the great +Southern fireflies rising to the tree-tops, or hovering close to the +ground like glowworms, till the horse raised his hoofs to avoid them; +through pine woods and cypress swamps, or past sullen brooks, or +white tents, or the dimly seen huts of sleeping negroes; down to the +glimmering shore, where black statues leaned against trees or stood +alert in the pathways;--never, in all the days of my life, shall I +forget the magic of those haunted nights. + +We had nocturnal boat service, too, for it was a part of our +instructions to obtain all possible information about the enemy's +position; and we accordingly, as usual in such cases, incurred a great +many risks that harmed nobody, and picked up much information which did +nobody any good. The centre of these nightly reconnoissances, for a +long time, was the wreck of the George Washington, the story of whose +disaster is perhaps worth telling. + +Till about the time when we went on picket, it had been the occasional +habit of the smaller gunboats to make the circuit of Port Royal +Island,--a practice which was deemed very essential to the safety of our +position, but which the Rebels effectually stopped, a few days after our +arrival, by destroying the army gunboat George Washington with a single +shot from a light battery. I was roused soon after daybreak by the +firing, and a courier soon came dashing in with the particulars. +Forwarding these hastily to Beaufort (for we had then no telegraph), I +was soon at the scene of action, five miles away. Approaching, I met on +the picket paths man after man who had escaped from the wreck across +a half-mile of almost impassable marsh. Never did I see such +objects,--some stripped to their shirts, some fully clothed, but all +having every garment literally pasted to them--bodies with mud. Across +the river, the Rebels were retiring, having done their work, but were +still shelling, from greater and greater distances, the wood through +which I rode. Arrived at the spot nearest the wreck (a point opposite to +what we called the Brickyard Station), I saw the burning vessel aground +beyond a long stretch of marsh, out of which the forlorn creatures were +still floundering. Here and there in the mud and reeds we could see the +laboring heads, slowly advancing, and could hear excruciating cries from +wounded men in the more distant depths. It was the strangest mixture of +war and Dante and Robinson Crusoe. Our energetic chaplain coming up, I +sent him with four men, under a flag of truce, to the place whence the +worst cries proceeded, while I went to another part of the marsh. During +that morning we got them all out, our last achievement being the +rescue of the pilot, an immense negro with a wooden leg,--an article so +particularly unavailable for mud travelling, that it would have almost +seemed better, as one of the men suggested, to cut the traces, and leave +it behind. + +A naval gunboat, too, which had originally accompanied this vessel, and +should never have left it, now came back and took off the survivors, +though there had been several deaths from scalding and shell. It +proved that the wreck was not aground after all, but at anchor, having +foolishly lingered till after daybreak, and having thus given time +for the enemy to bring down then: guns. The first shot had struck the +boiler, and set the vessel on fire; after which the officer in command +had raised a white flag, and then escaped with his men to our shore; and +it was for this flight in the wrong direction that they were shelled +in the marshes by the Rebels. The case furnished in this respect some +parallel to that of the Kearsage and Alabama, and it was afterwards +cited, I believe, officially or unofficially, to show that the Rebels +had claimed the right to punish, in this case, the course of action +which they approved in Semmes. I know that they always asserted +thenceforward that the detachment on board the George Washington had +become rightful prisoners of war, and were justly fired upon when they +tried to escape. + +This was at the tune of the first attack on Charleston, and the noise of +this cannonading spread rapidly thither, and brought four regiments to +reinforce Beaufort in a hurry, under the impression that the town was +already taken, and that they must save what remnants they could. General +Saxton, too, had made such capital plans for defending the post that +he could not bear not to have it attacked; so, while the Rebels brought +down a force to keep us from taking the guns off the wreck, I was also +supplied with a section or two of regular artillery, and some additional +infantry, with which to keep them from it; and we tried to "make believe +very hard," and rival the Charleston expedition on our own island. +Indeed, our affair came to about as much,--nearly nothing,--and lasted +decidedly longer; for both sides nibbled away at the guns, by night, for +weeks afterward, though I believe the mud finally got them,--at least, +we did not. We tried in vain to get the use of a steamboat or floating +derrick of any kind; for it needed more mechanical ingenuity than we +possessed to transfer anything so heavy to our small boats by night, +while by day we did not go near the wreck in anything larger than a +"dug-out." + +One of these nocturnal visits to the wreck I recall with peculiar gusto, +because it brought back that contest with catarrh and coughing among my +own warriors which had so ludicrously beset me in Florida. It was always +fascinating to be on those forbidden waters by night, stealing out with +muffled oars through the creeks and reeds, our eyes always strained +for other voyagers, our ears listening breathlessly to all the marsh +sounds,--blackflsh splashing, and little wakened reed-birds that fled +wailing away over the dim river, equally safe on either side. But it +always appeared to the watchful senses that we were making noise enough +to be heard at Fort Sumter; and somehow the victims of catarrh seemed +always the most eager for any enterprise requiring peculiar caution. +In this case I thought I had sifted them before-hand; but as soon as we +were afloat, one poor boy near me began to wheeze, and I turned upon +him in exasperation. He saw his danger, and meekly said, "I won't cough, +Gunnel!" and he kept his word. For two mortal hours he sat grasping his +gun, with never a chirrup. But two unfortunates in the bow of the boat +developed symptoms which I could not suppress; so, putting in at a +picket station, with some risk I dumped them in mud knee-deep, and +embarked a substitute, who after the first five minutes absolutely +coughed louder than both the others united. Handkerchiefs, blankets, +over-coats, suffocation in its direst forms, were tried in vain, but +apparently the Rebel pickets slept through it all, and we exploded the +wreck in safety. I think they were asleep, for certainly across the +level marshes there came a nasal sound, as of the "Con-thieveracy" in +its slumbers. It may have been a bull-frog, but it sounded like a human +snore. + +Picket life was of course the place to feel the charm of natural beauty +on the Sea Islands. We had a world of profuse and tangled vegetation +around us, such as would have been a dream of delight to me, but for the +constant sense of responsibility and care which came between. Amid +this preoccupation, Nature seemed but a mirage, and not the close and +intimate associate I had before known. I pressed no flowers, collected +no insects or birds' eggs, made no notes on natural objects, reversing +in these respects all previous habits. Yet now, in the retrospect, there +seems to have been infused into me through every pore the voluptuous +charm of the season and the place; and the slightest corresponding +sound or odor now calls back the memory of those delicious days. Being +afterwards on picket at almost every season, I tasted the sensations of +all; and though I hardly then thought of such a result, the associations +of beauty will remain forever. + +In February, for instance,--though this was during a later period of +picket service,--the woods were usually draped with that "net of shining +haze" which marks our Northern May; and the house was embowered in +wild-plum-blossoms, small, white, profuse, and tenanted by murmuring +bees. There were peach-blossoms, too, and the yellow jasmine was opening +its multitudinous buds, climbing over tall trees, and waving from bough +to bough. There were fresh young ferns and white bloodroot in the edges +of woods, matched by snowdrops in the garden, beneath budded myrtle +and _Petisporum_. In this wilderness the birds were busy; the two +main songsters being the mocking-bird and the cardinal-grosbeak, which +monopolized all the parts of our more varied Northern orchestra save +the tender and liquid notes, which in South Carolina seemed unattempted +except by some stray blue-bird. Jays were as loud and busy as at the +North in autumn; there were sparrows and wrens; and sometimes I noticed +the shy and whimsical chewink. + +From this early spring-time onward, there seemed no great difference in +atmospheric sensations, and only a succession of bloom. After two months +one's notions of the season grew bewildered, just as very early rising +bewilders the day. In the army one is perhaps roused after a bivouac, +marches before daybreak, halts, fights, somebody is killed, a long +day's life has been lived, and after all it is not seven o'clock, and +breakfast is not ready. So when we had lived in summer so long as hardly +to remember winter, it suddenly occurred to us that it was not yet June. +One escapes at the South that mixture of hunger and avarice which is +felt in the Northern summer, counting each hour's joy with the sad +consciousness that an hour is gone. The compensating loss is in missing +those soft, sweet, liquid sensations of the Northern spring, that burst +of life and joy, those days of heaven that even April brings; and this +absence of childhood in the year creates a feeling of hardness in the +season, like that I have suggested in the melody of the Southern +birds. It seemed to me also that the woods had not those pure, clean, +_innocent_ odors which so abound in the New England forest in +early spring; but there was something luscious, voluptuous, almost +oppressively fragrant about the magnolias, as if they belonged not to +Hebe, but to Magdalen. + +Such immense and lustrous butterflies I had never seen but in dreams; +and not even dreams had prepared me for sand-flies. Almost too small to +be seen, they inflicted a bite which appeared larger than themselves,--a +positive wound, more torturing than that of a mosquito, and leaving +more annoyance behind. These tormentors elevated dress-parade into the +dignity of a military engagement. I had to stand motionless, with my +head a mere nebula of winged atoms, while tears rolled profusely down my +face, from mere muscular irritation. Had I stirred a finger, the whole +battalion would have been slapping its cheeks. Such enemies were, +however, a valuable aid to discipline, on the whole, as they abounded +in the guard-house, and made that institution an object of unusual +abhorrence among the men. + +The presence of ladies and the homelike air of everything, made the +picket station a very popular resort while we were there. It was the +one agreeable ride from Beaufort, and we often had a dozen people +unexpectedly to dinner. On such occasions there was sometimes mounting +in hot haste, and an eager search among the outlying plantations for +additional chickens and eggs, or through the company kitchens for some +of those villanous tin cans which everywhere marked the progress of our +army. In those cans, so far as my observation went, all fruits +relapsed into a common acidulation, and all meats into a similarity of +tastelessness; while the "condensed milk" was best described by the men, +who often unconsciously stumbled on a better joke than they knew, and +always spoke of it as _condemned_ milk. + +We had our own excursions too,--to the Barnwell plantations, with +their beautiful avenues and great live-oaks, the perfection of Southern +beauty,--to Hall's Island, debatable ground, close under the +enemy's fire, where half-wild cattle were to be shot, under military +precautions, like Scottish moss-trooping,--or to the ferry, where it +was fascinating to the female mind to scan the Rebel pickets through +a field-glass. Our horses liked the by-ways far better than the level +hardness of the Shell Road, especially those we had brought from +Florida, which enjoyed the wilderness as if they had belonged to +Marion's men. They delighted to feel the long sedge brush their flanks, +or to gallop down the narrow wood-paths, leaping the fallen trees, and +scaring the bright little lizards which shot across our track like live +rays broken from the sunbeams. We had an abundance of horses, mostly +captured and left in our hands by some convenient delay of the post +quartermaster. We had also two side-saddles, which, not being munitions +of war, could not properly (as we explained) be transferred like other +captured articles to the general stock; otherwise the P. Q. M. (a +married man) would have showed no unnecessary delay in their case. +For miscellaneous accommodation was there not an ambulance,--that most +inestimable of army conveniences, equally ready to carry the merry to +a feast or the wounded from a fray. "Ambulance" was one of those words, +rather numerous, which Ethiopian lips were not framed by Nature to +articulate. Only the highest stages of colored culture could compass it; +on the tongue of the many it was transformed mystically as "amulet," or +ambitiously as "epaulet," or in culinary fashion as "omelet." But it was +our experience that an ambulance under any name jolted equally hard. + +Besides these divertisements, we had more laborious vocations,--a good +deal of fatigue, and genuine though small alarms. The men went on duty +every third day at furthest, and the officers nearly as often,--most +of the tours of duty lasting twenty-four hours, though the stream was +considered to watch itself tolerably well by daylight. This kind of +responsibility suited the men; and we had already found, as the whole +army afterwards acknowledged, that the constitutional watchfulness and +distrustfulness of the colored race made them admirable sentinels. Soon +after we went on picket, the commanding general sent an aid, with a +cavalry escort, to visit all the stations, without my knowledge. They +spent the whole night, and the officer reported that he could not get +within thirty yards of any post without a challenge. This was a pleasant +assurance for me; since our position seemed so secure, compared with +Jacksonville, that I had feared some relaxation of vigilance, while yet +the safety of all depended on our thorough discharge of duty. + +Jacksonville had also seasoned the men so well that they were no longer +nervous, and did not waste much powder on false alarms. The Rebels made +no formal attacks, and rarely attempted to capture pickets. Sometimes +they came stealing through the creeks in "dugouts," as we did on their +side of the water, and occasionally an officer of ours was fired upon +while making his rounds by night. Often some boat or scow would go +adrift, and sometimes a mere dark mass of river-weed would be floated by +the tide past the successive stations, eliciting a challenge and perhaps +a shot from each. I remember the vivid way in which one of the men +stated to his officer the manner in which a faithful picket should do +his duty, after challenging, in case a boat came in sight. "Fus' ting I +shoot, and den I shoot, and den I shoot again. Den I creep-creep up near +de boat, and see who dey in 'em; and s'pose anybody pop up he head, den +I shoot again. S'pose I fire my forty rounds. I tink he hear at de +camp and send more mans,"--which seemed a reasonable presumption. This +soldier's name was Paul Jones, a daring fellow, quite worthy of his +namesake. + +In time, however, they learned quieter methods, and would wade far out +in the water, there standing motionless at last, hoping to surround and +capture these floating boats, though, to their great disappointment, +the prize usually proved empty. On one occasion they tried a still +profounder strategy; for an officer visiting the pickets after midnight, +and hearing in the stillness a portentous snore from the end of the +causeway (our most important station), straightway hurried to the point +of danger, with wrath in his soul. But the sergeant of the squad came +out to meet him, imploring silence, and explaining that they had seen or +suspected a boat hovering near, and were feigning sleep in order to lure +and capture those who would entrap them. + +The one military performance at the picket station of which my men were +utterly intolerant was an occasional flag of truce, for which this +was the appointed locality. These farces, for which it was our duty +to furnish the stock actors, always struck them as being utterly +despicable, and unworthy the serious business of war. They felt, I +suppose, what Mr. Pickwick felt, when he heard his counsel remark to the +counsel for the plaintiff, that it was a very fine morning. It goaded +their souls to see the young officers from the two opposing armies +salute each other courteously, and interchange cigars. They despised the +object of such negotiations, which was usually to send over to the enemy +some family of Rebel women who had made themselves quite intolerable on +our side, but were not above collecting a subscription among the Union +officers, before departure, to replenish their wardrobes. The men never +showed disrespect to these women by word or deed, but they hated them +from the bottom of their souls. Besides, there was a grievance behind +all this. + +The Rebel order remained unrevoked which consigned the new colored +troops and their officers to a felon's death, if captured; and we all +felt that we fought with ropes round our necks. "Dere's no flags ob +truce for us," the men would contemptuously say. "When de Secesh fight +de _Fus' Souf_" (First South Carolina), "he fight in earnest." Indeed, +I myself took it as rather a compliment when the commander on the +other side--though an old acquaintance of mine in Massachusetts and +in Kansas--at first refused to negotiate through me or my officers,--a +refusal which was kept up, greatly to the enemy's inconvenience, until +our men finally captured some of the opposing pickets, and their friends +had to waive all scruples in order to send them supplies. After this +there was no trouble, and I think that the first Rebel officer in South +Carolina who officially met any officer of colored troops under a +flag of truce was Captain John C. Calhoun. In Florida we had been so +recognized long before; but that was when they wished to frighten us out +of Jacksonville. + +Such was our life on picket at Port Royal,--a thing whose memory is now +fast melting into such stuff as dreams are made of. We stayed there more +than two months at that tune; the first attack on Charleston exploded +with one puff, and had its end; General Hunter was ordered North, +and the busy Gilmore reigned in his stead; and in June, when the +blackberries were all eaten, we were summoned, nothing loath, to other +scenes and encampments new. + + + + +Chapter 6. A Night in the Water + + +Yes, that was a pleasant life on picket, in the delicious early summer +of the South, and among the endless flowery forests of that blossoming +isle. In the retrospect I seem to see myself adrift upon a horse's back +amid a sea of roses. The various outposts were within a six-mile radius, +and it was one long, delightful gallop, day and night. I have a faint +impression that the moon shone steadily every night for two months; and +yet I remember certain periods of such dense darkness that in riding +through the wood-paths it was really unsafe to go beyond a walk, for +fear of branches above and roots below; and one of my officers was once +shot at by a Rebel scout who stood unperceived at his horse's bridle. + +To those doing outpost-duty on an island, however large, the main-land +has all the fascination of forbidden fruit, and on a scale bounded only +by the horizon. Emerson says that every house looks ideal until we enter +it,--and it is certainly so, if it be just the other side of the hostile +lines. Every grove in that blue distance appears enchanted ground, and +yonder loitering gray-back leading his horse to water in the farthest +distance, makes one thrill with a desire to hail him, to shoot at him, +to capture him, to do anything to bridge this inexorable dumb space that +lies between. A boyish feeling, no doubt, and one that time diminishes, +without effacing; yet it is a feeling which lies at the bottom of many +rash actions in war, and of some brilliant ones. For one, I could never +quite outgrow it, though restricted by duty from doing many foolish +things in consequence, and also restrained by reverence for certain +confidential advisers whom I had always at hand, and who considered it +their mission to keep me always on short rations of personal adventure. +Indeed, most of that sort of entertainment in the army devolves +upon scouts detailed for the purpose, volunteer aides-de-camp and +newspaper-reporters,--other officers being expected to be about business +more prosaic. + +All the excitements of war are quadrupled by darkness; and as I rode +along our outer lines at night, and watched the glimmering flames which +at regular intervals starred the opposite river-shore, the longing was +irresistible to cross the barrier of dusk, and see whether it were men +or ghosts who hovered round those dying embers. I had yielded to +these impulses in boat-adventures by night,--for it was a part of +my instructions to obtain all possible information about the Rebel +outposts,--and fascinating indeed it was to glide along, noiselessly +paddling, with a dusky guide, through the endless intricacies of those +Southern marshes, scaring the reed-birds, which wailed and fled away +into the darkness, and penetrating several miles into the ulterior, +between hostile fires, where discovery might be death. Yet there were +drawbacks as to these enterprises, since it is not easy for a boat to +cross still water, even on the darkest night, without being seen +by watchful eyes; and, moreover, the extremes of high and low tide +transform so completely the whole condition of those rivers that it +needs very nice calculation to do one's work at precisely the right +tune. To vary the experiment, I had often thought of trying a personal +reconnoissance by swimming, at a certain point, whenever circumstances +should make it an object. + +The opportunity at last arrived, and I shall never forget the glee with +which, after several postponements, I finally rode forth, a little +before midnight, on a night which seemed made for the purpose. I had, of +course, kept my own secret, and was entirely alone. The great Southern +fireflies were out, not haunting the low ground merely, like ours, +but rising to the loftiest tree-tops with weird illumination, and anon +hovering so low that my horse often stepped the higher to avoid them. +The dewy Cherokee roses brushed my face, the solemn "Chuckwill's-widow" +croaked her incantation, and the rabbits raced phantom-like across the +shadowy road. Slowly in the darkness I followed the well-known path +to the spot where our most advanced outposts were stationed, holding a +causeway which thrust itself far out across the separating river,--thus +fronting a similar causeway on the other side, while a channel of +perhaps three hundred yards, once traversed by a ferry-boat, rolled +between. At low tide this channel was the whole river, with broad, oozy +marshes on each side; at high tide the marshes were submerged, and the +stream was a mile wide. This was the point which I had selected. +To ascertain the numbers and position of the picket on the opposite +causeway was my first object, as it was a matter on which no two of our +officers agreed. + +To this point, therefore, I rode, and dismounting, after being duly +challenged by the sentinel at the causeway-head, walked down the long +and lonely path. The tide was well up, though still on the flood, as +I desired; and each visible tuft of marsh-grass might, but for its +motionlessness, have been a prowling boat. Dark as the night had +appeared, the water was pale, smooth, and phosphorescent, and I remember +that the phrase "wan water," so familiar in the Scottish ballards, +struck me just then as peculiarly appropriate, though its real meaning +is quite different. A gentle breeze, from which I had hoped for a +ripple, had utterly died away, and it was a warm, breathless Southern +night. There was no sound but the faint swash of the coming tide, the +noises of the reed-birds in the marshes, and the occasional leap of a +fish; and it seemed to my overstrained ear as if every footstep of +my own must be heard for miles. However, I could have no more +postponements, and the thing must be tried now or never. + +Reaching the farther end of the causeway, I found my men couched, like +black statues, behind the slight earthwork there constructed. I expected +that my proposed immersion would rather bewilder them, but knew that +they would say nothing, as usual. As for the lieutenant on that post, he +was a steady, matter-of-fact, perfectly disciplined Englishman, who wore +a Crimean medal, and never asked a superfluous question in his life. If +I had casually remarked to him, "Mr. Hooper, the General has ordered me +on a brief personal reconnoissance to the Planet Jupiter, and I wish you +to take care of my watch, lest it should be damaged by the Precession of +the Equinoxes," he would have responded with a brief "All right, Sir," +and a quick military gesture, and have put the thing in his pocket. As +it was, I simply gave him the watch, and remarked that I was going to +take a swim. + +I do not remember ever to have experienced a greater sense of +exhilaration than when I slipped noiselessly into the placid water, and +struck out into the smooth, eddying current for the opposite shore. The +night was so still and lovely, my black statues looked so dream-like at +their posts behind the low earthwork, the opposite arm of the causeway +stretched so invitingly from the Rebel main, the horizon glimmered so +low around me,--for it always appears lower to a swimmer than even to +an oarsman,--that I seemed floating in some concave globe, some magic +crystal, of which I was the enchanted centre. With each little ripple of +my steady progress all things hovered and changed; the stars danced and +nodded above; where the stars ended the great Southern fireflies +began; and closer than the fireflies, there clung round me a halo of +phosphorescent sparkles from the soft salt water. + +Had I told any one of my purpose, I should have had warnings and +remonstrances enough. The few negroes who did not believe in alligators +believed in sharks; the sceptics as to sharks were orthodox in respect +to alligators; while those who rejected both had private prejudices +as to snapping-turtles. The surgeon would have threatened intermittent +fever, the first assistant rheumatism, and the second assistant +congestive chills; non-swimmers would have predicted exhaustion, and +swimmers cramp; and all this before coming within bullet-range of any +hospitalities on the other shore. But I knew the folly of most alarms +about reptiles and fishes; man's imagination peoples the water with many +things which do not belong there, or prefer to keep out of his way, +if they do; fevers and congestions were the surgeon's business, and I +always kept people to their own department; cramp and exhaustion were +dangers I could measure, as I had often done; bullets were a more +substantial danger, and I must take the chance,--if a loon could dive at +the flash, why not I? If I were once ashore, I should have to cope with +the Rebels on their own ground, which they knew better than I; but the +water was my ground, where I, too, had been at home from boyhood. + +I swam as swiftly and softly as I could, although it seemed as if water +never had been so still before. It appeared impossible that anything +uncanny should hide beneath that lovely mirror; and yet when some +floating wisp of reeds suddenly coiled itself around my neck, or some +unknown thing, drifting deeper, coldly touched my foot, it caused that +undefinable shudder which every swimmer knows, and which especially +comes over one by night. Sometimes a slight sip of brackish water would +enter my lips,--for I naturally tried to swim as low as possible,--and +then would follow a slight gasping and contest against chocking, that +seemed to me a perfect convulsion; for I suppose the tendency to choke +and sneeze is always enhanced by the circumstance that one's life may +depend on keeping still, just as yawning becomes irresistible where to +yawn would be social ruin, and just as one is sure to sleep in church, +if one sits in a conspicuous pew. At other times, some unguarded motion +would create a splashing which seemed, in the tension of my senses, to +be loud enough to be heard at Richmond, although it really mattered +not, since there are fishes in those rivers which make as much noise on +special occasions as if they were misguided young whales. + +As I drew near the opposite shore, the dark causeway projected more and +more distinctly, to my fancy at least, and I swam more softly still, +utterly uncertain as to how far, in the stillness of air and water, my +phosphorescent course could be traced by eye or ear. A slight ripple +would have saved me from observation, I was more than ever sure, and I +would have whistled for a fair wind as eagerly as any sailor, but that +my breath was worth to me more than anything it was likely to bring. The +water became smoother and smoother, and nothing broke the dim surface +except a few clumps of rushes and my unfortunate head. The outside of +this member gradually assumed to its inside a gigantic magnitude; it had +always annoyed me at the hatter's from a merely animal bigness, with no +commensurate contents to show for it, and now I detested it more than +ever. A physical feeling of turgescence and congestion in that region, +such as swimmers often feel, probably increased the impression. I +thought with envy of the Aztec children, of the headless horseman of +Sleepy Hollow, of Saint Somebody with his head tucked under his arm. +Plotinus was less ashamed of his whole body than I of this inconsiderate +and stupid appendage. To be sure, I might swim for a certain distance +under water. But that accomplishment I had reserved for a retreat, for +I knew that the longer I stayed down the more surely I should have to +snort like a walrus when I came up again, and to approach an enemy with +such a demonstration was not to be thought of. + +Suddenly a dog barked. We had certain information that a pack of +hounds was kept at a Rebel station a few miles off, on purpose to hunt +runaways, and I had heard from the negroes almost fabulous accounts of +the instinct of these animals. I knew that, although water baffled +their scent, they yet could recognize in some manner the approach of any +person across water as readily as by land; and of the vigilance of +all dogs by night every traveller among Southern plantations has ample +demonstration. I was now so near that I could dimly see the figures of +men moving to and fro upon the end of the causeway, and could hear the +dull knock, when one struck his foot against a piece of limber. + +As my first object was to ascertain whether there were sentinels at that +time at that precise point, I saw that I was approaching the end of my +experiment Could I have once reached the causeway unnoticed, I could +have lurked in the water beneath its projecting timbers, and perhaps +made my way along the main shore, as I had known fugitive slaves to do, +while coming from that side. Or had there been any ripple on the water, +to confuse the aroused and watchful eyes, I could have made a circuit +and approached the causeway at another point, though I had already +satisfied myself that there was only a narrow channel on each side +of it, even at high tide, and not, as on our side, a broad expanse of +water. Indeed, this knowledge alone was worth all the trouble I had +taken, and to attempt much more than this, in the face of a curiosity +already roused, would have been a waste of future opportunities. I could +try again, with the benefit of this new knowledge, on a point where the +statements of the negroes had always been contradictory. + +Resolving, however, to continue the observation a very little longer, +since the water felt much warmer than I had expected, and there was no +sense of chill or fatigue, I grasped at some wisps of straw or rushes +that floated near, gathering them round my face a little, and then +drifting nearer the wharf in what seemed a sort of eddy was able, +without creating further alarm, to make some additional observations on +points which it is not best now to particularize. Then, turning my back +upon the mysterious shore which had thus far lured me, I sank softly +below the surface, and swam as far as I could under water. + +During this unseen retreat, I heard, of course, all manner of gurglings +and hollow reverberations, and could fancy as many rifle-shots as I +pleased. But on rising to the surface all seemed quiet, and even I did +not create as much noise as I should have expected. I was now at a safe +distance, since the enemy were always chary of showing their boats, and +always tried to convince us they had none. What with absorbed attention +first, and this submersion afterwards, I had lost all my bearings +but the stars, having been long out of sight of my original point of +departure. However, the difficulties of the return were nothing; making +a slight allowance for the floodtide, which could not yet have turned, I +should soon regain the place I had left. So I struck out freshly against +the smooth water, feeling just a little stiffened by the exertion, and +with an occasional chill running up the back of the neck, but with +no nips from sharks, no nudges from alligators, and not a symptom of +fever-and-ague. + +Time I could not, of course, measure,--one never can in a novel +position; but, after a reasonable amount of swimming, I began to look, +with a natural interest, for the pier which I had quitted. I noticed, +with some solicitude, that the woods along the friendly shore made one +continuous shadow, and that the line of low bushes on the long causeway +could scarcely be relieved against them, yet I knew where they ought +to be, and the more doubtful I felt about it, the more I put down my +doubts, as if they were unreasonable children. One can scarcely conceive +of the alteration made in familiar objects by bringing the eye as low +as the horizon, especially by night; to distinguish foreshortening is +impossible, and every low near object is equivalent to one higher and +more remote. Still I had the stars; and soon my eye, more practised, was +enabled to select one precise line of bushes as that which marked the +causeway, and for which I must direct my course. + +As I swam steadily, but with some sense of fatigue, towards this +phantom-line, I found it difficult to keep my faith steady and my +progress true; everything appeared to shift and waver, in the uncertain +light. The distant trees seemed not trees, but bushes, and the bushes +seemed not exactly bushes, but might, after all, be distant trees. Could +I be so confident that, out of all that low stretch of shore, I could +select the one precise point where the friendly causeway stretched +its long arm to receive me from the water? How easily (some tempter +whispered at my ear) might one swerve a little, on either side, and be +compelled to flounder over half a mile of oozy marsh on an ebbing tide, +before reaching our own shore and that hospitable volley of bullets with +which it would probably greet me! Had I not already (thus the tempter +continued) been swimming rather unaccountably far, supposing me on a +straight track for that inviting spot where my sentinels and my drapery +were awaiting my return? + +Suddenly I felt a sensation as of fine ribbons drawn softly across my +person, and I found myself among some rushes. But what business had +rushes there, or I among them? I knew that there was not a solitary spot +of shoal in the deep channel where I supposed myself swimming, and it +was plain in an instant that I had somehow missed my course, and must +be getting among the marshes. I felt confident, to be sure, that I could +not have widely erred, but was guiding my course for the proper side of +tie river. But whether I had drifted above or below the causeway I had +not the slightest clew to tell. + +I pushed steadily forward, with some increasing sense of lassitude, +passing one marshy islet after another, all seeming strangely out of +place, and sometimes just reaching with my foot a soft tremulous shoal +which gave scarce the shadow of a support, though even that shadow +rested my feet. At one of these moments of stillness it suddenly +occurred to my perception (what nothing but this slight contact could +have assured me, in the darkness) that I was in a powerful current, +and that this current set _the wrong way_. Instantly a flood of new +intelligence came. Either I had unconsciously turned and was rapidly +nearing the Rebel shore,--a suspicion which a glance at the stars +corrected,--or else it was the tide itself which had turned, and which +was sweeping me down the river with all its force, and was also sucking +away at every moment the narrowing water from that treacherous expanse +of mud out of whose horrible miry embrace I had lately helped to rescue +a shipwrecked crew. + +Either alternative was rather formidable. I can distinctly remember that +for about one half-minute the whole vast universe appeared to swim +in the same watery uncertainty in which I floated. I began to doubt +everything, to distrust the stars, the line of low bushes for which +I was wearily striving, the very land on which they grew, if such +visionary things could be rooted anywhere. Doubts trembled in my mind +like the weltering water, and that awful sensation of having one's feet +unsupported, which benumbs the spent swimmer's heart, seemed to clutch +at mine, though not yet to enter it. I was more absorbed in that +singular sensation of nightmare, such as one may feel equally when lost +by land or by water, as if one's own position were all right, but the +place looked for had somehow been preternaturally abolished out of the +universe. At best, might not a man in the water lose all his power of +direction, and so move in an endless circle until he sank exhausted? It +required a deliberate and conscious effort to keep my brain quite cool. +I have not the reputation of being of an excitable temperament, but the +contrary; yet I could at that moment see my way to a condition in which +one might become insane in an instant. It was as if a fissure opened +somewhere, and I saw my way into a mad-house; then it closed, and +everything went on as before. Once in my life I had obtained a slight +glimpse of the same sensation, and then, too, strangely enough, while +swimming,--in the mightiest ocean-surge into which I had ever dared +plunge my mortal body. Keats hints at the same sudden emotion, in a wild +poem written among the Scottish mountains. It was not the distinctive +sensation which drowning men are said to have, that spasmodic passing in +review of one's whole personal history. I had no well-defined anxiety, +felt no fear, was moved to no prayer, did not give a thought to home +or friends; only it swept over me, as with a sudden tempest, that, if I +meant to get back to my own camp, I must keep my wits about me. I must +not dwell on any other alternative, any more than a boy who climbs a +precipice must look down. Imagination had no business here. That way +madness lay. There was a shore somewhere before me, and I must get to +it, by the ordinary means, before the ebb laid bare the flats, or swept +me below the lower bends of the stream. That was all. + +Suddenly a light gleamed for an instant before me, as if from a house +in a grove of great trees upon a bank; and I knew that it came from the +window of a ruined plantation-building, where our most advanced outposts +had their headquarters. The flash revealed to me every point of the +situation. I saw at once where I was, and how I got there: that the tide +had turned while I was swimming, and with a much briefer interval of +slack-water than I had been led to suppose,--that I had been swept a +good way down stream, and was far beyond all possibility of regaining +the point I had left. + +Could I, however, retain my strength to swim one or two hundred yards +farther, of which I had no doubt,--and if the water did not ebb too +rapidly, of which I had more fear,--then I was quite safe. Every stroke +took me more and more out of the power of the current, and there might +even be an eddy to aid me. I could not afford to be carried down much +farther, for there the channel made a sweep toward the wrong side of the +river; but there was now no reason why I should not reach land. I could +dismiss all fear, indeed, except that of being fired upon by our own +sentinels, many of whom were then new recruits, and with the usual +disposition to shoot first and investigate afterwards. + +I found myself swimming in shallow and shallower water, and the flats +seemed almost bare when I neared the shore, where the great gnarled +branches of the liveoaks hung far over the muddy bank. Floating on my +back for noiselessness, I paddled rapidly in with my hands, expecting +momentarily to hear the challenge of the picket, and the ominous click +so likely to follow. I knew that some one should be pacing to and fro, +along that beat, but could not tell at what point he might be at that +precise moment. Besides, there was a faint possibility that some chatty +corporal might have carried the news of my bath thus far along the +line, and they might be partially prepared for this unexpected visitor. +Suddenly, like another flash, came the quick, quaint challenge,-- + +"Halt! Who's go dar?" + +"F-f-friend with the c-c-countersign," retorted I, with chilly, but +conciliatory energy, rising at full length out of the shallow water, to +show myself a man and a brother. + +"Ac-vance, friend, and give de countersign," responded the literal +soldier, who at such a tune would have accosted: a spirit of light or +goblin damned with no other formula. + +I advanced and gave it, he recognized my voice at once. | And then and +there, as I stood, a dripping ghost, beneath the f trees before him, the +unconscionable fellow, wishing to exhaust upon me the utmost resources +of military hospitality, deliberately presented arms! + +Now a soldier on picket, or at night, usually presents arms to nobody; +but a sentinel on camp-guard by day is expected to perform that ceremony +to anything in human shape that has two rows of buttons. Here was a +human shape, but so utterly buttonless that it exhibited not even a +rag to which a button could by any earthly possibility be appended, +button-less even potentially; and my blameless Ethiopian presented arms +to even this. Where, then, are the theories of Carlyle, the axioms of +"Sartor Resartus," the inability of humanity to conceive "a naked +Duke of Windlestraw addressing a naked House of Lords"? Cautioning my +adherent, however, as to the proprieties suitable for such occasions +thenceforward, I left him watching the river with renewed vigilance, and +awaiting the next merman who should report himself. + +Finding my way to the building, I hunted up a sergeant and a blanket, +got a fire kindled in the dismantled chimney, and sat before it in my +single garment, like a moist but undismayed Choctaw, until horse and +clothing could be brought round from the causeway. It seemed strange +that the morning had not yet dawned, after the uncounted periods that +must have elapsed; but when the wardrobe arrived I looked at my watch +and found that my night in the water had lasted precisely one hour. + +Galloping home, I turned in with alacrity, and without a drop of +whiskey, and waked a few hours after in excellent condition. The rapid +changes of which that Department has seen so many--and, perhaps, to so +little purpose--soon transferred us to a different scene. I have been on +other scouts since then, and by various processes, but never with a zest +so novel as was afforded by that night's experience. The thing soon got +wind in the regiment, and led to only one ill consequence, so far as I +know. It rather suppressed a way I had of lecturing the officers on the +importance of reducing their personal baggage to a minimum. They got a +trick of congratulating me, very respectfully, on the thoroughness with +which I had once conformed my practice to my precepts. + + + + +Chapter 7. Up the Edisto + + +In reading military history, one finds the main interest to lie, +undoubtedly, in the great campaigns, where a man, a regiment, a brigade, +is but a pawn in the game. But there is a charm also in the more free +and adventurous life of partisan warfare, where, if the total sphere be +humbler, yet the individual has more relative importance, and the sense +of action is more personal and keen. This is the reason given by the +eccentric Revolutionary biographer, Weems, for writing the Life of +Washington first, and then that of Marion. And there were, certainly, +hi the early adventures of the colored troops in the Department of the +South, some of the same elements of picturesqueness that belonged to +Marion's band, on the same soil, with the added feature that the blacks +were fighting for their personal liberties, of which Marion had helped +to deprive them. + +It is stated by Major-General Gillmore, in his "Siege of Charleston," as +one of the three points in his preliminary strategy, that an expedition +was sent up the Edisto River to destroy a bridge on the Charleston and +Savannah Railway. As one of the early raids of the colored troops, this +expedition may deserve narration, though it was, in a strategic point +of view, a disappointment. It has already been told, briefly and on the +whole with truth, by Greeley and others, but I will venture on a more +complete account. + +The project dated back earlier than General Gillmore's siege, and had +originally no connection with that movement. It had been formed by +Captain Trowbridge and myself in camp, and was based on facts learned +from the men. General Saxton and Colonel W. W. H. Davis, the successive +post-commanders, had both favored it. It had been also approved by +General Hunter, before his sudden removal, though he regarded the bridge +as a secondary affair, because there was another railway communication +between the two cities. But as my main object was to obtain permission +to go, I tried to make the most of all results which might follow, while +it was very clear that the raid would harass and confuse the enemy, and +be the means of bringing away many of the slaves. General Hunter had, +therefore, accepted the project mainly as a stroke for freedom and black +recruits; and General Gillmore, because anything that looked toward +action found favor in his eyes, and because it would be convenient to +him at that time to effect a diversion, if nothing more. + +It must be remembered that, after the first capture of Port Royal, the +outlying plantations along the whole Southern coast were abandoned, and +the slaves withdrawn into the interior. It was necessary to ascend some +river for thirty miles in order to reach the black population at all. +This ascent could only be made by night, as it was a slow process, and +the smoke of a steamboat could be seen for a great distance. The streams +were usually shallow, winding, and muddy, and the difficulties of +navigation were such as to require a full moon and a flood tide. It was +really no easy matter to bring everything to bear, especially as every +projected raid must be kept a secret so far as possible. However, we +were now somewhat familiar with such undertakings, half military, half +naval, and the thing to be done on the Edisto was precisely what we had +proved to be practicable on the St. Mary's and the St. John's,--to drop +anchor before the enemy's door some morning at daybreak, without his +having dreamed of our approach. + +Since a raid made by Colonel Montgomery up the Combahee, two months +before, the vigilance of the Rebels had increased. But we had +information that upon the South Edisto, or Pon-Pon River, the rice +plantations were still being actively worked by a large number of +negroes, in reliance on obstructions placed at the mouth of that narrow +stream, where it joins the main river, some twenty miles from the coast. +This point was known to be further protected by a battery of unknown +strength, at Wiltown Bluff, a commanding and defensible situation. The +obstructions consisted of a row of strong wooden piles across the river; +but we convinced ourselves that these must now be much decayed, and that +Captain Trowbridge, an excellent engineer officer, could remove them +by the proper apparatus. Our proposition was to man the John Adams, an +armed ferry-boat, which had before done us much service,--and which has +now reverted to the pursuits of peace, it is said, on the East Boston +line,--to ascend in this to Wiltown Bluff, silence the battery, and +clear a passage through the obstructions. Leaving the John Adams to +protect this point, we could then ascend the smaller stream with two +light-draft boats, and perhaps burn the bridge, which was ten miles +higher, before the enemy could bring sufficient force to make our +position at Wiltown Bluff untenable. + +The expedition was organized essentially upon this plan. The smaller +boats were the Enoch Dean,--a river steamboat, which carried a ten-pound +Parrott gun, and a small howitzer,--and a little mosquito of a tug, the +Governor Milton, upon which, with the greatest difficulty, we found +room for two twelve-pound Armstrong guns, with their gunners, forming +a section of the First Connecticut Battery, under Lieutenant Clinton, +aided by a squad from my own regiment, under Captain James. The John +Adams carried, I if I remember rightly, two Parrott guns (of twenty and +ten | pounds calibre) and a howitzer or two. The whole force of men did +not exceed two hundred and fifty. + +We left Beaufort, S. C., on the afternoon of July 9th, 1863. In former +narrations I have sufficiently described the charm of a moonlight ascent +into a hostile country, upon an unknown stream, the dark and silent +banks, the rippling water, the wail of the reed-birds, the anxious +watch, the breathless listening, the veiled lights, the whispered +orders. To this was now to be added the vexation of an insufficient +pilotage, for our negro guide knew only the upper river, and, as it +finally proved, not even that, while, to take us over the bar which +obstructed the main stream, we must borrow a pilot from Captain Dutch, +whose gunboat blockaded that point. This active naval officer, however, +whose boat expeditions had penetrated all the lower branches of those +rivers, could supply our want, and we borrowed from him not only a +pilot, but a surgeon, to replace our own, who had been prevented by an +accident from coming with us. Thus accompanied, we steamed over the bar +in safety, had a peaceful ascent, passed the island of Jehossee,--the +fine estate of Governor Aiken, then left undisturbed by both sides,--and +fired our first shell into the camp at Wiltown Bluff at four o'clock in +the morning. + +The battery--whether fixed or movable we knew not--met us with a +promptness that proved very shortlived. After three shots it was silent, +but we could not tell why. The bluff was wooded, and we could see but +little. The only course was to land, under cover of the guns. As +the firing ceased and the smoke cleared away, I looked across the +rice-fields which lay beneath the bluff. The first sunbeams glowed upon +their emerald levels, and on the blossoming hedges along the rectangular +dikes. What were those black dots which everywhere appeared? Those moist +meadows had become alive with human heads, and along each narrow +path came a straggling file of men and women, all on a run for the +river-side. I went ashore with a boat-load of troops at once. The +landing was difficult and marshy. The astonished negroes tugged us up +the bank, and gazed on us as if we had been Cortez and Columbus. They +kept arriving by land much faster than we could come by water; every +moment increased the crowd, the jostling, the mutual clinging, on that +miry foothold. What a scene it was! With the wild faces, eager figures, +strange garments, it seemed, as one of the poor things reverently +suggested, "like notin' but de judgment day." Presently they began to +come from the houses also, with their little bundles on their heads; +then with larger bundles. Old women, trotting on the narrow paths, would +kneel to pray a little prayer, still balancing the bundle; and then +would suddenly spring up, urged by the accumulating procession behind, +and would move on till irresistibly compelled by thankfulness to dip +down for another invocation. + +Reaching us, every human being must grasp our hands, amid exclamations +of "Bress you, mas'r," and "Bress de Lord," at the rate of four of the +latter ascriptions to one of the former. + +Women brought children on their shoulders; small black boys learned on +their back little brothers equally inky, and, gravely depositing them, +shook hands. Never had I seen human beings so clad, or rather so unclad, +in such amazing squalid-ness and destitution of garments. I recall one +small urchin without a rag of clothing save the basque waist of a lady's +dress, bristling with whalebones, and worn wrong side before, beneath +which his smooth ebony legs emerged like those of an ostrich from its +plumage. How weak is imagination, how cold is memory, that I ever cease, +for a day of my life, to see before me the picture of that astounding +scene! + +Yet at the time we were perforce a little impatient of all this piety, +protestation, and hand-pressing; for the vital thing was to ascertain +what force had been stationed at the bluff, and whether it was yet +withdrawn. The slaves, on the other hand, were too much absorbed in +their prospective freedom to aid us in taking any further steps +to secure it. Captain Trowbridge, who had by this time landed at a +different point, got quite into despair over the seeming deafness of the +people to all questions. "How many soldiers are there on the bluff?" he +asked of the first-comer. + +"Mas'r," said the man, stuttering terribly, "I c-c-c--" + +"Tell me how many soldiers there are!" roared Trowbridge, in his +mighty voice, and all but shaking the poor old thing, in his thirst for +information. + +"O mas'r," recommenced in terror the incapacitated wit-ness, "I +c-c-carpenter!" holding up eagerly a little stump of a hatchet, his +sole treasure, as if his profession ought to excuse from all military +opinions. + +I wish that it were possible to present all this scene from the point of +view of the slaves themselves. It can be most nearly done, perhaps, by +quoting the description given of a similar scene on the Combahee River, +by a very aged man, who had been brought down on the previous raid, +already mentioned. I wrote it down in tent, long after, while the old +man recited the tale, with much gesticulation, at the door; and it is by +far the best glimpse I have ever had, through a negro's eyes, at these +wonderful birthdays of freedom. + +"De people was all a hoein', mas'r," said the old man. "Dey was a hoein' +in the rice-field, when de gunboats come. Den ebry man drap dem hoe, +and leff de rice. De mas'r he stand and call, 'Run to de wood for hide! +Yankee come, sell you to Cuba! run for hide!' Ebry man he run, and, my +God! run all toder way! + +"Mas'r stand in de wood, peep, peep, faid for truss [afraid to trust]. +He say, 'Run to de wood!' and ebry man run by him, straight to de boat. + +"De brack sojer so presumptious, dey come right ashore, hold up dere +head. Fus' ting I know, dere was a barn, ten tousand bushel rough rice, +all in a blaze, den mas'r's great house, all cracklin' up de roof. +Didn't I keer for see 'em blaze? Lor, mas'r, didn't care notin' at all, +_was gwine to de boat_." + +Dore's Don Quixote could not surpass the sublime absorption in which the +gaunt old man, with arm uplifted, described this stage of affairs, till +he ended in a shrewd chuckle, worthy of Sancho Panza. Then he resumed. + +"De brack sojers so presumptious!" This he repeated three times, slowly +shaking his head in an ecstasy of admiration. It flashed upon me that the +apparition of a black soldier must amaze those still in bondage, much +as a butterfly just from the chrysalis might astound his fellow-grubs. +I inwardly vowed that my soldiers, at least, should be as "presumptious" +as I could make them. Then he went on. + +"Ole woman and I go down to de boat; den dey say behind us, 'Rebels +comin'l Rebels comin'!' Ole woman say, 'Come ahead, come plenty ahead!' +I hab notin' on but my shirt and pantaloon; ole woman one single frock +he hab on, and one handkerchief on he head; I leff all-two my blanket +and run for de Rebel come, and den dey didn't come, didn't truss for +come. + +"Ise eighty-eight year old, mas'r. My ole Mas'r Lowndes keep all de ages +in a big book, and when we come to age ob sense we mark em down ebry +year, so I know. Too ole for come? Mas'r joking. Neber too ole for leave +de land o' bondage. I old, but great good for chil'en, gib tousand tank +ebry day. Young people can go through, _force_ [forcibly], mas'r, but de +ole folk mus' go slow." + +Such emotions as these, no doubt, were inspired by our arrival, but we +could only hear their hasty utterance in passing; our duty being, +with the small force already landed, to take possession of the bluff. +Ascending, with proper precautions, the wooded hill, we soon found +ourselves in the deserted camp of a light battery, amid scattered +equipments and suggestions of a very unattractive breakfast. As soon as +possible, skirmishers were thrown out through the woods to the farther +edge of the bluff, while a party searched the houses, finding the usual +large supply of furniture and pictures,--brought up for safety from +below,--but no soldiers. Captain Trowbridge then got the John Adams +beside the row of piles, and went to work for their removal. + +Again I had the exciting sensation of being within the hostile +lines,--the eager explorations, the doubts, the watchfulness, the +listening for every sound of coming hoofs. Presently a horse's tread +was heard in earnest, but it was a squad of our own men bringing in +two captured cavalry soldiers. One of these, a sturdy fellow, submitted +quietly to his lot, only begging that, whenever we should evacuate the +bluff, a note should be left behind stating that he was a prisoner. The +other, a very young man, and a member of the "Rebel Troop," a sort of +Cadet corps among the Charleston youths, came to me in great wrath, +complaining that the corporal of our squad had kicked him after he +had surrendered. His air of offended pride was very rueful, and it did +indeed seem a pathetic reversal of fortunes for the two races. To be +sure, the youth was a scion of one of the foremost families of South +Carolina, and when I considered the wrongs which the black race had +encountered from those of his blood, first and last, it seemed as if the +most scrupulous Recording Angel might tolerate one final kick to square +the account. But I reproved the corporal, who respectfully disclaimed +the charge, and said the kick was an incident of the scuffle. It +certainly was not their habit to show such poor malice; they thought too +well of themselves. + +His demeanor seemed less lofty, but rather piteous, when he implored me +not to put him on board any vessel which was to ascend the upper stream, +and hinted, by awful implications, the danger of such ascent. This meant +torpedoes, a peril which we treated, in those days, with rather mistaken +contempt. But we found none on the Edisto, and it may be that it was +only a foolish attempt to alarm us. + +Meanwhile, Trowbridge was toiling away at the row of piles, which proved +easier to draw out than to saw asunder, either work being hard enough. +It took far longer than we had hoped, and we saw noon approach and the +tide rapidly fall, taking with it, inch by inch, our hopes of effecting +a surprise at the bridge. During this time, and indeed all day, the +detachments on shore, under Captains Whitney and Sampson, were having +occasional skirmishes with the enemy, while the colored people were +swarming to the shore, or running to and fro like ants, with the poor +treasures of their houses. Our busy Quartermaster, Mr. Bingham--who died +afterwards from the overwork of that sultry day--was transporting +the refugees on board the steamer, or hunting up bales of cotton, or +directing the burning of rice-houses, in accordance with our orders. +No dwelling-houses were destroyed or plundered by our men,--Sherman's +"bummers" not having yet arrived,--though I asked no questions as to +what the plantation negroes might bring in their great bundles. One +piece of property, I must admit, seemed a lawful capture,--a United +States dress-sword, of the old pattern, which had belonged to the Rebel +general who afterwards gave the order to bury Colonel Shaw "with his +niggers." That I have retained, not without some satisfaction, to this +day. + +A passage having been cleared at last, and the tide having turned by +noon, we lost no time in attempting the ascent, leaving the bluff to +be held by the John Adams, and by the small force on shore. We were +scarcely above the obstructions, however, when the little tug went +aground, and the Enoch Dean, ascending a mile farther, had an encounter +with a battery on the right,--perhaps our old enemy,--and drove it back. +Soon after, she also ran aground, a misfortune of which our opponent +strangely took no advantage; and, on getting off, I thought it best to +drop down to the bluff again, as the tide was still hopelessly low. None +can tell, save those who have tried them, the vexations of those muddy +Southern streams, navigable only during a few hours of flood-tide. + +After waiting an hour, the two small vessels again tried the ascent. The +enemy on the right had disappeared; but we could now see, far off on our +left, another light battery moving parallel with the river, apparently +to meet us at some upper bend. But for the present we were safe, with +the low rice-fields on each side of us; and the scene was so peaceful, +it seemed as if all danger were done. For the first time, we saw in +South Carolina blossoming river-banks and low emerald meadows, that +seemed like New England. Everywhere there were the same rectangular +fields, smooth canals, and bushy dikes. A few negroes stole out to us +in dugouts, and breathlessly told us how others had been hurried away +by the overseers. We glided safely on, mile after mile. The day was +unutterably hot, but all else seemed propitious. The men had their +combustibles all ready to fire the bridge, and our hopes were unbounded. + +But by degrees the channel grew more tortuous and difficult, and while +the little Milton glided smoothly over everything, the Enoch Dean, my +own boat, repeatedly grounded. On every occasion of especial need, too, +something went wrong in her machinery,--her engine being constructed on +some wholly new patent, of which, I should hope, this trial would prove +entirely sufficient. The black pilot, who was not a soldier, grew more +and more bewildered, and declared that it was the channel, not his +brain, which had gone wrong; the captain, a little elderly man, sat +wringing his hands in the pilot-box; and the engineer appeared to be +mingling his groans with those of the diseased engine. Meanwhile I, +in equal ignorance of machinery and channel, had to give orders only +justified by minute acquaintance with both. So I navigated on general +principles, until they grounded us on a mud-bank, just below a wooded +point, and some two miles from the bridge of our destination. It was +with a pang that I waved to Major Strong, who was on the other side of +the channel in a tug, not to risk approaching us, but to steam on and +finish the work, if he could. + +Short was his triumph. Gliding round the point, he found himself +instantly engaged with a light battery of four or six guns, doubtless +the same we had seen in the distance. The Milton was within two hundred +and fifty yards. The Connecticut men fought then: guns well, aided by +the blacks, and it was exasperating for us to hear the shots, while we +could see nothing and do nothing. The scanty ammunition of our bow gun +was exhausted, and the gun in the stern was useless, from the position +in which we lay. In vain we moved the men from side to side, rocking the +vessel, to dislodge it. The heat was terrific that August afternoon; +I remember I found myself constantly changing places, on the scorched +deck, to keep my feet from being blistered. At last the officer in +charge of the gun, a hardy lumberman from Maine, got the stern of the +vessel so far round that he obtained the range of the battery through +the cabin windows, "but it would be necessary," he cooly added, on +reporting to me this fact, "to shoot away the corner of the cabin." I +knew that this apartment was newly painted and gilded, and the idol of +the poor captain's heart; but it was plain that even the thought of his +own upholstery could not make the poor soul more wretched than he was. +So I bade Captain Dolly blaze away, and thus we took our hand in the +little game, though at a sacrifice. + +It was of no use. Down drifted out little consort round the point, her +engine disabled and her engineer killed, as we afterwards found, though +then we could only look and wonder. Still pluckily firing, she floated +by upon the tide, which had now just turned; and when, with a last +desperate effort, we got off, our engine had one of its impracticable +fits, and we could only follow her. The day was waning, and all its +range of possibility had lain within the limits of that one tide. + +All our previous expeditions had been so successful it now seemed hard +to turn back; the river-banks and rice-fields, so beautiful before, +seemed only a vexation now. But the swift current bore us on, and after +our Parthian shots had died away, a new discharge of artillery opened +upon us, from our first antagonist of the morning, which still kept the +other side of the stream. It had taken up a strong position on another +bluff, almost out of range of the John Adams, but within easy range of +us. The sharpest contest of the day was before us. Happily the engine +and engineer were now behaving well, and we were steering in a channel +already traversed, and of which the dangerous points were known. But we +had a long, straight reach of river before us, heading directly toward +the battery, which, having once got our range, had only to keep it, +while we could do nothing in return. The Rebels certainly served then: +guns well. For the first time I discovered that there were certain +compensating advantages in a slightly built craft, as compared with one +more substantial; the missiles never lodged in the vessel, but crashed +through some thin partition as if it were paper, to explode beyond us, +or fall harmless in the water. Splintering, the chief source of wounds +and death in wooden ships, was thus entirely avoided; the danger was +that our machinery might be disabled, or that shots might strike below +the water-line and sink us. + +This, however, did not happen. Fifteen projectiles, as we afterwards +computed, passed through the vessel or cut the rigging. Yet few +casualties occurred, and those instantly fatal. As my orderly stood +leaning on a comrade's shoulder, the head of the latter was shot off. +At last I myself felt a sudden blow in the side, as if from some +prize-fighter, doubling me up for a moment, while I sank upon a seat. It +proved afterwards to have been produced by the grazing of a ball, which, +without tearing a garment, had yet made a large part of my side black +and blue, leaving a sensation of paralysis which made it difficult to +stand. Supporting myself on Captain Rogers, I tried to comprehend what +had happened, and I remember being impressed by an odd feeling that I +had now got my share, and should henceforth be a great deal safer +than any of the rest. I am told that this often follows one's first +experience of a wound. + +But this immediate contest, sharp as it was, proved brief; a turn in +the river enabled us to use our stern gun, and we soon glided into +the comparative shelter of Wiltown Bluff. There, however, we were to +encounter the danger of shipwreck, superadded to that of fight. When +the passage through the piles was first cleared, it had been marked by +stakes, lest the rising tide should cover the remaining piles, and +make it difficult to run the passage. But when we again reached it, the +stakes had somehow been knocked away, the piles were just covered by the +swift current, and the little tug-boat was aground upon them. She came +off easily, however, with our aid, and, when we in turn essayed the +passage, we grounded also, but more firmly. We getting off at last, +and making the passage, the tug again became lodged, when nearly past +danger, and all our efforts proved powerless to pull her through. I +therefore dropped down below, and sent the John Adams to her aid, while +I superintended the final recall of the pickets, and the embarkation of +the remaining refugees. + +While thus engaged, I felt little solicitude about the boats above. It +was certain that the John Adams could safely go close to the piles on +the lower side, that she was very strong, and that the other was very +light. Still, it was natural to cast some anxious glances up the river, +and it was with surprise that I presently saw a canoe descending, which +contained Major Strong. Coming on board, he told me with some excitement +that the tug could not possibly be got off, and he wished for orders. + +It was no time to consider whether it was not his place to have given +orders, instead of going half a mile to seek them. I was by this time so +far exhausted that everything seemed to pass by me as by one in a dream; +but I got into a boat, pushed up stream, met presently the John Adams +returning, and was informed by the officer in charge of the Connecticut +battery that he had abandoned the tug, and--worse news yet--that his +guns had been thrown overboard. It seemed to me then, and has always +seemed, that this sacrifice was utterly needless, because, although the +captain of the John Adams had refused to risk his vessel by going near +enough to receive the guns, he should have been compelled to do so. +Though the thing was done without my knowledge, and beyond my reach, +yet, as commander of the expedition, I was technically responsible. +It was hard to blame a lieutenant when his senior had shrunk from a +decision, and left him alone; nor was it easy to blame Major Strong, +whom I knew to be a man of personal courage though without much decision +of character. He was subsequently tried by court-martial and acquitted, +after which he resigned, and was lost at sea on his way home. + +The tug, being thus abandoned, must of course be burned to prevent +her falling into the enemy's hands. Major Strong went with prompt +fearlessness to do this, at my order; after which he remained on the +Enoch Dean, and I went on board the John Adams, being compelled to +succumb at last, and transfer all remaining responsibility to Captain +Trowbridge. Exhausted as I was, I could still observe, in a vague way, +the scene around me. Every available corner of the boat seemed like +some vast auction-room of second-hand goods. Great piles of bedding and +bundles lay on every side, with black heads emerging and black forms +reclining in every stage of squalidness. Some seemed ill, or wounded, +or asleep, others were chattering eagerly among themselves, singing, +praying, or soliloquizing on joys to come. "Bress de Lord," I heard one +woman say, "I spec' I got salt victual now,--notin' but fresh victual +dese six months, but Ise get salt victual now,"--thus reversing, under +pressure of the salt-embargo, the usual anticipations of voyagers. + +Trowbridge told me, long after, that, on seeking a fan for my benefit, +he could find but one on board. That was in the hands of a fat old +"aunty," who had just embarked, and sat on an enormous bundle of her +goods, in everybody's way, fanning herself vehemently, and ejaculating, +as her gasping breath would permit, "Oh! Do, Jesus! Oh! Do, Jesus!" when +the captain abruptly disarmed her of the fan, and left her continuing +her pious exercises. + +Thus we glided down the river in the waning light. Once more we +encountered a battery, making five in all; I could hear the guns of the +assailants, and could not distinguish the explosion of their shells +from the answering throb of our own guns. The kind Quartermaster kept +bringing me news of what occurred, like Rebecca in Front-de-Boeuf s +castle, but discreetly withholding any actual casualties. Then all faded +into safety and sleep; and we reached Beaufort in the morning, after +thirty-six hours of absence. A kind friend, who acted in South Carolina +a nobler part amid tragedies than in any of her early stage triumphs, +met us with an ambulance at the wharf, and the prisoners, the wounded, +and the dead were duly attended. + +The reader will not care for any personal record of convalescence; +though, among the general military laudations of whiskey, it is worth +while to say that one life was saved, in the opinion of my surgeons, +by an habitual abstinence from it, leaving no food for peritoneal +inflammation to feed upon. The able-bodied men who had joined us were, +sent to aid General Gillmore in the trenches, while their families +were established in huts and tents on St. Helena Island. A year after, +greatly to the delight of the regiment, in taking possession of a +battery which they had helped to capture on James Island, they found in +their hands the selfsame guns which they had seen thrown overboard from +the Governor Milton. They then felt that their account with the enemy +was squared, and could proceed to further operations. + +Before the war, how great a thing seemed the rescue of even one man from +slavery; and since the war has emancipated all, how little seems the +liberation of two hundred! But no one then knew how the contest might +end; and when I think of that morning sunlight, those emerald fields, +those thronging numbers, the old women with their prayers, and the +little boys with them: living burdens, I know that the day was worth all +it cost, and more. + + + + +Chapter 8. The Baby of the Regiment + + +We were in our winter camp on Port Royal Island. It was a lovely +November morning, soft and spring-like; the mocking-birds were singing, +and the cotton-fields still white with fleecy pods. Morning drill was +over, the men were cleaning their guns and singing very happily; the +officers were in their tents, reading still more happily their letters +just arrived from home. Suddenly I heard a knock at my tent-door, and +the latch clicked. It was the only latch in camp, and I was very proud +of it, and the officers always clicked it as loudly as possible, in +order to gratify my feelings. The door opened, and the Quartermaster +thrust in the most beaming face I ever saw. + +"Colonel," said he, "there are great news for the regiment. My wife and +baby are coming by the next steamer!" + +"Baby!" said I, in amazement. "Q. M., you are beside yourself." (We +always called the Quartermaster Q. M. for shortness.) "There was a pass +sent to your wife, but nothing was ever said about a baby. Baby indeed!" + +"But the baby was included in the pass," replied the triumphant +father-of-a-family. "You don't suppose my wife would come down here +without her baby! Besides, the pass itself permits her to bring +necessary baggage, and is not a baby six months old necessary baggage?" + +"But, my dear fellow," said I, rather anxiously, "how can you make +the little thing comfortable in a tent, amidst these rigors of a South +Carolina winter, when it is uncomfortably hot for drill at noon, and ice +forms by your bedside at night?" + +"Trust me for that," said the delighted papa, and went off whistling. I +could hear him telling the same news to three others, at least, before +he got to his own tent. + +That day the preparations began, and soon his abode was a wonder of +comfort. There were posts and rafters, and a raised floor, and a great +chimney, and a door with hinges,--every luxury except a latch, and that +he could not have, for mine was the last that could be purchased. One of +the regimental carpenters was employed to make a cradle, and another to +make a bedstead high enough for the cradle to go under. Then there must +be a bit of red carpet beside the bedstead, and thus the progress of +splendor went on. The wife of one of the colored sergeants was engaged +to act as nursery-maid. She was a very respectable young woman; the +only objection to her being that she smoked a pipe. But we thought that +perhaps Baby might not dislike tobacco; and if she did, she would have +excellent opportunities to break the pipe in pieces. + +In due time the steamer arrived, and Baby and her mother were among the +passengers. The little recruit was soon settled in her new cradle, and +slept in it as if she had never known any other. The sergeant's wife +soon had her on exhibition through the neighborhood, and from that time +forward she was quite a queen among us. She had sweet blue eyes and +pretty brown hair, with round, dimpled cheeks, and that perfect dignity +which is so beautiful in a baby. She hardly ever cried, and was not +at all timid. She would go to anybody, and yet did not encourage any +romping from any but the most intimate friends. She always wore a warm +long-sleeved scarlet cloak with a hood, and in this costume was +carried or "toted," as the soldiers said, all about the camp. At +"guard-mounting" in the morning, when the men who are to go on guard +duty for the day are drawn up to be inspected, Baby was always there, to +help inspect them. She did not say much, but she eyed them very +closely, and seemed fully to appreciate their bright buttons. Then the +Officer-of-the-Day, who appears at guard-mounting with his sword and +sash, and comes afterwards to the Colonel's tent for orders, would come +and speak to Baby on his way, and receive her orders first. When the +time came for drill she was usually present to watch the troops; and +when the drum beat for dinner she liked to see the long row of men in +each company march up to the cookhouse, in single file, each with tin +cup and plate. + +During the day, in pleasant weather, she might be seen in her nurse's +arms, about the company streets, the centre of an admiring circle, her +scarlet costume looking very pretty amidst the shining black cheeks +and neat blue uniforms of the soldiers. At "dress-parade," just before +sunset, she was always an attendant. As I stood before the regiment, I +could see the little spot of red out of the corner of my eye, at one +end of the long line of men; and I looked with so much interest for her +small person, that, instead of saying at the proper time, "Attention, +Battalion! Shoulder arms!"--it is a wonder that I did not say, "Shoulder +babies!" + +Our little lady was very impartial, and distributed her kind looks to +everybody. She had not the slightest prejudice against color, and did +not care in the least whether her particular friends were black or +white. Her especial favorites, I think, were the drummer-boys, who were +not my favorites by any means, for they were a roguish set of scamps, +and gave more trouble than all the grown men in the regiment. I think +Annie liked them because they were small, and made a noise, and had red +caps like her hood, and red facings on their jackets, and also because +they occasionally stood on their heads for her amusement. After +dress-parade the whole drum-corps would march to the great flag-staff, +and wait till just sunset-time, when they would beat "the retreat," +and then the flag would be hauled down,--a great festival for Annie. +Sometimes the Sergeant-Major would wrap her in the great folds of the +flag, after it was taken down, and she would peep out very prettily from +amidst the stars and stripes, like a new-born Goddess of Liberty. + +About once a month, some inspecting officer was sent to the camp by +the general in command, to see to the condition of everything in the +regiment, from bayonets to buttons. It was usually a long and tiresome +process, and, when everything else was done, I used to tell the officer +that I had one thing more for him to inspect, which was peculiar to our +regiment. Then I would send for Baby to be exhibited, and I never saw an +inspecting officer, old or young, who did not look pleased at the sudden +appearance of the little, fresh, smiling creature,--a flower in the +midst of war. And Annie in her turn would look at them, with the true +baby dignity La her face,--that deep, earnest look which babies often +have, and which people think so wonderful when Raphael paints it, +although they might often see just the same expression in the faces of +their own darlings at home. + +Meanwhile Annie seemed to like the camp style of housekeeping very much. +Her father's tent was double, and he used the front apartment for his +office, and the inner room for parlor and bedroom; while the nurse had a +separate tent and wash-room behind all. I remember that, the first time +I went there in the evening, it was to borrow some writing-paper; and +while Baby's mother was hunting for it in the front tent, I heard a +great cooing and murmuring in the inner room. I asked if Annie was still +awake, and her mother told me to go in and see. Pushing aside the canvas +door, I entered. No sign of anybody was to be seen; but a variety of +soft little happy noises seemed to come from some unseen corner. Mrs. +C. came quietly in, pulled away the counterpane of her own bed, and drew +out the rough cradle where lay the little damsel, perfectly happy, and +wider awake than anything but a baby possibly can be. She looked as +if the seclusion of a dozen family bedsteads would not be enough to +discourage her spirits, and I saw that camp life was likely to suit her +very well. + +A tent can be kept very warm, for it is merely a house with a thinner +wall than usual; and I do not think that Baby felt the cold much more +than if she had been at home that winter. The great trouble is, that a +tent-chimney, not being built very high, is apt to smoke when the wind +is in a certain direction; and when that happens it is hardly possible +to stay inside. So we used to build the chimneys of some tents on the +east side, and those of others on the west, and thus some of the tents +were always comfortable. I have seen Baby's mother running in a hard +rain, with little Red-Riding-Hood in her arms, to take refuge with the +Adjutant's wife, when every other abode was full of smoke; and I must +admit that there were one or two windy days that season when nobody +could really keep warm, and Annie had to remain ignominiously in her +cradle, with as many clothes on as possible, for almost the whole time. + +The Quartermaster's tent was very attractive to us in the evening. I +remember that once, on passing near it after nightfall, I heard our +Major's fine voice singing Methodist hymns within, and Mrs. C.'s sweet +tones chiming in. So I peeped through the outer door. The fire was +burning very pleasantly in the inner tent, and the scrap of new red +carpet made the floor look quite magnificent. The Major sat on a box, +our surgeon on a stool; "Q. M." and his wife, and the Adjutant's wife, +and one of the captains, were all sitting on the bed, singing as well as +they knew how; and the baby was under the bed. Baby had retired for the +night, was overshadowed, suppressed, sat upon; the singing went on, and +she had wandered away into her own land of dreams, nearer to heaven, +perhaps, than any pitch their voices could attain. I went in, and joined +the party. Presently the music stopped, and another officer was sent +for, to sing some particular song. At this pause the invisible innocent +waked a little, and began to cluck and coo. + +"It's the kitten," exclaimed somebody. + +"It's my baby!" exclaimed Mrs. C. triumphantly, in that tone of +unfailing personal pride which belongs to young mothers. + +The people all got up from the bed for a moment, while Annie was pulled +from beneath, wide awake and placid as usual; and she sat in one lap or +another during the rest of the concert, sometimes winking at the candle, +but usually listening to the songs, with a calm and critical expression, +as if she could make as much noise as any of them, whenever she saw +fit to try. Not a sound did she make, however, except one little soft +sneeze, which led to an immediate flood-tide of red shawl, covering +every part of her but the forehead. But I soon hinted that the concert +had better be ended, because I knew from observation that the small +damsel had Carefully watched a regimental inspection and a brigade drill +on that day, and that an interval of repose was certainly necessary. + +Annie did not long remain the only baby in camp. One day, on going +out to the stables to look at a horse, I heard a sound of baby-talk, +addressed by some man to a child near by, and, looking round the corner +of a tent, I saw that one of the hostlers had something black and round, +lying on the sloping side of a tent, with which he was playing very +eagerly. It proved to be his baby, a plump, shiny thing, younger +than Annie; and I never saw a merrier picture than the happy father +frolicking with his child, while the mother stood quietly by. This was +Baby Number Two, and she stayed in camp several weeks, the two innocents +meeting each other every day, in the placid indifference that belonged +to their years; both were happy little healthy things, and it never +seemed to cross their minds that there was any difference in their +complexions. As I said before, Annie was not troubled by any prejudice +in regard to color, nor do I suppose that the other little maiden was. + +Annie enjoyed the tent-life very much; but when we were Sent out on +picket soon after, she enjoyed it still more. Our head-quarters were at +a deserted plantation house, with one large parlor, a dining-room, and +a few bedrooms. Baby's father and mother had a room up stairs, with +a stove whose pipe went straight out at the window. This was quite +comfortable, though half the windows were broken, and there was no glass +and no glazier to mend them. The windows of the large parlor were in +much the same condition, though we had an immense fireplace, where we +had a bright fire whenever it was cold, and always in the evening. The +walls of this room were very dirty, and it took our ladies several +days to cover all the unsightly places with wreaths and hangings of +evergreen. In the performance Baby took an active part. Her duties +consisted in sitting in a great nest of evergreen, pulling and fingering +the fragrant leaves, and occasionally giving a little cry of glee when +she had accomplished some piece of decided mischief. + +There was less entertainment to be found in the camp itself at this +time; but the household at head-quarters was larger than Baby had been +accustomed to. We had a great deal of company, moreover, and she had +quite a gay life of it. She usually made her appearance in the large +parlor soon after breakfast; and to dance her for a few moments in our +arms was one of the first daily duties of each one. Then the morning +reports began to arrive from the different outposts,--a mounted officer +or courier coming in from each place, dismounting at the door, and +clattering in with jingling arms and spurs, each a new excitement +for Annie. She usually got some attention from any officer who came, +receiving with her wonted dignity any daring caress. When the messengers +had ceased to be interesting, there were always the horses to look at, +held or tethered under the trees beside the sunny _piazza_. After the +various couriers had been received, other messengers would be despatched +to the town, seven miles away, and Baby had all the excitement of their +mounting and departure. Her father was often one of the riders, and +would sometimes seize Annie for a good-by kiss, place her on the saddle +before him, gallop her round the house once or twice, and then give her +back to her nurse's arms again. She was perfectly fearless, and such +boisterous attentions never frightened her, nor did they ever interfere +with her sweet, infantine self-possession. + +After the riding-parties had gone, there was the _piazza_ still for +entertainment, with a sentinel pacing up and down before it; but Annie +did not enjoy the sentinel, though his breastplate and buttons shone +like gold, so much as the hammock which always hung swinging between +the pillars. It was a pretty hammock, with great open meshes; and she +delighted to lie in it, and have the netting closed above her, so that +she could only be seen through the apertures. I can see her now, the +fresh little rosy thing, in her blue and scarlet wrappings, with one +round and dimpled arm thrust forth through the netting, and the other +grasping an armful of blushing roses and fragrant magnolias. She looked +like those pretty French bas-reliefs of Cupids imprisoned in baskets, +and peeping through. That hammock was a very useful appendage; it was +a couch for us, a cradle for Baby, a nest for the kittens; and we had, +moreover, a little hen, which tried to roost there every night. + +When the mornings were colder, and the stove up stairs smoked the wrong +way, Baby was brought down in a very incomplete state of toilet, and +finished her dressing by the great fire. We found her bare shoulders +very becoming, and she was very much interested in her own little pink +toes. After a very slow dressing, she had a still slower breakfast out +of a tin cup of warm milk, of which she generally spilt a good deal, +as she had much to do in watching everybody who came into the room, and +seeing that there was no mischief done. Then she would be placed on the +floor, on our only piece of carpet, and the kittens would be brought in +for her to play with. + +We had, at different times, a variety of pets, of whom Annie did not +take much notice. Sometimes we had young partridges, caught by the +drummer-boys in trap-cages. The children called them "Bob and Chloe," +because the first notes of the male and female sound like those names. +One day I brought home an opossum, with her blind bare little young +clinging to the droll pouch where their mothers keep them. Sometimes we +had pretty green lizards, their color darkening or deepening, like that +of chameleons, in light or shade. But the only pets that took Baby's +fancy were the kittens. They perfectly delighted her, from the first +moment she saw them; they were the only things younger than herself that +she had ever beheld, and the only things softer than themselves that her +small hands had grasped. It was astonishing to see how much the kittens +would endure from her. They could scarcely be touched by any one else +without mewing; but when Annie seized one by the head and the other by +the tail, and rubbed them violently together, they did not make a +sound. I suppose that a baby's grasp is really soft, even if it seems +ferocious, and so it gives less pain than one would think. At any rate, +the little animals had the best of it very soon; for they entirely +outstripped Annie in learning to walk, and they could soon scramble away +beyond her reach, while she sat in a sort of dumb despair, unable to +comprehend why anything so much smaller than herself should be so much +nimbler. Meanwhile, the kittens would sit up and look at her with the +most provoking indifference, just out of arm's length, until some of us +would take pity on the young lady, and toss her furry playthings back to +her again. "Little baby," she learned to call them; and these were the +very first words she spoke. + +Baby had evidently a natural turn for war, further cultivated by an +intimate knowledge of drills and parades. The nearer she came to actual +conflict the better she seemed to like it, peaceful as her own little +ways might be. Twice, at least, while she was with us on picket, we +had alarms from the Rebel troops, who would bring down cannon to the +opposite side of the Ferry, about two miles beyond us, and throw shot +and shell over upon our side. Then the officer at the Ferry would think +that there was to be an attack made, and couriers would be sent, riding +to and fro, and the men would all be called to arms in a hurry, and the +ladies at headquarters would all put on their best bonnets and come down +stairs, and the ambulance would be made ready to carry them to a place +of safety before the expected fight. On such occasions Baby was in all +her glory. She shouted with delight at being suddenly uncribbed and +thrust into her little scarlet cloak, and brought down stairs, at an +utterly unusual and improper hour, to a _piazza_ with lights and people +and horses and general excitement. She crowed and gurgled and made +gestures with her little fists, and screamed out what seemed to be +her advice on the military situation, as freely as if she had been a +newspaper editor. Except that it was rather difficult to understand her +precise direction, I do not know but the whole Rebel force might have +been captured through her plans. And at any rate, I should much rather +obey her orders than those of some generals whom I have known; for she +at least meant no harm, and would lead one into no mischief. + +However, at last the danger, such as it was, would be all over, and the +ladies would be induced to go peacefully to bed again; and Annie would +retreat with them to her ignoble cradle, very much disappointed, and +looking vainly back at the more martial scene below. The next morning +she would seem to have forgotten all about it, and would spill her bread +and milk by the fire as if nothing had happened. + +I suppose we hardly knew, at the time, how large a part of the sunshine +of our daily lives was contributed by dear little Annie. Yet, when I now +look back on that pleasant Southern home, she seems as essential a +part of it as the mocking-birds or the magnolias, and I cannot convince +myself that in returning to it I should not find her there. But Annie +went back, with the spring, to her Northern birthplace, and then passed +away from this earth before her little feet had fairly learned to tread +its paths; and when I meet her next it must be in some world where there +is triumph without armies, and where innocence is trained in scenes of +peace. I know, however, that her little life, short as it seemed, was a +blessing to us all, giving a perpetual image of serenity and sweetness, +recalling the lovely atmosphere of far-off homes, and holding us by +unsuspected ties to whatsoever things were pure. + + + + +Chapter 9. Negro Spirituals + + +The war brought to some of us, besides its direct experiences, many a +strange fulfilment of dreams of other days. For instance, the present +writer had been a faithful student of the Scottish ballads, and had +always envied Sir Walter the delight of tracing them out amid their +own heather, and of writing them down piecemeal from the lips of aged +crones. It was a strange enjoyment, therefore, to be suddenly brought +into the midst of a kindred world of unwritten songs, as simple and +indigenous as the Border Minstrelsy, more uniformly plaintive, almost +always more quaint, and often as essentially poetic. + +This interest was rather increased by the fact that I had for many years +heard of this class of songs under the name of "Negro Spirituals," and +had even heard some of them sung by friends from South Carolina. I could +now gather on their own soil these strange plants, which I had before +seen as in museums alone. True, the individual songs rarely coincided; +there was a line here, a chorus there,--just enough to fix the class, +but this was unmistakable. It was not strange that they differed, +for the range seemed almost endless, and South Carolina, Georgia, and +Florida seemed to have nothing but the generic character in common, +until all were mingled in the united stock of camp-melodies. + +Often in the starlit evening, I have returned from some lonely ride by +the swift river, or on the plover-haunted barrens, and, entering the +camp, have silently approached some glimmering fire, round which the +dusky figures moved in the rhythmical barbaric dance the negroes call a +"shout," chanting, often harshly, but always in the most perfect +time, some monotonous refrain. Writing down in the darkness, as I best +could,--perhaps with my hand in the safe covert of my pocket,--the words +of the song, I have afterwards carried it to my tent, like some captured +bird or insect, and then, after examination, put it by. Or, summoning +one of the men at some period of leisure,--Corporal Robert Sutton, for +instance, whose iron memory held all the details of a song as if it were +a ford or a forest,--I have completed the new specimen by supplying the +absent parts. The music I could only retain by ear, and though the more +common strains were repeated often enough to fix their impression, there +were others that occurred only once or twice. + +The words will be here given, as nearly as possible, in the original +dialect; and if the spelling seems sometimes inconsistent, or the +misspelling insufficient, it is because I could get no nearer. I wished +to avoid what seems to me the only error of Lowell's "Biglow Papers" in +respect to dialect, the occasional use of an extreme misspelling, which +merely confuses the eye, without taking us any closer to the peculiarity +of sound. + +The favorite song in camp was the following, sung with no accompaniment +but the measured clapping of hands and the clatter of many feet. It was +sung perhaps twice as often as any other. This was partly due to the +fact that it properly consisted of a chorus alone, with which the verses +of other songs might be combined at random. + +I. HOLD YOUR LIGHT. + + "Hold your light, Brudder Robert, + Hold your light, + Hold your light on Canaan's shore. + "What make ole Satan for follow me so? + Satan ain't got notin' for do wid me. + Hold your light, + Hold your light, + Hold your light on Canaan's shore." + +This would be sung for half an hour at a time, perhaps each person +present being named in turn. It seemed the simplest primitive type of +"spiritual." The next in popularity was almost as elementary, and, like +this, named successively each one of the circle. It was, however, much +more resounding and convivial in its music. + +II. BOUND TO GO. + + "Jordan River, I'm bound to go, + Bound to go, bound to go,-- + Jordan River, I'm bound to go, + And bid 'em fare ye well. + + "My Brudder Robert, I'm bound to go, + Bound to go," &c. + + "My Sister Lucy, I'm bound to go, + Bound to go," &c. + +Sometimes it was "tink 'em" (think them) "fare ye well." The _ye_ was so +detached that I thought at first it was "very" or "vary well." + +Another picturesque song, which seemed immensely popular, was at first +very bewildering to me. I could not make out the first words of the +chorus, and called it the "Roman-dar," being reminded of some Romaic +song which I had formerly heard. That association quite fell in with the +Orientalism of the new tent-life. + +III. ROOM IN THERE. + + "O, my mudder is gone! my mudder is gone! + My mudder is gone into heaven, my Lord! + I can't stay behind! + Dere's room in dar, room in dar, + Room in dar, in de heaven, my Lord! + I can't stay behind! + Can't stay behind, my dear, + I can't stay behind! + + "O, my fader is gone!" &c. + + "O, de angels are gone!" &c. + + "O, I'se been on de road! I'se been on de road! + I'se been on de road into heaven, my Lord! + I can't stay behind! + O, room in dar, room in dar, + Room in dar, in de heaven, my Lord! + I can't stay behind! + +By this time every man within hearing, from oldest to youngest, would be +wriggling and shuffling, as if through some magic piper's bewitchment; +for even those who at first affected contemptuous indifference would be +drawn into the vortex erelong. + +Next to these in popularity ranked a class of songs belonging +emphatically to the Church Militant, and available for camp purposes +with very little strain upon their symbolism. This, for instance, had a +true companion-in-arms heartiness about it, not impaired by the feminine +invocation at the end. + +IV. HAIL MARY. + + "One more valiant soldier here, + One more valiant soldier here, + One more valiant soldier here, + To help me bear de cross. + O hail, Mary, hail! + Hail, Mary, hail! + Hail, Mary, hail! + To help me bear de cross." + +I fancied that the original reading might have been "soul," instead +of "soldier,"--with some other syllable inserted to fill out the +metre,--and that the "Hail, Mary," might denote a Roman Catholic origin, +as I had several men from St. Augustine who held in a dim way to that +faith. It was a very ringing song, though not so grandly jubilant as +the next, which was really impressive as the singers pealed it out, when +marching or rowing or embarking. + +V. MY ARMY CROSS OVER. + + "My army cross over, + My army cross over, + O, Pharaoh's army drowndedl + My army cross over. + + "We'll cross de mighty river, + My army cross over; + We'll cross de river Jordan, + My army cross over; + We'll cross de danger water, + My army cross over; + We'll cross de mighty Myo, + My army cross over. _(Thrice.)_ + O, Pharaoh's army drowndedl + My army cross over." + +I could get no explanation of the "mighty Myo," except that one of the +old men thought it meant the river of death. Perhaps it is an African +word. In the Cameroon dialect, "Mawa" signifies "to die." + +The next also has a military ring about it, and the first line is well +matched by the music. The rest is conglomerate, and one or two lines +show a more Northern origin. "Done" is a Virginia shibboleth, quite +distinct from the "been" which replaces it in South Carolina. Yet one +of their best choruses, without any fixed words, was, "De bell done +ringing," for which, in proper South Carolina dialect, would have been +substituted, "De bell been a-ring." This refrain may have gone South +with our army. + +VI. RIDE IN, KIND SAVIOUR. + + "Ride in, kind Saviour! + No man can hinder me. + O, Jesus is a mighty man! + No man, &c. + We're marching through Virginny fields. + No man, &c. + O, Satan is a busy man, + No man, &c. + And he has his sword and shield, + No man, &c. + O, old Secesh done come and gone! + No man can hinder me." + +Sometimes they substituted "binder _we_," which was more spicy to the +ear, and more in keeping with the usual head-over-heels arrangement of +their pronouns. + +Almost all their songs were thoroughly religious in their tone, however +quaint then: expression, and were in a minor key, both as to words and +music. The attitude is always the same, and, as a commentary on the +life of the race, is infinitely pathetic. Nothing but patience for +this life,--nothing but triumph in the next. Sometimes the present +predominates, sometimes the future; but the combination is always +implied. In the following, for instance, we hear simply the patience. + +VII. THIS WORLD ALMOST DONE. + + "Brudder, keep your lamp trimmin' and a-burnin', + Keep your lamp trimmin' and a-burnin', + Keep your lamp trimmin' and a-burnin', + For dis world most done. + So keep your lamp, &c. + Dis world most done." + +But in the next, the final reward of patience is proclaimed as +plaintively. + +VIII. I WANT TO GO HOME. + + "Dere's no rain to wet you, + O, yes, I want to go home. + Dere's no sun to burn you, + O, yes, I want to go home; + O, push along, believers, + O, yes, &c. + Dere's no hard trials, + O, yes, &c. + Dere's no whips a-crackin', + O, yes, &c. + My brudder on de wayside, + O, yes, &c. + O, push along, my brudder, + O, yes, &c. + Where dere's no stormy weather, + O, yes, &c. + Dere's no tribulation, + O, yes, &c. + +This next was a boat-song, and timed well with the tug of the oar. + +IX. THE COMING DAY + + "I want to go to Canaan, + I want to go to Canaan, + I want to go to Canaan, + To meet 'em at de comin' day. + O, remember, let me go to Canaan, _(Thrice.)_ + To meet "em, &c. + O brudder, let me go to Canaan, _(Thrice.)_ + To meet 'em, &c. + My brudder, you--oh!--remember, _(Thrice.)_ + To meet 'em at de comin' day." + +The following begins with a startling affirmation, yet the last line +quite outdoes the first. This, too, was a capital boat-song. + +X. ONE MORE RIVER. + + "O, Jordan bank was a great old bank, + Dere ain't but one more river to cross. + We have some valiant soldier here, + Dere ain't, &c. + O, Jordan stream will never run dry, + Dere ain't, &c. + Dere's a hill on my leff, and he catch on my right, + Dere ain't but one more river to cross." + +I could get no explanation of this last riddle, except, "Dat mean, if +you go on de leff, go to 'struction, and if you go on de right, go to +God, for sure." + +In others, more of spiritual conflict is implied, as in this next + +XI. O THE DYING LAMB! + + "I wants to go where Moses trod, + O de dying Lamb! + For Moses gone to de promised land, + O de dying Lamb! + To drink from springs dat never run dry, + O, &c. + Cry O my Lord! + O, &c. + Before I'll stay in hell one day, + O, &c. + I'm in hopes to pray my sins away, + O, &c. + Cry O my Lord! + 0,&c. + Brudder Moses promised for be dar too, + O, &c. + To drink from streams dat never run dry, + O de dying Lamb!" + +In the next, the conflict is at its height, and the lurid imagery of +the Apocalypse is brought to bear. This book, with the books of Moses, +constituted their Bible; all that lay between, even the narratives of +the life of Jesus, they hardly cared to read or to hear. + +XII. DOWN IN THE VALLEY. + + "We'll run and never tire, + We'll run and never tire, + We'll run and never tire, + Jesus set poor sinners free. + Way down in de valley, + Who will rise and go with me? + You've heern talk of Jesus, + Who set poor sinners free. + + "De lightnin' and de flashin' + De lightnin' and de flashin', + De lightnin' and de flashin', + Jesus set poor shiners free. + I can't stand the fire. _(Thrice.)_ + Jesus set poor sinners free, + De green trees a-flamin'. _(Thrice_.) + Jesus set poor shiners free, + Way down in de valley, + Who will rise and go with me? + You've heern talk of Jesus + Who set poor shiners free." + +"De valley" and "de lonesome valley" were familiar words in their +religious experience. To descend into that region implied the same +process with the "anxious-seat" of the camp-meeting. When a young girl +was supposed to enter it, she bound a handkerchief by a peculiar knot +over her head, and made it a point of honor not to change a single +garment till the day of her baptism, so that she was sure of being in +physical readiness for the cleansing rite, whatever her spiritual +mood might be. More than once, in noticing a damsel thus mystically +kerchiefed, I have asked some dusky attendant its meaning, and have +received the unfailing answer,--framed with their usual indifference to +the genders of pronouns--"He in de lonesome valley, sa." + +The next gives the same dramatic conflict, while its detached and +impersonal refrain gives it strikingly the character of the Scotch and +Scandinavian ballads. + +XIII. CRY HOLY. + + "Cry holy, holy! + Look at de people dat is born of God. + And I run down de valley, and I run down to pray, + Says, look at de people dat is born of God. + When I get dar, Cappen Satan was dar, + Says, look at, &c. + Says, young man, young man, dere's no use for pray, + Says, look at, &c. + For Jesus is dead, and God gone away, + Says, look at, &c. + And I made him out a liar, and I went my way, + Says, look at, &c. + Sing holy, holy! + + "O, Mary was a woman, and he had a one Son, + Says, look at, &c. + And de Jews and de Romans had him hung, + Says, look at, &c. Cry holy, holy! + + "And I tell you, sinner, you had better had pray, + Says, look at, &c. + For hell is a dark and dismal place, + Says, look at, &c. + + And I tell you, sinner, and I wouldn't go dar! + Says, look at, &c. + Cry holy, holy!" + + +Here is an infinitely quaint description of the length of the heavenly +road:-- + + +XIV. O'ER THE CROSSING. + + "Vender's my old mudder, + Been a-waggin' at de hill so long. + It's about time she'll cross over; + Get home bimeby. + Keep prayin', I do believe + We're a long time waggin' o'er de crossin'. + Keep prayin', I do believe + We'll get home to heaven bimeby. + + "Hear dat mournful thunder + Roll from door to door, + Calling home God's children; + Get home bimeby. + Little chil'en, I do believe + We're a long time, &c. + Little chil'en, I do believe + We'll get home, &c. + + "See dat forked lightnin' + Flash from tree to tree, + Callin' home God's chil'en; + Get home bimeby. + True believer, I do believe + We're a long time, &c. + O brudders, I do believe, + We'll get home to heaven bimeby." + +One of the most singular pictures of future joys, and with fine flavor +of hospitality about it, was this:-- + +XV. WALK 'EM EASY. + + "O, walk 'em easy round de heaven, + Walk 'em easy round de heaven, + Walk 'em easy round de heaven, + Dat all de people may join de band. + Walk 'em easy round de heaven. (_Thrice_.) + O, shout glory till 'em join dat band!" + +The chorus was usually the greater part of the song, and often came in +paradoxically, thus:-- + +XVI. O YES, LORD. + + "O, must I be like de foolish mans? + O yes, Lord! + Will build de house on de sandy hill. + O yes, Lord! + I'll build my house on Zion hill, + O yes, Lord! + No wind nor rain can blow me down, + O yes, Lord!" + +The next is very graceful and lyrical, and with more variety of rhythm +than usual:-- + +XVII. BOW LOW, MARY. + + "Bow low, Mary, bow low, Martha, + For Jesus come and lock de door, + And carry de keys away. + Sail, sail, over yonder, + And view de promised land. + For Jesus come, &c. + Weep, O Mary, bow low, Martha, + For Jesus come, &c. + Sail, sail, my true believer; + Sail, sail, over yonder; + Mary, bow low, Martha, bow low, + For Jesus come and lock de door + And carry de keys away." + +But of all the "spirituals" that which surprised me the most, I +think,--perhaps because it was that in which external nature furnished +the images most directly,--was this. With all my experience of their +ideal ways of speech, I was startled when first I came on such a flower +of poetry in that dark soil. + +XVIII. I KNOW MOON-RISE. + + "I know moon-rise, I know star-rise, + Lay dis body down. + I walk in de moonlight, I walk in de starlight, + To lay dis body down. + I'll walk in de graveyard, I'll walk through de graveyard, + To lay dis body down. + I'll lie in de grave and stretch out my arms; + Lay dis body down. + I go to de judgment in de evenin' of de day, + When I lay dis body down; + And my soul and your soul will meet in de day + When I lay dis body down." + +"I'll lie in de grave and stretch out my arms." Never, it seems to me, +since man first lived and suffered, was his infinite longing for peace +uttered more plaintively than in that line. + +The next is one of the wildest and most striking of the whole series: +there is a mystical effect and a passionate striving throughout the +whole. The Scriptural struggle between Jacob and the angel, which is +only dimly expressed in the words, seems all uttered in the music. I +think it impressed my imagination more powerfully than any other of +these songs. + +XIX. WRESTLING JACOB. + + "O wrestlin' Jacob, Jacob, day's a-breakin'; + I will not let thee go! + O wrestlin' Jacob, Jacob, day's a-breakin'; + He will not let me go! + O, I hold my brudder wid a tremblin' hand + I would not let him go! + I hold my sister wid a tremblin' hand; + I would not let her go! + + "O, Jacob do hang from a tremblin' limb, + He would not let him go! + O, Jacob do hang from a tremblin' limb; + De Lord will bless my soul. + O wrestlin' Jacob, Jacob," &c. + +Of "occasional hymns," properly so called, I noticed but one, a funeral +hymn for an infant, which is sung plaintively over and over, without +variety of words. + +XX. THE BABY GONE HOME. + + "De little baby gone home, + De little baby gone home, + De little baby gone along, + For to climb up Jacob's ladder. + And I wish I'd been dar, + I wish I'd been dar, + I wish I'd been dar, my Lord, + For to climb up Jacob's ladder." + +Still simpler is this, which is yet quite sweet and touching. + +XXI. JESUS WITH US. + + "He have been wid us, Jesus + He still wid us, Jesus, + He will be wid us, Jesus, + Be wid us to the end." + +The next seemed to be a favorite about Christmas time, when meditations +on "de rollin' year" were frequent among them. + + +XXII. LORD, REMEMBER ME. + + "O do, Lord, remember me! + O do, Lord, remember me! + O, do remember me, until de year roll round! + Do, Lord, remember me! + + "If you want to die like Jesus died, + Lay in de grave, + You would fold your arms and close your eyes + And die wid a free good will. + + "For Death is a simple ting, + And he go from door to door, + And he knock down some, and he cripple op some, + And he leave some here to pray. + + "O do, Lord remember me! + O do, Lord, remember me! + My old fader's gone till de year roll round; + Do, Lord, remember me!" + +The next was sung in such an operatic and rollicking way that it was +quite hard to fancy it a religious performance, which, however, it was. +I heard it but once. + +XXIH. EARLY IN THE MORNING. + + "I meet little Rosa early in de mornin', + O Jerusalem! early in de mornin'; + And I ax her, How you do, my darter? + O Jerusalem! early in de mornin'. + + "I meet my mudder early in de mornin', + O Jerusalem! &c. + And I ax her, How you do, my mudder? + O Jerusalem! &c. + + "I meet Brudder Robert early in de mornin', + O Jerusalem! &c. + And I ax him, How you do, my sonny? + O Jerusalem! &c. + + "I meet Tittawisa early in de mornin', + O Jerusalem! &c. + And I ax her, How you do, my darter? + O Jerusalem!" &c. + +"Tittawisa" means "Sister Louisa." In songs of this class the name of +every person present successively appears. + +Their best marching song, and one which was invaluable to lift their +feet along, as they expressed it, was the following. There was a kind of +spring and lilt to it, quite indescribable by words. + +XXIV. GO IN THE WILDERNESS. + + "Jesus call you. Go in de wilderness, + Go in de wilderness, go in de wilderness, + Jesus call you. Go in de wilderness + To wait upon de Lord. + Go wait upon de Lord, + Go wait upon de Lord, + Go wait upon de Lord, my God, + He take away de sins of de world. + + "Jesus a-waitin'. Go in de wilderness, + Go, &c. + All dem chil'en go in de wilderness + To wait upon de Lord." + +The next was one of those which I had heard in boyish days, brought +North from Charleston. But the chorus alone was identical; the words +were mainly different, and those here given are quaint enough. + + +XXV. BLOW YOUR TRUMPET, GABRIEL. + + "O, blow your trumpet, Gabriel, + Blow your trumpet louder; + And I want dat trumpet to blow me home + To my new Jerusalem. + + "De prettiest ting dat ever I done + Was to serve de Lord when I was young. + So blow your trumpet, Gabriel, &c. + + "O, Satan is a liar, and he conjure too, + And if you don't mind, he'll conjure you. + So blow your trumpet, Gabriel, &c. + + "O, I was lost in de wilderness. + King Jesus hand me de candle down. + So blow your trumpet, Gabriel," &c. + +The following contains one of those odd transformations of proper names +with which their Scriptural citations were often enriched. It rivals +their text, "Paul may plant, and may polish wid water," which I have +elsewhere quoted, and in which the sainted Apollos would hardly have +recognized himself. + +XXVI. IN THE MORNING. + + "In de mornin', + In de mornin', + Chil'en? Yes, my Lord! + Don't you hear de trumpet sound? + If I had a-died when I was young, + I never would had de race for run. + Don't you hear de trumpet sound? + + "O Sam and Peter was fishin' in de sea, + And dey drop de net and follow my Lord. + Don't you hear de trumpet sound? + + "Dere's a silver spade for to dig my grave + And a golden chain for to let me down. + Don't you hear de trumpet sound? + In de mornin', In de mornin', + Chil'en? Yes, my Lord! + Don't you hear de trumpet sound?" + +These golden and silver fancies remind one of the King of Spain's +daughter in "Mother Goose," and the golden apple, and the silver pear, +which are doubtless themselves but the vestiges of some simple early +composition like this. The next has a humbler and more domestic style of +fancy. + +XXVII. FARE YE WELL. + + "My true believers, fare ye well, + Fare ye well, fare ye well, + Fare ye well, by de grace of God, + For I'm going home. + + Massa Jesus give me a little broom + For to sweep my heart clean, + And I will try, by de grace of God, + To win my way home." + +Among the songs not available for marching, but requiring the +concentrated enthusiasm of the camp, was "The Ship of Zion," of which +they had three wholly distinct versions, all quite exuberant and +tumultuous. + +XXVIII. THE SHIP OF ZION. + + "Come along, come along, + And let us go home, + O, glory, hallelujah? + Dis de ole ship o' Zion, + Halleloo! Halleloo! + Dis de ole ship o' Zion, + Hallelujah! + + "She has landed many a tousand, + She can land as many more. + O, glory, hallelujah! &c. + + "Do you tink she will be able + For to take us all home? + O, glory, hallelujah! &c. + + "You can tell 'em I'm a comin', + Halleloo! Halleloo! + You can tell 'em I'm a comin', + Hallelujah! + Come along, come along," &c. + +XXIX. THE SHIP OF ZION. _(Second version.)_ + + "Dis de good ole ship o' Zion, + Dis de good ole ship o' Zion, + Dis de good ole ship o' Zion, + And she's makin' for de Promise Land. + She hab angels for de sailors, _(Thrice.)_ + And she's, &c. + And how you know dey's angels? _(Thrice.)_ + And she's, &c. + Good Lord, Shall I be one? _(Thrice.)_ + And she's, &c. + + "Dat ship is out a-sailin', sailin', sailin', + And she's, &c. + She's a-sailin' mighty steady, steady, steady, + And she's, &c. + She'll neither reel nor totter, totter, totter, + And she's, &c. + She's a-sailin' away cold Jordan, Jordan, Jordan, + And she's, &c. + King Jesus is de captain, captain, captain, + And she's makin' for de Promise Land." + + +XXX. THE SHIP OF ZION. _(Third version.)_ + + "De Gospel ship is sailin', + Hosann--sann. + O, Jesus is de captain, + Hosann--sann. + De angels are de sailors, + Hosann--sann. + O, is your bundle ready? + Hosann--sann. + O, have you got your ticket? + Hosann--sann." + +This abbreviated chorus is given with unspeakable unction. + +The three just given are modifications of an old camp-meeting melody; +and the same may be true of the three following, although I cannot find +them in the Methodist hymn-books. Each, however, has its characteristic +modifications, which make it well worth giving. In the second verse of +this next, for instance, "Saviour" evidently has become "soldier." + +XXXI. SWEET MUSIC + + "Sweet music in heaven, + Just beginning for to roll. + Don't you love God? + Glory, hallelujah! + + "Yes, late I heard my soldier say, + Come, heavy soul, I am de way. + Don't you love God? + Glory, hallelujah! + + "I'll go and tell to sinners round + What a kind Saviour I have found. + Don't you love God? + Glory, hallelujah! + + "My grief my burden long has been, + Because I was not cease from sin. + Don't you love God? + Glory, hallelujahl" + +XXXII. GOOD NEWS. + + "O, good news! O, good news! + De angels brought de tidings down, + Just comin' from de trone. + + "As grief from out my soul shall fly, + Just comin' from de trone; + I'll shout salvation when I die, + Good news, O, good news! + Just comin' from de trone. + + "Lord, I want to go to heaven when I die, + Good news, O, good news! &c. + + "De white folks call us a noisy crew, + Good news, O, good news! + But dis I know, we are happy too, + Just comin' from de trone." + +XXXIII. THE HEAVENLY ROAD. + + "You may talk of my name as much as you please, + And carry my name abroad, + But I really do believe I'm a child of God + As I walk in de heavenly road. + O, won't you go wid me? _(Thrice.)_ + For to keep our garments clean. + + "O Satan is a mighty busy ole man, + And roll rocks in my way; + But Jesus is my bosom friend, + And roll 'em out of de way. + O, won't you go wid me? _(Thrice.)_ + For to keep our garments clean. + + "Come, my brudder, if you never did pray, + I hope you may pray to-night; + For I really believe I'm a child of God + As I walk in de heavenly road. + O, won't you," &c. + +Some of the songs had played an historic part during the war. For +singing the next, for instance, the negroes had been put in jail in +Georgetown, S. C., at the outbreak of the Rebellion. "We'll soon be +free" was too dangerous an assertion; and though the chant was an old +one, it was no doubt sung with redoubled emphasis during the new events. +"De Lord will call us home," was evidently thought to be a symbolical +verse; for, as a little drummer-boy explained to me, showing all his +white teeth as he sat in the moonlight by the door of my tent, "Dey tink +_de Lord_ mean for say _de Yankees_." + +XXXIV. WE'LL SOON BE FREE. + + "We'll soon be free, + We'll soon be free, + We'll soon be free, + When de Lord will call us home. + My brudder, how long, + My brudder, how long, + My brudder, how long, + 'Fore we done sufferin' here? + It won't be long _(Thrice.)_ + 'Fore de Lord will call us home. + We'll walk de miry road _(Thrice.)_ + Where pleasure never dies. + We'll walk de golden street _(Thrice.)_ + Where pleasure never dies. + My brudder, how long _(Thrice.)_ + 'Fore we done sufferin' here? + We'll soon be free _(Thrice.)_ + When Jesus sets me free. + We'll fight for liberty _(Thrice.)_ + When de Lord will call us home." + +The suspicion in this case was unfounded, but they had another song to +which the Rebellion had actually given rise. This was composed by nobody +knew whom,--though it was the most recent, doubtless, of all these +"spirituals,"--and had been sung in secret to avoid detection. It is +certainly plaintive enough. The peck of corn and pint of salt were +slavery's rations. + +XXXV. MANY THOUSAND GO. + + "No more peck o' corn for me, + No more, no more,-- + No more peck o' corn for me, + Many tousand go. + + "No more driver's lash for me, _(Twice.)_ + No more, &c. + + "No more pint o' salt for me, _(Twice_.) + No more, &c. + + "No more hundred lash for me, _(Twice_.) + No more, &c. + + "No more mistress' call for me, + No more, no more,-- + No more mistress' call for me, + Many tousand go." + +Even of this last composition, however, we have only the approximate +date and know nothing of the mode of composition. Allan Ramsay says +of the Scotch songs, that, no matter who made them, they were soon +attributed to the minister of the parish whence they sprang. And I +always wondered, about these, whether they had always a conscious and +definite origin in some leading mind, or whether they grew by gradual +accretion, in an almost unconscious way. On this point I could get no +information, though I asked many questions, until at last, one day +when I was being rowed across from Beaufort to Ladies' Island, I found +myself, with delight, on the actual trail of a song. One of the oarsmen, +a brisk young fellow, not a soldier, on being asked for his theory of +the matter, dropped out a coy confession. "Some good sperituals," he +said, "are start jess out o' curiosity. I been a-raise a sing, myself, +once." + +My dream was fulfilled, and I had traced out, not the poem alone, but +the poet. I implored him to proceed. + +"Once we boys," he said, "went for tote some rice and de nigger-driver +he keep a-callin' on us; and I say, 'O, de ole nigger-driver!' Den +anudder said, 'Fust ting my mammy tole me was, notin' so bad as +nigger-driver.' Den I made a sing, just puttin' a word, and den anudder +word." + +Then he began singing, and the men, after listening a moment, joined in +the chorus, as if it were an old acquaintance, though they evidently +had never heard it before. I saw how easily a new "sing" took root among +them. + +XXXVI. THE DRIVER. + + "O, de ole nigger-driver! + O, gwine away! + Fust ting my mammy tell me, + O, gwine away! + Tell me 'bout de nigger-driver, + O, gwine away! + Nigger-driver second devil, + O, gwine away! + Best ting for do he driver, + O, gwine away! + Knock he down and spoil he labor, + O, gwine away!" + +It will be observed that, although this song is quite secular in its +character, yet its author called it a "spiritual." I heard but two songs +among them, at any time, to which they would not, perhaps, have +given this generic name. One of these consisted simply in the endless +repetition--after the manner of certain college songs--of the mysterious +line,-- + + "Rain fall and wet Becky Lawton." + +But who Becky Lawton was, and why she should or should not be wet, and +whether the dryness was a reward or a penalty, none could say. I got +the impression that, in either case, the event was posthumous, and +that there was some tradition of grass not growing over the grave of a +sinner; but even this was vague, and all else vaguer. + +The other song I heard but once, on a morning when a squad of men came +in from picket duty, and chanted it in the most rousing way. It had been +a stormy and comfortless night, and the picket station was very exposed. +It still rained in the morning when I strolled to the edge of the camp, +looking out for the men, and wondering how they had stood it. Presently +they came striding along the road, at a great pace, with their shining +rubber blankets worn as cloaks around them, the rain streaming from +these and from their equally shining faces, which were almost all upon +the broad grin, as they pealed out this remarkable ditty:-- + +HANGMAN JOHNNY. + + "O, dey call me Hangman Johnny! + O, ho! O, ho! + But I never hang nobody, + O, hang, boys, hang! + O dey, call me Hangman Johnny! + O, ho! O, ho! + But we'll all hang togedder, + O, hang, boys, hang!" + +My presence apparently checked the performance of another verse, +beginning, "De buckra 'list for money," apparently in reference to the +controversy about the pay-question, then just beginning, and to the +more mercenary aims they attributed to the white soldiers. But "Hangman +Johnny" remained always a myth as inscrutable as "Becky Lawton." + +As they learned all their songs by ear, they often strayed into wholly +new versions, which sometimes became popular, and entirely banished the +others. This was amusingly the case, for instance, with one phrase in +the popular camp-song of "Marching Along," which was entirely new to +them until our quartermaster taught it to them, at my request. The +words, "Gird on the armor," were to them a stumbling-block, and no +wonder, until some ingenious ear substituted, "Guide on de army," which +was at once accepted, and became universal. + + "We'll guide on de army, and be marching along" + +is now the established version on the Sea Islands. + +These quaint religious songs were to the men more than a source of +relaxation; they were a stimulus to courage and a tie to heaven. I never +overheard in camp a profane or vulgar song. With the trifling exceptions +given, all had a religious motive, while the most secular melody could +not have been more exciting. A few youths from Savannah, who were +comparatively men of the world, had learned some of the "Ethiopian +Minstrel" ditties, imported from the North. These took no hold upon the +mass; and, on the other hand, they sang reluctantly, even on Sunday, the +long and short metres of the hymn-books, always gladly yielding to the +more potent excitement of their own "spirituals." By these they +could sing themselves, as had their fathers before them, out of the +contemplation of their own low estate, into the sublime scenery of the +Apocalypse. I remember that this minor-keyed pathos used to seem to me +almost too sad to dwell upon, while slavery seemed destined to last +for generations; but now that their patience has had its perfect work, +history cannot afford to lose this portion of its record. There is no +parallel instance of an oppressed race thus sustained by the religious +sentiment alone. These songs are but the vocal expression of the +simplicity of their faith and the sublimity of their long resignation. + + + + +Chapter 10 Life at Camp Shaw + + +The Edisto expedition cost me the health and strength of several years. +I could say, long after, in the words of one of the men, "I'se been +a sickly person, eber since de expeditious." Justice to a strong +constitution and good habits compels me, however, to say that, up to the +time of my injury, I was almost the only officer in the regiment who +had not once been off duty from illness. But at last I had to yield, and +went North for a month. + +We heard much said, during the war, of wounded officers who stayed +unreasonably long at home. I think there were more instances of those +who went back too soon. Such at least was my case. On returning to the +regiment I found a great accumulation of unfinished business; every +member of the field and staff was prostrated by illness or absent on +detailed service; two companies had been sent to Hilton Head on +fatigue duty, and kept there unexpectedly long: and there was a visible +demoralization among the rest, especially from the fact that their +pay had just been cut down, in violation of the express pledges of the +government. A few weeks of steady sway made all right again; and during +those weeks I felt a perfect exhilaration of health, followed by a month +or two of complete prostration, when the work was done. This passing, +I returned to duty, buoyed up by the fallacious hope that the winter +months would set me right again. + +We had a new camp on Port Royal Island, very pleasantly situated, just +out of Beaufort. It stretched nearly to the edge of a shelving bluff, +fringed with pines and overlooking the river; below the bluff was a +hard, narrow beach, where one might gallop a mile and bathe at the +farther end. We could look up and down the curving stream, and watch the +few vessels that came and went. Our first encampment had been lower down +that same river, and we felt at home. + +The new camp was named Camp Shaw, in honor of the noble young officer +who had lately fallen at Fort Wagner, under circumstances which had +endeared him to all the men. As it happened, they had never seen +him, nor was my regiment ever placed within immediate reach of the +Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts. This I always regretted, feeling very +desirous to compare the military qualities of the Northern and Southern +blacks. As it was, the Southern regiments with which the Massachusetts +troops were brigaded were hardly a fair specimen of their kind, having +been raised chiefly by drafting, and, for this and other causes, being +afflicted with perpetual discontent and desertion. + +We had, of course, looked forward with great interest to the arrival of +these new colored regiments, and I had ridden in from the picket-station +to see the Fifty-Fourth. Apart from the peculiarity of its material, it +was fresh from my own State, and I had relatives and acquaintances among +its officers. Governor Andrew, who had formed it, was an old friend, and +had begged me, on departure from Massachusetts, to keep him informed +as to our experiment I had good reason to believe that my reports had +helped to prepare the way for this new battalion, and I had sent him, at +his request, some hints as to its formation.* + +*COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, Executive Department, + +Boston, February 5, 1863. + +To COL. T. W. HIGGINSON, Commanding 1st Regt. S. C. Vols., + +Port Royal Id., S. C. + +COLONEL,--I am under obligations to you for your very interesting letter +of January 19th, which I considered to be too important in its testimony +to the efficiency of colored troops to be allowed to remain hidden on +my files. I therefore placed some portions of it in the hands of Hon. +Stephen M. Weld, of Jamaica Plain, for publication, and you will find +enclosed the newspaper slip from the "Journal" of February 3d, in +which it appeared. During a recent visit at Washington I have obtained +permission from the Department of War to enlist colored troops as +part of the Massachusetts quota, and I am about to begin to organize +a colored infantry regiment, to be numbered the "54th Massachusetts +Volunteers." + +I shall be greatly obliged by any suggestions which your experience +may afford concerning it, and I am determined that it shall serve as a +model, in the high character of its officers and the thorough discipline +of its men, for all subsequent corps of the like material. + +Please present to General Saxton the assurances of my respectful regard. + +I have the honor to be, respectfully and obediently yours, + +JOHN A. ANDREW, Governor of Massachusetts. + + +In the streets of Beaufort I had met Colonel Shaw, riding with his +lieutenant-colonel and successor, Edward Hallowell, and had gone back +with them to share their first meal in camp. I should have known Shaw +anywhere by his resemblance to his kindred, nor did it take long +to perceive that he shared their habitual truthfulness and courage. +Moreover, he and Hallowell had already got beyond the commonplaces of +inexperience, in regard to colored troops, and, for a wonder, asked only +sensible questions. For instance, he admitted the mere matter of courage +to be settled, as regarded the colored troops, and his whole solicitude +bore on this point, Would they do as well in line-of-battle as they had +already done in more irregular service, and on picket and guard duty? Of +this I had, of course, no doubt, nor, I think, had he; though I remember +his saying something about the possibility of putting them between two +fires in case of need, and so cutting off their retreat. I should never +have thought of such a project, but I could not have expected bun to +trust them as I did, until he had been actually under fire with them. +That, doubtless, removed all his anxieties, if he really had any. + +This interview had occurred on the 4th of June. Shaw and his regiment +had very soon been ordered to Georgia, then to Morris Island; Fort +Wagner had been assaulted, and he had been killed. Most of the men knew +about the circumstances of his death, and many of them had subscribed +towards a monument for him,--a project which originated with General +Saxton, and which was finally embodied in the "Shaw School-house" at +Charleston. So it gave us all pleasure to name this camp for him, as its +predecessor had been named for General Saxton. + +The new camp was soon brought into good order. The men had great +ingenuity in building screens and shelters of light poles, filled in +with the gray moss from the live-oaks. The officers had vestibules built +in this way, before all their tents; the cooking-places were walled +round in the same fashion; and some of the wide company-streets had +sheltered sidewalks down the whole line of tents. The sergeant on duty +at the entrance of the camp had a similar bower, and the architecture +culminated in a "Praise-House" for school and prayer-meetings, some +thirty feet in diameter. As for chimneys and flooring, they were +provided with that magic and invisible facility which marks the second +year of a regiment's life. + +That officer is happy who, besides a constitutional love of adventure, +has also a love for the details of camp life, and likes to bring them to +perfection. Nothing but a hen with her chickens about her can symbolize +the content I felt on getting my scattered companies together, after +some temporary separation on picket or fatigue duty. Then we went to +work upon the nest. The only way to keep a camp in order is to set about +everything as if you expected to stay there forever; if you stay, you +get the comfort of it; if ordered away in twenty-four hours, you forget +all wasted labor in the excitement of departure. Thus viewed, a camp is +a sort of model farm or bit of landscape gardening; there is always some +small improvement to be made, a trench, a well, more shade against the +sun, an increased vigilance in sweeping. Then it is pleasant to take +care of the men, to see them happy, to hear them purr. + +Then the duties of inspection and drill, suspended during active +service, resume their importance with a month or two of quiet. It really +costs unceasing labor to keep a regiment in perfect condition and ready +for service. The work is made up of minute and endless details, like a +bird's pruning her feathers or a cat's licking her kittens into their +proper toilet. Here are eight hundred men, every one of whom, every +Sunday morning at farthest, must be perfectly _soigne_ in all personal +proprieties; he must exhibit himself provided with every article +of clothing, buttons, shoe-strings, hooks and eyes, company letter, +regimental number, rifle, bayonet, bayonet-scabbard, cap-pouch, +cartridge-box, cartridge-box belt, cartridge-box belt-plate, gun-sling, +canteen, haversack, knapsack, packed according to rule, forty +cartridges, forty percussion caps; and every one of these articles +polished to the highest brightness or blackness as the case may be, +and moreover hung or slung or tied or carried in precisely the correct +manner. + +What a vast and formidable housekeeping is here, my patriotic sisters! +Consider, too, that every corner of the camp is to be kept absolutely +clean and ready for exhibition at the shortest notice; hospital, +stables, guard-house, cook-houses, company tents, must all be brought to +perfection, and every square inch of this "farm of four acres" must +look as smooth as an English lawn, twice a day. All this, beside the +discipline and the drill and the regimental and company books, which +must keep rigid account of all these details; consider all this, and +then wonder no more that officers and men rejoice in being ordered on +active service, where a few strokes of the pen will dispose of all this +multiplicity of trappings as "expended in action" or "lost in service." + +For one, the longer I remained in service, the better I appreciated the +good sense of most of the regular army niceties. True, these things must +all vanish when the time of action comes, but it is these things that +have prepared you for action. Of course, if you dwell on them only, +military life becomes millinery life alone. Kinglake says that +the Russian Grand-Duke Constantine, contemplating his beautiful +toy-regiments, said that he dreaded war, for he knew that it would spoil +the troops. The simple fact is, that a soldier is like the weapon he +carries; service implies soiling, but you must have it clean in advance, +that when soiled it may be of some use. + +The men had that year a Christmas present which they enjoyed to the +utmost,--furnishing the detail, every other day, for provost-guard duty +in Beaufort. It was the only military service which they had ever shared +within the town, and it moreover gave a sense of self-respect to be +keeping the peace of their own streets. I enjoyed seeing them put on +duty those mornings; there was such a twinkle of delight in their eyes, +though their features were immovable. As the "reliefs" went round, +posting the guard, under charge of a corporal, one could watch the black +sentinels successively dropped and the whites picked up,--gradually +changing the complexion, like Lord Somebody's black stockings which +became white stockings,--till at last there was only a squad of +white soldiers obeying the "Support Arms! Forward, March!" of a black +corporal. + +Then, when once posted, they glorified their office, you may be sure. +Discipline had grown rather free-and-easy in the town about that time, +and it is said that the guard-house never was so full within human +memory as after their first tour of duty. I remember hearing that one +young reprobate, son of a leading Northern philanthropist in those +parts, was much aggrieved at being taken to the lock-up merely because +he was found drunk in the streets. "Why," said he, "the white corporals +always showed me the way home." And I can testify that, after an evening +party, some weeks later, I beard with pleasure the officers asking +eagerly for the countersign. "Who has the countersign?" said they. "The +darkeys are on guard to-night, and we must look out for our lives." Even +after a Christmas party at General Saxton's, the guard at the door very +properly refused to let the ambulance be brought round from the stable +for the ladies because the driver had not the countersign. + +One of the sergeants of the guard, on one of these occasions, made to +one who questioned his authority an answer that could hardly have been +improved. The questioner had just been arrested for some offence. + +"Know what dat mean?" said the indignant sergeant, pointing to the +chevrons on his own sleeve. "Dat mean _Guv'ment_." Volumes could not +have said more, and the victim collapsed. The thing soon settled itself, +and nobody remembered to notice whether the face beside the musket of a +sentinel were white or black. It meant Government, all the same. + +The men were also indulged with several raids on the mainland, under +the direction of Captain J. E. Bryant, of the Eighth Maine, the most +experienced scout in that region, who was endeavoring to raise by +enlistment a regiment of colored troops. On one occasion Captains +Whitney and Heasley, with their companies, penetrated nearly to +Pocataligo, capturing some pickets and bringing away all the slaves of +a plantation,--the latter operation being entirely under the charge of +Sergeant Harry Williams (Co. K), without the presence of any white man. +The whole command was attacked on the return by a rebel force, which +turned out to be what was called in those regions a "dog-company," +consisting of mounted riflemen with half a dozen trained bloodhounds. +The men met these dogs with their bayonets, killed four or five of their +old tormentors with great relish, and brought away the carcass of one. +I had the creature skinned, and sent the skin to New York to be stuffed +and mounted, meaning to exhibit it at the Sanitary Commission Fair hi +Boston; but it spoiled on the passage. These quadruped allies were not +originally intended as "dogs of war," but simply to detect fugitive +slaves, and the men were delighted at this confirmation of their tales +of dog-companies, which some of the officers had always disbelieved. + +Captain Bryant, during his scouting adventures, had learned to outwit +these bloodhounds, and used his skill in eluding escape, during another +expedition of the same kind. He was sent with Captain Metcalf's company +far up the Combahee River to cut the telegraphic wires and intercept +despatches. Our adventurous chaplain and a telegraphic operator went +with the party. They ascended the river, cut the wires, and read the +despatches for an hour or two. Unfortunately, the attached wire was too +conspicuously hung, and was seen by a passenger on the railway train in +passing. The train was stopped and a swift stampede followed; a squad of +cavalry was sent in pursuit, and our chaplain, with Lieutenant Osborn, +of Bryant's projected regiment, were captured; also one private,--the +first of our men who had ever been taken prisoners. In spite of an +agreement at Washington to the contrary, our chaplain was held as +prisoner of war, the only spiritual adviser in uniform, so far as I +know, who had that honor. I do not know but his reverence would have +agreed with Scott's pirate-lieutenant, that it was better to live as +plain Jack Bunce than die as Frederick Altamont; but I am very sure that +he would rather have been kept prisoner to the close of the war, as a +combatant, than have been released on parole as a non-resistant. + +After his return, I remember, he gave the most animated accounts of the +whole adventure, of which he had enjoyed every instant, from the first +entrance on the enemy's soil to the final capture. I suppose we should +all like to tap the telegraphic wires anywhere and read our neighbor's +messages, if we could only throw round this process the dignity of a +Sacred Cause. This was what our good chaplain had done, with the same +conscientious zest with which he had conducted his Sunday foraging in +Florida. But he told me that nothing so impressed him on the whole trip +as the sudden transformation in the black soldier who was taken prisoner +with him. The chaplain at once adopted the policy, natural to him, of +talking boldly and even defiantly to his captors, and commanding instead +of beseeching. He pursued the same policy always and gained by it, he +thought. But the negro adopted the diametrically opposite policy, also +congenial to his crushed race,--all the force seemed to go out of him, +and he surrendered himself like a tortoise to be kicked and trodden upon +at their will. This manly, well-trained soldier at once became a +slave again, asked no questions, and, if any were asked, made meek and +conciliatory answers. He did not know, nor did any of us know, whether +he would be treated as a prisoner of war, or shot, or sent to a +rice-plantation. He simply acted according to the traditions of his +race, as did the chaplain on his side. In the end the soldier's cunning +was vindicated by the result; he escaped, and rejoined us in six months, +while the chaplain was imprisoned for a year. + +The men came back very much exhausted from this expedition, and those +who were in the chaplain's squad narrowly escaped with their lives. One +brave fellow had actually not a morsel to eat for four days, and then +could keep nothing on his stomach for two days more, so that his life +was despaired of; and yet he brought all his equipments safe into camp. +Some of these men had led such wandering lives, in woods and swamps, +that to hunt them was like hunting an otter; shyness and concealment had +grown to be their second nature. + +After these little episodes came two months of peace. We were clean, +comfortable, quiet, and consequently discontented. It was therefore with +eagerness that we listened to a rumor of a new Florida expedition, in +which we might possibly take a hand. + + + + +Chapter 11. Florida Again? + + +Let me revert once more to my diary, for a specimen of the sharp changes +and sudden disappointments that may come to troops in service. But for +a case or two of varioloid in the regiment, we should have taken part in +the battle of Olustee, and should have had (as was reported) the right +of the line. At any rate we should have shared the hard knocks and the +glory, which were distributed pretty freely to the colored troops +then and there. The diary will give, better than can any continuous +narrative, our ups and down of expectation in those days. + +"CAMP SHAW, BEAUFORT, S. C., + +"February 7, 1864. + +"Great are the uncertainties of military orders! Since our recall from +Jacksonville we have had no such surprises as came to us on Wednesday +night. It was our third day of a new tour of duty at the picket station. +We had just got nicely settled,--men well tented, with good floors, and +in high spirits, officers at out-stations all happy, Mrs. ---- coming to +stay with her husband, we at head-quarters just in order, house cleaned, +moss-garlands up, camellias and jessamines in the tin wash-basins, +baby in bliss;--our usual run of visitors had just set in, two Beaufort +captains and a surgeon had just risen from a late dinner after a flag +of truce, General Saxton and his wife had driven away but an hour or two +before, we were all sitting about busy, with a great fire blazing, Mrs. +D. had just remarked triumphantly, 'Last time I had but a mouthful here, +and now I shall be here three weeks'--when-- + +"In dropped, like a bombshell, a despatch announcing that we were to be +relieved by the Eighth Maine, the next morning, as General Gillmore had +sent an order that we should be ready for departure from Beaufort at any +moment. + +"Conjectures, orders, packing, sending couriers to out-stations, were +the employments of the evening; the men received the news with cheers, +and we all came in next morning." + + +"February 11, 1864. + +"For three days we have watched the river, and every little steamboat +that comes up for coal brings out spy-glasses and conjectures, and +'Dar's de Fourf New Hampshire,'--for when that comes, it is said, we +go. Meanwhile we hear stirring news from Florida, and the men are very +impatient to be off. It is remarkable how much more thoroughly they look +at things as soldiers than last year, and how much less as home-bound +men,--the South-Carolinians, I mean, for of course the Floridians would +naturally wish to go to Florida. + +"But in every way I see the gradual change in them, sometimes with a +sigh, as parents watch their children growing up and miss the droll +speeches and the confiding ignorance of childhood. Sometimes it comes +over me with a pang that they are growing more like white men,--less +naive and less grotesque. Still, I think there is enough of it to last, +and that their joyous buoyancy, at least, will hold out while life does. + +"As for our destination, our greatest fear is of finding ourselves +posted at Hilton Head and going no farther. As a dashing Irish officer +remarked the other day, 'If we are ordered away anywhere, I hope it will +be either to go to Florida or else stay here!'" + +"Sublime uncertainties again! + +"After being ordered in from picket, under marching orders; after the +subsequent ten days of uncertainty; after watching every steamboat that +came up the river, to see if the Fourth New Hampshire was on board,--at +last the regiment came. + +"Then followed another break; there was no transportation to take us. At +last a boat was notified. + +"Then General Saxton, as anxious to keep us as was the regiment to +go, played his last card in small-pox, telegraphing to department +head-quarters that we had it dangerously in the regiment. (N. B. All +varioloid, light at that, and besides, we always have it.) + +"Then the order came to leave behind the sick and those who had been +peculiarly exposed, and embark the rest next day. + +"Great was the jubilee! The men were up, I verily believe, by three +in the morning, and by eight the whole camp was demolished or put in +wagons, and we were on our way. The soldiers of the Fourth New Hampshire +swarmed in; every board was swept away by them; there had been a +time when colored boards (if I may delicately so express myself) were +repudiated by white soldiers, but that epoch had long since passed. +I gave my new tent-frame, even the latch, to Colonel Bell; ditto +Lieutenant-Colonel to Lieutenant-Colonel. + +"Down we marched, the men singing 'John Brown' and 'Marching Along' and +'Gwine in de Wilderness'; women in tears and smiles lined the way. We +halted opposite the dear General's; we cheered, he speeched, I speeched, +we all embraced symbolically, and cheered some more. Then we went to +work at the wharf; vast wagon-loads of tents, rations, ordnance, and +what-not disappeared in the capacious maw of the Delaware. In the midst +of it all came riding down General Saxton with a despatch from Hilton +Head:-- + +"'If you think the amount of small-pox in the First South Carolina +Volunteers sufficient, the order will be countermanded.' + +"'What shall I say?' quoth the guilty General, perceiving how +preposterously too late the negotiation was reopened. + +"'Say, sir?' quoth I. 'Say that we are on board already and the +small-pox left behind. Say we had only thirteen cases, chiefly +varioloid, and ten almost well.' + +"Our blood was up with a tremendous morning's work done, and, rather +than turn back, we felt ready to hold down Major-General Gillmore, +commanding department, and all his staff upon the wharf, and vaccinate +them by main force. + +"So General Saxton rode away, and we worked away. Just as the last +wagon-load but one was being transferred to the omnivorous depths of the +Delaware,--which I should think would have been filled ten times over +with what we had put into it,--down rode the General with a fiendish joy +in his bright eyes and held out a paper,--one of the familiar rescripts +from headquarters. + +"'The marching orders of the First South Carolina Volunteers are hereby +countermanded.' + +"'Major Trowbridge,' said I, 'will you give my compliments to Lieutenant +Hooper, somewhere in the hold of that steamer, and direct him to set +his men at work to bring out every individual article which they have +carried hi.' And I sat down on a pile of boards. + +"'You will return to your old camping-ground, Colonel,' said the +General, placidly. 'Now,' he added with serene satisfaction, 'we will +have some brigade drills!' + +"Brigade drills! Since Mr. Pickwick, with his heartless tomato-sauce and +warming-pans, there had been nothing so aggravating as to try to +solace us, who were as good as on board ship and under way,--nay, in +imagination as far up the St. John's as Pilatka at least,--with brigade +drills! It was very kind and flattering in him to wish to keep us. But +unhappily we had made up our minds to go. + +"Never did officer ride at the head of a battalion of more wobegone, +spiritless wretches than I led back from Beaufort that day. 'When I +march down to de landin',' said one of the men afterwards, 'my knapsack +full of feathers. Comin' back, _he lead_!' And the lead, instead of the +feathers, rested on the heart of every one. + +"As if the disappointment itself were not sufficient, we had to return +to our pretty camp, accustomed to its drawing-room order, and find it a +desert. Every board gone from the floors, the screens torn down from the +poles, all the little conveniences scattered, and, to crown all, a cold +breeze such as we had not known since New-Year's Day blowing across the +camp and flooding everything with dust. I sincerely hope the regiment +would never behave after a defeat as they behaved then. Every man seemed +crushed, officers and soldiers alike; when they broke ranks, they +went and lay down like sheep where their tents used to be, or wandered +disconsolately about, looking for their stray belongings. The scene was +so infinitely dolorous that it gradually put me in the highest spirits; +the ludicrousness of the whole affair was so complete, there was nothing +to do but laugh. The horrible dust blew till every officer had some +black spot on his nose which paralyzed pathos. Of course the only +way was to set them all at work as soon as possible; and work them we +did,--I at the camp and the Major at the wharf,--loading and unloading +wagons and just reversing all which the morning had done. + +"The New Hampshire men were very considerate, and gave back most of what +they had taken, though many of our men were really too delicate or +proud to ask or even take what they had once given to soldiers or to the +colored people. I had no such delicacy about my tent-frame, and by night +things had resumed something of their old aspect, and cheerfulness +was in part restored. Yet long after this I found one first sergeant +absolutely in tears,--a Florida man, most of whose kindred were up the +St. John's. It was very natural that the men from that region should +feel thus bitterly, but it shows how much of the habit of soldiers they +have all acquired, that the South Carolina men, who were leaving the +neighborhood of their families for an indefinite time, were just as +eager to go, and not one deserted, though they knew it for a week +beforehand. No doubt my precarious health makes it now easier for me +personally to remain here--easier on reflection at least--than for the +others. At the same time Florida is fascinating, and offers not only +adventure, but the command of a brigade. Certainly at the last moment +there was not a sacrifice I would not have made rather than wrench +myself and others away from the expedition. We are, of course, thrown +back into the old uncertainty, and if the small-pox subsides (and it is +really diminishing decidedly) we may yet come in at the wrong end of the +Florida affair." + +"February 19. + +"Not a bit of it! This morning the General has ridden up radiant, has +seen General Gillmore, who has decided not to order us to Florida at +all, nor withdraw any of this garrison. Moreover, he says that all +which is intended in Florida is done,--that there will be no advance to +Tallahassee, and General Seymour will establish a camp of instruction in +Jacksonville. Well, if that is all, it is a lucky escape." + +We little dreamed that on that very day the march toward Olustee was +beginning. The battle took place next day, and I add one more extract to +show how the news reached Beaufort. + +"February 23, 1864. + +"There was the sound of revelry by night at a ball in Beaufort last +night, in a new large building beautifully decorated. All the collected +flags of the garrison hung round and over us, as if the stars and +stripes were devised for an ornament alone. The array of uniforms was +such that a civilian became a distinguished object, much more a lady. +All would have gone according to the proverbial marriage-bell, I +suppose, had there not been a slight palpable shadow over all of us from +hearing vague stories of a lost battle in Florida, and from the thought +that perhaps the very ambulances in which we rode to the ball were ours +only until the wounded or the dead might tenant them. + +"General Gillmore only came, I supposed, to put a good face upon the +matter. He went away soon, and General Saxton went; then came a rumor +that the Cosmopolitan had actually arrived with wounded, but still the +dance went on. There was nothing unfeeling about it,--one gets used +to things,--when suddenly, in the midst of the 'Lancers,' there came a +perfect hush, the music ceasing, a few surgeons went hastily to and fro, +as if conscience-stricken (I should think they might have been),--then +there 'waved a mighty shadow in,' as in Uhland's 'Black Knight,' and +as we all stood wondering we were 'ware of General Saxton, who strode +hastily down the hall, his pale face very resolute, and looking almost +sick with anxiety. He had just been on board the steamer; there were two +hundred and fifty wounded men just arrived, and the ball must end. Not +that there was anything for us to do; but the revel was mistimed, +and must be ended; it was wicked to be dancing, with such a scene of +suffering near by. + +"Of course the ball was instantly broken up, though with some +murmurings and some longings of appetite, on the part of some, toward +the wasted supper. + +"Later, I went on board the boat. Among the long lines of wounded, black +and white intermingled, there was the wonderful quiet which usually +prevails on such occasions. Not a sob nor a groan, except from those +undergoing removal. It is not self-control, but chiefly the shock to the +system produced by severe wounds, especially gunshot wounds, and which +usually keeps the patient stiller at first than any later time. + +"A company from my regiment waited on the wharf, in their accustomed +dusky silence, and I longed to ask them what they thought of our Florida +disappointment now? In view of what they saw, did they still wish we had +been there? I confess that in presence of all that human suffering, I +could not wish it. But I would not have suggested any such thought to +them. + +"I found our kind-hearted ladies, Mrs. Chamberlin and Mrs. Dewhurst, on +board the steamer, but there was nothing for them to do, and we walked +back to camp in the radiant moonlight; Mrs. Chamberlin more than ever +strengthened in her blushing woman's philosophy, 'I don't care who wins +the laurels, provided we don't!'" + + +"February 29. + +"But for a few trivial cases of varioloid, we should certainly have been +in that disastrous fight. We were confidently expected for several days +at Jacksonville, and the commanding general told Colonel Hallowell that +we, being the oldest colored regiment, would have the right of the line. +This was certainly to miss danger and glory very closely." + + + + +Chapter 12. The Negro as a Soldier + + +There was in our regiment a very young recruit, named Sam Roberts, of +whom Trowbridge used to tell this story. Early in the war Trowbridge had +been once sent to Amelia Island with a squad of men, under direction of +Commodore Goldsborough, to remove the negroes from the island. As the +officers stood on the beach, talking to some of the older freedmen, they +saw this urchin peeping at them from front and rear in a scrutinizing +way, for which his father at last called him to account, as thus:-- + +"Hi! Sammy, what you's doin', chile?" + +"Daddy," said the inquisitive youth, "don't you know mas'r tell us +Yankee hab tail? I don't see no tail, daddy!" + +There were many who went to Port Royal during the war, in civil or +military positions, whose previous impressions of the colored race were +about as intelligent as Sam's view of themselves. But, for once, I had +always had so much to do with fugitive slaves, and had studied the whole +subject with such interest, that I found not much to learn or unlearn as +to this one point. Their courage I had before seen tested; their docile +and lovable qualities I had known; and the only real surprise that +experience brought me was in finding them so little demoralized. I had +not allowed for the extreme remoteness and seclusion of their lives, +especially among the Sea Islands. Many of them had literally spent their +whole existence on some lonely island or remote plantation, where the +master never came, and the overseer only once or twice a week. With +these exceptions, such persons had never seen a white face, and of the +excitements or sins of larger communities they had not a conception. My +friend Colonel Hallo-well, of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, told +me that he had among his men some of the worst reprobates of Northern +cities. While I had some men who were unprincipled and troublesome, +there was not one whom I could call a hardened villain. I was constantly +expecting to find male Topsies, with no notions of good and plenty of +evil. But I never found one. Among the most ignorant there was very +often a childlike absence of vices, which was rather to be classed as +inexperience than as innocence, but which had some of the advantages of +both. + +Apart from this, they were very much like other men. General Saxton, +examining with some impatience a long list of questions from some +philanthropic Commission at the North, respecting the traits and +habits of the freedmen, bade some staff-officer answer them all in two +words,--"Intensely human." We all admitted that it was a striking and +comprehensive description. + +For instance, as to courage. So far as I have seen, the mass of men are +naturally courageous up to a certain point. A man seldom runs away from +danger which he ought to face, unless others run; each is apt to +keep with the mass, and colored soldiers have more than usual of this +gregariousness. In almost every regiment, black or white, there are a +score or two of men who are naturally daring, who really hunger after +dangerous adventures, and are happiest when allowed to seek them. Every +commander gradually finds out who these men are, and habitually uses +them; certainly I had such, and I remember with delight their bearing, +their coolness, and their dash. Some of them were negroes, some +mulattoes. One of them would have passed for white, with brown hair +and blue eyes, while others were so black you could hardly see their +features. These picked men varied in other respects too; some were +neat and well-drilled soldiers, while others were slovenly, heedless +fellows,--the despair of their officers at inspection, their pride on a +raid. They were the natural scouts and rangers of the regiment; they had +the two-o'clock-in-the-morning courage, which Napoleon thought so rare. +The mass of the regiment rose to the same level under excitement, and +were more excitable, I think, than whites, but neither more nor less +courageous. + +Perhaps the best proof of a good average of courage among them was in +the readiness they always showed for any special enterprise. I do +not remember ever to have had the slightest difficulty in obtaining +volunteers, but rather in keeping down the number. The previous pages +include many illustrations of this, as well as of then: endurance of +pain and discomfort. For instance, one of my lieutenants, a very daring +Irishman, who had served for eight years as a sergeant of regular +artillery in Texas, Utah, and South Carolina, said he had never been +engaged in anything so risky as our raid up the St. Mary's. But in truth +it seems to me a mere absurdity to deliberately argue the question of +courage, as applied to men among whom I waked and slept, day and night, +for so many months together. As well might he who has been wandering for +years upon the desert, with a Bedouin escort, discuss the courage of the +men whose tents have been his shelter and whose spears his guard. We, +their officers, did not go there to teach lessons, but to receive them. +There were more than a hundred men in the ranks who had voluntarily met +more dangers in their escape from slavery than any of my young captains +had incurred in all their lives. + +There was a family named Wilson, I remember, of which we had several +representatives. Three or four brothers had planned an escape from the +interior to our lines; they finally decided that the youngest should +stay and take care of the old mother; the rest, with their sister and +her children, came in a "dug-out" down one of the rivers. They were +fired upon, again and again, by the pickets along the banks, until +finally every man on board was wounded; and still they got safely +through. When the bullets began to fly about them, the woman shed tears, +and her little girl of nine said to her, "Don't cry, mother, Jesus will +help you," and then the child began praying as the wounded men still +urged the boat along. This the mother told me, but I had previously +heard it from on officer who was on the gunboat that picked them +up,--a big, rough man, whose voice fairly broke as he described their +appearance. He said that the mother and child had been hid for nine +months in the woods before attempting their escape, and the child would +speak to no one,--indeed, she hardly would when she came to our camp. +She was almost white, and this officer wished to adopt her, but the +mother said, "I would do anything but that for _oonah_," this being +a sort of Indian formation of the second-person-plural, such as they +sometimes use. This same officer afterwards saw a reward offered for +this family in a Savannah paper. + +I used to think that I should not care to read "Uncle Tom's Cabin" hi +our camp; it would have seemed tame. Any group of men in a tent would +have had more exciting tales to tell. I needed no fiction when I had +Fanny Wright, for instance, daily passing to and fro before my tent, +with her shy little girl clinging to her skirts. Fanny was a modest +little mulatto woman, a soldier's wife, and a company laundress. She had +escaped from the main-land in a boat, with that child and another. Her +baby was shot dead in her arms, and she reached our lines with one child +safe on earth and the other in heaven. I never found it needful to give +any elementary instructions in courage to Fanny's husband, you may be +sure. + +There was another family of brothers in the regiment named Miller. Their +grandmother, a fine-looking old woman, nearly seventy, I should think, +but erect as a pine-tree, used sometimes to come and visit them. She and +her husband had once tried to escape from a plantation near Savannah. +They had failed, and had been brought back; the husband had received +five hundred lashes, and while the white men on the plantation +were viewing the punishment, she was collecting her children and +grandchildren, to the number of twenty-two, in a neighboring marsh, +preparatory to another attempt that night. They found a flat-boat which +had been rejected as unseaworthy, got on board,--still under the old +woman's orders,--and drifted forty miles down the river to our lines. +Trowbridge happened to be on board the gunboat which picked them up, +and he said that when the "flat" touched the side of the vessel, the +grandmother rose to her full height, with her youngest grandchild in her +arms, and said only, "My God! are we free?" By one of those coincidences +of which life is full, her husband escaped also, after his punishment, +and was taken up by the same gunboat. + +I hardly need point out that my young lieutenants did not have to teach +the principles of courage to this woman's grandchildren. + +I often asked myself why it was that, with this capacity of daring +and endurance, they had not kept the land in a perpetual flame of +insurrection; why, especially since the opening of the war, they had +kept so still. The answer was to be found in the peculiar temperament of +the races, in their religious faith, and in the habit of patience that +centuries had fortified. The shrewder men all said substantially the +same thing. What was the use of insurrection, where everything was +against them? They had no knowledge, no money, no arms, no drill, no +organization,--above all, no mutual confidence. It was the tradition +among them that all insurrections were always betrayed by somebody. +They had no mountain passes to defend like the Maroons of Jamaica,--no +unpenetrable swamps, like the Maroons of Surinam. Where they had these, +even on a small scale, they had used them,--as in certain swamps round +Savannah and in the everglades of Florida, where they united with the +Indians, and would stand fire--so I was told by General Saxton, who had +fought them there--when the Indians would retreat. + +It always seemed to me that, had I been a slave, my life would have been +one long scheme of insurrection. But I learned to respect the patient +self-control of those who had waited till the course of events should +open a better way. When it came they accepted it. Insurrection on their +part would at once have divided the Northern sentiment; and a large part +of our army would have joined with the Southern army to hunt them down. +By their waiting till we needed them, their freedom was secured. + +Two things chiefly surprised me in their feeling toward their former +masters,--the absence of affection and the absence of revenge. I +expected to find a good deal of the patriarchal feeling. It always +seemed to me a very ill-applied emotion, as connected with the facts and +laws of American slavery,--still I expected to find it. I suppose that +my men and their families and visitors may have had as much of it as +the mass of freed slaves; but certainly they had not a particle. I +never could cajole one of them, in his most discontented moment, into +regretting "ole mas'r time" for a single instant. I never heard one +speak of the masters except as natural enemies. Yet they were perfectly +discriminating as to individuals; many of them claimed to have had kind +owners, and some expressed great gratitude to them for particular favors +received. It was not the individuals, but the ownership, of which they +complained. That they saw to be a wrong which no special kindnesses +could right. On this, as on all points connected with slavery, they +understood the matter as clearly as Garrison or Phillips; the wisest +philosophy could teach them nothing as to that, nor could any false +philosophy befog them. After all, personal experience is the best +logician. + +Certainly this indifference did not proceed from any want of personal +affection, for they were the most affectionate people among whom I had +ever lived. They attached themselves to every officer who deserved love, +and to some who did not; and if they failed to show it to their masters, +it proved the wrongfulness of the mastery. On the other hand, they +rarely showed one gleam of revenge, and I shall never forget the +self-control with which one of our best sergeants pointed out to me, at +Jacksonville, the very place where one of his brothers had been hanged +by the whites for leading a party of fugitive slaves. He spoke of it as +a historic matter, without any bearing on the present issue. + +But side by side with this faculty of patience, there was a certain +tropical element in the men, a sort of fiery ecstasy when aroused, +which seemed to link them by blood with the French Turcos, and made +them really resemble their natural enemies, the Celts, far more than +the Anglo-Saxon temperament. To balance this there were great individual +resources when alone,--a sort of Indian wiliness and subtlety of +resource. Their gregariousness and love of drill made them more easy to +keep in hand than white American troops, who rather like to straggle or +go in little squads, looking out for themselves, without being bothered +with officers. The blacks prefer organization. + +The point of inferiority that I always feared, though I never had +occasion to prove it, was that they might show less fibre, less tough +and dogged resistance, than whites, during a prolonged trial,--a long, +disastrous march, for instance, or the hopeless defence of a besieged +town. I should not be afraid of their mutinying or running away, but of +their drooping and dying. It might not turn out so; but I mention it +for the sake of fairness, and to avoid overstating the merits of these +troops. As to the simple general fact of courage and reliability I +think no officer in our camp ever thought of there being any difference +between black and white. And certainly the opinions of these officers, +who for years risked their lives every moment on the fidelity of their +men, were worth more than those of all the world beside. + +No doubt there were reasons why this particular war was an especially +favorable test of the colored soldiers. They had more to fight for than +the whites. Besides the flag and the Union, they had home and wife and +child. They fought with ropes round their necks, and when orders were +issued that the officers of colored troops should be put to death on +capture, they took a grim satisfaction. It helped their _esprit de +corps_ immensely. With us, at least, there was to be no play-soldier. +Though they had begun with a slight feeling of inferiority to the white +troops, this compliment substituted a peculiar sense of self-respect. +And even when the new colored regiments began to arrive from the North +my men still pointed out this difference,--that in case of ultimate +defeat, the Northern troops, black or white, would go home, while the +First South Carolina must fight it out or be re-enslaved. This was one +thing that made the St. John's River so attractive to them and even to +me;--it was so much nearer the everglades. I used seriously to ponder, +during the darker periods of the war, whether I might not end my days as +an outlaw,--a leader of Maroons. + +Meanwhile, I used to try to make some capital for the Northern troops, +in their estimate, by pointing out that it was a disinterested thing in +these men from the free States, to come down there and fight, that the +slaves might be free. But they were apt keenly to reply, that many of +the white soldiers disavowed this object, and said that that was not +the object of the war, nor even likely to be its end. Some of them even +repeated Mr. Seward's unfortunate words to Mr. Adams, which some general +had been heard to quote. So, on the whole, I took nothing by the motion, +as was apt to be the case with those who spoke a good word for our +Government, in those vacillating and half proslavery days. + +At any rate, this ungenerous discouragement had this good effect, that +it touched their pride; they would deserve justice, even if they did +not obtain it. This pride was afterwards severely tested during the +disgraceful period when the party of repudiation in Congress temporarily +deprived them of their promised pay. In my regiment the men never +mutinied, nor even threatened mutiny; they seemed to make it a matter of +honor to do then: part, even if the Government proved a defaulter; +but one third of them, including the best men in the regiment, quietly +refused to take a dollar's pay, at the reduced price. "We'se gib our +sogerin' to de Guv'ment, Gunnel," they said, "but we won't 'spise +ourselves so much for take de seben dollar." They even made a +contemptuous ballad, of which I once caught a snatch. + + "Ten dollar a month! + Tree ob dat for clothin'l + Go to Washington + Fight for Linkum's darter!" + +This "Lincoln's daughter" stood for the Goddess of Liberty, it would +seem. They would be true to her, but they would not take the half-pay. +This was contrary to my advice, and to that of other officers; but I +now think it was wise. Nothing less than this would have called the +attention of the American people to this outrageous fraud.* + +* See Appendix. + +The same slow forecast had often marked their action in other ways. One +of our ablest sergeants, Henry Mclntyre, who had earned two dollars and +a half per day as a master-carpenter in Florida, and paid one dollar and +a half to his master, told me that he had deliberately refrained from +learning to read, because that knowledge exposed the slaves to so much +more watching and suspicion. This man and a few others had built on +contract the greater part of the town of Micanopy in Florida, and was a +thriving man when his accustomed discretion failed for once, and he lost +all. He named his child William Lincoln, and it brought upon him such +suspicion that he had to make his escape. + +I cannot conceive what people at the North mean by speaking of the +negroes as a bestial or brutal race. Except in some insensibility to +animal pain, I never knew of an act in my regiment which I should call +brutal. In reading Kay's "Condition of the English Peasantry" I was +constantly struck with the unlikeness of my men to those therein +described. This could not proceed from my prejudices as an abolitionist, +for they would have led me the other way, and indeed I had once written +a little essay to show the brutalizing influences of slavery. I learned +to think that we abolitionists had underrated the suffering produced +by slavery among the negroes, but had overrated the demoralization. Or +rather, we did not know how the religious temperament of the negroes +had checked the demoralization. Yet again, it must be admitted that this +temperament, born of sorrow and oppression, is far more marked in the +slave than in the native African. + +Theorize as we may, there was certainly in our camp an average tone of +propriety which all visitors noticed, and which was not created, but +only preserved by discipline. I was always struck, not merely by the +courtesy of the men, but also by a certain sober decency of language. +If a man had to report to me any disagreeable fact, for instance, he +was sure to do it with gravity and decorum, and not blurt it out in an +offensive way. And it certainly was a significant fact that the ladies +of our camp, when we were so fortunate as to have such guests, the young +wives, especially, of the adjutant and quartermaster, used to go among +the tents when the men were off duty, in order to hear their big pupils +read and spell, without the slightest fear of annoyance. I do not mean +direct annoyance or insult, for no man who valued his life would have +ventured that in presence of the others, but I mean the annoyance of +accidentally seeing or hearing improprieties not intended for them. They +both declared that they would not have moved about with anything like +the same freedom in any white camp they had ever entered, and it +always roused their indignation to hear the negro race called brutal or +depraved. + +This came partly from natural good manners, partly from the habit of +deference, partly from ignorance of the refined and ingenious evil which +is learned in large towns; but a large part came from their strongly +religious temperament. Their comparative freedom from swearing, +for instance,--an abstinence which I fear military life did not +strengthen,--was partly a matter of principle. Once I heard one of them +say to another, in a transport of indignation, "Ha-a-a, boy, s'pose I no +be a Christian, I cuss you sol"--which was certainly drawing pretty hard +upon the bridle. "Cuss," however, was a generic term for all manner +of evil speaking; they would say, "He cuss me fool," or "He cuss +me coward," as if the essence of propriety were in harsh and angry +speech,--which I take to be good ethics. But certainly, if Uncle Toby +could have recruited his army in Flanders from our ranks, their swearing +would have ceased to be historic. + +It used to seem to me that never, since Cromwell's time, had there been +soldiers in whom the religious element held such a place. "A religious +army," "a gospel army," were their frequent phrases. In their +prayer-meetings there was always a mingling, often quaint enough, of +the warlike and the pious. "If each one of us was a praying man," said +Corporal Thomas Long in a sermon, "it appears to me that we could fight +as well with prayers as with bullets,--for the Lord has said that if you +have faith even as a grain of mustard-seed cut into four parts, you +can say to the sycamore-tree, Arise, and it will come up." And though +Corporal Long may have got a little perplexed in his botany, his faith +proved itself by works, for he volunteered and went many miles on a +solitary scouting expedition into the enemy's country in Florida, and +got back safe, after I had given him up for lost. + +The extremes of religious enthusiasm I did not venture to encourage, for +I could not do it honestly; neither did I discourage them, but simply +treated them with respect, and let them have their way, so long as they +did not interfere with discipline. In general they promoted it. The +mischievous little drummer-boys, whose scrapes and quarrels were the +torment of my existence, might be seen kneeling together in their tents +to say their prayers at night, and I could hope that their slumbers were +blessed by some spirit of peace, such as certainly did not rule over +their waking. The most reckless and daring fellows in the regiment were +perfect fatalists in theur confidence that God would watch over them, +and that if they died, it would be because theur time had come. This +almost excessive faith, and the love of freedom and of their families, +all co-operated with their pride as soldiers to make them do their duty. +I could not have spared any of these incentives. Those of our officers +who were personally the least influenced by such considerations, still +saw the need of encouraging them among the men. + +I am bound to say that this strongly devotional turn was not always +accompanied by the practical virtues; but neither was it strikingly +divorced from them. A few men, I remember, who belonged to the ancient +order of hypocrites, but not many. Old Jim Cushman was our favorite +representative scamp. He used to vex his righteous soul over the +admission of the unregenerate to prayer-meetings, and went off once +shaking his head and muttering, "Too much goat shout wid de sheep." But +he who objected to this profane admixture used to get our mess-funds far +more hopelessly mixed with his own, when he went out to buy chickens. +And I remember that, on being asked by our Major, in that semi-Ethiopian +dialect into which we sometimes slid, "How much wife you got, Jim?" the +veteran replied, with a sort of penitence for lost opportunities, "On'y +but four, Sah!" + +Another man of somewhat similar quality went among us by the name of +Henry Ward Beecher, from a remarkable resemblance in face and figure to +that sturdy divine. I always felt a sort of admiration for this worthy, +because of the thoroughness with which he outwitted me, and the sublime +impudence in which he culminated. He got a series of passes from me, +every week or two, to go and see his wife on a neighboring plantation, +and finally, when this resource seemed exhausted, he came boldly for one +more pass, that he might go and be married. + +We used to quote _him_ a good deal, also, as a sample of a certain +Shakespearian boldness of personification in which the men sometimes +indulged. Once, I remember, his captain had given him a fowling-piece +to clean. Henry Ward had left it in the captain's tent, and the latter, +finding it, had transferred the job to some one else. + +Then came a confession, in this precise form, with many dignified +gesticulations:-- + +"Cappen! I took dat gun, and I put bun in Cappen tent. Den I look, +and de gun not dar! Den Conscience say, Cappen mus' hab gib dat gun to +somebody else for clean. Den I say, Conscience, you reason correck." + +Compare Lancelot Gobbo's soliloquy in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona"! + +Still, I maintain that, as a whole, the men were remarkably free from +inconvenient vices. There was no more lying and stealing than in average +white regiments. The surgeon was not much troubled by shamming sickness, +and there were not a great many complaints of theft. There was less +quarrelling than among white soldiers, and scarcely ever an instance of +drunkenness. Perhaps the influence of their officers had something to do +with this; for not a ration of whiskey was ever issued to the men, nor +did I ever touch it, while in the army, nor approve a requisition for +any of the officers, without which it could not easily be obtained. In +this respect our surgeons fortunately agreed with me, and we never +had reason to regret it. I believe the use of ardent spirits to be +as useless and injurious in the army as on board ship, and among the +colored troops, especially, who had never been accustomed to it, I think +that it did only harm. + +The point of greatest laxity in their moral habits--the want of a high +standard of chastity--was not one which affected their camp life to any +great extent, and it therefore came less under my observation. But I +found to my relief that, whatever their deficiency in this respect, it +was modified by the general quality of their temperament, and indicated +rather a softening and relaxation than a hardening and brutalizing of +their moral natures. Any insult or violence in this direction was a +thing unknown. I never heard of an instance. It was not uncommon for +men to have two or three wives in different plantations,--the second, +or remoter, partner being called a "'broad wife,"--i.e. wife abroad. +But the whole tendency was toward marriage, and this state of things was +only regarded as a bequest from "mas'r time." + +I knew a great deal about their marriages, for they often consulted me, +and took my counsel as lovers are wont to do,--that is, when it pleased +their fancy. Sometimes they would consult their captains first, and then +come to me in despairing appeal. "Cap'n Scroby [Trowbridge] he acvise +me not for marry dis lady, 'cause she hab seben chil'en. What for use? +Cap'n Scroby can't lub for me. I mus' lub for myself, and I lub he." I +remember that on this occasion "he" stood by, a most unattractive woman, +jet black, with an old pink muslin dress, torn white cotton gloves, and +a very flowery bonnet, that must have descended through generations of +tawdry mistresses. + +I felt myself compelled to reaffirm the decision of the inferior court. +The result was as usual. They were married the next day, and I believe +that she proved an excellent wife, though she had seven children, whose +father was also in the regiment. If she did not, I know many others +who did, and certainly I have never seen more faithful or more happy +marriages than among that people. + +The question was often asked, whether the Southern slaves or the +Northern free blacks made the best soldiers. It was a compliment to both +classes that each officer usually preferred those whom he had personally +commanded. I preferred those who had been slaves, for their greater +docility and affectionateness, for the powerful stimulus which their new +freedom gave, and for the fact that they were fighting, in a manner, +for their own homes and firesides. Every one of these considerations +afforded a special aid to discipline, and cemented a peculiar tie of +sympathy between them and their officers. They seemed like clansmen, +and had a more confiding and filial relation to us than seemed to me to +exist in the Northern colored regiments. + +So far as the mere habits of slavery went, they were a poor preparation +for military duty. Inexperienced officers often assumed that, because +these men had been slaves before enlistment, they would bear to be +treated as such afterwards. Experience proved the contrary. The more +strongly we marked the difference between the slave and the soldier, the +better for the regiment. One half of military duty lies in obedience, +the other half in self-respect. A soldier without self-respect is +worthless. Consequently there were no regiments in which it was so +important to observe the courtesies and proprieties of military life +as in these. I had to caution the officers to be more than usually +particular in returning the salutations of the men; to be very careful +in their dealings with those on picket or guard-duty; and on no account +to omit the titles of the non-commissioned officers. So, in dealing +out punishments, we had carefully to avoid all that was brutal and +arbitrary, all that savored of the overseer. Any such dealing found them +as obstinate and contemptuous as was Topsy when Miss Ophelia undertook +to chastise her. A system of light punishments, rigidly administered +according to the prescribed military forms, had more weight with them +than any amount of angry severity. To make them feel as remote as +possible from the plantation, this was essential. By adhering to this, +and constantly appealing to their pride as soldiers and their sense of +duty, we were able to maintain a high standard of discipline,--so, at +least, the inspecting officers said,--and to get rid, almost entirely, +of the more degrading class of punishments,--standing on barrels, tying +up by the thumbs, and the ball and chain. + +In all ways we had to educate their self-respect. For instance, at first +they disliked to obey their own non-commissioned officers. "I don't want +him to play de white man ober me," was a sincere objection. They had +been so impressed with a sense of inferiority that the distinction +extended to the very principles of honor. "I ain't got colored-man +principles," said Corporal London Simmons, indignantly defending himself +from some charge before me. "I'se got white-gemman principles. I'se do +my best. If Cap'n tell me to take a man, s'pose de man be as big as +a house, I'll clam hold on him till I die, inception [excepting] I'm +sick." + +But it was plain that this feeling was a bequest of slavery, which +military life would wear off. We impressed it upon them that they did +not obey their officers because they were white, but because they were +their officers, just as the Captain must obey me, and I the General; +that we were all subject to military law, and protected by it in +turn. Then we taught them to take pride in having good material for +noncommissioned officers among themselves, and in obeying them. On +my arrival there was one white first sergeant, and it was a question +whether to appoint others. This I prevented, but left that one, hoping +the men themselves would at last petition for his removal, which +at length they did. He was at once detailed on other duty. The +picturesqueness of the regiment suffered, for he was very tall and fair, +and I liked to see him step forward in the centre when the line of first +sergeants came together at dress-parade. But it was a help to discipline +to eliminate the Saxon, for it recognized a principle. + +Afterwards I had excellent battalion-drills without a single white +officer, by way of experiment; putting each company under a sergeant, +and going through the most difficult movements, such as division-columns +and oblique-squares. And as to actual discipline, it is doing no +injustice to the line-officers of the regiment to say that none of +them received from the men more implicit obedience than Color-Sergeant +Rivers. I should have tried to obtain commissions for him and several +others before I left the regiment, had their literary education been +sufficient; and such an attempt was finally made by Lieutenant-Colonel +Trowbridge, my successor in immediate command, but it proved +unsuccessful. It always seemed to me an insult to those brave men to +have novices put over their heads, on the ground of color alone; and the +men felt it the more keenly as they remained longer in service. There +were more than seven hundred enlisted men in the regiment, when mustered +out after more than three years' service. The ranks had been kept full +by enlistment, but there were only fourteen line-officers instead of the +full thirty. The men who should have filled those vacancies were doing +duty as sergeants in the ranks. + +In what respect were the colored troops a source of disappointment? To +me in one respect only,--that of health. Their health improved, indeed, +as they grew more familiar with military life; but I think that neither +their physical nor moral temperament gave them that toughness, that +obstinate purpose of living, which sustains the more materialistic +Anglo-Saxon. They had not, to be sure, the same predominant diseases, +suffering in the pulmonary, not in the digestive organs; but they +suffered a good deal. They felt malaria less, but they were more +easily choked by dust and made ill by dampness. On the other hand, +they submitted more readily to sanitary measures than whites, and, +with efficient officers, were more easily kept clean. They were injured +throughout the army by an undue share of fatigue duty, which is not only +exhausting but demoralizing to a soldier; by the un-suitableness of the +rations, which gave them salt meat instead of rice and hominy; and +by the lack of good medical attendance. Their childlike constitutions +peculiarly needed prompt and efficient surgical care; but almost all the +colored troops were enlisted late in the war, when it was hard to get +good surgeons for any regiments, and especially for these. In this +respect I had nothing to complain of, since there were no surgeons in +the army for whom I would have exchanged my own. + +And this late arrival on the scene affected not only the medical +supervision of the colored troops, but their opportunity for a career. +It is not my province to write their history, nor to vindicate them, +nor to follow them upon those larger fields compared with which the +adventures of my regiment appear but a partisan warfare. Yet this, at +least, may be said. The operations on the South Atlantic coast, which +long seemed a merely subordinate and incidental part of the great +contest, proved to be one of the final pivots on which it turned. All +now admit that the fate of the Confederacy was decided by Sherman's +march to the sea. Port Royal was the objective point to which he +marched, and he found the Department of the South, when he reached it, +held almost exclusively by colored troops. Next to the merit of those +who made the march was that of those who held open the door. That +service will always remain among the laurels of the black regiments. + + + + +Chapter 13. Conclusion + + +My personal forebodings proved to be correct, and so were the threats +of the surgeons. In May, 1864, I went home invalided, was compelled to +resign in October from the same cause, and never saw the First South +Carolina again. Nor did any one else see it under that appellation, for +about that time its name was changed to the Thirty-Third United States +Colored Troops, "a most vague and heartless baptism," as the man in the +story says. It was one of those instances of injudicious sacrifice of +_esprit de corps_ which were so frequent in our army. All the pride of +my men was centred in "de Fus' Souf"; the very words were a recognition +of the loyal South as against the disloyal. To make the matter worse, it +had been originally designed to apply the new numbering only to the new +regiments, and so the early numbers were all taken up before the older +regiments came in. The governors of States, by especial effort, saved +their colored troops from this chagrin; but we found here, as more than +once before, the disadvantage of having no governor to stand by us. +"It's a far cry to Loch Awe," said the Highland proverb. We knew to +our cost that it was a far cry to Washington in those days, unless an +officer left his duty and stayed there all the time. + +In June, 1864, the regiment was ordered to Folly Island, and remained +there and on Cole's Island till the siege of Charleston was done. It +took part in the battle of Honey Hill, and in the capture of a fort on +James Island, of which Corporal Robert Vendross wrote triumphantly in a +letter, "When we took the pieces we found that we recapt our own pieces +back that we lost on Willtown Revear (River) and thank the Lord did not +lose but seven men out of our regiment." + +In February, 1865, the regiment was ordered to Charleston to do provost +and guard duty, in March to Savannah, in June to Hamburg and Aiken, in +September to Charleston and its neighborhood, and was finally mustered +out of service--after being detained beyond its three years, so great +was the scarcity of troops--on the 9th of February, 1866. With dramatic +fitness this muster-out took place at Fort Wagner, above the graves +of Shaw and his men. I give in the Appendix the farewell address of +Lieutenant-Colonel Trowbridge, who commanded the regiment from the time +I left it. Brevet Brigadier-General W. T. Bennett, of the One Hundred +and Second United States Colored Troops, who was assigned to the +command, never actually held it, being always in charge of a brigade. + +The officers and men are scattered far and wide. One of our captains +was a member of the South Carolina Constitutional Convention, and is +now State Treasurer; three of our sergeants were in that Convention, +including Sergeant Prince Rivers; and he and Sergeant Henry Hayne +are still members of the State Legislature. Both in that State and hi +Florida the former members of the regiment are generally prospering, so +far as I can hear. The increased self-respect of army life fitted them +to do the duties of civil life. It is not in nature that the jealousy +of race should die out in this generation, but I trust they will not see +the fulfilment of Corporal Simon Cram's prediction. Simon was one of the +shrewdest old fellows in the regiment, and he said to me once, as he +was jogging out of Beaufort behind me, on the Shell Road, "I'se goin' +to leave de Souf, Cunnel, when de war is over. I'se made up my mind dat +dese yere Secesh will neber be cibilized in my time." + +The only member of the regiment whom I have seen since leaving it is a +young man, Cyrus Wiggins, who was brought off from the main-land in a +dug-out, in broad day, before the very eyes of the rebel pickets, by +Captain James S. Rogers, of my regiment. It was one of the most daring +acts I ever saw, and as it happened under my own observation I was glad +when the Captain took home with him this "captive of his bow and spear" +to be educated under his eye in Massachusetts. Cyrus has done credit +to his friends, and will be satisfied with nothing short of a +college-training at Howard University. I have letters from the men, very +quaint in handwriting and spelling; but he is the only one whom I have +seen. Some time I hope to revisit those scenes, and shall feel, no +doubt, like a bewildered Rip Van Winkle who once wore uniform. + +We who served with the black troops have this peculiar satisfaction, +that, whatever dignity or sacredness the memories of the war may have to +others, they have more to us. In that contest all the ordinary ties of +patriotism were the same, of course, to us as to the rest; they had no +motives which we had not, as they have now no memories which are not +also ours. But the peculiar privilege of associating with an outcast +race, of training it to defend its rights and to perform its duties, +this was our especial meed. The vacillating policy of the Government +sometimes filled other officers with doubt and shame; until the negro +had justice, they were but defending liberty with one hand and crushing +it with the other. From this inconsistency we were free. Whatever the +Government did, we at least were working in the right direction. If +this was not recognized on our side of the lines, we knew that it was +admitted on the other. Fighting with ropes round our necks, denied the +ordinary courtesies of war till we ourselves compelled then: concession, +we could at least turn this outlawry into a compliment. We had touched +the pivot of the war. Whether this vast and dusky mass should prove the +weakness of the nation or its strength, must depend in great measure, +we knew, upon our efforts. Till the blacks were armed, there was no +guaranty of their freedom. It was their demeanor under arms that shamed +the nation into recognizing them as men. + + + + +APPENDIX + + +Appendix A + +Roster of Officers + +FIRST SOUTH CAROLINA VOLUNTEERS, + +Afterwards Thirty-Third United States Colored Troops. + +Colonels + +T. W. HIGGINSON, 51st Mass. Vols., Nov. 10, 1862; Resigned, + +Oct. 27, 1864. WM. T. BENNETT, 102d U. S. C. T., Dec. 18, 1864; Mustered +out + +with regiment + +Lieutenant-Colonels + +LIBERTY BILLINGS, Civil Life, Nov. 1, 1862; Dismissed by Examining +Board, July 28, 1863. + +JOHN D. STRONG, Promotion, July 28, 1863; Resigned, Aug. 15, 1864. + +CHAS. T. TROWBRIDGE, Promotion, Dec. 9, 1864; Mustered out, &c. + +Majors + +JOHN D. STRONG, Civil Life, Oct. 21, 1862; Lt-Col., July 28, 1863. CHAS. + +T. TROWBRIDGE, Promotion, Aug. 11, 1863; Lt.-Col., Dec. 9, 1864. + +H. A. WHTTNEY, Promotion, Dec. 9, 1864; Mustered out, &c. + +Surgeons + +SETH ROGERS, Civil Life, Dec. 2, 1862; Resigned, Dec. 21, 1863. + +WM. B. CRANDALL, 29th Ct, June 8, 1864; Mustered out, &c. + +Assistant Surgeons + +J. M. HAWKS, Civil Life, Oct 20, 1862; Surgeon 3d S. C. Vols., + +Oct. 29, 1863. + +THOS. T. MINOR, 7th Ct., Jan. 8, 1863; Resigned, Nov. 21, 1864. + +E. S. STUARD, Civil Life, Sept. 4, 1865; Mustered out, &c. + +Chaplain + +JAS. H. FOWLER, Civil Life, Oct. 24, 1862; Mustered out, &c. + +Captains + +CHAS. T. TROWBRIDGE, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Oct. 13, 1862; Major, Aug. 11, +1863. + +WM. JAMES, 100th Pa., Oct. 13, 1862; Mustered out, &c. + +W. J. RANDOLPH, 100th Pa., Oct. 13, 1862; Resigned, Jan. 29, 1864. + +H. A. WHITNEY, 8th Me., Oct. 13, 1862; Major, Dec. 9, 1864. + +ALEX. HEASLEY, 100th Pa., Oct 13, 1862; Killed at Augusta, Ga., Sept. 6, +1865. + +GEORGE DOLLY, 8th Me., Nov. 1, 1862; Resigned, Oct. 30, 1863. + +L. W. METCALF, 8th Me., Nov. 11, 1862; Mustered out, &c. + +JAS. H. TONKING, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Nov. 17, 1862; Resigned, July 28, +1863. + +JAS. S. ROGERS, 51st Mass., Dec. 6, 1862; Resigned, Oct. 20, 1863. + +J. H. THIBADEAU, Promotion, Jan. 10, 1863; Mustered out, &c. + +GEORGE D. WALKER, Promotion, July 28, 1863; Resigned, Sept 1, 1864. + +WM. H. DANILSON, Promotion, July 28, 1863; Major 128th U. S. C. T., May, +1865 [now 1st Lt 40th U. S. Infantry]. + +WM. W. SAMPSON, Promotion, Nov. 5, 1863; Mustered out, &c. + +JOHN M. THOMPSON, Promotion, Nov. 7, 1863; Mustered out, &c. [Now 1st +Lt. and Bvt Capt. 38th U. S. Infy.] + +ABR. W. JACKSON, Promotion, April 30, 1864; Resigned, Aug. 15, 1865. + +NILES G. PARKER, Promotion, Feb., 1865; Mustered out, &c. + +CHAS. W. HOOPER, Promotion, Sept, 1865; Mustered out, &c. + +E. C. MERMAM, Promotion, Sept., 1865; Resigned, Dec. 4, 1865. + +E. W. ROBBINS, Promotion, Nov. 1, 1865; Mustered out, &c. + +N. S. WHITE, Promotion, Nov. 18, 1865; Mustered out, &c. + +First Lieutenants + +G. W. DEWHURST (Adjutant), Civil Life, Oct 20, 1862; Resigned, Aug. 31, +1865. + +J. M. BINOHAM (Quartermaster), Civil Life, Oct. 20, 1862; Died from +effect of exhaustion on a military expedition, July 20, 1863. + +G. M. CHAMBERUN (Quartermaster), llth Mass. Battery, Aug. 29, 1863; +Mustered out, &c. + +GEO. D. WALKER, N. Y. VoL Eng., Oct 13, 1862; Captain, Aug. 11, 1863. + +W. H. DANILSON, 48th N. Y., Oct 13, 1862; Captain, July 26, 1863. + +J. H. THTBADEAU, 8th Me., Oct 13, 1862; Captain, Jan. 10, 1863. + +EPHRAIM P. WHITE, 8th Me., Nov. 14, 1862; Resigned, March 9, 1864. + +JAS. POMEROY, 100th Pa., Oct 13,1862; Resigned, Feb. 9, 1863. + +JAS. F. JOHNSTON, 100th Pa., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, March 26, 1863. + +JESSE FISHER, 48th N. Y., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, Jan. 26, 1863. + +CHAS. I. DAVIS, 8th Me., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, Feb. 28, 1863. + +WM. STOCKDALE, 8th Me., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, May 2, 1863. + +JAS. B. O'NEIL, Promotion, Jan. 10, 1863; Resigned, May 2, 1863. + +W. W. SAMPSON, Promotion, Jan. 10, 1863; Captain, Oct 30, + +1863. J. M. THOMPSON, Promotion, Jan. 27, 1863; Captain, Oct. 30, + +1863. R. M. GASTON, Promotion, April 15, 1863; Killed at Coosaw Ferry, +S. C., May 27, 1863. + +JAS. B. WEST, Promotion, Feb. 28, 1863; Resigned, June 14, 1865. + +N. G. PARKER, Promotion, May 5, 1863; Captain, Feb., 1865. + +W. H. HYDE, Promotion, May 5, 1863; Resigned, April 3, 1865. + +HENRY A. STONE, 8th Me., June 26, 1863; Resigned, Dec. 16, 1864. + +J. A. TROWBRTDGE, Promotion, Aug. 11, 1863; Resigned, Nov. 29, 1864. + +A. W. JACKSON, Promotion, Aug. 26, 1863; Captain, April 30, 1864. + +CHAS. E. PARKER, Promotion, Aug. 26, 1863; Resigned, Nov. 29, 1864. + +CHAS. W. HOOPER, Promotion, Nov. 8, 1863; Captain, Sept., 1865. + +E. C. MERRIAM, Promotion, Nov. 19, 1863; Captain, Sept., 1865. + +HENRY A. BEACH, Promotion, April 30, 1864; Resigned, Sept 23, 1864. + +E. W. ROBBINS, Promotion, April 30, 1864; Captain, Nov. 1, 1865. + +ASA CHILD, Promotion, Sept, 1865; Mastered out, &c. + +N. S. WHITE, Promotion, Sept, 1865; Captain, Nov. 18, 1865. + +F. S. GOODRICH, Promotion, Oct., 1865; Mustered out, &c. + +E. W. HYDE, Promotion, Oct 27, 1865; Mustered out, &c. + +HENRY WOOD, Promotion, Nov., 1865; Mustered out, &c. + + + +Second Lieutenants + +J. A. TROWBMDGE, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, Aug. 11, 1863. + +JAS. B. O-NBIL, 1st U. S. Art'y, Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, Jan. 10, 1863. + +W. W. SAMPSON, 8th Me., Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, Jan 10, 1863. + +J. M. THOMPSON, 7th N. H., Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, Jan. 27, 1863. + +R. M. GASTON, 100th Pa., Oct. 13, 1862; First Lt, April 15, 1863. + +W. H. HYDE, 6th Ct, Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, May 5, 1863. + +JAS. B. WEST, 100th Pa., Oct. 13. 1862; First Lt, Feb. 28, 1863. + +HARRY C. WEST, 100th Pa., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, Nov. 4, 1864. + +E. C. MERRIAM, 8th Me., Nov. 17, 1862; First Lt., Nov. 19, 1863. + +CHAS. E. PARKER, 8th Me., Nov. 17, 1862; First Lt, Aug. 26, 1863. + +C. W. HOOPER, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Feb. 17, 1863; First Lt, April 15, 1863. + +N. G. PARKER, 1st Mass. Cavalry, March, 1863; First Lt, May 5, 1863. + +A. H. TIRRELL, 1st Mass. Cav., March 6, 1863; Resigned, July 22, 1863. + +A. W. JACKSON, 8th Me., March 6, 1863; First Lt, Aug. 26, 1863. + +HENRY A. BEACH, 48th N. Y., April 5, 1863; First Lt, April 30, 1864. + +E. W. ROBBINS, 8th Me., April 5, 1863; First Lt, April 30, 1864. + +A. B. BROWN, Civil Life, April 17, 1863; Resigned, Nov. 27, 1863. + +F. M. GOULD, 3d R. I. Battery, June 1, 1863; Resigned, June 8, 1864. + +ASA CHILD, 8th Me., Aug. 7, 1863; First Lt, Sept., 1865. + +JEROME T. FURMAN, 52d Pa., Aug. 30, 1863; Killed at Walhalla, S. C., +Aug. 26, 1865. + +JOHN W. SELVAGE, 48th N. Y., Sept 10, 1863; First Lt. 36th U. S. C. T., +March, 1865. + +MIRAND W. SAXTON, Civil Life, Nov. 19, 1863; Captain 128th U. S. C. T., +June 25, 1864 [now Second Lt 38th U. S. Infantry]. + +NELSON S. WHITE, Dec. 22, 1863; First Lt, Sept., 1865. + +EDW. W. HYDE, Civil Life, May 4, 1864; First Lt, Oct. 27, 1865. + +F. S. GOODRICH, 115th N. Y., May, 1864; First Lt., Oct., 1865. + +B. H. MANNING, Aug. 11, 1864; Capt 128th U. S. C. T., March 17, 1865. + +R. M. DAVIS, 4th Mass. Cavalry, Nov. 19, 1864; Capt. 104th U. S. C. T., +May 11, 1865. + +HENRY WOOD, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Aug., 1865; First Lt, Nov., 1865. + +JOHN M. SEAKLES, 1st N. Y. Mounted Rifles, June 15, 1865; Mustered out, +&c. + + + + +Appendix B The First Black Soldiers + + +It is well known that the first systematic attempt to organize colored +troops during the war of the rebellion was the so-called "Hunter +Regiment." The officer originally detailed to recruit for this purpose +was Sergeant C. T. Trowbridge, of the New York Volunteer Engineers (Col. +Serrell). His detail was dated May 7, 1862, S. O. 84 Dept. South. + +Enlistments came in very slowly, and no wonder. The white officers and +soldiers were generally opposed to the experiment, and filled the ears +of the negroes with the same tales which had been told them by their +masters,--that the Yankees really meant to sell them to Cuba, and the +like. The mildest threats were that they would be made to work without +pay (which turned out to be the case), and that they would be put in the +front rank in every battle. Nobody could assure them that they and their +families would be freed by the Government, if they fought for it, since +no such policy had been adopted. Nevertheless, they gradually enlisted, +the most efficient recruiting officer being Sergeant William Bronson, +of Company A, in my regiment, who always prided himself on this service, +and used to sign himself by the very original title, "No. 1, African +Foundations" in commemoration of his deeds. + +By patience and tact these obstacles would in time have been overcome. +But before long, unfortunately, some of General Hunter's staff became +impatient, and induced him to take the position that the blacks _must_ +enlist. Accordingly, squads of soldiers were sent to seize all the +able-bodied men on certain plantations, and bring them to the camp. The +immediate consequence was a renewal of the old suspicion, ending in a +widespread belief that they were to be sent to Cuba, as their masters +had predicted. The ultimate result was a habit of distrust, discontent, +and desertion, that it was almost impossible to surmount. All the men +who knew anything about General Hunter believed in him; but they all +knew that there were bad influences around him, and that the Government +had repudiated his promises. They had been kept four months in service, +and then had been dismissed without pay. That having been the case, why +should not the Government equally repudiate General Saxton's promises or +mine? As a matter of fact, the Government did repudiate these pledges for +years, though we had its own written authority to give them. But that +matter needs an appendix by itself. + +The "Hunter Regiment" remained in camp on Hilton Head Island until +the beginning of August, 1862, kept constantly under drill, but much +demoralized by desertion. It was then disbanded, except one company. +That company, under command of Sergeant Trowbridge, then acting as +Captain, but not commissioned, was kept in service, and was sent (August +5, 1862) to garrison St. Simon's Island, on the coast of Georgia. On +this island (made famous by Mrs. Kemble's description) there were then +five hundred colored people, and not a single white man. + +The black soldiers were sent down on the Ben De Ford, Captain Hallett. +On arriving, Trowbridge was at once informed by Commodore Goldsborough, +naval commander at that station, that there was a party of rebel +guerillas on the island, and was asked whether he would trust his +soldiers in pursuit of them. Trowbridge gladly assented; and the +Commodore added, "If you should capture them, it will be a great thing +for you." + +They accordingly went on shore, and found that the colored men of the +island had already undertaken the enterprise. Twenty-five of them had +armed themselves, under the command of one of their own number, whose +name was John Brown. The second in command was Edward Gould, who was +afterwards a corporal in my own regiment The rebel party retreated +before these men, and drew them into a swamp. There was but one path, +and the negroes entered single file. The rebels lay behind a great log, +and fired upon them. John Brown, the leader, fell dead within six feet +of the log,--probably the first black man who fell under arms in +the war,--several other were wounded, and the band of raw recruits +retreated; as did also the rebels, in the opposite direction. This was +the first armed encounter, so far as I know, between the rebels and +their former slaves; and it is worth noticing that the attempt was a +spontaneous thing and not accompanied by any white man. The men were +not soldiers, nor in uniform, though some of them afterwards enlisted in +Trowbridge's company. + +The father of this John Brown was afterwards a soldier in my regiment; +and, after his discharge for old age, was, for a time, my servant. +"Uncle York," as we called him, was as good a specimen of a saint as I +have ever met, and was quite the equal of Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom." He +was a fine-looking old man, with dignified and courtly manners, and his +gray head was a perfect benediction, as he sat with us on the platform +at our Sunday meetings. He fully believed, to his dying day, that the +"John Brown Song" related to his son, and to him only. + +Trowbridge, after landing on the island, hunted the rebels all day with +his colored soldiers, and a posse of sailors. In one place, he found +by a creek a canoe, with a tar-kettle, and a fire burning; and it was +afterwards discovered that, at that very moment, the guerillas were hid +in a dense palmetto thicket, near by, and so eluded pursuit The rebel +leader was one Miles Hazard, who had a plantation on the island, and the +party escaped at last through the aid of his old slave, Henry, who +found them a boat One of my sergeants, Clarence Kennon, who had not then +escaped from slavery, was present when they reached the main-land; and +he described them as being tattered and dirty from head to foot, after +their efforts to escape their pursuers. + +When the troops under my command occupied Jacksonville, Fla., in March +of the following year, we found at the railroad station, packed for +departure, a box of papers, some of them valuable. Among them was a +letter from this very Hazard to some friend, describing the perils of +that adventure, and saying, "If you wish to know hell before your time, +go to St Simon's and be hunted ten days by niggers." + +I have heard Trowbridge say that not one of his men flinched; and they +seemed to take delight in the pursuit, though the weather was very hot, +and it was fearfully exhausting. + +This was early in August; and the company remained two months at St +Simon's, doing picket duty within hearing of the rebel drums, though +not another scout ever ventured on the island, to their knowledge. +Every Saturday Trowbridge summoned the island people to drill with his +soldiers; and they came in hordes, men, women, and children, in every +imaginable garb, to the number of one hundred and fifty or two hundred. + +His own men were poorly clothed and hardly shod at all; and, as no new +supply of uniform was provided, they grew more and more ragged. They got +poor rations, and no pay; but they kept up their spirits. Every week or +so some of them would go on scouting excursions to the main-land; one +scout used to go regularly to his old mother's hut, and keep himself hid +under her bed, while she collected for him all the latest news of rebel +movements. This man never came back without bringing recruits with him. + +At last the news came that Major-General Mitchell had come to relieve +General Hunter, and that Brigadier-General Saxton had gone North; and +Trowbridge went to Hilton Head in some anxiety to see if he and his men +were utterly forgotten. He prepared a report, showing the services and +claims of his men, and took it with him. This was early in October, +1862. The first person he met was Brigadier-General Saxton, who informed +him that he had authority to organize five thousand colored troops, and +that he (Trowbridge) should be senior captain of the first regiment + +This was accordingly done; and Company A of the First South Carolina +could honestly claim to date its enlistment back to May, 1862, although +they never got pay for that period of their service, and their date of +muster was November, IS, 1862. + +The above facts were written down from the narration of +Lieutenant-Colonel Trowbridge, who may justly claim to have been the +first white officer to recruit and command colored troops in this war. +He was constantly in command of them from May 9, 1862, to February 9, +1866. + +Except the Louisiana soldiers mentioned in the Introduction,--of whom +no detailed reports have, I think, been published,--my regiment was +unquestionably the first mustered into the service of the United States; +the first company muster bearing date, November 7, 1862, and the others +following in quick succession. + +The second regiment in order of muster was the "First Kansas Colored," +dating from January 13, 1863. The first enlistment in the Kansas +regiment goes back to August 6, 1862; while the earliest technical date +of enlistment in my regiment was October 19, 1862, although, as was +stated above, one company really dated its organization back to May, +1862. My muster as colonel dates back to November 10, 1862, several +months earlier than any other of which I am aware, among colored +regiments, except that of Colonel Stafford (First Louisiana Native +Guards), September 27, 1862. Colonel Williams, of the "First Kansas +Colored," was mustered as lieutenant-colonel on January 13, 1863; +as colonel, March 8, 1863. These dates I have (with the other facts +relating to the regiment) from Colonel R. J. Hinton, the first officer +detailed to recruit it. + +To sum up the above facts: my late regiment had unquestioned priority in +muster over all but the Louisiana regiments. It had priority over those +in the actual organization and term of service of one company. On the +other hand, the Kansas regiment had the priority in average date of +enlistment, according to the muster-rolls. + +The first detachment of the Second South Carolina Volunteers (Colonel +Montgomery) went into camp at Port Royal Island, February 23, 1863, +numbering one hundred and twenty men. I do not know the date of his +muster; it was somewhat delayed, but was probably dated back to about +that time. + +Recruiting for the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts (colored) began on +February 9, 1863, and the first squad went into camp at Readville, +Massachusetts, on February 21, 1863, numbering twenty-five men. Colonel +Shaw's commission (and probably his muster) was dated April 17, 1863. +(Report of Adjutant-General of Massachusetts for 1863, pp. 896-899.) + +These were the earliest colored regiments, so far as I know. + + + + +Appendix C General Saxton's Instructions + + +[The following are the instructions under which my regiment was raised. +It will be seen how unequivocal were the provisions in respect to pay, +upon which so long and weary a contest was waged by our friends in +Congress, before the fulfilment of the contract could be secured.] + +WAR DEPARTMENT, WASHINGTON CITY, D. C., August 25, 1862. + +GENERAL, Your despatch of the 16th has this moment been received. It is +considered by the Department that the instructions given at the time of +your appointment were sufficient to enable you to do what you have now +requested authority for doing. But in order to place your authority +beyond all doubt, you are hereby authorized and instructed, + +1st, To organize in any convenient organization, by squads, companies, +battalions, regiments, and brigades, or otherwise, colored persons of +African descent for volunteer laborers, to a number not exceeding fifty +thousand, and muster them into the service of the United States for the +term of the war, at a rate of compensation not exceeding five dollars +per month for common laborers, and eight dollars per month for +mechanical or skilled laborers, and assign them to the Quartermaster's +Department, to do and perform such laborer's duty as may be required +during the present war, and to be subject to the rules and articles of +war. + +2d. The laboring forces herein authorized shall, under the order of +the General-in-Chief, or of this Department, be detailed by the +Quartermaster-General for laboring service with the armies of the United +States; and they shall be clothed and subsisted, after enrolment, in the +same manner as other persons in the Quartermaster's service. + +3d. In view of the small force under your command, and the inability of +the Government at the present time to increase it, in order to guard the +plantations and settlements occupied by the United States from invasion, +and protect the inhabitants thereof from captivity and murder by the +enemy, you are also authorized to arm, uniform, equip, and receive into +the service of the United States, such number of volunteers of African +descent as you may deem expedient, not exceeding five thousand, and +may detail officers to instruct them in military drill, discipline, and +duty, and to command them. The persons so received into service, and +their officers, to be entitled to, and receive, the same pay and rations +as are allowed, by law, to volunteers in the service. + +4th. You will occupy, if possible, all the islands and plantations +heretofore occupied by the Government, and secure and harvest the crops, +and cultivate and improve the plantations. + +5th. The population of African descent that cultivate the lands and +perform the labor of the rebels constitute a large share of their +military strength, and enable the white masters to fill the rebel +armies, and wage a cruel and murderous war against the people of the +Northern States. By reducing the laboring strength of the rebels, their +military power will be reduced. You are therefore authorized by every +means in your power, to withdraw from the enemy their laboring force and +population, and to spare no effort, consistent with civilized warfare, +to weaken, harass, and annoy them, and to establish the authority of the +Government of the United States within your Department. + +6th. You may turn over to the navy any number of colored volunteers that +may be required for the naval service. + +7th. By recent act of Congress, all men and boys received into the +service of the United States, who may have been the slaves of rebel +masters, are, with their wives, mothers, and children, declared to be +forever free. You and all in your command will so treat and regard them. + +Yours truly, + +EDWIN M. STANTON, + +Secretary of War. BRIGADIER-GENERAL SAXTON. + + + + +Appendix D The Struggle for Pay + + +The story of the attempt to cut down the pay of the colored troops is +too long, too complicated, and too humiliating, to be here narrated. In +the case of my regiment there stood on record the direct pledge of the +War Department to General Saxton that their pay should be the same as +that of whites. So clear was this that our kind paymaster, Major W. J. +Wood, of New Jersey, took upon himself the responsibility of paying the +price agreed upon, for five months, till he was compelled by express +orders to reduce it from thirteen dollars per month to ten dollars, +and from that to seven dollars,--the pay of quartermaster's men and +day-laborers. At the same time the "stoppages" from the pay-rolls for +the loss of all equipments and articles of clothing remained the same +as for all other soldiers, so that it placed the men in the most painful +and humiliating condition. Many of them had families to provide for, and +between the actual distress, the sense of wrong, the taunts of those who +had refused to enlist from the fear of being cheated, and the doubt how +much farther the cheat might be carried, the poor fellows were goaded +to the utmost. In the Third South Carolina regiment, Sergeant William +Walker was shot, by order of court-marital, for leading his company to +stack arms before their captain's tent, on the avowed ground that they +were released from duty by the refusal of the Government to fulfill +its share of the contract. The fear of such tragedies spread a cloud of +solicitude over every camp of colored soldiers for more than a year, and +the following series of letters will show through what wearisome labors +the final triumph of justice was secured. In these labors the chief +credit must be given to my admirable Adjutant, Lieutenant G. W. +Dewhurst In the matter of bounty justice is not yet obtained; there is +a discrimination against those colored soldiers who were slaves on April +19, 1861. Every officer, who through indolence or benevolent design +claimed on his muster-rolls that all his men had been free on that +day, secured for them the bounty; while every officer who, like myself, +obeyed orders and told the truth in each case, saw his men and +their families suffer for it, as I have done. A bill to abolish this +distinction was introduced by Mr. Wilson at the last session, but failed +to pass the House. It is hoped that next winter may remove this last +vestige of the weary contest + +To show how persistently and for how long a period these claims had to +be urged on Congress, I reprint such of my own printed letters on the +subject as are now in my possession. There are one or two of which I +have no copies. It was especially in the Senate that it was so difficult +to get justice done; and our thanks will always be especially due to +Hon. Charles Sumner and Hon. Henry Wilson for their advocacy of our +simple rights. The records of those sessions will show who advocated the +fraud. + +To the Editor of the _New York Tribune_: + +SIR,--No one can overstate the intense anxiety with which the officers +of colored regiments in this Department are awaiting action from +Congress in regard to arrears of pay of their men. + +It is not a matter of dollars and cents only; it is a question of common +honesty,--whether the United States Government has sufficient integrity +for the fulfillment of an explicit business contract. + +The public seems to suppose that all required justice will be done by +the passage of a bill equalizing the pay of all soldiers for the future. +But, so far as my own regiment is concerned, this is but half the +question. My men have been nearly sixteen months in the service, and for +them the immediate issue is the question of arrears. + +They understand the matter thoroughly, if the public do not Every one +of them knows that he volunteered under an explicit _written assurance_ +from the War Department that he should have the pay of a white soldier. +He knows that for five months the regiment received that pay, after +which it was cut down from the promised thirteen dollars per month to +ten dollars, for some reason to him inscrutable. + +He does _not_ know for I have not yet dared to tell the men--that the +Paymaster has been already reproved by the Pay Department for fulfilling +even in part the pledges of the War Department; that at the next payment +the ten dollars are to be further reduced to seven; and that, to crown +the whole, all the previous overpay is to be again deducted or "stopped" +from the future wages, thus leaving them a little more than a dollar a +month for six months to come, unless Congress interfere! + +Yet so clear were the terms of the contract that Mr. Solicitor Whiting, +having examined the original instructions from the War Department issued +to Brigadier-General Saxton, Military Governor, admits to me (under +date of December 4, 1863,) that "the faith of the Government was thereby +pledged to every officer and soldier enlisted under that call." + +He goes on to express the generous confidence that "the pledge will be +honorably fulfilled." I observe that every one at the North seems +to feel the same confidence, but that, meanwhile, the pledge is +unfulfilled. Nothing is said in Congress about fulfilling it. I have not +seen even a proposition in Congress to pay the colored soldiers, _from +date of enlistment_, the same pay with white soldiers; and yet anything +short of that is an unequivocal breach of contract, so far as this +regiment is concerned. + +Meanwhile, the land sales are beginning, and there is danger of every +foot of land being sold from beneath my soldiers' feet, because they +have not the petty sum which Government first promised, and then refused +to pay. + +The officers' pay comes promptly and fully enough, and this makes the +position more embarrassing. For how are we to explain to the men the +mystery that Government can afford us a hundred or two dollars a month, +and yet must keep back six of the poor thirteen which it promised them? +Does it not naturally suggest the most cruel suspicions in regard to us? +And yet nothing but their childlike faith in their officers, and in that +incarnate soul of honor, General Saxton, has sustained their faith, or +kept them patient, thus far. + +There is nothing mean or mercenary about these men in general. Convince +them that the Government actually needs their money, and they would +serve it barefooted and on half-rations, and without a dollar--for a +time. But, unfortunately, they see white soldiers beside them, whom they +know to be in no way their superiors for any military service, receiving +hundreds of dollars for re-enlisting for this impoverished Government, +which can only pay seven dollars out of thirteen to its black regiments. +And they see, on the other hand, those colored men who refused to +volunteer as soldiers, and who have found more honest paymasters than +the United States Government, now exulting in well-filled pockets, and +able to buy the little homesteads the soldiers need, and to turn +the soldiers' families into the streets. Is this a school for +self-sacrificing patriotism? + +I should not speak thus urgently were it not becoming manifest that +there is to be no promptness of action in Congress, even as regards the +future pay of colored soldiers,--and that there is especial danger of +the whole matter of _arrears_ going by default Should it be so, it +will be a repudiation more ungenerous than any which Jefferson Davis +advocated or Sydney Smith denounced. It will sully with dishonor all +the nobleness of this opening page of history, and fix upon the North +a brand of meanness worse than either Southerner or Englishman has yet +dared to impute. The mere delay in the fulfillment of this contract has +already inflicted untold suffering, has impaired discipline, has relaxed +loyalty, and has begun to implant a feeling of sullen distrust in the +very regiments whose early career solved the problem of the nation, +created a new army, and made peaceful emancipation possible. + +T. W. HIGGINSON, Colonel commanding 1st S. C. Vols. + +BEAUFORT, S. C., January 22, 1864. + +HEADQUARTERS FIRST SOUTH CAROLINA VOLUNTEERS, BEAUFORT, S. C., Sunday, +February 14, 1864. + + + +To the Editor of the _New York Times_: + +May I venture to call your attention to the great and cruel injustice +which is impending over the brave men of this regiment? + +They have been in military service for over a year, having volunteered, +every man, without a cent of bounty, on the written pledge of the War +Department that they should receive the same pay and rations with white +soldiers. + +This pledge is contained in the written instructions of +Brigadier-General Saxton, Military Governor, dated August 25, 1862. Mr. +Solicitor Whiting, having examined those instructions, admits to me that +"the faith of the Government was thereby pledged to every officer and +soldier under that call." + +Surely, if this fact were understood, every man in the nation would see +that the Government is degraded by using for a year the services of the +brave soldiers, and then repudiating the contract under which they +were enlisted. This is what will be done, should Mr. Wilson's bill, +legalizing the back pay of the army, be defeated. + +We presume too much on the supposed ignorance of these men. I have never +yet found a man in my regiment so stupid as not to know when he was +cheated. If fraud proceeds from Government itself, so much the worse, +for this strikes at the foundation of all rectitude, all honor, all +obligation. + +Mr. Senator Fessenden said, in the debate on Mr. Wilson's bill, January +4, that the Government was not bound by the unauthorized promises of +irresponsible recruiting officers. But is the Government itself an +irresponsible recruiting officer? and if men have volunteered in good +faith on the written assurances of the Secretary of War, is not Congress +bound, in all decency, either to fulfill those pledges or to disband the +regiments? + +Mr. Senator Doolittle argued in the same debate that white soldiers +should receive higher pay than black ones, because the families of the +latter were often supported by Government What an astounding statement +of fact is this! In the white regiment in which I was formerly an +officer (the Massachusetts Fifty-First) nine tenths of the soldiers' +families, in addition to the pay and bounties, drew regularly their +"State aid." Among my black soldiers, with half-pay and no bounty, not +a family receives any aid. Is there to be no limit, no end to the +injustice we heap upon this unfortunate people? Cannot even the fact +of their being in arms for the nation, liable to die any day in its +defence, secure them ordinary justice? Is the nation so poor, and so +utterly demoralized by its pauperism, that after it has had the lives +of these men, it must turn round to filch six dollars of the monthly pay +which the Secretary of War promised to their widows? It is even so, if +the excuses of Mr. Fressenden and Mr. Doolittle are to be accepted by +Congress and by the people. + +Very respectfully, your obedient servant, + +T, W. HIGGINSON, Colonel commanding 1st S. C. Volunteers. + +NEW VICTORIES AND OLD WRONGS To the Editors of the Evening Post: + +On the 2d of July, at James Island, S. C., a battery was taken by three +regiments, under the following circumstances: + +The regiments were the One Hundred and Third New York (white), the +Thirty-Third United States (formerly First South Carolina Volunteers), +and the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts, the two last being colored. They +marched at one A. M., by the flank, in the above order, hoping to +surprise the battery. As usual the rebels were prepared for them, and +opened upon them as they were deep in one of those almost impassable +Southern marshes. The One Hundred and Third New York, which had +previously been in twenty battles, was thrown into confusion; the +Thirty-Third United States did better, being behind; the Fifty-Fifth +Massachusetts being in the rear, did better still. All three formed in +line, when Colonel Hartwell, commanding the brigade, gave the order to +retreat. The officer commanding the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts, either +misunderstanding the order, or hearing it countermanded, ordered his +regiment to charge. This order was at once repeated by Major Trowbridge, +commanding the Thirty-Third United States, and by the commander of the +One Hundred and Third New York, so that the three regiments reached the +fort in reversed order. The color-bearers of the Thirty-Third United +States and of the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts had a race to be first +in, the latter winning. The One Hundred and Third New York entered the +battery immediately after. + +These colored regiments are two of the five which were enlisted in +South Carolina and Massachusetts, under the written pledge of the War +Department that they should have the same pay and allowances as +white soldiers. That pledge has been deliberately broken by the War +Department, or by Congress, or by both, except as to the short period, +since last New-Year's Day. Every one of those killed in this action from +these two colored regiments under a fire before which the veterans of +twenty battles recoiled _died defrauded by the Government of nearly one +half his petty pay_. + +Mr. Fessenden, who defeated in the Senate the bill for the fulfillment +of the contract with these soldiers, is now Secretary of the Treasury. +Was the economy of saving six dollars per man worth to the Treasury the +ignominy of the repudiation? + +Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, on his triumphal return to his +constituents, used to them this language: "He had no doubt whatever as +to the final result of the present contest between liberty and slavery. +The only doubt he had was whether the nation had yet been satisfactorily +chastised for their cruel oppression of a harmless and long-suffering +race." Inasmuch as it was Mr. Stevens himself who induced the House of +Representatives, most unexpectedly to all, to defeat the Senate bill for +the fulfillment of the national contract with these soldiers, I should +think he had excellent reasons for the doubt. + +Very respectfully, + +T. W. HIGGINSON, Colonel 1st S. C. Vols (now 33d U. S.) July 10, 1864. + + + +To the Editor of the _New York Tribune_: + +No one can possibly be so weary of reading of the wrongs done by +Government toward the colored soldiers as am I of writing about them. +This is my only excuse for intruding on your columns again. + +By an order of the War Department, dated August 1, 1864, it is at length +ruled that colored soldiers shall be paid the full pay of soldiers from +date of enlistment, provided they were free on April 19, 1861,--not +otherwise; and this distinction is to be noted on the pay-rolls. In +other words, if one half of a company escaped from slavery on April 18, +1861, they are to be paid thirteen dollars per month and allowed three +dollars and a half per month for clothing. If the other half were +delayed two days, they receive seven dollars per month and are allowed +three dollars per month for precisely the same articles of clothing. +If one of the former class is made first sergeant, Us pay is put up to +twenty-one dollars per month; but if he escaped two days later, his pay +is still estimated at seven dollars. + +It had not occurred to me that anything could make the payrolls of these +regiments more complicated than at present, or the men more rationally +discontented. I had not the ingenuity to imagine such an order. Yet it +is no doubt in accordance with the spirit, if not with the letter, +of the final bill which was adopted by Congress under the lead of Mr. +Thaddeus Stevens. + +The ground taken by Mr. Stevens apparently was that the country might +honorably save a few dollars by docking the promised pay of those +colored soldiers whom the war had made free. _But the Government should +have thought of this before it made the contract with these men +and received their services_. When the War Department instructed +Brigadier-General Saxton, August 25, 1862, to raise five regiments +of negroes in South Carolina, it was known very well that the men so +enlisted had only recently gained their freedom. But the instructions +said: "The persons so received into service, and their officers, to be +entitled to and receive the same pay and rations as are allowed by law +to volunteers in the service." Of this passage Mr. Solicitor Whiting +wrote to me: "I have no hesitation in saying that the faith of the +Government was thereby pledged to every officer and soldier enlisted +under that call." Where is that faith of the Government now? + +The men who enlisted under the pledge were volunteers, every one; +they did not get their freedom by enlisting; they had it already. They +enlisted to serve the Government, trusting in its honor. Now the nation +turns upon them and says: Your part of the contract is fulfilled; we +have had your services. If you can show that you had previously been +free for a certain length of time, we will fulfil the other side of the +contract. If not, we repudiate it Help yourselves, if you can. + +In other words, a freedman (since April 19, 1861) has no rights which a +white man is bound to respect. He is incapable of making a contract No +man is bound by a contract made with him. Any employer, following the +example of the United States Government, may make with him a written +agreement receive his services, and then withhold the wages. He has no +motive to honest industry, or to honesty of any kind. He is virtually a +slave, and nothing else, to the end of time. + +Under this order, the greater part of the Massachusetts colored +regiments will get their pay at last and be able to take their wives and +children out of the almshouses, to which, as Governor Andrew informs us, +the gracious charity of the nation has consigned so many. For so much I +am grateful. But toward my regiment, which had been in service and under +fire, months before a Northern colored soldier was recruited, the +policy of repudiation has at last been officially adopted. There is no +alternative for the officers of South Carolina regiments but to wait +for another session of Congress, and meanwhile, if necessary, act as +executioners for those soldiers who, like Sergeant Walker, refuse +to fulfil their share of a contract where the Government has openly +repudiated the other share. If a year's discussion, however, has at +length secured the arrears of pay for the Northern colored regiments, +possibly two years may secure it for the Southern. + +T. W. HIGGINSON, Colonel 1st S. C. Vols. (now 33d V. S.) + +August 12, 1864. + + + +To the Editor of the _New York Tribune_: + +SIR,--An impression seems to prevail in the newspapers that the lately +published "opinion" of Attorney-General Bates (dated in July last) at +length secures justice to the colored soldiers in respect to arrears of +pay. This impression is a mistake. + +That "opinion" does indeed show that there never was any excuse for +refusing them justice; but it does not, of itself, secure justice to +them. + +It _logically_ covers the whole ground, and was doubtless intended to do +so; but _technically_ it can only apply to those soldiers who were free +at the commencement of the war. For it was only about these that the +Attorney-General was officially consulted. + +Under this decision the Northern colored regiments have already got +their arrears of pay,--and those few members of the Southern regiments +who were free on April 19, 1861. But in the South Carolina regiments +this only increases the dissatisfaction among the remainder, who +volunteered under the same pledge of full pay from the War Department, +and who do not see how the question of their _status_ at some antecedent +period can affect an express contract If, in 1862, they were free enough +to make a bargain with, they were certainly free enough to claim its +fulfilment. + +The unfortunate decision of Mr. Solicitor Whiting, under which all +our troubles arose, is indeed superseded by the reasoning of the +Attorney-General. But unhappily that does not remedy the evil, which is +already embodied in an Act of Congress, making the distinction between +those who were and those who were not free on April 19, 1861. + +The question is, whether those who were not free at the breaking out of +the war are still to be defrauded, after the Attorney-General has shown +that there is no excuse for defrauding them? + +I call it defrauding, because it is not a question of abstract justice, +but of the fulfilment of an express contract + +I have never met with a man, whatever might be his opinions as to the +enlistment of colored soldiers, who did not admit that if they had +volunteered under the direct pledge of full pay from the War Department, +they were entitled to every cent of it. That these South Carolina +regiments had such direct pledge is undoubted, for it still exists in +writing, signed by the Secretary of War, and has never been disputed. + +It is therefore the plain duty of Congress to repeal the law which +discriminates between different classes of colored soldiers, or at least +so to modify it as to secure the fulfilment of actual contracts. Until +this is done the nation is still disgraced. The few thousand dollars +in question are nothing compared with the absolute wrong done and the +discredit it has brought, both here and in Europe, upon the national +name. + +T. W. HIGGINSON, + +Late Col. 1st S. C. Vols. (now 33d U. S. C. T.) NEWPORT, R. I, December +8, 1864. + + + +PETITION + +"To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States in Congress assembled: + +"The undersigned respectfully petitions for the repeal of so much of +Section IV. of the Act of Congress making appropriations for the army +and approved July 4, 1864, as makes a distinction, in respect to pay +due, between those colored soldiers who were free on or before April 19, +1861, and those who were not free until a later date; + +"Or at least that there may be such legislation as to secure the +fulfillment of pledges of full pay from date of enlistment, made by +direct authority of the War Department to the colored soldiers of South +Carolina, on the faith of which pledges they enlisted. + +"THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON, Late Colonel 1st S. C. Vols. (now 33d U. S. +C. Vols.) + +"NEWPORT, R. L, December 9, 1864." + + + + +Appendix E Farewell Address of Lt. Col. Trowbridge + + +HEADQUARTERS 33d UNITED STATES COLORED TROOPS, LATE 1ST SOUTH CAROLINA +VOLUNTEERS, + +MORRIS ISLAND, S. C., + +February 9, 1866. GENERAL ORDERS, No. 1. + +COMRADES,--The hour is at hand when we must separate forever, and +nothing can ever take from us the pride we feel, when we look back upon +the history of the First South Carolina Volunteers,--the first black +regiment that ever bore arms in defence of freedom on the continent of +America. + +On the ninth day of May, 1862, at which time there were nearly four +millions of your race in a bondage sanctioned by the laws of the land, +and protected by our flag,--on that day, in the face of floods of +prejudice, that wellnigh deluged every avenue to manhood and true +liberty, you came forth to do battle for your country and your kindred. +For long and weary months without pay, or even the privilege of being +recognized as soldiers, you labored on, only to be disbanded and sent +to your homes, without even a hope of reward. And when our country, +necessitated by the deadly struggle with armed traitors, finally granted +you the opportunity _again_ to come forth in defence of the nation's +life, the alacrity with which you responded to the call gave abundant +evidence of your readiness to strike a manly blow for the liberty of +your race. And from that little band of hopeful, trusting, and brave +men, who gathered at Camp Saxton, on Port Royal Island, in the fall of +1862, amidst the terrible prejudices that then surrounded us, has grown +an army of a hundred and forty thousand black soldiers, whose valor +and heroism has won for your race a name which will live as long as the +undying pages of history shall endure; and by whose efforts, united with +those of the white man, armed rebellion has been conquered, the millions +of bondmen have been emancipated, and the fundamental law of the land +has been so altered as to remove forever the possibility of human +slavery being re-established within the borders of redeemed America. The +flag of our fathers, restored to its rightful significance, now floats +over every foot of our territory, from Maine to California, and beholds +only freemen! The prejudices which formerly existed against you are +wellnigh rooted out + +Soldiers, you have done your duty, and acquitted yourselves like men, +who, actuated by such ennobling motives, could not fail; and as the +result of your fidelity and obedience, you have won your freedom. And O, +how great the reward! + +It seems fitting to me that the last hours of our existence as +a regiment should be passed amidst the unmarked graves of your +comrades,--at Fort Wagner. Near you rest the bones of Colonel Shaw, +buried by an enemy's hand, in the same grave with his black soldiers, +who fell at his side; where, in future, your children's children will +come on pilgrimages to do homage to the ashes of those that fell in this +glorious struggle. + +The flag which was presented to us by the Rev. George B. Cheever and his +congregation, of New York City, on the first of January, 1863,--the +day when Lincoln's immortal proclamation of freedom was given to the +world,--and which you have borne so nobly through the war, is now to +be rolled up forever, and deposited in our nation's capital. And while +there it shall rest, with the battles in which you have participated +inscribed upon its folds, it will be a source of pride to us all to +remember that it has never been disgraced by a cowardly faltering in the +hour of danger or polluted by a traitor's touch. + +Now that you are to lay aside your arms, and return to the peaceful +avocations of life, I adjure you, by the associations and history of the +past, and the love you bear for your liberties, to harbor no feelings of +hatred toward your former masters, but to seek in the paths of honesty, +virtue, sobriety, and industry, and by a willing obedience to the laws +of the land, to grow up to the full stature of American citizens. The +church, the school-house, and the right forever to be free are now +secured to you, and every prospect before you is full of hope and +encouragement. The nation guarantees to you full protection and justice, +and will require from you in return the respect for the laws and +orderly deportment which will prove to every one your right to all the +privileges of freemen. + +To the officers of the regiment I would say, your toils are ended, your +mission is fulfilled, and we separate forever. The fidelity, patience, +and patriotism with which you have discharged your duties, to your men +and to your country, entitle you to a far higher tribute than any words +of thankfulness which I can give you from the bottom of my heart You +will find your reward in the proud conviction that the cause for which +you have battled so nobly has been crowned with abundant success. + +Officers and soldiers of the Thirty-Third United States Colored Troops, +once the First South Carolina Volunteers, I bid you all farewell! + +By order of Lt.-Col. C. T. TROWBRIDGE, commanding Regiment + +E. W. HYDE, Lieutenant and Acting Adjutant. + + + +INDEX + +[page numbers have been retained for the W. W. Norton paperback reprint +to show relative location in file.] + + +Index + +Aiken, William, GOT., 166 + +Aiken, South Carolina, 249 + +Allston, Adam, Corp., 103 + +Andrew, J. A., Gov., 29, 215, 216, sends Emancipation Proclamation to +Higginson, 85 + +Bates, Edward, 275 + +Battle of the Hundred Pines, 95, 104 + +Beach, H. A., Lt, 257, 258 + +Beaufort, South Carolina, 33, 34, 38, 106, 142, 215 Higginson visits, 64 +Negro troops march through, 74 picket station near, 134 residents visit +camp, 147 Negro troops patrol, 219 + +Beauregard, P. G.T., Gen., 45, 73 + +Beecher, H. R., Rev., 241 + +Bell, Louis, Col., 225 + +Bennett, W. T., Gen., 249, 255 + +Bezzard, James, 95 + +Bigelow, L. F., Lt, 28 + +Billings, L., Lt.-Col., 255 + +Bingham, J. M., Lt, 170, 257 + +Brannan, J. M, Gen., 107 + +Brisbane, W. H., 60 + +Bronson, William, Sgt, 260 + +Brown, A. B., Lt, 258 + +Brown, John, 29, 45, 61, 76 + +Brown, John (Negro), 262 + +Brown, York, 262 Bryant, J. E., Capt, 220 + +Budd, Lt, 83 + +Burnside, A. E., Gen., 54, 55 + +Butler, B. F., Gen., 27 + +Calhoun, J. C., Capt., 150 Camplife, 30 evening activities, 36-39, 44-49 +Casualties, 89 + +Chamberlin, G. B., Lt., 177, 257 Chamberlin, Mrs., 229 + +Charleston, South Carolina, attacked, 137, 143, 150 Negro troops in, +249 Charleston and Savannah Railway, 163 + +Cheever, G. B., Rev., 278 + +Child, A. Lt, 258 + +Christmas, 55, 56 + +Clark, Capt, 84, 89, 102 + +Clifton, Capt, 100, 101 + +Clinton, J. B., Lt, 165 + +Colors, Stands of, 56, 60 + +Confederates, 35 use spies, 91, 93 attack Negro troops, 86-87, 100-102 +threaten to burn Jacksonville, 110 civilians fear Negro troops, 116 +retreat, 126-127,142 + +Connecticut Regiment, Sixth, 122, 124, 126 Seventh, 93 + +Corwin, B. R., MaJ., 120, 126 + +Crandall, W. B., Surg., 255 + +Crum, Simon, Corp., 249 + +Cushman, James, 241 + +Danilson, W. H., Maj., 93, 256, + +Davis, C. I., Lt., 257 + +Davis., R. M., Lt., 259 + +Davis, W. W. H., Gen., 164 + +Department of the South, 15, 80 quiet, 106 colored troops in, 137 + +Desertions, 62 + +Dewhurst, G. W., Adjt, 256 + +Dewhurst, Mrs., 229 + +Discipline, need for, 29 Negroes accept, 39 + +Dolly, George, Capt., 172, 256 + +Doolittle, J. R., 271 + +Drill, of Negroes, 46, 51, 245 whites, 64-65 + +Drinking, absence of, 58 + +Duncan, Lt. Com., 109, 111 + +Dupont, S. F., Admiral, 15, 82, 91, 99, 108, 137 + +Dutch, Capt., 166 + +Edisto expedition, 163-176, 214 + +Education, desire for, 48 + +Emancipation Proclamation, 65 read, 60 sent to Higginson, 85 + +Fernandina, Florida, 84, 91, 104 + +Fessenden, W. P., 271, 272 + +Finnegan, Gen., 115 + +Fisher, J., Lt., 257 + +Florida, 221 men under Higginson, 35 slaves know about Lincoln, 46 +refugees from, 49 Foraging, 99, 104, 117, 120 restraint in, 96-97 in +Florida, 221 + +Fowler, J. H., Chap., 59, 119, 221, + +Fremont, J. C., Gen., 46, 61 + +French, J., Rev., 60, 123 + +Furman, J. T., Lt, 258 + +Gage, F. D., Mrs., 61 + +Garrison, W. L., 236 + +Gaston, William, Lt., 257 + +Gilmore, Q. A., Gen., 176, 224, 226, 228 writes on Charleston, 163 +approves Edisto expedition, 164 + +Goldsborough, Commodore, 231, + +Goodell, J. B., Lt., 28 + +Goodrich, F. S., Lt., 258, 259 + +Gould, E. Corp., 261 + +Gould, F. M., Lt, 258 + +Greeley, Horace, 164 + +Greene, Sgt, 125 + +Hallett, Capt, 80, 81, 261 + +Hallowell, E. N., Gen., 216, 230, + +Hamburg, South Carolina, 249 + +Hartwell, A. S., Gen., 272 + +Hawks, J. M., Surg., 256 + +Hawley, J. R., Gen., 93,102,114 + +Hayne, H. E., Sgt., 249 + +Hazard, Miles, 262 + +Heasley, A, Capt., 220, 256 + +Heron, Charles, 126 + +Hilton Head, 32 Higginson visits, 106 troops on duty at, 214 + +Hinton, R. J., Col., 264 + +Holden, Lt, 126 + +Hooper, C. W., Capt., 154, 226, 256, 257, 258 + +Hospital, camp, 56, 63 + +Howard University, 250 + +Hughes, Lt. Com., 91, 93, 94 + +Hunter, David., Gen.-28, 35, 40, 62, 80, 124, 130, 131, 138, 164, 260, +261, 263 takes Negro sgt to N.Y., 73 visits camp, 76 speaks to +Negro troops, 76 Higginson confers with, 106 orders evacuation of +Jacksonville, 107 attacks Charleston, 137 goes North, 150 + +Hyde, E. W., Lt, 258, 259, 279 + +Hyde, W. H., Lt, 89, 257 + +Jackson, A. W., Capt, 87, 89, 256, 257, 258 + +Jacksonville, Florida Confederates threaten to burn, 110 Higginson's men +reach, 112-113 description of, 114-115 order to evacuate, 130 attempts +to bum, 130-131 + +James, William, Capt., 96,165,256 + +Jekyll Island, 83 + +Johnston, J. F., Lt, 257 + +Jones, Lt., 89 + +Kansas, 29, 43, 64 + +Kemble, Fanny, 82, 261 + +Kennon, Clarence, Cpl., 262 + +King, T. B., 82 + +Lambkin, Prince, Cpl., 45, 116 + +Leslie's Illustrated Weekly, 56 + +Lincoln, Abraham, 46, 238 + +London Spectator, 76 + +Long, Thomas, CpL, 240 + +Mclntyre, H., Sgt., 85, 86, 239 + +Maine, 43 + +Maine Regiment, Eighth, 75, 123, 124, 126 + +Manning, B. H., Lt, 259 + +Maroons, 235, 237 + +Massachusetts Regiment, First, 139 Fifty-Fourth, 27, 215, 232 + +Meeker, L., Maj., 122, 126 + +Merriam, E. C., Capt, 256, 257 + +Metcalf, L. W., Capt, 85, 87, 96, 220, 256 + +Miller family, 234 + +Minor, T. T, Surg., 87, 256 + +Mitchell, O. M., Gen., 263 + +Montgomery, James, Col., 114, 120, 130, 264 enters Jacksonville, 112 +river raid led by, 120, 129, 164 + +Moses, Acting Master, 83 + +Mulattoes, 33, 42, 234 pass for white, 49-50 + +Music, troops play, 47, 187-213 + +Negro soldiers visited, 30 work at night, 38-39 as sentinels, 42, 66-69 +honor and fidelity, 66 march to Beaufort, 74-75 conduct under fire, +86-87, 100-101, 128-129 treatment of whites by, 116 on picket duty, 133 +on raid up Edisto, 167-176 appraisal of, 231-247 from North and South +compared, + +Negro spirituals, 187-213 + +Negroes, traits of, 66, 69-71 physical condition of, 72, 246 set free by +Higginson's men, 166-169 + +New Hampshire Regiment, Fourth, 139, 225 + +New Year's celebration, 55, 56, 57-61 + +New York, 34 Officers, white, 51 + +O'Neil, J. B., Lt., 257 + +Osborne, Lt., 220 + +Parker, C. E., Lt., 257 + +Parker, N. B., Capt., 256, 257, 258 + +Parsons, William, 89 + +Phillips, Wendell, 118, 236 + +Pomeroy, J., Lt, 257 + +Port Royal, 82, 83, 124 capture of, 164 as winter camp, 177 new camp at, +215 objective of Sherman, 247 + +Ramsay, Allan, 209 + +Randolph, W. J., Capt, 120, 256 + +Rebels. See Confederates Religious activities, 47, 48, 240-241 + +Rivers, Prince, Sgt., 61,75,245,249 qualities of, 73, 78 plants colors, +99 + +Robbins, E. W., Capt, 256, 257, + +Roberts, Samuel, 231 + +Rogers, J. S., Capt, 103, 173, 250, 256 + +Rogers, Seth, Surg., 89, 103, 255 + +Rust, J. D., Col., 124, 125,126,131 + +Sammis, Col., 49 + +St. Simon's Island, 83, 84 + +Sampson, W. W., Capt, 170, 256, + +Savannah, Georgia, 115, 249 + +Saxton, M. W., Lt., 258 + +Saxton, Rufus, Gen., 29, 55, 58, 59, 61,70,76,80,88,102,108, 143, +164, 216, 224, 225, 229, 232, 235, 261, 263, 267, 269, 270, 273 offers +command to Higginson, 78 Higginson reports to, 33 issues proclamation, +34 receives recruits, 40 speaks on New Year's program, Negroes idolize, +66 speaks to troops, 76 initiates plans for Shaw monument, 217 Christmas +party, 219 + +Searles, J. M., Lt., 259 + +Sears, Capt., 94 + +Selvage, J. M., Lt, 258 + +Serrell, E. W., Col., 260 + +Seward, W. H., 238 + +Seymour, T., Gen., 132, 228 + +Shaw, R. G., Col., 170, 264, 278 camp named for, 215 Higginson meets, +216 killed, 217 + +Sherman, W. T., Gen., 170, 247 + +Showalter, Lt.-Col, 128 + +"Siege of Charleston," 163 + +Simmons, London, Cpl., 245 + +Slavery, effect of, 38, 244 + +Smalls, Robert, Capt, 33, 80 + +Songs, Negro, 136, 187-213 + +South Carolina, 29 men under Higginson, 35, 40 man reads Emancipation +Proclamation, 59-60 + +South Carolina Volunteers, First, 27, 237 order to Florida +countermanded, 225 becomes Thirty-third U.S. Colored Troops, 248 South +Carolina Volunteers, Second, 27, 126, 264 + +Sprague, A. B. R., Col., 28 + +Stafford, Col., 264 + +Stanton, E. M., 266 + +Steedman, Capt, 130 + +Stevens, Capt, 83 + +Stevens, Thaddeus, 272, 273 + +Stickney, Judge, 61, 106, 114 + +Stockdale, W, Lt, 257 + +Stone, H. A., Lt, 257 + +Strong, J. D., Lt.-Col., 80, 121, 126, 172, 174, 175, 255 + +Stuard, E. S., Surg., 256 + +Sumner, Charles, 268 + +Sunderland, Col., 113 + +Sutton, Robert, Sgt, 61, 88, 94, 95, 188 character of, 78-79 leads men, +85-86 wounded, 90 exhibits slave jail, 97-98 court-martialed, 104 + +Thibadeau, J. H., Capt, 257 + +Thompson, J. M., Capt, 256, 257 + +Tirrell, A. H., Lt, 258 + +Tobacco, use of, 58 + +Tonking, J. H., Capt, 256 + +Trowbridge, C. T., Lt-Col., 164, 167, 169, 175, 226, 231, 235, 243, 245, +249, 255, 256, 260, 262, 263, 272, 277-279 commands "Planter," 80,103 +and men construct Ft Montgomery, 121 on river raid, 165 + +Trowbridge, J. A., Lt, 257, 258 + +Tubman, Harriet 37 Twichell, J. F., Lt-CoL, 123, 126 Virginia + +Vendross, Robert, Cpl., 249 + +Walker, G. D., Capt, 257 + +Walker, William, Sgt., 267, 274 + +War Department, 40, 93 + +Washington, William, 44 + +Watson, Lt., 109 + +Webster, Daniel, 27 + +Weld, S. M., 216 + +West, H. C., Lt, 258 + +West, J. B., Lt, 257, 258 + +White, E. P., Lt, 257 + +White, N. S, Capt, 256, 258, 259 + +Whiting, William, 269, 270, 274, 275 + +Whitney, H. A., Maj, 170, 220, 255, 256 + +Wiggins, Cyrus, 250 + +Williams, Harry, Sgt., 220 + +Williams, Col., 264 + +Wilson, Henry, 268, 271 + +Wilson family, 233 + +Wood, H., Lt, 258, 25? + +Wood, W. J., Maj., 267 + +Woodstock, Georgia, 95 + +Wright, Gen., 107, 112 + +Wright, Fanny, 234 + +Yellow Fever, fear of, 74 + +Zachos, Dr., 41 + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Army Life in a Black Regiment, by +Thomas Wentworth Higginson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ARMY LIFE IN A BLACK REGIMENT *** + +***** This file should be named 6764.txt or 6764.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/7/6/6764/ + +Produced by Eric Eldred + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Army Life in a Black Regiment + +Author: Thomas Wentworth Higginson + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6764] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on January 24, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, ARMY LIFE IN A BLACK REGIMENT *** + + + + +This eBook was provided by Eric Eldred. + + + + + +Army Life +in a +Black Regiment + + +Thomas Wentworth Higginson +(1823-1911) + + +Originally published 1869 +Reprinted, 1900, by Riverside Press + + + +CONTENTS + + +CHAPTER 1 Introductory + +CHAPTER 2 Camp Diary + +CHAPTER 3 Up the St. Mary's + +CHAPTER 4 Up the St. John's + +CHAPTER 5 Out on Picket + +CHAPTER 6 A Night in the Water + +CHAPTER 7 Up the Edisto + +CHAPTER 8 The Baby of the Regiment + +CHAPTER 9 Negro Spirituals + +CHAPTER 10 Life at Camp Shaw + +CHAPTER 11 Florida Again? + +CHAPTER 12 The Negro as a Soldier + +CHAPTER 13 Conclusion + +APPENDIX + +A. Roster of Officers +B. The First Black Soldiers +C. General Saxton's Instructions +D. The Struggle for Pay +E. Farewell Address + +Index + + + + +Chapter 1 +Introductory + + +These pages record some of the adventures of the First South Carolina +Volunteers, the first slave regiment mustered into the service of the +United States during the late civil war. It was, indeed, the first +colored regiment of any kind so mustered, except a portion of the troops +raised by Major-General Butler at New Orleans. These scarcely belonged +to the same class, however, being recruited from the free colored +population of that city, a comparatively self-reliant and educated race. +"The darkest of them," said General Butler, "were about the complexion +of the late Mr. Webster." + +The First South Carolina, on the other hand, contained scarcely a +freeman, had not one mulatto in ten, and a far smaller proportion who +could read or write when enlisted. The only contemporary regiment of a +similar character was the "First Kansas Colored," which began +recruiting a little earlier, though it was not mustered in the usual +basis of military seniority till later. [_See Appendix_] These were +the only colored regiments recruited during the year 1862. The Second +South Carolina and the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts followed early in +1863. + +This is the way in which I came to the command of this +regiment. One day in November, 1862, I was sitting at dinner with my +lieutenants, John Goodell and Luther Bigelow, in the barracks of the +Fifty-First Massachusetts, Colonel Sprague, when the following letter +was put into my hands: + +BEAUFORT, S. C., +November 5, 1862. + +MY DEAR SIR. + +I am organizing the First Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers, with +every prospect of success. Your name has been spoken of, in connection +with the command of this regiment, by some friends in whose judgment I +have confidence. I take great pleasure in offering you the position of +Colonel in it, and hope that you may be induced to accept. I shall not +fill the place until I hear from you, or sufficient time shall have +passed for me to receive your reply. Should you accept, I enclose a +pass for Port Royal, of which I trust you will feel disposed to avail +yourself at once. I am, with sincere regard, yours truly, + +R. SAXTON, _Brig.-Genl, Mil. Gov._ + +Had an invitation reached me to take command of a regiment of Kalmuck +Tartars, it could hardly have been more unexpected. I had always looked +for the arming of the blacks, and had always felt a wish to be +associated with them; had read the scanty accounts of General Hunter's +abortive regiment, and had heard rumors of General Saxton's renewed +efforts. But the prevalent tone of public sentiment was still opposed to +any such attempts; the government kept very shy of the experiment, and +it did not seem possible that the time had come when it could be fairly +tried. + +For myself, I was at the head of a fine company of my own raising, and +in a regiment to which I was already much attached. It did not seem +desirable to exchange a certainty for an uncertainty; for who knew but +General Saxton might yet be thwarted in his efforts by the pro-slavery +influence that had still so much weight at head-quarters? It would be +intolerable to go out to South Carolina, and find myself, after all, at +the head of a mere plantation-guard or a day-school in uniform. + +I therefore obtained from the War Department, through Governor Andrew, +permission to go and report to General Saxton, without at once resigning +my captaincy. Fortunately it took but a few days in South Carolina to +make it clear that all was right, and the return steamer took back a +resignation of a Massachusetts commission. Thenceforth my lot was cast +altogether with the black troops, except when regiments or detachments +of white soldiers were also under my command, during the two years +following. + +These details would not be worth mentioning except as they show this +fact: that I did not seek the command of colored troops, but it sought +me. And this fact again is only important to my story for this reason, +that under these circumstances I naturally viewed the new recruits +rather as subjects for discipline than for philanthropy. I had been +expecting a war for six years, ever since the Kansas troubles, and my +mind had dwelt on military matters more or less during all that time. +The best Massachusetts regiments already exhibited a high standard of +drill and discipline, and unless these men could be brought tolerably +near that standard, the fact of their extreme blackness would afford me, +even as a philanthropist, no satisfaction. Fortunately, I felt perfect +confidence that they could be so trained, having happily known, by +experience, the qualities of their race, and knowing also that they had +home and household and freedom to fight for, besides that abstraction of +"the Union." Trouble might perhaps be expected from white officials, +though this turned out far less than might have been feared; but there +was no trouble to come from the men, I thought, and none ever came. On +the other hand, it was a vast experiment of indirect philanthropy, and +one on which the result of the war and the destiny of the negro race +might rest; and this was enough to tax all one's powers. I had been an +abolitionist too long, and had known and loved John Brown too well, not +to feel a thrill of joy at last on finding myself in the position where +he only wished to be. + +In view of all this, it was clear that good discipline must come first; +after that, of course, the men must be helped and elevated in all ways +as much as possible. + +Of discipline there was great need, that is, of order and regular +instruction. Some of the men had already been under fire, but they were +very ignorant of drill and camp duty. The officers, being appointed from +a dozen different States, and more than as many regiments, infantry, +cavalry, artillery, and engineers, had all that diversity of methods +which so confused our army in those early days. The first need, +therefore, was of an unbroken interval of training. During this period, +which fortunately lasted nearly two months, I rarely left the camp, and +got occasional leisure moments for a fragmentary journal, to send home, +recording the many odd or novel aspects of the new experience. Camp-life +was a wonderfully strange sensation to almost all volunteer officers, +and mine lay among eight hundred men suddenly transformed from slaves +into soldiers, and representing a race affectionate, enthusiastic, +grotesque, and dramatic beyond all others. Being such, they naturally +gave material for description. There is nothing like a diary for +freshness, at least so I think, and I shall keep to the diary through +the days of camp-life, and throw the later experience into another form. +Indeed, that matter takes care of itself; diaries and letter-writing +stop when field-service begins. + +I am under pretty heavy bonds to tell the truth, and only the truth; +for those who look back to the newspaper correspondence of that period +will see that this particular regiment lived for months in a glare of +publicity, such as tests any regiment severely, and certainly prevents +all subsequent romancing in its historian. As the scene of the only +effort on the Atlantic coast to arm the negro, our camp attracted a +continuous stream of visitors, military and civil. A battalion of +black soldiers, a spectacle since so common, seemed then the most +daring of innovations, and the whole demeanor of this particular +regiment was watched with microscopic scrutiny by friends and foes. I +felt sometimes as if we were a plant trying to take root, but +constantly pulled up to see if we were growing. The slightest camp +incidents sometimes came back to us, magnified and distorted, in +letters of anxious inquiry from remote parts of the Union. It was no +pleasant thing to live under such constant surveillance; but it +guaranteed the honesty of any success, while fearfully multiplying the +penalties had there been a failure. A single mutiny, such as has +happened in the infancy of a hundred regiments, a single miniature +Bull Run, a stampede of desertions, and it would have been all over +with us; the party of distrust would have got the upper hand, and +there might not have been, during the whole contest, another effort to +arm the negro. + +I may now proceed, without farther preparation to the Diary. + + + + +Chapter 2 +Camp Diary + + +CAMP SAXTON, near Beaufort, S. C., +November 24, 1862. + +Yesterday afternoon we were steaming over a summer sea, the deck level +as a parlor-floor, no land in sight, no sail, until at last appeared one +light-house, said to be Cape Romaine, and then a line of trees and two +distant vessels and nothing more. The sun set, a great illuminated +bubble, submerged in one vast bank of rosy suffusion; it grew dark; +after tea all were on deck, the people sang hymns; then the moon set, a +moon two days old, a curved pencil of light, reclining backwards on a +radiant couch which seemed to rise from the waves to receive it; it sank +slowly, and the last tip wavered and went down like the mast of a vessel +of the skies. Towards morning the boat stopped, and when I came on deck, +before six, + + "The watch-lights glittered on the land, + The ship-lights on the sea." + +Hilton Head lay on one side, the gunboats on the other; all that was +raw and bare in the low buildings of the new settlement was softened +into picturesqueness by the early light. Stars were still overhead, +gulls wheeled and shrieked, and the broad river rippled duskily +towards Beaufort. + +The shores were low and wooded, like any New England shore; there were a +few gunboats, twenty schooners, and some steamers, among them the famous +"Planter," which Robert Small, the slave, presented to the nation. The +river-banks were soft and graceful, though low, and as we steamed up to +Beaufort on the flood-tide this morning, it seemed almost as fair as the +smooth and lovely canals which Stedman traversed to meet his negro +soldiers in Surinam. The air was cool as at home, yet the foliage seemed +green, glimpses of stiff tropical vegetation appeared along the banks, +with great clumps of shrubs, whose pale seed-vessels looked like tardy +blossoms. Then we saw on a picturesque point an old plantation, with +stately magnolia avenue, decaying house, and tiny church amid the woods, +reminding me of Virginia; behind it stood a neat encampment of white +tents, "and there," said my companion, "is your future regiment." + +Three miles farther brought us to the pretty town of Beaufort, with its +stately houses amid Southern foliage. Reporting to General Saxton, I had +the luck to encounter a company of my destined command, marched in to be +mustered into the United States service. They were unarmed, and all +looked as thoroughly black as the most faithful philanthropist could +desire; there did not seem to be so much as a mulatto among them. Their +coloring suited me, all but the legs, which were clad in a lively +scarlet, as intolerable to my eyes as if I had been a turkey. I saw them +mustered; General Saxton talked to them a little, in his direct, manly +way; they gave close attention, though their faces looked impenetrable. +Then I conversed with some of them. The first to whom I spoke had been +wounded in a small expedition after lumber, from which a party had +just returned, and in which they had been under fire and had done very +well. I said, pointing to his lame arm, + +"Did you think that was more than you bargained for, my man?" + +His answer came promptly and stoutly, + +"I been a-tinking, Mas'r, dot's jess what I went for." + +I thought this did well enough for my very first interchange of dialogue +with my recruits. + + +November 27, 1862. + +Thanksgiving-Day; it is the first moment I have had for writing during +these three days, which have installed me into a new mode of life so +thoroughly that they seem three years. Scarcely pausing in New York or +in Beaufort, there seems to have been for me but one step from the camp +of a Massachusetts regiment to this, and that step over leagues of waves. + +It is a holiday wherever General Saxton's proclamation reaches. The +chilly sunshine and the pale blue river seems like New England, but +those alone. The air is full of noisy drumming, and of gunshots; for the +prize-shooting is our great celebration of the day, and the drumming is +chronic. My young barbarians are all at play. I look out from the broken +windows of this forlorn plantation-house, through avenues of great +live-oaks, with their hard, shining leaves, and their branches hung with +a universal drapery of soft, long moss, like fringe-trees struck with +grayness. Below, the sandy soil, scantly covered with coarse grass, +bristles with sharp palmettoes and aloes; all the vegetation is stiff, +shining, semi-tropical, with nothing soft or delicate in its texture. +Numerous plantation-buildings totter around, all slovenly and +unattractive, while the interspaces are filled with all manner of wreck +and refuse, pigs, fowls, dogs, and omnipresent Ethiopian infancy. All +this is the universal Southern panorama; but five minutes' walk beyond +the hovels and the live-oaks will bring one to something so un-Southern +that the whole Southern coast at this moment trembles at the suggestion +of such a thing, the camp of a regiment of freed slaves. + +One adapts one's self so readily to new surroundings that already the +full zest of the novelty seems passing away from my perceptions, and I +write these lines in an eager effort to retain all I can. Already I am +growing used to the experience, at first so novel, of living among five +hundred men, and scarce a white face to be seen, of seeing them go +through all their daily processes, eating, frolicking, talking, just as if +they were white. Each day at dress-parade I stand with the customary +folding of the arms before a regimental line of countenances so black +that I can hardly tell whether the men stand steadily or not; black is +every hand which moves in ready cadence as I vociferate, "Battalion! +Shoulder arms!" nor is it till the line of white officers moves forward, +as parade is dismissed, that I am reminded that my own face is not the +color of coal. + +The first few days on duty with a new regiment must be devoted almost +wholly to tightening reins; in this process one deals chiefly with the +officers, and I have as yet had but little personal intercourse with the +men. They concern me chiefly in bulk, as so many consumers of rations, +wearers of uniforms, bearers of muskets. But as the machine comes into +shape, I am beginning to decipher the individual parts. At first, of +course, they all looked just alike; the variety comes afterwards, and +they are just as distinguishable, the officers say, as so many whites. +Most of them are wholly raw, but there are many who have already been +for months in camp in the abortive "Hunter Regiment," yet in that loose +kind of way which, like average militia training, is a doubtful +advantage. I notice that some companies, too, look darker than others, +though all are purer African than I expected. This is said to be partly +a geographical difference between the South Carolina and Florida men. +When the Rebels evacuated this region they probably took with them the +house-servants, including most of the mixed blood, so that the residuum +seems very black. But the men brought from Fernandina the other day +average lighter in complexion, and look more intelligent, and they +certainly take wonderfully to the drill. + +It needs but a few days to show the absurdity of distrusting the +military availability of these people. They have quite as much average +comprehension as whites of the need of the thing, as much courage (I +doubt not), as much previous knowledge of the gun, and, above all, a +readiness of ear and of imitation, which, for purposes of drill, +counterbalances any defect of mental training. To learn the drill, one +does not want a set of college professors; one wants a squad of eager, +active, pliant school-boys; and the more childlike these pupils are +the better. There is no trouble about the drill; they will surpass +whites in that. As to camp-life, they have little to sacrifice; they +are better fed, housed, and clothed than ever in their lives before, +and they appear to have few inconvenient vices. They are simple, +docile, and affectionate almost to the point of absurdity. The same +men who stood fire in open field with perfect coolness, on the late +expedition, have come to me blubbering in the most irresistibly +ludicrous manner on being transferred from one company in the regiment +to another. + +In noticing the squad-drills I perceive that the men learn less +laboriously than whites that "double, double, toil and trouble," which +is the elementary vexation of the drill-master, that they more rarely +mistake their left for their right, and are more grave and sedate while +under instruction. The extremes of jollity and sobriety, being greater +with them, are less liable to be intermingled; these companies can be +driven with a looser rein than my former one, for they restrain +themselves; but the moment they are dismissed from drill every tongue is +relaxed and every ivory tooth visible. This morning I wandered about +where the different companies were target-shooting, and their glee was +contagious. Such exulting shouts of "Ki! ole man," when some steady old +turkey-shooter brought his gun down for an instant's aim, and then +unerringly hit the mark; and then, when some unwary youth fired his +piece into the ground at half-cock such guffawing and delight, such +rolling over and over on the grass, such dances of ecstasy, as made the +"Ethiopian minstrelsy" of the stage appear a feeble imitation. + +Evening. Better still was a scene on which I stumbled to-night. +Strolling in the cool moonlight, I was attracted by a brilliant light +beneath the trees, and cautiously approached it. A circle of thirty or +forty soldiers sat around a roaring fire, while one old uncle, Cato by +name, was narrating an interminable tale, to the insatiable delight of +his audience. I came up into the dusky background, perceived only by a +few, and he still continued. It was a narrative, dramatized to the +last degree, of his adventures in escaping from his master to the +Union vessels; and even I, who have heard the stories of Harriet +Tubman, and such wonderful slave-comedians, never witnessed such a +piece of acting. When I came upon the scene he had just come +unexpectedly upon a plantation-house, and, putting a bold face upon +it, had walked up to the door. + +"Den I go up to de white man, berry humble, and say, would he please gib +ole man a mouthful for eat? + +"He say he must hab de valeration ob half a dollar. + +"Den I look berry sorry, and turn for go away. + +"Den he say I might gib him dat hatchet I had. + +"Den I say" (this in a tragic vein) "dat I must hab dat hatchet for +defend myself _from de dogs_!" + +[Immense applause, and one appreciating auditor says, chuckling, "Dat +was your _arms_, ole man," which brings down the house again.] + +"Den he say de Yankee pickets was near by, and I must be very keerful. + +"Den I say, 'Good Lord, Mas'r, am dey?'" + +Words cannot express the complete dissimulation with which these accents +of terror were uttered, this being precisely the piece of information he +wished to obtain. + +Then he narrated his devices to get into the house at night and obtain +some food, how a dog flew at him, how the whole household, black and +white, rose in pursuit, how he scrambled under a hedge and over a high +fence, etc., all in a style of which Gough alone among orators can give +the faintest impression, so thoroughly dramatized was every syllable. + +Then he described his reaching the river-side at last, and trying to +decide whether certain vessels held friends or foes. + +"Den I see guns on board, and sure sartin he Union boat, and I pop my +head up. Den I been-a-tink [think] Seceshkey hab guns too, and my head +go down again. Den I hide in de bush till morning. Den I open my +bundle, and take ole white shut and tie him on ole pole and wave him, +and ebry time de wind blow, I been-a-tremble, and drap down in de +bushes," because, being between two fires, he doubted whether friend +or foe would see his signal first. And so on, with a succession of +tricks beyond Moliere, of acts of caution, foresight, patient cunning, +which were listened to with infinite gusto and perfect comprehension +by every listener. + +And all this to a bivouac of negro soldiers, with the brilliant fire +lighting up their red trousers and gleaming from their shining black +faces, eyes and teeth all white with tumultuous glee. Overhead, the +mighty limbs of a great live-oak, with the weird moss swaying in the +smoke, and the high moon gleaming faintly through. + +Yet to-morrow strangers will remark on the hopeless, impenetrable +stupidity in the daylight faces of many of these very men, the solid +mask under which Nature has concealed all this wealth of mother-wit. +This very comedian is one to whom one might point, as he hoed lazily in +a cotton-field, as a being the light of whose brain had utterly gone +out; and this scene seems like coming by night upon some conclave of +black beetles, and finding them engaged, with green-room and +foot-lights, in enacting "Poor Pillicoddy." This is their university; +every young Sambo before me, as he turned over the sweet potatoes and +peanuts which were roasting in the ashes, listened with reverence to the +wiles of the ancient Ulysses, and meditated the same. It is Nature's +compensation; oppression simply crushes the upper faculties of the head, +and crowds everything into the perceptive organs. Cato, thou reasonest +well! When I get into any serious scrape, in an enemy's country, may I +be lucky enough to have you at my elbow, to pull me out of itl + +The men seem to have enjoyed the novel event of Thanksgiving-Day; they +have had company and regimental prize-shootings, a minimum of speeches +and a maximum of dinner. Bill of fare: two beef-cattle and a thousand +oranges. The oranges cost a cent apiece, and the cattle were Secesh, +bestowed by General Saxby, as they all call him. + + +December 1, 1862. + +How absurd is the impression bequeathed by Slavery in regard to these +Southern blacks, that they are sluggish and inefficient in labor! Last +night, after a hard day's work (our guns and the remainder of our tents +being just issued), an order came from Beaufort that we should be ready +in the evening to unload a steamboat's cargo of boards, being some of those +captured by them a few weeks since, and now assigned for their use. I +wondered if the men would grumble at the night-work; but the steamboat +arrived by seven, and it was bright moonlight when they went at it. +Never have I beheld such a jolly scene of labor. Tugging these wet and +heavy boards over a bridge of boats ashore, then across the slimy beach +at low tide, then up a steep bank, and all in one great uproar of +merriment for two hours. Running most of the time, chattering all the +time, snatching the boards from each other's backs as if they were some +coveted treasure, getting up eager rivalries between different +companies, pouring great choruses of ridicule on the heads of all +shirkers, they made the whole scene so enlivening that I gladly stayed +out in the moonlight for the whole time to watch it. And all this +without any urging or any promised reward, but simply as the most +natural way of doing the thing. The steamboat captain declared that they +unloaded the ten thousand feet of boards quicker than any white gang +could have done it; and they felt it so little, that, when, later in the +night, I reproached one whom I found sitting by a campfire, cooking a +surreptitious opossum, telling him that he ought to be asleep after such +a job of work, he answered, with the broadest grin, "O no, Gunnel, da's +no work at all, Gunnel; dat only jess enough for stretch we." + + +December 2, 1862. + +I believe I have not yet enumerated the probable drawbacks to the +success of this regiment, if any. We are exposed to no direct annoyance +from the white regiments, being out of their way; and we have as yet no +discomforts or privations which we do not share with them. I do not as +yet see the slightest obstacle, in the nature of the blacks, to making +them good soldiers, but rather the contrary. They take readily to drill, +and do not object to discipline; they are not especially dull or +inattentive; they seem fully to understand the importance of the +contest, and of their share in it. They show no jealousy or suspicion +towards their officers. + +They do show these feelings, however, towards the Government +itself; and no one can wonder. Here lies the drawback to rapid +recruiting. Were this a wholly new regiment, it would have been full to +overflowing, I am satisfied, ere now. The trouble is in the legacy of +bitter distrust bequeathed by the abortive regiment of General +Hunter, into which they were driven like cattle, kept for several months +in camp, and then turned off without a shilling, by order of the War +Department. The formation of that regiment was, on the whole, a great +injury to this one; and the men who came from it, though the best +soldiers we have in other respects, are the least sanguine and cheerful; +while those who now refuse to enlist have a great influence in deterring +others. Our soldiers are constantly twitted by their families and +friends with their prospect of risking their lives in the service, and +being paid nothing; and it is in vain that we read them the instructions +of the Secretary of War to General Saxton, promising them the full pay +of soldiers. They only half believe it.* + +*With what utter humiliation were we, their officers, obliged to +confess to them, eighteen months afterwards, that it was their distrust +which was wise, and our faith in the pledges of the United States +Government which was foolishness! + +Another drawback is that some of the white soldiers delight in +frightening the women on the plantations with doleful tales of plans for +putting us in the front rank in all battles, and such silly talk,--the +object being perhaps, to prevent our being employed on active service at +all. All these considerations they feel precisely as white men would,--no +less, no more; and it is the comparative freedom from such unfavorable +influences which makes the Florida men seem more bold and manly, as they +undoubtedly do. To-day General Saxton has returned from Fernandina with +seventy-six recruits, and the eagerness of the captains to secure them +was a sight to see. Yet they cannot deny that some of the very best men +in the regiment are South Carolinians. + + +December 3, 1862.--7 P.M. + +What a life is this I lead! It is a dark, mild, drizzling evening, and +as the foggy air breeds sand-flies, so it calls out melodies and +strange antics from this mysterious race of grown-up children with +whom my lot is cast. All over the camp the lights glimmer in the +tents, and as I sit at my desk in the open doorway, there come mingled +sounds of stir and glee. Boys laugh and shout,--a feeble flute stirs +somewhere in some tent, not an officer's,--a drum throbs far away in +another,--wild kildeer-plover flit and wail above us, like the +haunting souls of dead slave-masters,--and from a neighboring +cook-fire comes the monotonous sound of that strange festival, half +pow-wow, half prayer-meeting, which they know only as a "shout." These +fires are usually enclosed in a little booth, made neatly of +palm-leaves and covered in at top, a regular native African hut, in +short, such as is pictured in books, and such as I once got up from +dried palm-leaves for a fair at home. This hut is now crammed with +men, singing at the top of their voices, in one of their quaint, +monotonous, endless, negro-Methodist chants, with obscure syllables +recurring constantly, and slight variations interwoven, all +accompanied with a regular drumming of the feet and clapping of the +hands, like castanets. Then the excitement spreads: inside and outside +the enclosure men begin to quiver and dance, others join, a circle +forms, winding monotonously round some one in the centre; some "heel +and toe" tumultuously, others merely tremble and stagger on, others +stoop and rise, others whirl, others caper sideways, all keep steadily +circling like dervishes; spectators applaud special strokes of skill; +my approach only enlivens the scene; the circle enlarges, louder grows +the singing, rousing shouts of encouragement come in, half +bacchanalian, half devout, "Wake 'em, brudder!" "Stan' up to 'em, +brudder!"--and still the ceaseless drumming and clapping, in perfect +cadence, goes steadily on. Suddenly there comes a sort of snap, and +the spell breaks, amid general sighing and laughter. And this not +rarely and occasionally, but night after night, while in other parts +of the camp the soberest prayers and exhortations are proceeding +sedately. + +A simple and lovable people, whose graces seem to come by nature, and +whose vices by training. Some of the best superintendents confirm the +first tales of innocence, and Dr. Zachos told me last night that on +his plantation, a sequestered one, "they had absolutely no vices." Nor +have these men of mine yet shown any worth mentioning; since I took +command I have heard of no man intoxicated, and there has been but one +small quarrel. I suppose that scarcely a white regiment in the army +shows so little swearing. Take the "Progressive Friends" and put them +in red trousers, and I verily believe they would fill a guard-house +sooner than these men. If camp regulations are violated, it seems to +be usually through heedlessness. They love passionately three things +besides their spiritual incantations; namely, sugar, home, and +tobacco. This last affection brings tears to their eyes, almost, when +they speak of their urgent need of pay; they speak of then" +last-remembered quid as if it were some deceased relative, too early +lost, and to be mourned forever. As for sugar, no white man can drink +coffee after they have sweetened it to their liking. + +I see that the pride which military life creates may cause the +plantation trickeries to diminish. For instance, these men make the most +admirable sentinels. It is far harder to pass the camp lines at night +than in the camp from which I came; and I have seen none of that +disposition to connive at the offences of members of one's own company +which is so troublesome among white soldiers. Nor are they lazy, either +about work or drill; in all respects they seem better material for +soldiers than I had dared to hope. + +There is one company in particular, all Florida men, which I certainly +think the finest-looking company I ever saw, white or black; they range +admirably in size, have remarkable erectness and ease of carriage, and +really march splendidly. Not a visitor but notices them; yet they have +been under drill only a fortnight, and a part only two days. They have +all been slaves, and very few are even mulattoes. + + +December 4, 1862. + +"Dwelling in tents, with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." This condition is +certainly mine,--and with a multitude of patriarchs beside, not to +mention Caesar and Pompey, Hercules and Bacchus. + +A moving life, tented at night, this experience has been mine in civil +society, if society be civil before the luxurious forest fires of Maine +and the Adirondack, or upon the lonely prairies of Kansas. But a +stationary tent life, deliberately going to housekeeping under canvas, I +have never had before, though in our barrack life at "Camp Wool" I often +wished for it. + +The accommodations here are about as liberal as my quarters there, two +wall-tents being placed end to end, for office and bedroom, and +separated at will by a "fly" of canvas. There is a good board floor and +mop-board, effectually excluding dampness and draughts, and everything +but sand, which on windy days penetrates everywhere. The office +furniture consists of a good desk or secretary, a very clumsy and +disastrous settee, and a remarkable chair. The desk is a bequest of the +slaveholders, and the settee of the slaves, being ecclesiastical in its +origin, and appertaining to the little old church or "praise-house," now +used for commissary purposes. The chair is a composite structure: I +found a cane seat on a dust-heap, which a black sergeant combined with +two legs from a broken bedstead and two more from an oak-bough. I sit on +it with a pride of conscious invention, mitigated by profound +insecurity. Bedroom furniture, a couch made of gun-boxes covered with +condemned blankets, another settee, two pails, a tin cup, tin basin (we +prize any tin or wooden ware as savages prize iron), and a valise, +regulation size. Seriously considered, nothing more appears needful, +unless ambition might crave another chair for company, and, perhaps, +something for a wash-stand higher than a settee. + +To-day it rains hard, and the wind quivers through the closed canvas, +and makes one feel at sea. All the talk of the camp outside is fused +into a cheerful and indistinguishable murmur, pierced through at every +moment by the wail of the hovering plover. Sometimes a face, black or +white, peers through the entrance with some message. Since the light +readily penetrates, though the rain cannot, the tent conveys a feeling +of charmed security, as if an invisible boundary checked the pattering +drops and held the moaning wind. The front tent I share, as yet, with +my adjutant; in the inner apartment I reign supreme, bounded in a +nutshell, with no bad dreams. + +In all pleasant weather the outer "fly" is open, and men pass and +repass, a chattering throng. I think of Emerson's Saadi, "As thou +sittest at thy door, on the desert's yellow floor,"--for these bare +sand-plains, gray above, are always yellow when upturned, and there +seems a tinge of Orientalism in all our life. + +Thrice a day we go to the plantation-houses for our meals, +camp-arrangements being yet very imperfect. The officers board in +different messes, the adjutant and I still clinging to the household of +William Washington,--William the quiet and the courteous, the pattern of +house-servants, William the noiseless, the observing, the +discriminating, who knows everything that can be got, and how to cook +it. William and his tidy, lady-like little spouse Hetty--a pair of wedded +lovers, if ever I saw one--set our table in their one room, half-way +between an un glazed window and a large wood-fire, such as is often +welcome. Thanks to the adjutant, we are provided with the social +magnificence of napkins; while (lest pride take too high a flight) our +table-cloth consists of two "New York Tribunes" and a "Leslie's +Pictorial." Every steamer brings us a clean table-cloth. Here are we +forever supplied with pork and oysters and sweet potatoes and rice and +hominy and corn-bread and milk; also mysterious griddle-cakes of corn +and pumpkin; also preserves made of pumpkin-chips, and other fanciful +productions of Ethiop art. Mr. E. promised the +plantation-superintendents who should come down here "all the luxuries +of home," and we certainly have much apparent, if little real variety. +Once William produced with some palpitation something fricasseed, which +he boldly termed chicken; it was very small, and seemed in some +undeveloped condition of ante-natal toughness. After the meal he frankly +avowed it for a squirrel. + + +December 5, 1862. + +Give these people their tongues, their feet, and their leisure, and +they are happy. At every twilight the air is full of singing, talking, +and clapping of hands in unison. One of their favorite songs is full +of plaintive cadences; it is not, I think, a Methodist tune, and I +wonder where they obtained a chant of such beauty. + + "I can't stay behind, my Lord, I can't stay behind! + O, my father is gone, my father is gone, + My father is gone into heaven, my Lord! + I can't stay behind! + Dere's room enough, room enough, + Room enough in de heaven for de sojer: + Can't stay behind!" + +It always excites them to have us looking on, yet they sing these songs +at all times and seasons. I have heard this very song dimly droning on +near midnight, and, tracing it into the recesses of a cook-house, have +found an old fellow coiled away among the pots and provisions, chanting +away with his "Can't stay behind, sinner," till I made him leave his +song behind. + +This evening, after working themselves up to the highest pitch, a +party suddenly rushed off, got a barrel, and mounted some man upon it, +who said, "Gib anoder song, boys, and I'se gib you a speech." After +some hesitation and sundry shouts of "Rise de sing, somebody," and +"Stan' up for Jesus, brud-der," irreverently put in by the juveniles, +they got upon the John Brown song, always a favorite, adding a +jubilant verse which I had never before heard,--"We'll beat Beauregard +on de clare battlefield." Then came the promised speech, and then no +less than seven other speeches by as many men, on a variety of +barrels, each orator being affectionately tugged to the pedestal and +set on end by his specal constituency. Every speech was good, without +exception; with the queerest oddities of phrase and pronunciation, +there was an invariable enthusiasm, a pungency of statement, and an +understanding of the points at issue, which made them all rather +thrilling. Those long-winded slaves in "Among the Pines" seemed rather +fictitious and literary in comparison. The most eloquent, perhaps, was +Corporal Price Lambkin, just arrived from Fernandina, who evidently +had a previous reputation among them. His historical references were +very interesting. He reminded them that he had predicted this war ever +since Fremont's time, to which some of the crowd assented; he gave a +very intelligent account of that Presidential campaign, and then +described most impressively the secret anxiety of the slaves in +Florida to know all about President Lincoln's election, and told how +they all refused to work on the fourth of March, expecting their +freedom to date from that day. He finally brought out one of the few +really impressive appeals for the American flag that I have ever +heard. "Our mas'rs dey hab lib under de flag, dey got dere wealth +under it, and ebryting beautiful for dere chilen. Under it dey hab +grind us up, and put us in dere pocket for money. But de fus' minute +dey tink dat ole flag mean freedom for we colored people, dey pull it +right down, and run up de rag ob dere own." (Immense applause). "But +we'll neber desert de ole flag, boys, neber; we hab lib under it for +eighteen hundred sixty-two years, and we'll die for it now." With +which overpowering discharge of chronology-at-long-range, this most +effective of stump-speeches closed. I see already with relief that +there will be small demand in this regiment for harangues from the +officers; give the men an empty barrel for a stump, and they will do +their own exhortation. + + +December 11, 1862. + +Haroun Alraschid, wandering in disguise through his imperial streets, +scarcely happened upon a greater variety of groups than I, in my evening +strolls among our own camp-fires. + +Beside some of these fires the men are cleaning their guns or +rehearsing their drill,--beside others, smoking in silence their very +scanty supply of the beloved tobacco,--beside others, telling stories +and shouting with laughter over the broadest mimicry, in which they +excel, and in which the officers come in for a full share. The +everlasting "shout" is always within hearing, with its mixture of +piety and polka, and its castanet-like clapping of the hands. Then +there are quieter prayer-meetings, with pious invocations and slow +psalms, "deaconed out" from memory by the leader, two lines at a time, +in a sort of wailing chant. Elsewhere, there are _conversazioni_ +around fires, with a woman for queen of the circle,--her Nubian face, +gay headdress, gilt necklace, and white teeth, all resplendent in the +glowing light. Sometimes the woman is spelling slow monosyllables out +of a primer, a feat which always commands all ears,--they rightly +recognizing a mighty spell, equal to the overthrowing of monarchs, in +the magic assonance of _cat, hat, pat, bat_, and the rest of it. +Elsewhere, it is some solitary old cook, some aged Uncle Tiff, with +enormous spectacles, who is perusing a hymn-book by the light of a +pine splinter, in his deserted cooking booth of palmetto leaves. By +another fire there is an actual dance, red-legged soldiers doing +right-and-left, and "now-lead-de-lady-ober," to the music of a violin +which is rather artistically played, and which may have guided the +steps, in other days, of Barnwells and Hugers. And yonder is a +stump-orator perched on his barrel, pouring out his exhortations to +fidelity in war and in religion. To-night for the first time I have +heard an harangue in a different strain, quite saucy, sceptical, and +defiant, appealing to them in a sort of French materialistic style, +and claiming some personal experience of warfare. "You don't know +notin' about it, boys. You tink you's brave enough; how you tink, if +you stan' clar in de open field,--here you, and dar de Secesh? You's +got to hab de right ting inside o' you. You must hab it 'served +[preserved] in you, like dese yer sour plums dey 'serve in de barr'l; +you's got to harden it down inside o' you, or it's notin'." Then he +hit hard at the religionists: "When a man's got de sperit ob de Lord +in him, it weakens him all out, can't hoe de corn." He had a great +deal of broad sense in his speech; but presently some others began +praying vociferously close by, as if to drown this free-thinker, when +at last he exclaimed, "I mean to fight de war through, an' die a good +sojer wid de last kick, dat's _my_ prayer!" and suddenly jumped off +the barrel. I was quite interested at discovering this reverse side of +the temperament, the devotional side preponderates so enormously, and +the greatest scamps kneel and groan in their prayer-meetings with such +entire zest. It shows that there is some individuality developed among +them, and that they will not become too exclusively pietistic. + +Their love of the spelling-book is perfectly inexhaustible,--they +stumbling on by themselves, or the blind leading the blind, with the +same pathetic patience which they carry into everything. The chaplain is +getting up a schoolhouse, where he will soon teach them as regularly as +he can. But the alphabet must always be a very incidental business in a +camp. + + +December 14. + +Passages from prayers in the camp:-- + +"Let me so lib dat when I die I shall _hab manners_, dat I shall know +what to say when I see my Heabenly Lord." + +"Let me lib wid de musket in one hand an' de Bible in de oder,--dat if I +die at de muzzle ob de musket, die in de water, die on de land, I may +know I hab de bressed Jesus in my hand, an' hab no fear." + +"I hab lef my wife in de land o' bondage; my little ones dey say eb'ry +night, Whar is my fader? But when I die, when de bressed mornin' rises, +when I shall stan' in de glory, wid one foot on de water an' one foot on +de land, den, O Lord, I shall see my wife an' my little chil'en once more." + +These sentences I noted down, as best I could, beside the glimmering +camp-fire last night. The same person was the hero of a singular +little _contre-temps_ at a funeral in the afternoon. It was our first +funeral. The man had died in hospital, and we had chosen a +picturesque burial-place above the river, near the old church, and +beside a little nameless cemetery, used by generations of slaves. It +was a regular military funeral, the coffin being draped with the +American flag, the escort marching behind, and three volleys fired +over the grave. During the services there was singing, the chaplain +deaconing out the hymn in their favorite way. This ended, he announced +his text,--"This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and delivered +him out of all his trouble." Instantly, to my great amazement, the +cracked voice of the chorister was uplifted, intoning the text, as if +it were the first verse of another hymn. So calmly was it done, so +imperturbable were all the black countenances, that I half began to +conjecture that the chaplain himself intended it for a hymn, though I +could imagine no propsective rhyme for _trouble_ unless it were +approximated by _debbil_, which is, indeed, a favorite reference, both +with the men and with his Reverence. But the chaplain, peacefully +awaiting, gently repeated his text after the chant, and to my great +relief the old chorister waived all further recitative, and let the +funeral discourse proceed. + +Their memories are a vast bewildered chaos of Jewish history and +biography; and most of the great events of the past, down to the period +of the American Revolution, they instinctively attribute to Moses. There +is a fine bold confidence in all their citations, however, and the +record never loses piquancy in their hands, though strict accuracy may +suffer. Thus, one of my captains, last Sunday, heard a colored exhorter +at Beaufort proclaim, "Paul may plant, _and may polish wid water_, but +it won't do," in which the sainted Apollos would hardly have recognized +himself. + +Just now one of the soldiers came to me to say that he was about to be +married to a girl in Beaufort, and would I lend him a dollar and +seventy-five cents to buy the wedding outfit? It seemed as if matrimony +on such moderate terms ought to be encouraged in these days; and so I +responded to the appeal. + + +December 16. + +To-day a young recruit appeared here, who had been the slave of Colonel +Sammis, one of the leading Florida refugees. Two white companions came +with him, who also appeared to be retainers of the Colonel, and I asked +them to dine. Being likewise refugees, they had stories to tell, and +were quite agreeable: one was English born, the other Floridian, a dark, +sallow Southerner, very well bred. After they had gone, the Colonel +himself appeared, I told him that I had been entertaining his white +friends, and after a while he quietly let out the remark,-- + +"Yes, one of those white friends of whom you speak is a boy raised on +one of my plantations; he has travelled with me to the North, and passed +for white, and he always keeps away from the negroes." + +Certainly no such suspicion had ever crossed my mind. + +I have noticed one man in the regiment who would easily pass for +white,--a little sickly drummer, aged fifty at least, with brown eyes +and reddish hair, who is said to be the son of one of our commodores. +I have seen perhaps a dozen persons as fair, or fairer, among fugitive +slaves, but they were usually young children. It touched me far more +to see this man, who had spent more than half a lifetime in this low +estate, and for whom it now seemed too late to be anything but a +"nigger." This offensive word, by the way, is almost as common with +them as at the North, and far more common than with well-bred +slaveholders. They have meekly accepted it. "Want to go out to de +nigger houses, Sah," is the universal impulse of sociability, when +they wish to cross the lines. "He hab twenty house-servants, an' two +hundred head o' nigger," is a still more degrading form of phrase, in +which the epithet is limited to the field-hands, and they estimated +like so many cattle. This want of self-respect of course interferes +with the authority of the non-commissioned officers, which is always +difficult to sustain, even in white regiments. "He needn't try to play +de white man ober me," was the protest of a soldier against his +corporal the other day. To counteract this I have often to remind them +that they do not obey their officers because they are white, but +because they are their officers; and guard duty is an admirable school +for this, because they readily understand that the sergeant or +corporal of the guard has for the time more authority than any +commissioned officer who is not on duty. It is necessary also for +their superiors to treat the non-commissioned officers with careful +courtesy, and I often caution the line officers never to call them +"Sam" or "Will," nor omit the proper handle to their names. The value +of the habitual courtesies of the regular army is exceedingly apparent +with these men: an officer of polished manners can wind them round his +finger, while white soldiers seem rather to prefer a certain +roughness. The demeanor of my men to each other is very courteous, and +yet I see none of that sort of upstart conceit which is sometimes +offensive among free negroes at the North, the dandy-barber strut. +This is an agreeable surprise, for I feared that freedom and +regimentals would produce precisely that. + +They seem the world's perpetual children, docile, gay, and lovable, in +the midst of this war for freedom on which they have intelligently +entered. Last night, before "taps," there was the greatest noise in camp +that I had ever heard, and I feared some riot. On going out, I found the +most tumultuous sham-fight proceeding in total darkness, two companies +playing like boys, beating tin cups for drums. When some of them saw me +they seemed a little dismayed, and came and said, beseechingly,--"Gunnel, +Sah, you hab no objection to we playin', Sah?"--which objection I +disclaimed; but soon they all subsided, rather to my regret, and +scattered merrily. Afterward I found that some other officer had told +them that I considered the affair too noisy, so that I felt a mild +self-reproach when one said, "Cunnel, wish you had let we play a little +longer, Sah." Still I was not sorry, on the whole; for these sham-fights +between companies would in some regiments lead to real ones, and there +is a latent jealousy here between the Florida and South Carolina men, +which sometimes makes me anxious. + +The officers are more kind and patient with the men than I should +expect, since the former are mostly young, and drilling tries the +temper; but they are aided by hearty satisfaction in the results +already attained. I have never yet heard a doubt expressed among the +officers as to the _superiority_ of these men to white troops in +aptitude for drill and discipline, because of their imitativeness and +docility, and the pride they take in the service. One captain said to +me to-day, "I have this afternoon taught my men to load-in-nine-times, +and they do it better than we did it in my former company in three +months." I can personally testify that one of our best lieutenants, an +Englishman, taught a part of his company the essential movements of +the "school for skirmishers" in a single lesson of two hours, so that +they did them very passably, though I feel bound to discourage such +haste. However, I "formed square" on the third battalion drill. Three +fourths of drill consist of attention, imitation, and a good ear for +time; in the other fourth, which consists of the application of +principles, as, for instance, performing by the left flank some +movement before learned by the right, they are perhaps slower than +better educated men. Having belonged to five different drill-clubs +before entering the army, I certainly ought to know something of the +resources of human awkwardness, and I can honestly say that they +astonish me by the facility with which they do things. I expected much +harder work in this respect. + +The habit of carrying burdens on the head gives them erectness of +figure, even where physically disabled. I have seen a woman, with a +brimming water-pail balanced on her head, or perhaps a cup, saucer, and +spoon, stop suddenly, turn round, stoop to pick up a missile, rise +again, fling it, light a pipe, and go through many evolutions with +either hand or both, without spilling a drop. The pipe, by the way, +gives an odd look to a well-dressed young girl on Sunday, but one often +sees that spectacle. The passion for tobacco among our men continues +quite absorbing, and I have piteous appeals for some arrangement by +which they can buy it on credit, as we have yet no sutler. Their +imploring, "Cunnel, we can't _lib_ widout it, Sah," goes to my heart; +and as they cannot read, I cannot even have the melancholy satisfaction +of supplying them with the excellent anti-tobacco tracts of Mr. Trask. + + +December 19. + +Last night the water froze in the adjutant's tent, but not in mine. +To-day has been mild and beautiful. The blacks say they do not feel +the cold so much as the white officers do, and perhaps it is so, +though their health evidently suffers more from dampness. On the other +hand, while drilling on very warm days, they have seemed to suffer +more from the heat than their officers. But they dearly love fire, and +at night will always have it, if possible, even on the minutest +scale,--a mere handful of splinters, that seems hardly more +efficacious than a friction-match. Probably this is a natural habit +for the short-lived coolness of an out-door country; and then there is +something delightful in this rich pine, which burns like a tar-barrel. +It was, perhaps, encouraged by the masters, as the only cheap luxury +the slaves had at hand. + +As one grows more acquainted with the men, their individualities emerge; +and I find, first their faces, then their characters, to be as distinct +as those of whites. It is very interesting the desire they show to do +their duty, and to improve as soldiers; they evidently think about it, +and see the importance of the thing; they say to me that we white men +cannot stay and be their leaders always and that they must learn to +depend on themselves, or else relapse into their former condition. + +Beside the superb branch of uneatable bitter oranges which decks my +tent-pole, I have to-day hung up a long bough of finger-sponge, which +floated to the river-bank. As winter advances, butterflies gradually +disappear: one species (a _Vanessa_) lingers; three others have vanished +since I came. Mocking-birds are abundant, but rarely sing; once or twice +they have reminded me of the red thrush, but are inferior, as I have +always thought. The colored people all say that it will be much cooler; +but my officers do not think so, perhaps because last winter was so +unusually mild,--with only one frost, they say. + + +December 20. + +Philoprogenitiveness is an important organ for an officer of colored +troops; and I happen to be well provided with it. It seems to be the +theory of all military usages, in fact, that soldiers are to be treated +like children; and these singular persons, who never know their own age +till they are past middle life, and then choose a birthday with such +precision,--"Fifty year old, Sah, de fus' last April,"--prolong the +privilege of childhood. + +I am perplexed nightly for countersigns,--their range of proper names +is so distressingly limited, and they make such amazing work of every +new one. At first, to be sure, they did not quite recognize the need +of any variation: one night some officer asked a sentinel whether he +had the countersign yet, and was indignantly answered, "Should tink I +hab 'em, hab 'em for a fortnight"; which seems a long epoch for that +magic word to hold out. To-night I thought I would have +"Fredericksburg," in honor of Burnside's reported victory, using the +rumor quickly, for fear of a contradiction. Later, in comes a +captain, gets the countersign for his own use, but presently returns, +the sentinel having pronounced it incorrect. On inquiry, it appears +that the sergeant of the guard, being weak in geography, thought best +to substitute the more familiar word, "Crockery-ware"; which was, with +perfect gravity, confided to all the sentinels, and accepted without +question. O life! what is the fun of fiction beside thee? + +I should think they would suffer and complain these cold nights; but +they say nothing, though there is a good deal of coughing. I should +fancy that the scarlet trousers must do something to keep them warm, and +wonder that they dislike them so much, when they are so much like their +beloved fires. They certainly multiply firelight in any case. I often +notice that an infinitesimal flame, with one soldier standing by it, +looks like quite a respectable conflagration, and it seems as if a group +of them must dispel dampness. + + +December 21. + +To a regimental commander no book can be so fascinating as the +consolidated Morning Report, which is ready about nine, and tells how +many in each company are sick, absent, on duty, and so on. It is one's +newspaper and daily mail; I never grow tired of it. If a single recruit +has come in, I am always eager to see how he looks on paper. + +To-night the officers are rather depressed by rumors of Burnside's being +defeated, after all. I am fortunately equable and undepressible; and it +is very convenient that the men know too little of the events of the war +to feel excitement or fear. They know General Saxton and me,--"de +General" and "de Gunnel,"--and seem to ask no further questions. We are +the war. It saves a great deal of trouble, while it lasts, this +childlike confidence; nevertheless, it is our business to educate them +to manhood, and I see as yet no obstacle. + +As for the rumor, the world will no doubt roll round, whether Burnside +is defeated or succeeds. + + +Christmas Day. + + "We'll fight for liberty + Till de Lord shall call us home; + We'll soon be free + Till de Lord shall call us home." + +This is the hymn which the slaves at Georgetown, South Carolina, were +whipped for singing when President Lincoln was elected. So said a little +drummer-boy, as he sat at my tent's edge last night and told me his +story; and he showed all his white teeth as he added, "Dey tink _'de +Lord'_ meant for say de Yankees." + +Last night, at dress-parade, the adjutant read General Saxton's +Proclamation for the New Year's Celebration. I think they understood it, +for there was cheering in all the company-streets afterwards. Christmas +is the great festival of the year for this people; but, with New Year's +coming after, we could have no adequate programme for to-day, and so +celebrated Christmas Eve with pattern simplicity. We omitted, namely, +the mystic curfew which we call "taps," and let them sit up and burn +their fires, and have their little prayer-meetings as late as they +desired; and all night, as I waked at intervals, I could hear them +praying and "shouting" and clattering with hands and heels. It seemed to +make them very happy, and appeared to be at least an innocent Christmas +dissipation, as compared with some of the convivialities of the +"superior race" hereabouts. + + +December 26. + +The day passed with no greater excitement for the men than +target-shooting, which they enjoyed. I had the private delight of the +arrival of our much-desired surgeon and his nephew, the captain, with +letters and news from home. They also bring the good tidings that +General Saxton is not to be removed, as had been reported. + +Two different stands of colors have arrived for us, and will be +presented at New Year's,--one from friends in New York, and the other +from a lady in Connecticut. I see that "Frank Leslie's Illustrated +Weekly" of December 20th has a highly imaginative picture of the +muster-in of our first company, and also of a skirmish on the late +expedition. + +I must not forget the prayer overheard last night by one of the +captains: "O Lord! when I tink ob dis Kismas and las' year de Kismas. +Las' Kismas he in de Secesh, and notin' to eat but grits, and no salt in +'em. Dis year in de camp, and too much victual!" This "too much" is a +favorite phrase out of their grateful hearts, and did not in this case +denote an excess of dinner,--as might be supposed,--but of thanksgiving. + + +December 29. + +Our new surgeon has begun his work most efficiently: he and the chaplain +have converted an old gin-house into a comfortable hospital, with ten +nice beds and straw pallets. He is now, with a hearty professional +faith, looking round for somebody to put into it. I am afraid the +regiment will accommodate him; for, although he declares that these men +do not sham sickness, as he expected, their catarrh is an unpleasant +reality. They feel the dampness very much, and make such a coughing at +dress-parade, that I have urged him to administer a dose of +cough-mixture, all round, just before that pageant. Are the colored race +_tough?_ is my present anxiety; and it is odd that physical +insufficiency, the only discouragement not thrown in our way by the +newspapers, is the only discouragement which finds any place in our +minds. They are used to sleeping indoors in winter, herded before fires, +and so they feel the change. Still, the regiment is as healthy as the +average, and experience will teach us something.* + +* A second winter's experience removed all this solicitude, for they +learned to take care of themselves. During the first February the +sick-list averaged about ninety, during the second about thirty, +this being the worst month in the year for blacks. + + +December 30. + +On the first of January we are to have a slight collation, ten oxen or +so, barbecued,--or not properly barbecued, but roasted whole. Touching +the length of time required to "do" an ox, no two housekeepers appear to +agree. Accounts vary from two hours to twenty-four. We shall happily +have enough to try all gradations of roasting, and suit all tastes, from +Miss A.'s to mine. But fancy me proffering a spare-rib, well done, to +some fair lady! What ever are we to do for spoons and forks and plates? +Each soldier has his own, and is sternly held responsible for it by +"Army Regulations." But how provide for the multitude? Is it customary, +I ask you, to help to tenderloin with one's fingers? Fortunately, the +Major is to see to that department. Great are the advantages of military +discipline: for anything perplexing, detail a subordinate. + + +New Year's Eve. + +My housekeeping at home is not, perhaps, on any very extravagant scale. +Buying beefsteak, I usually go to the extent of two or three pounds. Yet +when, this morning at daybreak, the quartermaster called to inquire how +many cattle I would have killed for roasting, I turned over in bed, and +answered composedly, "Ten,--and keep three to be fatted." + +Fatted, quotha! Not one of the beasts at present appears to possess an +ounce of superfluous flesh. Never were seen such lean kine. As they +swing on vast spits, composed of young trees, the firelight glimmers +through their ribs, as if they were great lanterns. But no matter, they +are cooking,--nay, they are cooked. + +One at least is taken off to cool, and will be replaced tomorrow to +warm up. It was roasted three hours, and well done, for I tasted it. +It is so long since I tasted fresh beef that forgetfulness is +possible; but I fancied this to be successful. I tried to imagine that +I liked the Homeric repast, and certainly the whole thing has been far +more agreeable than was to be expected. The doubt now is, whether I +have made a sufficient provision for my household. I should have +roughly guessed that ten beeves would feed as many million people, it +has such a stupendous sound; but General Saxton predicts a small +social party of five thousand, and we fear that meat will run short, +unless they prefer bone. One of the cattle is so small, we are hoping +it may turn out veal. + +For drink we aim at the simple luxury of molasses-and-water, a barrel +per company, ten in all. Liberal housekeepers may like to know that for +a barrel of water we allow three gallons of molasses, half a pound of +ginger, and a quart of vinegar,--this last being a new ingredient for my +untutored palate, though all the rest are amazed at my ignorance. Hard +bread, with more molasses, and a dessert of tobacco, complete the +festive repast, destined to cheer, but not inebriate. + +On this last point, of inebriation, this is certainly a wonderful camp. +For us it is absolutely omitted from the list of vices. I have never +heard of a glass of liquor in the camp, nor of any effort either to +bring it in or to keep it out. A total absence of the circulating medium +might explain the abstinence,--not that it seems to have that effect with +white soldiers,--but it would not explain the silence. The craving for +tobacco is constant, and not to be allayed, like that of a mother for +her children; but I have never heard whiskey even wished for, save on +Christmas-Day, and then only by one man, and he spoke with a hopeless +ideal sighing, as one alludes to the Golden Age. I am amazed at this +total omission of the most inconvenient of all camp appetites. It +certainly is not the result of exhortation, for there has been no +occasion for any, and even the pledge would scarcely seem efficacious +where hardly anybody can write. + +I do not think there is a great visible eagerness for tomorrow's +festival: it is not their way to be very jubilant over anything this +side of the New Jerusalem. They know also that those in this Department +are nominally free already, and that the practical freedom has to be +maintained, in any event, by military success. But they will enjoy it +greatly, and we shall have a multitude of people. + + +January 1, 1863 (evening). + +A happy New Year to civilized people,--mere white folks. Our festival +has come and gone, with perfect success, and our good General has been +altogether satisfied. Last night the great fires were kept smouldering +in the pit, and the beeves were cooked more or less, chiefly +more,--during which time they had to be carefully watched, and the +great spits turned by main force. Happy were the merry fellows who +were permitted to sit up all night, and watch the glimmering flames +that threw a thousand fantastic shadows among the great gnarled oaks. +And such a chattering as I was sure to hear whenever I awoke that +night! + +My first greeting to-day was from one of the most stylish sergeants, who +approached me with the following little speech, evidently the result of +some elaboration:-- + +"I tink myself happy, dis New Year's Day, for salute my own Cunnel. Dis +day las' year I was servant to a Gunnel ob Secesh; but now I hab de +privilege for salute my own Cunnel." + +That officer, with the utmost sincerity, reciprocated the sentiment. + +About ten o'clock the people began to collect by land, and also by +water,--in steamers sent by General Saxton for the purpose; and from that +time all the avenues of approach were thronged. The multitude were +chiefly colored women, with gay handkerchiefs on their heads, and a +sprinkling of men, with that peculiarly respectable look which these +people always have on Sundays and holidays. There were many white +visitors also,--ladies on horseback and in carriages, superintendents and +teachers, officers, and cavalry-men. Our companies were marched to the +neighborhood of the platform, and allowed to sit or stand, as at the +Sunday services; the platform was occupied by ladies and dignitaries, +and by the band of the Eighth Maine, which kindly volunteered for the +occasion; the colored people filled up all the vacant openings in the +beautiful grove around, and there was a cordon of mounted visitors +beyond. Above, the great live-oak branches and their trailing moss; +beyond the people, a glimpse of the blue river. + +The services began at half past eleven o'clock, with prayer by our +chaplain, Mr. Fowler, who is always, on such occasions, simple, +reverential, and impressive. Then the President's Proclamation was +read by Dr. W. H. Brisbane, a thing infinitely appropriate, a South +Carolinian addressing South Carolinians; for he was reared among these +very islands, and here long since emancipated his own slaves. Then the +colors were presented to us by the Rev. Mr. French, a chaplain who +brought them from the donors in New York. All this was according to +the programme. Then followed an incident so simple, so touching, so +utterly unexpected and startling, that I can scarcely believe it on +recalling, though it gave the keynote to the whole day. The very +moment the speaker had ceased, and just as I took and waved the flag, +which now for the first time meant anything to these poor people, +there suddenly arose, close beside the platform, a strong male voice +(but rather cracked and elderly), into which two women's voices +instantly blended, singing, as if by an impulse that could no more be +repressed than the morning note of the song-sparrow.-- + + "My Country, 'tis of thee, + Sweet land of liberty, + Of thee I sing!" + +People looked at each other, and then at us on the platform, to see +whence came this interruption, not set down in the bills. Firmly and +irrepressibly the quavering voices sang on, verse after verse; others +of the colored people joined in; some whites on the platform began, +but I motioned them to silence. I never saw anything so electric; it +made all other words cheap; it seemed the choked voice of a race at +last unloosed. Nothing could be more wonderfully unconscious; art +could not have dreamed of a tribute to the day of jubilee that should +be so affecting; history will not believe it; and when I came to speak +of it, after it was ended, tears were everywhere. If you could have +heard how quaint and innocent it was! Old Tiff and his children might +have sung it; and close before me was a little slave-boy, almost +white, who seemed to belong to the party, and even he must join in. +Just think of it!--the first day they had ever had a country, the +first flag they had ever seen which promised anything to their people, +and here, while mere spectators stood in silence, waiting for my +stupid words, these simple souls burst out in their lay, as if they +were by their own hearths at home! When they stopped, there was +nothing to do for it but to speak, and I went on; but the life of the +whole day was in those unknown people's song. + +Receiving the flags, I gave them into the hands of two fine-looking men, +jet black, as color-guard, and they also spoke, and very +effectively,--Sergeant Prince Rivers and Corporal Robert Sutton. The +regiment sang "Marching Along," and then General Saxton spoke, in his +own simple, manly way, and Mrs. Francis D. Gage spoke very sensibly to +the women, and Judge Stickney, from Florida, added something; then some +gentleman sang an ode, and the regiment the John Brown song, and then +they went to their beef and molasses. Everything was very orderly, and +they seemed to have a very gay time. Most of the visitors had far to +go, and so dispersed before dress-parade, though the band stayed to +enliven it. In the evening we had letters from home, and General Saxton +had a reception at his house, from which I excused myself; and so ended +one of the most enthusiastic and happy gatherings I ever knew. The day +was perfect, and there was nothing but success. + +I forgot to say, that, in the midst of the services, it was announced +that General Fremont was appointed Commander-in-Chief,--an announcement +which was received with immense cheering, as would have been almost +anything else, I verily believe, at that moment of high tide. It was +shouted across by the pickets above,--a way in which we often receive +news, but not always trustworthy. + + +January 3, 1863. + +Once, and once only, thus far, the water has frozen in my tent; and +the next morning showed a dense white frost outside. We have still +mocking-birds and crickets and rosebuds, and occasional noonday baths +in the river, though the butterflies have vanished, as I remember to +have observed in Fayal, after December. I have been here nearly six +weeks without a rainy day; one or two slight showers there have been, +once interrupting a drill, but never dress-parade. For climate, by +day, we might be among the isles of Greece,--though it may be my +constant familiarity with the names of her sages which suggests that +impression. For instance, a voice just now called, near my +tent,--"Cato, whar's Plato?" The men have somehow got the impression +that it is essential to the validity of a marriage that they should +come to me for permission, just as they used to go to the master; and +I rather encourage these little confidences, because it is so +entertaining to hear them. "Now, Cunnel," said a faltering swam the +other day, "I want for get me one good lady," which I approved, +especially the limitation as to number. Afterwards I asked one of the +bridegroom's friends whether he thought it a good match. "O yes, +Cunnel," said he, in all the cordiality of friendship, "John's gwine +for marry Venus." I trust the goddess will prove herself a better lady +than she appeared during her previous career upon this planet. But +this naturally suggests the isles of Greece again. + + +January 7. + +On first arriving, I found a good deal of anxiety among the officers as +to the increase of desertions, that being the rock on which the "Hunter +Regiment" split. Now this evil is very nearly stopped, and we are every +day recovering the older absentees. One of the very best things that +have happened to us was the half-accidental shooting of a man who had +escaped from the guard-house, and was wounded by a squad sent in +pursuit. He has since died; and this very eve-rung another man, who +escaped with him, came and opened the door of my tent, after being five +days in the woods, almost without food. His clothes were in rags, and he +was nearly starved, poor foolish fellow, so that we can almost dispense +with further punishment. Severe penalties would be wasted on these +people, accustomed as they have been to the most violent passions on the +part of white men; but a mild inexorableness tells on them, just as it +does on any other children. It is something utterly new to me, and it is +thus far perfectly efficacious. They have a great deal of pride as +soldiers, and a very little of severity goes a great way, if it be firm +and consistent. This is very encouraging. + +The single question which I asked of some of the plantation +superintendents, on the voyage, was, "Do these people appreciate +_justice_?" If they did it was evident that all the rest would be easy. +When a race is degraded beyond that point it must be very hard to deal +with them; they must mistake all kindness for indulgence, all strictness +for cruelty. With these freed slaves there is no such trouble, not a +particle: let an officer be only just and firm, with a cordial, kindly +nature, and he has no sort of difficulty. The plantation superintendents +and teachers have the same experience, they say; but we have an immense +advantage in the military organization, which helps in two ways: it +increases their self-respect, and it gives us an admirable machinery for +discipline, thus improving both the fulcrum and the lever. + +The wounded man died in the hospital, and the general verdict seemed to +be, "Him brought it on heself." Another soldier died of pneumonia on the +same day, and we had the funerals in the evening. It was very +impressive. A dense mist came up, with a moon behind it, and we had only +the light of pine-splinters, as the procession wound along beneath the +mighty, moss-hung branches of the ancient grove. The groups around the +grave, the dark faces, the red garments, the scattered lights, the misty +boughs, were weird and strange. The men sang one of their own wild +chants. Two crickets sang also, one on either side, and did not cease +their little monotone, even when the three volleys were fired above the +graves. Just before the coffins were lowerd, an old man whispered to me +that I must have their position altered,--the heads must be towards the +west; so it was done,--though they are in a place so veiled in woods that +either rising or setting sun will find it hard to spy them. + +We have now a good regimental hospital, admirably arranged in a deserted +gin-house,--a fine well of our own digging, within the camp lines,--a full +allowance of tents, all floored,--a wooden cook-house to every company, +with sometimes a palmetto mess-house beside,--a substantial wooden +guard-house, with a fireplace five feet "in de clar," where the men off +duty can dry themselves and sleep comfortably in bunks afterwards. We +have also a great circular school-tent, made of condemned canvas, thirty +feet in diameter, and looking like some of the Indian lodges I saw in +Kansas. We now meditate a regimental bakery. Our aggregate has increased +from four hundred and ninety to seven hundred and forty, besides a +hundred recruits now waiting at St. Augustine, and we have practised +through all the main movements in battalion drill. + +Affairs being thus prosperous, and yesterday having been six weeks since +my last and only visit to Beaufort, I rode in, glanced at several camps, +and dined with the General. It seemed absolutely like re-entering the +world; and I did not fully estimate my past seclusion till it occurred +to me, as a strange and novel phenomenon, that the soldiers at the other +camps were white. + + +January 8. + +This morning I went to Beaufort again, on necessary business, and by +good luck happened upon a review and drill of the white regiments. The +thing that struck me most was that same absence of uniformity, in minor +points, that I noticed at first in my own officers. The best regiments +in the Department are represented among my captains and lieutenants, and +very well represented too; yet it has cost much labor to bring them to +any uniformity in their drill. There is no need of this; for the +prescribed "Tactics" approach perfection; it is never left discretionary +in what place an officer shall stand, or in what words he shall give his +order. All variation would seem to imply negligence. Yet even West Point +occasionally varies from the "Tactics,"--as, for instance, in requiring +the line officers to face down the line, when each is giving the order +to his company. In our strictest Massachusetts regiments this is not done. + +It needs an artist's eye to make a perfect drill-master. Yet the small +points are not merely a matter of punctilio; for, the more perfectly a +battalion is drilled on the parade-ground the more quietly it can be +handled in action. Moreover, the great need of uniformity is this: +that, in the field, soldiers of different companies, and even of +different regiments, are liable to be intermingled, and a diversity of +orders may throw everything into confusion. Confusion means Bull Run. + +I wished my men at the review to-day; for, amidst all the rattling and +noise of artillery and the galloping of cavalry, there was only one +infantry movement that we have not practised, and that was done by only +one regiment, and apparently considered quite a novelty, though it is +easily taught, + +--forming square by Casey's method: forward on centre. It is really just +as easy to drill a regiment as a company, + +--perhaps easier, because one has more time to think; but it is just as +essential to be sharp and decisive, perfectly clearheaded, and to put +life into the men. A regiment seems small when one has learned how to +handle it, a mere handful of men; and I have no doubt that a brigade or +a division would soon appear equally small. But to handle either +_judiciously_, ah, that is another affair! + +So of governing; it is as easy to govern a regiment as a school or a +factory, and needs like qualities, system, promptness, patience, tact; +moreover, in a regiment one has the aid of the admirable machinery of +the army, so that I see very ordinary men who succeed very tolerably. + +Reports of a six months' armistice are rife here, and the thought is +deplored by all. I cannot believe it; yet sometimes one feels very +anxious about the ultimate fate of these poor people. After the +experience of Hungary, one sees that revolutions may go backward; and +the habit of injustice seems so deeply impressed upon the whites, that +it is hard to believe in the possibility of anything better. I dare not +yet hope that the promise of the President's Proclamation will be kept. +For myself I can be indifferent, for the experience here has been its +own daily and hourly reward; and the adaptedness of the freed slaves for +drill and discipline is now thoroughly demonstrated, and must soon be +universally acknowledged. But it would be terrible to see this regiment +disbanded or defrauded. + + +January 12. + +Many things glide by without time to narrate them. On Saturday we had a +mail with the President's Second Message of Emancipation, and the next +day it was read to the men. The words themselves did not stir them very +much, because they have been often told that they were free, especially +on New Year's Day, and, being unversed in politics, they do not +understand, as well as we do, the importance of each additional +guaranty. But the chaplain spoke to them afterwards very effectively, as +usual; and then I proposed to them to hold up their hands and pledge +themselves to be faithful to those still in bondage. They entered +heartily into this, and the scene was quite impressive, beneath the +great oak-branches. I heard afterwards that only one man refused to +raise his hand, saying bluntly that his wife was out of slavery with +him, and he did not care to fight. The other soldiers of his company +were very indignant, and shoved him about among them while marching back +to their quarters, calling him "Coward." I was glad of their exhibition +of feeling, though it is very possible that the one who had thus the +moral courage to stand alone among his comrades might be more reliable, +on a pinch, than some who yielded a more ready assent. But the whole +response, on their part, was very hearty, and will be a good thing to +which to hold them hereafter, at any time of discouragement or +demoralization,--which was my chief reason for proposing it. With their +simple natures it is a great thing to tie them to some definite +committal; they never forget a marked occurrence, and never seem +disposed to evade a pledge. + +It is this capacity of honor and fidelity which gives me such entire +faith in them as soldiers. Without it all their religious +demonstration would be mere sentimentality. For instance, every one +who visits the camp is struck with their bearing as sentinels. They +exhibit, in this capacity, not an upstart conceit, but a steady, +conscientious devotion to duty. They would stop their idolized General +Saxton, if he attempted to cross their beat contrary to orders: I have +seen them. No feeble or incompetent race could do this. The officers +tell many amusing instances of this fidelity, but I think mine the +best. + +It was very dark the other night, an unusual thing here, and the +rain fell in torrents; so I put on my India-rubber suit, and went the +rounds of the sentinels, incognito, to test them. I can only say that I +shall never try such an experiment again and have cautioned my officers +against it. Tis a wonder I escaped with life and limb,--such a charging +of bayonets and clicking of gun-locks. Sometimes I tempted them by +refusing to give any countersign, but offering them a piece of tobacco, +which they could not accept without allowing me nearer than the +prescribed bayonet's distance. Tobacco is more than gold to them, and it +was touching to watch the struggle in their minds; but they always did +their duty at last, and I never could persuade them. One man, as if +wishing to crush all his inward vacillation at one fell stroke, told me +stoutly that he never used tobacco, though I found next day that he +loved it as much as any one of them. It seemed wrong thus to tamper with +their fidelity; yet it was a vital matter to me to know how far it could +be trusted, out of my sight. It was so intensely dark that not more than +one or two knew me, even after I had talked with the very next sentinel, +especially as they had never seen me in India-rubber clothing, and I can +always disguise my voice. It was easy to distinguish those who did make +the discovery; they were always conscious and simpering when their turn +came; while the others were stout and irreverent till I revealed myself, +and then rather cowed and anxious, fearing to have offended. + +It rained harder and harder, and when I had nearly made the rounds I had +had enough of it, and, simply giving the countersign to the challenging +sentinel, undertook to pass within the lines. + +"Halt!" exclaimed this dusky man and brother, bringing down his bayonet, +"de countersign not correck." + +Now the magic word, in this case, was "Vicksburg," in honor of a +rumored victory. But as I knew that these hard names became quite +transformed upon their lips, "Carthage" being familiarized into +Cartridge, and "Concord" into Corn-cob, how could I possibly tell what +shade of pronunciation my friend might prefer for this particular +proper name? + +"Vicksburg," I repeated, blandly, but authoritatively, endeavoring, as +zealously as one of Christy's Minstrels, to assimilate my speech to any +supposed predilection of the Ethiop vocal organs. + +"Halt dar! Countersign not correck," was the only answer. + +The bayonet still maintained a position which, in a military point of +view, was impressive. + +I tried persuasion, orthography, threats, tobacco, all in vain. I could +not pass in. Of course my pride was up; for was I to defer to an +untutored African on a point of pronunciation? Classic shades of +Harvard, forbid! Affecting scornful indifference, I tried to edge away, +proposing to myself to enter the camp at some other point, where my +elocution would be better appreciated. Not a step could I stir. + +"Halt!" shouted my gentleman again, still holding me at his bayonet's +point, and I wincing and halting. + +I explained to him the extreme absurdity of this proceeding, called his +attention to the state of the weather, which, indeed, spoke for itself +so loudly that we could hardly hear each other speak, and requested +permission to withdraw. The bayonet, with mute eloquence, refused the +application. + +There flashed into my mind, with more enjoyment in the retrospect than +I had experienced at the time, an adventure on a lecturing tour in +other years, when I had spent an hour in trying to scramble into a +country tavern, after bed-time, on the coldest night of winter. On +that occasion I ultimately found myself stuck midway in the window, +with my head in a temperature of 80 degrees, and my heels in a +temperature of -10 degrees, with a heavy windowsash pinioning the +small of my back. However, I had got safe out of that dilemma, and it +was time to put an end to this one, + +"Call the corporal of the guard," said I at last, with dignity, +unwilling to make a night of it or to yield my incognito. + +"Corporal ob de guardl" he shouted, lustily,--"Post Number Two!" while I +could hear another sentinel chuckling with laughter. This last was a +special guard, placed over a tent, with a prisoner in charge. Presently +he broke silence. + +"Who am dat?" he asked, in a stage whisper. "Am he a buckra [white man]?" + +"Dunno whether he been a buckra or not," responded, doggedly, my +Cerberus in uniform; "but I's bound to keep him here till de corporal ob +de guard come." + +Yet, when that dignitary arrived, and I revealed myself, poor Number Two +appeared utterly transfixed with terror, and seemed to look for nothing +less than immediate execution. Of course I praised his fidelity, and the +next day complimented him before the guard, and mentioned him to his +captain; and the whole affair was very good for them all. Hereafter, if +Satan himself should approach them in darkness and storm, they will take +_him_ for "de Cunnel," and treat him with special severity. + + +January 13. + +In many ways the childish nature of this people shows itself. I have +just had to make a change of officers in a company which has constantly +complained, and with good reason, of neglect and improper treatment. Two +excellent officers have been assigned to them; and yet they sent a +deputation to me in the evening, in a state of utter wretchedness. "We's +bery grieved dis evening, Cunnel; 'pears like we couldn't bear it, to +lose de Cap'n and de Lieutenant, all two togeder." Argument was useless; +and I could only fall back on the general theory, that I knew what was +best for them, which had much more effect; and I also could cite the +instance of another company, which had been much improved by a new +captain, as they readily admitted. So with the promise that the new +officers should not be "savage to we," which was the one thing they +deprecated, I assuaged their woes. Twenty-four hours have passed, and I +hear them singing most merrily all down that company street. + +I often notice how their griefs may be dispelled, like those of +children, merely by permission to utter them: if they can tell their +sorrows, they go away happy, even without asking to have anything done +about them. I observe also a peculiar dislike of all _intermediate_ +control: they always wish to pass by the company officer, and deal +with me personally for everything. General Saxton notices the same +thing with the people on the plantations as regards himself. I suppose +this proceeds partly from the old habit of appealing to the master +against the overseer. Kind words would cost the master nothing, and he +could easily put off any non-fulfilment upon the overseer. Moreover, +the negroes have acquired such constitutional distrust of white +people, that it is perhaps as much as they can do to trust more than +one person at a tune. Meanwhile this constant personal intercourse is +out of the question in a well-ordered regiment; and the remedy for it +is to introduce by degrees more and more of system, so that their +immediate officers will become all-sufficient for the daily routine. + +It is perfectly true (as I find everybody takes for granted) that the +first essential for an officer of colored troops is to gain their +confidence. But it is equally true, though many persons do not +appreciate it, that the admirable methods and proprieties of the regular +army are equally available for all troops, and that the sublimest +philanthropist, if he does not appreciate this, is unfit to command them. + +Another childlike attribute in these men, which is less agreeable, is a +sort of blunt insensibility to giving physical pain. If they are cruel +to animals, for instance, it always reminds me of children pulling off +flies' legs, in a sort of pitiless, untaught, experimental way. Yet I +should not fear any wanton outrage from them. After all their wrongs, +they are not really revengeful; and I would far rather enter a captured +city with them than with white troops, for they would be more +subordinate. But for mere physical suffering they would have no fine +sympathies. The cruel things they have seen and undergone have helped to +blunt them; and if I ordered them to put to death a dozen prisoners, I +think they would do it without remonstrance. + +Yet their religious spirit grows more beautiful to me in living longer +with them; it is certainly far more so than at first, when it seemed +rather a matter of phrase and habit. It influences them both on the +negative and the positive side. That is, it cultivates the feminine +virtues first,--makes them patient, meek, resigned. This is very +evident in the hospital; there is nothing of the restless, defiant +habit of white invalids. Perhaps, if they had more of this, they +would resist disease better. Imbued from childhood with the habit of +submission, drinking in through every pore that other-world trust +which is the one spirit of their songs, they can endure everything. +This I expected; but I am relieved to find that their religion +strengthens them on the positive side also,--gives zeal, energy, +daring. They could easily be made fanatics, if I chose; but I do not +choose. Their whole mood is essentially Mohammedan, perhaps, in its +strength and its weakness; and I feel the same degree of sympathy that +I should if I had a Turkish command,--that is, a sort of sympathetic +admiration, not tending towards agreement, but towards co-operation. +Their philosophizing is often the highest form of mysticism; and our +dear surgeon declares that they are all natural transcendentalists. +The white camps seem rough and secular, after this; and I hear our men +talk about "a religious army," "a Gospel army," in their +prayer-meetings. They are certainly evangelizing the chaplain, who was +rather a heretic at the beginning; at least, this is his own +admission. We have recruits on their way from St. Augustine, where the +negroes are chiefly Roman Catholics; and it will be interesting to see +how their type of character combines with that elder creed. It is time +for rest; and I have just looked out into the night, where the eternal +stars shut down, in concave protection, over the yet glimmering camp, +and Orion hangs above my tent-door, giving to me the sense of strength +and assurance which these simple children obtain from their Moses and +the Prophets. Yet external Nature does its share in their training; +witness that most poetic of all their songs, which always reminds me +of the "Lyke-Wake Dirge" in the "Scottish Border Minstrelsy,"-- + + "I know moon-rise, I know star-rise; + Lay dis body down. + I walk in de moonlight, I walk in de starlight, + To lay dis body down. + I'll walk in de graveyard, I'll walk through de graveyard, + To lay dis body down. + I'll lie in de grave and stretch out my arms; + Lay dis body down. + I go to de Judgment in de evening ob de day + When I lay dis body down; + And my soul and your soul will meet in de day + When I lay dis body down." + + +January 14. + +In speaking of the military qualities of the blacks, I should add, that +the only point where I am disappointed is one I have never seen raised +by the most incredulous newspaper critics,--namely, then- physical +condition. To be sure they often look magnificently to my +gymnasium-trained eye; and I always like to observe them when +bathing,--such splendid muscular development, set off by that smooth +coating of adipose tissue which makes them, like the South-Sea Islanders +appear even more muscular than they are. Their skins are also of finer +grain than those of whites, the surgeons say, and certainly are smoother +and far more free from hair. But their weakness is pulmonary; pneumonia +and pleurisy are their besetting ailments; they are easily made ill,--and +easily cured, if promptly treated: childish organizations again. +Guard-duty injures them more than whites, apparently; and double-quick +movements, in choking dust, set them coughing badly. But then it is to +be remembered that this is their sickly season, from January to March, +and that their healthy season will come in summer, when the whites break +down. Still my conviction of the physical superiority of more highly +civilized races is strengthened on the whole, not weakened, by observing +them. As to availability for military drill and duty in other respects, +the only question I ever hear debated among the officers is, whether +they are equal or superior to whites. I have never heard it suggested +that they were inferior, although I expected frequently to hear such +complaints from hasty or unsuccessful officers. + +Of one thing I am sure, that their best qualities will be wasted by +merely keeping them for garrison duty. They seem peculiarly fitted for +offensive operations, and especially for partisan warfare; they have +so much dash and such abundant resources, combined with such an +Indian-like knowledge of the country and its ways. These traits have +been often illustrated in expeditions sent after deserters. For +instance, I despatched one of my best lieutenants and my best sergeant +with a squad of men to search a certain plantation, where there were +two separate negro villages. They went by night, and the force was +divided. The lieutenant took one set of huts, the sergeant the other. +Before the lieutenant had reached his first house, every man in the +village was in the woods, innocent and guilty alike. But the +sergeant's mode of operation was thus described by a corporal from a +white regiment who happened to be in one of the negro houses. He said +that not a sound was heard until suddenly a red leg appeared in the +open doorway, and a voice outside said, "Rally." Going to the door, he +observed a similar pair of red legs before every hut, and not a person +was allowed to go out, until the quarters had been thoroughly +searched, and the three deserters found. This was managed by Sergeant +Prince Rivers, our color-sergeant, who is provost-sergeant also, and +has entire charge of the prisoners and of the daily policing of the +camp. He is a man of distinguished appearance, and in old times was +the crack coachman of Beaufort, in which capacity he once drove +Beauregard from this plantation to Charleston, I believe. They tell me +that he was once allowed to present a petition to the Governor of +South Carolina in behalf of slaves, for the redress of certain +grievances; and that a placard, offering two thousand dollars for his +recapture, is still to be seen by the wayside between here and +Charleston. He was a sergeant in the old "Hunter Regiment," and was +taken by General Hunter to New York last spring, where the _chevrons_ +on his arm brought a mob upon him in Broadway, whom he kept off till +the police interfered. There is not a white officer in this regiment +who has more administrative ability, or more absolute authority over +the men; they do not love him, but his mere presence has controlling +power over them. He writes well enough to prepare for me a daily +report of his duties in the camp; if his education reached a higher +point, I see no reason why he should not command the Army of the +Potomac. He is jet-black, or rather, I should say, _wine-black_; his +complexion, like that of others of my darkest men, having a sort of +rich, clear depth, without a trace of sootiness, and to my eye very +handsome. His features are tolerably regular, and full of command, and +his figure superior to that of any of our white officers,--being six +feet high, perfectly proportioned, and of apparently inexhaustible +strength and activity. His gait is like a panther's; I never saw such +a tread. No anti-slavery novel has described a man of such marked +ability. He makes Toussaint perfectly intelligible; and if there +should ever be a black monarchy in South Carolina, he will be its +king. + + +January 15. + +This morning is like May. Yesterday I saw bluebirds and a butterfly; so +this whiter of a fortnight is over. I fancy there is a trifle less +coughing in the camp. We hear of other stations in the Department where +the mortality, chiefly from yellow fever, has been frightful. Dr. ---- is +rubbing his hands professionally over the fearful tales of the surgeon +of a New York regiment, just from Key West, who has had two hundred +cases of the fever. "I suppose he is a skilful, highly educated man," +said I. "Yes," he responded with enthusiasm. "Why, he had seventy +deaths!"--as if that proved his superiority past question. + + +January 19. + +"And first, sitting proud as a lung on his throne, At the head of them +all rode Sir Richard Tyrone." + +But I fancy that Sir Richard felt not much better satisfied with his +following than I to-day. J. R. L. said once that nothing was quite so +good as turtle-soup, except mock-turtle; and I have heard officers +declare that nothing was so stirring as real war, except some exciting +parade. To-day, for the first time, I marched the whole regiment +through Beaufort and back,--the first appearance of such a novelty on +any stage. They did march splendidly; this all admit. M----'s +prediction was fulfilled: "Will not ---- be in bliss? A thousand men, +every one as black as a coal!" I confess it. To look back on twenty +broad double-ranks of men (for they marched by platoons),--every +polished musket having a black face beside it, and every face set +steadily to the front,--a regiment of freed slaves marching on into +the future,--it was something to remember; and when they returned +through the same streets, marching by the flank, with guns at a +"support," and each man covering his file-leader handsomely, the +effect on the eye was almost as fine. The band of the Eighth Maine +joined us at the entrance of the town, and escorted us in. Sergeant +Rivers said ecstatically afterwards, in describing the affair, "And +when dat band wheel in before us, and march on,--my God! I quit dis +world altogeder." I wonder if he pictured to himself the many dusky +regiments, now unformed, which I seemed to see marching up behind us, +gathering shape out of the dim air. + +I had cautioned the men, before leaving camp, not to be staring about +them as they marched, but to look straight to the front, every man; and +they did it with their accustomed fidelity, aided by the sort of +spontaneous eye-for-effect which is in all their melodramatic natures. +One of them was heard to say exultingly afterwards, "We didn't look to +de right nor to de leff. I didn't see notin' in Beaufort. Eb'ry step was +worth a half a dollar." And they all marched as if it were so. They knew +well that they were marching through throngs of officers and soldiers +who had drilled as many months as we had drilled weeks, and whose eyes +would readily spy out every defect. And I must say, that, on the whole, +with a few trivial exceptions, those spectators behaved in a manly and +courteous manner, and I do not care to write down all the handsome +things that were said. Whether said or not, they were deserved; and +there is no danger that our men will not take sufficient satisfaction in +their good appearance. I was especially amused at one of our recruits, +who did not march in the ranks, and who said, after watching the +astonishment of some white soldiers, "De buckra sojers look like a man +who been-a-steal a sheep,"--that is, I suppose, sheepish. + +After passing and repassing through the town, we marched to the +parade-ground, and went through an hour's drill, forming squares and +reducing them, and doing other things which look hard on paper, and +are perfectly easy in fact; and we were to have been reviewed by +General Saxton, but he had been unexpectedly called to Ladies Island, +and did not see us at all, which was the only thing to mar the men's +enjoyment. Then we marched back to camp (three miles), the men singing +the "John Brown Song," and all manner of things,--as happy creatures +as one can well conceive. + +It is worth mentioning, before I close, that we have just received an +article about "Negro Troops," from the _London Spectator_, which is so +admirably true to our experience that it seems as if written by one of +us. I am confident that there never has been, in any American newspaper, +a treatment of the subject so discriminating and so wise. + + +January 21. + +To-day brought a visit from Major-General Hunter and his staff, by +General Saxton's invitation,--the former having just arrived in the +Department. I expected them at dress-parade, but they came during +battalion drill, rather to my dismay, and we were caught in our old +clothes. It was our first review, and I dare say we did tolerably; but +of course it seemed to me that the men never appeared so ill before,-- +just as one always thinks a party at one's own house a failure, even if +the guests seem to enjoy it, because one is so keenly sensitive to every +little thing that goes wrong. After review and drill, General Hunter +made the men a little speech, at my request, and told them that he +wished there were fifty thousand of them. General Saxton spoke to them +afterwards, and said that fifty thousand muskets were on their way for +colored troops. The men cheered both the generals lustily; and they were +complimentary afterwards, though I knew that the regiment could not have +appeared nearly so well as on its visit to Beaufort. I suppose I felt +like some anxious mamma whose children have accidentally appeared at +dancing-school in their old clothes. + +General Hunter promises us all we want,--pay when the funds arrive, +Springfield rifled muskets, and blue trousers. Moreover, he has +graciously consented that we should go on an expedition along the +coast, to pick up cotton, lumber, and, above all, recruits. I declined +an offer like this just after my arrival, because the regiment was not +drilled or disciplined, not even the officers; but it is all we wish +for now. + + "What care I how black I be? + Forty pounds will marry me," + +quoth Mother Goose. _Forty rounds_ will marry us to the American Army, +past divorcing, if we can only use them well. Our success or failure may +make or mar the prospects of colored troops. But it is well to remember +in advance that military success is really less satisfatory than any +other, because it may depend on a moment's turn of events, and that may +be determined by some trivial thing, neither to be anticipated nor +controlled. Napoleon ought to have won at Waterloo by all reasonable +calculations; but who cares? All that one can expect is, to do one's +best, and to take with equanimity the fortune of war. + + + + +Chapter 3 +Up the St. Mary's + + +If Sergeant Rivers was a natural king among my dusky soldiers, Corporal +Robert Sutton was the natural prime-minister. If not in all respects the +ablest, he was the wisest man in our ranks. As large, as powerful, and +as black as our good-looking Color-Sergeant, but more heavily built and +with less personal beauty, he had a more massive brain and a far more +meditative and systematic intellect. Not yet grounded even in the +spelling-book, his modes of thought were nevertheless strong, lucid, and +accurate; and he yearned and pined for intellectual companionship beyond +all ignorant men whom I have ever met. I believe that he would have +talked all day and all night, for days together, to any officer who +could instruct him, until his companions, at least, fell asleep +exhausted. His comprehension of the whole problem of Slavery was more +thorough and far-reaching than that of any Abolitionist, so far as its +social and military aspects went; in that direction I could teach him +nothing, and he taught me much. But it was his methods of thought which +always impressed me chiefly: superficial brilliancy he left to others, +and grasped at the solid truth. + +Of course his interest in the war and in the regiment was unbounded; +he did not take to drill with especial readiness, but he was +insatiable of it, and grudged every moment of relaxation. Indeed, he +never had any such moments; his mind was at work all the time, even +when he was singing hymns, of which he had endless store. He was not, +however, one of our leading religionists, but his moral code was solid +and reliable, like his mental processes. Ignorant as he was, the +"years that bring the philosophic mind" had yet been his, and most of +my young officers seemed boys beside him. He was a Florida man, and +had been chiefly employed in lumbering and piloting on the St. Mary's +River, which divides Florida from Georgia. Down this stream he had +escaped in a "dug-out," and after thus finding the way, had returned +(as had not a few of my men in other cases) to bring away wife and +child. "I wouldn't have left my child, Cunnel," he said, with an +emphasis that sounded the depths of his strong nature. And up this +same river he was always imploring to be allowed to guide an +expedition. + +Many other men had rival propositions to urge, for they gained +self-confidence from drill and guard-duty, and were growing impatient of +inaction. "Ought to go to work, Sa,--don't believe in we lyin' in camp +eatin' up de perwisions." Such were the quaint complaints, which I heard +with joy. Looking over my note-books of that period, I find them filled +with topographical memoranda, jotted down by a flickering candle, from +the evening talk of the men,--notes of vulnerable points along the coast, +charts of rivers, locations of pickets. I prized these conversations not +more for what I thus learned of the country than for what I learned of +the men. One could thus measure their various degrees of accuracy and +their average military instinct; and I must say that in every respect, +save the accurate estimate of distances, they stood the test well. But +no project took my fancy so much, after all, as that of the delegate +from the St. Mary's River. + +The best peg on which to hang an expedition in the Department of the +South, in those days, was the promise of lumber. Dwelling in the very +land of Southern pine, the Department authorities had to send North +for it, at a vast expense. There was reported to be plenty in the +enemy's country, but somehow the colored soldiers were the only ones +who had been lucky enough to obtain any, thus far, and the supply +brought in by our men, after flooring the tents of the white regiments +and our own, was running low. An expedition of white troops, four +companies, with two steamers and two schooners, had lately returned +empty-handed, after a week's foraging; and now it was our turn. They +said the mills were all burned; but should we go up the St. Mary's, +Corporal Sutton was prepared to offer more lumber than we had +transportation to carry. This made the crowning charm of his +suggestion. But there is never any danger of erring on the side of +secrecy, in a military department; and I resolved to avoid all undue +publicity for our plans, by not finally deciding on any until we +should get outside the bar. This was happily approved by my superior +officers, Major-General Hunter and Brigadier-General Saxton; and I was +accordingly permitted to take three steamers, with four hundred and +sixty. two officers and men, and two or three invited guests, and go +down the coast on my own responsibility. We were, in short, to win our +spurs; and if, as among the Araucanians, our spurs were made of +lumber, so much the better. The whole history of the Department of the +South had been defined as "a military picnic," and now we were to take +our share of the entertainment. + +It seemed a pleasant share, when, after the usual vexations and +delays, we found ourselves (January 23, 1863) gliding down the full +waters of Beaufort River, the three vessels having sailed at different +hours, with orders to rendezvous at St. Simon's Island, on the coast +of Georgia. Until then, the flagship, so to speak, was to be the "Ben +De Ford," Captain Hallet,--this being by far the largest vessel, and +carrying most of the men. Major Strong was in command upon the "John +Adams," an army gunboat, carrying a thirty-pound Parrott gun, two +ten-pound Parrotts, and an eight-inch howitzer. Captain Trowbridge +(since promoted Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment) had charge of the +famous "Planter," brought away from the Rebels by Robert Small; she +carried a ten-pound Parrott gun, and two howitzers. The John Adams was +our main reliance. She was an old East Boston ferry-boat, a +"double-ender," admirable for river-work, but unfit for sea-service. +She drew seven feet of water; the Planter drew only four; but the +latter was very slow, and being obliged to go to St. Simon's by an +inner passage, would delay us from the beginning. She delayed us so +much, before the end, that we virtually parted company, and her career +was almost entirely separated from our own. + +From boyhood I have had a fancy for boats, and have seldom been without +a share, usually more or less fractional, in a rather indeterminate +number of punts and wherries. But when, for the first time, I found +myself at sea as Commodore of a fleet of armed steamers,--for even the +Ben De Ford boasted a six-pounder or so,--it seemed rather an unexpected +promotion. But it is a characteristic of army life, that one adapts +one's self, as coolly as in a dream, to the most novel responsibilities. +One sits on court-martial, for instance, and decides on the life of a +fellow-creature, without being asked any inconvenient questions as to +previous knowledge of Blackstone; and after such an experience, shall +one shrink from wrecking a steamer or two in the cause of the nation? So +I placidly accepted my naval establishment, as if it were a new form of +boat-club, and looked over the charts, balancing between one river and +another, as if deciding whether to pull up or down Lake Quinsigamond. If +military life ever contemplated the exercise of the virtue of humility +under any circumstances this would perhaps have been a good opportunity +to begin its practice. But as the "Regulations" clearly contemplated +nothing of the kind, and as I had never met with any precedent which +looked in that direction, I had learned to check promptly all such weak +proclivities. + +Captain Hallett proved the most frank and manly of sailors, and did +everything for our comfort. He was soon warm in his praises of the +demeanor of our men, which was very pleasant to hear, as this was the +first time that colored soldiers in any number had been conveyed on +board a transport, and I know of no place where a white volunteer +appears to so much disadvantage. His mind craves occupation, his body +is intensely uncomfortable, the daily emergency is not great enough to +call out his heroic qualities, and he is apt to be surly, +discontented, and impatient even of sanitary rules. The Southern black +soldier, on the other hand, is seldom sea-sick (at least, such is my +experience), and, if properly managed, is equally contented, whether +idle or busy; he is, moreover, so docile that all needful rules are +executed with cheerful acquiescence, and the quarters can therefore be +kept clean and wholesome. Very forlorn faces were soon visible among +the officers in the cabin, but I rarely saw such among the men. + +Pleasant still seemed our enterprise, as we anchored at early morning in +the quiet waters of St. Simon's Sound, and saw the light fall softly on +the beach and the low bluffs, on the picturesque plantation-houses which +nestled there, and the graceful naval vessels that lay at anchor before +us. When we afterwards landed the air had that peculiar Mediterranean +translucency which Southern islands wear; and the plantation we visited +had the loveliest tropical garden, though tangled and desolate, which I +have ever seen in the South. The deserted house was embowered In great +blossoming shrubs, and filled with hyacinthine odors, among which +predominated that of the little Chickasaw roses which everywhere bloomed +and trailed around. There were fig-trees and date-palms, crape-myrtles +and wax-myrtles, Mexican agaves and English ivies, japonicas, bananas, +oranges, lemons, oleanders, jonquils, great cactuses, and wild Florida +lilies. This was not the plantation which Mrs. Kemble has since made +historic, although that was on the same island; and I could not waste +much sentiment over it, for it had belonged to a Northern renegade, +Thomas Butler King. Yet I felt then, as I have felt a hundred times +since, an emotion of heart-sickness at this desecration of a +homestead,--and especially when, looking from a bare upper window of the +empty house upon a range of broad, flat, sunny roofs, such as children +love to play on, I thought how that place might have been loved by yet +Innocent hearts, and I mourned anew the sacrilege of war. + +I had visited the flag-ship Wabash ere we left Port Royal Harbor, and +had obtained a very kind letter of introduction from Admiral Dupont, +that stately and courtly potentate, elegant as one's ideal French +marquis; and under these credentials I received polite attention from +the naval officers at St. Simon's,--Acting Volunteer Lieutenant Budd, +of the gunboat Potomska, and Acting Master Moses, of the barque +Fernandina. They made valuable suggestions in regard to the different +rivers along the coast, and gave vivid descriptions of the last +previous trip up the St. Mary's undertaken by Captain Stevens, U.S.N., +in the gunboat Ottawa, when he had to fight his way past batteries +at every bluff in descending the narrow and rapid stream. I was warned +that no resistance would be offered to the ascent, but only to our +return; and was further cautioned against the mistake, then common, of +underrating the courage of the Rebels. "It proved impossible to +dislodge those fellows from the banks," my informant said; "they had +dug rifle-pits, and swarmed like hornets, and when fairly silenced in +one direction they were sure to open upon us from another." All this +sounded alarming, but it was nine months since the event had happened; +and although nothing had gone up the river meanwhile, I counted on +less resistance now. And something must be risked anywhere. + +We were delayed all that day in waiting for our consort, and improved +our time by verifying certain rumors about a quantity of new +railroad-iron which was said to be concealed in the abandoned Rebel +forts on St. Simon's and Jekyll Islands, and which would have much +value at Port Royal, if we could unearth it. Some of our men had +worked upon these very batteries, so that they could easily guide us; +and by the additional discovery of a large flat-boat we were enabled +to go to work in earnest upon the removal of the treasure. These iron +bars, surmounted by a dozen feet of sand, formed an invulnerable roof +for the magazines and bomb-proofs of the fort, and the men enjoyed +demolishing them far more than they had relished their construction. +Though the day was the 24th of January, 1863, the sun was very +oppressive upon the sands; but all were in the highest spirits, and +worked with the greatest zeal. The men seemed to regard these massive +bars as their first trophies; and if the rails had been wreathed with +roses, they could not have been got out in more holiday style. Nearly +a hundred were obtained that day, besides a quantity of five-inch +plank with which to barricade the very conspicuous pilot-houses of the +John Adams. Still another day we were delayed, and could still keep at +this work, not neglecting some foraging on the island from which +horses, cattle, and agricultural implements were to be removed, and +the few remaining colored families transferred to Fernandina. I had +now become quite anxious about the missing steamboat, as the inner +passage, by which alone she could arrive, was exposed at certain +points to fire from Rebel batteries, and it would have been unpleasant +to begin with a disaster. I remember that, as I stood on deck, in the +still and misty evening, listening with strained senses for some sound +of approach, I heard a low continuous noise from the distance, more +wild and desolate than anything in my memory can parallel. It came +from within the vast girdle of mist, and seemed like the cry of a +myriad of lost souls upon the horizon's verge; it was Dante become +audible: and yet it was but the accumulated cries of innumerable +seafowl at the entrance of the outer bay. + +Late that night the Planter arrived. We left St. Simon's on the +following morning, reached Fort Clinch by four o'clock, and there +transferring two hundred men to the very scanty quarters of the John +Adams, allowed the larger transport to go into Fernandina, while the two +other vessels were to ascend the St. Mary's River, unless (as proved +inevitable in the end) the defects in the boiler of the Planter should +oblige her to remain behind. That night I proposed to make a sort of +trial-trip up stream, as far as Township landing, some fifteen miles, +there to pay our respects to Captain Clark's company of cavalry, whose +camp was reported to lie near by. This was included in Corporal Sutton's +programme, and seemed to me more inviting, and far more useful to the +men, than any amount of mere foraging. The thing really desirable +appeared to be to get them under fire as soon as possible, and to teach +them, by a few small successes, the application of what they had learned +in camp-. + +I had ascertained that the camp of this company lay five miles from +the landing, and was accessible by two roads, one of which was a +lumber-path, not commonly used, but which Corporal Sutton had helped +to construct, and along which he could easily guide us. The plan was +to go by night, surround the house and negro cabins at the landing (to +prevent an alarm from being given), then to take the side path, and if +all went well, to surprise the camp; but if they got notice of our +approach, through their pickets, we should, at worst, have a fight, in +which the best man must win. + +The moon was bright, and the river swift, but easy of navigation thus +far. Just below Township I landed a small advance force, to surround the +houses silently. With them went Corporal Sutton; and when, after +rounding the point, I went on shore with a larger body of men, he met me +with a silent chuckle of delight, and with the information that there +was a negro in a neighboring cabin who had just come from the Rebel +camp, and could give the latest information. While he hunted up this +valuable auxiliary, I mustered my detachment, winnowing out the men who +had coughs (not a few), and sending them ignominiously on board again: a +process I had regularly to perform, during this first season of catarrh, +on all occasions where quiet was needed. The only exception tolerated at +this time was in the case of one man who offered a solemn pledge, that, +if unable to restrain his cough, he would lie down on the ground, scrape +a little hole, and cough into it unheard. The ingenuity of this +proposition was irresistible, and the eager patient was allowed to pass +muster. + +It was after midnight when we set off upon our excursion. I had about +a hundred men, marching by the flank, with a small advanced guard, and +also a few flankers, where the ground permitted. I put my Florida +company at the head of the column, and had by my side Captain Metcalf, +an excellent officer, and Sergeant Mclntyre, his first sergeant. We +plunged presently in pine woods, whose resinous smell I can still +remember. Corporal Sutton marched near me, with his captured negro +guide, whose first fear and sullenness had yielded to the magic news +of the President's Proclamation, then just issued, of which Governor +Andrew had sent me a large printed supply;--we seldom found men who +could read it, but they all seemed to feel more secure when they held +it in their hands. We marched on through the woods, with no sound but +the peeping of the frogs in a neighboring marsh, and the occasional +yelping of a dog, as we passed the hut of some "cracker." This yelping +always made Corporal Sutton uneasy; dogs are the detective officers of +Slavery's police. + +We had halted once or twice to close up the ranks, and had marched some +two miles, seeing and hearing nothing more. I had got all I could out of +our new guide, and was striding on, rapt in pleasing contemplation. All +had gone so smoothly that I had merely to fancy the rest as being +equally smooth. Already I fancied our little detachment bursting out of +the woods, in swift surprise, upon the Rebel quarters,--already the +opposing commander, after hastily firing a charge or two from his +revolver (of course above my head), had yielded at discretion, and was +gracefully tendering, in a stage attitude, his unavailing sword,--when +suddenly-- + +There was a trampling of feet among the advanced guard as they came +confusedly to a halt, and almost at the same instant a more ominous +sound, as of galloping horses in the path before us. The moonlight +outside the woods gave that dimness of atmosphere within which is more +bewildering than darkness, because the eyes cannot adapt themselves to +it so well. Yet I fancied, and others aver, that they saw the leader +of an approaching party mounted on a white horse and reining up in the +pathway; others, again, declare that he drew a pistol from the holster +and took aim; others heard the words, "Charge in upon them! Surround +them!" But all this was confused by the opening rifle-shots of our +advanced guard, and, as clear observation was impossible, I made the +.men fix their bayonets and kneel in the cover on each side the +pathway, and I saw with delight the brave fellows, with Sergeant +Mclntyre at their head, settling down in the grass as coolly and +warily as if wild turkeys were the only game. Perhaps at the first +shot a man fell at my elbow. I felt it no more than if a tree had +fallen,--I was so busy watching my own men and the enemy, and planning +what to do next. Some of our soldiers, misunderstanding the order, +"Fix bayonets," were actually _charging_ with them, dashing off into +the dim woods, with nothing to charge at but the vanishing tail of an +imaginary horse,--for we could really see nothing. This zeal I noted +with pleasure, and also with anxiety, as our greatest danger was from +confusion and scattering; and for infantry to pursue cavalry would be +a novel enterprise. Captain Metcalf stood by me well in keeping the +men steady, as did Assistant Surgeon Minor, and Lieutenant, now +Captain, Jackson. How the men in the rear were behaving I could not +tell,--not so coolly, I afterwards found, because they were more +entirely bewildered, supposing, until the shots came, that the column +had simply halted for a moment's rest, as had been done once or twice +before. They did not know who or where their assailants might be, and +the fall of the man beside me created a hasty rumor that I was killed, +so that it was on the whole an alarming experience for them. They +kept together very tolerably, however, while our assailants, dividing, +rode along on each side through the open pine-barren, firing into our +ranks, but mostly over the heads of the men. My soldiers in turn fired +rapidly,--too rapidly, being yet beginners,--and it was evident that, +dim as it was, both sides had opportunity to do some execution. + +I could hardly tell whether the fight had lasted ten minutes or an hour, +when, as the enemy's fire had evidently ceased or slackened, I gave the +order to cease firing. But it was very difficult at first to make them +desist: the taste of gunpowder was too intoxicating. One of them was +heard to mutter, indignantly, "Why de Cunnel order _Cease firing_, when +de Secesh blazin' away at de rate ob ten dollar a day?" Every incidental +occurrence seemed somehow to engrave itself upon my perceptions, without +interrupting the main course of thought. Thus I know, that, in one of +the pauses of the affair, there came wailing through the woods a cracked +female voice, as if calling back some stray husband who had run out to +join in the affray, "John, John, are you going to leave me, John? Are +you going to let me and the children be killed, John?" I suppose the +poor thing's fears of gunpowder were very genuine; but it was such a +wailing squeak, and so infinitely ludicrous, and John was probably +ensconced so very safely in some hollow tree, that I could see some of +the men showing all their white teeth in the very midst of the fight. +But soon this sound, with all others, had ceased, and left us in +peaceful possession of the field. + +I have made the more of this little affair because it was the first +stand-up fight in which my men had been engaged, though they had been +under fire, in an irregular way, in their small early expeditions. To me +personally the event was of the greatest value: it had given us all an +opportunity to test each other, and our abstract surmises were changed +into positive knowledge. Hereafter it was of small importance what +nonsense might be talked or written about colored troops; so long as +mine did not flinch, it made no difference to me. My brave young +officers, themselves mostly new to danger, viewed the matter much as I +did; and yet we were under bonds of life and death to form a correct +opinion, which was more than could be said of the Northern editors, and +our verdict was proportionately of greater value. + +I was convinced from appearances that we had been victorious, so far, +though I could not suppose that this would be the last of it. We knew +neither the numbers of the enemy, nor their plans, nor their present +condition: whether they had surprised us or whether we had surprised +them was all a mystery. Corporal Sutton was urgent to go on and complete +the enterprise. All my impulses said the same thing; but then I had the +most explicit injunctions from General Saxton to risk as little as +possible in this first enterprise, because of the fatal effect on public +sentiment of even an honorable defeat. We had now an honorable victory, +so far as it went; the officers and men around me were in good spirits, +but the rest of the column might be nervous; and it seemed so important +to make the first fight an entire success, that I thought it wiser to +let well alone; nor have I ever changed this opinion. For one's self, +Montrose's verse may be well applied, "To win or lose it all." But one +has no right to deal thus lightly with the fortunes of a race, and that +was the weight which I always felt as resting on our action. If my raw +infantry force had stood unflinchingly a night-surprise from "de boss +cavalry," as they reverentially termed them, I felt that a good +beginning had been made. All hope of surprising the enemy's camp was now +at an end; I was willing and ready to fight the cavalry over again, but +it seemed wiser that we, not they, should select the ground. + +Attending to the wounded, therefore, and making as we best could +stretchers for those who were to be carried, including the remains of +the man killed at the first discharge (Private William Parsons of +Company G), and others who seemed at the point of death, we marched +through the woods to the landing,--expecting at every moment to be +involved in another fight. This not occurring, I was more than ever +satisfied that we had won a victory; for it was obvious that a mounted +force would not allow a detachment of infantry to march two miles +through open woods by night without renewing the fight, unless they +themselves had suffered a good deal. On arrival at the landing, seeing +that there was to be no immediate affray, I sent most of the men on +board, and called for volunteers to remain on shore with me and hold the +plantation-house till morning. They eagerly offered; and I was glad to +see them, when posted as sentinels by Lieutenants Hyde and Jackson, who +stayed with me, pace their beats as steadily and challenge as coolly as +veterans, though of course there was some powder wasted on imaginary +foes. Greatly to my surprise, however, we had no other enemies to +encounter. We did not yet know that we had killed the first lieutenant +of the cavalry, and that our opponents had retreated to the woods in +dismay, without daring to return to their camp. This at least was the +account we heard from prisoners afterwards, and was evidently the tale +current in the neighborhood, though the statements published in Southern +newspapers did not correspond. Admitting the death of Lieutenant Jones, +the Tallahassee Floridian of February 14th stated that "Captain Clark, +finding the enemy in strong force, fell back with his command to camp, +and removed his ordnance and commissary and other stores, with twelve +negroes on their way to the enemy, captured on that day." + +In the morning, my invaluable surgeon, Dr. Rogers, sent me his report +of killed and wounded; and I have been since permitted to make the +following extracts from his notes: "One man killed instantly by ball +through the heart, and seven wounded, one of whom will die. Braver men +never lived. One man with two bullet-holes through the large muscles +of the shoulders and neck brought off from the scene of action, two +miles distant, two muskets; and not a murmur has escaped his lips. +Another, Robert Sutton, with three wounds,--one of which, being on the +skull, may cost him his life,--would not report himself till compelled +to do so by his officers. While dressing his wounds, he quietly talked +of what they had done, and of what they yet could do. To-day I have +had the Colonel _order_ him to obey me. He is perfectly quiet and +cool, but takes this whole affair with the religious bearing of a man +who realizes that freedom is sweeter than life. Yet another soldier +did not report himself at all, but remained all night on guard, and +possibly I should not have known of his having had a buck-shot in his +shoulder, if some duty requiring a sound shoulder had not been +required of him to-day." This last, it may be added, had persuaded a +comrade to dig out the buck-shot, for fear of being ordered on the +sick-list. And one of those who were carried to the vessel--a man +wounded through the lungs--asked only if I were safe, the contrary +having been reported. An officer may be pardoned some enthusiasm for +such men as these. + +The anxious night having passed away without an attack, another +problem opened with the morning. For the first time, my officers and +men found themselves in possession of an enemy's abode; and though +there was but little temptation to plunder, I knew that I must here +begin to draw the line. I had long since resolved to prohibit +absolutely all indiscriminate pilfering and wanton outrage, and to +allow nothing to be taken or destroyed but by proper authority. The +men, to my great satisfaction, entered into this view at once, and so +did (perhaps a shade less readily, in some cases) the officers. The +greatest trouble was with the steamboat hands, and I resolved to let +them go ashore as little as possible. Most articles of furniture were +already, however, before our visit, gone from the plantation-house, +which was now used only as a picket-station. The only valuable article +was a pianoforte, for which a regular packing-box lay invitingly ready +outside. I had made up my mind, in accordance with the orders given to +naval commanders in that department,* to burn all picket-stations, and +all villages from which I should be covertly attacked, and nothing +else; and as this house was destined to the flames, I should have left +the piano in it, but for the seductions of that box. With such a +receptacle all ready, even to the cover, it would have seemed like +flying in the face of Providence not to put the piano in. I ordered it +removed, therefore, and afterwards presented it to the school for +colored children at Fernandina. This I mention because it was the only +article of property I ever took, or knowingly suffered to be taken, in +the enemy's country, save for legitimate military uses, from first to +last; nor would I have taken this, but for the thought of the school, +and, as aforesaid, the temptation of the box. If any other officer has +been more rigid, with equal opportunities, let him cast the first +stone. + +* "It is my desire to avoid the destruction of private property, unless +used for picket or guard-stations, or for other military +purposes, by the enemy. ... Of course, if fired upon from any place, it +is your duty, if possible, to destroy it." Letter of ADMIRAL DUPONT, +commanding South Atlantic Squadron, to LIEUTENANT-COMMANDER HUGHES of +United States Gunboat Mohawk, Fernandina Harbor. + +I think the zest with which the men finally set fire to the house at my +order was enhanced by this previous abstemiousness; but there is a +fearful fascination in the use of fire, which every child knows in the +abstract, and which I found to hold true in the practice. On our way +down river we had opportunity to test this again. + +The ruined town of St. Mary's had at that time a bad reputation, among +both naval and military men. Lying but a short distance above +Fernandina, on the Georgia side, it was occasionally visited by our +gunboats. I was informed that the only residents of the town were three +old women, who were apparently kept there as spies,--that, on our +approach, the aged crones would come out and wave white +handkerchiefs,--that they would receive us hospitably, profess to be +profoundly loyal, and exhibit a portrait of Washington,--that they would +solemnly assure us that no Rebel pickets had been there for many +weeks,--but that in the adjoining yard we should find fresh horse-tracks, +and that we should be fired upon by guerillas the moment we left +the wharf. My officers had been much excited by these tales; and I had +assured them that, if this programme were literally carried out, we +would straightway return and burn the town, or what was left of it, for +our share. It was essential to show my officers and men that, while +rigid against irregular outrage, we could still be inexorable against +the enemy. + +We had previously planned to stop at this town, on our way down river, +for some valuable lumber which we had espied on a wharf; and gliding +down the swift current, shelling a few bluffs as we passed, we soon +reached it. Punctual as the figures in a panorama appeared the old +ladies with their white handkerchiefs. Taking possession of the town, +much of which had previously been destroyed by the gunboats, and +stationing the color-guard, to their infinite delight, in the cupola of +the most conspicuous house, I deployed skirmishers along the exposed +suburb, and set a detail of men at work on the lumber. After a stately +and decorous interview with the queens of society of St. Mary's,--is it +Scott who says that nothing improves the manners like piracy?--I +peacefully withdrew the men when the work was done. There were faces of +disappointment among the officers,--for all felt a spirit of mischief +after the last night's adventure,--when, just as we had fairly swung out +into the stream and were under way, there came, like the sudden burst of +a tropical tornado, a regular little hail-storm of bullets into the open +end of the boat, driving every gunner in an instant from his post, and +surprising even those who were looking to be surprised. The shock was +but for a second; and though the bullets had pattered precisely like the +sound of hail upon the iron cannon, yet nobody was hurt. With very +respectable promptness, order was restored, our own shells were flying +into the woods from which the attack proceeded, and we were steaming up +to the wharf again, according to promise. + +Who shall describe the theatrical attitudes assumed by the old ladies +as they reappeared at the front-door,--being luckily out of direct +range,--and set the handkerchiefs in wilder motion than ever? They +brandished them, they twirled them after the manner of the domestic +mop, they clasped their hands, handkerchiefs included. Meanwhile their +friends in the wood popped away steadily at us, with small effect; and +occasionally an invisible field-piece thundered feebly from another +quarter, with equally invisible results. Reaching the wharf, one +company, under Lieutenant (now Captain) Danil-son, was promptly +deployed in search of our assailants, who soon grew silent. Not so the +old ladies, when I announced to them my purpose, and added, with +extreme regret, that, as the wind was high, I should burn only that +half of the town which lay to leeward of their house, which did not, +after all, amount to much. Between gratitude for this degree of +mercy, and imploring appeals for greater, the treacherous old ladies +manoeuvred with clasped hands and demonstrative handkerchiefs around +me, impairing the effect of their eloquence by constantly addressing +me as "Mr. Captain"; for I have observed, that, while the sternest +officer is greatly propitiated by attributing to him a rank a little +higher than his own, yet no one is ever mollified by an error in the +opposite direction. I tried, however, to disregard such low +considerations, and to strike the correct mean between the sublime +patriot and the unsanctified incendiary, while I could find no refuge +from weak contrition save in greater and greater depths of courtesy; +and so melodramatic became our interview that some of the soldiers +still maintain that "dem dar ole Secesh women been a-gwine for kiss de +Cunnel," before we ended. But of this monstrous accusation I wish to +register an explicit denial, once for all. + +Dropping down to Fernandina unmolested after this affair, we were +kindly received by the military and naval commanders,--Colonel Hawley, +of the Seventh Connecticut (now Brigadier-General Hawley), and +Lieutenant-Commander Hughes, of the gunboat Mohawk. It turned out very +opportunely that both of these officers had special errands to suggest +still farther up the St. Mary's, and precisely in the region where I +wished to go. Colonel Hawley showed me a letter from the War +Department, requesting him to ascertain the possibility of obtaining a +supply of brick for Fort Clinch from the brickyard which had furnished +the original materials, but which had not been visited since the +perilous river-trip of the Ottawa. Lieutenant Hughes wished to obtain +information for the Admiral respecting a Rebel steamer,--the +Berosa,--said to be lying somewhere up the river, and awaiting her +chance to run the blockade. I jumped at the opportunity. Berosa and +brickyard,--both were near Wood-stock, the former home of Corporal +Sutton; he was ready and eager to pilot us up the river; the moon +would be just right that evening, setting at 3h. 19m. A.M.; and our +boat was precisely the one to undertake the expedition. Its +double-headed shape was just what was needed in that swift and crooked +stream; the exposed pilot-houses had been tolerably barricaded with +the thick planks from St. Simon's; and we further obtained some +sand-bags from Fort Clinch, through the aid of Captain Sears, the +officer in charge, who had originally suggested the expedition after +brick. In return for this aid, the Planter was sent back to the wharf +at St. Mary's, to bring away a considerable supply of the same +precious article, which we had observed near the wharf. Meanwhile the +John Adams was coaling from naval supplies, through the kindness of +Lieutenant Hughes; and the Ben De Ford was taking in the lumber which +we had yesterday brought down. It was a great disappointment to be +unable to take the latter vessel up the river; but I was unwillingly +convinced that, though the depth of water might be sufficient, yet her +length would be unmanageable in the swift current and sharp turns. The +Planter must also be sent on a separate cruise, as her weak and +disabled machinery made her useless for my purpose. Two hundred men +were therefore transferred, as before, to the narrow hold of the John +Adams, in addition to the company permanently stationed on board to +work the guns. At seven o'clock on the evening of January 29th, +beneath a lovely moon, we steamed up the river. + +Never shall I forget the mystery and excitement of that night. I know +nothing in life more fascinating than the nocturnal ascent of an +unknown river, leading far into an enemy's country, where one glides +in the dim moonlight between dark hills and meadows, each turn of the +channel making it seem like an inland lake, and cutting you off as by +a barrier from all behind,--with no sign of human life, but an +occasional picket-fire left glimmering beneath the bank, or the yelp +of a dog from some low-lying plantation. On such occasions every nerve +is strained to its utmost tension; all dreams of romance appear to +promise immediate fulfilment; all lights on board the vessel are +obscured, loud voices are hushed; you fancy a thousand men on shore, +and yet see nothing; the lonely river, unaccustomed to furrowing +keels, lapses by the vessel with a treacherous sound; and all the +senses are merged in a sort of anxious trance. Three tunes I have had +in full perfection this fascinating experience; but that night was the +first, and its zest was the keenest. It will come back to me in +dreams, if I live a thousand years. + +I feared no attack during our ascent,--that danger was for our return; +but I feared the intricate navigation of the river, though I did not +fully know, till the actual experience, how dangerous it was. We passed +without trouble far above the scene of our first fight,--the Battle of +the Hundred Pines, as my officers had baptized it; and ever, as we +ascended, the banks grew steeper, the current swifter, the channel more +tortuous and more encumbered with projecting branches and drifting wood. +No piloting less skilful than that of Corporal Sutton and his mate, +James Bezzard, could have carried us through, I thought; and no +side-wheel steamer less strong than a ferry-boat could have borne the +crash and force with which we struck the wooded banks of the river. But +the powerful paddles, built to break the Northern ice, could crush the +Southern pine as well; and we came safely out of entanglements that at +first seemed formidable. We had the tide with us, which makes steering +far more difficult; and, in the sharp angles of the river, there was +often no resource but to run the bow boldly on shore, let the stern +swing round, and then reverse the motion. As the reversing machinery was +generally out of order, the engineer stupid or frightened, and the +captain excited, this involved moments of tolerably concentrated +anxiety. Eight times we grounded in the upper waters, and once lay +aground for half an hour; but at last we dropped anchor before the +little town of Woodstock, after moonset and an hour before daybreak, +just as I had planned, and so quietly that scarcely a dog barked, and +not a soul in the town, as we afterwards found, knew of our arrival. + +As silently as possible, the great flat-boat which we had brought from +St. Simon's was filled with men. Major Strong was sent on shore with two +companies,--those of Captain James and Captain Metcalf,--with instructions +to surround the town quietly, allow no one to leave it, molest no one, +and hold as temporary prisoners every man whom he found. I watched them +push off into the darkness, got the remaining force ready to land, and +then paced the deck for an hour in silent watchfulness, waiting for +rifle-shots. Not a sound came from the shore, save the barking of dogs +and the morning crow of cocks; the time seemed interminable; but when +daylight came, I landed, and found a pair of scarlet trousers pacing on +their beat before every house in the village, and a small squad of +prisoners, stunted and forlorn as Falstaff's ragged regiment, already hi +hand. I observed with delight the good demeanor of my men towards these +forlorn Anglo-Saxons, and towards the more tumultuous women. Even one +soldier, who threatened to throw an old termagant into the river, took +care to append the courteous epithet "Madam." + +I took a survey of the premises. The chief house, a pretty one with +picturesque outbuildings, was that of Mrs. A., who owned the mills and +lumber-wharves adjoining. The wealth of these wharves had not been +exaggerated. There was lumber enough to freight half a dozen steamers, +and I half regretted that I had agreed to take down a freight of bricks +instead. Further researches made me grateful that I had already +explained to my men the difference between public foraging and private +plunder. Along the river-bank I found building after building crowded +with costly furniture, all neatly packed, just as it was sent up from +St. Mary's when that town was abandoned. Pianos were a drug; china, +glass-ware, mahogany, pictures, all were here. And here were my men, who +knew that their own labor had earned for their masters these luxuries, +or such as these; their own wives and children were still sleeping on +the floor, perhaps, at Beaufort or Fernandina; and yet they submitted, +almost without a murmur, to the enforced abstinence. Bed and bedding for +our hospitals they might take from those store-rooms,--such as the +surgeon selected,--also an old flag which we found in a corner, and +an old field-piece (which the regiment still possesses),--but after this +the doors were closed and left unmolested. It cost a struggle to some of +the men, whose wives were destitute, I know; but their pride was very +easily touched, and when this abstinence was once recognized as a rule, +they claimed it as an honor, in this and all succeeding expeditions. I +flatter myself that, if they had once been set upon wholesale +plundering, they would have done it as thoroughly as their betters; but +I have always been infinitely grateful, both for the credit and for the +discipline of the regiment,--as well as for the men's subsequent +lives,--that the opposite method was adopted. + +When the morning was a little advanced, I called on Mrs. A., who +received me in quite a stately way at her own door with "To what am I +indebted for the honor of this visit, Sir?" The foreign name of the +family, and the tropical look of the buildings, made it seem (as, +indeed, did all the rest of the adventure) like a chapter out of "Amyas +Leigh"; but as I had happened to hear that the lady herself was a +Philadel-phian, and her deceased husband a New-Yorker, I could not feel +even that modicum of reverence due to sincere Southerners. However, I +wished to present my credentials; so, calling up my companion, I said +that I believed she had been previously acquainted with Corporal Robert +Sutton? I never saw a finer bit of unutterable indignation than came +over the face of my hostess, as she slowly recognized him. She drew +herself up, and dropped out the monosyllables of her answer as if they +were so many drops of nitric acid. "Ah," quoth my lady, "we called him +Bob!" + +It was a group for a painter. The whole drama of the war seemed to +reverse itself in an instant, and my tall, well-dressed, imposing, +philosophic Corporal dropped down the immeasurable depth into a mere +plantation "Bob" again. So at least in my imagination; not to that +person himself. Too essentially dignified in his nature to be moved by +words where substantial realities were in question, he simply turned +from the lady, touched his hat to me, and asked if I would wish to see +the slave-jail, as he had the keys in his possession. + +If he fancied that I was in danger of being overcome by +blandishments, and needed to be recalled to realities, it was a +master-stroke. + +I must say that, when the door of that villanous edifice was thrown open +before me, I felt glad that my main interview with its lady proprietor +had passed before I saw it. It was a small building, like a Northern +corn-barn, and seemed to have as prominent and as legitimate a place +among the outbuildings of the establishment. In the middle of the door +was a large staple with a rusty chain, like an ox-chain, for fastening a +victim down. When the door had been opened after the death of the late +proprietor, my informant said, a man was found padlocked in that chain. +We found also three pairs of stocks of various construction, two of +which had smaller as well as larger holes, evidently for the feet of +women or children. In a building near by we found something far more +complicated, which was perfectly unintelligible till the men explained +all its parts: a machine so contrived that a person once imprisoned in +it could neither sit, stand, nor lie, but must support the body half +raised, in a position scarcely endurable. I have since bitterly +reproached myself for leaving this piece of ingenuity behind; but it +would have cost much labor to remove it, and to bring away the other +trophies seemed then enough. I remember the unutterable loathing with +which I leaned against the door of that prison-house; I had thought +myself seasoned to any conceivable horrors of Slavery, but it seemed as +if the visible presence of that den of sin would choke me. Of course it +would have been burned to the ground by us, but that this would have +involved the sacrifice of every other building and all the piles of +lumber, and for the moment it seemed as if the sacrifice would be +righteous. But I forbore, and only took as trophies the instruments of +torture and the keys of the jail. + +We found but few colored people in this vicinity; some we brought away +with us, and an old man and woman preferred to remain. All the white +males whom we found I took as hostages, in order to shield us, if +possible, from attack on our way down river, explaining to them that +they would be put on shore when the dangerous points were passed. I knew +that their wives could easily send notice of this fact to the +Rebel forces along the river. My hostages were a forlorn-looking set of +"crackers," far inferior to our soldiers in _physique_, and yet quite +equal, the latter declared, to the average material of the Southern +armies. None were in uniform, but this proved nothing as to their being +soldiers. One of them, a mere boy, was captured at his own door, with +gun in hand. It was a fowling-piece, which he used only, as his mother +plaintively assured me, "to shoot little birds with." As the guileless +youth had for this purpose loaded the gun with eighteen buck-shot, we +thought it justifiable to confiscate both the weapon and the owner, in +mercy to the birds. + +We took from this place, for the use of the army, a flock of some thirty +sheep, forty bushels of rice, some other provisions, tools, oars, and a +little lumber, leaving all possible space for the bricks which we +expected to obtain just below. I should have gone farther up the river, +but for a dangerous boom which kept back a great number of logs in a +large brook that here fell into the St. Mary's; the stream ran with +force, and if the Rebels had wit enough to do it, they might in ten +minutes so choke the river with drift-wood as infinitely to enhance our +troubles. So we dropped down stream a mile or two, found the very +brickyard from which Fort Clinch had been constructed,--still stored with +bricks, and seemingly unprotected. Here Sergeant Rivers again planted +his standard, and the men toiled eagerly, for several hours, in loading +our boat to the utmost with the bricks. Meanwhile we questioned black +and white witnesses, and learned for the first tune that the Rebels +admitted a repulse at Township Landing, and that Lieutenant Jones and +ten of their number were killed,--though this I fancy to have been an +exaggeration. They also declared that the mysterious steamer Berosa was +lying at the head of the river, but was a broken-down and worthless +affair, and would never get to sea. The result has since proved this; +for the vessel subsequently ran the blockade and foundered near shore, +the crew barely escaping with their lives. I had the pleasure, as it +happened, of being the first person to forward this information to +Admiral Dupont, when it came through the pickets, many months +after,--thus concluding my report on the Berosa. + +Before the work at the yard was over the pickets reported mounted men in +the woods near by, as had previously been the report at Woodstock. This +admonished us to lose no time; and as we left the wharf, immediate +arrangements were made to have the gun crews all in readiness, and to +keep the rest of the men below, since their musketry would be of little +use now, and I did not propose to risk a life unnecessarily. The chief +obstacle to this was their own eagerness; penned down on one side, they +popped up on the other; their officers, too, were eager to see what was +going on, and were almost as hard to cork down as the men. Add to this, +that the vessel was now very crowded, and that I had to be chiefly on +the hurricane-deck with the pilots. Captain Clifton, master of the +vessel, was brave to excess, and as much excited as the men; he could no +more be kept in the little pilot-house than they below; and when we had +passed one or two bluffs, with no sign of an enemy, he grew more and +more irrepressible, and exposed himself conspicuously on the upper deck. +Perhaps we all were a little lulled by apparent safety; for myself, I +lay down for a moment on a settee in a state-room, having been on my +feet, almost without cessation, for twenty-four hours. + +Suddenly there swept down from a bluff above us, on the Georgia side, +a mingling of shout and roar and rattle as of a tornado let loose; and +as a storm of bullets came pelting against the sides of the vessel, +and through a window, there went up a shrill answering shout from our +own men. It took but an instant for me to reach the gun-deck. After +all my efforts the men had swarmed once more from below, and already, +crowding at both ends of the boat, were loading and firing with +inconceivable rapidity, shouting to each other, "Nebber gib it up!" +and of course having no steady aim, as the vessel glided and whirled +in the swift current. Meanwhile the officers in charge of the large +guns had their crews in order, and our shells began to fly over the +bluffs, which, as we now saw, should have been shelled in advance, +only that we had to economize ammunition. The other soldiers I drove +below, almost by main force, with the aid of their officers, who +behaved exceedingly well, giving the men leave to fire from the open +port-holes which lined the lower deck, almost at the water's level. In +the very midst of the _melee_ Major Strong came from the upper deck, +with a face of horror, and whispered to me, "Captain Clifton was +killed at the first shot by my side." + +If he had said that the vessel was on fire the shock would hardly have +been greater. Of course, the military commander on board a steamer is +almost as helpless as an unarmed man, so far as the risks of water go. A +seaman must command there. In the hazardous voyage of last night, I had +learned, though unjustly, to distrust every official on board the +steamboat except this excitable, brave, warm-hearted sailor; and now, +among these added dangers, to lose him! The responsibility for his life +also thrilled me; he was not among my soldiers, and yet he was killed. I +thought of his wife and children, of whom he had spoken; but one learns +to think rapidly in war, and, cautioning the Major to silence, I went up +to the hurricane-deck and drew in the helpless body, that it should be +safe from further desecration, and then looked to see where we were. + +We were now gliding past a safe reach of marsh, while our assailants +were riding by cross-paths to attack us at the next bluff. It was Reed's +Bluff where we were first attacked, and Scrubby Bluff, I think, was +next. They were shelled in advance, but swarmed manfully to the banks +again as we swept round one of the sharp angles of the stream beneath +their fire. My men were now pretty well imprisoned below in the hot and +crowded hold, and actually fought each other, the officers afterwards +said, for places at the open port-holes, from which to aim. Others +implored to be landed, exclaiming that they "supposed de Cunnel knew +best," but it was "mighty mean" to be shut up down below, when they +might be "fightin' de Secesh _in de clar field_." This clear field, and +no favor, was what they thenceforward sighed for. But in such difficult +navigation it would have been madness to think of landing, although one +daring Rebel actually sprang upon the large boat which we towed astern, +where he was shot down by one of our sergeants. This boat was soon after +swamped and abandoned, then taken and repaired by the Rebels at a +later date, and finally, by a piece of dramatic completeness, was seized +by a party of fugitive slaves, who escaped in it to our lines, and some +of whom enlisted in my own regiment. + +It has always been rather a mystery to me why the Rebels did not fell a +few trees across the stream at some of the many sharp angles where we +might so easily have been thus imprisoned. This, however, they did not +attempt, and with the skilful pilotage of our trusty +Corporal,--philosophic as Socrates through all the din, and occasionally +relieving his mind by taking a shot with his rifle through the high +portholes of the pilot-house,--we glided safely on. The steamer did not +ground once on the descent, and the mate in command, Mr. Smith, did his +duty very well. The plank sheathing of the pilot-house was penetrated by +few bullets, though struck by so many outside that it was visited as a +curiosity after our return; and even among the gun-crews, though they +had no protection, not a man was hurt. As we approached some wooded +bluff, usually on the Georgia side, we could see galloping along the +hillside what seemed a regiment of mounted riflemen, and could see our +shell scatter them ere we approached. Shelling did not, however, prevent +a rather fierce fusilade from our old friends of Captain dark's company +at Waterman's Bluff, near Township Landing; but even this did no serious +damage, and this was the last. + +It was of course impossible, while thus running the gauntlet, to put +our hostages ashore, and I could only explain to them that they must +thank their own friends for their inevitable detention. I was by no +means proud of their forlorn appearance, and besought Colonel Hawley +to take them off my hands; but he was sending no flags of truce at +that time, and liked their looks no better than I did. So I took them +to Port Royal, where they were afterwards sent safely across the +lines. Our men were pleased at taking them back with us, as they had +already said, regretfully, "S'pose we leave dem Secesh at Fernandina, +General Saxby won't see 'em,"--as if they were some new natural +curiosity, which indeed they were. One soldier further suggested the +expediency of keeping them permanently in camp, to be used as marks +for the guns of the relieved guard every morning. But this was rather +an ebullition of fancy than a sober proposition. + +Against these levities I must put a piece of more tragic eloquence, +which I took down by night on the steamer's deck from the thrilling +harangue of Corporal Adam Allston, one of our most gifted prophets, +whose influence over the men was unbounded. "When I heard," he said, "de +bombshell a-screamin' troo de woods like de Judgment Day, I said to +myself, 'If my head was took off to-night, dey couldn't put my soul in +de torments, perceps [except] God was my enemy!' And when de +rifle-bullets came whizzin' across de deck, I cried aloud, 'God help my +congregation! Boys, load and fire!'" + +I must pass briefly over the few remaining days of our cruise. At +Fernandina we met the Planter, which had been successful on her separate +expedition, and had destroyed extensive salt-works at Crooked River, +under charge of the energetic Captain Trowbridge, efficiently aided by +Captain Rogers. Our commodities being in part delivered at Fernandina, +our decks being full, coal nearly out, and time up, we called once more +at St. Simon's Sound, bringing away the remainder of our railroad-iron, +with some which the naval officers had previously disinterred, and then +steamed back to Beaufort. Arriving there at sunrise (February 2, 1863), +I made my way with Dr. Rogers to General Saxton's bedroom, and laid +before him the keys and shackles of the slave-prison, with my report of +the good conduct of the men,--as Dr. Rogers remarked, a message from +heaven and another from hell. + +Slight as this expedition now seems among the vast events of the war, +the future student of the newspapers of that day will find that it +occupied no little space in their columns, so intense was the interest +which then attached to the novel experiment of employing black troops. +So obvious, too, was the value, during this raid, of their local +knowledge and their enthusiasm, that it was impossible not to find in +its successes new suggestions for the war. Certainly I would not have +consented to repeat the enterprise with the bravest white troops, +leaving Corporal Sutton and his mates behind, for I should have +expected to fail. For a year after our raid the Upper St. Mary's +remained unvisited, till in 1864 the large force with which we held +Florida secured peace upon its banks; then Mrs. A. took the oath of +allegiance, the Government bought her remaining lumber, and the John +Adams again ascended with a detachment of my men under Lieutenant +Parker, and brought a portion of it to Fernandina. By a strange turn +of fortune, Corporal Sutton (now Sergeant) was at this time in jail at +Hilton Head, under sentence of court-martial for an alleged act of +mutiny,--an affair in which the general voice of our officers +sustained him and condemned his accusers, so that he soon received a +full pardon, and was restored in honor to his place in the regiment, +which he has ever since held. + +Nothing can ever exaggerate the fascinations of war, whether on the +largest or smallest scale. When we settled down into camp-life again, +it seemed like a butterfly's folding its wings to re-enter the +chrysalis. None of us could listen to the crack of a gun without +recalling instantly the sharp shots that spilled down from the bluffs +of the St. Mary's, or hear a sudden trampling of horsemen by night +without recalling the sounds which startled us on the Field of the +Hundred Pines. The memory of our raid was preserved in the camp by +many legends of adventure, growing vaster and more incredible as time +wore on,--and by the morning appeals to the surgeon of some veteran +invalids, who could now cut off all reproofs and suspicions with +"Doctor, I's been a sickly pusson eber since de _expeditious_." But to +me the most vivid remembrancer was the flock of sheep which we had +"lifted." The Post Quartermaster discreetly gave us the charge of +them, and they rilled a gap in the landscape and in the larder,-- +which last had before presented one unvaried round of impenetrable +beef. Mr. Obabiah Oldbuck, when he decided to adopt a pastoral life, +and assumed the provisional name of Thyrsis, never looked upon his +flocks and herds with more unalloyed contentment than I upon that +fleecy family. I had been familiar, in Kansas, with the metaphor by +which the sentiments of an owner were credited to his property, and +had heard of a proslavery colt and an antislavery cow. The fact that +these sheep were but recently converted from "Se-cesh" sentiments was +their crowning charm. Methought they frisked and fattened in the joy +of their deliverance from the shadow of Mrs. A.'s slave-jail, and +gladly contemplated translation into mutton-broth for sick or wounded +soldiers. The very slaves who once, perchance, were sold at auction +with yon aged patriarch of the flock, had now asserted their humanity, +and would devour him as hospital rations. Meanwhile our shepherd bore +a sharp bayonet without a crook, and I felt myself a peer of Ulysses +and Rob Roy,--those sheep-stealers of less elevated aims,--when I met +in my daily rides these wandering trophies of our wider wanderings. + + + +Chapter 4 +Up the St. John's + + +There was not much stirring in the Department of the South early in +1863, and the St. Mary's expedition had afforded a new sensation. Of +course the few officers of colored troops, and a larger number who +wished to become such, were urgent for further experiments in the same +line; and the Florida tax-commissioners were urgent likewise. I well +remember the morning when, after some preliminary correspondence, I +steamed down from Beaufort, S. C., to Hilton Head, with General Saxton, +Judge S., and one or two others, to have an interview on the matter with +Major-General Hunter, then commanding the Department. + +Hilton Head, in those days, seemed always like some foreign military +station in the tropics. The long, low, white buildings, with piazzas +and verandas on the water-side; the general impression of heat and +lassitude, existence appearing to pulsate only with the sea-breeze; +the sandy, almost impassable streets; and the firm, level beach, on +which everybody walked who could get there: all these suggested +Jamaica or the East Indies. Then the head-quarters at the end of the +beach, the Zouave sentinels, the successive anterooms, the lounging +aids, the good-natured and easy General,--easy by habit and energetic +by impulse,--all had a certain air of Southern languor, rather +picturesque, but perhaps not altogether bracing. General Hunter +received us, that day, with his usual kindliness; there was a good +deal of pleasant chat; Miles O'Reilly was called in to read his latest +verses; and then we came to the matter in hand. + +Jacksonville, on the St. John's River, in Florida, had been already +twice taken and twice evacuated; having been occupied by +Brigadier-General Wright, in March, 1862, and by Brigadier-General +Brannan, in October of the same year. The second evacuation was by +Major-General Hunter's own order, on the avowed ground that a garrison +of five thousand was needed to hold the place, and that this force could +not be spared. The present proposition was to take and hold it with a +brigade of less than a thousand men, carrying, however, arms and uniforms +for twice that number, and a month's rations. The claim was, that there +were fewer rebel troops in the Department than formerly, and that the +St. Mary's expedition had shown the advantage possessed by colored +troops, in local knowledge, and in the confidence of the loyal blacks. +It was also urged, that it was worth while to risk something, in the +effort to hold Florida, and perhaps bring it back into the Union. + +My chief aim in the negotiation was to get the men into action, and +that of the Florida Commissioners to get them into Florida. Thus far +coinciding, we could heartily co-operate; and though General Hunter +made some reasonable objections, they were yielded more readily than I +had feared; and finally, before half our logical ammunition was +exhausted, the desired permission was given, and the thing might be +considered as done. + +We were now to leave, as we supposed forever, the camp which had thus +far been our home. Our vast amount of surplus baggage made a heavy job +in the loading, inasmuch as we had no wharf, and everything had to be +put on board by means of flat-boats. It was completed by twenty-four +hours of steady work; and after some of the usual uncomfortable delays +which wait on military expeditions, we were at last afloat. + +I had tried to keep the plan as secret as possible, and had requested to +have no definite orders, until we should be on board ship. But this +larger expedition was less within my own hands than was the St. Mary's +affair, and the great reliance for concealment was on certain counter +reports, ingeniously set afloat by some of the Florida men. These +reports rapidly swelled into the most enormous tales, and by the time +they reached the New York newspapers, the expedition was "a great +volcano about bursting, whose lava will burn, flow, and destroy," "the +sudden appearance in arms of no less than five thousand negroes," "a +liberating host," "not the phantom, but the reality, of servile +insurrection." What the undertaking actually was may be best seen in the +instructions which guided it.* + +* HEAD-QUARTERS, BEAUFORT, S. C., + +March 5, 1863. + +COLONEL,--You will please proceed with your command, the First and Second +Regiments South Carolina Volunteers, which are now embarked upon the +steamers John Adams, Boston, and Burn-side, to Fernandina, Florida. + +Relying upon your military skill and judgment. I shall give you no +special directions as to your procedure after you leave Fernandina. I +expect, however, that you will occupy Jacksonville, Florida, and +intrench yourselves there. + +The main objects of your expedition are to carry the proclamation of +freedom to the enslaved; to call all loyal men into the service of the +United States; to occupy as much of the State of Florida as possible +with the forces under your command; and to neglect no means consistent +with the usages of civilized warfare to weaken, harass, and annoy those +who are in rebellion against the Government of the United States. + +Trusting that the blessing of our Heavenly Father will rest upon your +noble enterprise, + +I am yours, sincerely, + +R. SAXTON, + +Brig.-Gen., Mil. Gov. Dept. of the South. Colonel Higginson, Comdg. +Expeditionary Corps. + + +In due time, after touching at Fernandina, we reached the difficult +bar of the St. John's, and were piloted safely over. Admiral Dupont +had furnished a courteous letter of introduction.* and we were +cordially received by Commander Duncan of the Norwich, and Lieutenant +Watson, commanding the Uncas. Like all officers on blockade duty, they +were impatient of their enforced inaction, and gladly seized the +opportunity for a different service. It was some time since they had +ascended as high as Jacksonville, for their orders were strict, one +vessel's coal was low, the other was in infirm condition, and there +were rumors of cotton-clads and torpedoes. But they gladly agreed to +escort us up the river, so soon as our own armed gunboat, the John +Adams, should arrive,--she being unaccountably delayed. + +FLAG SHIP WABASH, + +PORT ROYAL HARBOR, S. C., March 6, 1863. SIR,--I am informed by +Major-General Hunter that he is sending Colonel Higginson on an +important mission in the southerly part of his Department. + +I have not been made acquainted with the objects of this mission, but +any assistance that you can offer Colonel Higginson, which will not +interfere with your other duties, you are authorized to give. + +Respectfully your obedient servant, + +S. F. DUPONT, +Rear-Adm. Comdg. S. Atl. Block. Squad. + +To the Senior Officer at the different Blockading Stations on the Coast +of Georgia and Florida. + + +We waited twenty-four hours for her, at the sultry mouth of that glassy +river, watching the great pelicans which floated lazily on its tide, or +sometimes shooting one, to admire the great pouch, into which one of the +soldiers could insert his foot, as into a boot. "He hold one quart," +said the admiring experimentalist. "Hi! boy," retorted another quickly, +"neber you bring dat quart measure in _my_ peck o' corn." The protest +came very promptly, and was certainly fair; for the strange receptacle +would have held nearly a gallon. + +We went on shore, too, and were shown a rather pathetic little garden, +which the naval officers had laid out, indulging a dream of vegetables. +They lingered over the little microscopic sprouts, pointing them out +tenderly, as if they were cradled babies. I have often noticed this +touching weakness, in gentlemen of that profession, on lonely stations. + +We wandered among the bluffs, too, in the little deserted +hamlet called "Pilot Town." The ever-shifting sand had in some cases +almost buried the small houses, and had swept around others a circular +drift, at a few yards' distance, overtopping then: eaves, and leaving +each the untouched citadel of this natural redoubt. There was also a +dismantled lighthouse, an object which always seems the most dreary +symbol of the barbarism of war, when one considers the national +beneficence which reared and kindled it. Despite the service rendered by +this once brilliant light, there were many wrecks which had been strown +upon the beach, victims of the most formidable of the Southern +river-bars. As I stood with my foot on the half-buried ribs of one of +these vessels,--so distinctly traced that one might almost fancy them +human,--the old pilot, my companion, told me the story of the wreck. The +vessel had formerly been in the Cuba trade; and her owner, an American +merchant residing in Havana, had christened her for his young daughter. +I asked the name, and was startled to recognize that of a favorite young +cousin of mine, besides the bones of whose representative I was thus +strangely standing, upon this lonely shore. + +It was well to have something to relieve the anxiety naturally felt at +the delay of the John Adams,--anxiety both for her safety and for the +success of our enterprise, The Rebels had repeatedly threatened to burn +the whole of Jacksonville, in case of another attack, as they had +previously burned its mills and its great hotel. It seemed as if the +news of our arrival must surely have travelled thirty miles by this +time. All day we watched every smoke that rose among the wooded hills, +and consulted the compass and the map, to see if that sign announced the +doom of our expected home. At the very last moment of the tide, just in +time to cross the bar that day, the missing vessel arrived; all +anxieties vanished; I transferred my quarters on board, and at two the +next morning we steamed up the river. + +Again there was the dreamy delight of ascending an unknown stream, +beneath a sinking moon, into a region where peril made fascination. +Since the time of the first explorers, I suppose that those Southern +waters have known no sensations so dreamy and so bewitching as those +which this war has brought forth. I recall, in this case, the faintest +sensations of our voyage, as Ponce de Leon may have recalled those of +his wandering search, in the same soft zone, for the secret of the +mystic fountain. I remember how, during that night, I looked for the +first time through a powerful night-glass. It had always seemed a +thing wholly inconceivable, that a mere lens could change darkness +into light; and as I turned the instrument on the preceding gunboat, +and actually discerned the man at the wheel and the others standing +about him,--all relapsing into vague gloom again at the withdrawal of +the glass,--it gave a feeling of childish delight. Yet it seemed only +in keeping with the whole enchantment of the scene; and had I been +some Aladdin, convoyed by genii or giants, I could hardly have felt +more wholly a denizen of some world of romance. + +But the river was of difficult navigation; and we began to feel +sometimes, beneath the keel, that ominous, sliding, grating, treacherous +arrest of motion which makes the heart shudder, as the vessel does. +There was some solicitude about torpedoes, also,--a peril which became a +formidable thing, one year later, in the very channel where we found +none. Soon one of our consorts grounded, then another, every vessel +taking its turn, I believe, and then in turn getting off, until the +Norwich lay hopelessly stranded, for that tide at least, a few miles +below Jacksonville, and out of sight of the city, so that she could not +even add to our dignity by her visible presence from afar. + +This was rather a serious matter, as the Norwich was our main naval +reliance, the Uncas being a small steamer of less than two hundred +tons, and in such poor condition that Commander Duncan, on finding +himself aground, at first quite declined to trust his consort any +farther alone. But, having got thus far, it was plainly my duty to +risk the remainder with or without naval assistance; and this being +so, the courageous officer did not long object, but allowed his +dashing subordinate to steam up with us to the city. This left us one +naval and one army gunboat; and, fortunately, the Burn-side, being a +black propeller, always passed for an armed vessel among the Rebels, +and we rather encouraged that pleasing illusion. + +We had aimed to reach Jacksonville at daybreak; but these mishaps +delayed us, and we had several hours of fresh, early sunshine, +lighting up the green shores of that lovely river, wooded to the +water's edge, with sometimes an emerald meadow, opening a vista to +some picturesque house,--all utterly unlike anything we had yet seen +in the South, and suggesting rather the Penobscot or Kennebec. Here +and there we glided by the ruins of some saw-mill burned by the Rebels +on General Wright's approach; but nothing else spoke of war, except, +perhaps, the silence. It was a delicious day, and a scene of +fascination. Our Florida men were wild with delight; and when we +rounded the point below the city, and saw from afar its long streets, +its brick warehouses, its white cottages, and its overshadowing +trees,--all peaceful and undisturbed by flames,--it seemed, in the +men's favorite phrase, "too much good," and all discipline was merged, +for the moment, in a buzz of ecstasy. + +The city was still there for us, at any rate; though none knew what +perils might be concealed behind those quiet buildings. Yet there were +children playing on the wharves; careless men, here and there, lounged +down to look at us, hands in pockets; a few women came to their doors, +and gazed listlessly upon us, shading their eyes with their hands. We +drew momently nearer, in silence and with breathless attention. The +gunners were at their posts, and the men in line. It was eight +o'clock. We were now directly opposite the town: yet no sign of +danger was seen; not a rifle-shot was heard; not a shell rose hissing +in the air. The Uncas rounded to, and dropped anchor in the stream; by +previous agreement, I steamed to an upper pier of the town, Colonel +Montgomery to a lower one; the little boat-howitzers were run out upon +the wharves, and presently to the angles of the chief streets; and the +pretty town was our own without a shot. In spite of our detention, the +surprise had been complete, and not a soul in Jacksonville had dreamed +of our coming. + +The day passed quickly, in eager preparations for defence; the people +could or would give us no definite information about the Rebel camp, +which was, however, known to be near, and our force did not permit our +going out to surprise it. The night following was the most anxious I +ever spent. We were all tired out; the companies were under arms, in +various parts of the town, to be ready for an attack at any moment. My +temporary quarters were beneath the loveliest grove of linden-trees, +and as I reclined, half-dozing, the mocking-birds sang all night like +nightingales,--their notes seeming to trickle down through the sweet +air from amid the blossoming boughs. Day brought relief and the sense +of due possession, and we could see what we had won. + +Jacksonville was now a United States post again: the only post on the +main-land in the Department of the South. Before the war it had three +or four thousand inhabitants, and a rapidly growing lumber-trade, for +which abundant facilities were evidently provided. The wharves were +capacious, and the blocks of brick warehouses along the lower street +were utterly unlike anything we had yet seen in that region, as were +the neatness and thrift everywhere visible. It had been built up by +Northern enterprise, and much of the property was owned by loyal men. +It had been a great resort for invalids, though the Rebels had burned +the large hotel which once accommodated them. Mills had also been +burned; but the dwelling-houses were almost all in good condition. The +quarters for the men were admirable; and I took official possession of +the handsome brick house of Colonel Sunder-land, the established +head-quarters through every occupation, whose accommodating flag-staff +had literally and repeatedly changed its colors. The seceded Colonel, +reputed author of the State ordinance of Secession, was a New-Yorker +by birth, and we found his law-card, issued when in practice in +Easton, Washington County, New York. He certainly had good taste in +planning the inside of a house, though time had impaired its +condition. There was a neat office with ample bookcases and no books, +a billiard-table with no balls, gas-fixtures without gas, and a +bathing-room without water. There was a separate building for +servants' quarters, and a kitchen with every convenience, even to a +few jars of lingering pickles. On the whole, there was an air of +substance and comfort about the town, quite alien from the picturesque +decadence of Beaufort. + +The town rose gradually from the river, and was bounded on the rear by a +long, sluggish creek, beyond which lay a stretch of woods, affording an +excellent covert for the enemy, but without great facilities for attack, +as there were but two or three fords and bridges. This brook could +easily be held against a small force, but could at any time and at +almost any point be readily crossed by a large one. North of the town +the land rose a little, between the river and the sources of the brook, +and then sank to a plain, which had been partially cleared by a previous +garrison. For so small a force as ours, however, this clearing must be +extended nearer to the town; otherwise our lines would be too long for +our numbers. + +This deficiency in numbers at once became a source of serious anxiety. +While planning the expedition, it had seemed so important to get the men +a foothold in Florida that I was willing to risk everything for it. But +this important post once in our possession, it began to show some +analogies to the proverbial elephant in the lottery. To hold it +permanently with nine hundred men was not, perhaps, impossible, with the +aid of a gunboat (I had left many of my own regiment sick and on duty in +Beaufort, and Colonel Montgomery had as yet less than one hundred and +fifty); but to hold it, and also to make forays up the river, certainly +required a larger number. We came in part to recruit, but had found +scarcely an able-bodied negro in the city; all had been removed farther +up, and we must certainly contrive to follow them. I was very unwilling +to have, as yet, any white troops under my command, with the blacks. +Finally, however, being informed by Judge S. of a conversation with +Colonel Hawley, commanding at Fernandina, in which the latter had +offered to send four companies and a light battery to swell our force, +--in view of the aid given to his position by this more advanced post, I +decided to authorize the energetic Judge to go back to Fernandina and +renew the negotiation, as the John Adams must go thither at any rate for +coal. + +Meanwhile all definite display of our force was avoided; dress-parades +were omitted; the companies were so distributed as to tell for the +utmost; and judicious use was made, here and there, of empty tents. +The gunboats and transports moved impressively up and down the river, +from time to time. The disposition of pickets was varied each night to +perplex the enemy, and some advantage taken of his distrust, which +might be assumed as equalling our own. The citizens were duly +impressed by our supply of ammunition, which was really enormous, and +all these things soon took effect. A loyal woman, who came into town, +said that the Rebel scouts, stopping at her house, reported that there +were "sixteen hundred negroes all over the woods, and the town full of +them besides." "It was of no use to go in. General Finnegan had driven +them into a bad place once, and should not do it again." "They had +lost their captain and their best surgeon in the first skirmish, and +if the Savannah people wanted the negroes driven away, they might come +and do it themselves." Unfortunately, we knew that they could easily +come from Savannah at any time, as there was railroad communication +nearly all the way; and every time we heard the steam-whistle, the men +were convinced of their arrival. Thus we never could approach to any +certainty as to their numbers, while they could observe, from the +bluffs, every steamboat that ascended the river. + +To render our weak force still more available, we barricaded the +approaches to the chief streets by constructing barriers or felling +trees. It went to my heart to sacrifice, for this purpose, several of my +beautiful lindens; but it was no time for aesthetics. As the giants lay +on the ground, still scenting the air with their abundant bloom, I used +to rein up my horse and watch the children playing hide-and-seek amongst +their branches, or some quiet cow grazing at the foliage. Nothing +impresses the mind in war like some occasional object or association +that belongs apparently to peace alone. + +Among all these solicitudes, it was a great thing that one particular +anxiety vanished in a day. On the former expedition the men were upon +trial as to their courage; now they were to endure another test, as to +their demeanor as victors. Here were five hundred citizens, nearly all +white, at the mercy of their former slaves. To some of these whites it +was the last crowning humiliation, and they were, or professed to be, +in perpetual fear. On the other hand, the most intelligent and +lady-like woman I saw, the wife of a Rebel captain, rather surprised +me by saying that it seemed pleasanter to have these men stationed +there, whom they had known all their lives, and who had generally +borne a good character, than to be in the power of entire strangers. +Certainly the men deserved the confidence, for there was scarcely an +exception to their good behavior. I think they thoroughly felt that +their honor and dignity were concerned in the matter, and took too +much pride in their character as soldiers,--to say nothing of higher +motives,--to tarnish it by any misdeeds. They watched their officers +vigilantly and even suspiciously, to detect any disposition towards +compromise; and so long as we pursued a just course it was evident +that they could be relied on. Yet the spot was pointed out to me where +two of our leading men had seen their brothers hanged by Lynch law; +many of them had private wrongs to avenge; and they all had utter +disbelief in all pretended loyalty, especially on the part of the +women. + +One citizen alone was brought to me in a sort of escort of honor by +Corporal Prince Lambkin,--one of the color-guard, and one of our ablest +men,--the same who had once made a speech in camp, reminding his hearers +that they had lived under the American flag for eighteen hundred and +sixty-two years, and ought to live and die under it. Corporal Lambkin +now introduced his man, a German, with the highest compliment in his +power, "He hab true colored-man heart." Surrounded by mean, cajoling, +insinuating white men and women who were all that and worse, I was quite +ready to appreciate the quality he thus proclaimed. A colored-man heart, +in the Rebel States, is a fair synonyme for a loyal heart, and it is +about the only such synonyme. In this case, I found afterwards that the +man in question, a small grocer, had been an object of suspicion to the +whites from his readiness to lend money to the negroes, or sell to them +on credit; in which, perhaps, there may have been some mixture of +self-interest with benevolence. + +I resort to a note-book of that period, well thumbed and pocket-worn, +which sometimes received a fragment of the day's experience. + + +"March 16, 1863. + +"Of course, droll things are constantly occurring. Every white man, +woman, and child is flattering, seductive, and professes Union +sentiment; every black ditto believes that every white ditto is a +scoundrel, and ought to be shot, but for good order and military +discipline. The Provost Marshal and I steer between them as blandly as +we can. Such scenes as succeed each other! Rush of indignant Africans. +A white man, in woman's clothes, has been seen to enter a certain +house,--undoubtedly a spy. Further evidence discloses the Roman +Catholic priest, a peaceful little Frenchman, in his professional +apparel.--Anxious female enters. Some sentinel has shot her cow by +mistake for a Rebel. The United States cannot think of paying the +desired thirty dollars. Let her go to the Post-Quartermaster and +select a cow from his herd. If there is none to suit her (and, indeed, +not one of them gave a drop of milk,--neither did hers), let her wait +till the next lot comes in,--that is all.--Yesterday's operations gave +the following total yield: Thirty 'contrabands,' eighteen horses, +eleven cattle, ten saddles and bridles, and one new army-wagon. At +this rate we shall soon be self-supporting _cavalry_. + +"Where complaints are made of the soldiers, it almost always turns out +that the women have insulted them most grossly, swearing at them, and +the like. One unpleasant old Dutch woman came in, bursting with wrath, +and told the whole narrative of her blameless life, diversified with +sobs:-- + +"'Last January I ran off two of my black people from St. Mary's to +Fernandina,' (sob,)--'then I moved down there myself, and at Lake City +I lost six women and a boy,' (sob,)--'then I stopped at Baldwin for +one of the wenches to be confined,' (sob,)--'then I brought them all +here to live in a Christian country' (sob, sob). "Then the blockheads' +[blockades, that is, gunboats] 'came, and they all ran off with the +blockheads,' (sob, sob, sob,) 'and left me, an old lady of forty-six, +obliged to work for a living.' (Chaos of sobs, without cessation.) + +"But when I found what the old sinner had said to the soldiers I rather +wondered at their self-control in not throttling her." + +Meanwhile skirmishing went on daily in the outskirts of the town. There +was a fight on the very first day, when our men killed, as before +hinted, a Rebel surgeon, which was oddly metamorphosed in the Southern +newspapers into their killing one of ours, which certainly never +happened. Every day, after this, they appeared in small mounted squads +in the neighborhood, and exchanged shots with our pickets, to which the +gunboats would contribute their louder share, their aim being rather +embarrassed by the woods and hills. We made reconnoissances, too, to +learn the country in different directions, and were apt to be fired upon +during these. Along the farther side of what we called the "Debatable +Land" there was a line of cottages, hardly superior to negro huts, and +almost all empty, where the Rebel pickets resorted, and from whose +windows they fired. By degrees all these nests were broken up and +destroyed, though it cost some trouble to do it, and the hottest +skirmishing usually took place around them. + +Among these little affairs was one which we called "Company K's +Skirmish," because it brought out the fact that this company, which was +composed entirely of South Carolina men, and had never shone in drill or +discipline, stood near the head of the regiment for coolness and +courage,--the defect of discipline showing itself only in their extreme +unwillingness to halt when once let loose. It was at this time that the +small comedy of the Goose occurred,--an anecdote which Wendell Phillips +has since made his own. + +One of the advancing line of skirmishers, usually an active fellow +enough, was observed to move clumsily and irregularly. It soon +appeared that he had encountered a fine specimen of the domestic +goose, which had surrendered at discretion. Not wishing to lose it, he +could yet find no way to hold it but between his legs; and so he went +on, loading, firing, advancing, halting, always with the goose +writhing and struggling and hissing in this natural pair of stocks. +Both happily came off unwounded, and retired in good order at the +signal, or some time after it; but I have hardly a cooler thing to put +on record. + +Meanwhile, another fellow left the field less exultingly; for, after a +thoroughly courageous share in the skirmish, he came blubbering to his +captain, and said,--"Cappen, make Caesar gib me my cane." It seemed +that, during some interval of the fighting, he had helped himself to an +armful of Rebel sugar-cane, such as they all delighted in chewing. The +Roman hero, during another pause, had confiscated the treasure; whence +these tears of the returning warrior. I never could accustom myself to +these extraordinary interminglings of manly and childish attributes. + +Our most untiring scout during this period was the chaplain of my +regiment,--the most restless and daring spirit we had, and now exulting +in full liberty of action. He it was who was daily permitted to stray +singly where no other officer would have been allowed to go, so +irresistible was his appeal, "You know I am only a chaplain." Methinks I +see our regimental saint, with pistols in belt and a Ballard rifle slung +on shoulder, putting spurs to his steed, and cantering away down some +questionable wood-path, or returning with some tale of Rebel haunt +discovered, or store of foraging. He would track an enemy like an +Indian, or exhort him, when apprehended, like an early Christian. Some +of our devout soldiers shook their heads sometimes over the chaplain's +little eccentricities. "Woffor Mr. Chapman made a preacher for?" said +one of them, as usual transforming his title into a patronymic. "He's +_de fightingest more Yankee_ I eber see in all my days." + +And the criticism was very natural, though they could not deny that, +when the hour for Sunday service came, Mr. F. commanded the respect and +attention of all. That hour never came, however, on our first Sunday in +Jacksonville; we were too busy and the men too scattered; so the +chaplain made his accustomed foray beyond the lines instead. + +"Is it not Sunday?" slyly asked an unregenerate lieutenant. "Nay," quoth +his Reverence, waxing fervid; "it is the Day of Judgment" + +This reminds me of a raid up the river, conducted by one of our senior +captains, an enthusiast whose gray beard and prophetic manner always +took me back to the Fifth-Monarchy men. He was most successful that day, +bringing back horses, cattle, provisions, and prisoners; and one of the +latter complained bitterly to me of being held, stating that Captain R. +had promised him speedy liberty. But that doughty official spurned the +imputation of such weak blandishments, in this day of triumphant +retribution. + +"Promise him!" said he, "I promised him nothing but the Day of Judgment +and Periods of Damnation!" + +Often since have I rolled beneath my tongue this savory and solemn +sentence, and I do not believe that since the days of the Long +Parliament there has been a more resounding anathema. + +In Colonel Montgomery's hands these up-river raids reached the dignity +of a fine art. His conceptions of foraging were rather more Western and +liberal than mine, and on these excursions he fully indemnified himself +for any undue abstinence demanded of him when in camp. I remember being +on the wharf, with some naval officers, when he came down from his first +trip. The steamer seemed an animated hen-coop. Live poultry hung from +the foremast shrouds, dead ones from the mainmast, geese hissed from the +binnacle, a pig paced the quarter-deck, and a duck's wings were seen +fluttering from a line which was wont to sustain duck trousers. The +naval heroes, mindful of their own short rations, and taking high views +of one's duties in a conquered country, looked at me reproachfully, as +who should say, "Shall these things be?" In a moment or two the +returning foragers had landed. + +"Captain ----," said Montgomery, courteously, "would you allow me to +send a remarkably fine turkey for your use on board ship?" + +"Lieutenant ----," said Major Corwin, "may I ask your acceptance of a +pair of ducks for your mess?" + +Never did I behold more cordial relations between army and navy than +sprang into existence at those sentences. So true it is, as Charles +Lamb says, that a single present of game may diffuse kindly sentiments +through a whole community. These little trips were called "rest"; +there was no other rest during those ten days. An immense amount of +picket and fatigue duty had to be done. Two redoubts were to be built +to command the Northern Valley; all the intervening grove, which now +afforded lurking-ground for a daring enemy, must be cleared away; and +a few houses must be reluctantly razed for the same purpose. The fort +on the left was named Fort Higginson, and that built by my own +regiment, in return, Fort Montgomery. The former was necessarily a +hasty work, and is now, I believe, in ruins; the latter was far more +elaborately constructed, on lines well traced by the Fourth New +Hampshire during the previous occupation. It did great credit to +Captain Trowbridge, of my regiment (formerly of the New York Volunteer +Engineers), who had charge of its construction. + +How like a dream seems now that period of daily skirmishes and nightly +watchfulness! The fatigue was so constant that the days hurried by. I +felt the need of some occasional change of ideas, and having just +received from the North Mr. Brook's beautiful translation of Jean +Paul's "Titan," I used to retire to my bedroom for some ten minutes +every afternoon, and read a chapter or two. It was more refreshing +than a nap, and will always be to me one of the most fascinating books +in the world, with this added association. After all, what concerned +me was not so much the fear of an attempt to drive us out and retake +the city,--for that would be against the whole policy of the Rebels in +that region,--as of an effort to fulfil their threats and burn it, by +some nocturnal dash. The most valuable buildings belonged to Union +men, and the upper part of the town, built chiefly of resinous pine, +was combustible to the last degree. In case of fire, if the wind blew +towards the river, we might lose steamers and all. I remember +regulating my degree of disrobing by the direction of the wind; if it +blew from the river, it was safe to make one's self quite comfortable; +if otherwise, it was best to conform to Suwarrow's idea of luxury, and +take off one spur. + +So passed our busy life for ten days. There were no tidings of +reinforcements, and I hardly knew whether I wished for them,--or +rather, I desired them as a choice of evils; for our men were giving +out from overwork, and the recruiting excursions, for which we had +mainly come, were hardly possible. At the utmost, I had asked for the +addition of four companies and a light battery. Judge of my surprise +when two infantry regiments successively arrived! I must resort to a +scrap from the diary. Perhaps diaries are apt to be thought tedious; +but I would rather read a page of one, whatever the events described, +than any more deliberate narrative,--it gives glimpses so much more +real and vivid. + + +"HEAD-QUARTERS, JACKSONVILLE, + +March 20, 1863, Midnight. + +"For the last twenty-four hours we have been sending women and children +out of town, in answer to a demand by flag of truce, with a threat of +bombardment. [N. B. I advised them not to go, and the majority declined +doing so.] It was designed, no doubt, to intimidate; and in our +ignorance of the force actually outside, we have had to recognize the +possibility of danger, and work hard at our defences. At any time, by +going into the outskirts, we can have a skirmish, which is nothing but +fun; but when night closes in over a small and weary garrison, there +sometimes steals into my mind, like a chill, that most sickening of all +sensations, the anxiety of a commander. This was the night generally set +for an attack, if any, though I am pretty well satisfied that they have +not strength to dare it, and the worst they could probably do is to burn +the town. But to-night, instead of enemies, appear friends,--our devoted +civic ally, Judge S., and a whole Connecticut regiment, the Sixth, under +Major Meeker; and though the latter are aground, twelve miles below, yet +they enable one to breathe more freely. I only wish they were black; but +now I have to show, not only that blacks can fight, but that they and +white soldiers can act in harmony together." + +That evening the enemy came up for a reconnoissance, in the deepest +darkness, and there were alarms all night. The next day the Sixth +Connecticut got afloat, and came up the river; and two days after, to +my continued amazement, arrived a part of the Eighth Maine, under +Lieutenant-Colonel Twichell. This increased my command to four +regiments, or parts of regiments, half white and half black. +Skirmishing had almost ceased,--our defences being tolerably complete, +and looking from without much more effective than they really were. We +were safe from any attack by a small force, and hoped that the enemy +could not spare a large one from Charleston or Savannah. All looked +bright without, and gave leisure for some small anxieties within. + +It was the first time in the war (so far as I know) that white and black +soldiers had served together on regular duty. Jealousy was still felt +towards even the officers of colored regiments, and any difficult +contingency would be apt to bring it out. The white soldiers, just from +ship-board, felt a natural desire to stray about the town; and no attack +from an enemy would be so disastrous as the slightest collision between +them and the black provost-guard. I shudder, even now, to think of the +train of consequences, bearing on the whole course of subsequent +national events, which one such mishap might then have produced. It is +almost impossible for us now to remember in what a delicate balance then +hung the whole question of negro enlistments, and consequently of +Slavery. Fortunately for my own serenity, I had great faith in the +intrinsic power of military discipline, and also knew that a common +service would soon produce mutual respect among good soldiers; and so it +proved. But the first twelve hours of this mixed command were to me a +more anxious period than any outward alarms had created. + +Let us resort to the note-book again. + +"JACKSONVILLE, March 22, 1863. + +"It is Sunday; the bell is ringing for church, and Rev. Mr. F., from +Beaufort, is to preach. This afternoon our good quartermaster +establishes a Sunday-school for our little colony of 'contrabands,' now +numbering seventy. + +"Sunday Afternoon. "The bewildering report is confirmed; and in +addition to the Sixth Connecticut, which came yesterday, appears part +of the Eighth Maine. The remainder, with its colonel, will be here +to-morrow, and, report says, Major-General Hunter. Now my hope is that +we may go to some point higher up the river, which we can hold for +ourselves. There are two other points [Magnolia and Pilatka], which, +in themselves, are as favorable as this, and, for getting recruits, +better. So I shall hope to be allowed to go. To take posts, and then +let white troops garrison them,--that is my programme. + +"What makes the thing more puzzling is, that the Eighth Maine has only +brought ten days' rations, so that they evidently are not to stay here; +and yet where they go, or why they come, is a puzzle. Meanwhile we can +sleep sound o' nights; and if the black and white babies do not quarrel +and pull hair, we shall do very well." + +Colonel Rust, on arriving, said frankly that he knew nothing of the +plans prevailing in the Department, but that General Hunter was +certainly coming soon to act for himself; that it had been reported at +the North, and even at Port Royal, that we had all been captured and +shot (and, indeed, I had afterwards the pleasure of reading my own +obituary in a Northern Democratic journal), and that we certainly needed +reinforcements; that he himself had been sent with orders to carry out, +so far as possible, the original plans of the expedition; that he +regarded himself as only a visitor, and should remain chiefly on +shipboard,--which he did. He would relieve the black provost-guard by a +white one, if I approved,--which I certainly did. But he said that he +felt bound to give the chief opportunities of action to the colored +troops,--which I also approved, and which he carried out, not quite to +the satisfaction of his own eager and daring officers. + +I recall one of these enterprises, out of which we extracted a good +deal of amusement; it was baptized the Battle of the Clothes-Lines. A +white company was out scouting in the woods behind the town, with one +of my best Florida men for a guide; and the captain sent back a +message that he had discovered a Rebel camp with twenty-two tents, +beyond a creek, about four miles away; the officers and men had been +distinctly seen, and it would be quite possible to capture it. Colonel +Rust at once sent me out with two hundred men to do the work, +recalling the original scouts, and disregarding the appeals of his own +eager officers. We marched through the open pine woods, on a +delightful afternoon, and met the returning party. Poor fellows! I +never shall forget the longing eyes they cast on us, as we marched +forth to the field of glory, from which they were debarred. We went +three or four miles out, sometimes halting to send forward a scout, +while I made all the men lie down in the long, thin grass and beside +the fallen trees, till one could not imagine that there was a person +there. I remember how picturesque the effect was, when, at the signal, +all rose again, like Roderick Dhu's men, and the green wood appeared +suddenly populous with armed life. At a certain point forces were +divided, and a detachment was sent round the head of the creek, to +flank the unsuspecting enemy; while we of the main body, stealing with +caution nearer and nearer, through ever denser woods, swooped down at +last in triumph upon a solitary farmhouse,--where the family-washing +had been hung out to dry! This was the "Rebel camp"! + +It is due to Sergeant Greene, my invaluable guide, to say that he had +from the beginning discouraged any high hopes of a crossing of +bayonets. He had early explained that it was not he who claimed to +have seen the tents and the Rebel soldiers, but one of the +officers,--and had pointed out that our undisturbed approach was +hardly reconcilable with the existence of a hostile camp so near. This +impression had also pressed more and more upon my own mind, but it was +our business to put the thing beyond a doubt. Probably the place may +have been occasionally used for a picket-station, and we found fresh +horse-tracks in the vicinity, and there was a quantity of iron +bridle-bits in the house, of which no clear explanation could be +given; so that the armed men may not have been wholly imaginary. But +camp there was none. After enjoying to the utmost the fun of the +thing, therefore, we borrowed the only horse on the premises, hung all +the bits over his neck, and as I rode him back to camp, they clanked +like broken chains. We were joined on the way by our dear and devoted +surgeon, whom I had left behind as an invalid, but who had mounted his +horse and ridden out alone to attend to our wounded, his green sash +looking quite in harmony with the early spring verdure of those lovely +woods. So came we back in triumph, enjoying the joke all the more +because some one else was responsible. We mystified the little +community at first, but soon let out the secret, and witticisms +abounded for a day or two, the mildest of which was the assertion that +the author of the alarm must have been "three sheets in the wind." + +Another expedition was of more exciting character. For several days +before the arrival of Colonel Rust a reconnois-sance had been planned in +the direction of the enemy's camp, and he finally consented to its being +carried out. By the energy of Major Corwin, of the Second South Carolina +Volunteers, aided by Mr. Holden, then a gunner on the Paul Jones, and +afterwards made captain of the same regiment, one of the ten-pound +Parrott guns had been mounted on a hand-car, for use on the railway. +This it was now proposed to bring into service. I took a large detail of +men from the two white regiments and from my own, and had instructions +to march as far as the four-mile station on the railway, if possible, +examine the country, and ascertain if the Rebel camp had been removed, +as was reported, beyond that distance. I was forbidden going any farther +from camp, or attacking the Rebel camp, as my force comprised half our +garrison, and should the town meanwhile be attacked from some other +direction, it would be in great danger. + +I never shall forget the delight of that march through the open pine +barren, with occasional patches of uncertain swamp. The Eighth Maine, +under Lieutenant-Colonel Twich-ell, was on the right, the Sixth +Connecticut, under Major Meeker, on the left, and my own men, under +Major Strong, in the centre, having in charge the cannon, to which +they had been trained. Mr. Heron, from the John Adams, acted as +gunner. The mounted Rebel pickets retired before us through the woods, +keeping usually beyond range of the skirmishers, who in a long +line--white, black, white--were deployed transversely. For the first +time I saw the two colors fairly alternate on the military chessboard; +it had been the object of much labor and many dreams, and I liked the +pattern at last. Nothing was said about the novel fact by anybody,--it +all seemed to come as matter-of-course; there appeared to be no mutual +distrust among the men, and as for the officers, doubtless "each crow +thought its own young the whitest,"--I certainly did, although doing +full justice to the eager courage of the Northern portion of my +command. Especially I watched with pleasure the fresh delight of the +Maine men, who had not, like the rest, been previously in action, and +who strode rapidly on with their long legs, irresistibly recalling, as +their gaunt, athletic frames and sunburnt faces appeared here and +there among the pines, the lumber regions of their native State, with +which I was not unfamiliar. + +We passed through a former camp of the Rebels, from which everything had +been lately removed; but when the utmost permitted limits of our +reconnoissance were reached, there were still no signs of any other +camp, and the Rebel cavalry still kept provokingly before us. Their +evident object was to lure us on to their own stronghold, and had we +fallen into the trap, it would perhaps have resembled, on a smaller +scale, the Olustee of the following year. With a good deal of +reluctance, however, I caused the recall to be sounded, and, after a +slight halt, we began to retrace our steps. + +Straining our eyes to look along the reach of level railway which +stretched away through the pine barren, we began to see certain +ominous puffs of smoke, which might indeed proceed from some fire in +the woods, but were at once set down by the men as coming from the +mysterious locomotive battery which the Rebels were said to have +constructed. Gradually the smoke grew denser, and appeared to be +moving up along the track, keeping pace with our motion, and about two +miles distant. I watched it steadily through a field-glass from our +own slowly moving battery: it seemed to move when we moved and to halt +when we halted. Sometimes in the dun smoke I caught a glimpse of +something blacker, raised high in the air like the threatening head of +some great gliding serpent. Suddenly there came a sharp puff of +lighter smoke that seemed like a forked tongue, and then a hollow +report, and we could see a great black projectile hurled into the air, +and falling a quarter of a mile away from us, in the woods. I did not +at once learn that this first shot killed two of the Maine men, and +wounded two more. This was fired wide, but the numerous shots which +followed were admirably aimed, and seldom failed to fall or explode +close to our own smaller battery. + +It was the first time that the men had been seriously exposed to +artillery fire,--a danger more exciting to the ignorant mind than any +other, as this very war has shown.* So I watched them anxiously. +Fortunately there were deep trenches on each side the railway, with many +stout, projecting roots, forming very tolerable bomb-proofs for those +who happened to be near them. The enemy's gun was a sixty-four-pound +Blakely, as we afterward found, whose enormous projectile moved very +slowly and gave ample time to cover,--insomuch, that, while the +fragments of shell fell all around and amongst us, not a man was hurt. +This soon gave the men the most buoyant confidence, and they shouted +with childish delight over every explosion. + +*Take this for example: "The effect was electrical. The Rebels were the +best men in Ford's command, being Lieutenant-Colonel Showalter's +Californians, and they are brave men. They had dismounted and sent their +horses to the rear, and were undoubtedly determined upon a desperate +fight, and their superior numbers made them confident of success. But +they never fought with artillery, and a cannon has more terror for them +than ten thousand rifles and all the wild Camanches on the plains of +Texas. At first glimpse of the shining brass monsters there was a +visible wavering in the determined front of the enemy, and as the shells +came screaming over their heads the scare was complete. They broke +ranks, fled for their horses, scrambled on the first that came to hand, +and skedaddled in the direction of Brownsville."_New York Evening Post_, +September 25, 1864. + +The moment a shell had burst or fallen unburst, our little gun was +invariably fired in return, and that with some precision, so far as we +could judge, its range also being nearly as great. For some reason they +showed no disposition to overtake us, in which attempt their locomotive +would have given them an immense advantage over our heavy hand-car, and +their cavalry force over our infantry. Nevertheless, I rather hoped that +they would attempt it, for then an effort might have been made to cut +them off in the rear by taking up some rails. As it was, this was out of +the question, though they moved slowly, as we moved, keeping always +about two miles away. When they finally ceased firing we took up the +rails beyond us before withdrawing, and thus kept the enemy from +approaching so near the city again. But I shall never forget that +Dantean monster, rearing its black head amid the distant smoke, nor the +solicitude with which I watched for the puff which meant danger, and +looked round to see if my chickens were all under cover. The greatest +peril, after all, was from the possible dismounting of our gun, in which +case we should have been very apt to lose it, if the enemy had showed +any dash. There may be other such tilts of railway artillery on record +during the war; but if so, I have not happened to read of them, and so +have dwelt the longer on this. + +This was doubtless the same locomotive battery which had previously +fired more than once upon the town,--running up within two miles and then +withdrawing, while it was deemed inexpedient to destroy the railroad, on +our part, lest it might be needed by ourselves in turn. One night, too, +the Rebel threat had been fulfilled, and they had shelled the town with +the same battery. They had the range well, and every shot fell near the +post headquarters. It was exciting to see the great Blakely shell, +showing a light as it rose, and moving slowly towards us like a comet, +then exploding and scattering its formidable fragments. Yet, strange to +say, no serious harm was done to life or limb, and the most formidable +casualty was that of a citizen who complained that a shell had passed +through the wall of his bedroom, and carried off his mosquito curtain in +its transit. + +Little knew we how soon these small entertainments would be over. +Colonel Montgomery had gone up the river with his two companies, +perhaps to remain permanently; and I was soon to follow. On Friday, +March 27th, I wrote home: "The Burnside has gone to Beaufort for +rations, and the John Adams to Fernandina for coal; we expect both +back by Sunday, and on Monday I hope to get the regiment off to a +point farther up,--Magnolia, thirty-five miles, or Pilatka, +seventy-five,--either of which would be a good post for us. General +Hunter is expected every day, and it is strange he has not come." The +very next day came an official order recalling the whole expedition, +and for the third time evacuating Jacksonville. + +A council of military and naval officers was at once called (though +there was but one thing to be done), and the latter were even more +disappointed and amazed than the former. This was especially the case +with the senior naval officer, Captain Steedman, a South-Carolinian by +birth, but who had proved himself as patriotic as he was courteous and +able, and whose presence and advice had been of the greatest value to +me. He and all of us felt keenly the wrongfulness of breaking the +pledges which we had been authorized to make to these people, and of +leaving them to the mercy of the Rebels once more. Most of the people +themselves took the same view, and eagerly begged to accompany us on our +departure. They were allowed to bring their clothing and furniture also, +and at once developed that insane mania for aged and valueless trumpery +which always seizes upon the human race, I believe, in moments of +danger. With the greatest difficulty we selected between the essential +and the non-essential, and our few transports were at length loaded to +the very water's edge on the morning of March 29th,--Colonel Montgomery +having by this time returned from up-river, with sixteen prisoners, and +the fruits of foraging in plenty. + +And upon that last morning occurred an act on the part of some of the +garrison most deeply to be regretted, and not to be excused by the +natural indignation at then- recall,--an act which, through the +unfortunate eloquence of one newspaper correspondent, rang through the +nation,--the attempt to burn the town. I fortunately need not dwell +much upon it, as I was not at the time in command of the post,--as the +white soldiers frankly took upon themselves the whole +responsibility,--and as all the fires were made in the wooden part of +the city, which was occupied by them, while none were made in the +brick part, where the colored soldiers were quartered. It was +fortunate for our reputation that the newspaper accounts generally +agreed in exculpating us from all share in the matter;* and the single +exception, which one correspondent asserted, I could never verify, and +do not believe to have existed. It was stated by Colonel Rust, in his +official report, that some twenty-five buildings in all were burned, +and I doubt if the actual number was greater; but this was probably +owing in part to a change of wind, and did not diminish the discredit +of the transaction. It made our sorrow at departure no less, though it +infinitely enhanced the impressiveness of the scene. + +*"The colored regiments had nothing at all to do with it; they behaved +with propriety throughout" _Boston Journal_ Correspondence. ("Carleton.") + +"The negro troops took no part whatever in the perpetration of this +Vandalism."_New York Tribune_ Correspondence. ("N. P.") + +"We know not whether we are most rejoiced or saddened to observe, by the +general concurrence of accounts, that the negro soldiers had nothing to +do with the barbarous act" _Boston Journal_ Editorial, April 10, 1863. + + +The excitement of the departure was intense. The embarkation was so +laborious that it seemed as if the flames must be upon us before we +could get on board, and it was also generally expected that the Rebel +skirmishers would be down among the houses, wherever practicable, to +annoy us to the utmost, as had been the case at the previous evacuation. +They were, indeed, there, as we afterwards heard, but did not venture to +molest us. The sight and roar of the flames, and the rolling clouds of +smoke, brought home to the impressible minds of the black soldiers all +their favorite imagery of the Judgment-Day; and those who were not too +much depressed by disappointment were excited by the spectacle, and sang +and exhorted without ceasing. + +With heavy hearts their officers floated down the lovely river, which we +had ascended with hopes so buoyant; and from that day to this, the +reasons for our recall have never been made public. It was commonly +attributed to proslavery advisers, acting on the rather impulsive nature +of Major-General Hunter, with a view to cut short the career of the +colored troops, and stop their recruiting. But it may have been simply +the scarcity of troops in the Department, and the renewed conviction at +head-quarters that we were too few to hold the post alone. The latter +theory was strengthened by the fact that, when General Seymour +reoccupied Jacksonville, the following year, he took with him twenty +thousand men instead of one thousand,--and the sanguinary battle of +Olustee found him with too few. + + + + +Chapter 5 +Out on Picket + + +One can hardly imagine a body of men more disconsolate than a regiment +suddenly transferred from an adventurous life in the enemy's country +to the quiet of a sheltered camp, on safe and familiar ground. The men +under my command were deeply dejected when, on a most appropriate +day,--the First of April, 1863,--they found themselves unaccountably +recalled from Florida, that region of delights which had seemed theirs +by the right of conquest. My dusky soldiers, who based their whole +walk and conversation strictly on the ancient Israelites, felt that +the prophecies were all set at naught, and that they were on the wrong +side of the Red Sea; indeed, I fear they regarded even me as a sort of +reversed Moses, whose Pisgah fronted in the wrong direction. Had they +foreseen how the next occupation of the Promised Land was destined to +result, they might have acquiesced with more of their wonted +cheerfulness. As it was, we were very glad to receive, after a few +days of discontented repose on the very ground where we had once been +so happy, an order to go out on picket at Port Royal Ferry, with the +understanding that we might remain there for some time. This picket +station was regarded as a sort of military picnic by the regiments +stationed at Beaufort, South Carolina; it meant blackberries and +oysters, wild roses and magnolias, flowery lanes instead of sandy +barrens, and a sort of guerilla existence in place of the camp +routine. To the colored soldiers especially, with their love of +country life, and their extensive personal acquaintance on the +plantations, it seemed quite like a Christmas festival. Besides, they +would be in sight of the enemy, and who knew but there might, by the +blessing of Providence, be a raid or a skirmish? If they could not +remain on the St. John's River, it was something to dwell on the +Coosaw. In the end they enjoyed it as much as they expected, and +though we "went out" several times subsequently, until it became an +old story, the enjoyment never waned. And as even the march from the +camp to the picket lines was something that could not possibly have +been the same for any white regiment in the service, it is worth while +to begin at the beginning and describe it. + +A regiment ordered on picket was expected to have reveille at daybreak, +and to be in line for departure by sunrise. This delighted our men, who +always took a childlike pleasure in being out of bed at any unreasonable +hour; and by the time I had emerged, the tents were nearly all struck, +and the great wagons were lumbering into camp to receive them, with +whatever else was to be transported. The first rays of the sun must fall +upon the line of these wagons, moving away across the wide +parade-ground, followed by the column of men, who would soon outstrip +them. But on the occasion which I especially describe the sun was +shrouded, and, when once upon the sandy plain, neither camp nor town nor +river could be seen in the dimness; and when I rode forward and looked +back there was only visible the long, moving, shadowy column, seeming +rather awful in its snake-like advance. There was a swaying of flags and +multitudinous weapons that might have been camels' necks for all one +could see, and the whole thing might have been a caravan upon the +desert. Soon we debouched upon the "Shell Road," the wagon-train drew on +one side into the fog, and by the time the sun appeared the music +ceased, the men took the "route step," and the fun began. + +The "route step" is an abandonment of all military strictness, and +nothing is required of the men but to keep four abreast, and not lag +behind. They are not required to keep step, though, with the rhythmical +ear of our soldiers, they almost always instinctively did so; talking +and singing are allowed, and of this privilege, at least, they eagerly +availed themselves. On this day they were at the top of exhilaration. +There was one broad grin from one end of the column to the other; it +might soon have been a caravan of elephants instead of camels, for the +ivory and the blackness; the chatter and the laughter almost drowned the +tramp of feet and the clatter of equipments. At cross-roads and +plantation gates the colored people thronged to see us pass; every one +found a friend and a greeting. "How you do, aunty?" "Huddy (how d'ye), +Budder Benjamin?" "How you find yourself dis mor-nin', Tittawisa (Sister +Louisa)?" Such saluations rang out to everybody, known or unknown. In +return, venerable, kerchiefed matrons courtesied laboriously to every +one, with an unfailing "Bress de Lord, budder." Grave little boys, +blacker than ink, shook hands with our laughing and utterly unmanageable +drummers, who greeted them with this sure word of prophecy, "Dem's de +drummers for de nex' war!" Pretty mulatto girls ogled and coquetted, and +made eyes, as Thackeray would say, at half the young fellows in the +battalion. Meantime the singing was brisk along the whole column, and +when I sometimes reined up to see them pass, the chant of each company, +entering my ear, drove out from the other ear the strain of the +preceding. Such an odd mixture of things, military and missionary, as +the successive waves of song drifted byl First, "John Brown," of course; +then, "What make old Satan for follow me so?" then, "Marching Along"; +then, "Hold your light on Canaan's shore"; then, "When this cruel war is +over" (a new favorite, sung by a few); yielding presently to a grand +burst of the favorite marching song among them all, and one at which +every step instinctively quickened, so light and jubilant its rhythm,-- + + "All true children gwine in de wilderness, + Gwine in de wilderness, gwine in de wilderness, + True believers gwine in de wilderness, + To take away de sins ob de world,"-- + +ending in a "Hoigh!" after each verse,--a sort of Irish yell. For all +the songs, but especially for their own wild hymns, they constantly +improvised simple verses, with the same odd mingling,--the little +facts of to-day's march being interwoven with the depths of +theological gloom, and the same jubilant chorus annexed to all; +thus,-- + + "We're gwin to de Ferry, + De bell done ringing; + Gwine to de landing, + De bell done ringing; + Trust, believer + O, de bell done ringing; + Satan's behind me, + De bell done ringing; + 'T is a misty morning, + De bell done ringing; + O de road am sandy, + De bell done ringing; + Hell been open, + De bell done ringing";-- + +and so on indefinitely. + +The little drum-corps kept in advance, a jolly crew, their drums slung +on their backs, and the drum-sticks perhaps balanced on their heads. +With them went the officers' servant-boys, more uproarious still, +always ready to lend their shrill treble to any song. At the head of +the whole force there walked, by some self-imposed pre-eminence, a +respectable elderly female, one of the company laundresses, whose +vigorous stride we never could quite overtake, and who had an enormous +bundle balanced on her head, while she waved in her hand, like a +sword, a long-handled tin dipper. Such a picturesque medley of fun, +war, and music I believe no white regiment in the service could have +shown; and yet there was no straggling, and a single tap of the drum +would at any moment bring order out of this seeming chaos. So we +marched our seven miles out upon the smooth and shaded road,--beneath +jasmine clusters, and great pine-cones dropping, and great bunches of +misletoe still in bloom among the branches. Arrived at the station, +the scene soon became busy and more confused; wagons were being +unloaded, tents pitched, water brought, wood cut, fires made, while +the "field and staff" could take possession of the abandoned quarters +of their predecessors, and we could look round in the lovely summer +morning to "survey our empire and behold our home." + +The only thoroughfare by land between Beaufort and Charleston is the +"Shell Road," a beautiful avenue, which, about nine miles from Beaufort, +strikes a ferry across the Coosaw River. War abolished the ferry, and +made the river the permanent barrier between the opposing picket lines. +For ten miles, right and left, these lines extended, marked by well-worn +footpaths, following the endless windings of the stream; and they never +varied until nearly the end of the war. Upon their maintenance depended +our whole foothold on the Sea Islands; and upon that again finally +depended the whole campaign of Sherman. But for the services of the +colored troops, which finally formed the main garrison of the Department +of the South, the Great March would never have been performed. + +There was thus a region ten or twelve miles square of which I had +exclusive military command. It was level, but otherwise broken and +bewildering to the last degree. No road traversed it, properly +speaking, but the Shell Road. All the rest was a wild medley of +cypress swamp, pine barren, muddy creek, and cultivated plantation, +intersected by interminable lanes and bridle-paths, through which we +must ride day and night, and which our horses soon knew better than +ourselves. The regiment was distributed at different stations, the +main force being under my immediate command, at a plantation close by +the Shell Road, two miles from the ferry, and seven miles from +Beaufort. Our first picket duty was just at the time of the first +attack on Charleston, under Dupont and Hunter; and it was generally +supposed that the Confederates would make an effort to recapture the +Sea Islands. My orders were to watch the enemy closely, keep informed +as to his position and movements, attempt no advance, and, in case any +were attempted from the other side, to delay it as long as possible, +sending instant notice to head-quarters. As to the delay, that could +be easily guaranteed. There were causeways on the Shell Road which a +single battery could hold against a large force; and the plantations +were everywhere so intersected by hedges and dikes that they seemed +expressly planned for defence. Although creeks wound in and out +everywhere, yet these were only navigable at high tide, and at all +other times were impassable marshes. There were but few posts where +the enemy were within rifle range, and their occasional attacks at +those points were soon stopped by our enforcement of a pithy order +from General Hunter, "Give them as good as they send." So that, with +every opportunity for being kept on the alert, there was small +prospect of serious danger; and all promised an easy life, with only +enough of care to make it pleasant. The picket station was therefore +always a coveted post among the regiments, combining some undeniable +importance with a kind of relaxation; and as we were there three +months on our first tour of duty, and returned there several times +afterwards, we got well acquainted with it. The whole region always +reminded me of the descriptions of La Vende'e, and I always expected +to meet Henri Larochejaquelein riding in the woods. + +How can I ever describe the charm and picturesqueness of that summer +life? Our house possessed four spacious rooms and a _piazza_; around +it were grouped sheds and tents; the camp was a little way off on one +side, the negro-quarters of the plantation on the other; and all was +immersed in a dense mass of waving and murmuring locust-blossoms. The +spring days were always lovely, while the evenings were always +conveniently damp; so that we never shut the windows by day, nor +omitted our cheerful fire by night. Indoors, the main head-quarters +seemed like the camp of some party of young engineers in time of +peace, only with a little female society added, and a good many +martial associations thrown in. A large, low, dilapidated room, with +an immense fireplace, and with window-panes chiefly broken, so that +the sashes were still open even when closed,--such was our home. The +walls were scrawled with capital charcoal sketches by R. of the Fourth +New Hampshire, and with a good map of the island and its wood-paths by +C. of the First Massachusetts Cavalry. The room had the +picturesqueness which comes everywhere from the natural grouping of +articles of daily use,--swords, belts, pistols, rifles, field-glasses, +spurs, canteens, gauntlets,--while wreaths of gray moss above the +windows, and a pelican's wing three feet long over the high +mantel-piece, indicated more deliberate decoration. This, and the +whole atmosphere of the place, spoke of the refining presence of +agreeable women; and it was pleasant when they held their little court +in the evening, and pleasant all day, with the different visitors who +were always streaming in and out,--officers and soldiers on various +business; turbaned women from the plantations, coming with complaints +or questionings; fugitives from the main-land to be interrogated; +visitors riding up on horseback, their hands full of jasmine and wild +roses; and the sweet sunny air all perfumed with magnolias and the +Southern pine. From the neighboring camp there was a perpetual low +hum. Louder voices and laughter re-echoed, amid the sharp sounds of +the axe, from the pine woods; and sometimes, when the relieved pickets +were discharging their pieces, there came the hollow sound of dropping +rifle-shots, as in skirmishing,--perhaps the most unmistakable and +fascinating association that war bequeaths to the memory of the ear. + +Our domestic arrangements were of the oddest description. From the +time when we began housekeeping by taking down the front-door to +complete therewith a little office for the surgeon on the _piazza_, +everything seemed upside down. I slept on a shelf in the corner of the +parlor, bequeathed me by Major F., my jovial predecessor, and, if I +waked at any time, could put my head through the broken window, arouse +my orderly, and ride off to see if I could catch a picket asleep. We +used to spell the word _picquet_, because that was understood to be +the correct thing, in that Department at least; and they used to say +at post head-quarters that as soon as the officer in command of the +outposts grew negligent, and was guilty of a _k_, he was ordered in +immediately. Then the arrangements for ablution were peculiar. We +fitted up a bathing-place in a brook, which somehow got appropriated +at once by the company laundresses; but I had my revenge, for I took +to bathing in the family washtub. After all, however, the kitchen +department had the advantage, for they used my solitary napkin to wipe +the mess-table. As for food, we found it impossible to get chickens, +save in the immature shape of eggs; fresh pork was prohibited by the +surgeon, and other fresh meat came rarely. We could, indeed, hunt for +wild turkeys, and even deer, but such hunting was found only to +increase the appetite, without corresponding supply. Still we had our +luxuries,--large, delicious drum-fish, and alligator steaks,--like a +more substantial fried halibut,--which might have afforded the theme +for Charles Lamb's dissertation on Roast Pig, and by whose aid "for +the first time in our lives we tested _crackling_" The post bakery +yielded admirable bread; and for vegetables and fruit we had very poor +sweet potatoes, and (in their season) an unlimited supply of the +largest blackberries. For beverage, we had the vapid milk of that +region, in which, if you let it stand, the water sinks instead of the +cream's rising; and the delicious sugar-cane syrup, which we had +brought from Florida, and which we drank at all hours. Old Floridians +say that no one is justified in drinking whiskey, while he can get +cane-juice; it is sweet and spirited, without cloying, foams like ale, +and there were little spots on the ceiling of the dining-room where +our lively beverage had popped out its cork. We kept it in a +whiskey-bottle; and as whiskey itself was absolutely prohibited among +us, it was amusing to see the surprise of our military visitors when +this innocent substitute was brought in. They usually liked it in the +end, but, like the old Frenchwoman over her glass of water, wished +that it were a sin to give it a relish. As the foaming beakers of +molasses and water were handed round, the guests would make with them +the courteous little gestures of polite imbiding, and would then quaff +the beverage, some with gusto, others with a slight afterlook of +dismay. But it was a delicious and cooling drink while it +lasted; and at all events was the best and the worst we had. + +We used to have reveille at six, and breakfast about seven; then the +mounted couriers began to arrive from half a dozen different +directions, with written reports of what had happened during the +night,--a boat seen, a picket fired upon, a battery erecting. These +must be consolidated and forwarded to head-quarters, with the daily +report of the command,--so many sick, so many on detached service, and +all the rest. This was our morning newspaper, our Herald and Tribune; +I never got tired of it. Then the couriers must be furnished with +countersign and instructions, and sent off again. Then we scattered to +our various rides, all disguised as duty; one to inspect pickets, one +to visit a sick soldier, one to build a bridge or clear a road, and +still another to head-quarters for ammunition or commissary stores. +Galloping through green lanes, miles of triumphal arches of wild +roses,--roses pale and large and fragrant, mingled with great boughs +of the white cornel, fantastic masses, snowy surprises,--such were our +rides, ranging from eight to fifteen and even twenty miles. Back to a +late dinner with our various experiences, and perhaps specimens to +match,--a thunder-snake, eight feet long; a live opossum, with a young +clinging to the natural pouch; an armful of great white, scentless +pond-lilies. After dinner, to the tangled garden for rosebuds or early +magnolias, whose cloying fragrance will always bring back to me the +full zest of those summer days; then dress-parade and a little drill +as the day grew cool. In the evening, tea; and then the piazza or the +fireside, as the case might be,--chess, cards,--perhaps a little +music by aid of the assistant surgeon's melodeon, a few pages of Jean +Paul's "Titan," almost my only book, and carefully husbanded,--perhaps +a mail, with its infinite felicities. Such was our day. + +Night brought its own fascinations, more solitary and profound. The +darker they were, the more clearly it was our duty to visit the pickets. +The paths that had grown so familiar by day seemed a wholly new +labyrinth by night; and every added shade of darkness seemed to shift +and complicate them all anew, till at last man's skill grew utterly +baffled, and the clew must be left to the instinct of the horse. Riding +beneath the solemn starlight, or soft, gray mist, or densest blackness, +the frogs croaking, the strange "chuckwuts-widow" droning his ominous +note above my head, the mocking-bird dreaming in music, the great +Southern fireflies rising to the tree-tops, or hovering close to the +ground like glowworms, till the horse raised his hoofs to avoid them; +through pine woods and cypress swamps, or past sullen brooks, or white +tents, or the dimly seen huts of sleeping negroes; down to the +glimmering shore, where black statues leaned against trees or stood +alert in the pathways;--never, in all the days of my life, shall I forget +the magic of those haunted nights. + +We had nocturnal boat service, too, for it was a part of our +instructions to obtain all possible information about the enemy's +position; and we accordingly, as usual in such cases, incurred a great +many risks that harmed nobody, and picked up much information which did +nobody any good. The centre of these nightly reconnoissances, for a long +time, was the wreck of the George Washington, the story of whose +disaster is perhaps worth telling. + +Till about the time when we went on picket, it had been the occasional +habit of the smaller gunboats to make the circuit of Port Royal +Island,--a practice which was deemed very essential to the safety of +our position, but which the Rebels effectually stopped, a few days +after our arrival, by destroying the army gunboat George Washington +with a single shot from a light battery. I was roused soon after +daybreak by the firing, and a courier soon came dashing in with the +particulars. Forwarding these hastily to Beaufort (for we had then no +telegraph), I was soon at the scene of action, five miles away. +Approaching, I met on the picket paths man after man who had escaped +from the wreck across a half-mile of almost impassable marsh. Never +did I see such objects,--some stripped to their shirts, some fully +clothed, but all having every garment literally pasted to then- bodies +with mud. Across the river, the Rebels were retiring, having done +their work, but were still shelling, from greater and greater +distances, the wood through which I rode. Arrived at the spot nearest +the wreck (a point opposite to what we called the Brickyard Station), +I saw the burning vessel aground beyond a long stretch of marsh, out +of which the forlorn creatures were still floundering. Here and there +in the mud and reeds we could see the laboring heads, slowly +advancing, and could hear excruciating cries from wounded men in the +more distant depths. It was the strangest mixture of war and Dante and +Robinson Crusoe. Our energetic chaplain coming up, I sent him with +four men, under a flag of truce, to the place whence the worst cries +proceeded, while I went to another part of the marsh. During that +morning we got them all out, our last achievement being the rescue of +the pilot, an immense negro with a wooden leg,--an article so +particularly unavailable for mud travelling, that it would have almost +seemed better, as one of the men suggested, to cut the traces, and +leave it behind. + +A naval gunboat, too, which had originally accompanied this vessel, and +should never have left it, now came back and took off the survivors, +though there had been several deaths from scalding and shell. It proved +that the wreck was not aground after all, but at anchor, having +foolishly lingered till after daybreak, and having thus given time for +the enemy to bring down then: guns. The first shot had struck the +boiler, and set the vessel on fire; after which the officer in command +had raised a white flag, and then escaped with his men to our shore; and +it was for this flight in the wrong direction that they were shelled in +the marshes by the Rebels. The case furnished in this respect some +parallel to that of the Kearsage and Alabama, and it was afterwards +cited, I believe, officially or unofficially, to show that the Rebels +had claimed the right to punish, in this case, the course of action +which they approved in Semmes. I know that they always asserted +thenceforward that the detachment on board the George Washington had +become rightful prisoners of war, and were justly fired upon when they +tried to escape. + +This was at the tune of the first attack on Charleston, and the noise of +this cannonading spread rapidly thither, and brought four regiments to +reinforce Beaufort in a hurry, under the impression that the town was +already taken, and that they must save what remnants they could. General +Saxton, too, had made such capital plans for defending the +post that he could not bear not to have it attacked; so, while the +Rebels brought down a force to keep us from taking the guns off the +wreck, I was also supplied with a section or two of regular artillery, +and some additional infantry, with which to keep them from it; and we +tried to "make believe very hard," and rival the Charleston expedition +on our own island. Indeed, our affair came to about as much,--nearly +nothing,--and lasted decidedly longer; for both sides nibbled away at +the guns, by night, for weeks afterward, though I believe the mud +finally got them,--at least, we did not. We tried in vain to get the use +of a steamboat or floating derrick of any kind; for it needed more +mechanical ingenuity than we possessed to transfer anything so heavy to +our small boats by night, while by day we did not go near the wreck in +anything larger than a "dug-out." + +One of these nocturnal visits to the wreck I recall with peculiar +gusto, because it brought back that contest with catarrh and coughing +among my own warriors which had so ludicrously beset me in Florida. It +was always fascinating to be on those forbidden waters by night, +stealing out with muffled oars through the creeks and reeds, our eyes +always strained for other voyagers, our ears listening breathlessly to +all the marsh sounds,--blackflsh splashing, and little wakened +reed-birds that fled wailing away over the dim river, equally safe on +either side. But it always appeared to the watchful senses that we +were making noise enough to be heard at Fort Sumter; and somehow the +victims of catarrh seemed always the most eager for any enterprise +requiring peculiar caution. In this case I thought I had sifted them +before-hand; but as soon as we were afloat, one poor boy near me began +to wheeze, and I turned upon him in exasperation. He saw his danger, +and meekly said, "I won't cough, Gunnel!" and he kept his word. For +two mortal hours he sat grasping his gun, with never a chirrup. But +two unfortunates in the bow of the boat developed symptoms which I +could not suppress; so, putting in at a picket station, with some risk +I dumped them in mud knee-deep, and embarked a substitute, who after +the first five minutes absolutely coughed louder than both the others +united. Handkerchiefs, blankets, over-coats, suffocation in its direst +forms, were tried in vain, but apparently the Rebel pickets slept +through it all, and we exploded the wreck in safety. I think they were +asleep, for certainly across the level marshes there came a nasal +sound, as of the "Con-thieveracy" in its slumbers. It may have been a +bull-frog, but it sounded like a human snore. + +Picket life was of course the place to feel the charm of natural beauty +on the Sea Islands. We had a world of profuse and tangled vegetation +around us, such as would have been a dream of delight to me, but for the +constant sense of responsibility and care which came between. Amid this +preoccupation, Nature seemed but a mirage, and not the close and +intimate associate I had before known. I pressed no flowers, collected +no insects or birds' eggs, made no notes on natural objects, reversing +in these respects all previous habits. Yet now, in the retrospect, there +seems to have been infused into me through every pore the voluptuous +charm of the season and the place; and the slightest corresponding sound +or odor now calls back the memory of those delicious days. Being +afterwards on picket at almost every season, I tasted the sensations of +all; and though I hardly then thought of such a result, the associations +of beauty will remain forever. + +In February, for instance,--though this was during a later period of +picket service,--the woods were usually draped with that "net of +shining haze" which marks our Northern May; and the house was +embowered in wild-plum-blossoms, small, white, profuse, and tenanted +by murmuring bees. There were peach-blossoms, too, and the yellow +jasmine was opening its multitudinous buds, climbing over tall trees, +and waving from bough to bough. There were fresh young ferns and white +bloodroot in the edges of woods, matched by snowdrops in the garden, +beneath budded myrtle and _Petisporum_. In this wilderness the birds +were busy; the two main songsters being the mocking-bird and the +cardinal-grosbeak, which monopolized all the parts of our more varied +Northern orchestra save the tender and liquid notes, which in South +Carolina seemed unattempted except by some stray blue-bird. Jays were +as loud and busy as at the North in autumn; there were sparrows and +wrens; and sometimes I noticed the shy and whimsical chewink. + +From this early spring-time onward, there seemed no great difference in +atmospheric sensations, and only a succession of bloom. After two months +one's notions of the season grew bewildered, just as very early rising +bewilders the day. In the army one is perhaps roused after a bivouac, +marches before daybreak, halts, fights, somebody is killed, a long day's +life has been lived, and after all it is not seven o'clock, and +breakfast is not ready. So when we had lived in summer so long as hardly +to remember winter, it suddenly occurred to us that it was not yet June. +One escapes at the South that mixture of hunger and avarice which is +felt in the Northern summer, counting each hour's joy with the sad +consciousness that an hour is gone. The compensating loss is in missing +those soft, sweet, liquid sensations of the Northern spring, that burst +of life and joy, those days of heaven that even April brings; and this +absence of childhood in the year creates a feeling of hardness in the +season, like that I have suggested in the melody of the Southern birds. +It seemed to me also that the woods had not those pure, clean, _innocent_ +odors which so abound in the New England forest in early spring; but +there was something luscious, voluptuous, almost oppressively fragrant +about the magnolias, as if they belonged not to Hebe, but to Magdalen. + +Such immense and lustrous butterflies I had never seen but in dreams; +and not even dreams had prepared me for sand-flies. Almost too small to +be seen, they inflicted a bite which appeared larger than themselves,--a +positive wound, more torturing than that of a mosquito, and leaving more +annoyance behind. These tormentors elevated dress-parade into the +dignity of a military engagement. I had to stand motionless, with my +head a mere nebula of winged atoms, while tears rolled profusely down my +face, from mere muscular irritation. Had I stirred a finger, the whole +battalion would have been slapping its cheeks. Such enemies were, +however, a valuable aid to discipline, on the whole, as they +abounded in the guard-house, and made that institution an object of +unusual abhorrence among the men. + +The presence of ladies and the homelike air of everything, made the +picket station a very popular resort while we were there. It was the one +agreeable ride from Beaufort, and we often had a dozen people +unexpectedly to dinner. On such occasions there was sometimes mounting +in hot haste, and an eager search among the outlying plantations for +additional chickens and eggs, or through the company kitchens for some +of those villanous tin cans which everywhere marked the progress of our +army. In those cans, so far as my observation went, all fruits relapsed +into a common acidulation, and all meats into a similarity of +tastelessness; while the "condensed milk" was best described by the men, +who often unconsciously stumbled on a better joke than they knew, and +always spoke of it as _condemned_ milk. + +We had our own excursions too,--to the Barnwell plantations, with their +beautiful avenues and great live-oaks, the perfection of Southern +beauty,--to Hall's Island, debatable ground, close under the enemy's +fire, where half-wild cattle were to be shot, under military +precautions, like Scottish moss-trooping,--or to the ferry, where it was +fascinating to the female mind to scan the Rebel pickets through a +field-glass. Our horses liked the by-ways far better than the level +hardness of the Shell Road, especially those we had brought from +Florida, which enjoyed the wilderness as if they had belonged to +Marion's men. They delighted to feel the long sedge brush their flanks, +or to gallop down the narrow wood-paths, leaping the fallen trees, and +scaring the bright little lizards which shot across our track like live +rays broken from the sunbeams. We had an abundance of horses, mostly +captured and left in our hands by some convenient delay of the post +quartermaster. We had also two side-saddles, which, not being munitions +of war, could not properly (as we explained) be transferred like other +captured articles to the general stock; otherwise the P. Q. M. (a +married man) would have showed no unnecessary delay in their case. For +miscellaneous accommodation was there not an ambulance,--that most +inestimable of army conveniences, equally ready to carry the merry to a +feast or the wounded from a fray. "Ambulance" was one of those words, +rather numerous, which Ethiopian lips were not framed by Nature to +articulate. Only the highest stages of colored culture could compass it; +on the tongue of the many it was transformed mystically as "amulet," or +ambitiously as "epaulet," or in culinary fashion as "omelet." But it was +our experience that an ambulance under any name jolted equally hard. + +Besides these divertisements, we had more laborious vocations,--a good +deal of fatigue, and genuine though small alarms. The men went on duty +every third day at furthest, and the officers nearly as often,--most of +the tours of duty lasting twenty-four hours, though the stream was +considered to watch itself tolerably well by daylight. This kind of +responsibility suited the men; and we had already found, as the whole +army afterwards acknowledged, that the constitutional watchfulness and +distrustfulness of the colored race made them admirable sentinels. Soon +after we went on picket, the commanding general sent an aid, with a +cavalry escort, to visit all the stations, without my knowledge. They +spent the whole night, and the officer reported that he could not get +within thirty yards of any post without a challenge. This was a pleasant +assurance for me; since our position seemed so secure, compared with +Jacksonville, that I had feared some relaxation of vigilance, while yet +the safety of all depended on our thorough discharge of duty. + +Jacksonville had also seasoned the men so well that they were no +longer nervous, and did not waste much powder on false alarms. The +Rebels made no formal attacks, and rarely attempted to capture +pickets. Sometimes they came stealing through the creeks in "dugouts," +as we did on their side of the water, and occasionally an officer of +ours was fired upon while making his rounds by night. Often some boat +or scow would go adrift, and sometimes a mere dark mass of river-weed +would be floated by the tide past the successive stations, eliciting a +challenge and perhaps a shot from each. I remember the vivid way in +which one of the men stated to his officer the manner in which a +faithful picket should do his duty, after challenging, in case a boat +came in sight. "Fus' ting I shoot, and den I shoot, and den I shoot +again. Den I creep-creep up near de boat, and see who dey in 'em; and +s'pose anybody pop up he head, den I shoot again. S'pose I fire my +forty rounds. I tink he hear at de camp and send more mans,"--which +seemed a reasonable presumption. This soldier's name was Paul Jones, a +daring fellow, quite worthy of his namesake. + +In time, however, they learned quieter methods, and would wade far out +in the water, there standing motionless at last, hoping to surround and +capture these floating boats, though, to their great disappointment, the +prize usually proved empty. On one occasion they tried a still +profounder strategy; for an officer visiting the pickets after midnight, +and hearing in the stillness a portentous snore from the end of the +causeway (our most important station), straightway hurried to the point +of danger, with wrath in his soul. But the sergeant of the squad came +out to meet him, imploring silence, and explaining that they had seen or +suspected a boat hovering near, and were feigning sleep in order to lure +and capture those who would entrap them. + +The one military performance at the picket station of which my men were +utterly intolerant was an occasional flag of truce, for which this was +the appointed locality. These farces, for which it was our duty to +furnish the stock actors, always struck them as being utterly +despicable, and unworthy the serious business of war. They felt, I +suppose, what Mr. Pickwick felt, when he heard his counsel remark to the +counsel for the plaintiff, that it was a very fine morning. It goaded +their souls to see the young officers from the two opposing armies +salute each other courteously, and interchange cigars. They despised the +object of such negotiations, which was usually to send over to the enemy +some family of Rebel women who had made themselves quite intolerable on +our side, but were not above collecting a subscription among the Union +officers, before departure, to replenish their wardrobes. The men never +showed disrespect to these women by word or deed, but they hated them +from the bottom of their souls. Besides, there was a grievance behind +all this. + +The Rebel order remained unrevoked which consigned the new colored +troops and their officers to a felon's death, if captured; and we all +felt that we fought with ropes round our necks. "Dere's no flags ob +truce for us," the men would contemptuously say. "When de Secesh fight +de _Fus' Souf_" (First South Carolina), "he fight in earnest." Indeed, I +myself took it as rather a compliment when the commander on the other +side--though an old acquaintance of mine in Massachusetts and in +Kansas--at first refused to negotiate through me or my officers,--a +refusal which was kept up, greatly to the enemy's inconvenience, until +our men finally captured some of the opposing pickets, and their friends +had to waive all scruples in order to send them supplies. After this +there was no trouble, and I think that the first Rebel officer in South +Carolina who officially met any officer of colored troops under a flag +of truce was Captain John C. Calhoun. In Florida we had been so +recognized long before; but that was when they wished to frighten us out +of Jacksonville. + +Such was our life on picket at Port Royal,--a thing whose memory is now +fast melting into such stuff as dreams are made of. We stayed there more +than two months at that tune; the first attack on Charleston exploded +with one puff, and had its end; General Hunter was ordered North, and +the busy Gilmore reigned in his stead; and in June, when the +blackberries were all eaten, we were summoned, nothing loath, to other +scenes and encampments new. + + + + +Chapter 6 +A Night in the Water + + +Yes, that was a pleasant life on picket, in the delicious early summer +of the South, and among the endless flowery forests of that blossoming +isle. In the retrospect I seem to see myself adrift upon a horse's back +amid a sea of roses. The various outposts were within a six-mile radius, +and it was one long, delightful gallop, day and night. I have a faint +impression that the moon shone steadily every night for two months; and +yet I remember certain periods of such dense darkness that in riding +through the wood-paths it was really unsafe to go beyond a walk, for +fear of branches above and roots below; and one of my officers was once +shot at by a Rebel scout who stood unperceived at his horse's bridle. + +To those doing outpost-duty on an island, however large, the main-land +has all the fascination of forbidden fruit, and on a scale bounded +only by the horizon. Emerson says that every house looks ideal until +we enter it,--and it is certainly so, if it be just the other side of +the hostile lines. Every grove in that blue distance appears enchanted +ground, and yonder loitering gray-back leading his horse to water in +the farthest distance, makes one thrill with a desire to hail him, to +shoot at him, to capture him, to do anything to bridge this inexorable +dumb space that lies between. A boyish feeling, no doubt, and one that +time diminishes, without effacing; yet it is a feeling which lies at +the bottom of many rash actions in war, and of some brilliant ones. +For one, I could never quite outgrow it, though restricted by duty +from doing many foolish things in consequence, and also restrained by +reverence for certain confidential advisers whom I had always at hand, +and who considered it their mission to keep me always on short rations +of personal adventure. Indeed, most of that sort of entertainment in +the army devolves upon scouts detailed for the purpose, volunteer +aides-de-camp and newspaper-reporters,--other officers being expected +to be about business more prosaic. + +All the excitements of war are quadrupled by darkness; and as I rode +along our outer lines at night, and watched the glimmering flames which +at regular intervals starred the opposite river-shore, the longing was +irresistible to cross the barrier of dusk, and see whether it were men +or ghosts who hovered round those dying embers. I had yielded to these +impulses in boat-adventures by night,--for it was a part of my +instructions to obtain all possible information about the Rebel +outposts,--and fascinating indeed it was to glide along, noiselessly +paddling, with a dusky guide, through the endless intricacies of those +Southern marshes, scaring the reed-birds, which wailed and fled away +into the darkness, and penetrating several miles into the ulterior, +between hostile fires, where discovery might be death. Yet there were +drawbacks as to these enterprises, since it is not easy for a boat to +cross still water, even on the darkest night, without being seen by +watchful eyes; and, moreover, the extremes of high and low tide +transform so completely the whole condition of those rivers that it +needs very nice calculation to do one's work at precisely the right +tune. To vary the experiment, I had often thought of trying a personal +reconnoissance by swimming, at a certain point, whenever circumstances +should make it an object. + +The oportunity at last arrived, and I shall never forget the glee with +which, after several postponements, I finally rode forth, a little +before midnight, on a night which seemed made for the purpose. I had, +of course, kept my own secret, and was entirely alone. The great +Southern fireflies were out, not haunting the low ground merely, like +ours, but rising to the loftiest tree-tops with weird illumination, +and anon hovering so low that my horse often stepped the higher to +avoid them. The dewy Cherokee roses brushed my face, the solemn +"Chuckwill's-widow" croaked her incantation, and the rabbits raced +phantom-like across the shadowy road. Slowly in the darkness I +followed the well-known path to the spot where our most advanced +outposts were stationed, holding a causeway which thrust itself far +out across the separating river,--thus fronting a similar causeway on +the other side, while a channel of perhaps three hundred yards, once +traversed by a ferry-boat, rolled between. At low tide this channel +was the whole river, with broad, oozy marshes on each side; at high +tide the marshes were submerged, and the stream was a mile wide. This +was the point which I had selected. To ascertain the numbers and +position of the picket on the opposite causeway was my first object, +as it was a matter on which no two of our officers agreed. + +To this point, therefore, I rode, and dismounting, after being duly +challenged by the sentinel at the causeway-head, walked down the long +and lonely path. The tide was well up, though still on the flood, as I +desired; and each visible tuft of marsh-grass might, but for its +motionlessness, have been a prowling boat. Dark as the night had +appeared, the water was pale, smooth, and phosphorescent, and I remember +that the phrase "wan water," so familiar in the Scottish ballards, +struck me just then as peculiarly appropriate, though its real meaning +is quite different. A gentle breeze, from which I had hoped for a +ripple, had utterly died away, and it was a warm, breathless Southern +night. There was no sound but the famt swash of the coming tide, the +noises of the reed-birds in the marshes, and the occasional leap of a +fish; and it seemed to my overstrained ear as if every footstep of my +own must be heard for miles. However, I could have no more +postponements, and the thing must be tried now or never. + +Reaching the farther end of the causeway, I found my men couched, like +black statues, behind the slight earthwork there constructed. I +expected that my proposed immersion would rather bewilder them, but +knew that they would say nothing, as usual. As for the lieutenant on +that post, he was a steady, matter-of-fact, perfectly disciplined +Englishman, who wore a Crimean medal, and never asked a superfluous +question in his life. If I had casually remarked to him, "Mr. Hooper, +the General has ordered me on a brief personal reconnoissance to the +Planet Jupiter, and I wish you to take care of my watch, lest it +should be damaged by the Precession of the Equinoxes," he would have +responded with a brief "All right, Sir," and a quick military gesture, +and have put the thing in his pocket. As it was, I simply gave him the +watch, and remarked that I was going to take a swim. + +I do not remember ever to have experienced a greater sense of +exhilaration than when I slipped noiselessly into the placid water, and +struck out into the smooth, eddying current for the opposite shore. The +night was so still and lovely, my black statues looked so dream-like at +their posts behind the low earthwork, the opposite arm of the causeway +stretched so invitingly from the Rebel main, the horizon glimmered so +low around me,--for it always appears lower to a swimmer than even to an +oarsman,--that I seemed floating in some concave globe, some magic +crystal, of which I was the enchanted centre. With each little ripple of +my steady progress all things hovered and changed; the stars danced and +nodded above; where the stars ended the great Southern fireflies began; +and closer than the fireflies, there clung round me a halo of +phosphorescent sparkles from the soft salt water. + +Had I told any one of my purpose, I should have had warnings and +remonstrances enough. The few negroes who did not believe in +alligators believed in sharks; the sceptics as to sharks were orthodox +in respect to alligators; while those who rejected both had private +prejudices as to snapping-turtles. The surgeon would have threatened +intermittent fever, the first assistant rheumatism, and the second +assistant congestive chills; non-swimmers would have predicted +exhaustion, and swimmers cramp; and all this before coming within +bullet-range of any hospitalities on the other shore. But I knew the +folly of most alarms about reptiles and fishes; man's imagination +peoples the water with many things which do not belong there, or +prefer to keep out of his way, if they do; fevers and congestions were +the surgeon's business, and I always kept people to their own +department; cramp and exhaustion were dangers I could measure, as I +had often done; bullets were a more substantial danger, and I must +take the chance,--if a loon could dive at the flash, why not I? If I +were once ashore, I should have to cope with the Rebels on their own +ground, which they knew better than I; but the water was my ground, +where I, too, had been at home from boyhood. + +I swam as swiftly and softly as I could, although it seemed as if water +never had been so still before. It appeared impossible that anything +uncanny should hide beneath that lovely mirror; and yet when some +floating wisp of reeds suddenly coiled itself around my neck, or some +unknown thing, drifting deeper, coldly touched my foot, it caused that +undefinable shudder which every swimmer knows, and which especially +comes over one by night. Sometimes a slight sip of brackish water would +enter my lips,--for I naturally tried to swim as low as possible,--and +then would follow a slight gasping and contest against chocking, that +seemed to me a perfect convulsion; for I suppose the tendency to choke +and sneeze is always enhanced by the circumstance that one's life may +depend on keeping still, just as yawning becomes irresistible where to +yawn would be social ruin, and just as one is sure to sleep in church, +if one sits in a conspicuous pew. At other times, some unguarded motion +would create a splashing which seemed, in the tension of my senses, to +be loud enough to be heard at Richmond, although it really mattered not, +since there are fishes in those rivers which make as much noise on +special occasions as if they were misguided young whales. + +As I drew near the opposite shore, the dark causeway projected more and +more distinctly, to my fancy at least, and I swam more softly still, +utterly uncertain as to how far, in the stillness of air and water, my +phosphorescent course could be traced by eye or ear. A slight ripple +would have saved me from observation, I was more than ever sure, and +I would have whistled for a fair wind as eagerly as any sailor, but that +my breath was worth to me more than anything it was likely to bring. The +water became smoother and smoother, and nothing broke the dim surface +except a few clumps of rushes and my unfortunate head. The outside of +this member gradually assumed to its inside a gigantic magnitude; it had +always annoyed me at the hatter's from a merely animal bigness, with no +commensurate contents to show for it, and now I detested it more than +ever. A physical feeling of turgescence and congestion in that region, +such as swimmers often feel, probably increased the impression. I +thought with envy of the Aztec children, of the headless horseman of +Sleepy Hollow, of Saint Somebody with his head tucked under his arm. +Plotinus was less ashamed of his whole body than I of this inconsiderate +and stupid appendage. To be sure, I might swim for a certain distance +under water. But that accomplishment I had reserved for a retreat, for I +knew that the longer I stayed down the more surely I should have to +snort like a walrus when I came up again, and to approach an enemy with +such a demonstration was not to be thought of. + +Suddenly a dog barked. We had certain information that a pack of hounds +was kept at a Rebel station a few miles off, on purpose to hunt +runaways, and I had heard from the negroes almost fabulous accounts of +the instinct of these animals. I knew that, although water baffled their +scent, they yet could recognize in some manner the approach of any +person across water as readily as by land; and of the vigilance of all +dogs by night every traveller among Southern plantations has ample +demonstration. I was now so near that I could dimly see the figures of +men moving to and fro upon the end of the causeway, and could hear the +dull knock, when one struck his foot against a piece of limber. + +As my first object was to ascertain whether there were sentinels at +that time at that precise point, I saw that I was approaching the end +of my experiment Could I have once reached the causeway unnoticed, I +could have lurked in the water beneath its projecting timbers, and +perhaps made my way along the main shore, as I had known fugitive +slaves to do, while coming from that side. Or had there been any +ripple on the water, to confuse the aroused and watchful eyes, I could +have made a circuit and approached the causeway at another point, +though I had already satisfied myself that there was only a narrow +channel on each side of it, even at high tide, and not, as on our +side, a broad expanse of water. Indeed, this knowledge alone was worth +all the trouble I had taken, and to attempt much more than this, in +the face of a curiosity already roused, would have been a waste of +future opportunities. I could try again, with the benefit of this new +knowledge, on a point where the statements of the negroes had always +been contradictory. + +Resolving, however, to continue the observation a very little longer, +since the water felt much warmer than I had expected, and there was no +sense of chill or fatigue, I grasped at some wisps of straw or rushes +that floated near, gathering them round my face a little, and then +drifting nearer the wharf in what seemed a sort of eddy was able, +without creating further alarm, to make some additional observations on +points which it is not best now to particularize. Then, turning my back +upon the mysterious shore which had thus far lured me, I sank softly +below the surface, and swam as far as I could under water. + +During this unseen retreat, I heard, of course, all manner of gurglings +and hollow reverberations, and could fancy as many rifle-shots as I +pleased. But on rising to the surface all seemed quiet, and even I did +not create as much noise as I should have expected. I was now at a safe +distance, since the enemy were always chary of showing their boats, and +always tried to convince us they had none. What with absorbed attention +first, and this submersion afterwards, I had lost all my bearings but +the stars, having been long out of sight of my original point of +departure. However, the difficulties of the return were nothing; making +a slight allowance for the floodtide, which could not yet have turned, I +should soon regain the place I had left. So I struck out freshly against +the smooth water, feeling just a little stiffened by the exertion, +and with an occasional chill running up the back of the neck, but with +no nips from sharks, no nudges from alligators, and not a symptom of +fever-and-ague. + +Time I could not, of course, measure,--one never can in a novel position; +but, after a reasonable amount of swimming, I began to look, with a +natural interest, for the pier which I had quitted. I noticed, with some +solicitude, that the woods along the friendly shore made one continuous +shadow, and that the line of low bushes on the long causeway could +scarcely be relieved against them, yet I knew where they ought to be, +and the more doubtful I felt about it, the more I put down my doubts, as +if they were unreasonable children. One can scarcely conceive of the +alteration made in familiar objects by bringing the eye as low as the +horizon, especially by night; to distinguish foreshortening is +impossible, and every low near object is equivalent to one higher and +more remote. Still I had the stars; and soon my eye, more practised, was +enabled to select one precise line of bushes as that which marked the +causeway, and for which I must direct my course. + +As I swam steadily, but with some sense of fatigue, towards this +phantom-line, I found it difficult to keep my faith steady and my +progress true; everything appeared to shift and waver, in the uncertain +light. The distant trees seemed not trees, but bushes, and the bushes +seemed not exactly bushes, but might, after all, be distant trees. Could +I be so confident that, out of all that low stretch of shore, I could +select the one precise point where the friendly causeway stretched its +long arm to receive me from the water? How easily (some tempter +whispered at my ear) might one swerve a little, on either side, and be +compelled to flounder over half a mile of oozy marsh on an ebbing tide, +before reaching our own shore and that hospitable volley of bullets with +which it would probably greet me! Had I not already (thus the tempter +continued) been swimming rather unaccountably far, supposing me on a +straight track for that inviting spot where my sentinels and my drapery +were awaiting my return? + +Suddenly I felt a sensation as of fine ribbons drawn softly +across my person, and I found myself among some rushes. But what +business had rushes there, or I among them? I knew that there was not a +solitary spot of shoal in the deep channel where I supposed myself +swimming, and it was plain in an instant that I had somehow missed my +course, and must be getting among the marshes. I felt confident, to be +sure, that I could not have widely erred, but was guiding my course for +the proper side of tie river. But whether I had drifted above or below +the causeway I had not the slightest clew to tell. + +I pushed steadily forward, with some increasing sense of lassitude, +passing one marshy islet after another, all seeming strangely out of +place, and sometimes just reaching with my foot a soft tremulous shoal +which gave scarce the shadow of a support, though even that shadow +rested my feet. At one of these moments of stillness it suddenly +occurred to my perception (what nothing but this slight contact could +have assured me, in the darkness) that I was in a powerful current, and +that this current set _the wrong way_. Instantly a flood of new +intelligence came. Either I had unconsciously turned and was rapidly +nearing the Rebel shore,--a suspicion which a glance at the stars +corrected,--or else it was the tide itself which had turned, and which +was sweeping me down the river with all its force, and was also sucking +away at every moment the narrowing water from that treacherous expanse +of mud out of whose horrible miry embrace I had lately helped to rescue +a shipwrecked crew. + +Either alternative was rather formidable. I can distinctly remember +that for about one half-minute the whole vast universe appeared to +swim in the same watery uncertainty in which I floated. I began to +doubt everything, to distrust the stars, the line of low bushes for +which I was wearily striving, the very land on which they grew, if +such visionary things could be rooted anywhere. Doubts trembled in my +mind like the weltering water, and that awful sensation of having +one's feet unsupported, which benumbs the spent swimmer's heart, +seemed to clutch at mine, though not yet to enter it. I was more +absorbed in that singular sensation of nightmare, such as one may feel +equally when lost by land or by water, as if one's own position were +all right, but the place looked for had somehow been preternaturally +abolished out of the universe. At best, might not a man in the water +lose all his power of direction, and so move in an endless circle +until he sank exhausted? It required a deliberate and conscious effort +to keep my brain quite cool. I have not the reputation of being of an +excitable temperament, but the contrary; yet I could at that moment +see my way to a condition in which one might become insane in an +instant. It was as if a fissure opened somewhere, and I saw my way +into a mad-house; then it closed, and everything went on as before. +Once in my life I had obtained a slight glimpse of the same sensation, +and then, too, strangely enough, while swimming,--in the mightiest +ocean-surge into which I had ever dared plunge my mortal body. Keats +hints at the same sudden emotion, in a wild poem written among the +Scottish mountains. It was not the distinctive sensation which +drowning men are said to have, that spasmodic passing in review of +one's whole personal history. I had no well-defined anxiety, felt no +fear, was moved to no prayer, did not give a thought to home or +friends; only it swept over me, as with a sudden tempest, that, if I +meant to get back to my own camp, I must keep my wits about me. I must +not dwell on any other alternative, any more than a boy who climbs a +precipice must look down. Imagination had no business here. That way +madness lay. There was a shore somewhere before me, and I must get to +it, by the ordinary means, before the ebb laid bare the flats, or +swept me below the lower bends of the stream. That was all. + +Suddenly a light gleamed for an instant before me, as if from a house in +a grove of great trees upon a bank; and I knew that it came from the +window of a ruined plantation-building, where our most advanced outposts +had their headquarters. The flash revealed to me every point of the +situation. I saw at once where I was, and how I got there: that the tide +had turned while I was swimming, and with a much briefer interval of +slack-water than I had been led to suppose,--that I had been swept a +good way down stream, and was far beyond all possibility of regaining +the point I had left. + +Could I, however, retain my strength to swim one or two hundred yards +farther, of which I had no doubt,--and if the water did not ebb too +rapidly, of which I had more fear,--then I was quite safe. Every stroke +took me more and more out of the power of the current, and there might +even be an eddy to aid me. I could not afford to be carried down much +farther, for there the channel made a sweep toward the wrong side of the +river; but there was now no reason why I should not reach land. I could +dismiss all fear, indeed, except that of being fired upon by our own +sentinels, many of whom were then new recruits, and with the usual +disposition to shoot first and investigate afterwards. + +I found myself swimming in shallow and shallower water, and the flats +seemed almost bare when I neared the shore, where the great gnarled +branches of the liveoaks hung far over the muddy bank. Floating on my +back for noiselessness, I paddled rapidly in with my hands, expecting +momentarily to hear the challenge of the picket, and the ominous click +so likely to follow. I knew that some one should be pacing to and fro, +along that beat, but could not tell at what point he might be at that +precise moment. Besides, there was a faint possibility that some chatty +corporal might have carried the news of my bath thus far along the line, +and they might be partially prepared for this unexpected visitor. +Suddenly, like another flash, came the quick, quaint challenge,-- + +"Halt! Who's go dar?" + +"F-f-friend with the c-c-countersign," retorted I, with chilly, but +conciliatory energy, rising at full length out of the shallow water, to +show myself a man and a brother. + +"Ac-vance, friend, and give de countersign," responded the literal +soldier, who at such a tune would have accosted : a spirit of light or +goblin damned with no other formula. + +I advanced and gave it, he recognized my voice at once. | And then and +there, as I stood, a dripping ghost, beneath the f trees before him, the +unconscionable fellow, wishing to exhaust upon me the utmost +resources of military hospitality, deliberately presented arms! + +Now a soldier on picket, or at night, usually presents arms to nobody; +but a sentinel on camp-guard by day is expected to perform that +ceremony to anything in human shape that has two rows of buttons. Here +was a human shape, but so utterly buttonless that it exhibited not +even a rag to which a button could by any earthly possibility be +appended, button-less even potentially; and my blameless Ethiopian +presented arms to even this. Where, then, are the theories of Carlyle, +the axioms of "Sartor Resartus," the inability of humanity to conceive +"a naked Duke of Windlestraw addressing a naked House of Lords"? +Cautioning my adherent, however, as to the proprieties suitable for +such occasions thenceforward, I left him watching the river with +renewed vigilance, and awaiting the next merman who should report +himself. + +Finding my way to the building, I hunted up a sergeant and a blanket, +got a fire kindled in the dismantled chimney, and sat before it in my +single garment, like a moist but undismayed Choctaw, until horse and +clothing could be brought round from the causeway. It seemed strange +that the morning had not yet dawned, after the uncounted periods that +must have elapsed; but when the wardrobe arrived I looked at my watch +and found that my night in the water had lasted precisely one hour. + +Galloping home, I turned in with alacrity, and without a drop of +whiskey, and waked a few hours after in excellent condition. The rapid +changes of which that Department has seen so many--and, perhaps, to so +little purpose--soon transferred us to a different scene. I have been on +other scouts since then, and by various processes, but never with a zest +so novel as was afforded by that night's experience. The thing soon got +wind in the regiment, and led to only one ill consequence, so far as I +know. It rather suppressed a way I had of lecturing the officers on the +importance of reducing their personal baggage to a minimum. They got a +trick of congratulating me, very respectfully, on the thoroughness with +which I had once conformed my practice to my precepts. + + + + +Chapter 7 +Up the Edisto + + +In reading military history, one finds the main interest to lie, +undoubtedly, in the great campaigns, where a man, a regiment, a brigade, +is but a pawn in the game. But there is a charm also in the more free +and adventurous life of partisan warfare, where, if the total sphere be +humbler, yet the individual has more relative importance, and the sense +of action is more personal and keen. This is the reason given by the +eccentric Revolutionary biographer, Weems, for writing the Life of +Washington first, and then that of Marion. And there were, certainly, hi +the early adventures of the colored troops in the Department of the +South, some of the same elements of picturesqueness that belonged to +Marion's band, on the same soil, with the added feature that the blacks +were fighting for then- personal liberties, of which Marion had helped +to deprive them. + +It is stated by Major-General Gillmore, in his "Siege of Charleston," +as one of the three points in his preliminary strategy, that an +expedition was sent up the Edisto River to destroy a bridge on the +Charleston and Savannah Railway. As one of the early raids of the +colored troops, this expedition may deserve narration, though it was, +in a strategic point of view, a disappointment. It has already been +told, briefly and on the whole with truth, by Greeley and others, but +I will venture on a more complete account. + +The project dated back earlier than General Gillmore's siege, and had +originally no connection with that movement. It had been formed by +Captain Trowbridge and myself in camp, and was based on facts learned +from the men. General Saxton and Colonel W. W. H. Davis, the successive +post-commanders, had both favored it. It had been also approved by +General Hunter, before his sudden removal, though he regarded the bridge +as a secondary affair, because there was another railway communication +between the two cities. But as my main object was to obtain permission +to go, I tried to make the most of all results which might follow, while +it was very clear that the raid would harass and confuse the enemy, +and be the means of bringing away many of the slaves. General Hunter +had, therefore, accepted the project mainly as a stroke for freedom and +black recruits; and General Gillmore, because anything that looked +toward action found favor in his eyes, and because it would be +convenient to him at that time to effect a diversion, if nothing more. + +It must be remembered that, after the first capture of Port Royal, the +outlying plantations along the whole Southern coast were abandoned, and +the slaves withdrawn into the interior. It was necessary to ascend some +river for thirty miles in order to reach the black population at all. +This ascent could only be made by night, as it was a slow process, and +the smoke of a steamboat could be seen for a great distance. The streams +were usually shallow, winding, and muddy, and the difficulties of +navigation were such as to require a full moon and a flood tide. It was +really no easy matter to bring everything to bear, especially as every +projected raid must be kept a secret so far as possible. However, we +were now somewhat familiar with such undertakings, half military, half +naval, and the thing to be done on the Edisto was precisely what we had +proved to be practicable on the St. Mary's and the St. John's,--to drop +anchor before the enemy's door some morning at daybreak, without his +having dreamed of our approach. + +Since a raid made by Colonel Montgomery up the Combahee, two months +before, the vigilance of the Rebels had increased. But we had +information that upon the South Edisto, or Pon-Pon River, the rice +plantations were still being actively worked by a large number of +negroes, in reliance on obstructions placed at the mouth of that +narrow stream, where it joins the main river, some twenty miles from +the coast. This point was known to be further protected by a battery +of unknown strength, at Wiltown Bluff, a commanding and defensible +situation. The obstructions consisted of a row of strong wooden piles +across the river; but we convinced ourselves that these must now be +much decayed, and that Captain Trowbridge, an excellent engineer +officer, could remove them by the proper apparatus. Our proposition +was to man the John Adams, an armed ferry-boat, which had before done +us much service,--and which has now reverted to the pursuits of peace, +it is said, on the East Boston line,--to ascend in this to Wiltown +Bluff, silence the battery, and clear a passage through the +obstructions. Leaving the John Adams to protect this point, we could +then ascend the smaller stream with two light-draft boats, and perhaps +burn the bridge, which was ten miles higher, before the enemy could +bring sufficient force to make our position at Wiltown Bluff +untenable. + +The expedition was organized essentially upon this plan. The smaller +boats were the Enoch Dean,--a river steamboat, which carried a ten-pound +Parrott gun, and a small howitzer,--and a little mosquito of a tug, the +Governor Milton, upon which, with the greatest difficulty, we found room +for two twelve-pound Armstrong guns, with their gunners, forming a +section of the First Connecticut Battery, under Lieutenant Clinton, +aided by a squad from my own regiment, under Captain James. The John +Adams carried, I if I remember rightly, two Parrott guns (of twenty and +ten | pounds calibre) and a howitzer or two. The whole force of men did +not exceed two hundred and fifty. + +We left Beaufort, S. C., on the afternoon of July 9th, 1863. In former +narrations I have sufficiently described the charm of a moonlight +ascent into a hostile country, upon an unknown stream, the dark and +silent banks, the rippling water, the wail of the reed-birds, the +anxious watch, the breathless listening, the veiled lights, the +whispered orders. To this was now to be added the vexation of an +insufficient pilotage, for our negro guide knew only the upper river, +and, as it finally proved, not even that, while, to take us over the +bar which obstructed the main stream, we must borrow a pilot from +Captain Dutch, whose gunboat blockaded that point. This active naval +officer, however, whose boat expeditions had penetrated all the lower +branches of those rivers, could supply our want, and we borrowed from +him not only a pilot, but a surgeon, to replace our own, who had been +prevented by an accident from coming with us. Thus accompanied, we +steamed over the bar in safety, had a peaceful ascent, passed the +island of Jehossee,--the fine estate of Governor Aiken, then left +undisturbed by both sides,--and fired our first shell into the camp at +Wiltown Bluff at four o'clock in the morning. + +The battery--whether fixed or movable we knew not--met us with a +promptness that proved very shortlived. After three shots it was +silent, but we could not tell why. The bluff was wooded, and we could +see but little. The only course was to land, under cover of the guns. +As the firing ceased and the smoke cleared away, I looked across the +rice-fields which lay beneath the bluff. The first sunbeams glowed +upon their emerald levels, and on the blossoming hedges along the +rectangular dikes. What were those black dots which everywhere +appeared? Those moist meadows had become alive with human heads, and +along each narrow path came a straggling file of men and women, all on +a run for the river-side. I went ashore with a boat-load of troops at +once. The landing was difficult and marshy. The astonished negroes +tugged us up the bank, and gazed on us as if we had been Cortez and +Columbus. They kept arriving by land much faster than we could come by +water; every moment increased the crowd, the jostling, the mutual +clinging, on that miry foothold. What a scene it was! With the wild +faces, eager figures, strange garments, it seemed, as one of the poor +things reverently suggested, "like notin' but de judgment day." +Presently they began to come from the houses also, with their little +bundles on their heads; then with larger bundles. Old women, trotting +on the narrow paths, would kneel to pray a little prayer, still +balancing the bundle; and then would suddenly spring up, urged by the +accumulating procession behind, and would move on till irresistibly +compelled by thankfulness to dip down for another invocation. + +Reaching us, every human being must grasp our hands, amid exclamations +of "Bress you, mas'r," and "Bress de Lord," at the rate of four of the +latter ascriptions to one of the former. + +Women brought children on their shoulders; small black boys learned on +their back little brothers equally inky, and, gravely depositing them, +shook hands. Never had I seen human beings so clad, or rather so +unclad, in such amazing squalid-ness and destitution of garments. I +recall one small urchin without a rag of clothing save the basque +waist of a lady's dress, bristling with whalebones, and worn wrong +side before, beneath which his smooth ebony legs emerged like those of +an ostrich from its plumage. How weak is imagination, how cold is +memory, that I ever cease, for a day of my life, to see before me the +picture of that astounding scene! + +Yet at the time we were perforce a little impatient of all this piety, +protestation, and hand-pressing; for the vital thing was to ascertain +what force had been stationed at the bluff, and whether it was yet +withdrawn. The slaves, on the other hand, were too much absorbed in +their prospective freedom to aid us in taking any further steps to +secure it. Captain Trowbridge, who had by this time landed at a +different point, got quite into despair over the seeming deafness of the +people to all questions. "How many soldiers are there on the bluff?" he +asked of the first-comer. + +"Mas'r," said the man, stuttering terribly, "I c-c-c--" + +"Tell me how many soldiers there are!" roared Trowbridge, in his mighty +voice, and all but shaking the poor old thing, in his thirst for +information. + +"O mas'r," recommenced in terror the incapacitated wit-ness, "I +c-c-carpenter!" holding up eagerly a little stump of a hatchet, his +sole treasure, as if his profession ought to excuse from all military +opinions. + +I wish that it were possible to present all this scene from the point +of view of the slaves themselves. It can be most nearly done, perhaps, +by quoting the description given of a similar scene on the Combahee +River, by a very aged man, who had been brought down on the previous +raid, already mentioned. I wrote it down in tent, long after, while +the old man recited the tale, with much gesticulation, at the door; +and it is by far the best glimpse I have ever had, through a negro's +eyes, at these wonderful birthdays of freedom. + +"De people was all a hoein', mas'r," said the old man. "Dey was a hoein' +in the rice-field, when de gunboats come. Den ebry man drap dem hoe, and +leff de rice. De mas'r he stand and call, 'Run to de wood for hide! +Yankee come, sell you to Cuba! run for hide!' Ebry man he run, and, my +God! run all toder way! + +"Mas'r stand in de wood, peep, peep, faid for truss [afraid to trust]. +He say, 'Run to de wood!' and ebry man run by him, straight to de boat. + +"De brack sojer so presumptious, dey come right ashore, hold up dere +head. Fus' ting I know, dere was a barn, ten tousand bushel rough rice, +all in a blaze, den mas'r's great house, all cracklin' up de roof. +Didn't I keer for see 'em blaze? Lor, mas'r, didn't care notin' at all, +_was gwine to de boat_." + +Dore's Don Quixote could not surpass the sublime absorption in which the +gaunt old man, with arm uplifted, described this stage of affairs, till +he ended in a shrewd chuckle, worthy of Sancho Panza. Then he resumed. + +"De brack sojers so presumptious!" This he repeated three times, slowly +shaking his head in an ectasy of admiration. It flashed upon me that the +apparition of a black soldier must amaze those still in bondage, much as +a butterfly just from the chrysalis might astound his fellow-grubs. I +inwardly vowed that my soldiers, at least, should be as "presumptious" +as I could make them. Then he went on. + +"Ole woman and I go down to de boat; den dey say behind us, 'Rebels +comin'l Rebels comin'!' Ole woman say, 'Come ahead, come plenty +ahead!' I hab notin' on but my shirt and pantaloon; ole woman one +single frock he hab on, and one handkerchief on he head; I leff +all-two my blanket and run for de Rebel come, and den dey didn't come, +didn't truss for come. + +"Ise eighty-eight year old, mas'r. My ole Mas'r Lowndes keep all de ages +in a big book, and when we come to age ob sense we mark em down ebry +year, so I know. Too ole for come? Mas'r joking. Neber too ole for leave +de land o' bondage. I old, but great good for chil'en, gib tousand tank +ebry day. Young people can go through, _force_ [forcibly], mas'r, but de +ole folk mus' go slow." + +Such emotions as these, no doubt, were inspired by our arrival, but we +could only hear their hasty utterance in passing; our duty being, with +the small force already landed, to take possession of the bluff. +Ascending, with proper precautions, the wooded hill, we soon found +ourselves in the deserted camp of a light battery, amid scattered +equipments and suggestions of a very unattractive breakfast. As soon as +possible, skirmishers were thrown out through the woods to the farther +edge of the bluff, while a party searched the houses, finding the usual +large supply of furniture and pictures,--brought up for safety from +below,--but no soldiers. Captain Trowbridge then got the John Adams +beside the row of piles, and went to work for their removal. + +Again I had the exciting sensation of being within the hostile +lines,--the eager explorations, the doubts, the watchfulness, the +listening for every sound of coming hoofs. Presently a horse's tread +was heard in earnest, but it was a squad of our own men bringing in +two captured cavalry soldiers. One of these, a sturdy fellow, +submitted quietly to his lot, only begging that, whenever we should +evacuate the bluff, a note should be left behind stating that he was a +prisoner. The other, a very young man, and a member of the "Rebel +Troop," a sort of Cadet corps among the Charleston youths, came to me +in great wrath, complaining that the corporal of our squad had kicked +him after he had surrendered. His air of offended pride was very +rueful, and it did indeed seem a pathetic reversal of fortunes for the +two races. To be sure, the youth was a scion of one of the foremost +families of South Carolina, and when I considered the wrongs which the +black race had encountered from those of his blood, first and last, it +seemed as if the most scrupulous Recording Angel might tolerate one +final kick to square the account. But I reproved the corporal, who +respectfully disclaimed the charge, and said the kick was an incident +of the scuffle. It certainly was not their habit to show such poor +malice; they thought too well of themselves. + +His demeanor seemed less lofty, but rather piteous, when he implored me +not to put him on board any vessel which was to ascend the upper stream, +and hinted, by awful implications, the danger of such ascent. This meant +torpedoes, a peril which we treated, in those days, with rather mistaken +contempt. But we found none on the Edisto, and it may be that it was +only a foolish attempt to alarm us. + +Meanwhile, Trowbridge was toiling away at the row of piles, which proved +easier to draw out than to saw asunder, either work being hard enough. +It took far longer than we had hoped, and we saw noon approach and the +tide rapidly fall, taking with it, inch by inch, our hopes of effecting +a surprise at the bridge. During this time, and indeed all day, the +detachments on shore, under Captains Whitney and Sampson, were having +occasional skirmishes with the enemy, while the colored people were +swarming to the shore, or running to and fro like ants, with the poor +treasures of their houses. Our busy Quartermaster, Mr. Bingham--who died +afterwards from the overwork of that sultry day--was transporting the +refugees on board the steamer, or hunting up bales of cotton, or +directing the burning of rice-houses, in accordance with our orders. No +dwelling-houses were destroyed or plundered by our men,--Sherman's +"bummers" not having yet arrived,--though I asked no questions as to what +the plantation negroes might bring in their great bundles. One piece of +property, I must admit, seemed a lawful capture,--a United States +dress-sword, of the old pattern, which had belonged to the Rebel general +who afterwards gave the order to bury Colonel Shaw "with his niggers." +That I have retained, not without some satisfaction, to this day. + +A passage having been cleared at last, and the tide having turned by +noon, we lost no time in attempting the ascent, leaving the bluff to +be held by the John Adams, and by the small force on shore. We were +scarcely above the obstructions, however, when the little tug went +aground, and the Enoch Dean, ascending a mile farther, had an +encounter with a battery on the right,--perhaps our old enemy,--and +drove it back. Soon after, she also ran aground, a misfortune of which +our opponent strangely took no advantage; and, on getting off, I +thought it best to drop down to the bluff again, as the tide was still +hoplessly low. None can tell, save those who have tried them, the +vexations of those muddy Southern streams, navigable only during a few +hours of flood-tide. + +After waiting an hour, the two small vessels again tried the ascent. The +enemy on the right had disappeared; but we could now see, far off on our +left, another light battery moving parallel with the river, apparently +to meet us at some upper bend. But for the present we were safe, with +the low rice-fields on each side of us; and the scene was so peaceful, +it seemed as if all danger were done. For the first time, we saw in +South Carolina blossoming river-banks and low emerald meadows, that +seemed like New England. Everywhere there were the same rectangular +fields, smooth canals, and bushy dikes. A few negroes stole out to us in +dugouts, and breathlessly told us how others had been hurried away by +the overseers. We glided safely on, mile after mile. The day was +unutterably hot, but all else seemed propitious. The men had their +combustibles all ready to fire the bridge, and our hopes were unbounded. + +But by degrees the channel grew more tortuous and difficult, and while +the little Milton glided smoothly over everything, the Enoch Dean, my +own boat, repeatedly grounded. On every occasion of especial need, +too, something went wrong in her machinery,--her engine being +constructed on some wholly new patent, of which, I should hope, this +trial would prove entirely sufficient. The black pilot, who was not a +soldier, grew more and more bewildered, and declared that it was the +channel, not his brain, which had gone wrong; the captain, a little +elderly man, sat wringing his hands in the pilot-box; and the engineer +appeared to be mingling his groans with those of the diseased engine. +Meanwhile I, in equal ignorance of machinery and channel, had to give +orders only justified by minute acquaintance with both. So I navigated +on general principles, until they grounded us on a mud-bank, just +below a wooded point, and some two miles from the bridge of our +destination. It was with a pang that I waved to Major Strong, who was +on the other side of the channel in a tug, not to risk approaching us, +but to steam on and finish the work, if he could. + +Short was his triumph. Gliding round the point, he found himself +instantly engaged with a light battery of four or six guns, doubtless +the same we had seen in the distance. The Milton was within two hundred +and fifty yards. The Connecticut men fought then: guns well, aided by +the blacks, and it was exasperating for us to hear the shots, while we +could see nothing and do nothing. The scanty ammunition of our bow gun +was exhausted, and the gun in the stern was useless, from the position +in which we lay. In vain we moved the men from side to side, rocking the +vessel, to dislodge it. The heat was terrific that August afternoon; I +remember I found myself constantly changing places, on the scorched +deck, to keep my feet from being blistered. At last the officer in +charge of the gun, a hardy lumberman from Maine, got the stern of the +vessel so far round that he obtained the range of the battery through +the cabin windows, "but it would be necessary," he cooly added, on +reporting to me this fact, "to shoot away the corner of the cabin." I +knew that this apartment was newly painted and gilded, and the idol of +the poor captain's heart; but it was plain that even the thought of his +own upholstery could not make the poor soul more wretched than he was. +So I bade Captain Dolly blaze away, and thus we took our hand in the +little game, though at a sacrifice. + +It was of no use. Down drifted out little consort round the point, her +engine disabled and her engineer killed, as we afterwards found, though +then we could only look and wonder. Still pluckily firing, she floated +by upon the tide, which had now just turned; and when, with a last +desperate effort, we got off, our engine had one of its impracticable +fits, and we could only follow her. The day was waning, and all its +range of possibility had lain within the limits of that one tide. + +All our previous expeditions had been so successful it now seemed hard +to turn back; the river-banks and rice-fields, so beautiful before, +seemed only a vexation now. But the swift current bore us on, and after +our Parthian shots had died away, a new discharge of artillery opened +upon us, from our first antagonist of the morning, which still kept the +other side of the stream. It had taken up a strong position on another +bluff, almost out of range of the John Adams, but within easy range of +us. The sharpest contest of the day was before us. Happily the engine +and engineer were now behaving well, and we were steering in a channel +already traversed, and of which the dangerous points were known. But we +had a long, straight reach of river before us, heading directly toward +the battery, which, having once got our range, had only to keep it, +while we could do nothing in return. The Rebels certainly served then: +guns well. For the first time I discovered that there were certain +compensating advantages in a slightly built craft, as compared with one +more substantial; the missiles never lodged in the vessel, but crashed +through some thin partition as if it were paper, to explode beyond us, +or fall harmless in the water. Splintering, the chief source of wounds +and death in wooden ships, was thus entirely avoided; the danger was +that our machinery might be disabled, or that shots might strike below +the water-line and sink us. + +This, however, did not happen. Fifteen projectiles, as we afterwards +computed, passed through the vessel or cut the rigging. Yet few +casualties occurred, and those instantly fatal. As my orderly stood +leaning on a comrade's shoulder, the head of the latter was shot off. At +last I myself felt a sudden blow in the side, as if from some +prize-fighter, doubling me up for a moment, while I sank upon a seat. It +proved afterwards to have been produced by the grazing of a ball, which, +without tearing a garment, had yet made a large part of my side black +and blue, leaving a sensation of paralysis which made it difficult to +stand. Supporting myself on Captain Rogers, I tried to comprehend what +had happened, and I remember being impressed by an odd feeling that I +had now got my share, and should henceforth be a great deal safer +than any of the rest. I am told that this often follows one's first +experience of a wound. + +But this immediate contest, sharp as it was, proved brief; a turn in the +river enabled us to use our stern gun, and we soon glided into the +comparative shelter of Wiltown Bluff. There, however, we were to +encounter the danger of shipwreck, superadded to that of fight. When the +passage through the piles was first cleared, it had been marked by +stakes, lest the rising tide should cover the remaining piles, and make +it difficult to run the passage. But when we again reached it, the +stakes had somehow been knocked away, the piles were just covered by the +swift current, and the little tug-boat was aground upon them. She came +off easily, however, with our aid, and, when we in turn essayed the +passage, we grounded also, but more firmly. We getting off at last, and +making the passage, the tug again became lodged, when nearly past +danger, and all our efforts proved powerless to pull her through. I +therefore dropped down below, and sent the John Adams to her aid, while +I superintended the final recall of the pickets, and the embarkation of +the remaining refugees. + +While thus engaged, I felt little solicitude about the boats above. It +was certain that the John Adams could safely go close to the piles on +the lower side, that she was very strong, and that the other was very +light. Still, it was natural to cast some anxious glances up the river, +and it was with surprise that I presently saw a canoe descending, which +contained Major Strong. Coming on board, he told me with some excitement +that the tug could not possibly be got off, and he wished for orders. + +It was no time to consider whether it was not his place to have given +orders, instead of going half a mile to seek them. I was by this time +so far exhausted that everything seemed to pass by me as by one in a +dream; but I got into a boat, pushed up stream, met presently the John +Adams returning, and was informed by the officer in charge of the +Connecticut battery that he had abandoned the tug, and--worse news yet +--that his guns had been thrown overboard. It seemed to me then, and +has always seemed, that this sacrifice was utterly needless, because, +although the captain of the John Adams had refused to risk his vessel +by going near enough to receive the guns, he should have been +compelled to do so. Though the thing was done without my knowledge, +and beyond my reach, yet, as commander of the expedition, I was +technically responsible. It was hard to blame a lieutenant when his +senior had shrunk from a decision, and left him alone; nor was it easy +to blame Major Strong, whom I knew to be a man of personal courage +though without much decision of character. He was subsequently tried +by court-martial and acquitted, after which he resigned, and was lost +at sea on his way home. + +The tug, being thus abandoned, must of course be burned to prevent her +falling into the enemy's hands. Major Strong went with prompt +fearlessness to do this, at my order; after which he remained on the +Enoch Dean, and I went on board the John Adams, being compelled to +succumb at last, and transfer all remaining responsibility to Captain +Trowbridge. Exhausted as I was, I could still observe, in a vague way, +the scene around me. Every available corner of the boat seemed like some +vast auction-room of second-hand goods. Great piles of bedding and +bundles lay on every side, with black heads emerging and black forms +reclining in every stage of squalidness. Some seemed ill, or wounded, or +asleep, others were chattering eagerly among themselves, singing, +praying, or soliloquizing on joys to come. "Bress de Lord," I heard one +woman say, "I spec' I got salt victual now,--notin' but fresh victual +dese six months, but Ise get salt victual now,"--thus reversing, under +pressure of the salt-embargo, the usual anticipations of voyagers. + +Trowbridge told me, long after, that, on seeking a fan for my benefit, +he could find but one on board. That was in the hands of a fat old +"aunty," who had just embarked, and sat on an enormous bundle of her +goods, in everybody's way, fanning herself vehemently, and ejaculating, +as her gasping breath would permit, "Oh! Do, Jesus! Oh! Do, Jesus!" when +the captain abruptly disarmed her of the fan, and left her continuing +her pious exercises. + +Thus we glided down the river in the waning light. Once more we +encountered a battery, making five in all; I could hear the guns of +the assailants, and could not distinguish the explosion of their +shells from the answering throb of our own guns. The kind +Quartermaster kept bringing me news of what occurred, like Rebecca in +Front-de-Bceuf s castle, but discreetly withholding any actual +casualties. Then all faded into safety and sleep; and we reached +Beaufort in the morning, after thirty-six hours of absence. A kind +friend, who acted in South Carolina a nobler part amid tragedies than +in any of her early stage triumphs, met us with an ambulance at the +wharf, and the prisoners, the wounded, and the dead were duly +attended. + +The reader will not care for any personal record of convalescence; +though, among the general military laudations of whiskey, it is worth +while to say that one life was saved, in the opinion of my surgeons, by +an habitual abstinence from it, leaving no food for peritoneal +inflammation to feed upon. The able-bodied men who had joined us were, +sent to aid General Gillmore in the trenches, while their families were +established in huts and tents on St. Helena Island. A year after, +greatly to the delight of the regiment, in taking possession of a +battery which they had helped to capture on James Island, they found in +their hands the selfsame guns which they had seen thrown overboard from +the Governor Milton. They then felt that their account with the enemy +was squared, and could proceed to further operations. + +Before the war, how great a thing seemed the rescue of even one man from +slavery; and since the war has emancipated all, how little seems the +liberation of two hundred! But no one then knew how the contest might +end; and when I think of that morning sunlight, those emerald fields, +those thronging numbers, the old women with then- prayers, and the +little boys with then: living burdens, I know that the day was worth all +it cost, and more. + + + + +Chapter 8 +The Baby of the Regiment + + +We were in our winter camp on Port Royal Island. It was a lovely +November morning, soft and spring-like; the mocking-birds were singing, +and the cotton-fields still white with fleecy pods. Morning drill was +over, the men were cleaning their guns and singing very happily; the +officers were in their tents, reading still more happily their letters +just arrived from home. Suddenly I heard a knock at my tent-door, and +the latch clicked. It was the only latch in camp, and I was very proud +of it, and the officers always clicked it as loudly as possible, in +order to gratify my feelings. The door opened, and the Quartermaster +thrust in the most beaming face I ever saw. + +"Colonel," said he, "there are great news for the regiment. My wife and +baby are coming by the next steamer!" + +"Baby!" said I, in amazement. "Q. M., you are beside yourself." (We +always called the Quartermaster Q. M. for shortness.) "There was a pass +sent to your wife, but nothing was ever said about a baby. Baby indeed!" + +"But the baby was included in the pass," replied the triumphant +father-of-a-family. "You don't suppose my wife would come down here +without her baby! Besides, the pass itself permits her to bring +necessary baggage, and is not a baby six months old necessary baggage?" + +"But, my dear fellow," said I, rather anxiously, "how can you make the +little thing comfortable in a tent, amidst these rigors of a South +Carolina winter, when it is uncomfortably hot for drill at noon, and ice +forms by your bedside at night?" + +"Trust me for that," said the delighted papa, and went off whistling. I +could hear him telling the same news to three others, at least, before +he got to his own tent. + +That day the preparations began, and soon his abode was a wonder of +comfort. There were posts and rafters, and a raised floor, and a great +chimney, and a door with hinges,--every luxury except a latch, and that +he could not have, for mine was the last that could be purchased. One of +the regimental carpenters was employed to make a cradle, and another to +make a bedstead high enough for the cradle to go under. Then there must +be a bit of red carpet beside the bedstead, and thus the progress of +splendor went on. The wife of one of the colored sergeants was engaged +to act as nursery-maid. She was a very respectable young woman; the only +objection to her being that she smoked a pipe. But we thought that +perhaps Baby might not dislike tobacco; and if she did, she would have +excellent opportunities to break the pipe in pieces. + +In due time the steamer arrived, and Baby and her mother were among +the passengers. The little recruit was soon settled in her new cradle, +and slept in it as if she had never known any other. The sergeant's +wife soon had her on exhibition through the neighborhood, and from +that time forward she was quite a queen among us. She had sweet blue +eyes and pretty brown hair, with round, dimpled cheeks, and that +perfect dignity which is so beautiful in a baby. She hardly ever +cried, and was not at all timid. She would go to anybody, and yet did +not encourage any romping from any but the most intimate friends. She +always wore a warm long-sleeved scarlet cloak with a hood, and in this +costume was carried or "toted," as the soldiers said, all about the +camp. At "guard-mounting" in the morning, when the men who are to go +on guard duty for the day are drawn up to be inspected, Baby was +always there, to help inspect them. She did not say much, but she eyed +them very closely, and seemed fully to appreciate their bright +buttons. Then the Officer-of-the-Day, who appears at guard-mounting +with his sword and sash, and comes afterwards to the Colonel's tent +for orders, would come and speak to Baby on his way, and receive her +orders first. When the time came for drill she was usually present to +watch the troops; and when the drum beat for dinner she liked to see +the long row of men in each company march up to the cookhouse, in +single file, each with tin cup and plate. + +During the day, in pleasant weather, she might be seen in her nurse's +arms, about the company streets, the centre of an admiring circle, her +scarlet costume looking very pretty amidst the shining black cheeks and +neat blue uniforms of the soldiers. At "dress-parade," just before +sunset, she was always an attendant. As I stood before the regiment, I +could see the little spot of red out of the corner of my eye, at one end +of the long line of men; and I looked with so much interest for her +small person, that, instead of saying at the proper time, "Attention, +Battalion! Shoulder arms!--it is a wonder that I did not say, "Shoulder +babies!" + +Our little lady was very impartial, and distributed her kind looks to +everybody. She had not the slightest prejudice against color, and did +not care in the least whether her particular friends were black or +white. Her especial favorites, I think, were the drummer-boys, who were +not my favorites by any means, for they were a roguish set of scamps, +and gave more trouble than all the grown men in the regiment. I think +Annie liked them because they were small, and made a noise, and had red +caps like her hood, and red facings on their jackets, and also because +they occasionally stood on their heads for her amusement. After +dress-parade the whole drum-corps would march to the great flag-staff, +and wait till just sunset-time, when they would beat "the retreat," and +then the flag would be hauled down,--a great festival for Annie. +Sometimes the Sergeant-Major would wrap her in the great folds of the +flag, after it was taken down, and she would peep out very prettily from +amidst the stars and stripes, like a new-born Goddess of Liberty. + +About once a month, some inspecting officer was sent to the camp by the +general in command, to see to the condition of everything in the +regiment, from bayonets to buttons. It was usually a long and tiresome +process, and, when everything else was done, I used to tell the officer +that I had one thing more for him to inspect, which was peculiar to our +regiment. Then I would send for Baby to be exhibited, and I never saw an +inspecting officer, old or young, who did not look pleased at the sudden +appearance of the little, fresh, smiling creature,--a flower in the midst +of war. And Annie in her turn would look at them, with the true baby +dignity La her face,--that deep, earnest look which babies often have, +and which people think so wonderful when Raphael paints it, although +they might often see just the same expression in the faces of their own +darlings at home. + +Meanwhile Annie seemed to like the camp style of housekeeping very much. +Her father's tent was double, and he used the front apartment for his +office, and the inner room for parlor and bedroom; while the nurse had a +separate tent and wash-room behind all. I remember that, the first time +I went there in the evening, it was to borrow some writing-paper; and +while Baby's mother was hunting for it in the front tent, I heard a +great cooing and murmuring in the inner room. I asked if Annie was still +awake, and her mother told me to go in and see. Pushing aside the canvas +door, I entered. No sign of anybody was to be seen; but a variety of +soft little happy noises seemed to come from some unseen corner. Mrs. C. +came quietly in, pulled away the counterpane of her own bed, and drew +out the rough cradle where lay the little damsel, perfectly happy, and +wider awake than anything but a baby possibly can be. She looked as if +the seclusion of a dozen family bedsteads would not be enough to +discourage her spirits, and I saw that camp life was likely to suit her +very well. + +A tent can be kept very warm, for it is merely a house with a thinner +wall than usual; and I do not think that Baby felt the cold much more +than if she had been at home that winter. The great trouble is, that a +tent-chimney, not being built very high, is apt to smoke when the wind +is in a certain direction; and when that happens it is hardly possible +to stay inside. So we used to build the chimneys of some tents on the +east side, and those of others on the west, and thus some of the tents +were always comfortable. I have seen Baby's mother running in a hard +rain, with little Red-Riding-Hood in her arms, to take refuge with the +Adjutant's wife, when every other abode was full of smoke; and I must +admit that there were one or two windy days that season when nobody +could really keep warm, and Annie had to remain ignomini-ously in her +cradle, with as many clothes on as possible, for almost the whole +time. + +The Quartermaster's tent was very attractive to us in the evening. I +remember that once, on passing near it after nightfall, I heard our +Major's fine voice singing Methodist hymns within, and Mrs. C.'s sweet +tones chiming in. So I peeped through the outer door. The fire was +burning very pleasantly in the inner tent, and the scrap of new red +carpet made the floor look quite magnificent. The Major sat on a box, +our surgeon on a stool; "Q. M." and his wife, and the Adjutant's wife, +and one of the captains, were all sitting on the bed, singing as well as +they knew how; and the baby was under the bed. Baby had retired for the +night, was overshadowed, suppressed, sat upon; the singing went on, and +she had wandered away into her own land of dreams, nearer to heaven, +perhaps, than any pitch their voices could attain. I went in, and joined +the party. Presently the music stopped, and another officer was sent +for, to sing some particular song. At this pause the invisible innocent +waked a little, and began to cluck and coo. + +"It's the kitten," exclaimed somebody. + +"It's my baby!" exclaimed Mrs. C. triumphantly, in that tone of +unfailing personal pride which belongs to young mothers. + +The people all got up from the bed for a moment, while Annie was +pulled from beneath, wide awake and placid as usual; and she sat in +one lap or another during the rest of the concert, sometimes winking +at the candle, but usually listening to the songs, with a calm and +critical expression, as if she could make as much noise as any of +them, whenever she saw fit to try. Not a sound did she make, however, +except one little soft sneeze, which led to an immediate flood-tide of +red shawl, covering every part of her but the forehead. But I soon +hinted that the concert had better be ended, because I knew from +observation that the small damsel had Carefully watched a regimental +inspection and a brigade drill on that day, and that an interval of +repose was certainly necessary. + +Annie did not long remain the only baby in camp. One day, on going out +to the stables to look at a horse, I heard a sound of baby-talk, +addressed by some man to a child near by, and, looking round the corner +of a tent, I saw that one of the hostlers had something black and round, +lying on the sloping side of a tent, with which he was playing very +eagerly. It proved to be his baby, a plump, shiny thing, younger than +Annie; and I never saw a merrier picture than the happy father +frolicking with his child, while the mother stood quietly by. This was +Baby Number Two, and she stayed in camp several weeks, the two innocents +meeting each other every day, in the placid indifference that belonged +to their years; both were happy little healthy things, and it never +seemed to cross their minds that there was any difference in their +complexions. As I said before, Annie was not troubled by any prejudice +in regard to color, nor do I suppose that the other little maiden was. + +Annie enjoyed the tent-life very much; but when we were Sent out on +picket soon after, she enjoyed it still more. Our head-quarters were +at a deserted plantation house, with one large parlor, a dining-room, +and a few bedrooms. Baby's father and mother had a room up stairs, +with a stove whose pipe went straight out at the window. This was +quite comfortable, though half the windows were broken, and there was +no glass and no glazier to mend them. The windows of the large parlor +were in much the same condition, though we had an immense fireplace, +where we had a bright fire whenever it was cold, and always in the +evening. The walls of this room were very dirty, and it took our +ladies several days to cover all the unsightly places with wreaths and +hangings of evergreen. In the performance Baby took an active part. +Her duties consisted in sitting in a great nest of evergreen, pulling +and fingering the fragrant leaves, and occasionally giving a little +cry of glee when she had accomplished some piece of decided mischief. + +There was less entertainment to be found in the camp itself at this +time; but the household at head-quarters was larger than Baby had been +accustomed to. We had a great deal of company, moreover, and she had +quite a gay life of it. She usually made her appearance in the large +parlor soon after breakfast; and to dance her for a few moments in our +arms was one of the first daily duties of each one. Then the morning +reports began to arrive from the different outposts,--a mounted officer +or courier coming in from each place, dismounting at the door, and +clattering in with jingling arms and spurs, each a new excitement for +Annie. She usually got some attention from any officer who came, +receiving with her wonted dignity any daring caress. When the messengers +had ceased to be interesting, there were always the horses to look at, +held or tethered under the trees beside the sunny _piazza_. After the +various couriers had been received, other messengers would be despatched +to the town, seven miles away, and Baby had all the excitement of their +mounting and departure. Her father was often one of the riders, and +would sometimes seize Annie for a good-by kiss, place her on the saddle +before him, gallop her round the house once or twice, and then give her +back to her nurse's arms again. She was perfectly fearless, and such +boisterous attentions never frightened her, nor did they ever interfere +with her sweet, infantine self-possession. + +After the riding-parties had gone, there was the _piazza_ still for +entertainment, with a sentinel pacing up and down before it; but Annie +did not enjoy the sentinel, though his breastplate and buttons shone +like gold, so much as the hammock which always hung swinging between +the pillars. It was a pretty hammock, with great open meshes; and she +delighted to lie in it, and have the netting closed above her, so that +she could only be seen through the apertures. I can see her now, the +fresh little rosy thing, in her blue and scarlet wrappings, with one +round and dimpled arm thrust forth through the netting, and the other +grasping an armful of blushing roses and fragrant magnolias. She +looked like those pretty French bas-reliefs of Cupids imprisoned in +baskets, and peeping through. That hammock was a very useful +appendage; it was a couch for us, a cradle for Baby, a nest for the +kittens; and we had, moreover, a little hen, which tried to roost +there every night. + +When the mornings were colder, and the stove up stairs smoked the wrong +way, Baby was brought down in a very incomplete state of toilet, and +finished her dressing by the great fire. We found her bare shoulders +very becoming, and she was very much interested in her own little pink +toes. After a very slow dressing, she had a still slower breakfast out +of a tin cup of warm milk, of which she generally spilt a good deal, as +she had much to do in watching everybody who came into the room, and +seeing that there was no mischief done. Then she would be placed on the +floor, on our only piece of carpet, and the kittens would be brought in +for her to play with. + +We had, at different times, a variety of pets, of whom Annie did not +take much notice. Sometimes we had young partridges, caught by the +drummer-boys in trap-cages. The children called them "Bob and Chloe," +because the first notes of the male and female sound like those names. +One day I brought home an opossum, with her blind bare little young +clinging to the droll pouch where their mothers keep them. Sometimes we +had pretty green lizards, their color darkening or deepening, like that +of chameleons, in light or shade. But the only pets that took Baby's +fancy were the kittens. They perfectly delighted her, from the first +moment she saw them; they were the only things younger than herself that +she had ever beheld, and the only things softer than themselves that her +small hands had grasped. It was astonishing to see how much the kittens +would endure from her. They could scarcely be touched by any one else +without mewing; but when Annie seized one by the head and the other by +the tail, and rubbed them violently together, they did not make a sound. +I suppose that a baby's grasp is really soft, even if it seems +ferocious, and so it gives less pain than one would think. At any rate, +the little animals had the best of it very soon; for they entirely +outstripped Annie in learning to walk, and they could soon scramble away +beyond her reach, while she sat in a sort of dumb despair, unable to +comprehend why anything so much smaller than herself should be so much +nimbler. Meanwhile, the kittens would sit up and look at her with the +most provoking indifference, just out of arm's length, until some of us +would take pity on the young lady, and toss her furry playthings back to +her again. "Little baby," she learned to call them; and these were the +very first words she spoke. + +Baby had evidently a natural turn for war, further cultivated by an +intimate knowledge of drills and parades. The nearer she came to actual +conflict the better she seemed to like it, peaceful as her own little +ways might be. Twice, at least, while she was with us on picket, we had +alarms from the Rebel troops, who would bring down cannon to the +opposite side of the Ferry, about two miles beyond us, and throw shot +and shell over upon our side. Then the officer at the Ferry would think +that there was to be an attack made, and couriers would be sent, riding +to and fro, and the men would all be called to arms in a hurry, and the +ladies at headquarters would all put on their best bonnets and come down +stairs, and the ambulance would be made ready to carry them to a place +of safety before the expected fight. On such occasions Baby was in all +her glory. She shouted with delight at being suddenly uncribbed and +thrust into her little scarlet cloak, and brought down stairs, at an +utterly unusual and improper hour, to a _piazza_ with lights and people +and horses and general excitement. She crowed and gurgled and made +gestures with her little fists, and screamed out what seemed to be her +advice on the military situation, as freely as if she had been a +newspaper editor. Except that it was rather difficult to understand her +precise direction, I do not know but the whole Rebel force might have +been captured through her plans. And at any rate, I should much rather +obey her orders than those of some generals whom I have known; for she +at least meant no harm, and would lead one into no mischief. + +However, at last the danger, such as it was, would be all over, and +the ladies would be induced to go peacefully to bed again; and Annie +would retreat with them to her ignoble cradle, very much disappointed, +and looking vainly back at the more martial scene below. The next +morning she would seem to have forgotten all about it, and would spill +her bread and milk by the fire as if nothing had happened. + +I suppose we hardly knew, at the time, how large a part of the sunshine +of our daily lives was contributed by dear little Annie. Yet, when I now +look back on that pleasant Southern home, she seems as essential a part +of it as the mocking-birds or the magnolias, and I cannot convince +myself that in returning to it I should not find her there. But Annie +went back, with the spring, to her Northern birthplace, and then passed +away from this earth before her little feet had fairly learned to tread +its paths; and when I meet her next it must be in some world where there +is triumph without armies, and where innocence is trained in scenes of +peace. I know, however, that her little life, short as it seemed, was a +blessing to us all, giving a perpetual image of serenity and sweetness, +recalling the lovely atmosphere of far-off homes, and holding us by +unsuspected ties to whatsoever things were pure. + + + + +Chapter 9 +Negro Spirituals + + +The war brought to some of us, besides its direct experiences, many a +strange fulfilment of dreams of other days. For instance, the present +writer had been a faithful student of the Scottish ballads, and had +always envied Sir Walter the delight of tracing them out amid their own +heather, and of writing them down piecemeal from the lips of aged +crones. It was a strange enjoyment, therefore, to be suddenly brought +into the midst of a kindred world of unwritten songs, as simple and +indigenous as the Border Minstrelsy, more uniformly plaintive, almost +always more quaint, and often as essentially poetic. + +This interest was rather increased by the fact that I had for many years +heard of this class of songs under the name of "Negro Spirituals," and +had even heard some of them sung by friends from South Carolina. I could +now gather on their own soil these strange plants, which I had before +seen as in museums alone. True, the individual songs rarely coincided; +there was a line here, a chorus there,--just enough to fix the class, but +this was unmistakable. It was not strange that they differed, for the +range seemed almost endless, and South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida +seemed to have nothing but the generic character in common, until all +were mingled in the united stock of camp-melodies. + +Often in the starlit evening, I have returned from some lonely ride by +the swift river, or on the plover-haunted barrens, and, entering the +camp, have silently approached some glimmering fire, round which the +dusky figures moved in the rhythmical barbaric dance the negroes call a +"shout," chanting, often harshly, but always in the most perfect time, +some monotonous refrain. Writing down in the darkness, as I best +could,--perhaps with my hand in the safe covert of my pocket,--the words +of the song, I have afterwards carried it to my tent, like some captured +bird or insect, and then, after examination, put it by. Or, summoning +one of the men at some period of leisure,--Corporal Robert Sutton, for +instance, whose iron memory held all the details of a song as if it were +a ford or a forest,--I have completed the new specimen by supplying the +absent parts. The music I could only retain by ear, and though the more +common strains were repeated often enough to fix their impression, there +were others that occurred only once or twice. + +The words will be here given, as nearly as possible, in the original +dialect; and if the spelling seems sometimes inconsistent, or the +misspelling insufficient, it is because I could get no nearer. I wished +to avoid what seems to me the only error of Lowell's "Biglow Papers" in +respect to dialect, the occasional use of an extreme misspelling, which +merely confuses the eye, without taking us any closer to the peculiarity +of sound. + +The favorite song in camp was the following, sung with no accompaniment +but the measured clapping of hands and the clatter of many feet. It was +sung perhaps twice as often as any other. This was partly due to the +fact that it properly consisted of a chorus alone, with which the verses +of other songs might be combined at random. + +I. HOLD YOUR LIGHT. + + "Hold your light, Brudder Robert, + Hold your light, + Hold your light on Canaan's shore. + "What make ole Satan for follow me so? + Satan ain't got notin' for do wid me. + Hold your light, + Hold your light, + Hold your light on Canaan's shore." + +This would be sung for half an hour at a time, perhaps each person +present being named in turn. It seemed the simplest primitive type of +"spiritual." The next in popularity was almost as elementary, and, like +this, named successively each one of the circle. It was, however, much +more resounding and convivial in its music. + +II. BOUND TO GO. + + "Jordan River, I'm bound to go, + Bound to go, bound to go,-- + Jordan River, I'm bound to go, + And bid 'em fare ye well. + + "My Brudder Robert, I'm bound to go, + Bound to go," &c. + + "My Sister Lucy, I'm bound to go, + Bound to go," &c. + +Sometimes it was "tink 'em" (think them) "fare ye well." The _ye_ was +so detached that I thought at first it was "very" or "vary well." + +Another picturesque song, which seemed immensely popular, was at first +very bewildering to me. I could not make out the first words of the +chorus, and called it the "Roman-dar," being reminded of some Romaic +song which I had formerly heard. That association quite fell in with the +Orientalism of the new tent-life. + +III. ROOM IN THERE. + + "O, my mudder is gone! my mudder is gone! + My mudder is gone into heaven, my Lord! + I can't stay behind! + Dere's room in dar, room in dar, + Room in dar, in de heaven, my Lord! + I can't stay behind! + Can't stay behind, my dear, + I can't stay behind! + + "O, my fader is gone!" &c. + + "O, de angels are gone!" &c. + + "O, I'se been on de road! I'se been on de road! + I'se been on de road into heaven, my Lord! + I can't stay behind! + O, room in dar, room in dar, + Room in dar, in de heaven, my Lord! + I can't stay behind! + +By this time every man within hearing, from oldest to youngest, would be +wriggling and shuffling, as if through some magic piper's bewitchment; +for even those who at first affected contemptuous indifference would be +drawn into the vortex erelong. + +Next to these in popularity ranked a class of songs belonging +emphatically to the Church Militant, and available for camp purposes +with very little strain upon their symbolism. This, for instance, had a +true companion-in-arms heartiness about it, not impaired by the feminine +invocation at the end. + +IV. HAIL MARY. + + "One more valiant soldier here, + One more valiant soldier here, + One more valiant soldier here, + To help me bear de cross. + O hail, Mary, hail! + Hail, Mary, hail! + Hail, Mary, hail! + To help me bear de cross." + +I fancied that the original reading might have been "soul," instead of +"soldier,"--with some other syllable inserted to fill out the +metre,--and that the "Hail, Mary," might denote a Roman Catholic +origin, as I had several men from St. Augustine who held in a dim way +to that faith. It was a very ringing song, though not so grandly +jubilant as the next, which was really impressive as the singers +pealed it out, when marching or rowing or embarking. + +V. MY ARMY CROSS OVER. + + "My army cross over, + My army cross over, + O, Pharaoh's army drowndedl + My army cross over. + + "We'll cross de mighty river, + My army cross over; + We'll cross de river Jordan, + My army cross over; + We'll cross de danger water, + My army cross over; + We'll cross de mighty Myo, + My army cross over. _(Thrice.)_ + O, Pharaoh's army drowndedl + My army cross over." + +I could get no explanation of the "mighty Myo," except that one of the +old men thought it meant the river of death. Perhaps it is an African +word. In the Cameroon dialect, "Mawa" signifies "to die." + +The next also has a military ring about it, and the first line is well +matched by the music. The rest is conglomerate, and one or two lines +show a more Northern origin. "Done" is a Virginia shibboleth, quite +distinct from the "been" which replaces it in South Carolina. Yet one of +their best choruses, without any fixed words, was, "De bell done +ringing," for which, in proper South Carolina dialect, would have been +substituted, "De bell been a-ring." This refrain may have gone South +with our army. + +VI. RIDE IN, KIND SAVIOUR. + + "Ride in, kind Saviour! + No man can hinder me. + O, Jesus is a mighty man! + No man, &c. + We're marching through Virginny fields. + No man, &c. + O, Satan is a busy man, + No man, &c. + And he has his sword and shield, + No man, &c. + O, old Secesh done come and gone! + No man can hinder me." + +Sometimes they substituted "binder _we_," which was more spicy to the +ear, and more in keeping with the usual head-over-heels arrangement of +their pronouns. + +Almost all their songs were thoroughly religious in their tone, however +quaint then: expression, and were in a minor key, both as to words and +music. The attitude is always the same, and, as a commentary on the life +of the race, is infinitely pathetic. Nothing but patience for this +life,--nothing but triumph in the next. Sometimes the present +predominates, sometimes the future; but the combination is always +implied. In the following, for instance, we hear simply the patience. + +VII. THIS WORLD ALMOST DONE. + + "Brudder, keep your lamp trimmin' and a-burnin', + Keep your lamp trimmin' and a-burnin', + Keep your lamp trimmin' and a-burnin', + For dis world most done. + So keep your lamp, &c. + Dis world most done." + +But in the next, the final reward of patience is proclaimed as +plaintively. + +VIII. I WANT TO GO HOME. + + "Dere's no rain to wet you, + O, yes, I want to go home. + Dere's no sun to burn you, + O, yes, I want to go home; + O, push along, believers, + O, yes, &c. + Dere's no hard trials, + O, yes, &c. + Dere's no whips a-crackin', + O, yes, &c. + My brudder on de wayside, + O, yes, &c. + O, push along, my brudder, + O, yes, &c. + Where dere's no stormy weather, + O, yes, &c. + Dere's no tribulation, + O, yes, &c. + +This next was a boat-song, and timed well with the tug of the oar. + +IX. THE COMING DAY + + "I want to go to Canaan, + I want to go to Canaan, + I want to go to Canaan, + To meet 'em at de comin' day. + O, remember, let me go to Canaan, _(Thrice.)_ + To meet "em, &c. + O brudder, let me go to Canaan, _(Thrice.)_ + To meet 'em, &c. + My brudder, you--oh!--remember, _(Thrice.)_ + To meet 'em at de comin' day." + +The following begins with a startling affirmation, yet the last line +quite outdoes the first. This, too, was a capital boat-song. + +X. ONE MORE RIVER. + + "O, Jordan bank was a great old bank, + Dere ain't but one more river to cross. + We have some valiant soldier here, + Dere ain't, &c. + O, Jordan stream will never run dry, + Dere ain't, &c. + Dere's a hill on my leff, and he catch on my right, + Dere ain't but one more river to cross." + +I could get no explanation of this last riddle, except, "Dat mean, if +you go on de leff, go to 'struction, and if you go on de right, go to +God, for sure." + +In others, more of spiritual conflict is implied, as in this next + +XI. O THE DYING LAMB! + + "I wants to go where Moses trod, + O de dying Lamb! + For Moses gone to de promised land, + O de dying Lamb! + To drink from springs dat never run dry, + O, &c. + Cry O my Lord! + O, &c. + Before I'll stay in hell one day, + O, &c. + I'm in hopes to pray my sins away, + O, &c. + Cry O my Lord! + 0,&c. + Brudder Moses promised for be dar too, + O, &c. + To drink from streams dat never run dry, + O de dying Lamb!" + +In the next, the conflict is at its height, and the lurid imagery of the +Apocalypse is brought to bear. This book, with the books of Moses, +constituted their Bible; all that lay between, even the narratives of +the life of Jesus, they hardly cared to read or to hear. + +XII. DOWN IN THE VALLEY. + + "We'll run and never tire, + We'll run and never tire, + We'll run and never tire, + Jesus set poor sinners free. + Way down in de valley, + Who will rise and go with me? + You've heern talk of Jesus, + Who set poor sinners free. + + "De lightnin' and de flashin' + De lightnin' and de flashin', + De lightnin' and de flashin', + Jesus set poor shiners free. + I can't stand the fire. _(Thrice.)_ + Jesus set poor sinners free, + De green trees a-flamin'. _(Thrice_.) + Jesus set poor shiners free, + Way down in de valley, + Who will rise and go with me? + You've heern talk of Jesus + Who set poor shiners free." + +"De valley" and "de lonesome valley" were familiar words in their +religious experience. To descend into that region implied the same +process with the "anxious-seat" of the camp-meeting. When a young girl +was supposed to enter it, she bound a handkerchief by a peculiar knot +over her head, and made it a point of honor not to change a single +garment till the day of her baptism, so that she was sure of being in +physical readiness for the cleansing rite, whatever her spiritual mood +might be. More than once, in noticing a damsel thus mystically +kerchiefed, I have asked some dusky attendant its meaning, and have +received the unfailing answer,--framed with their usual indifference +to the genders of pronouns--"He in de lonesome valley, sa." + +The next gives the same dramatic conflict, while its detached and +impersonal refrain gives it strikingly the character of the Scotch and +Scandinavian ballads. + +XIII. CRY HOLY. + + "Cry holy, holy! + Look at de people dat is born of God. + And I run down de valley, and I run down to pray, + Says, look at de people dat is born of God. + When I get dar, Cappen Satan was dar, + Says, look at, &c. + Says, young man, young man, dere's no use for pray, + Says, look at, &c. + For Jesus is dead, and God gone away, + Says, look at, &c. + And I made him out a liar, and I went my way, + Says, look at, &c. + Sing holy, holy! + + "O, Mary was a woman, and he had a one Son, + Says, look at, &c. + And de Jews and de Romans had him hung, + Says, look at, &c. Cry holy, holy! + + "And I tell you, sinner, you had better had pray, + Says, look at, &c. + For hell is a dark and dismal place, + Says, look at, &c. + + And I tell you, sinner, and I wouldn't go dar! + Says, look at, &c. + Cry holy, holy!" + + +Here is an infinitely quaint description of the length of the heavenly +road:-- + +XIV. O'ER THE CROSSING. + + "Vender's my old mudder, + Been a-waggin' at de hill so long. + It's about time she'll cross over; + Get home bimeby. + Keep prayin', I do believe + We're a long time waggin' o'er de crossin'. + Keep prayin', I do believe + We'll get home to heaven bimeby. + + "Hear dat mournful thunder + Roll from door to door, + Calling home God's children; + Get home bimeby. + Little chil'en, I do believe + We're a long time, &c. + Little chil'en, I do believe + We'll get home, &c. + + "See dat forked lightnin' + Flash from tree to tree, + Callin' home God's chil'en; + Get home bimeby. + True believer, I do believe + We're a long time, &c. + O brudders, I do believe, + We'll get home to heaven bimeby." + +One of the most singular pictures of future joys, and with fine flavor +of hospitality about it, was this:-- + +XV. WALK 'EM EASY. + + "O, walk 'em easy round de heaven, + Walk 'em easy round de heaven, + Walk 'em easy round de heaven, + Dat all de people may join de band. + Walk 'em easy round de heaven. (_Thrice_.) + O, shout glory till 'em join dat band!" + +The chorus was usually the greater part of the song, and often came in +paradoxically, thus:-- + +XVI. O YES, LORD. + + "O, must I be like de foolish mans? + O yes, Lord! + Will build de house on de sandy hill. + O yes, Lord! + I'll build my house on Zion hill, + O yes, Lord! + No wind nor rain can blow me down, + O yes, Lord!" + +The next is very graceful and lyrical, and with more variety of rhythm +than usual:-- + +XVII. BOW LOW, MARY. + + "Bow low, Mary, bow low, Martha, + For Jesus come and lock de door, + And carry de keys away. + Sail, sail, over yonder, + And view de promised land. + For Jesus come, &c. + Weep, O Mary, bow low, Martha, + For Jesus come, &c. + Sail, sail, my true believer; + Sail, sail, over yonder; + Mary, bow low, Martha, bow low, + For Jesus come and lock de door + And carry de keys away." + +But of all the "spirituals" that which surprised me the most, I +think,--perhaps because it was that in which external +nature furnished the images most directly,--was this. With all my +experience of their ideal ways of speech, I was startled when first I +came on such a flower of poetry in that dark soil. + +XVIH. I KNOW MOON-RISE. + + "I know moon-rise, I know star-rise, + Lay dis body down. + I walk in de moonlight, I walk in de starlight, + To lay dis body down. + I'll walk in de graveyard, I'll walk through de graveyard, + To lay dis body down. + I'll lie in de grave and stretch out my arms; + Lay dis body down. + I go to de judgment in de evenin' of de day, + When I lay dis body down; + And my soul and your soul will meet in de day + When I lay dis body down." + +"I'll lie in de grave and stretch out my arms." Never, it seems to me, +since man first lived and suffered, was his infinite longing for peace +uttered more plaintively than in that line. + +The next is one of the wildest and most striking of the whole series: +there is a mystical effect and a passionate striving throughout the +whole. The Scriptural struggle between Jacob and the angel, which is +only dimly expressed in the words, seems all uttered in the music. I +think it impressed my imagination more powerfully than any other of +these songs. + +XIX. WRESTLING JACOB. + + "O wrestlin' Jacob, Jacob, day's a-breakin'; + I will not let thee go! + O wrestlin' Jacob, Jacob, day's a-breakin'; + He will not let me go! + O, I hold my brudder wid a tremblin' hand + I would not let him go! + I hold my sister wid a tremblin' hand; + I would not let her go! + + "O, Jacob do hang from a tremblin' limb, + He would not let him go! + O, Jacob do hang from a tremblin' limb; + De Lord will bless my soul. + O wrestlin' Jacob, Jacob," &c. + +Of "occasional hymns," properly so called, I noticed but one, a funeral +hymn for an infant, which is sung plaintively over and over, without +variety of words. + +XX. THE BABY GONE HOME. + + "De little baby gone home, + De little baby gone home, + De little baby gone along, + For to climb up Jacob's ladder. + And I wish I'd been dar, + I wish I'd been dar, + I wish I'd been dar, my Lord, + For to climb up Jacob's ladder." + +Still simpler is this, which is yet quite sweet and touching. + +XXI. JESUS WITH US. + + "He have been wid us, Jesus + He still wid us, Jesus, + He will be wid us, Jesus, + Be wid us to the end." + +The next seemed to be a favorite about Christmas time, when meditations +on "de rollin' year" were frequent among them. + + +XXII. LORD, REMEMBER ME. + + "O do, Lord, remember me! + O do, Lord, remember me! + O, do remember me, until de year roll round! + Do, Lord, remember me! + + "If you want to die like Jesus died, + Lay in de grave, + You would fold your arms and close your eyes + And die wid a free good will. + + "For Death is a simple ting, + And he go from door to door, + And he knock down some, and he cripple op some, + And he leave some here to pray. + + "O do, Lord remember me! + O do, Lord, remember me! + My old fader's gone till de year roll round; + Do, Lord, remember me!" + +The next was sung in such an operatic and rollicking way that it was +quite hard to fancy it a religious performance, which, however, it was. +I heard it but once. + +XXIH. EARLY IN THE MORNING. + + "I meet little Rosa early in de mornin', + O Jerusalem! early in de mornin'; + And I ax her, How you do, my darter? + O Jerusalem! early in de mornin'. + + "I meet my mudder early in de mornin', + O Jerusalem! &c. + And I ax her, How you do, my mudder? + O Jerusalem! &c. + + "I meet Brudder Robert early in de mornin', + O Jerusalem! &c. + And I ax him, How you do, my sonny? + O Jerusalem! &c. + + "I meet Tittawisa early in de mornin', + O Jerusalem! &c. + And I ax her, How you do, my darter? + O Jerusalem!" &c. + +"Tittawisa" means "Sister Louisa." In songs of this class the name of +every person present successively appears. + +Their best marching song, and one which was invaluable to lift their +feet along, as they expressed it, was the following. There was a kind of +spring and lilt to it, quite indescribable by words. + +XXIV. GO IN THE WILDERNESS. + + "Jesus call you. Go in de wilderness, + Go in de wilderness, go in de wilderness, + Jesus call you. Go in de wilderness + To wait upon de Lord. + Go wait upon de Lord, + Go wait upon de Lord, + Go wait upon de Lord, my God, + He take away de sins of de world. + + "Jesus a-waitin'. Go in de wilderness, + Go, &c. + All dem chil'en go in de wilderness + To wait upon de Lord." + +The next was one of those which I had heard in boyish days, brought +North from Charleston. But the chorus alone was identical; the words +were mainly different, and those here given are quaint enough. + + +XXV. BLOW YOUR TRUMPET, GABRIEL. + + "O, blow your trumpet, Gabriel, + Blow your trumpet louder; + And I want dat trumpet to blow me home + To my new Jerusalem. + + "De prettiest ting dat ever I done + Was to serve de Lord when I was young. + So blow your trumpet, Gabriel, &c. + + "O, Satan is a liar, and he conjure too, + And if you don't mind, he'll conjure you. + So blow your trumpet, Gabriel, &c. + + "O, I was lost in de wilderness. + King Jesus hand me de candle down. + So blow your trumpet, Gabriel," &c. + +The following contains one of those odd transformations of proper names +with which their Scriptural citations were often enriched. It rivals +their text, "Paul may plant, and may polish wid water," which I have +elsewhere quoted, and in which the sainted Apollos would hardly have +recognized himself. + +XXVI. IN THE MORNING. + + "In de mornin', + In de mornin', + Chil'en? Yes, my Lord! + Don't you hear de trumpet sound? + If I had a-died when I was young, + I never would had de race for run. + Don't you hear de trumpet sound? + + "O Sam and Peter was fishin' in de sea, + And dey drop de net and follow my Lord. + Don't you hear de trumpet sound? + + "Dere's a silver spade for to dig my grave + And a golden chain for to let me down. + Don't you hear de trumpet sound? + In de mornin', In de mornin', + Chil'en? Yes, my Lord! + Don't you hear de trumpet sound?" + +These golden and silver fancies remind one of the King of Spain's +daughter in "Mother Goose," and the golden apple, and the silver pear, +which are doubtless themselves but the vestiges of some simple early +composition like this. The next has a humbler and more domestic style of +fancy. + +XXVII. FARE YE WELL. + + "My true believers, fare ye well, + Fare ye well, fare ye well, + Fare ye well, by de grace of God, + For I'm going home. + + Massa Jesus give me a little broom + For to sweep my heart clean, + And I will try, by de grace of God, + To win my way home." + +Among the songs not available for marching, but requiring the +concentrated enthusiasm of the camp, was "The Ship of Zion," of which +they had three wholly distinct versions, all quite exuberant and +tumultuous. + +XXVHI. THE SHIP OF ZION. + + "Come along, come along, + And let us go home, + O, glory, hallelujah? + Dis de ole ship o' Zion, + Halleloo! Halleloo! + Dis de ole ship o' Zion, + Hallelujah! + + "She has landed many a tousand, + She can land as many more. + O, glory, hallelujah! &c. + + "Do you tink she will be able + For to take us all home? + O, glory, hallelujah! &c. + + "You can tell 'em I'm a comin', + Halleloo! Halleloo! + You can tell 'em I'm a comin', + Hallelujah! + Come along, come along," &c. + +XXIX. THE SHIP OF ZION. _(Second version.)_ + + "Dis de good ole ship o' Zion, + Dis de good ole ship o' Zion, + Dis de good ole ship o' Zion, + And she's makin' for de Promise Land. + She hab angels for de sailors, _(Thrice.)_ + And she's, &c. + And how you know dey's angels? _(Thrice.)_ + And she's, &c. + Good Lord, Shall I be one? _(Thrice.)_ + And she's, &c. + + "Dat ship is out a-sailin', sailin', sailin', + And she's, &c. + She's a-sailin' mighty steady, steady, steady, + And she's, &c. + She'll neither reel nor totter, totter, totter, + And she's, &c. + She's a-sailin' away cold Jordan, Jordan, Jordan, + And she's, &c. + King Jesus is de captain, captain, captain, + And she's makin' for de Promise Land." + + +XXX. THE SHIP OF ZION. _(Third version.)_ + + "De Gospel ship is sailin', + Hosann--sann. + O, Jesus is de captain, + Hosann--sann. + De angels are de sailors, + Hosann--sann. + O, is your bundle ready? + Hosann--sann. + O, have you got your ticket? + Hosann--sann." + +This abbreviated chorus is given with unspeakable unction. + +The three just given are modifications of an old camp-meeting melody; +and the same may be true of the three following, although I cannot find +them in the Methodist hymn-books. Each, however, has its characteristic +modifications, which make it well worth giving. In the second verse of +this next, for instance, "Saviour" evidently has become "soldier." + +XXXI. SWEET MUSIC + + "Sweet music in heaven, + Just beginning for to roll. + Don't you love God? + Glory, hallelujah! + + "Yes, late I heard my soldier say, + Come, heavy soul, I am de way. + Don't you love God? + Glory, hallelujah! + + "I'll go and tell to sinners round + What a kind Saviour I have found. + Don't you love God? + Glory, hallelujah! + + "My grief my burden long has been, + Because I was not cease from sin. + Don't you love God? + Glory, hallelujahl" + +XXXII. GOOD NEWS. + + "O, good news! O, good news! + De angels brought de tidings down, + Just comin' from de trone. + + "As grief from out my soul shall fly, + Just comin' from de trone; + I'll shout salvation when I die, + Good news, O, good news! + Just comin' from de trone. + + "Lord, I want to go to heaven when I die, + Good news, O, good news! &c. + + "De white folks call us a noisy crew, + Good news, O, good news! + But dis I know, we are happy too, + Just comin' from de trone." + +XXXIII. THE HEAVENLY ROAD. + + "You may talk of my name as much as you please, + And carry my name abroad, + But I really do believe I'm a child of God + As I walk in de heavenly road. + O, won't you go wid me? _(Thrice.)_ + For to keep our garments clean. + + "O Satan is a mighty busy ole man, + And roll rocks in my way; + But Jesus is my bosom friend, + And roll 'em out of de way. + O, won't you go wid me? _(Thrice.)_ + For to keep our garments clean. + + "Come, my brudder, if you never did pray, + I hope you may pray to-night; + For I really believe I'm a child of God + As I walk in de heavenly road. + O, won't you," &c. + +Some of the songs had played an historic part during the war. For +singing the next, for instance, the negroes had been put in jail in +Georgetown, S. C., at the outbreak of the Rebellion. "We'll soon be +free" was too dangerous an assertion; and though the chant was an old +one, it was no doubt sung with redoubled emphasis during the new events. +"De Lord will call us home," was evidently thought to be a symbolical +verse; for, as a little drummer-boy explained to me, showing all his +white teeth as he sat in the moonlight by the door of my tent, "Dey tink +_de Lord_ mean for say _de Yankees_." + +XXXIV. WE'LL SOON BE FREE. + + "We'll soon be free, + We'll soon be free, + We'll soon be free, + When de Lord will call us home. + My brudder, how long, + My brudder, how long, + My brudder, how long, + 'Fore we done sufferin' here? + It won't be long _(Thrice.)_ + 'Fore de Lord will call us home. + We'll walk de miry road _(Thrice.)_ + Where pleasure never dies. + We'll walk de golden street _(Thrice.)_ + Where pleasure never dies. + My brudder, how long _(Thrice.)_ + 'Fore we done sufferin' here? + We'll soon be free _(Thrice.)_ + When Jesus sets me free. + We'll fight for liberty _(Thrice.)_ + When de Lord will call us home." + +The suspicion in this case was unfounded, but they had another song to +which the Rebellion had actually given rise. This was composed by nobody +knew whom,--though it was the most recent, doubtless, of all these +"spirituals,"--and had been sung in secret to avoid detection. It is +certainly plaintive enough. The peck of corn and pint of salt were +slavery's rations. + +XXXV. MANY THOUSAND GO. + + "No more peck o' corn for me, + No more, no more,-- + No more peck o' corn for me, + Many tousand go. + + "No more driver's lash for me, _(Twice.)_ + No more, &c. + + "No more pint o' salt for me, _(Twice_.) + No more, &c. + + "No more hundred lash for me, _(Twice_.) + No more, &c. + + "No more mistress' call for me, + No more, no more,-- + No more mistress' call for me, + Many tousand go." + +Even of this last composition, however, we have only the approximate +date and know nothing of the mode of composition. Allan Ramsay says of +the Scotch songs, that, no matter who made them, they were soon +attributed to the minister of the parish whence they sprang. And I +always wondered, about these, whether they had always a conscious and +definite origin in some leading mind, or whether they grew by gradual +accretion, in an almost unconscious way. On this point I could get no +information, though I asked many questions, until at last, one day +when I was being rowed across from Beaufort to Ladies' Island, I found +myself, with delight, on the actual trail of a song. One of the +oarsmen, a brisk young fellow, not a soldier, on being asked for his +theory of the matter, dropped out a coy confession. "Some good +sperituals," he said, "are start jess out o' curiosity. I been a-raise +a sing, myself, once." + +My dream was fulfilled, and I had traced out, not the poem alone, but +the poet. I implored him to proceed. + +"Once we boys," he said, "went for tote some rice and de nigger-driver +he keep a-callin' on us; and I say, 'O, de ole nigger-driver!' Den +anudder said, 'Fust ting my mammy tole me was, notin' so bad as +nigger-driver.' Den I made a sing, just puttin' a word, and den anudder +word." + +Then he began singing, and the men, after listening a moment, joined in +the chorus, as if it were an old acquaintance, though they evidently had +never heard it before. I saw how easily a new "sing" took root among them. + +XXXVI. THE DRIVER. + + "O, de ole nigger-driver! + O, gwine away! + Fust ting my mammy tell me, + O, gwine away! + Tell me 'bout de nigger-driver, + O, gwine away! + Nigger-driver second devil, + O, gwine away! + Best ting for do he driver, + O, gwine away! + Knock he down and spoil he labor, + O, gwine away!" + +It will be observed that, although this song is quite secular in its +character, yet its author called it a "spiritual." I heard but two songs +among them, at any time, to which they would not, perhaps, have given +this generic name. One of these consisted simply in the endless +repetition--after the manner of certain college songs--of the mysterious +line,-- + + "Rain fall and wet Becky Lawton." + +But who Becky Lawton was, and why she should or should not be wet, and +whether the dryness was a reward or a penalty, none could say. I got the +impression that, in either case, the event was posthumous, and that +there was some tradition of grass not growing over the grave of a +sinner; but even this was vague, and all else vaguer. + +The other song I heard but once, on a morning when a squad of men came +in from picket duty, and chanted it in the most rousing way. It had been +a stormy and comfortless night, and the picket station was very exposed. +It still rained in the morning when I strolled to the edge of the camp, +looking out for the men, and wondering how they had stood it. Presently +they came striding along the road, at a great pace, with their shining +rubber blankets worn as cloaks around them, the rain streaming from +these and from then- equally shining faces, which were almost all upon +the broad grin, as they pealed out this remarkable ditty:-- + +HANGMAN JOHNNY. + + "O, dey call me Hangman Johnny! + O, ho! O, ho! + But I never hang nobody, + O, hang, boys, hang! + O dey, call me Hangman Johnny! + O, ho! O, ho! + But we'll all hang togedder, + O, hang, boys, hang!" + +My presence apparently checked the performance of another verse, +beginning, "De buckra 'list for money," apparently in reference to the +controversy about the pay-question, then just beginning, and to the more +mercenary aims they attributed to the white soldiers. But "Hangman +Johnny" remained always a myth as inscrutable as "Becky Lawton." + +As they learned all their songs by ear, they often strayed into wholly +new versions, which sometimes became popular, and entirely banished the +others. This was amusingly the case, for instance, with one phrase in +the popular camp-song of "Marching Along," which was entirely new to +them until our quartermaster taught it to them, at my request. The +words, "Gird on the armor," were to them a stumbling-block, and no +wonder, until some ingenious ear substituted, "Guide on de army," which +was at once accepted, and became universal. + + "We'll guide on de army, and be marching along" + +is now the established version on the Sea Islands. + +These quaint religious songs were to the men more than a source of +relaxation; they were a stimulus to courage and a tie to heaven. I +never overheard in camp a profane or vulgar song. With the trifling +exceptions given, all had a religious motive, while the most secular +melody could not have been more exciting. A few youths from Savannah, +who were comparatively men of the world, had learned some of the +"Ethiopian Minstrel" ditties, imported from the North. These took no +hold upon the mass; and, on the other hand, they sang reluctantly, +even on Sunday, the long and short metres of the hymn-books, always +gladly yielding to the more potent excitement of their own +"spirituals." By these they could sing themselves, as had their +fathers before them, out of the contemplation of their own low estate, +into the sublime scenery of the Apocalypse. I remember that this +minor-keyed pathos used to seem to me almost too sad to dwell upon, +while slavery seemed destined to last for generations; but now that +their patience has had its perfect work, history cannot afford to lose +this portion of its record. There is no parallel instance of an +oppressed race thus sustained by the religious sentiment alone. These +songs are but the vocal expression of the simplicity of their faith +and the sublimity of their long resignation. + + + + +Chapter 10 +Life at Camp Shaw + + +The Edisto expedition cost me the health and strength of several years. +I could say, long after, in the words of one of the men, "I'se been a +sickly person, eber since de expeditious." Justice to a strong +constitution and good habits compels me, however, to say that, up to the +time of my injury, I was almost the only officer in the regiment who had +not once been off duty from illness. But at last I had to yield, and +went North for a month. + +We heard much said, during the war, of wounded officers who stayed +unreasonably long at home. I think there were more instances of those +who went back too soon. Such at least was my case. On returning to the +regiment I found a great accumulation of unfinished business; every +member of the field and staff was prostrated by illness or absent on +detailed service; two companies had been sent to Hilton Head on +fatigue duty, and kept there unexpectedly long: and there was a +visible demoralization among the rest, especially from the fact that +their pay had just been cut down, in violation of the express pledges +of the government. A few weeks of steady sway made all right again; +and during those weeks I felt a perfect exhilaration of health, +followed by a month or two of complete prostration, when the work was +done. This passing, I returned to duty, buoyed up by the fallacious +hope that the winter months would set me right again. + +We had a new camp on Port Royal Island, very pleasantly situated, just +out of Beaufort. It stretched nearly to the edge of a shelving bluff, +fringed with pines and overlooking the river; below the bluff was a +hard, narrow beach, where one might gallop a mile and bathe at the +farther end. We could look up and down the curving stream, and watch the +few vessels that came and went. Our first encampment had been lower down +that same river, and we felt at home. + +The new camp was named Camp Shaw, in honor of the noble young officer +who had lately fallen at Fort Wagner, under circumstances which had +endeared him to all the men. As it happened, they had never seen him, +nor was my regiment ever placed within immediate reach of the +Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts. This I always regretted, feeling very +desirous to compare the military qualities of the Northern and Southern +blacks. As it was, the Southern regiments with which the Massachusetts +troops were brigaded were hardly a fair specimen of their kind, having +been raised chiefly by drafting, and, for this and other causes, being +afflicted with perpetual discontent and desertion. + +We had, of course, looked forward with great interest to the arrival of +these new colored regiments, and I had ridden in from the picket-station +to see the Fifty-Fourth. Apart from the peculiarity of its material, it +was fresh from my own State, and I had relatives and acquaintances among +its officers. Governor Andrew, who had formed it, was an old friend, and +had begged me, on departure from Massachusetts, to keep him informed as +to our experiment I had good reason to believe that my reports had +helped to prepare the way for this new battalion, and I had sent him, at +his request, some hints as to its formation.* + +*COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, Executive Department, + +Boston, February 5, 1863. + +To COL. T. W. HIGGINSON, +Commanding 1st Regt. S. C. Vols., + +Port Royal Id., S. C. + +COLONEL,--I am under obligations to you for your very interesting +letter of January 19th, which I considered to be too important in its +testimony to the efficiency of colored troops to be allowed to remain +hidden on my files. I therefore placed some portions of it in the +hands of Hon. Stephen M. Weld, of Jamaica Plain, for publication, and +you will find enclosed the newspaper slip from the "Journal" of +February 3d, in which it appeared. During a recent visit at Washington +I have obtained permission from the Department of War to enlist +colored troops as part of the Massachusetts quota, and I am about to +begin to organize a colored infantry regiment, to be numbered the +"54th Massachusetts Volunteers." + +I shall be greatly obliged by any suggestions which your experience may +afford concerning it, and I am determined that it shall serve as a +model, in the high character of its officers and the thorough discipline +of its men, for all subsequent corps of the like material. + +Please present to General Saxton the assurances of my respectful regard. + +I have the honor to be, respectfuly and obediently yours, + +JOHN A. ANDREW, Governor of Massachusetts. + + +In the streets of Beaufort I had met Colonel Shaw, riding with his +lieutenant-colonel and successor, Edward Hallowell, and had gone back +with them to share their first meal in camp. I should have known Shaw +anywhere by his resemblance to his kindred, nor did it take long to +perceive that he shared their habitual truthfulness and courage. +Moreover, he and Hallowell had already got beyond the commonplaces of +inexperience, in regard to colored troops, and, for a wonder, asked only +sensible questions. For instance, he admitted the mere matter of courage +to be settled, as regarded the colored troops, and his whole solicitude +bore on this point, Would they do as well in line-of-battle as they had +already done in more irregular service, and on picket and guard duty? Of +this I had, of course, no doubt, nor, I think, had he; though I remember +his saying something about the possibility of putting them between two +fires in case of need, and so cutting off their retreat. I should never +have thought of such a project, but I could not have expected bun to +trust them as I did, until he had been actually under fire with them. +That, doubtless, removed all his anxieties, if he really had any. + +This interview had occurred on the 4th of June. Shaw and his regiment +had very soon been ordered to Georgia, then to Morris Island; Fort +Wagner had been assaulted, and he had been killed. Most of the men +knew about the circumstances of his death, and many of them had +subscribed towards a monument for him,--a project which originated +with General Saxton, and which was finally embodied in the "Shaw +School-house" at Charleston. So it gave us all pleasure to name this +camp for him, as its predecessor had been named for General Saxton. + +The new camp was soon brought into good order. The men had great +ingenuity in building screens and shelters of light poles, filled in +with the gray moss from the live-oaks. The officers had vestibules built +in this way, before all their tents; the cooking-places were walled +round in the same fashion; and some of the wide company-streets had +sheltered sidewalks down the whole line of tents. The sergeant on duty +at the entrance of the camp had a similar bower, and the architecture +culminated in a "Praise-House" for school and prayer-meetings, some +thirty feet in diameter. As for chimneys and flooring, they were +provided with that magic and invisible facility which marks the second +year of a regiment's life. + +That officer is happy who, besides a constitutional love of adventure, +has also a love for the details of camp life, and likes to bring them to +perfection. Nothing but a hen with her chickens about her can symbolize +the content I felt on getting my scattered companies together, after +some temporary separation on picket or fatigue duty. Then we went to +work upon the nest. The only way to keep a camp in order is to set about +everything as if you expected to stay there forever; if you stay, you +get the comfort of it; if ordered away in twenty-four hours, you forget +all wasted labor in the excitement of departure. Thus viewed, a camp is +a sort of model farm or bit of landscape gardening; there is always some +small improvement to be made, a trench, a well, more shade against the +sun, an increased vigilance in sweeping. Then it is pleasant to take +care of the men, to see them happy, to hear them purr. + +Then the duties of inspection and drill, suspended during active +service, resume their importance with a month or two of quiet. It +really costs unceasing labor to keep a regiment in perfect condition +and ready for service. The work is made up of minute and endless +details, like a bird's pruning her feathers or a cat's licking her +kittens into their proper toilet. Here are eight hundred men, every +one of whom, every Sunday morning at farthest, must be perfectly +_soigne_ in all personal proprieties; he must exhibit himself provided +with every article of clothing, buttons, shoe-strings, hooks and eyes, +company letter, regimental number, rifle, bayonet, bayonet-scabbard, +cap-pouch, cartridge-box, cartridge-box belt, cartridge-box +belt-plate, gun-sling, canteen, haversack, knapsack, packed according +to rule, forty cartridges, forty percussion caps; and every one of +these articles polished to the highest brightness or blackness as the +case may be, and moreover hung or slung or tied or carried in +precisely the correct manner. + +What a vast and formidable housekeeping is here, my patriotic sisters! +Consider, too, that every corner of the camp is to be kept absolutely +clean and ready for exhibition at the shortest notice; hospital, +stables, guard-house, cook-houses, company tents, must all be brought to +perfection, and every square inch of this "farm of four acres" must look +as smooth as an English lawn, twice a day. All this, beside the +discipline and the drill and the regimental and company books, which +must keep rigid account of all these details; consider all this, and +then wonder no more that officers and men rejoice in being ordered on +active service, where a few strokes of the pen will dispose of all this +multiplicity of trappings as "expended in action" or "lost in service." + +For one, the longer I remained in service, the better I appreciated the +good sense of most of the regular army niceties. True, these things must +all vanish when the time of action comes, but it is these things that +have prepared you for action. Of course, if you dwell on them only, +military life becomes millinery life alone. Kinglake says that the +Russian Grand-Duke Constantine, contemplating his beautiful +toy-regiments, said that he dreaded war, for he knew that it would spoil +the troops. The simple fact is, that a soldier is like the weapon he +carries; service implies soiling, but you must have it clean in advance, +that when soiled it may be of some use. + +The men had that year a Christmas present which they enjoyed to the +utmost,--furnishing the detail, every other day, for provost-guard +duty in Beaufort. It was the only military service which they had ever +shared within the town, and it moreover gave a sense of self-respect +to be keeping the peace of their own streets. I enjoyed seeing them +put on duty those mornings; there was such a twinkle of delight in +their eyes, though their features were immovable. As the "reliefs" +went round, posting the guard, under charge of a corporal, one could +watch the black sentinels successively dropped and the whites picked +up,--gradually changing the complexion, like Lord Somebody's black +stockings which became white stockings,--till at last there was only a +squad of white soldiers obeying the "Support Arms! Forward, March!" of +a black corporal. + +Then, when once posted, they glorified their office, you may be sure. +Discipline had grown rather free-and-easy in the town about that time, +and it is said that the guard-house never was so full within human +memory as after their first tour of duty. I remember hearing that one +young reprobate, son of a leading Northern philanthropist in those +parts, was much aggrieved at being taken to the lock-up merely because +he was found drunk in the streets. "Why," said he, "the white corporals +always showed me the way home." And I can testify that, after an evening +party, some weeks later, I beard with pleasure the officers asking +eagerly for the countersign. "Who has the countersign?" said they. "The +darkeys are on guard to-night, and we must look out for our lives." Even +after a Christmas party at General Saxton's, the guard at the door very +properly refused to let the ambulance be brought round from the stable +for the ladies because the driver had not the countersign. + +One of the sergeants of the guard, on one of these occasions, made to +one who questioned his authority an answer that could hardly have been +improved. The questioner had just been arrested for some offence. + +"Know what dat mean?" said the indignant sergeant, pointing to the +chevrons on his own sleeve. "Dat mean _Guv'ment_." Volumes could not +have said more, and the victim collapsed. The thing soon settled +itself, and nobody remembered to notice whether the face beside the +musket of a sentinel were white or black. It meant Government, all the +same. + +The men were also indulged with several raids on the mainland, under the +direction of Captain J. E. Bryant, of the Eighth Maine, the most +experienced scout in that region, who was endeavoring to raise by +enlistment a regiment of colored troops. On one occasion Captains +Whitney and Heasley, with their companies, penetrated nearly to +Pocataligo, capturing some pickets and bringing away all the slaves of a +plantation,--the latter operation being entirely under the charge of +Sergeant Harry Williams (Co. K), without the presence of any white man. +The whole command was attacked on the return by a rebel force, which +turned out to be what was called in those regions a "dog-company," +consisting of mounted riflemen with half a dozen trained bloodhounds. +The men met these dogs with their bayonets, killed four or five of their +old tormentors with great relish, and brought away the carcass of one. I +had the creature skinned, and sent the skin to New York to be stuffed +and mounted, meaning to exhibit it at the Sanitary Commission Fair hi +Boston; but it spoiled on the passage. These quadruped allies were not +originally intended as "dogs of war," but simply to detect fugitive +slaves, and the men were delighted at this confirmation of their tales +of dog-companies, which some of the officers had always disbelieved. + +Captain Bryant, during his scouting adventures, had learned to outwit +these bloodhounds, and used his skill in eluding escape, during +another expedition of the same kind. He was sent with Captain +Metcalf's company far up the Combahee River to cut the telegraphic +wires and intercept despatches. Our adventurous chaplain and a +telegraphic operator went with the party. They ascended the river, cut +the wires, and read the despatches for an hour or two. Unfortunately, +the attached wire was too conspicuously hung, and was seen by a +passenger on the railway train in passing. The train was stopped and a +swift stampede followed; a squad of cavalry was sent in pursuit, and +our chaplain, with Lieutenant Osborn, of Bryant's projected regiment, +were captured; also one private,--the first of our men who had ever +been taken prisoners. In spite of an agreement at Washington to the +contrary, our chaplain was held as prisoner of war, the only spiritual +adviser in uniform, so far as I know, who had that honor. I do not +know but his reverence would have agreed with Scott's +pirate-lieutenant, that it was better to live as plain Jack Bunce than +die as Frederick Altamont; but I am very sure that he would rather +have been kept prisoner to the close of the war, as a combatant, than +have been released on parole as a non-resistant. + +After his return, I remember, he gave the most animated accounts of the +whole adventure, of which he had enjoyed every instant, from the first +entrance on the enemy's soil to the final capture. I suppose we should +all like to tap the telegraphic wires anywhere and read our neighbor's +messages, if we could only throw round this process the dignity of a +Sacred Cause. This was what our good chaplain had done, with the same +conscientious zest with which he had conducted his Sunday foraging in +Florida. But he told me that nothing so impressed him on the whole trip +as the sudden transformation in the black soldier who was taken prisoner +with him. The chaplain at once adopted the policy, natural to him, of +talking boldly and even defiantly to his captors, and commanding instead +of beseeching. He pursued the same policy always and gained by it, he +thought. But the negro adopted the diametrically opposite policy, also +congenial to his crushed race,--all the force seemed to go out of him, +and he surrendered himself like a tortoise to be kicked and trodden upon +at their will. This manly, well-trained soldier at once became a slave +again, asked no questions, and, if any were asked, made meek and +conciliatory answers. He did not know, nor did any of us know, whether +he would be treated as a prisoner of war, or shot, or sent to a +rice-plantation. He simply acted according to the traditions of his +race, as did the chaplain on his side. In the end the soldier's cunning +was vindicated by the result; he escaped, and rejoined us in six months, +while the chaplain was imprisoned for a year. + +The men came back very much exhausted from this expedition, and those +who were in the chaplain's squad narrowly escaped with their lives. +One brave fellow had actually not a morsel to eat for four days, and +then could keep nothing on his stomach for two days more, so that his +life was despaired of; and yet he brought all his equipments safe into +camp. Some of these men had led such wandering lives, in woods and +swamps, that to hunt them was like hunting an otter; shyness and +concealment had grown to be their second nature. + +After these little episodes came two months of peace. We were clean, +comfortable, quiet, and consequently discontented. It was therefore with +eagerness that we listened to a rumor of a new Florida expedition, in +which we might possibly take a hand. + + + + +Chapter 11 +Florida Again? + + +Let me revert once more to my diary, for a specimen of the sharp changes +and sudden disappointments that may come to troops in service. But for a +case or two of varioloid in the regiment, we should have taken part in +the battle of Olustee, and should have had (as was reported) the right +of the line. At any rate we should have shared the hard knocks and the +glory, which were distributed pretty freely to the colored troops then +and there. The diary will give, better than can any continuous +narrative, our ups and down of expectation in those days. + +"CAMP SHAW, BEAUFORT, S. C., + +February 7, 1864. + +"Great are the uncertainties of military orders! Since our recall from +Jacksonville we have had no such surprises as came to us on Wednesday +night. It was our third day of a new tour of duty at the picket +station. We had just got nicely settled,--men well tented, with good +floors, and in high spirits, officers at out-stations all happy, Mrs. +---- coming to stay with her husband, we at head-quarters just in +order, house cleaned, moss-garlands up, camellias and jessamines in +the tin wash-basins, baby in bliss;--our usual run of visitors had +just set in, two Beaufort captains and a surgeon had just risen from a +late dinner after a flag of truce, General Saxton and his wife had +driven away but an hour or two before, we were all sitting about busy, +with a great fire blazing, Mrs. D. had just remarked triumphantly, +'Last time I had but a mouthful here, and now I shall be here three +weeks'--when-- + +"In dropped, like a bombshell, a despatch announcing that we were to be +relieved by the Eighth Maine, the next morning, as General Gillmore had +sent an order that we should be ready for departure from Beaufort at any +moment. + +"Conjectures, orders, packing, sending couriers to out-stations, were +the employments of the evening; the men received the news with cheers, +and we all came in next morning." + +"February 11, 1864. + +"For three days we have watched the river, and every little steamboat +that comes up for coal brings out spy-glasses and conjectures, and +'Dar's de Fourf New Hampshire,'--for when that comes, it is said, we go. +Meanwhile we hear stirring news from Florida, and the men are very +impatient to be off. It is remarkable how much more thoroughly they look +at things as soldiers than last year, and how much less as home-bound +men,--the South-Carolinians, I mean, for of course the Floridians would +naturally wish to go to Florida. + +"But in every way I see the gradual change in them, sometimes with a +sigh, as parents watch their children growing up and miss the droll +speeches and the confiding ignorance of childhood. Sometimes it comes +over me with a pang that they are growing more like white men,--less +naive and less grotesque. Still, I think there is enough of it to last, +and that their joyous buoyancy, at least, will hold out while life does. + +"As for our destination, our greatest fear is of finding ourselves +posted at Hilton Head and going no farther. As a dashing Irish officer +remarked the other day, 'If we are ordered away anywhere, I hope it will +be either to go to Florida or else stay here!'" + +"Sublime uncertainties again! + +"After being ordered in from picket, under marching orders; after the +subsequent ten days of uncertainty; after watching every steamboat that +came up the river, to see if the Fourth New Hampshire was on board,--at +last the regiment came. + +"Then followed another break; there was no transportation to take us. At +last a boat was notified. + +"Then General Saxton, as anxious to keep us as was the regiment to go, +played his last card in small-pox, telegraphing to department +head-quarters that we had it dangerously in the regiment. (N. B. All +varioloid, light at that, and besides, we always have it.) + +"Then the order came to leave behind the sick and those who had been +peculiarly exposed, and embark the rest next day. + +"Great was the jubilee! The men were up, I verily believe, by three in +the morning, and by eight the whole camp was demolished or put in +wagons, and we were on our way. The soldiers of the Fourth New Hampshire +swarmed in; every board was swept away by them; there had been a time +when colored boards (if I may delicately so express myself) were +repudiated by white soldiers, but that epoch had long since passed. I +gave my new tent-frame, even the latch, to Colonel Bell; ditto +Lieutenant-Colonel to Lieutenant-Colonel. + +"Down we marched, the men singing 'John Brown' and 'Marching Along' +and 'Gwine in de Wilderness'; women in tears and smiles lined the way. +We halted opposite the dear General's; we cheered, he speeched, I +speeched, we all embraced symbolically, and cheered some more. Then we +went to work at the wharf; vast wagon-loads of tents, rations, +ordnance, and what-not disappeared in the capacious maw of the +Delaware. In the midst of it all came riding down General Saxton with +a despatch from Hilton Head:-- + +"'If you think the amount of small-pox in the First South Carolina +Volunteers sufficient, the order will be countermanded.' + +"'What shall I say?' quoth the guilty General, perceiving how +preposterously too late the negotiation was reopened. + +"'Say, sir?' quoth I. 'Say that we are on board already and the +small-pox left behind. Say we had only thirteen cases, chiefly +varioloid, and ten almost well.' + +"Our blood was up with a tremendous morning's work done, and, rather +than turn back, we felt ready to hold down Major-General Gillmore, +commanding department, and all his staff upon the wharf, and vaccinate +them by main force. + +"So General Saxton rode away, and we worked away. Just as the last +wagon-load but one was being transferred to the omnivorous depths of the +Delaware,--which I should think would have been filled ten times over +with what we had put into it,--down rode the General with a fiendish joy +in his bright eyes and held out a paper,--one of the familiar rescripts +from headquarters. + +"'The marching orders of the First South Carolina Volunteers are hereby +countermanded.' + +"'Major Trowbridge,' said I, 'will you give my compliments to +Lieutenant Hooper, somewhere in the hold of that steamer, and direct him +to set his men at work to bring out every individual article which they +have carried hi.' And I sat down on a pile of boards. + +"'You will return to your old camping-ground, Colonel,' said the +General, placidly. 'Now,' he added with serene satisfaction, 'we will +have some brigade drills!' + +"Brigade drills! Since Mr. Pickwick, with his heartless tomato-sauce and +warming-pans, there had been nothing so aggravating as to try to solace +us, who were as good as on board ship and under way,--nay, in imagination +as far up the St. John's as Pilatka at least,--with brigade drills! It +was very kind and flattering in him to wish to keep us. But unhappily we +had made up our minds to go. + +"Never did officer ride at the head of a battalion of more wobegone, +spiritless wretches than I led back from Beaufort that day. 'When I +march down to de landin',' said one of the men afterwards, 'my knapsack +full of feathers. Comin' back, _he lead_!' And the lead, instead of the +feathers, rested on the heart of every one. + +"As if the disappointment itself were not sufficient, we had to return +to our pretty camp, accustomed to its drawing-room order, and find it a +desert. Every board gone from the floors, the screens torn down from the +poles, all the little conveniences scattered, and, to crown all, a cold +breeze such as we had not known since New-Year's Day blowing across the +camp and flooding everything with dust. I sincerely hope the regiment +would never behave after a defeat as they behaved then. Every man seemed +crushed, officers and soldiers alike; when they broke ranks, they went +and lay down like sheep where their tents used to be, or wandered +disconsolately about, looking for their stray belongings. The scene was +so infinitely dolorous that it gradually put me in the highest spirits; +the ludicrousness of the whole affair was so complete, there was nothing +to do but laugh. The horrible dust blew till every officer had some +black spot on his nose which paralyzed pathos. Of course the only way +was to set them all at work as soon as possible; and work them we did,--I +at the camp and the Major at the wharf,--loading and unloading wagons and +just reversing all which the morning had done. + +"The New Hampshire men were very considerate, and gave back most of what +they had taken, though many of our men were really too delicate or proud +to ask or even take what they had once given to soldiers or to the +colored people. I had no such delicacy about my tent-frame, and by night +things had resumed something of their old aspect, and cheerfulness was +in part restored. Yet long after this I found one first sergeant +absolutely in tears,--a Florida man, most of whose kindred were up the +St. John's. It was very natural that the men from that region should +feel thus bitterly, but it shows how much of the habit of soldiers they +have all acquired, that the South Carolina men, who were leaving the +neighborhood of their families for an indefinite time, were just as +eager to go, and not one deserted, though they knew it for a week +beforehand. No doubt my precarious health makes it now easier for me +personally to remain here--easier on reflection at least--than for the +others. At the same time Florida is fascinating, and offers not only +adventure, but the command of a brigade. Certainly at the last moment there +was not a sacrifice I would not have made rather than wrench myself and +others away from the expedition. We are, of course, thrown back into the +old uncertainty, and if the small-pox subsides (and it is really +diminishing decidedly) we may yet come in at the wrong end of the +Florida affair." + +"February 19. + +"Not a bit of it! This morning the General has ridden up radiant, has +seen General Gillmore, who has decided not to order us to Florida at +all, nor withdraw any of this garrison. Moreover, he says that all which +is intended in Florida is done,--that there will be no advance to +Tallahassee, and General Seymour will establish a camp of instruction in +Jacksonville. Well, if that is all, it is a lucky escape." + +We little dreamed that on that very day the march toward Olustee was +beginning. The battle took place next day, and I add one more extract to +show how the news reached Beaufort. + +"February 23, 1864. + +"There was the sound of revelry by night at a ball in Beaufort last +night, in a new large building beautifully decorated. All the collected +flags of the garrison hung round and over us, as if the stars and +stripes were devised for an ornament alone. The array of uniforms was +such that a civilian became a distinguished object, much more a lady. +All would have gone according to the proverbial marriage-bell, I +suppose, had there not been a slight palpable shadow over all of us from +hearing vague stories of a lost battle in Florida, and from the thought +that perhaps the very ambulances in which we rode to the ball were ours +only until the wounded or the dead might tenant them. + +"General Gillmore only came, I supposed, to put a good face upon the +matter. He went away soon, and General Saxton went; then came a rumor +that the Cosmopolitan had actually arrived with wounded, but still the +dance went on. There was nothing unfeeling about it,--one gets used to +things,--when suddenly, in the midst of the 'Lancers,' there came a +perfect hush, the music ceasing, a few surgeons went hastily to and +fro, as if conscience-stricken (I should think they might have +been),--then there 'waved a mighty shadow in,' as in Uhland's 'Black +Knight,' and as we all stood wondering we were 'ware of General +Saxton, who strode hastily down the hall, his pale face very resolute, +and looking almost sick with anxiety. He had just been on board the +steamer; there were two hundred and fifty wounded men just arrived, +and the ball must end. Not that there was anything for us to do; but +the revel was mistimed, and must be ended; it was wicked to be +dancing, with such a scene of suffering near by. + +"Of course the ball was instantly broken up, though with some murrmurings +and some longings of appetite, on the part of some, toward the wasted +supper. + +"Later, I went on board the boat. Among the long lines of wounded, black +and white intermingled, there was the wonderful quiet which usually +prevails on such occasions. Not a sob nor a groan, except from those +undergoing removal. It is not self-control, but chiefly the shock to the +system produced by severe wounds, especially gunshot wounds, and which +usually keeps the patient stiller at first than any later time. + +"A company from my regiment waited on the wharf, in their accustomed +dusky silence, and I longed to ask them what they thought of our Florida +disappointment now? In view of what they saw, did they still wish we had +been there? I confess that in presence of all that human suffering, I +could not wish it. But I would not have suggested any such thought to them. + +"I found our kind-hearted ladies, Mrs. Chamberlin and Mrs. Dewhurst, on +board the steamer, but there was nothing for them to do, and we walked +back to camp in the radiant moonlight; Mrs. Chamberlin more than ever +strengthened in her blushing woman's philosophy, 'I don't care who wins +the laurels, provided we don't!' " + +"February 29. + +"But for a few trivial cases of varioloid, we should +certainly have been in that disastrous fight. We were confidently +expected for several days at Jacksonville, and the commanding general +told Colonel Hallowell that we, being the oldest colored regiment, +would have the right of the line. This was certainly to miss danger +and glory very closely." + + + + +Chapter 12 +The Negro as a Soldier + + +There was in our regiment a very young recruit, named Sam Roberts, of +whom Trowbridge used to tell this story. Early in the war Trowbridge had +been once sent to Amelia Island with a squad of men, under direction of +Commodore Goldsborough, to remove the negroes from the island. As the +officers stood on the beach, talking to some of the older freedmen, they +saw this urchin peeping at them from front and rear in a scrutinizing +way, for which his father at last called him to account, as thus:-- + +"Hi! Sammy, what you's doin', chile?" + +"Daddy," said the inquisitive youth, "don't you know mas'r tell us +Yankee hab tail? I don't see no tail, daddy!" + +There were many who went to Port Royal during the war, in civil or +military positions, whose previous impressions of the colored race +were about as intelligent as Sam's view of themselves. But, for once, +I had always had so much to do with fugitive slaves, and had studied +the whole subject with such interest, that I found not much to learn +or unlearn as to this one point. Their courage I had before seen +tested; their docile and lovable qualities I had known; and the only +real surprise that experience brought me was in finding them so little +demoralized. I had not allowed for the extreme remoteness and +seclusion of their lives, especially among the Sea Islands. Many of +them had literally spent their whole existence on some lonely island +or remote plantation, where the master never came, and the overseer +only once or twice a week. With these exceptions, such persons had +never seen a white face, and of the excitements or sins of larger +communities they had not a conception. My friend Colonel Hallo-well, +of the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts, told me that he had among his men +some of the worst reprobates of Northern cities. While I had some men +who were unprincipled and troublesome, there was not one whom I could +call a hardened villain. I was constantly expecting to find male +Topsies, with no notions of good and plenty of evil. But I never found +one. Among the most ignorant there was very often a childlike absence +of vices, which was rather to be classed as inexperience than as +innocence, but which had some of the advantages of both. + +Apart from this, they were very much like other men. General Saxton, +examining with some impatience a long list of questions from some +philanthropic Commission at the North, respecting the traits and habits +of the freedmen, bade some staff-officer answer them all in two +words,--"Intensely human." We all admitted that it was a striking and +comprehensive description. + +For instance, as to courage. So far as I have seen, the mass of men +are naturally courageous up to a certain point. A man seldom runs away +from danger which he ought to face, unless others run; each is apt to +keep with the mass, and colored soldiers have more than usual of this +gregariousness. In almost every regiment, black or white, there are a +score or two of men who are naturally daring, who really hunger after +dangerous adventures, and are happiest when allowed to seek them. +Every commander gradually finds out who these men are, and habitually +uses them; certainly I had such, and I remember with delight their +bearing, their coolness, and their dash. Some of them were negroes, +some mulattoes. One of them would have passed for white, with brown +hair and blue eyes, while others were so black you could hardly see +their features. These picked men varied in other respects too; some +were neat and well-drilled soldiers, while others were slovenly, +heedless fellows,--the despair of their officers at inspection, their +pride on a raid. They were the natural scouts and rangers of the +regiment; they had the two-o'clock-in-the-morning courage, which +Napoleon thought so rare. The mass of the regiment rose to the same +level under excitement, and were more excitable, I think, than whites, +but neither more nor less courageous. + +Perhaps the best proof of a good average of courage among them was in +the readiness they always showed for any special enterprise. I do not +remember ever to have had the slightest difficulty in obtaining +volunteers, but rather in keeping down the number. The previous pages +include many illustrations of this, as well as of then: endurance of +pain and discomfort. For instance, one of my lieutenants, a very daring +Irishman, who had served for eight years as a sergeant of regular +artillery in Texas, Utah, and South Carolina, said he had never been +engaged in anything so risky as our raid up the St. Mary's. But in truth +it seems to me a mere absurdity to deliberately argue the question of +courage, as applied to men among whom I waked and slept, day and night, +for so many months together. As well might he who has been wandering for +years upon the desert, with a Bedouin escort, discuss the courage of the +men whose tents have been his shelter and whose spears his guard. We, +their officers, did not go there to teach lessons, but to receive them. +There were more than a hundred men in the ranks who had voluntarily met +more dangers in then" escape from slavery than any of my young captains +had incurred in all their lives. + +There was a family named Wilson, I remember, of which we had several +representatives. Three or four brothers had planned an escape from the +interior to our lines; they finally decided that the youngest should +stay and take care of the old mother; the rest, with their sister and +her children, came in a "dug-out" down one of the rivers. They were +fired upon, again and again, by the pickets along the banks, until +finally every man on board was wounded; and still they got safely +through. When the bullets began to fly about them, the woman shed +tears, and her little girl of nine said to her, "Don't cry, mother, +Jesus will help you," and then the child began praying as the wounded +men still urged the boat along. This the mother told me, but I had +previously heard it from on officer who was on the gunboat that picked +them up,--a big, rough man, whose voice fairly broke as he described +their appearance. He said that the mother and child had been hid for +nine months in the woods before attempting their escape, and the child +would speak to no one,--indeed, she hardly would when she came to our +camp. She was almost white, and this officer wished to adopt her, but +the mother said, "I would do anything but that for _oonah_," this +being a sort of Indian formation of the second-person-plural, such as +they sometimes use. This same officer afterwards saw a reward offered +for this family in a Savannah paper. + +I used to think that I should not care to read "Uncle Tom's Cabin" hi +our camp; it would have seemed tame. Any group of men in a tent would +have had more exciting tales to tell. I needed no fiction when I had +Fanny Wright, for instance, daily passing to and fro before my tent, +with her shy little girl clinging to her skirts. Fanny was a modest +little mulatto woman, a soldier's wife, and a company laundress. She had +escaped from the main-land in a boat, with that child and another. Her +baby was shot dead in her arms, and she reached our lines with one child +safe on earth and the other in heaven. I never found it needful to give +any elementary instructions in courage to Fanny's husband, you may be sure. + +There was another family of brothers in the regiment named Miller. Their +grandmother, a fine-looking old woman, nearly seventy, I should think, +but erect as a pine-tree, used sometimes to come and visit them. She and +her husband had once tried to escape from a plantation near Savannah. +They had failed, and had been brought back; the husband had received +five hundred lashes, and while the white men on the plantation were +viewing the punishment, she was collecting her children and +grandchildren, to the number of twenty-two, in a neighboring marsh, +preparatory to another attempt that night. They found a flat-boat which +had been rejected as unseaworthy, got on board,--still under the old +woman's orders,--and drifted forty miles down the river to our lines. +Trowbridge happened to be on board the gunboat which picked them up, and +he said that when the "flat" touched the side of the vessel, the +grandmother rose to her full height, with her youngest grandchild in her +arms, and said only, "My God! are we free?" By one of those coincidences +of which life is full, her husband escaped also, after his punishment, +and was taken up by the same gunboat. + +I hardly need point out that my young lieutenants did not have to teach +the principles of courage to this woman's grandchildren. + +I often asked myself why it was that, with this capacity of daring and +endurance, they had not kept the land in a perpetual flame of +insurrection; why, especially since the opening of the war, they had +kept so still. The answer was to be found in the peculiar temperament of +the races, in their religious faith, and in the habit of patience that +centuries had fortified. The shrewder men all said substantially the +same thing. What was the use of insurrection, where everything was +against them? They had no knowledge, no money, no arms, no drill, no +organization,--above all, no mutual confidence. It was the tradition +among them that all insurrections were always betrayed by somebody. They +had no mountain passes to defend like the Maroons of Jamaica,--no +unpenetrable swamps, like the Maroons of Surinam. Where they had these, +even on a small scale, they had used them,--as in certain swamps round +Savannah and in the everglades of Florida, where they united with the +Indians, and would stand fire--so I was told by General Saxton, who had +fought them there--when the Indians would retreat. + +It always seemed to me that, had I been a slave, my life would have been +one long scheme of insurrection. But I learned to respect the patient +self-control of those who had waited till the course of events should +open a better way. When it came they accepted it. Insurrection on their +part would at once have divided the Northern sentiment; and a large part +of our army would have joined with the Southern army to hunt them down. +By their waiting till we needed them, their freedom was secured. + +Two things chiefly surprised me in their feeling toward their former +masters,--the absence of affection and the absence of revenge. I +expected to find a good deal of the patriarchal feeling. It always +seemed to me a very ill-applied emotion, as connected with the facts +and laws of American slavery,--still I expected to find it. I suppose +that my men and their families and visitors may have had as much of it +as the mass of freed slaves; but certainly they had not a particle. I +never could cajole one of them, in his most discontented moment, into +regretting "ole mas'r time" for a single instant. I never heard one +speak of the masters except as natural enemies. Yet they were +perfectly discriminating as to individuals; many of them claimed to +have had kind owners, and some expressed great gratitude to them for +particular favors received. It was not the individuals, but the +ownership, of which they complained. That they saw to be a wrong which +no special kindnesses could right. On this, as on all points connected +with slavery, they understood the matter as clearly as Garrison or +Phillips; the wisest philosophy could teach them nothing as to that, +nor could any false philosophy befog them. After all, personal +experience is the best logician. + +Certainly this indifference did not proceed from any want of personal +affection, for they were the most affectionate people among whom I had +ever lived. They attached themselves to every officer who deserved love, +and to some who did not; and if they failed to show it to their masters, +it proved the wrongfulness of the mastery. On the other hand, they +rarely showed one gleam of revenge, and I shall never forget the +self-control with which one of our best sergeants pointed out to me, at +Jacksonville, the very place where one of his brothers had been hanged +by the whites for leading a party of fugitive slaves. He spoke of it as +a historic matter, without any bearing on the present issue. + +But side by side with this faculty of patience, there was a certain +tropical element in the men, a sort of fiery ecstasy when aroused, +which seemed to link them by blood with the French Turcos, and made +them really resemble their natural enemies, the Celts, far more than +the Anglo-Saxon temperament. To balance this there were great +individual resources when alone,--a sort of Indian wiliness and +subtlety of resource. Their gregariousness and love of drill made them +more easy to keep in hand than white American troops, who rather like +to straggle or go in little squads, looking out for themselves, +without being bothered with officers. The blacks prefer organization. + +The point of inferiority that I always feared, though I never had +occasion to prove it, was that they might show less fibre, less tough +and dogged resistance, than whites, during a prolonged trial,--a long, +disastrous march, for instance, or the hopeless defence of a besieged +town. I should not be afraid of their mutinying or running away, but of +their drooping and dying. It might not turn out so; but I mention it for +the sake of fairness, and to avoid overstating the merits of these +troops. As to the simple general fact of courage and reliability I think +no officer in our camp ever thought of there being any difference +between black and white. And certainly the opinions of these officers, +who for years risked their lives every moment on the fidelity of their +men, were worth more than those of all the world beside. + +No doubt there were reasons why this particular war was an especially +favorable test of the colored soldiers. They had more to fight for than +the whites. Besides the flag and the Union, they had home and wife and +child. They fought with ropes round their necks, and when orders were +issued that the officers of colored troops should be put to death on +capture, they took a grim satisfaction. It helped their _esprit de corps_ +immensely. With us, at least, there was to be no play-soldier. Though +they had begun with a slight feeling of inferiority to the white troops, +this compliment substituted a peculiar sense of self-respect. And even +when the new colored regiments began to arrive from the North my men +still pointed out this difference,--that in case of ultimate defeat, the +Northern troops, black or white, would go home, while the First South +Carolina must fight it out or be re-enslaved. This was one thing that +made the St. John's River so attractive to them and even to me;--it was +so much nearer the everglades. I used seriously to ponder, during the +darker periods of the war, whether I might not end my days as an +outlaw,--a leader of Maroons. + +Meanwhile, I used to try to make some capital for the Northern troops, +in their estimate, by pointing out that it was a disinterested thing in +these men from the free States, to come down there and fight, that the +slaves might be free. But they were apt keenly to reply, that many of +the white soldiers disavowed this object, and said that that was not the +object of the war, nor even likely to be its end. Some of them even +repeated Mr. Seward's unfortunate words to Mr. Adams, which some general +had been heard to quote. So, on the whole, I took nothing by the motion, +as was apt to be the case with those who spoke a good word for our +Government, in those vacillating and half proslavery days. + +At any rate, this ungenerous discouragement had this good effect, that +it touched their pride; they would deserve justice, even if they did not +obtain it. This pride was afterwards severely tested during the +disgraceful period when the party of repudiation in Congress temporarily +deprived them of their promised pay. In my regiment the men never +mutinied, nor even threatened mutiny; they seemed to make it a matter of +honor to do then: part, even if the Government proved a defaulter; but +one third of them, including the best men in the regiment, quietly +refused to take a dollar's pay, at the reduced price. "We'se gib our +sogerin' to de Guv'ment, Gunnel," they said, "but we won't 'spise +ourselves so much for take de seben dollar." They even made a +contemptuous ballad, of which I once caught a snatch. + + "Ten dollar a month! + Tree ob dat for clothin'l + Go to Washington + Fight for Linkum's darter!" + +This "Lincoln's daughter" stood for the Goddess of Liberty, it would +seem. They would be true to her, but they would not take the half-pay. +This was contrary to my advice, and to that of other officers; but I now +think it was wise. Nothing less than this would have called the +attention of the American people to this outrageous fraud.* + +* See Appendix. + +The same slow forecast had often marked their action in other ways. One +of our ablest sergeants, Henry Mclntyre, who had earned two dollars and +a half per day as a master-carpenter in Florida, and paid one dollar and +a half to his master, told me that he had deliberately refrained from +learning to read, because that knowledge exposed the slaves to so much +more watching and suspicion. This man and a few others had built on +contract the greater part of the town of Micanopy in Florida, and was a +thriving man when his accustomed discretion failed for once, and he lost +all. He named his child William Lincoln, and it brought upon him such +suspicion that he had to make his escape. + +I cannot conceive what people at the North mean by speaking of the +negroes as a bestial or brutal race. Except in some insensibility to +animal pain, I never knew of an act in my regiment which I should call +brutal. In reading Kay's "Condition of the English Peasantry" I was +constantly struck with the unlikeness of my men to those therein +described. This could not proceed from my prejudices as an abolitionist, +for they would have led me the other way, and indeed I had once written +a little essay to show the brutalizing influences of slavery. I learned +to think that we abolitionists had underrated the suffering produced by +slavery among the negroes, but had overrated the demoralization. Or +rather, we did not know how the religious temperament of the negroes had +checked the demoralization. Yet again, it must be admitted that this +temperament, born of sorrow and oppression, is far more marked in the +slave than in the native African. + +Theorize as we may, there was certainly in our camp an average tone of +propriety which all visitors noticed, and which was not created, but +only preserved by discipline. I was always struck, not merely by the +courtesy of the men, but also by a certain sober decency of language. +If a man had to report to me any disagreeable fact, for instance, he +was sure to do it with gravity and decorum, and not blurt it out in an +offensive way. And it certainly was a significant fact that the ladies +of our camp, when we were so fortunate as to have such guests, the +young wives, especially, of the adjutant and quartermaster, used to go +among the tents when the men were off duty, in order to hear their big +pupils read and spell, without the slightest fear of annoyance. I do +not mean direct annoyance or insult, for no man who valued his life +would have ventured that in presence of the others, but I mean the +annoyance of accidentally seeing or hearing improprieties not intended +for them. They both declared that they would not have moved about with +anything like the same freedom in any white camp they had ever +entered, and it always roused their indignation to hear the negro race +called brutal or depraved. + +This came partly from natural good manners, partly from the habit of +deference, partly from ignorance of the refined and ingenious evil which +is learned in large towns; but a large part came from their strongly +religious temperament. Their comparative freedom from swearing, for +instance,--an abstinence which I fear military life did not strengthen,-- +was partly a matter of principle. Once I heard one of them say to +another, in a transport of indignation, "Ha-a-a, boy, s'pose I no be a +Christian, I cuss you sol"--which was certainly drawing pretty hard upon +the bridle. "Cuss," however, was a generic term for all manner of evil +speaking; they would say, "He cuss me fool," or "He cuss me coward," as +if the essence of propriety were in harsh and angry speech,--which I +take to be good ethics. But certainly, if Uncle Toby could have +recruited his army in Flanders from our ranks, their swearing would have +ceased to be historic. + +It used to seem to me that never, since Cromwell's time, had there +been soldiers in whom the religious element held such a place. "A +religious army," "a gospel army," were their frequent phrases. In +their prayer-meetings there was always a mingling, often quaint +enough, of the warlike and the pious. "If each one of us was a praying +man," said Corporal Thomas Long in a sermon, "it appears to me that we +could fight as well with prayers as with bullets,--for the Lord has +said that if you have faith even as a grain of mustard-seed cut into +four parts, you can say to the sycamore-tree, Arise, and it will come +up." And though Corporal Long may have got a little perplexed in his +botany, his faith proved itself by works, for he volunteered and went +many miles on a solitary scouting expedition into the enemy's country +in Florida, and got back safe, after I had given him up for lost. + +The extremes of religious enthusiasm I did not venture to encourage, for +I could not do it honestly; neither did I discourage them, but simply +treated them with respect, and let them have their way, so long as they +did not interfere with discipline. In general they promoted it. The +mischievous little drummer-boys, whose scrapes and quarrels were the +torment of my existence, might be seen kneeling together in their tents +to say their prayers at night, and I could hope that their slumbers were +blessed by some spirit of peace, such as certainly did not rule over +their waking. The most reckless and daring fellows in the regiment were +perfect fatalists in theur confidence that God would watch over them, +and that if they died, it would be because theur time had come. This +almost excessive faith, and the love of freedom and of their families, +all co-operated with their pride as soldiers to make them do their duty. +I could not have spared any of these incentives. Those of our officers +who were personally the least influenced by such considerations, still +saw the need of encouraging them among the men. + +I am bound to say that this strongly devotional turn was not always +accompanied by the practical virtues; but neither was it strikingly +divorced from them. A few men, I remember, who belonged to the ancient +order of hypocrites, but not many. Old Jim Cushman was our favorite +representative scamp. He used to vex his righteous soul over the +admission of the unregenerate to prayer-meetings, and went off once +shaking his head and muttering, "Too much goat shout wid de sheep." But +he who objected to this profane admixture used to get our mess-funds far +more hopelessly mixed with his own, when he went out to buy chickens. +And I remember that, on being asked by our Major, in that semi-Ethiopian +dialect into which we sometimes slid, "How much wife you got, Jim?" the +veteran replied, with a sort of penitence for lost opportunities, "On'y +but four, Sahl" + +Another man of somewhat similar quality went among us by the name of +Henry Ward Beecher, from a remarkable resemblance in face and figure +to that sturdy divine. I always felt a sort of admiration for this +worthy, because of the thoroughness with which he outwitted me, and +the sublime impudence in which he culminated. He got a series of +passes from me, every week or two, to go and see his wife on a +neighboring plantation, and finally, when this resource seemed +exhausted, he came boldly for one more pass, that he might go and be +married. + +We used to quote _him_ a good deal, also, as a sample of a certain +Shakespearian boldness of personification in which the men sometimes +indulged. Once, I remember, his captain had given him a fowling-piece to +clean. Henry Ward had left it in the captain's tent, and the latter, +finding it, had transferred the job to some one else. + +Then came a confession, in this precise form, with many dignified +gesticulations:-- + +"Cappen! I took dat gun, and I put bun in Cappen tent. Den I look, and +de gun not dar! Den Conscience say, Cappen mus' hab gib dat gun to +somebody else for clean. Den I say, Conscience, you reason correck." + +Compare Lancelot Gobbo's soliloquy in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona"! + +Still, I maintain that, as a whole, the men were remarkably free from +inconvenient vices. There was no more lying and stealing than in average +white regiments. The surgeon was not much troubled by shamming sickness, +and there were not a great many complaints of theft. There was less +quarrelling than among white soldiers, and scarcely ever an instance of +drunkenness. Perhaps the influence of their officers had something to do +with this; for not a ration of whiskey was ever issued to the men, nor +did I ever touch it, while in the army, nor approve a requisition for +any of the officers, without which it could not easily be obtained. In +this respect our surgeons fortunately agreed with me, and we never had +reason to regret it. I believe the use of ardent spirits to be as +useless and injurious in the army as on board ship, and among the +colored troops, especially, who had never been accustomed to it, I think +that it did only harm. + +The point of greatest laxity in their moral habits--the want of a high +standard of chastity--was not one which affected their camp life to +any great extent, and it therefore came less under my observation. But +I found to my relief that, whatever their deficiency in this respect, +it was modified by the general quality of their temperament, and +indicated rather a softening and relaxation than a hardening and +brutalizing of their moral natures. Any insult or violence in this +direction was a thing unknown. I never heard of an instance. It was +not uncommon for men to have two or three wives in different +plantations,--the second, or remoter, partner being called a "'broad +wife,"--i.e. wife abroad. But the whole tendency was toward marriage, +and this state of things was only regarded as a bequest from "mas'r +time." + +I knew a great deal about their marriages, for they often consulted me, +and took my counsel as lovers are wont to do,--that is, when it pleased +their fancy. Sometimes they would consult their captains first, and then +come to me in despairing appeal. "Cap'n Scroby [Trowbridge] he acvise me +not for marry dis lady, 'cause she hab seben cbil'en. What for use? +Cap'n Scroby can't lub for me. I mus' lub for myself, and I lub he." I +remember that on this occasion "he" stood by, a most unattractive woman, +jet black, with an old pink muslin dress, torn white cotton gloves, and +a very flowery bonnet, that must have descended through generations of +tawdry mistresses. + +I felt myself compelled to reaffirm the decision of the inferior court. +The result was as usual. They were married the next day, and I believe +that she proved an excellent wife, though she had seven children, whose +father was also in the regiment. If she did not, I know many others who +did, and certainly I have never seen more faithful or more happy +marriages than among that people. + +The question was often asked, whether the Southern slaves or the +Northern free blacks made the best soldiers. It was a compliment to +both classes that each officer usually preferred those whom he had +personally commanded. I preferred those who had been slaves, for their +greater docility and affectionateness, for the powerful stimulus +which their new freedom gave, and for the fact that they were +fighting, in a manner, for their own homes and firesides. Every one of +these considerations afforded a special aid to discipline, and +cemented a peculiar tie of sympathy between them and their officers. +They seemed like clansmen, and had a more confiding and filial +relation to us than seemed to me to exist in the Northern colored +regiments. + +So far as the mere habits of slavery went, they were a poor preparation +for military duty. Inexperienced officers often assumed that, because +these men had been slaves before enlistment, they would bear to be +treated as such afterwards. Experience proved the contrary. The more +strongly we marked the difference between the slave and the soldier, the +better for the regiment. One half of military duty lies in obedience, +the other half in self-respect. A soldier without self-respect is +worthless. Consequently there were no regiments in which it was so +important to observe the courtesies and proprieties of military life as +in these. I had to caution the officers to be more than usually +particular in returning the salutations of the men; to be very careful +in their dealings with those on picket or guard-duty; and on no account +to omit the titles of the non-commissioned officers. So, in dealing out +punishments, we had carefully to avoid all that was brutal and +arbitrary, all that savored of the overseer. Any such dealing found them +as obstinate and contemptuous as was Topsy when Miss Ophelia undertook +to chastise her. A system of light punishments, rigidly administered +according to the prescribed military forms, had more weight with them +than any amount of angry severity. To make them feel as remote as +possible from the plantation, this was essential. By adhering to this, +and constantly appealing to their pride as soldiers and their sense of +duty, we were able to maintain a high standard of discipline,--so, at +least, the inspecting officers said,--and to get rid, almost entirely, of +the more degrading class of punishments,--standing on barrels, tying up +by the thumbs, and the ball and chain. + +In all ways we had to educate their self-respect. For instance, at +first they disliked to obey their own non-commissioned officers. "I +don't want him to play de white man ober me," was a sincere objection. +They had been so impressed with a sense of inferiority that the +distinction extended to the very principles of honor. "I ain't got +colored-man principles," said Corporal London Simmons, indignantly +defending himself from some charge before me. "I'se got white-gemman +principles. I'se do my best. If Cap'n tell me to take a man, s'pose de +man be as big as a house, I'll clam hold on him till I die, inception +[excepting] I'm sick." + +But it was plain that this feeling was a bequest of slavery, which +military life would wear off. We impressed it upon them that they did +not obey their officers because they were white, but because they were +their officers, just as the Captain must obey me, and I the General; +that we were all subject to military law, and protected by it in turn. +Then we taught them to take pride in having good material for +noncommissioned officers among themselves, and in obeying them. On my +arrival there was one white first sergeant, and it was a question +whether to appoint others. This I prevented, but left that one, hoping +the men themselves would at last petition for his removal, which at +length they did. He was at once detailed on other duty. The +picturesqueness of the regiment suffered, for he was very tall and fair, +and I liked to see him step forward in the centre when the line of first +sergeants came together at dress-parade. But it was a help to discipline +to eliminate the Saxon, for it recognized a principle. + +Afterwards I had excellent battalion-drills without a single white +officer, by way of experiment; putting each company under a sergeant, +and going through the most difficult movements, such as +division-columns and oblique-squares. And as to actual discipline, it +is doing no injustice to the line-officers of the regiment to say that +none of them received from the men more implicit obedience than +Color-Sergeant Rivers. I should have tried to obtain commissions for +him and several others before I left the regiment, had their literary +education been sufficient; and such an attempt was finally made by +Lieutenant-Colonel Trowbridge, my successor in immediate command, but +it proved unsuccessful. It always seemed to me an insult to those +brave men to have novices put over their heads, on the ground of color +alone; and the men felt it the more keenly as they remained longer in +service. There were more than seven hundred enlisted men in the +regiment, when mustered out after more than three years' service. The +ranks had been kept full by enlistment, but there were only fourteen +line-officers instead of the full thirty. The men who should have +filled those vacancies were doing duty as sergeants in the ranks. + +In what respect were the colored troops a source of disappointment? To +me in one respect only,--that of health. Their health improved, indeed, +as they grew more familiar with military life; but I think that neither +their physical nor moral temperament gave them that toughness, that +obstinate purpose of living, which sustains the more materialistic +Anglo-Saxon. They had not, to be sure, the same predominant diseases, +suffering in the pulmonary, not in the digestive organs; but they +suffered a good deal. They felt malaria less, but they were more easily +choked by dust and made ill by dampness. On the other hand, they +submitted more readily to sanitary measures than whites, and, with +efficient officers, were more easily kept clean. They were injured +throughout the army by an undue share of fatigue duty, which is not only +exhausting but demoralizing to a soldier; by the un-suitableness of the +rations, which gave them salt meat instead of rice and hominy; and by +the lack of good medical attendance. Their childlike constitutions +peculiarly needed prompt and efficient surgical care; but almost all the +colored troops were enlisted late in the war, when it was hard to get +good surgeons for any regiments, and especially for these. In this +respect I had nothing to complain of, since there were no surgeons in +the army for whom I would have exchanged my own. + +And this late arrival on the scene affected not only the medical +supervision of the colored troops, but their opportunity for a career. +It is not my province to write their history, nor to vindicate them, +nor to follow them upon those larger fields compared with which the +adventures of my regiment appear but a partisan warfare. Yet this, at +least, may be said. The operations on the South Atlantic coast, which +long seemed a merely subordinate and incidental part of the great +contest, proved to be one of the final pivots on which it turned. All +now admit that the fate of the Confederacy was decided by Sherman's +march to the sea. Port Royal was the objective point to which he +marched, and he found the Department of the South, when he reached it, +held almost exclusively by colored troops. Next to the merit of those +who made the march was that of those who held open the door. That +service will always remain among the laurels of the black regiments. + + + + +Chapter 13 +Conclusion + + +My personal forebodings proved to be correct, and so were the threats of +the surgeons. In May, 1864, I went home invalided, was compelled to +resign in October from the same cause, and never saw the First South +Carolina again. Nor did any one else see it under that appellation, for +about that time its name was changed to the Thirty-Third United States +Colored Troops, "a most vague and heartless baptism," as the man in the +story says. It was one of those instances of injudicious sacrifice of +_esprit de corps_ which were so frequent in our army. All the pride of +my men was centred in "de Fus' Souf"; the very words were a recognition +of the loyal South as against the disloyal. To make the matter worse, it +had been originally designed to apply the new numbering only to the new +regiments, and so the early numbers were all taken up before the older +regiments came in. The governors of States, by especial effort, saved +their colored troops from this chagrin; but we found here, as more than +once before, the disadvantage of having no governor to stand by us. +"It's a far cry to Loch Awe," said the Highland proverb. We knew to our +cost that it was a far cry to Washington in those days, unless an +officer left his duty and stayed there all the time. + +In June, 1864, the regiment was ordered to Folly Island, and remained +there and on Cole's Island till the siege of Charleston was done. It +took part in the battle of Honey Hill, and in the capture of a fort on +James Island, of which Corporal Robert Vendross wrote triumphantly in a +letter, "When we took the pieces we found that we recapt our own pieces +back that we lost on Willtown Revear (River) and thank the Lord did not +lose but seven men out of our regiment." + +In February, 1865, the regiment was ordered to Charleston to do provost +and guard duty, in March to Savannah, in June to Hamburg and Aiken, in +September to Charleston and its neighborhood, and was finally mustered +out of service--after being detained beyond its three years, so great was +the scarcity of troops--on the 9th of February, 1866. With dramatic +fitness this muster-out took place at Fort Wagner, above the graves of +Shaw and his men. I give in the Appendix the farewell address of +Lieutenant-Colonel Trowbridge, who commanded the regiment from the time +I left it. Brevet Brigadier-General W. T. Bennett, of the One Hundred +and Second United States Colored Troops, who was assigned to the +command, never actually held it, being always in charge of a brigade. + +The officers and men are scattered far and wide. One of our captains +was a member of the South Carolina Constitutional Convention, and is +now State Treasurer; three of our sergeants were in that Convention, +including Sergeant Prince Rivers; and he and Sergeant Henry Hayne are +still members of the State Legislature. Both in that State and hi +Florida the former members of the regiment are generally prospering, +so far as I can hear. The increased self-respect of army life fitted +them to do the duties of civil life. It is not in nature that the +jealousy of race should die out in this generation, but I trust they +will not see the fulfilment of Corporal Simon Cram's prediction. Simon +was one of the shrewdest old fellows in the regiment, and he said to +me once, as he was jogging out of Beaufort behind me, on the Shell +Road, "I'se goin' to leave de Souf, Cunnel, when de war is over. I'se +made up my mind dat dese yere Secesh will neber be cibilized in my +time." + +The only member of the regiment whom I have seen since leaving it is a +young man, Cyrus Wiggins, who was brought off from the main-land in a +dug-out, in broad day, before the very eyes of the rebel pickets, by +Captain James S. Rogers, of my regiment. It was one of the most daring +acts I ever saw, and as it happened under my own observation I was glad +when the Captain took home with him this "captive of his bow and spear" +to be educated under his eye in Massachusetts. Cyrus has done credit to +his friends, and will be satisfied with nothing short of a +college-training at Howard University. I have letters from the men, very +quaint in handwriting and spelling; but he is the only one whom I have +seen. Some time I hope to revisit those scenes, and shall feel, no +doubt, like a bewildered Rip Van Winkle who once wore uniform. + +We who served with the black troops have this peculiar satisfaction, +that, whatever dignity or sacredness the memories of the war may have to +others, they have more to us. In that contest all the ordinary ties of +patriotism were the same, of course, to us as to the rest; they had no +motives which we had not, as they have now no memories which are not +also ours. But the peculiar privilege of associating with an outcast +race, of training it to defend its rights and to perform its duties, +this was our especial meed. The vacillating policy of the Government +sometimes filled other officers with doubt and shame; until the negro +had justice, they were but defending liberty with one hand and crushing +it with the other. From this inconsistency we were free. Whatever the +Government did, we at least were working in the right direction. If +this was not recognized on our side of the lines, we knew that it was +admitted on the other. Fighting with ropes round our necks, denied the +ordinary courtesies of war till we ourselves compelled then: concession, +we could at least turn this outlawry into a compliment. We had touched +the pivot of the war. Whether this vast and dusky mass should prove the +weakness of the nation or its strength, must depend in great measure, we +knew, upon our efforts. Till the blacks were armed, there was no +guaranty of their freedom. It was their demeanor under arms that shamed +the nation into recognizing them as men. + + + + +APPENDIX + + +Appendix A + +Roster of Officers + +FIRST SOUTH CAROLINA VOLUNTEERS, + +Afterwards Thirty-Third United States Colored Troops. + +Colonels + +T. W. HIGGINSON, 51st Mass. Vols., Nov. 10, 1862; Resigned, + +Oct. 27, 1864. WM. T. BENNETT, 102d U. S. C. T., Dec. 18, 1864; Mustered out + +with regiment + +Lieutenant-Colonels + +LIBERTY BILLINGS, Civil Life, Nov. 1, 1862; Dismissed by Examining +Board, July 28, 1863. + +JOHN D. STRONG, Promotion, July 28, 1863; Resigned, Aug. 15, 1864. + +CHAS. T. TROWBRIDGE, Promotion, Dec. 9, 1864; Mustered out, &c. + +Majors + +JOHN D. STRONG, Civil Life, Oct. 21, 1862; Lt-Col., July 28, 1863. CHAS. + +T. TROWBRIDGE, Promotion, Aug. 11, 1863; Lt.-Col., Dec. +9, 1864. + +H. A. WHTTNEY, Promotion, Dec. 9, 1864; Mustered out, &c. + +Surgeons + +SETH ROGERS, Civil Life, Dec. 2, 1862; Resigned, Dec. 21, 1863. + +WM. B. CRANDALL, 29th Ct, June 8, 1864; Mustered out, &c. + +Assistant Surgeons + +J. M. HAWKS, Civil Life, Oct 20, 1862; Surgeon 3d S. C. Vols., + +Oct. 29, 1863. + +THOS. T. MINOR, 7th Ct., Jan. 8, 1863; Resigned, Nov. 21, 1864. + +E. S. STUARD, Civil Life, Sept. 4, 1865; Mustered out, &c. + +Chaplain + +JAS. H. FOWLER, Civil Life, Oct. 24, 1862; Mustered out, &c. + +Captains + +CHAS. T. TROWBRIDGE, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Oct. 13, 1862; Major, +Aug. 11, 1863. + +WM. JAMES, 100th Pa., Oct. 13, 1862; Mustered out, &c. + +W. J. RANDOLPH, 100th Pa., Oct. 13, 1862; Resigned, Jan. 29, +1864. + +H. A. WHITNEY, 8th Me., Oct. 13, 1862; Major, Dec. 9, 1864. + +ALEX. HEASLEY, 100th Pa., Oct 13, 1862; Killed at Augusta, Ga., +Sept. 6, 1865. + +GEORGE DOLLY, 8th Me., Nov. 1, 1862; Resigned, Oct. 30, 1863. + +L. W. METCALF, 8th Me., Nov. 11, 1862; Mustered out, &c. + +JAS. H. TONKING, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Nov. 17, 1862; Resigned, July +28, 1863. + +JAS. S. ROGERS, 51st Mass., Dec. 6, 1862; Resigned, Oct. 20, 1863. + +J. H. THIBADEAU, Promotion, Jan. 10, 1863; Mustered out, &c. + +GEORGE D. WALKER, Promotion, July 28, 1863; Resigned, Sept +1, 1864. + +WM. H. DANILSON, Promotion, July 28, 1863; Major 128th +U. S. C. T., May, 1865 [now 1st Lt 40th U. S. Infantry]. + +WM. W. SAMPSON, Promotion, Nov. 5, 1863; Mustered out, &c. + +JOHN M. THOMPSON, Promotion, Nov. 7, 1863; Mustered out, &c. +[Now 1st Lt. and Bvt Capt. 38th U. S. Infy.] + +ABR. W. JACKSON, Promotion, April 30, 1864; Resigned, Aug. 15, 1865. + +NILES G. PARKER, Promotion, Feb., 1865; Mustered out, &c. + +CHAS. W. HOOPER, Promotion, Sept, 1865; Mustered out, &c. + +E. C. MERMAM, Promotion, Sept., 1865; Resigned, Dec. 4, 1865. + +E. W. ROBBINS, Promotion, Nov. 1, 1865; Mustered out, &c. + +N. S. WHITE, Promotion, Nov. 18, 1865; Mustered out, &c. + +First Lieutenants + +G. W. DEWHURST (Adjutant), Civil Life, Oct 20, 1862; Resigned, Aug. +31, 1865. + +J. M. BINOHAM (Quartermaster), Civil Life, Oct. 20, 1862; Died +from effect of exhaustion on a military expedition, July 20, +1863. + +G. M. CHAMBERUN (Quartermaster), llth Mass. Battery, Aug. +29, 1863; Mustered out, &c. + +GEO. D. WALKER, N. Y. VoL Eng., Oct 13, +1862; Captain, Aug. 11, 1863. + +W. H. DANILSON, 48th N. Y., Oct 13, 1862; Captain, July 26, +1863. + +J. H. THTBADEAU, 8th Me., Oct 13, 1862; Captain, Jan. 10, 1863. + +EPHRAIM P. WHITE, 8th Me., Nov. 14, 1862; Resigned, March 9, +1864. + +JAS. POMEROY, 100th Pa., Oct 13,1862; Resigned, Feb. 9, 1863. + +JAS. F. JOHNSTON, 100th Pa., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, March 26, +1863. + +JESSE FISHER, 48th N. Y., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, Jan. 26, 1863. + +CHAS. I. DAVIS, 8th Me., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, Feb. 28, 1863. + +WM. STOCKDALE, 8th Me., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, May 2, 1863. + +JAS. B. O'NEIL, Promotion, Jan. 10, 1863; Resigned, May 2, 1863. + +W. W. SAMPSON, Promotion, Jan. 10, 1863; Captain, Oct 30, + +1863. J. M. THOMPSON, Promotion, Jan. 27, 1863; Captain, Oct. 30, + +1863. R. M. GASTON, Promotion, April 15, 1863; Killed at Coosaw +Ferry, S. C., May 27, 1863. + +JAS. B. WEST, Promotion, Feb. 28, 1863; Resigned, June 14, 1865. + +N. G. PARKER, Promotion, May 5, 1863; Captain, Feb., 1865. + +W. H. HYDE, Promotion, May 5, 1863; Resigned, April 3, 1865. + +HENRY A. STONE, 8th Me., June 26, 1863; Resigned, Dec. 16, +1864. + +J. A. TROWBRTDGE, Promotion, Aug. 11, 1863; Resigned, Nov. 29, +1864. + +A. W. JACKSON, Promotion, Aug. 26, 1863; Captain, April 30, +1864. + +CHAS. E. PARKER, Promotion, Aug. 26, 1863; Resigned, Nov. 29, +1864. + +CHAS. W. HOOPER, Promotion, Nov. 8, 1863; Captain, Sept., 1865. + +E. C. MERRIAM, Promotion, Nov. 19, 1863; Captain, Sept., 1865. + +HENRY A. BEACH, Promotion, April 30, 1864; Resigned, Sept 23, +1864. + +E. W. ROBBINS, Promotion, April 30, 1864; Captain, Nov. 1, +1865. + +ASA CHILD, Promotion, Sept, 1865; Mastered out, &c. + +N. S. WHITE, Promotion, Sept, 1865; Captain, Nov. 18, 1865. + +F. S. GOODRICH, Promotion, Oct., 1865; Mustered out, &c. + +E. W. HYDE, Promotion, Oct 27, 1865; Mustered out, &c. + +HENRY WOOD, Promotion, Nov., 1865; Mustered out, &c. + + + +Second Lieutenants + +J. A. TROWBMDGE, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, Aug. +11, 1863. + +JAS. B. O-NBIL, 1st U. S. Art'y, Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, Jan. 10, +1863. + +W. W. SAMPSON, 8th Me., Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, Jan 10, 1863. + +J. M. THOMPSON, 7th N. H., Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, Jan. 27, 1863. + +R. M. GASTON, 100th Pa., Oct. 13, 1862; First Lt, April 15, 1863. + +W. H. HYDE, 6th Ct, Oct 13, 1862; First Lt, May 5, 1863. + +JAS. B. WEST, 100th Pa., Oct. 13. 1862; First Lt, Feb. 28, 1863. + +HARRY C. WEST, 100th Pa., Oct 13, 1862; Resigned, Nov. 4, +1864. + +E. C. MERRIAM, 8th Me., Nov. 17, 1862; First Lt., Nov. 19, 1863. + +CHAS. E. PARKER, 8th Me., Nov. 17, 1862; First Lt, Aug. 26, +1863. + +C. W. HOOPER, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Feb. 17, 1863; First Lt, April +15, 1863. + +N. G. PARKER, 1st Mass. Cavalry, March, 1863; First Lt, May +5, 1863. + +A. H. TIRRELL, 1st Mass. Cav., March 6, 1863; Resigned, July +22, 1863. + +A. W. JACKSON, 8th Me., March 6, 1863; First Lt, Aug. 26, 1863. + +HENRY A. BEACH, 48th N. Y., April 5, 1863; First Lt, April 30, 1864. + +E. W. ROBBINS, 8th Me., April 5, 1863; First Lt, April 30, 1864. + +A. B. BROWN, Civil Life, April 17, 1863; Resigned, Nov. 27, 1863. + +F. M. GOULD, 3d R. I. Battery, June 1, 1863; Resigned, June 8, 1864. + +ASA CHILD, 8th Me., Aug. 7, 1863; First Lt, Sept., 1865. + +JEROME T. FDRMAN, 52d Pa., Aug. 30, 1863; Killed at Walhalla, +S. C., Aug. 26, 1865. + +JOHN W. SELVAGE, 48th N. Y., Sept 10, 1863; First Lt. 36th +U. S. C. T., March, 1865. + +MIRAND W. SAXTON, Civil Life, Nov. 19, 1863; +Captain 128th U. S. C. T., June 25, 1864 [now Second Lt 38th U. S. Infantry]. + +NELSON S. WHITE, Dec. 22, 1863; First Lt, Sept., 1865. + +EDW. W. HYDE, Civil Life, May 4, 1864; First Lt, Oct. 27, 1865. + +F. S. GOODRICH, 115th N. Y., May, 1864; First Lt., Oct., 1865. + +B. H. MANNING, Aug. 11, 1864; Capt 128th U. S. C. T., March +17, 1865. + +R. M. DAVIS, 4th Mass. Cavalry, Nov. 19, 1864; Capt. 104th +U. S. C. T., May 11, 1865. + +HENRY WOOD, N. Y. Vol. Eng., Aug., 1865; First Lt, Nov., 1865. + +JOHN M. SEAKLES, 1st N. Y. Mounted Rifles, June 15, 1865; +Mustered out, &c. + + + + +Appendix B +The First Black Soldiers + + +It is well known that the first systematic attempt to organize colored +troops during the war of the rebellion was the so-called "Hunter +Regiment." The officer originally detailed to recruit for this purpose +was Sergeant C. T. Trowbridge, of the New York Volunteer Engineers (Col. +Serrell). His detail was dated May 7, 1862, S. O. 84 Dept. South. + +Enlistments came in very slowly, and no wonder. The white officers and +soldiers were generally opposed to the experiment, and filled the ears +of the negroes with the same tales which had been told them by their +masters,--that the Yankees really meant to sell them to Cuba, and the +like. The mildest threats were that they would be made to work without +pay (which turned out to be the case), and that they would be put in the +front rank in every battle. Nobody could assure them that they and their +families would be freed by the Government, if they fought for it, since +no such policy had been adopted. Nevertheless, they gradually enlisted, +the most efficient recruiting officer being Sergeant William Bronson, of +Company A, in my regiment, who always prided himself on this service, +and used to sign himself by the very original title, "No. 1, African +Foundations" in commemoration of his deeds. + +By patience and tact these obstacles would in time have been overcome. +But before long, unfortunately, some of General Hunter's staff became +impatient, and induced him to take the position that the blacks _must_ +enlist. Accordingly, squads of soldiers were sent to seize all the +able-bodied men on certain plantations, and bring them to the camp. +The immediate consequence was a renewal of the old suspicion, ending +in a widespread belief that they were to be sent to Cuba, as their +masters had predicted. The ultimate result was a habit of distrust, +discontent, and desertion, that it was almost impossible to surmount. +All the men who knew anything about General Hunter believed in him; +but they all knew that there were bad influences around him, and that +the Government had repudiated his promises. They had been kept four +months in service, and then had been dismissed without pay. That +having been the case, why should not the Government equally repudiate +General Saxton's promises or mine? As a matter of fact, the Govenment +did repudiate these pledges for years, though we had its own written +authority to give them. But that matter needs an appendix by itself. + +The "Hunter Regiment" remained in camp on Hilton Head Island until the +beginning of August, 1862, kept constantly under drill, but much +demoralized by desertion. It was then disbanded, except one company. +That company, under command of Sergeant Trowbridge, then acting as +Captain, but not commissioned, was kept in service, and was sent (August +5, 1862) to garrison St. Simon's Island, on the coast of Georgia. On +this island (made famous by Mrs. Kemble's description) there were then +five hundred colored people, and not a single white man. + +The black soldiers were sent down on the Ben De Ford, Captain Hallett. +On arriving, Trowbridge was at once informed by Commodore Goldsborough, +naval commander at that station, that there was a party of rebel +guerillas on the island, and was asked whether he would trust his +soldiers in pursuit of them. Trowbridge gladly assented; and the +Commodore added, "If you should capture them, it will be a great thing +for you." + +They accordingly went on shore, and found that the colored men of the +island had already undertaken the enterprise. Twenty-five of them had +armed themselves, under the command of one of their own number, whose +name was John Brown. The second in command was Edward Gould, who was +afterwards a corporal in my own regiment The rebel party retreated +before these men, and drew them into a swamp. There was but one path, +and the negroes entered single file. The rebels lay behind a great +log, and fired upon them. John Brown, the leader, fell dead within six +feet of the log,--probably the first black man who fell under arms in +the war,--several other were wounded, and the band of raw recruits +retreated; as did also the rebels, in the opposite direction. This was +the first armed encounter, so far as I know, between the rebels and +their former slaves; and it is worth noticing that the attempt was a +spontaneous thing and not accompanied by any white man. The men were +not soldiers, nor in uniform, though some of them afterwards enlisted +in Trowbridge's company. + +The father of this John Brown was afterwards a soldier in my regiment; +and, after his discharge for old age, was, for a time, my servant. +"Uncle York," as we called him, was as good a specimen of a saint as I +have ever met, and was quite the equal of Mrs. Stowe's "Uncle Tom." He +was a fine-looking old man, with dignified and courtly manners, and his +gray head was a perfect benediction, as he sat with us on the platform +at our Sunday meetings. He fully believed, to his dying day, that the +"John Brown Song" related to his son, and to him only. + +Trowbridge, after landing on the island, hunted the rebels all day with +his colored soldiers, and a posse of sailors. In one place, he found by +a creek a canoe, with a tar-kettle, and a fire burning; and it was +afterwards discovered that, at that very moment, the guerillas were hid +in a dense palmetto thicket, near by, and so eluded pursuit The rebel +leader was one Miles Hazard, who had a plantation on the island, and the +party escaped at last through the aid of his old slave, Henry, who found +them a boat One of my sergeants, Clarence Kennon, who had not then +escaped from slavery, was present when they reached the main-land; and +he described them as being tattered and dirty from head to foot, after +their efforts to escape their pursuers. + +When the troops under my command occupied Jacksonville, Fla., in March +of the following year, we found at the railroad station, packed for +departure, a box of papers, some of them valuable. Among them was a +letter from this very Hazard to some friend, describing the perils of +that adventure, and saying, "If you wish to know hell before your time, +go to St Simon's and be hunted ten days by niggers." + +I have heard Trowbridge say that not one of his men flinched; and they +seemed to take delight in the pursuit, though the weather was very hot, +and it was fearfully exhausting. + +This was early in August; and the company remained two months at St +Simon's, doing picket duty within hearing of the rebel drums, though +not another scout ever ventured on the island, to their knowledge. +Every Saturday Trowbridge summoned the island people to drill with his +soldiers; and they came in hordes, men, women, and children, in every +imaginable garb, to the number of one hundred and fifty or two +hundred. + +His own men were poorly clothed and hardly shod at all; and, as no new +supply of uniform was provided, they grew more and more ragged. They got +poor rations, and no pay; but they kept up their spirits. Every week or +so some of them would go on scouting excursions to the main-land; one +scout used to go regularly to his old mother's hut, and keep himself hid +under her bed, while she collected for him all the latest news of rebel +movements. This man never came back without bringing recruits with him. + +At last the news came that Major-General Mitchell had come to relieve +General Hunter, and that Brigadier-General Saxton had gone North; and +Trowbridge went to Hilton Head in some anxiety to see if he and his men +were utterly forgotten. He prepared a report, showing the services and +claims of his men, and took it with him. This was early in October, +1862. The first person he met was Brigadier-General Saxton, who informed +him that he had authority to organize five thousand colored troops, and +that he (Trowbridge) should be senior captain of the first regiment + +This was accordingly done; and Company A of the First South Carolina +could honestly claim to date its enlistment back to May, 1862, although +they never got pay for that period of their service, and their date of +muster was November, IS, 1862. + +The above facts were written down from the narration of +Lieutenant-Colonel Trowbridge, who may justly claim to have been the +first white officer to recruit and command colored troops in this war. +He was constantly in command of them from May 9, 1862, to February +9, 1866. + +Except the Louisiana soldiers mentioned in the Introduction,--of whom no +detailed reports have, I think, been published,--my regiment was +unquestionably the first mustered into the service of the United States; +the first company muster bearing date, November 7, 1862, and the others +following in quick succession. + +The second regiment in order of muster was the "First Kansas Colored," +dating from January 13, 1863. The first enlistment in the Kansas +regiment goes back to August 6, 1862; while the earliest technical +date of enlistment in my regiment was October 19, 1862, although, as +was stated above, one company really dated its organization back to +May, 1862. My muster as colonel dates back to November 10, 1862, +several months earlier than any other of which I am aware, among +colored regiments, except that of Colonel Stafford (First Louisiana +Native Guards), September 27, 1862. Colonel Williams, of the "First +Kansas Colored," was mustered as lieutenant-colonel on January 13, +1863; as colonel, March 8, 1863. These dates I have (with the other +facts relating to the regiment) from Colonel R. J. Hinton, the first +officer detailed to recruit it. + +To sum up the above facts: my late regiment had unquestioned priority in +muster over all but the Louisiana regiments. It had priority over those +in the actual organization and term of service of one company. On the +other hand, the Kansas regiment had the priority in average date of +enlistment, according to the muster-rolls. + +The first detachment of the Second South Carolina Volunteers (Colonel +Montgomery) went into camp at Port Royal Island, February 23, 1863, +numbering one hundred and twenty men. I do not know the date of his +muster; it was somewhat delayed, but was probably dated back to about +that time. + +Recruiting for the Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts (colored) began on +February 9, 1863, and the first squad went into camp at Read-ville, +Massachusetts, on February 21, 1863, numbering twenty-five men. Colonel +Shaw's commission (and probably his muster) was dated April 17, 1863. +(Report of Adjutant-General of Massachusetts for 1863, pp. 896-899.) + +These were the earliest colored regiments, so far as I know. + + + + +Appendix C +General Saxton's Instructions + + +[The following are the instructions under which my regiment was raised. +It will be seen how unequivocal were the provisions in respect to pay, +upon which so long and weary a contest was waged by our friends in +Congress, before the fulfilment of the contract could be secured.] + +WAR DEPARTMENT, +WASHINGTON CITY, D. C., +August 25, 1862. + +GENERAL, +Your despatch of the 16th has this moment been received. It is +considered by the Department that the instructions given at the time of +your appointment were sufficient to enable you to do what you have now +requested authority for doing. But in order to place your authority +beyond all doubt, you are hereby authorized and instructed, + +1st, To organize in any convenient organization, by squads, companies, +battalions, regiments, and brigades, or otherwise, colored persons of +African descent for volunteer laborers, to a number not exceeding fifty +thousand, and muster them into the service of the United States for the +term of the war, at a rate of compensation not exceeding five dollars +per month for common laborers, and eight dollars per month for +mechanical or skilled laborers, and assign them to the Quartermaster's +Department, to do and perform such laborer's duty as may be required +during the present war, and to be subject to the rules and articles of war. + +2d. The laboring forces herein authorized shall, under the order of the +General-in-Chief, or of this Department, be detailed by the +Quartermaster-General for laboring service with the armies of the United +States; and they shall be clothed and subsisted, after enrolment, in the +same manner as other persons in the Quartermaster's service. + +3d. In view of the small force under your command, and the inability of +the Government at the present time to increase it, in order to guard the +plantations and settlements occupied by the United States from invasion, +and protect the inhabitants thereof from captivity and murder by the +enemy, you are also authorized to arm, uniform, equip, and receive into +the service of the United States, such number of volunteers of African +descent as you may deem expedient, not exceeding five thousand, and may +detail officers to instruct them in military drill, discipline, and +duty, and to command them. The persons so received into service, and +their officers, to be entitled to, and receive, the same pay and rations +as are allowed, by law, to volunteers in the service. + +4th. You will occupy, if possible, all the islands and plantations +heretofore occupied by the Government, and secure and harvest the crops, +and cultivate and improve the plantations. + +5th. The population of African descent that cultivate the lands and +perform the labor of the rebels constitute a large share of their +military strength, and enable the white masters to fill the rebel +armies, and wage a cruel and murderous war against the people of the +Northern States. By reducing the laboring strength of the rebels, their +miltary power will be reduced. You are therefore authorized by every +means in your power, to withdraw from the enemy their laboring force and +population, and to spare no effort, consistent with civilized warfare, +to weaken, harass, and annoy them, and to establish the authority of the +Government of the United States within your Department. + +6th. You may turn over to the navy any number of colored volunteers that +may be required for the naval service. + +7th. By recent act of Congress, all men and boys received into the +service of the United States, who may have been the slaves of rebel +masters, are, with their wives, mothers, and children, declared to be +forever free. You and all in your command will so treat and regard them. + +Yours truly, + +EDWIN M. STANTON, + +Secretary of War. BRIGADIER-GENERAL SAXTON. + + + + +Appendix D +The Struggle for Pay + + +The story of the attempt to cut down the pay of the colored troops is +too long, too complicated, and too humiliating, to be here narrated. +In the case of my regiment there stood on record the direct pledge of +the War Department to General Saxton that their pay should be the same +as that of whites. So clear was this that our kind paymaster, Major W. +J. Wood, of New Jersey, took upon himself the responsibility of +paying the price agreed upon, for five months, till he was compelled +by express orders to reduce it from thirteen dollars per month to ten +dollars, and from that to seven dollars,--the pay of quartermaster's +men and day-laborers. At the same time the "stoppages" from the +pay-rolls for the loss of all equipments and articles of clothing +remained the same as for all other soldiers, so that it placed the men +in the most painful and humiliating condition. Many of them had +families to provide for, and between the actual distress, the sense of +wrong, the taunts of those who had refused to enlist from the fear of +being cheated, and the doubt how much farther the cheat might be +carried, the poor fellows were goaded to the utmost. In the Third +South Carolina regiment, Sergeant William Walker was shot, by order of +court-marital, for leading his company to stack arms before their +captain's tent, on the avowed ground that they were released from duty +by the refusal of the Government to fulfill its share of the contract. +The fear of such tragedies spread a cloud of solicitude over every +camp of colored soldiers for more than a year, and the following +series of letters will show through what wearisome labors the final +triumph of justice was secured. In these labors the chief credit must +be given to my admirable Adjutant, Lieutenant G. W. Dewhurst In the +matter of bounty justice is not yet obtained; there is a +discrimination against those colored soldiers who were slaves on April +19, 1861. Every officer, who through indolence or benevolent design +claimed on his muster-rolls that all his men had been free on that +day, secured for them the bounty; while every officer who, like +myself, obeyed orders and told the truth in each case, saw his men and +their families suffer for it, as I have done. A bill to abolish this +distinction was introduced by Mr. Wilson at the last session, but +failed to pass the House. It is hoped that next winter may remove this +last vestige of the weary contest + +To show how persistently and for how long a period these claims had to +be urged on Congress, I reprint such of my own printed letters on the +subject as are now in my possession. There are one or two of which I +have no copies. It was especially in the Senate that it was so difficult +to get justice done; and our thanks will always be especially due to +Hon. Charles Sumner and Hon. Henry Wilson for their advocacy of our +simple rights. The records of those sessions will show who advocated the +fraud. + +To the Editor of the _New York Tribune_: + +SIR,--No one can overstate the intense anxiety with which the officers of +colored regiments in this Department are awaiting action from Congress +in regard to arrears of pay of their men. + +It is not a matter of dollars and cents only; it is a question of common +honesty,--whether the United States Government has sufficient integrity +for the fulfillment of an explicit business contract. + +The public seems to suppose that all required justice will be done by +the passage of a bill equalizing the pay of all soldiers for the future. +But, so far as my own regiment is concerned, this is but half the +question. My men have been nearly sixteen months in the service, and for +them the immediate issue is the question of arrears. + +They understand the matter thoroughly, if the public do not Every one +of them knows that he volunteered under an explicit _written +assurance_ from the War Department that he should have the pay of a +white soldier. He knows that for five months the regiment received +that pay, after which it was cut down from the promised thirteen +dollars per month to ten dollars, for some reason to him inscrutable. + +He does _not_ know for I have not yet dared to tell the men--that the +Paymaster has been already reproved by the Pay Department for fulfilling +even in part the pledges of the War Department; that at the next payment +the ten dollars are to be further reduced to seven; and that, to crown +the whole, all the previous overpay is to be again deducted or "stopped" +from the future wages, thus leaving them a little more than a dollar a +month for six months to come, unless Congress interfere! + +Yet so clear were the terms of the contract that Mr. Solicitor Whiting, +having examined the original instructions from the War Department issued +to Brigadier-General Saxton, Military Governor, admits to me (under date +of December 4, 1863,) that "the faith of the Government was thereby +pledged to every officer and soldier enlisted under that call." + +He goes on to express the generous confidence that "the pledge will be +honorably fulfilled." I observe that every one at the North seems to +feel the same confidence, but that, meanwhile, the pledge is +unfulfilled. Nothing is said in Congress about fulfilling it. I have not +seen even a proposition in Congress to pay the colored soldiers, _from +date of enlistment_, the same pay with white soldiers; and yet anything +short of that is an unequivocal breach of contract, so far as this +regiment is concerned. + +Meanwhile, the land sales are beginning, and there is danger of every +foot of land being sold from beneath my soldiers' feet, because they +have not the petty sum which Government first promised, and then refused +to pay. + +The officers' pay comes promptly and fully enough, and this makes the +position more embarrassing. For how are we to explain to the men the +mystery that Government can afford us a hundred or two dollars a month, +and yet must keep back six of the poor thirteen which it promised them? +Does it not naturally suggest the most cruel suspicions in regard to us? +And yet nothing but their childlike faith in their officers, and in that +incarnate soul of honor, General Saxton, has sustained their faith, or +kept them patient, thus far. + +There is nothing mean or mercenary about these men in general. +Convince them that the Government actually needs their money, and they +would serve it barefooted and on half-rations, and without a +dollar--for a time. But, unfortunately, they see white soldiers beside +them, whom they know to be in no way their superiors for any military +service, receiving hundreds of dollars for re-enlisting for this +impoverished Government, which can only pay seven dollars out of +thirteen to its black regiments. And they see, on the other hand, +those colored men who refused to volunteer as soldiers, and who have +found more honest paymasters than the United States Government, now +exulting in well-filled pockets, and able to buy the little homesteads +the soldiers need, and to turn the soldiers' families into the +streets. Is this a school for self-sacrificing patriotism? + +I should not speak thus urgently were it not becoming manifest that +there is to be no promptness of action in Congress, even as regards the +future pay of colored soldiers,--and that there is especial danger of the +whole matter of _arrears_ going by default Should it be so, it will be a +repudiation more ungenerous than any which Jefferson Davis advocated or +Sydney Smith denounced. It will sully with dishonor all the nobleness of +this opening page of history, and fix upon the North a brand of meanness +worse than either Southerner or Englishman has yet dared to impute. The +mere delay in the fulfillment of this contract has already inflicted +untold suffering, has impaired discipline, has relaxed loyalty, and has +begun to implant a feeling of sullen distrust in the very regiments +whose early career solved the problem of the nation, created a new army, +and made peaceful emancipation possible. + +T. W. HIGGINSON, Colonel commanding 1st S. C. Vols. + +BEAUFORT, S. C., January 22, 1864. + +HEADQUARTERS FIRST SOUTH CAROLINA VOLUNTEERS, BEAUFORT, S. C., Sunday, +February 14, 1864. + + + +To the Editor of the _New York Times_: + +May I venture to call your attention to the great and cruel injustice +which is impending over the brave men of this regiment? + +They have been in military service for over a year, having volunteered, +every man, without a cent of bounty, on the written pledge of the War +Department that they should receive the same pay and rations with white +soldiers. + +This pledge is contained in the written instructions of +Brigadier-General Saxton, Military Governor, dated August 25, 1862. Mr. +Solicitor Whiting, having examined those instructions, admits to me that +"the faith of the Government was thereby pledged to every officer and +soldier under that call." + +Surely, if this fact were understood, every man in the nation would see +that the Government is degraded by using for a year the services of the +brave soldiers, and then repudiating the contract under which they were +enlisted. This is what will be done, should Mr. Wilson's bill, +legalizing the back pay of the army, be defeated. + +We presume too much on the supposed ignorance of these men. I have never +yet found a man in my regiment so stupid as not to know when he was +cheated. If fraud proceeds from Government itself, so much the worse, +for this strikes at the foundation of all rectitude, all honor, all +obligation. + +Mr. Senator Fessenden said, in the debate on Mr. Wilson's bill, January +4, that the Government was not bound by the unauthorized promises of +irresponsible recruiting officers. But is the Government itself an +irresponsible recruiting officer? and if men have volunteered in good +faith on the written assurances of the Secretary of War, is not Congress +bound, in all decency, either to fulfill those pledges or to disband the +regiments? + +Mr. Senator Doolittle argued in the same debate that white soldiers +should receive higher pay than black ones, because the families of the +latter were often supported by Government What an astounding statement +of fact is this! In the white regiment in which I was formerly an +officer (the Massachusetts Fifty-First) nine tenths of the soldiers' +families, in addition to the pay and bounties, drew regularly their +"State aid." Among my black soldiers, with half-pay and no bounty, not a +family receives any aid. Is there to be no limit, no end to the +injustice we heap upon this unfortunate people? Cannot even the fact of +their being in arms for the nation, liable to die any day in its +defence, secure them ordinary justice? Is the nation so poor, and so +utterly demoralized by its pauperism, that after it has had the lives of +these men, it must turn round to filch six dollars of the monthly pay +which the Secretary of War promised to their widows? It is even so, if +the excuses of Mr. Fressenden and Mr. Doolittle are to be accepted by +Congress and by the people. + +Very respectfully, your obedient servant, + +T, W. HIGGINSON, Colonel commanding 1st S. C. Volunteers. + +NEW VICTORIES AND OLD WRONGS To the Editors of the Evening Post: + +On the 2d of July, at James Island, S. C., a battery was taken by three +regiments, under the following circumstances: + +The regiments were the One Hundred and Third New York (white), the +Thirty-Third United States (formerly First South Carolina Volunteers), +and the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts, the two last being colored. They +marched at one A. M., by the flank, in the above order, hoping to +surprise the battery. As usual the rebels were prepared for them, and +opened upon them as they were deep in one of those almost impassable +Southern marshes. The One Hundred and Third New York, which had +previously been in twenty battles, was thrown into confusion; the +Thirty-Third United States did better, being behind; the Fifty-Fifth +Massachusetts being in the rear, did better still. All three formed in +line, when Colonel Hartwell, commanding the brigade, gave the order to +retreat. The officer commanding the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts, either +misunderstanding the order, or hearing it countermanded, ordered his +regiment to charge. This order was at once repeated by Major Trowbridge, +commanding the Thirty-Third United States, and by the commander of the +One Hundred and Third New York, so that the three regiments reached the +fort in reversed order. The color-bearers of the Thirty-Third United +States and of the Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts had a race to be first in, +the latter winning. The One Hundred and Third New York entered the +battery immediately after. + +These colored regiments are two of the five which were enlisted in South +Carolina and Massachusetts, under the written pledge of the War +Department that they should have the same pay and allowances as white +soldiers. That pledge has been deliberately broken by the War +Department, or by Congress, or by both, except as to the short period, +since last New-Year's Day. Every one of those killed in this action from +these two colored regiments under a fire before which the veterans of +twently battles recoiled _died defrauded by the Government of nearly one +half his petty pay_. + +Mr. Fessenden, who defeated in the Senate the bill for the fulfillment +of the contract with these soldiers, is now Secretary of the Treasury. +Was the economy of saving six dollars per man worth to the Treasury the +ignominy of the repudiation? + +Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, on his triumphal return to his +constituents, used to them this language: "He had no doubt whatever as +to the final result of the present contest between liberty and +slavery. The only doubt he had was whether the nation had yet been +satisfactorily chastised for their cruel oppression of a harmless and +long-suffering race." Inasmuch as it was Mr. Stevens himself who +induced the House of Representatives, most unexpectedly to all, to +defeat the Senate bill for the fulfillment of the national contract +with these soldiers, I should think he had excellent reasons for the +doubt. + +Very respectfully, + +T. W. HIGGINSON, +Colonel 1st S. C. Vols (now 33d U. S.) July 10, 1864. + + + +To the Editor of the _New York Tribune_: + +No one can possibly be so weary of reading of the wrongs done by +Government toward the colored soldiers as am I of writing about them. +This is my only excuse for intruding on your columns again. + +By an order of the War Department, dated August 1, 1864, it is at length +ruled that colored soldiers shall be paid the full pay of soldiers from +date of enlistment, provided they were free on April 19, 1861,--not +otherwise; and this distinction is to be noted on the pay-rolls. In +other words, if one half of a company escaped from slavery on April 18, +1861, they are to be paid thirteen dollars per month and allowed three +dollars and a half per month for clothing. If the other half were +delayed two days, they receive seven dollars per month and are allowed +three dollars per month for precisely the same articles of clothing. If +one of the former class is made first sergeant, Us pay is put up to +twenty-one dollars per month; but if he escaped two days later, his pay +is still estimated at seven dollars. + +It had not occurred to me that anything could make the payrolls of these +regiments more complicated than at present, or the men more rationally +discontented. I had not the ingenuity to imagine such an order. Yet it +is no doubt in accordance with the spirit, if not with the letter, of +the final bill which was adopted by Congress under the lead of Mr. +Thaddeus Stevens. + +The ground taken by Mr. Stevens apparently was that the country might +honorably save a few dollars by docking the promised pay of those +colored soldiers whom the war had made free. _But the Government +should have thought of this before it made the contract with these men +and received their services_. When the War Department instructed +Brigadier-General Saxton, August 25, 1862, to raise five regiments of +negroes in South Carolina, it was known very well that the men so +enlisted had only recently gained their freedom. But the instructions +said: "The persons so received into service, and their officers, to be +entitled to and receive the same pay and rations as are allowed by law +to volunteers in the service." Of this passage Mr. Solicitor Whiting +wrote to me: "I have no hesitation in saying that the faith of the +Government was thereby pledged to every officer and soldier enlisted +under that call." Where is that faith of the Government now? + +The men who enlisted under the pledge were volunteers, every one; they +did not get their freedom by enlisting; they had it already. They +enlisted to serve the Government, trusting in its honor. Now the nation +turns upon them and says: Your part of the contract is fulfilled; we +have had your services. If you can show that you had previously been +free for a certain length of time, we will fulfil the other side of the +contract. If not, we repudiate it Help yourselves, if you can. + +In other words, a freedman (since April 19, 1861) has no rights which a +white man is bound to respect. He is incapable of making a contract No +man is bound by a contract made with him. Any employer, following the +example of the United States Government, may make with him a written +agreement receive his services, and then withhold the wages. He has no +motive to honest industry, or to honesty of any kind. He is virtually a +slave, and nothing else, to the end of time. + +Under this order, the greater part of the Massachusetts colored +regiments will get their pay at last and be able to take their wives and +children out of the almshouses, to which, as Governor Andrew informs us, +the gracious charity of the nation has consigned so many. For so much I +am grateful. But toward my regiment, which had been in service and under +fire, months before a Northern colored soldier was recruited, the policy +of repudiation has at last been officially adopted. There is no +alternative for the officers of South Carolina regiments but to wait for +another session of Congress, and meanwhile, if necessary, act as +executioners for those soldiers who, like Sergeant Walker, refuse to +fulfil their share of a contract where the Government has openly +repudiated the other share. If a year's discussion, however, has at +length secured the arrears of pay for the Northern colored regiments, +possibly two years may secure it for the Southern. + +T. W. HIGGINSON, +Colonel 1st S. C. Vols. (now 33d V. S.) + +August 12, 1864. + + + +To the Editor of the _New York Tribune_: + +SIR,--An impression seems to prevail in the newspapers that the lately +published "opinion" of Attorney-General Bates (dated in July last) at +length secures justice to the colored soldiers in respect to arrears of +pay. This impression is a mistake. + +That "opinion" does indeed show that there never was any excuse for +refusing them justice; but it does not, of itself, secure justice to them. + +It _logically_ covers the whole ground, and was doubtless intended to do +so; but _technically_ it can only apply to those soldiers who were free +at the commencement of the war. For it was only about these that the +Attorney-General was officially consulted. + +Under this decision the Northern colored regiments have already got +their arrears of pay,--and those few members of the Southern regiments +who were free on April 19, 1861. But in the South Carolina regiments +this only increases the dissatisfaction among the remainder, who +volunteered under the same pledge of full pay from the War Department, +and who do not see how the question of their _status_ at some antecedent +period can affect an express contract If, in 1862, they were free enough +to make a bargain with, they were certainly free enough to claim its +fulfilment. + +The unfortunate decision of Mr. Solicitor Whiting, under which all our +troubles arose, is indeed superseded by the reasoning of the +Attorney-General. But unhappily that does not remedy the evil, which is +already embodied in an Act of Congress, making the distinction between +those who were and those who were not free on April 19, 1861. + +The question is, whether those who were not free at the breaking out of +the war are still to be defrauded, after the Attorney-General has shown +that there is no excuse for defrauding them? + +I call it defrauding, because it is not a question of abstract justice, +but of the fulfilment of an express contract + +I have never met with a man, whatever might be his opinions as to the +enlistment of colored soldiers, who did not admit that if they had +volunteered under the direct pledge of full pay from the War Department, +they were entitled to every cent of it. That these South Carolina +regiments had such direct pledge is undoubted, for it still exists in +writing, signed by the Secretary of War, and has never been disputed. + +It is therefore the plain duty of Congress to repeal the law which +discriminates between different classes of colored soldiers, or at least +so to modify it as to secure the fulfilment of actual contracts. Until +this is done the nation is still disgraced. The few thousand dollars in +question are nothing compared with the absolute wrong done and the +discredit it has brought, both here and in Europe, upon the national name. + +T. W. HIGGINSON, + +Late Col. 1st S. C. Vols. (now 33d U. S. C. T.) +NEWPORT, R. I, +December 8, 1864. + + + +PETITION + +"To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the United +States in Congress assembled: + +"The undersigned respecfully petitions for the repeal of so much of +Section IV. of the Act of Congress making appropriations for the army +and approved July 4, 1864, as makes a distinction, in respect to pay +due, between those colored soldiers who were free on or before April 19, +1861, and those who were not free until a later date; + +"Or at least that there may be such legislation as to secure the +fulfillment of pledges of full pay from date of enlistment, made by +direct authority of the War Department to the colored soldiers of South +Carolina, on the faith of which pledges they enlisted. + +"THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON, Late Colonel 1st S. C. Vols. (now 33d U. +S. C. Vols.) + +"NEWPORT, R. L, December 9, 1864." + + + + +Appendix E +Farewell Address +of Lt. Col. Trowbridge + + +HEADQUARTERS 33o +UNITED STATES COLORED TROOPS, +LATE IST SOUTH CAROLINA VOLUNTEERS, + +MORRIS ISLAND, S. C., + +February 9, 1866. GENERAL ORDERS, No. 1. + +COMRADES,--The hour is at hand when we must separate forever, and nothing +can ever take from us the pride we feel, when we look back upon the +history of the First South Carolina Volunteers,--the first black regiment +that ever bore arms in defence of freedom on the continent of America. + +On the ninth day of May, 1862, at which time there were nearly four +millions of your race in a bondage sanctioned by the laws of the land, +and protected by our flag,--on that day, in the face of floods of +prejudice, that wellnigh deluged every avenue to manhood and true +liberty, you came forth to do battle for your country and your +kindred. For long and weary months without pay, or even the privilege +of being recognized as soldiers, you labored on, only to be disbanded +and sent to your homes, without even a hope of reward. And when our +country, necessitated by the deadly struggle with armed traitors, +finally granted you the opportunity _again_ to come forth in defence +of the nation's life, the alacrity with which you responded to the +call gave abundant evidence of your readiness to strike a manly blow +for the liberty of your race. And from that little band of hopeful, +trusting, and brave men, who gathered at Camp Saxton, on Port Royal +Island, in the fall of 1862, amidst the terrible prejudices that then +surrounded us, has grown an army of a hundred and forty thousand black +soldiers, whose valor and heroism has won for your race a name which +will live as long as the undying pages of history shall endure; and by +whose efforts, united with those of the white man, armed rebellion has +been conquered, the millions of bondmen have been emancipated, and the +fundamental law of the land has been so altered as to remove forever +the possibility of human slavery being re-established within the +borders of redeemed America. The flag of our fathers, restored to its +rightful significance, now floats over every foot of our territory, +from Maine to California, and beholds only freemen! The prejudices +which formerly existed against you are wellnigh rooted out + +Soldiers, you have done your duty, and acquitted yourselves like men, +who, actuated by such ennobling motives, could not fail; and as the +result of your fidelity and obedience, you have won your freedom. And O, +how great the reward! + +It seems fitting to me that the last hours of our existence as a +regiment should be passed amidst the unmarked graves of your +comrades,--at Fort Wagner. Near you rest the bones of Colonel Shaw, +buried by an enemy's hand, in the same grave with his black soldiers, +who fell at his side; where, in future, your children's children will +come on pilgrimages to do homage to the ashes of those that fell in this +glorious struggle. + +The flag which was presented to us by the Rev. George B. Cheever and his +congregation, of New York City, on the first of January, 1863,--the day +when Lincoln's immortal proclamation of freedom was given to the +world,--and which you have borne so nobly through the war, is now to be +rolled up forever, and deposited in our nation's capital. And while +there it shall rest, with the battles in which you have participated +inscribed upon its folds, it will be a source of pride to us all to +remember that it has never been disgraced by a cowardly faltering in the +hour of danger or polluted by a traitor's touch. + +Now that you are to lay aside your arms, and return to the peaceful +avocations of life, I adjure you, by the associations and history of +the past, and the love you bear for your liberties, to harbor no +feelings of hatred toward your former masters, but to seek in the +paths of honesty, virture, sobriety, and industry, and by a willing +obedience to the laws of the land, to grow up to the full stature of +American citizens. The church, the school-house, and the right forever +to be free are now secured to you, and every prospect before you is +full of hope and encouragement. The nation guarantees to you full +protection and justice, and will require from you in return the +respect for the laws and orderly deportment which will prove to every +one your right to all the privileges of freemen. + +To the officers of the regiment I would say, your toils are ended, your +mission is fulfilled, and we separate forever. The fidelity, patience, +and patriotism with which you have discharged your duties, to your men +and to your country, entitle you to a far higher tribute than any words +of thankfulness which I can give you from the bottom of my heart You +will find your reward in the proud conviction that the cause for which +you have battled so nobly has been crowned with abundant success. + +Officers and soldiers of the Thirty-Third United States Colored Troops, +once the First South Carolina Volunteers, I bid you all farewell! + +By order of Lt.-Col. C. T. TROWBRIDGE, commanding Regiment + +E. W. HYDE, Lieutenant and Acting Adjutant. + + + +INDEX + +[page numbers have been retained for the W. W. Norton paperback +reprint to show relative location in file.] + + +Index + +Aiken, William, GOT., 166 + +Aiken, South Carolina, 249 + +Allston, Adam, Corp., 103 + +Andrew, J. A., Gov., 29, 215, 216, +sends Emancipation Proclamation to Higginson, 85 + +Bates, Edward, 275 + +Battle of the Hundred Pines, 95, 104 + +Beach, H. A., Lt, 257, 258 + +Beaufort, South Carolina, 33, 34, +38, 106, 142, 215 Higginson visits, 64 Negro troops march through, 74 +picket station near, 134 residents visit camp, 147 Negro troops patrol, 219 + +Beauregard, P. G .T., Gen., 45, 73 + +Beecher, H. R., Rev., 241 + +Bell, Louis, Col., 225 + +Bennett, W. T., Gen., 249, 255 + +Bezzard, James, 95 + +Bigelow, L. F., Lt, 28 + +Billings, L., Lt.-Col., 255 + +Bingham, J. M., Lt, 170, 257 + +Brannan, J. M, Gen., 107 + +Brisbane, W. H., 60 + +Bronson, William, Sgt, 260 + +Brown, A. B., Lt, 258 + +Brown, John, 29, 45, 61, 76 + +Brown, John (Negro), 262 + +Brown, York, 262 Bryant, J. E., Capt, 220 + +Budd, Lt, 83 + +Burnside, A. E., Gen., 54, 55 + +Butler, B. F., Gen., 27 + +Calhoun, J. C., Capt., 150 Camplife, 30 +evening activities, 36-39, 44-49 Casualties, 89 + +Chamberlin, G. B., Lt., 177, 257 Chamberlin, Mrs., 229 + +Charleston, South Carolina, attacked, 137, 143, 150 + Negro troops in, 249 Charleston and Savannah Railway, +163 + +Cheever, G. B., Rev., 278 + +Child, A. Lt, 258 + +Christmas, 55, 56 + +Clark, Capt, 84, 89, 102 + +Clifton, Capt, 100, 101 + +Clinton, J. B., Lt, 165 + +Colors, Stands of, 56, 60 + +Confederates, 35 +use spies, 91, 93 +attack Negro troops, 86-87, 100-102 +threaten to burn Jacksonville, 110 +civilians fear Negro troops, 116 +retreat, 126-127,142 + +Connecticut Regiment, Sixth, 122, +124, 126 Seventh, 93 + +Corwin, B. R., MaJ., 120, 126 + +CrandaU, W. B., Surg., 255 + +Crum, Simon, Corp., 249 + +Cushman, James, 241 + +Danilson, W. H., Maj., 93, 256, + +Davis, C. I., Lt., 257 + +Davis., R. M., Lt., 259 + +Davis, W. W. H., Gen., 164 + +Department of the South, 15, 80 +quiet, 106 +colored troops in, 137 + +Desertions, 62 + +Dewhurst, G. W., Adjt, 256 + +Dewhurst, Mrs., 229 + +Discipline, need for, 29 +Negroes accept, 39 + +Dolly, George, Capt., 172, 256 + +Doolittle, J. R., 271 + +Drill, of Negroes, 46, 51, 245 +whites, 64-65 + +Drinking, absence of, 58 + +Duncan, Lt. Com., 109, 111 + +Dupont, S. F., Admiral, 15, 82, 91, +99, 108, 137 + +Dutch, Capt., 166 + +Edisto expedition, 163-176, 214 + +Education, desire for, 48 + +Emancipation Proclamation, 65 +read, 60 sent to Higginson, 85 + +Fernandina, Florida, 84, 91, 104 + +Fessenden, W. P., 271, 272 + +Finnegan, Gen., 115 + +Fisher, J., Lt., 257 + +Florida, 221 +men under Higginson, 35 +slaves know about Lincoln, 46 +refugees from, 49 Foraging, 99, 104, 117, 120 +restraint in, 96-97 +in Florida, 221 + +Fowler, J. H., Chap., 59, 119, 221, + +Fremont, J. C., Gen., 46, 61 + +French, J., Rev., 60, 123 + +Furman, J. T., Lt, 258 + +Gage, F. D., Mrs., 61 + +Garrison, W. L., 236 + +Gaston, William, Lt., 257 + +Gilmore, Q. A., Gen., 176, 224, +226, 228 +writes on Charleston, 163 +approves Edisto expedition, 164 + +Goldsborough, Commodore, 231, + +Goodell, J. B., Lt., 28 + +Goodrich, F. S., Lt., 258, 259 + +Gould, E. Corp., 261 + +Gould, F. M., Lt, 258 + +Greeley, Horace, 164 + +Greene, Sgt, 125 + +Hallett, Capt, 80, 81, 261 + +Hallowell, E. N., Gen., 216, 230, + +Hamburg, South Carolina, 249 + +Hartwell, A. S., Gen., 272 + +Hawks, J. M., Surg., 256 + +Hawley, J. R., Gen., 93,102,114 + +Hayne, H. E., Sgt., 249 + +Hazard, Miles, 262 + +Heasley, A, Capt., 220, 256 + +Heron, Charles, 126 + +Hilton Head, 32 +Higginson visits, 106 +troops on duty at, 214 + +Hinton, R. J., Col., 264 + +Holden, Lt, 126 + +Hooper, C. W., Capt., 154, 226, 256, 257, 258 + +Hospital, camp, 56, 63 + +Howard University, 250 + +Hughes, Lt. Com., 91, 93, 94 + +Hunter, David., Gen.-28, 35, 40, 62, 80, 124, 130, 131, +138, 164, 260, 261, 263 +takes Negro sgt to N.Y., 73 +visits camp, 76 +speaks to Negro troops, 76 +Higginson confers with, 106 +orders evacuation of Jacksonville, 107 +attacks Charleston, 137 +goes North, 150 + +Hyde, E. W., Lt, 258, 259, 279 + +Hyde, W. H., Lt, 89, 257 + +Jackson, A. W., Capt, 87, 89, 256, 257, 258 + +Jacksonville, Florida +Confederates threaten to burn, 110 +Higginson's men reach, 112-113 +description of, 114-115 +order to evacuate, 130 +attempts to bum, 130-131 + +James, William, Capt., 96,165,256 + +Jekyll Island, 83 + +Johnston, J. F., Lt, 257 + +Jones, Lt., 89 + +Kansas, 29, 43, 64 + +Kemble, Fanny, 82, 261 + +Kennon, Clarence, Cpl., 262 + +King, T. B., 82 + +Lambkin, Prince, Cpl., 45, 116 + +Leslie's Illustrated Weekly, 56 + +Lincoln, Abraham, 46, 238 + +London Spectator, 76 + +Long, Thomas, CpL, 240 + +Mclntyre, H., Sgt., 85, 86, 239 + +Maine, 43 + +Maine Regiment, Eighth, 75, 123, 124, 126 + +Manning, B. H., Lt, 259 + +Maroons, 235, 237 + +Massachusetts Regiment, +First, 139 +Fifty-Fourth, 27, 215, 232 + +Meeker, L., Maj., 122, 126 + +Merriam, E. C., Capt, 256, 257 + +Metcalf, L. W., Capt, 85, 87, 96, 220, 256 + +Miller family, 234 + +Minor, T. T, Surg., 87, 256 + +Mitchell, O. M., Gen., 263 + +Montgomery, James, Col., 114, 120, 130, 264 +enters Jacksonville, 112 +river raid led by, 120, 129, 164 + +Moses, Acting Master, 83 + +Mulattoes, 33, 42, 234 +pass for white, 49-50 + +Music, troops play, 47, 187-213 + +Negro soldiers visited, 30 work at night, 38-39 as sentinels, 42, 66-69 +honor and fidelity, 66 march to Beaufort, 74-75 conduct under fire, +86-87, 100-101, 128-129 +treatment of whites by, 116 on picket duty, 133 on raid up Edisto, +167-176 appraisal of, 231-247 from North and South compared, + +Negro spirituals, 187-213 + +Negroes, traits of, 66, 69-71 physical +condition of, 72, 246 set free by Higginson's men, +166-169 + +New Hampshire Regiment, Fourth, 139, 225 + +New Year's celebration, 55, 56, 57-61 + +New York, 34 +Officers, white, 51 + +O'Neil, J. B., Lt., 257 + +Osborne, Lt., 220 + +Parker, C. E., Lt., 257 + +Parker, N. B., Capt., 256, 257, 258 + +Parsons, William, 89 + +Phillips, Wendell, 118, 236 + +Pomeroy, J., Lt, 257 + +Port Royal, 82, 83, 124 +capture of, 164 +as winter camp, 177 +new camp at, 215 +objective of Sherman, 247 + +Ramsay, Allan, 209 + +Randolph, W. J., Capt, 120, +256 + +Rebels. See Confederates Religious activities, 47, 48, 240-241 + +Rivers, Prince, Sgt., 61,75,245,249 +qualities of, 73, 78 +plants colors, 99 + +Robbins, E. W., Capt, 256, 257, + +Roberts, Samuel, 231 + +Rogers, J. S., Capt, 103, 173, 250, 256 + +Rogers, Seth, Surg., 89, 103, 255 + +Rust, J. D., Col., 124, 125,126,131 + +Sammis, Col., 49 + +St. Simon's Island, 83, 84 + +Sampson, W. W., Capt, 170, 256, + +Savannah, Georgia, 115, 249 + +Saxton, M. W., Lt., 258 + +Saxton, Rufus, Gen., 29, 55, 58, 59, 61,70,76,80,88,102,108, +143, 164, 216, 224, 225, 229, 232, 235, 261, 263, 267, 269, +270, 273 offers command to Higginson, 78 +Higginson reports to, 33 issues proclamation, 34 receives recruits, +40 speaks on New Year's program, +Negroes idolize, 66 speaks to troops, 76 initiates plans for Shaw +monument, 217 +Christmas party, 219 + +Searles, J. M., Lt., 259 + +Sears, Capt., 94 + +Selvage, J. M., Lt, 258 + +Serrell, E. W., Col., 260 + +Seward, W. H., 238 + +Seymour, T., Gen., 132, 228 + +Shaw, R. G., Col., 170, 264, 278 +camp named for, 215 +Higginson meets, 216 killed, 217 + +Sherman, W. T., Gen., 170, 247 + +Showalter, Lt.-Col, 128 + +"Siege of Charleston," 163 + +Simmons, London, Cpl., 245 + +Slavery, effect of, 38, 244 + +Smalls, Robert, Capt, 33, 80 + +Songs, Negro, 136, 187-213 + +South Carolina, 29 men under Higginson, 35, 40 man reads +Emancipation Proclamation, +59-60 + +South Carolina Volunteers, First, 27, 237 +order to Florida countermanded, 225 +becomes Thirty-third U.S. Colored Troops, 248 South Carolina Volunteers, +Second, 27, 126, 264 + +Sprague, A. B. R., Col., 28 + +Stafford, Col., 264 + +Stanton, E. M., 266 + +Steedman, Capt, 130 + +Stevens, Capt, 83 + +Stevens, Thaddeus, 272, 273 + +Stickney, Judge, 61, 106, 114 + +Stockdale, W, Lt, 257 + +Stone, H. A., Lt, 257 + +Strong, J. D., Lt.-Col., 80, 121, +126, 172, 174, 175, 255 + +Stuard, E. S., Surg., 256 + +Sumner, Charles, 268 + +Sunderland, Col., 113 + +Sutton, Robert, Sgt, 61, 88, 94, 95, 188 +character of, 78-79 +leads men, 85-86 +wounded, 90 +exhibits slave jail, 97-98 +court-martialed, 104 + +Thibadeau, J. H., Capt, 257 + +Thompson, J. M., Capt, 256, 257 + +Tirrell, A. H., Lt, 258 + +Tobacco, use of, 58 + +Tonking, J. H., Capt, 256 + +Trowbridge, C. T., Lt-Col., 164, 167, 169, 175, 226, +231, 235, 243, 245, 249, 255, 256, +260, 262, 263, 272, 277-279 commands "Planter," 80,103 and men construct +Ft Montgomery, 121 on river raid, 165 + +Trowbridge, J. A., Lt, 257, 258 + +Tubman, Harriet 37 TwicheU, J. F., Lt-CoL, 123, 126 +Virginia + +Vendross, Robert, Cpl., 249 + +Walker, G. D., Capt, 257 + +Walker, William, Sgt., 267, 274 + +War Department, 40, 93 + +Washington, William, 44 + +Watson, Lt., 109 + +Webster, Daniel, 27 + +Weld, S. M., 216 + +West, H. C., Lt, 258 + +West, J. B., Lt, 257, 258 + +White, E. P., Lt, 257 + +White, N. S, Capt, 256, 258, 259 + +Whiting, William, 269, 270, 274, +275 + +Whitney, H. A., Maj, 170, 220, 255, 256 + +Wiggins, Cyrus, 250 + +Williams, Harry, Sgt., 220 + +Williams, Col., 264 + +Wilson, Henry, 268, 271 + +Wilson family, 233 + +Wood, H., Lt, 258, 25? + +Wood, W. J., Maj., 267 + +Woodstock, Georgia, 95 + +Wright, Gen., 107, 112 + +Wright, Fanny, 234 + +Yellow Fever, fear of, 74 + +Zachos, Dr., 41 + + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, ARMY LIFE IN A BLACK REGIMENT *** + +This file should be named armyl10.txt or armyl10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, armyl11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, armyl10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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