FOUR YEARS IN REBEL CAPITALS:

_AN INSIDE VIEW OFLIFE IN THE SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY, FROM BIRTH TO DEATH_

FROM ORIGINAL NOTES, COLLATED IN THE YEARS 1861 TO 1865, BY T. C. DELEON, AUTHOR OF "CREOLE AND PURITAN, " "CROSS PURPOSES, " "JUNY, " ETC. 

 "In the land where we were dreaming!" --_D. B. Lucas. _

 "I leave it to men's charitable speeches, to foreign, nations and to the next ages. " --_Francis Bacon. _

MOBILE, ALA. THE GOSSIP PRINTING COMPANY. 

1890. 

Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1890, By THE GOSSIP PRINTING COMPANY, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 

TO MY VALUED FRIEND, MRS. AUGUSTA EVANS WILSON, AS ONE LITTLE TOKEN OF APPRECIATION OF A LIFE-WORKDEDICATE TO HER SEX, TO HER SECTIONAND TO TRUTH, THESE SKETCHES

OF LIFE BEHIND OUR CHINESE WALLARE INSCRIBED. 

Transcriber's Note: The advertisement with press comments for theauthor's book _Juny: or Only One Girl's Story_ has been moved tothe end of this text. 

IN PLACE OF PREFACE. 

Fortunate, indeed, is the reader who takes up a volume without preface;of which the persons are left to enact their own drama and the authordoes not come before the curtain, like the chorus of Greek tragedy, tospeak for them. 

But, in printing the pages that follow, it may seem needful to ask thatthey be taken for what they are; simple sketches of the inner life of"Rebeldom"--behind its Chinese wall of wood and steel--during thoseunexampled four years of its existence. 

Written almost immediately after the war, from notes and recollectionsgathered during its most trying scenes, these papers are now revised, condensed and formulated for the first time. In years past, some oftheir crude predecessors have appeared--as random articles--in thecolumns of the Mobile _Sunday Times_, Appleton's _Journal_, theLouisville _Courier-Journal_, the Philadelphia _Times_ and otherpublications. 

Even in their present condensation and revision, they claim only to besimple memoranda of the result of great events; and of their reactionupon the mental and moral tone of the southern people, rather than arecord of those events themselves. 

This volume aspires neither to the height of history, nor to the depthsof political analysis; for it may still be too early for either, or forboth, of these. Equally has it resisted temptation to touch on manytopics--not strictly belonging inside the Southern Capitals--stillvexed by political agitation, or personal interest. These, if unsettledby dire arbitrament of the sword, must be left to Time and his bestcoadjutor, "sober second-thought. "

Campaigns and battles have already surfeited most readers; and theirdetails--usually so incorrectly stated by the inexpert--have little todo with a relation of things within the Confederacy, as they thenappeared to the masses of her people. Such, therefore, are simplytouched upon in outline, where necessary to show their reaction uponthe popular pulse, or to correct some flagrant error regarding that. 

To the vast majority of those without her boundaries--to very many, indeed, within them--realities of the South, during the war, were asealed book. False impressions, on many important points, weredisseminated; and these, because unnoted, have grown to proportions ofaccepted truth. A few of them, it may not yet be too late to correct. 

While the pages that follow fail not to record some weaknesses in ourpeople, or some flagrant errors of their leaders, they yet endeavor tochronicle faithfully heroic constancy of men, and selfless devotion ofwomen, whose peers the student of History may challenge that vauntingMuse to show. 

To prejudiced provincialism, on the one side, they may appear toolukewarm; by stupid fanaticism on the other, they may be calledtreasonable. But--written without prejudice, and equally without fear, or favor--they have aimed only at impartial truth, and at nearestpossible correctness of narration. 

Indubitably the war proved that there were great men, on both the sidesto it; and, to-day, the little men on either--"May profit by theirexample. If _this_ be treason, make the most of it!"

The sole object kept in view was to paint honestly the inner life ofthe South; the general tone of her people, under strain and privationunparalleled; the gradual changes of society and character in thestruggling nation--in a clear, unshaded outline of _things as theywere_. 

Should this volume at all succeed in giving this; should it uproot onefalse impression, to plant a single true one in its place, then has itfully equaled the aspiration of

THE AUTHOR. 

MOBILE, ALA. , June 25, 1890. 

_TABLE OF CONTENTS. _

 PAGE. 

CHAPTER I. --The Forehead of the Storm 11-20

Washington City in 1861. Her two Social Circles. Was she a new Sodom?Lobbyists and Diplomats. Eve of the Storm. Echo from Charleston Harbor. A Dinner and a Ball. Popular Views of the Situation. Buchanan's Policyand the "Peace Congress". Separation a Certainty. Preparations for theHejira. Precautions for Lincoln's Inauguration. Off for Dixie. 

CHAPTER II. --The Cradle of the Confederacy 21-29

Through Richmond, the Carolinas and Georgia. Wayside Notes. The MassesWilling but Unprepared. Where were the Leaders? The First Capital. ANew Flag. Hotels and their Patrons. Jefferson Davis. The Man and theGovernment. Social Matters. The Curbstone Congress. Early Views of theStruggle. A Notable "Mess. "

CHAPTER III. --Congress and Cabinet 30-35

Bloodless Revolution. Glances at the Congress. Its Personnel and itsWork. Party Hacks in Place. Wind vs. Work. What People said of theSolons. The New Cabinet. Heads of Departments Sketched. The President'sAdvisers. Popular Opinion. The First Gun at Sumter. 

CHAPTER IV. --"The Awakening of the Lion . " 36-41

Sumter's Effect on Public Feeling. Would There be a Long War--or any?Organizing an Army. The Will of the People. How Women Worked. The Campsa Novel Show. Mr. Davis handles Congress. His Energy and Industry. Society and the Strangers. Joy over Virginia's Secession. 

CHAPTER V. --A Southern River Boat Race 42-48

An Alabama Steamer. General Van Dorn. What River Travel is. A Calliopeand its Master. Banter for a Race. Excitement of all on Board. A CloseShave. Neck and Neck. How a Race is Won. A Unique Toast. 

CHAPTER VI. --Boat Life Afloat and Aground 49-53

Time-killers on the River. Negro Boat-hands. Cotton Loading fromSlides. Overboard! "Fighting the Tiger". Hard Aground! Delay andDepression. Admiral Raphael Semmes. News of the Baltimore Riot. Speculation as to its Results. 

CHAPTER VII. --Mobile, the Gulf City 54-58

Echo from Maryland. Alabama's Preparation. Mobile's Crack Corps. JohnForsyth on the Peace Commissioners. Mobile Society. Pleasure-lovers andTheir Pleasures. A Victim of the Tiger. Two Moral Axioms. 

CHAPTER VIII--New Orleans, the Crescent City 59-68

Location and Commercial Importance. Old Methods of Business. Relationsof Planter and Factor. A typical Brokerage House. Secure Reliance onEuropean Recognition and the Kingship of Cotton. Yellow Jack and hisTreatment. French Town and America. Hotels of the day. Home Society and"The Heathen". Social Customs. Creole Women's Taste. Cuffee and Cant. Early Regiments and Crack Companies. Judges of Wine. A Champion Diner. 

CHAPTER IX. --A Change of Base 69-74

The Pensacola Army. Review by President Davis. Orders for Virginia. Breaking Camp on the Gulf. The Start of the Zouaves. They Capture aTrain and a City. Pursuit and Recapture. The Riot and its Lesson. EarlyIdeas of Discipline. 

CHAPTER X. --En Route for the Border 75-83

Decision to Move the Capital. Lax Precautions. The New York "Tribune"Dispatch. Montgomery Murmurs. Troops _en route_, and their Feelings. The Government on Wheels. Kingsville Misnomer. Profanity and Diplomacy. Grimes' Brother-in-law. With the C. S. Mail-bags. 

CHAPTER XI. --On to Richmond 84-92

A Typical Southron. Sentiment in the Ranks. Glimpse of the newCapital. The Inflowing Caravans. Hotels and Boarding-houses. Cityand Surroundings. A Southern Poet. A Warning in Statuary. HollywoodCemetery. The Tredegar Works. Their Importance in the War. 'T'otherConsarn!

CHAPTER XII. --Settling to the Real Work 93-101

Regulars of the States. Virginia Sentiment. Unanimity of Purpose. Leeand Johnston. Esprit de Corps. Centering on Virginia. Varied Types ofDifferent States. The Marylanders at the South. Mixed Equipments and"Properties". Doubtful Points. Norfolk to Manassas. Where the BattleGround would be. Missouri's First Move. 

CHAPTER XIII. --The Leaders and the Led 102-110

General Lee comes to the Front. Mr. Davis' Labors and Responsibilities. His Personal Popularity. Social Feeling at the new Capital. "PawneeSunday" Panic. Richmond Society. An After-dinner Object Lesson. HowGood Blood did not Lie. Western Virginia. Society's Pets go to theFront. "The Brave at Home. "

CHAPTER XIV. --The Baptism of Blood 111-121

The First War Bulletin. How Richmond received It. Practical Result ofBethel. Earnest Work in Government Bureaux. Thunder from a Clear Sky. Shadows follow Rich Mountain. _Carthago delenda!_ Popular Comparisonof Fighting Qualities. The "On-to-Richmond!" Clangor. The SouthernPulse. "Beware of Johnston's Retreats!" Bull Run. The Day beforeManassas. Waiting!

CHAPTER XV. --After Manassas 122-128

How Rumors came. Jubilation and Revulsion. Anxiety for News. TheDecisive Charge. An Austrian View. The President's Return. His Speechto the People. The First Train of Wounded. Sorrow and Consolation. HowWomen Worked. Material and Moral Results of Manassas. Spoils andOverconfidence. Singular Errors in Public Mind. General Belief inAdvance. The Siesta and its Dreams. 

CHAPTER XVI. --The Spawn of Lethargy 129-138

Reaction of Sentiment. Conflicting Ideas about Inaction. Popular Wishfor Aggressive War. Sentiment settles to Fact. Mr. Davis' Attitude toJohnston and Beauregard. After-battle Confusion. Strategic Reasons. Inaction breeds grave Discontent. Effect on the Army. Sober SecondThought. Government Use of the Lull. Bombast and Sense. A Glance North. The Western Outlook. John B. Floyd. 

CHAPTER XVII. --From Court to Camp 139-146

A Winter's Inaction and Effects. Comforts and Homesickness. Unseen Foesand Their Victory. Care and Cleanliness. _Nostalgia. _ Camp Morality. Record of the "Cracks". In a Maryland Mess. Mud and Memories. HasHistory a Parallel? Old Cavaliers and New. 

CHAPTER XVIII. --Society at the Capital 147-157

Richmond Overflowing. Variety of Visitors. Gradual Growth of Gayety. "Danceable Teas". Amateur Benefits. "Youth at the Helm". A SocietyWoman's View. Social Theories and Practice. Virginian Hospitality. Quieter Sociability. The Presidential Household. Mr. And Mrs. Davis. Formal Levees. Social Ethics. Dissipation. Disappointing Solons. 

CHAPTER XIX. --Days of Depression 158-165

Reverses on All Lines. Zollicoffer's Death. Mr. Benjamin, Secretary ofWar. Transportation Dangers. The Tennessee River Forts. Forrest, andMorgan. Gloom follows Nashville's Fall. Government Blamed by People. The Permanent Government. Mr. Davis' Typical Inaugural. Its Effect andIts Sequence. Cabinet Changes. 

CHAPTER XX. --From Shiloh to New Orleans 166-173

Sunshine and Shadow. Clouds gather in the West. Island No. 10. Shiloh. Illustrative Valor. Deep Depression. Was Johnston hounded to His Death?Fall of New Orleans. Odd Situation of Her Captors. Butler in Command. His Place in Southern Opinion. Strategic Results. Popular Discontent. Effect on the Fighters. Butler and the Women. Louisiana Soldiers. 

CHAPTER XXI. --The Conscription and Its Consequences 174-188

The "More Men!" cry. Passage of the Act. State Troops Turned Over. Appointment of Generals. Longings for Home. Exemptions and "Details". The Substitute Law. Mr. Davis' Wisdom Vindicated. Governor Joe Brownkicks. State Traits of the Conscripts. Kentucky's Attitude. Tennessee's"Buffaloes". The "Union Feeling" Fallacy. Conscript Camps. Morals ofthe "New Ish". Food and Money Scarcer. Constancy of the Soldiers. TheExtension Law. Repeal of the Substitute Act. Home-Guards. "The Cradleand the Grave. "

CHAPTER XXII. --Waiting the Ordeal by Combat 189-197

The North Prepares a New "On to Richmond. ". Joe Johnston's Strategy. From Manassas to Richmond. Magruder's Lively Tactics. The DefendersCome. Scenes of the March Through. A Young Veteran. Public Feeling. Williamsburg's Echo. The Army of Specters. Ready! Drewry's Bluff. TheGeese Fly South. Stern Resolve!

CHAPTER XXIII. --Around Richmond 198-206

Seven Pines. War at the Very Gates. Harrowing Scenes. Woman's Heroism. Crowded Hospitals. A Lull. Jackson's Meteor Campaign. Ashby Dead! TheWeek of Blood. Southern Estimate of McClellan. What "Might Have Been". Richmond Under Ordeal. "The Battle Rainbow". Sad Sequelæ. Real Sistersof Mercy. Beautiful Self-sacrifice. 

CHAPTER XXIV. --Echoes of Seven Days, North and South 207-214

Confederates Hopeful, but Not Overconfident. The Cost to the North. McClellan Sacrificed. General Pope and His Methods. He "Finds" Jacksonat Cedar Mountain. A Glance Trans-Allegheny. Well-Conceived FederalProgramme. General Bragg's Unpopularity. To the Ohio and Back. Would-beCritics. Flashes illumine the Clouds. Kentucky Misrepresented. 

CHAPTER XXV. --The War in the West 215-222

A Gloomy Outlook. Lone Jack. "The Butcher, McNeil". Corinth andMurfreesboro. Their Bloody Cost. The Cry Wrung from the People. Mr. Davis stands Firm. Johnston relieves Bragg. The EmancipationProclamation. Magruder's Galveston Amphiboid. The Atlantic Seaboard. Popular Estimate of the Status. Hope for the New Year. 

CHAPTER XXVI. --The Failure of Finance 223-229

Was Cotton really King? How it Might have been Made So. Government'sPolicy. Comparison with Northern Finance. Why the South believed in herAdvantage. How the North buoyed up her Credit. Contractors andBondholders. Feeling at the South on the Money Question. Supply andDemand for Paper. Distrust creeps In. Rapid Depreciation. 

CHAPTER XXVII. --Dollars, Cents and Less 230-240

Results of Inflation. Comparative Cost of Living North and South. HowArmy and Officials were Paid. Suffering enhances Distrust. BarterCurrency. Speculation's Vultures. The Auction Craze. Hoarding Supplies. Gambling. Richmond Faro-banks. Men met There. Death of ConfederateCredit. The President and Secretary held to Account. Nothing butMismanagement. 

CHAPTER XXVIII--Across the Potomac and Back 241-250

Precedents of the First Maryland Campaign. Jackson strikes Pope. SecondManassas. Why was Victory not Pushed? The People demand AggressiveWarfare. Over the River. Harper's Ferry falls. Elation at the South. Rosy Prophecies. Sharpsburg. The River Recrossed. Gloom in Richmond. Fredericksburg and its Effect on the People. Why on Pursuit? Hookerreplaces Burnside. Death of Stonewall Jackson. 

CHAPTER XXIX. --Over Again to Gettysburg 251-258

Popular Grief for Jackson. Again to the River. Winchester and herWomen. The People Rejoice at the Advance. Public Belief in its Result. Washington to Fall; the War to End. The Prelude to Disaster. Second Dayat Gettysburg. Pickett's Wonderful Charge. Some one has Blundered? Howthe Story came South. Revulsion and Discontent. Lee not Blamed. Strictures on Non-retaliation. The Marylanders. 

CHAPTER XXX. --The Confederacy Afloat 259-271

Who the Southern Sailors were. Regular and Provisional Navy-bills. Popular Estimate of Mr. Mallory. Iron-clads vs. Cruisers. The Paroleof "Pirate Semmes". What Iron-clads might have done. Treasury andNavy. The "Merrimac". Virginia Fight in Hampton Roads. The White-flagViolation. Those wonderful Wooden Shells. Other flashing Achievements. Comparison of the two Navies. Doubtful Torpedo Results. Summing up theHue-and-Cry. Nashville and New Orleans. The Tatnall-"Virginia"Court-martial. Who did More than They?

CHAPTER XXXI. --The Chinese Wall Blockade, Abroad and at Home 272-287

Foundation Errors. Lost Opportunity. The Treaty of Paris View. FirstSouthern Commissioners. Doubts. The Mason-Slidell Incident. Mr. Benjamin's Foreign Policy. DeLeon's Captured Despatches. MurmursLoud and Deep. England's Attitude. Other Great Powers. Mr. Davis'View. "If". Interest of the Powers. The Optimist View. Productionand Speculation. Blockade Companies. Sumptuary Laws. Growth of EvilPower. Charleston and Savannah. Running the Fleet at Wilmington. Demoralization and Disgust. The Mississippi Closed. Vicksburg. "Running the Bloc. " on the Border. The Spy System. Female Agents. 

CHAPTER XXXII. --Press, Literature and Art 288-301

Newspapers North and South. Ability Differently Used. Reasons Therefor. Criticism of Affairs; its Effect. Magazines and their Clientele. ProseWriters ante bellum. Rebel War Rhymes. Origin and Characteristics. TheNorthern "National Hymn". Famous Poets and Their Work. Dirge Poetry andPrison Songs. Father Ryan and the Catholic Church. "Furled Forever!"Musical Taste. How Songs were Utilized. Military Bands. Painters andPaintings. No Southern Art. A Few Noted Pictures. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. --Wit and Humor of the War 302-315

Strange Laughter. The Confederate "Mother Goose". Travesty and Satire. The "Charles Lamb" of Richmond. Camp Wit. Novel Marriage. A"Skirmisher". Prison Humor. Even in Vicksburg! Sad Bill-of-Fare. Northern Misconception. Richmond Society Wit. The "Mosaic Club" andits Components. Innes Randolph's Forfeit. The Colonel's BreakfastHorror. Post-surrender Humor. Even the Emancipated. 

CHAPTER XXXIV. --The Beginning of the End 316-326

Gradual Weakening of the South. The Wearing-out Process. Sequelæ ofVicksburg and Gettysburg. Congress _vs. _ President. Mr. Foote andhis Following. Drain of Men and Material. Home Guards. The "SpeculatorSquad". Dire Straits in Camp and Home. Carpet Blankets. Raids and theirResults. Breaking down of Cavalry Mounts. Echoes of Morgan's Ohio Dash. His Bold Escape. Cumberland Gap. A Glance at Chickamauga. "The MightHave Been" Once More. Popular Discontent. General Grant Judged by hisCompeers. Longstreet at Knoxville. Missionary Ridge. President's Viewsand People's. Again the Virginia Lines. Skirmish Depletion. Desertions. "Kir-by-Smithdom. "

CHAPTER XXXV. --The Upper and Nether Millstones 327-335

"Crushing the Spine of Rebellion". Grant's Quadruple Plan. The WesternGiant. Why its Back Broke. _Delenda est Atlanta!_ Grant becomesthe Upper Millstone. Men and Means Unstinted. Dahlgren's Raid. TheSouth's Feeling. The Three Union Corps. War in the Wilderness. RumorsNorth and South. Spottsylvania. Still to the Left! Cold Harbor Again. The "Open Door" Closed. Glance at Grant's Campaign. Cost of ReachingMcClellan's Base. Sledge-Hammer Strategy. Solemn Joy in Richmond. 

CHAPTER XXXVI. --"The Land of Darkness and the Shadow of Death" 336-346

Comparison of Numbers. The Ratio of Loss. The Process of Attrition. Stuart's Last Fight. The River Approaches. Beauregard "bottles" Butler. Grant sits down Before Petersburg. "Swapping with Boot". Feeling of theSouthern People. The Lines in Georgia. Military Chess. DifferentMethods of Sherman and Grant. Southern View. Public Confidence inJohnston. Hood relieves Him. How Received by the People. The ArmyDivided. "The Back Door" Opened at Last! Mr. Davis visits Hood's Army. The Truce and the Chances. On the Rack. 

CHAPTER XXXVII. --Dies Iræ--Dies Illa! 347-359

The Lull at Petersburg. Strain on Army and People. North and SouthWaiting. Fears for Richmond. After Atlanta. Peace Propositions. Mr. Davis' Attitude. Mr. Stephens' Failure at Fortress Monroe. Hood's FatalMove. Results of Franklin. Strange Gayeties in Richmond. From the Danceto the Grave. "Starvations" and Theatricals. Evacuation Rumors. OnlyRichmond Left. Joe Johnston Reinstated. Near Desperation. GrantStrikes. The News in Church. Evacuation Scenes. The Mob and the Stores. Firing Warehouses. The Last Reb Leaves. Fearful Farewells. Dead!

CHAPTER XXXVIII. --After the Death-Blow was Dealt 360-372

The Form of Surrender. Federals march In. Richmond in Flames. Blue-Coats fight the Fire. Sad Scenes. Automatic Shelling. DisciplineWins. At the Provost-Marshal's. A City of the Dead. Starvation plusSuspense. The Tin-Can Brigade. Drawing Rations. Rumors and Reality. The First Gray Jacket returns. General Lee re-enters Richmond. Woman, the Comforter. Lincoln's Assassination. Resulting Rigors. Baits forSociability. How Ladies acted. Lectures by Old Friends. The EmigrationMania. Fortunate Collapse of Agreement. The Negro's Status. To Work, orStarve. Woman's Aid. Dropping the Curtain. 

FOUR YEARS IN REBEL CAPITALS. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE FOREHEAD OF THE STORM. 

The cloud no bigger than a man's hand had risen. 

It became visible to all in Washington over the southern horizon. Allaround to East and West was but the dull, dingy line of the storm thatwas soon to burst in wild fury over that section, leaving only seareddesolation in its wake. Already the timid and wary began to take insail and think of a port; while the most reckless looked from thehorizon to each other's faces, with restless and uneasy glances. 

In the days of 1860, as everybody knows, the society of Washington citywas composed of two distinct circles, tangent at no one point. Thelarger, outer circle whirled around with crash and fury several monthsin each year; then, spinning out its centrifugal force, flew intominute fragments and scattered to extreme ends of the land. The smallerone--the inner circle--revolved sedately in its accustomed grooves, moving no whit faster for the buzz of the monster that surrounded andhalf hid it for so long; and when that spun itself to pieces moved onas undisturbed as Werther's Charlotte. 

The outer circle drew with it all the outside population, all the"dwellers in tents, " from the busiest lobbyman to the laziestlooker-on. All the "hotel people"--those caravans that yearly pouredunceasing into the not too comfortable _caravanserai_ downtown--stretched eager hands toward this circle; for, to them, it meantWashington. Having clutched an insecure grasp upon its rim, away theywent with a fizz and a spin, dizzy and delighted--devil take thehindmost! Therein did the thousand lobbyists, who yearly came to rolllogs, pull wires and juggle through bills, find their congenial prey. 

Who shall rise up and write the secret history of that wonderfulcommittee and of the ways and means it used to prey impartially upongovernment and client? Who shall record the "deeds without a name, "hatched out of eggs from the midnight terrapin; the strange secretsdrawn out by the post-prandial corkscrew? Who shall justly calculatethe influence the lobby and its workings had in hastening thatinevitable, the war between the states?

Into this outer circle whirled that smaller element which came to theCapital to spend money--not to make it. Diamonds flash, point laceflounces flaunt! Who will stop that mighty whirligig to inspect whetherthe champagne is real, or the turtle is prime?

_Allons! le jeu est fait!_

Camp-followers and hangers-on of Congress, many of its members from theWest, claim agents from Kansas, husbandless married women fromCalifornia and subterranean politicians from everywhere herein foundelements as congenial as profitable. All stirred into the great _ollapodrida_ and helped to "Make the hell broth boil and bubble. "

The inner circle was the real society of Washington. Half submerged forhalf of each year by accumulating streams of strangers, it ever rosethe same--fresh and unstained by deposit from the baser flood. Therein, beyond doubt, one found the most cultured coteries, the courtliestpolish and the simplest elegance that the drawing-rooms of thiscontinent could boast. The bench and the bar of the highest court lenttheir loftiest intellects and keenest wits. Careful selections werethere from Congress of those who held senates on their lips and kepttogether the machinery of an expanding nation; and those "rising men, "soon to replace, or to struggle with them, across the narrow Potomacnear by. To this society, too, the foreign legations furnished a strongelement. Bred in courts, familiar with the theories of all the world, these men must prove valuable and agreeable addition to any societyinto which they are thrown. 

It is rather the fashion just now to inveigh against foreigners insociety, to lay at their door many of the peccadilloes that have creptinto our city life; but the diplomats are, with rare exceptions, men ofbirth, education and of proved ability in their own homes. Their ethicsmay be less strict than those which obtain about Plymouth Rock, butexperience with them will prove that, however loose their own code, they carefully conform to the custom of others; that if they have anyscars across their morals, they have also the tact and good taste tokeep them decorously draped from sight. 

In the inner circle of Washington were those officers of the army andnavy, selected for ability or service--or possibly "by grace ofcousinship"--to hold posts near the government; and, with fullallowance for favoritism, some of these were men of culture, travel andattainment--most of them were gentlemen. And the nucleus, as well asthe amalgam of all these elements, was the resident families of oldWashingtonians. These had lived there so long as to be able to winnowthe chaff and throw the refuse off. 

There has ever been much talk about the corruption of Washington, easyhints about Sodom, with a general sweep at the depravity of its socialsystem. But it is plain these facile fault-finders knew no more of itsinner circle--and for its resident society only is any cityresponsible--than they did of the court of the Grand Turk. Such criticshad come to Washington, had made their "dicker, " danced at the hotelhops, and been jostled on the Avenue. If they essayed an entrance intothe charmed circle, they failed. 

Year after year, even the Titans of the lobby assailed the gates ofthat heaven refused them; and year after year they fell back, baffledand grommelling, into the pit of that outer circle whence they came. Yet every year, especially in the autumn and spring, behind thatChinese wall was a round of entertainments less costly than the crushesof the critic circle, but stamped with quiet elegance aped in vain bythe non-elect. And when the whirl whirled out at last, with the departingCongress; when the howling crowd had danced its mad _carmagnole_ andits vulgar echoes had died into distance, then Washington society wasitself again. Then the sociality of intercourse--that peculiar charmwhich made it so unique--became once more free and unrestrained. 

Passing from the reek of a hotel ball, or the stewing soiree of aCabinet secretary into the quiet _salon_ of a West End home, thevery atmosphere was different, and comparison came of itself with thatold _Quartier Saint Germain_, which kept undefiled from the pitchthat smirched its Paris, through all the hideous dramas of the_bonnet rouge_. 

The influence of political place in this country has long spawned asocial degradation. Where the gift is in the hands of a fixed power, its seeking is lowering enough; but when it is besought from theenlightened voter himself, "the scurvy politician" becomes a realitypainfully frequent. Soliciting the ballot over a glass of green cornjuice in the back room of a country grocery, or flattering the _carasposa_ of the farmhouse, with squalling brat upon his knee, isscarcely calculated to make the best of men more of "an ornament tosociety. " Constant contact with sharpers and constant effort to besharper than they is equally as apt to blunt his sense of delicacy asit is to unfit one for higher responsibilities of official station. Soit was not unnatural that that society of Washington, based wholly onpolitics, was not found wholly clean. But under the seethingsurface--first visible to the casual glance--was a substratum as pureas it was solid and unyielding. 

Habitues of twenty years remarked that, with all the giddy whirl ofprevious winters in the outer circle, none had approached in madrapidity that of 1860-61. The rush of aimless visiting, matinées anddinners, balls and suppers, followed each other without cessation;dress and diamonds, equipage and cards, all cost more than ever before. This might be the last of it, said an uneasy sense of the coming storm;and in the precedent sultriness, the thousands who had come to makemoney vied with the tens who came to spend it in mad distribution ofthe proceeds. Madame, who had made an immense investment of somebody'scapital in diamonds and lace, must let the world see them. Mademoisellemust make a certain exhibit of shapely shoulders and of telling stridein the German; and time was shortening fast. And Knower, of the ThirdHouse, had put all the proceeds of engineering that last bill through, into gorgeous plate. It would never do to waste it, for Knower meantbusiness; and this might be the end of the thing. 

So the stream rushed on, catching the weak and timid ones upon itsbrink and plunging them into the whirling vortex. And still the rustyold wheels revolved, as creakily as ever, at the Capital. Blobb, ofOregon, made machine speeches to the sleepy House, but neither he, northey, noted the darkening atmosphere without. Senator Jenks took hishalf-hourly "nip" with laudable punctuality, thereafter rising eloquentto call Mr. President's attention to that little bill; and all thewhile that huge engine, the lobby, steadily pumped away in thepolitical basement, sending streams of hot corruption into every arteryof the government. 

Suddenly a sullen reverberation echoes over the Potomac from the South. The long-threatened deed is done at last. South Carolina has seceded, and the first link is rudely stricken from the chain. 

There is a little start; that is all. The Third House stays for asecond its gold spoon; and, perhaps, a trifle of the turtle spillsbefore reaching its mouth. Madame rearranges her parure and smoothesher ruffled lace; while Mademoiselle pouts a little, then studies hercard for the next waltzer. Senator Jenks takes his "nip" just a triflemore regularly; and Blobb, of Oregon, draws a longer breath before hisnext period. As for the lobby-pump, its piston grows red-hot and itsvalves fly wide open, with the work it does; while thicker and morefoul are the streams it sends abroad. 

For awhile there is some little talk around Willard's about the"secesh;" and the old soldiers wear grave faces as they pass to and frobetween the War Department and General Scott's headquarters. But to theouter circle, it is only a nine-day wonder; while the dancing anddining army men soon make light of the matter. 

But the stone the surface closes smoothly over at the center makeslarge ripples at the edges. Faces that were long before now begin tolengthen; and thoughtful men wag solemn heads as they pass, or pause totake each other by the buttonhole. More frequent knots discuss thestatus in hotel lobbies and even in the passages of the departments;careful non-partisans keep their lips tightly closed, and hot talk, _pro_ or _con_, begins to grow more popular. 

One day I find, per card, that the Patagonian Ambassador dines me atseven. As it is not a state dinner I go, to find it even more stupid. At dessert the reserve wears off and all soon get deep in the "Star ofthe West" episode. 

"Looks mighty bad now, sir. Something must be done, sir, and soon, too, " says Diggs, a hard-working M. C. From the North-west. "But, asyet, I don't see--what, exactly!"

"Will your government use force to supply Fort Sumter?" asks Count B. , of the Sardinian legation. 

"If so, it might surely drive out those states so doubtful now, thatthey may not go to extremes, " suggested the Prussian _chargé adinterim_. 

"Why, they'll be whipped back by the army and navy within ninety daysfrom date, " remarks a gentleman connected with pension brokerage. 

"If part of the army and navy does not go to get whipped with them, "growls an old major of the famed Aztec Club. And the scar across thenose, that he brought away from the Belen Gate, grows very uncomfortablypurple. 

"By Jove! I weally believes he means it! Weally!" whispers very youngSavile Rowe, of H. B. M. Legation. "Let's get wid of these politics. Dwop in at Knower's; soiwee, you know;" and Savile tucks his arm undermine. 

Two blocks away we try to lose uncomfortable ideas in an atmosphere ofspermaceti, hot broadcloth, jockey club and terrapin. 

"Next quadwille, Miss Wose?"

"Oh, yes, Mr. Rowe; and--the third galop--let me see--the fifth waltz. And oh! isn't it nasty of those people in South Carolina! Why _don't_they behave themselves? Oh, dear! what a lovely color Karmeen Sorserhas to-night! _Au revoir_!" and Miss Rose Ruche glides off, _à deuxtemps_, on the arm of the Turkish _chargé_. 

As I stroll through the rooms, there is much glaring light and thereare many nude necks. I am jostled by polking damsels and button-holedby most approved bores. But, through the blare of the brass horns andover the steaming terrapin, the one subject rises again and again, refusing burial as persistently as Eugene Aram's old man. 

"Try a glass of this punch, " Knower chirps cheerily. "Devilish goodpunch! Good glass, too. See the crest and the monogram blowed in. PutKansas Coal Contriver's Company proceeds into that glass. But things_are_ looking blue, sir, devilish blue; and I don't see the wayout at all. Fact is, I'm getting pretty down in the mouth!" And thelobbyist put a bumper of punch in the same position. "People may talk, sir, but my head's as long as the next, and I don't see the way out. Washington's dead, sir; dead as a hammer, if this secession goes on. Why, what'll become of our business if they move the Capital? Kill us, sir; kill us! Lots of southern members leaving already"--and Knower'svoice sunk to a whisper--"and would you believe it? I heard of nineresignations from the army to-day. Gad, sir! had it from the bestauthority. That means business, I'm afraid. " And little by little theconviction dawned on all classes that it did mean business--ugly, realbusiness. What had been only mutterings a few weeks back grew intoloud, defiant speech. Southern men, in and out of Congress, bandedunder their leading spirits, boldly and emphatically declared what theymeant to do. Never had excitement around the Capitol run half so high. Even the Kansas-Nebraska furore had failed to pack the Senate galleriesso full of men and women, struggling for seats and sitting sometimesthrough the night. One after another the southern leaders made theirvaledictories--some calm and dignified, some hot and vindictive--andleft the seats they had filled for years. One after another, known andhonored names were stricken from the army and navy lists, by resignation. One after another, states met in convention and, by "ordinance ofsecession, " declared themselves independent of the Federal Government. It was as though the train had been prepared and the action of SouthCarolina was but the lighting of the fuse. Within six weeks from Mr. Buchanan's New Year reception, six states had deliberately gone out ofthe Union. 

When it was too late, the sleepy administration opened its eyes. Notliking the looks of things, it shut them again. When it was too late, there were windy declarations and some feeble temporizing; but allthinking men felt that the crisis had come and nothing could avert it. The earthquake that had rumbled so long in premonitory throes suddenlyyawned in an ugly chasm, that swallowed up the petty differences ofeach side. One throb and the little lines of party were roughlyobliterated; while across the gulf that gaped between them, men glaredat each other with but one meaning in their eyes. 

That solemn mummery, the "Peace Congress, " might temporarily haveturned the tide it was wholly powerless to dam; but the arch seceder, Massachusetts, manipulated even that slight chance of compromise. Theweaker elements in convention were no match for the peaceful Puritanwhom war might profit, but could not injure. Peace was pelted fromunder her olive with splinters of Plymouth Rock, and Massachusettsmembers poured upon the troubled waters oil--of vitriol!

When the "Peace Commissioners" from the southern Congress at Montgomerycame to Washington, all felt their presence only a mockery. It was toolate! they came only to demand what the government could not thenconcede, and every line they wrote was waste of ink, every word theyspoke waste of breath. Southern congressmen were leaving by everytrain. Families of years residence were pulling down their householdgods and starting on a pilgrimage to set them up--where they knew not, save it must be in the South. Old friends looked doubtfully at eachother, and wild rumors were rife of incursions over the Potomac bywild-haired riders from Virginia. Even the fungi of the departmentaldesks, seeming suddenly imbued with life, rose and threw away theirquills--and with them the very bread for their families--to go South. It was the modern hegira!

A dull, vague unrest brooded over Washington, as though the city hadbeen shadowed with a vast pall, or threatened with a plague. Then whenit was again too late, General Scott--"the general, " as the hero ofLundy's Lane and Mexico was universally known--virtually went into theCabinet, practically filling the chair that Jefferson Davis hadvacated. Men felt that they must range themselves on one side, or theother, for the South had spoken and meant what she said. There might bewar; there must be separation!

I was lounging slowly past the rampant bronze Jackson in LafayetteSquare when Styles Staple joined me. 

"When do you start?" was his salutation. 

"When do I start?" Staple's question was a sudden one. 

"Yes, for the South? You're going of course; and the governor writes meto be off at once. Better go together. Eh? Night boat, 4th of March. "

Now the governor mentioned was not the presiding executive of asouthern state, but was Staple _pére_, of the heavy cotton firm ofStaple, Long & Middling, New Orleans. Staple _fils_ had been foryears a great social card in Washington. The clubs, the legations, theavenues and the german knew him equally well; and though he talkedabout "the house, " his only visible transaction with it was to makethe name familiar to bill-brokers by frequent drafts. So I answered thequestion by another:

"What are you going to do when you get there?"

"Stop at Montgomery, see the Congress, draw on 'the house, ' and then t'Orleans, " he answered cheerfully. "Come with me. Lots to see; and, nodoubt, about plenty to do. If this sky holds, all men will be wanted. As you're going the sooner the better. What do you say? Evening boat, March 4th? Is it a go?"

It gave only two days for preparation to leave what had come nearerbeing home that any other place in a nomadic life. But he was right. Iwas going, and we settled the matter, and separated to wind up ouraffairs and take _congé_. 

The night before President Lincoln's inauguration was a restless andtrying one to every man in Washington. Nervous men heard signal forbloody outbreak in every unfamiliar sound. Thoughtful ones peeredbeyond the mist and saw the boiling of the mad breakers, where eightmillions of incensed and uncontrolled population hurled themselvesagainst the granite foundation of the established government. Selfishheads tossed upon sleepless pillows, haunted by the thought that thedawn would break upon a great change, boding ruin to their prospects, monetary or political. Even the butterflies felt that there was asomething impending; incomprehensible, but uncomfortably suggestive ofwork instead of pleasure. So Washington rose red-eyed and unrefreshedon the 4th of March, 1861. 

Elaborate preparations had been made to have the day's ceremonialbrilliant and imposing beyond precedent. Visiting militia and civilorganizations from every quarter--North, East and West--had beencollecting for days, and meeting reception more labored thanspontaneous. The best bands of the country had flocked to the Capital, to drown bad blood in the blare of brass; and all available cavalry andartillery of the regular army had been hastily rendezvoused, for thedouble purpose of spectacle and security. Still the public mind wasfeverish and unquiet; and the post commandant was like the public mind. 

Rumors were again rife of raids over the Potomac, with Henry A. Wise orBen McCullough at their head; nightmares of plots to rob the Treasuryand raze the White House sat heavy on the timid; while extremistsmanufactured long-haired men, with air guns, secreted here and thereand sworn to shoot Mr. Lincoln, while reading his inaugural. 

All night long, orderlies were dashing to and fro at breakneck speed;and guard details were marching to all points of possible danger. Daydawn saw a light battery drawn up on G street facing the Treasury, gunsunlimbered and ready for action; while infantry held both approaches tothe Long Bridge across the Potomac. Other bodies of regulars werescattered at points most available for rapid concentration; squadronsof cavalry were stationed at the crossings of several avenues; and allpossible precautions were had to quell summarily any symptoms of riot. 

These preparations resembling more the capital of Mexico than that ofthe United States, were augury of the peace of the administration thusushered in! Happily, they were needless. All who remember thatinauguration will recall the dull, dead quiet with which the day passedoff. The very studiousness of precaution took away from the enjoymentof the spectacle even; and a cloud was thrown over the whole event bythe certainty of trouble ahead. The streets were anxious and all gayetyshowed effort, while many lowering faces peeped at the procession fromwindows and housetops. 

It was over at last. The new man had begun with the new era; and Stapleand I had finished our _chasse_ at Wormley's dinner table, when thatworthy's pleasant, yellow face peered in at the door. 

As we jumped into the carriage awaiting us and Wormley banged the door, a knot of loungers ran up to say good-bye. They were allmen-about-town; and if not very dear to each other, it was still awrench to break up associations with those whose faces had beenfamiliar to every dinner and drive and reception for years. We hadnever met but in amity and amid the gayest scenes; now we were plunginginto a pathless future. Who could tell but a turn might bring us faceto face, where hands would cross with a deadly purpose; while the hissof the Minié-ball sang accompaniment in place of the last galop thatLouis Weber had composed. 

"Better stay where you are, boys!"--"You're making a bad thing ofit!"--"Don't leave us Styles, old fellow!"--"You'll starve down South, sure!"--were a few of the hopeful adieux showered at us. 

"Thank you all, just the same, but I think we won't stay, " Stapleresponded. "What would 'the house' do? God bless you, boys! Good-bye, Jim!"

CHAPTER II. 

"THE CRADLE OF THE CONFEDERACY. "

Evening had fallen as evening can fall only in early Washington spring. As we plunged into the low, close cabin of the Acquia Creek steamer ofthat day, there was a weak light, but a strong smell of kerosene andwhisky. Wet, steamy men huddled around the hot stove, talking blatantpolitics in terms as strong as their liquor. So, leaving the reekbelow, we faced the storm on deck, vainly striving to fix the familiarcity lights as they faded through the mist and rain; more vainly stillpeering into the misty future, through driving fancies chasing eachother in the brain. 

The journey south in those days was not a delight. Its components werediscomfort, dust and doubt. As we rattled through at gray of dawn, Richmond was fast asleep, blissfully ignorant of that May morning whenshe would wake to find herself famous, with the eyes of all thecivilized world painfully strained toward her. But from Petersburg toWilmington the country side was wide awake and eager for news. Anxiousknots were at every station and water tank, and not overclean handswere thrust into the windows, with the cry: "Airy paper?" Sometimesyellow faces, framed with long, lank hair, peered in at the doors;while occasional voices indescribably twanged: "You'uns got any newsfrom thar 'nauggeration?"

Staple's ready, while not very accurate, replies were hungrilyswallowed; proffered papers of any date were clutched and borne asprizes to the learned man of each group, to be spelled out to thedelectation of open-mouthed listeners. For the whole country had turnedout, with its hands in its breeches pockets, and so far it seemedcontent to gape and lounge about the stations. The men, to allappearance, were ready and eager; but at that time no idea of such athing as preparation had entered their minds. 

It is difficult, at best, to overcome the _vis inertiæ_ of thelower-class dweller along the South Atlantic seaboard; but when he isfirst knocked in the head with so knotty a club as secession, and thenis told to be up and doing, he probably does--nothing. Their leadershad not been among them yet, and the "Goobers" were entirely at sea. They knew that something had gone wrong, that something was expected ofthem; but how, where or what, their conception was of the vaguest. Theaverage intelligence of the masses thereabout is not high; the changenoticeable before crossing the Virginia line becoming more and moremarked as one travels straight south. Whether the monotonous stretchesof pine barren depress mentally, or frequent recurring "ager"prostrates physically, who shall say? But to the casual glance alongthat railroad line, was not presented an unvarying picture of bright, or intellectual, faces. 

In Wilmington--not then the busy mart and "port of the Confederacy, "she later grew to be--almost equal apathy prevailed. There was moregeneral sense of a crisis upon them; but the escape valve for extrasteam, generated therefrom, seemed to be in talk only. There wereloud-mouthed groups about the hotel, sundry irate and some drunkenpoliticians at the ferry. But signs of real action were nowhere seen;and modes of organization seemed to have interested no man one met. The"Old North State" had stood ready to dissolve her connection with theUnion for some five weeks; but to the looker-on, she seemed no moreready for the struggle to follow her "ordinance of secession, " than ifthat step had not been considered. 

But it must be remembered that this was the very beginning, when awhole people were staggered by reaction of their own blow; and allseemed to stand irresolute on the threshold of a vast change. And whenthe tug really came, the state responded so bravely and so readily thatnone of her sisters might doubt the mettle she was made of. Her recordis written from Bethel to Appomattox, in letters so bright that timecan not dim, or conquest tarnish, them. 

Through South Carolina and Georgia, men seemed more awake to thegreatness of the change and to the imminence of its results. InlandGeorgia, especially, showed keener and shrewder. Questions were more tothe point; and many a quick retort was popped through the car windowsat Staple's wonderful inventions. A strongly asseverated wish to dosomething, and that at the earliest moment, was generally clinched by abouncing oath; but where, or how, that something was to be done wasnever even hinted. Briefly, Georgia seemed more anxious for preparationthan her neighbors; withal she was equally far from preparation. Itwere manifestly unfair to judge the status of a whole people byglimpses from a railway carriage. But from that point of view, theearliest hours of revolution--those hours which, properly utilized, aremost fruitful of result--were woefully and weakly wasted by "theleaders. "

The people had risen _en masse_. The flame had spread among them likelava to their lowest depths. Told that their section needed them, theyhad responded like the Douglas, "Ready, aye, ready!" Beyond this theywere told nothing; and during those most precious weeks they waited, while demagoguery flourished and action slept. The entire cottongrowing region was in active fermentation; but, until the surfacebubbles ceased, no practical deposit could be looked for. 

"Devilish strong hands and pretty broad backs these, but I've yet tosee the first head among them! I suppose we'll find _them_ atMontgomery!"

After emitting which Orphic utterance at West Point, Styles Stapleemptied the partnership's pocket-flask, and then slept peacefully untilwe reached the "Cradle of the Confederacy. "

Montgomery, like Rome, sits on seven hills. The city is picturesque inperch upon bold, high bluffs, which, on the city side, cut sheer downto the Alabama river; here, seemingly scarce more than a biscuit-tossacross. From the opposite bank spread great flat stretches of marsh andmeadow land, while on the other side, behind the town, the formationswells and undulates with gentle rise. As in most southern inlandtowns, its one great artery, Main street, runs from the river bluffs tothe Capitol, perched on a high hill a full mile away. This street, wideand sandy, was in the cradle days badly paved, but rather closely builtup. Nor was the Capitol a peculiarly stately pile, either in size orarchitectural effect. Still it dominated the lesser structures, as itstared down the street with quite a Roman rigor. The staff upon itsdome bore the flag of the new nation, run up there shortly after theCongress met by the hands of a noted daughter of Virginia. Miss LetitiaTyler was not only a representative of proud Old Dominion blood, butwas also granddaughter of the ex-President of the United States, whoseeldest son, Robert, lived in the new Capital. All Montgomery hadflocked to Capitol Hill in holiday attire; bells rang and cannonboomed, and the throng--including all members of the government--stoodbareheaded as the fair Virginian threw that flag to the breeze. Then apoet-priest--who later added the sword to the quill--spoke a solemnbenediction on the people, their flag and their cause; and a shout wentup from every throat that told they meant to honor and strive for it;if need be, to die for it. What was the meaning of the pact, then andthere made, had been told by a hundred battle-fields, from Texas toGettysburg, from Santa Rosa to Belmont, ere the star of the South setforever, and her remnant of warriors sadly draped that "conqueredbanner. "

On the whole, the effect of Montgomery upon the newly arrived wasrather pleasing, with a something rather provincial, quite in keepingwith its location inland. Streets, various in length, uncertain indirection and impractical as to pavement, ran into Main street at manypoints; and most of them were closely built with pretty houses, all ofthem surrounded by gardens and many by handsome grounds. Equidistantfrom the end of Main street and from each other, stood, in these cradledays, the two hotels of which the Capital could boast. Montgomery Hall, of bitter memory--like the much-sung "Raven of Zurich, " foruncleanliness of nest and length of bill--had been the resort ofcountry merchants, horse and cattle-men; but now the Solon of the hourdwelt therein, with the possible hero of many a field. The Exchange--ofrather more pretensions and vastly more comfort--was at that time inthe hands of a northern firm, who "could keep a hotel. " The latter waspolitical headquarters--the President, the Cabinet and a swarm of thepossible great residing there. 

Montgomery was Washington over again; only on a smaller scale, and withthe avidity and agility in pursuit of the spoils somewhat enhanced bythe freshness of scent. 

"The President is at this house?" I queried of the ex-member ofCongress next me at dinner. "But he does not appear, I suppose?"

"Oh, yes; he's waiting here till his house is made ready. But hedoesn't have a private table; takes his meals like an everyday mortal, at the ladies' ordinary. "

He had scarcely spoken when Mr. Davis entered by a side door and tookhis seat, with only an occasional stare of earnest, but notdisrespectful, curiosity from the more recent arrivals. 

Even in the few weeks since I had seen him, there was a great change. He looked worn and thinner; and the set expression of the somewhatstern features gave a grim hardness not natural to their lines. Withscarcely a glance around, he returned the general salutations, sat downabsently and was soon absorbed in conversation with General Cooper, whohad recently resigned the adjutant-generalship of the United Statesarmy and accepted a similar post and a brigadier's commission from Mr. Davis. 

An after-dinner interview with the President of the Confederacy, topresent the "very important" documents from one of the martyrs piningfor hanging at Washington, proved them only a prolix report of theinauguration. Mr. Davis soon threw them aside to hear the verbalaccount from us. 

At this time the southern chief was fifty-two years old--tall, erectand spare by natural habit, but worn thin to almost emaciation bymental and physical toil. Almost constant sickness and unremittingexcitement of the last few months had left their imprint on face aswell as figure. The features had sharpened and the lines had deepenedand hardened; the thin lips had a firmer compression and the lowerjaw--always firm and prominent--was closer pressed to its fellow. Mr. Davis had lost the sight of one eye many months previous, though thatmember scarcely showed its imperfection; but in the other burned adeep, steady glow, showing the presence with him of thought that neverslept. And in conversation he had the habit of listening with eyesshaded by the lids, then suddenly shooting forth at the speaker a gleamfrom the stone-gray pupil which seemed to penetrate his innermost mind. 

Little ceremony, or form, hedged the incubating government; and perfectsimplicity marked every detail about Mr. Davis. His office, for themoment, was one of the parlors of the hotel. Members of the Cabinet andhigh officials came in and out without ceremony, to ask questions andreceive very brief replies; or for whispered consultation with thePresident's private secretary, whose desk was in the same room. Casualvisitors were simply announced by an usher, and were received wheneverbusiness did not prevent. Mr. Davis' manner was unvarying in its quietand courtesy, drawing out all that one had to tell, and indicating bybrief answer, or criticism, that he had extracted the pith from it. Atthat moment he was the very idol of the people; the grand embodiment tothem of their grand cause; and they gave him their hands unquestioning, to applaud any move soever he might make. And equally unthinking asthis popular manifestation of early hero-worship, was the clamor thatlater floated into Richmond on every wind, blaming the government--andespecially its head--for every untoward detail of the facile descent todestruction. 

A better acquaintance with the Confederate Capital impressed one stillmore with its likeness to Washington toward the end of the session; butmany features of that likeness were salient ones, which had marred anddebased the older city. The government just organizing, endless placesof profit, of trust, or of honor, were to be filled; and for each andevery one of them was a rush of jostling and almost rabid claimants. The skeleton of the regular army had just been articulated by Congress, but the bare bones would soon have swelled to more than Falstaffianproportions, had one in every twenty of the ardent aspirants beenapplied as matter and muscle. The first "gazette" was watched for withstraining eyes, and naturally would follow aching hearts; fordisappointment here first sowed the dragon's teeth that were to springinto armed opponents of the unappreciative power. 

The whole country was new. Everything was to be done--to be made; andwho was so capable for both, in their own conceit, as that swarm ofworn-out lobbymen and contractors who, having thoroughly exploited "theold concern, " now gathered to gorge upon the new. And by the hundredflocked hither those unclean birds, blinking bleared eyes at any chancebit, whetting foul bills to peck at carrion from the departmentalsewer. Busy and active at all hours, the lobby of the Exchange, whenthe crowd and the noise rose to the flood at night, smacked no littleof pandemonium. Every knot of men had its grievance; every flag in thepavement was a rostrum. Slowness of organization, the weakness ofCongress, secession of the border states, personnel of the Cabinet andespecially the latest army appointments--these and kindred subjectswere canvassed with heat equaled only by ignorance. Men from everysection of the South defended their own people in highest of keys andno little temper; startling measures for public safety were offered andstate secrets openly discussed in this curbstone congress; while a rankgrowth of newspaper correspondents, with "the very latest, " swelled thehum into a veritable Babel. And the most incomprehensible of all wasthe diametric opposition of men from the same neighborhood, in theirviews of the same subject. Often it would be a vital one, of doctrine, or of policy; and yet these neighbors would antagonize more bitterlythan would men from opposite parts of the confederation. 

Two ideas, however, seemed to pervade the entire South at this timewhich, though arrived at by most differing courses of reasoning, werediscussed with complacent unanimity. One was that keystone dogma ofsecession, "Cotton is king;" the second, the belief that the war, should there be any, could not last over three months. The causes thatled to the first belief were too numerous, if not too generallyunderstood also, to be discussed here afresh; and upon them, men of allsections and of all creeds based firmest faith that, so soon as Europeunderstood that the separation was permanent and a regular governmenthad been organized, the power of cotton alone would dictate immediaterecognition. The man who ventured dissent from this idea, back it bywhat reason he might, was voted no better than an idiot; if, indeed, his rank disloyalty was not broadly hinted at. 

But the second proposition was harder still to comprehend. There hadalready been a tacit declaration of war, and overt acts were offrequent commission. As the states seceded, they seized the arsenals, with arms and munitions; the shipping, mints and all United Statesproperty, only permitting the officers to go on their parole. 

The North was already straining preparation to resent these insultsoffered to the power and to the flag of the Union. The people were ofone race, embittered by long-existent rivalries and jealousies asstrangers can never be embittered; and the balance of numbers, ofcapital and of machinery were on the other side. These causes, as theywere without fresh incentives that needs must follow war, seemedsufficient to convince reasoning men that if the storm burst, it wouldbe as enduring as it was terrific. I could realize that to mensaturated with pride of section, who knew little of facts and feelingsbeyond their boundaries, the idea of peaceful separation, or of a shortwar, could be possible. But that the citizens of the world nowcongregated at Montgomery, who had sucked in her wisdom as mother'smilk, should talk thus, puzzled those who paused to query if theyreally meant what they said. 

Up to this time Montgomery had been scarcely more than a great inlandvillage; dividing her local importance between being the capital ofAlabama, the terminus of her principal railroad, and the practical headof navigation for her greatest river. The society had been composed ofsome planters, cotton men, a few capitalists, some noted professionalsand a large class connected with railroad and steamboat interests. There had always been considerable culture, more hospitality and stillmore ambition, social and civic; but there was still much lacking ofwhat the world expects of a city. Now, however, a future loomed upbefore the town, which had never before crossed the dreams of itsoldest inhabitant. Her choice as the "cradle of the Confederacy, " thesudden access of population therefrom, the probable erection offurnaces, factories and storehouses, with consequent disbursement ofmillions--all these gave the humdrum town a new value and importance, even to its humblest citizen. Already small merchants saw their ledgersgrow in size, to the tune of added cash to fall jingling into enlargedtills. In fact, the choice of the Capital had turned a society, provincially content to run in accustomed grooves, quite topsy-turvy;and, perhaps for want of some other escape-valve under the newpressure, the townspeople grumbled consumedly. 

Tiring of experimental camping-out in a hotel, a few gentlemen hired ahouse and established a "mess. " They were all notables--General Cooper, General Meyers, Dr. DeLeon, Colonel Deas and others, the three firstbeing adjutant-general, quartermaster-general and surgeon-general ofthe new army. A chief of department, or two and this writer, completedthe occupants of "the Ranche, " as it was early christened by "thecolonel;" and its piazza soon became the favorite lounging-place in theevening of the better and brighter elements of the floating population. There was sure to be found the newest arrival, if he were worthknowing; the latest papers and news "from across;" and, as the bluesmoke of the Havanas floated lazily out on the soft summer night, manya jovial laugh followed it and a not infrequent prediction of scenes tocome almost prophetic. And of the lips that made these most are nowsilent forever--stilled in the reddest glow of battle, with the war-cryhot upon them. 

So far the news that came in from all quarters continued cheering. Avague sense of doubt and suspense would creep in when one stopped tothink, but nothing terrible, or shocking, had yet happened anywhere. Though the nation was going down to battle, its banners were flauntinggaily and its bands were playing anything but dirges. 

CHAPTER III. 

CONGRESS AND CABINET. 

The proposition that, shown who writes the ballads of a country, onemay tell who makes its laws, is far from reversible in many instances;and assuredly the lawmakers of the Confederacy looked little likepoets. 

When the councils of a country are assembled for work, it is but naturalto look for a body of grave and reverend--if not most potent--seigniors. And especially, when a new government is forming from selectedfragments of the old, might one expect a pure and simple structure, free from those faults and weaknesses which sowed the seeds ofdisintegration in the elder fabric. 

It was too much the fashion to believe that the Confederacy--havingsprung full-grown from foam of the angry sea of politics--wasfull-armed as well. A revolution, unprecedented in the world's history, had already been achieved. A strongly cemented and firmly seatedgovernment had been disrupted; and a new one, built from the disseveredfragments, had been erected almost under the shadow of its Capitol. Andno drop of blood had been spilled! Six millions of people had uprisenand, by a simple declaration of will, had in a few short weeks undonethe work of near a century. Without arms in their hands; without a keelin their waters; without a dollar in their treasury, they arrayedthemselves against the mother government with the serious purpose ofnot only asserting, but maintaining, their independence of it. 

So far, all had been accomplished without violence. But, whatever thesimpler masses might expect, the initiated politician could scarce havebelieved that the older government would meekly submit to "Let theerring sisters go in peace. " Hence, one might justly have looked to seethe executive council of the new nation--to whom had been intrusted itssafety and its hopes--with every thought bent, every nerve strained tothe one vital point--preparation! One could only have expected measuressimple as energetic; laws clear, concise and comprehensive; care onlyfor the arming, organizing and maintenance of the people. 

Blessed are they who expect nothing! One glance at the "Congress of theConfederate States of America, " as it sat in the Capitol at Montgomery, told the whole story of its organization and of its future usefulness. 

The states went out of the union, separately and at different periods, by the action of conventions. These were naturally composed of men whohad long been prominently before the people, urging the measures ofsecession. As a matter of course, the old political workers of eachsection, by fair means and foul, were enabled to secure election tothese conventions; and, once there, they so fevered and worked upon thepublic mind, amid rapidly succeeding events, that its after-thoughtcould neither be reasonable nor deliberate. The act of secession onceconsummated, the state connected itself with the Confederacy andrepresentatives had to be sent to Montgomery. Small wonder that the menmost prominent in the secession conventions should secure their ownelection, as little regard to fitness as ability being had by theexcited electors. 

The House of Representatives at Montgomery looked like the WashingtonCongress, viewed through a reversed opera-glass. The same want ofdignity and serious work; the same position of ease, with feet on deskand hat on head; the same buzzing talk on indifferent subjects; oftenthe very same men in the lobbies--taking dry smokes from unlit cigars;all these elements were there in duplicate, if somewhat smaller andmore concentrated. No point in Montgomery was remote enough--noassemblage dignified enough--to escape the swoop of the lobby vulture. His beak was as sharp and his unclean talons as strong as those of thetraditional bird, which had blinked and battened so long on the eavesof the Washington edifice. When "the old concern" had been dismembered, limbs had been dragged whole to aid in the construction of the newgiant; and scenting these from afar, he hastened hither fierce for hisfresh banquet. 

Glancing down from the gallery of the House, many were the familiarfaces peering over the desks; and, even where one did not know theindividual, it was easy to recognize the politician by trade among therosy and uncomfortable novices. It was constant food for wonderment tothoughtful men, that the South had, in most cases, chosen party hacksto legislate for and to lead her in this great crisis, rather thantransfused younger blood and steadier nerves into her councils; ratherthan grafted new minds upon the as yet healthy body. The revolution waspopularly accepted as the result of corruptions and aggressions whichthese very men had been utterly helpless to correct, or to prevent;even had they not been able actors in them. Yet, worn-outpoliticians--who had years before been "promoted from servants tosovereigns and had taken back seats"--floated high upon the presentsurge. Men hot from Washington, reeking with the wiles of the old Houseand with their unblushing buncombe fresh upon them, took the lead inevery movement; and the rank old Washington leaven threatened topermeate every pore of the new government. 

It is small wonder that the measures of such a congress, when notvacillating, were weak. If the time demanded anything, that demand wasthe promptest organization of an army, with an immediate basis offoreign credit, to arm, equip and clothe it. Next to this was theurgent need for a simple and readily managed machinery in the differentdepartments of the government. 

Neither of these desiderata could be secured by their few earnest andcapable advocates, who thrust them forward over and over again, only tobe pushed aside by the sensation element with which the popular will ofthe new nation--or the want of it--had diluted her councils. There werewindy dissertations on the color of the flag, or on the establishmentof a patent office; and members made long speeches, bearing on nospecial point, but that most special one of their own re-election. There were bitter denunciations of "the old wreck;" violent diatribeson the "gridiron" flag; with many an eloquent and manly declaration ofthe feelings and the attitude of the South. But these were not thebitter need. Declarations sufficient had already been made; and themasses--having made them, and being ready and willing to maintainthem--stood with their hands in their pockets, open-mouthed, eager, butinactive. They were waiting for some organization, for somesystematized preparation for the struggle even they felt to be surelycoming. Not one in three of the congressmen dared look the real issuedirectly in the face; and these were powerless to accomplish anythingpractical. But their constant pressure finally forced from thereluctant legislature a few first steps toward reduction of the chaos. 

The Government was to consist, after the President, of a vice-Presidentand a secretary for each of the departments of State, War, Navy, Treasury, Post-Office and Justice; the latter being a combination ofthe responsibilities of the Interior Department and theAttorney-General's office. 

Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, had been elevated to thevice-Presidency, as reconciling the oppositions of "original secession"and "anti secession. " He had long been a prominent politician; wasthoroughly acquainted with all the points of public life; and was, atthis time, quite popular with people of all sections, being generallyregarded as a man of exceptional capacity and great independence. 

The portfolio of State was in the hands of another Georgian, RobertToombs. In the present posture of affairs, little could be expectedfrom it, as until the nations of Europe should recognize the South, shecould have no foreign policy. The honorable secretary himself seemedfully to realize how little onerous was his position. One of the tenthousand applicants for any and every position approached him for aplace in his department and exhibited his letters of recommendation. 

"Perfectly useless, sir!" responded Mr. Toombs with a thunderous oath. Let us whisper that the honorable secretary was a profound swearer. 

"But, sir, " persisted the place hunter, "if you will only look at thisletter from Mr. ----, I think you can find something for me. "

"Can you get in here, sir?" roared the secretary fiercely, taking offhis hat and pointing into it--with a volley of sonorous oaths--"That'sthe Department of State, sir!"

The Post-Office and Department of Justice were, as yet, about as usefulas the State Department; but to the War Office, every eye was turned, and the popular verdict seemed to be that the choice there was not theright man in the right place. Mr. Leroy Pope Walker, to whom itsadministration was intrusted, was scarcely known beyond the borders ofhis own state; but those who did know him prophesied that he wouldearly stagger under the heavy responsibility that would necessarilyfall upon him in event of war. Many averred that he was only a man ofstraw to whom Mr. Davis had offered the portfolio, simply that he mightexercise his own well-known love for military affairs and be himselfthe _de facto_ Secretary of War. 

The selection of Mr. Mallory, of Florida, for the Navy Department, wasmore popular and was, as yet, generally considered a good one. His longexperience as chairman of the committee on naval affairs, in the UnitedStates Senate, and his reputation for clearness of reasoning andfirmness of purpose, made him acceptable to the majority of politiciansand people. Of Mr. Reagan the people knew little; but their fate wasnot in his hands, and just now they were content to wait for theirletters. 

The Treasury Department was justly supposed to be the key to nationalsuccess. It was at least the twin, in importance, with the War Office. Mr. Memminger, of South Carolina, was a self-made man, who had managedthe finances of his state and had made reputation for some financieringability and much common sense. He had, moreover, the advantage of beinga new man; and the critics were willing to give him the benefit ofcommon law, until he should prove himself guilty. Still the finance ofthe country was so vital, and came home so nearly to every man in it, that perhaps a deeper anxiety was felt about its management than thatof any other branch. 

The Attorney-General, or chief of the Department of Justice, had areputation as wide as the continent--and as far as mental ability andlegal knowledge went, there could be no question among the growlers asto his perfect qualifications for the position. Mr. Judah P. Benjaminwas not only the successful politician, who had risen from obscurity tobecome the leader of his party in the Senate, and its exponent of theconstitutional questions involved in its action; but he was, also, thefirst lawyer at the bar of the Supreme Court and was known as a ripeand cultivated scholar. So the people who shook their heads at him--andthey were neither few nor far between--did it on other grounds thanthat of incapacity. 

This was the popular view of that day at the new Capital. The countryat large had but little means of knowing the real stuff of which theCabinet was made. It is true, four of the six were old and thoroughlybroken party horses, who had for years cantered around the Washingtonarena, till the scent of its sawdust was dear to their nostrils. Butthe people knew little of them individually and took their tone fromthe politicians of the past. So--as it is a known fact that politiciansare never satisfied--the Cabinet and Congress, as tried in the hotelalembic, were not found pure gold. 

So the country grumbled. The newspapers snarled, criticised andasserted, with some show of truth, that things were at a deadstandstill, and that nothing practical had been accomplished. 

Such was the aspect of affairs at Montgomery, when on the 10th ofApril, Governor Pickens, of South Carolina, telegraphed that theGovernment at Washington had notified him of its intention to supplyFort Sumter--"Peaceably if we can; forcibly if we must. "

Bulletins were posted before the Exchange, the newspaper office and the"Government House;" and for two days there was intense suspense as towhat course the South would pursue. Then the news flashed over thewires that, on the morning of the 12th of April, Beauregard had openedthe ball in earnest, by commencing the bombardment of Fort Sumter. Thiscaused the excitement to go up to fever heat; and the echo of thatfirst gun made every heart in the breadth of the land bound withquickened throb. Business was suspended, all the stores in the townwere closed, while crowds at the hotels and in the streets becamelarger and more anxious as the day wore on. Various and strange werethe speculations as to the issue of the fight and its consequences; butthe conviction came, like a thunder clap upon the most skeptical, thatthere was to be war after all!

CHAPTER IV. 

"THE AWAKENING OF THE LION. "

When tidings came of the fall of Fort Sumter, there was wild rejoicingthroughout the South and it culminated at her Capital. All the great, and many of the little men of the Government were serenaded by bands ofthe most patriotic musical persuasion. Bonfires blazed in every streetand, by their red glare, crowds met and exchanged congratulations, amidthe wildest enthusiasm; while the beverage dear to the cis-Atlanticheart was poured out in libations wonderful to see!

One-half of the country thought that this victory of a few untrainedgunners would prevent further progress of the war; that the FederalGovernment, seeing how determined was the stand the South hadtaken--how ready she was to defend her principles--would recede andgrant the concessions demanded. The other half felt that, however fairan augury for the future the great and bloodless victory might be--andit will be recollected that the only loss was the death of a few UnitedStates soldiers, in the salute Beauregard permitted them to give theirflag--the real tug of the struggle was not yet commenced; that thewhole power of a government, never yet overstrained, or even fullytested, would be hurled on the new confederation, to crush ere it couldconcentrate its strength. 

The Confederate Government was on the side of this opinion; and now, for the first time, preparations for war began in earnest. Though thepeople of Montgomery still murmured, as they had done from thebeginning, at the influx of corrupting social influences from Sodom onthe Potomac, and still held the hordes of unintroduced strangers alooffrom their firesides, they continued most strenuous exertions and mademost selfless sacrifices to serve the beloved cause. Storehouses werefreely offered for the public use; and merchants moved from theirplaces of business, on shortest notice, to turn them over to theGovernment. 

A great, red brick pile, originally built for warehouses andcounting-rooms, had early been converted into public offices andpopularly named the "Government House. " Here the departments were allcrowded together; and now, under the pressure of close necessity, theWar office was organized into bureaux, at the heads of which wereplaced the most competent officers of the old service at the disposalof the Executive. Bureaux of Adjutant-General, Ordnance, Engineers andMedicine were soon put in as perfect a state as the condition of theSouth allowed; and their respective chiefs were tireless in endeavor tocollect the very best assistants and material, in their variousbranches, from every quarter. 

Commissioners were sent to all the states that had not already joinedthe Confederacy, to urge them to speedy action; and the dispatches theysent back were so full of cheer, that day after day a salute of cannonfrom the street in front of the Government House announced to theroused Montgomerans that another ally had enlisted under the flag; or, that a fresh levy of troops, from some unexpected quarter, had beenvoted to the cause. 

Officers, carefully selected from those who left the United StatesArmy, or who had received military education elsewhere, were promptlysent to all points in the South, to urge and hasten the organization oftroops; to forward those already raised to points where they might bemost needed; and to establish recruiting stations and camps ofinstruction. The captured arsenals were put in working order, new oneswere started, depots for clothes, ordnance and medicines were prepared;and from one boundary of the Confederacy to the other, the hum ofpreparation told that the leaders of the nation had at last awakened toits real demands. 

The mass of the people--who, from the first, had been willing andanxious, but doubtful what to do--now sprang to their places; moneyedmen made large and generous donations of cash; the banks offered loansof any amount, on most liberal terms; planters from every section madeproffers of provisions and stock, in any quantities needed; and themanagers of all the railroads in the South held a convention atMontgomery and proffered the use of their roads to the Government;volunteering to charge only half-rates, and to receive payment in thebonds of the Confederate States. 

Especially did the women go heart and soul into the work; urging thelaggards, encouraging the zealous, and laboring with sacrificial zealupon rough uniforms for the most unprepared of the new troops. 

The best blood of the South went cheerfully into the ranks, as the postof honor; and the new regiments endeavored to be perfectly impartial inselecting the best men for their officers, irrespective of any otherclaim. That they failed signally in their object was the fault, not oftheir intention, but of human nature in many cases--of circumstance inall. 

At this time the plan of filling up the regular army was abandoned. Officers coming from the United States service were, by law, entitledto at least as high rank in it as they had there held; but volunteerswere asked for and accepted by companies, or regiments, with theprivilege of choosing their own leaders; and these regulars were onlygiven commands where vacancies, or the exigencies of the service, seemed to demand it imperatively. 

Every hour of the day could be heard the tap of the drum, as the newtroops from depot, or steamer, marched through the town to their campsin the suburbs; or as the better drilled volunteer companies passedthrough to Pensacola, where Brigadier-General Braxton Bragg already hada considerable force. And toward that point every eye was strained asthe next great theater of action. 

All day long the churches were open, and crowds of ladies, from townand country, assembled in them and sewed on the tough, ungainly pantsand jackets; while their negro maids, collected on the porches, orunder the trees, worked as steadily as their mistresses, many a ringingguffaw and not unmusical song rising above them. 

Great numbers of the interested and the curious visited the camps, carrying substantial tokens of sympathy for the cause and its defendersin the shape of hams, loaves and sometimes bottles. Nor was suchtestimony often irrelevant; for as yet the quartermaster andcommissary--those much-erring and more-cursed adjuncts to allarmies--were not fully aware of what they were to do, or how to do it, even with the means therefor provided. But the South was at last awake!And again the popular voice averred that it was not Congress, orCabinet; that the President alone was the motive power; that his stronghand had grasped the chaos and reduced it to something like order. Rapidly one needful and pointed law after another emanated fromCongress; and what had been a confused mass of weak resolves assumedshape as clear and legible statutes. It was generally said that Mr. Davis had reduced Congress to a pliable texture that his iron fingerscould twist at will into any form they pleased. Newspapercorrespondents wrote strange stories of the length to which thatdignified body allowed him to carry his prerogative. They declared thatfrequently, the framing of a bill not suiting him, it was simplyreturned by his private secretary, with verbal instructions as toemendations and corrections, which were obediently carried out. 

Some even went to the length of asserting that, before any bill ofimportance was framed, a rough draft was sent down from the President'soffice and simply put into form and voted a law by the ductilelegislators. 

However much of this one may allow for exaggeration of "ourcorrespondent, " it is certain that Mr. Davis was the heart and brainsof the government; and his popularity with the people was, at thistime, unbounded. They were perfectly content to think that thegovernment was in the hollow of his hand; and pronounced any of hismeasures good before they were tried. His energy, too, was untiring;and it was wonderful to look on the frail body and believe that itendured the terrible physical and mental strain he imposed upon it. 

At this time the President and his family, having left their temporaryquarters at the hotel, were living at a plain mansion provided forthem, but a few steps from the Government House. In the latter buildingwere the executive office and the Cabinet room, connected by an alwaysopen door; and in one or the other of these Mr. Davis spent somefifteen hours out of every twenty-four. Here he received the thousandsof visitors whom curiosity, or business, brought; consulted with hissecretaries, revised bills, or framed new projects for strengtheningthe defenses of the open and wide frontier. It was said that he managedthe War Department, in all its various details, in addition to othermanifold labors; finding time not only to give it a generalsupervision, but to go into all the minutiæ of the working of itsbureaux, the choice of all its officers, or agents, and the verydisbursement of its appropriations. 

His habits were as simple as laborious. He rose early, worked at homeuntil breakfast, then to a long and wearing day at the GovernmentHouse. Often, long after midnight, the red glow from his office lamp, shining over the mock-orange hedge in front of his dwelling, told ofunremitting strain. Thus early in the drama, Mr. Benjamin had becomeone of its leading actors; having more real weight and influence withMr. Davis than any, or all, of his other advisers. The President didnot believe there was "safety in a multitude of counsellors;" and hecertainly chose the subtlest, if not the safest, head of the half-dozento aid him. With Mr. Mallory, too, he seemed on very friendly andconfidential terms. These two he met as friends and advisers; butbeside them, the Cabinet--as such--had scarcely a practical existence. Mr. Davis very naturally considered that the War Department had becomethe government, and he managed it accordingly. The secretaries were, ofcourse, useful to arrange matters formally in their respectivebranches; but they had scarcely higher duties left them than those oftheir clerks; while Congress remained a formal body to pass bills andratify acts, the inspiration for which it derived from the clearest andcoolest brain in the South. 

The crisis had called in plain terms that it was time for the leadingspirit of the revolution to take its management; and he had risen tothe occasion and faced the responsibilities, before which the chosen ofthe new nation had hitherto cowered. 

And naturally, under the iron hand, things began to work more smoothlythan they had under the King-Log reign of a few weeks previous; and thecountry felt the change from the Potomac to the Gulf. True, politiciansstill grumbled, but less loudly; for even they found something to do, where everybody began to be busy. The great crowd that at firstcollected had thinned greatly, from assignments to duty in diversquarters; and that portion of it left in Montgomery began to settleinto a regular routine. 

The ladies of the executive mansion held occasional receptions, afterthe Washington custom, at which were collected the most brilliant, themost gallant and most honored of the South. But the citizens still heldaloof from general connection with the alien crowd. They could not getrid of their idea that Sodom had come to be imposed on them; and totheir prejudiced nostrils there was an odor of sulphur in everythingthat savored of Washington society. And yet, while they grumbled--theseolder people of Montgomery--they wrought, heart and soul for the cause;yielded their warerooms for government use, contributed freely in moneyand stores, let their wives and daughters work on the soldiers'clothing like seamstresses, and put their first-born into the ranks, musket on shoulder. 

Early on the morning of the 18th of April, a salute of seven guns rangout from the street before the public building. The telegraph hadbrought the most welcome news that, on the evening before, Virginia hadpassed the ordinance of secession. 

Wild was the rejoicing at the southern Capital that day!

The Old Dominion had long and sedately debated the question; hadcarefully considered the principles involved and canvassed the pros andcons, heedless alike of jeers from without and hot-headed counselswithin her borders. 

She had trembled long in the balance so tenderly adjusted, that thestraining eyes of the South could form no notion how it would lean; butnow she turned deliberately and poured the vast wealth of herinfluence, of her mineral stores and her stalwart and chivalric sonsinto the lap of the Confederacy. 

The victory of the week before paled before this; and men looked ateach other with a hope in their eyes that spoke more than the brayingof a thousand bands. 

And the triumph was a double one; for great as was the accession to theSouth in boundary, in men and means, greater far was the blow to theUnion, when its eldest and most honored daughter divorced herself fromthe parent hearth and told the world, that looked on with deepsuspense, that the cause of her sisters must in future be her own!

CHAPTER V. 

A SOUTHERN RIVER BOAT RACE. 

"Hurry, my boy! Pack up your traps and get ready for the boat, " criedStyles Staple, bursting into my room in his usual sudden fashion theday we got the news from Virginia. "All's fixed. The colonel, you and Iare to have a trip of a week, stop at Mobile and then run down t'Orleans!"

So by sundown we were quietly smoking our cigars on the topmost deck ofthe "Southern Republic. "

Nowhere in the world can be found just such boats as those thatnavigate our south-western rivers. Great three or four-storiedconstructions, built upon mere flats of the lightest possible draught, with length and breadth of beam sufficient to allow storage room for animmense number of cotton bales and barrels upon the lowest deck; withtheir furnaces, boilers and machinery all above the water line, theylook like up-country hotels that, having got out of their element, contemplate a down-trip for the benefit of their health--or _cuisine_. 

The "Southern Republic" was a new boat, built after the most approvedplan, on a scale of size and magnificence unequaled on the river. Sitting flat and square upon the water, her four decks rising one abovethe other--with the thousand doors and windows of her state-roomsseeming to peer like eyes over the balconies around them--she seemedmore like some fabled marine monster than a vessel meant for speed andcomfort. Her length was immense, and her draught necessarily verylight--not four feet when full loaded; for the Alabama is subject tomany vagaries and what was a clear channel yesterday may be only atwo-foot shoal to-day. Of course, with solidity and strength sacrificedto this extreme lightness, when the powerful engines are put to anystrain, the high, thin fabric thrills from stem to stern with theirevery puff, like a huge card-house. 

The speed of a first-class high-pressure boat is very great in thelonger "reaches;" but, the Alabama is a most tortuous stream. Often youstand by the pilot-house and see, right under the quarter, a gleamingstreak of water across a neck of land over which you might toss astone; and yet you may steam on miles around the point that juts ahead, before you get into it. 

The "Southern Republic, " from her immense size and unusually handsomeequipment, was a novelty even to the river people; and each afternoonof her starting, crowds came aboard to bid farewell to friends and roamover the vessel, or collected on the bluffs above to see her swing outto the shrill notes of her "calliope, " the best and least discordant onthe river. A few evenings before we left, a large party had collectedin honor of General Earl Van Dorn. He had recently resigned; and thecommission as colonel of the only regiment of regular cavalry in theConfederacy was tendered him. Now, on the eve of departure for hiswell-known expedition to Texas--then considered a momentous anddesperate one--numbers of fair women thronged the bluffs to catch aglimpse of the hero of the hour, while friends gathered round to graspthe hand, than which no firmer ever drew blade!

Few men had started in the war with brighter auspices and more ardentwell-wishings--none could have had a sadder ending! I remember well thelast sight I ever had of his neat but powerfully-knit figure, as hestood with one hand resting on the rail of the upper deck and the otherraising his broad sombrero over the clear, sharp features, with thepeaked moustache and beard of the _cuirassier_. A brilliant andhandsome staff surrounded him; from the bluffs, the ladies waved theirhandkerchiefs and the men their hats; the wild notes of the calliopeechoed back the "Marseillaise;" but in memory's photograph of thescene, his figure alone--the proud swell of the thin nostril and thedeep, smothered flame in the cold gray eye--stands out clear and sharp. 

We are aboard the "Southern Republic;" the last bell has sounded, thelast belated trunk has been trundled over the plank; and we are off, the calliope screaming "Dixie" like ten thousand devils, the crowds onthe bank waving us _bon voyage_!

The main saloon of the boat was a spacious apartment, a hundred feetlong by thirty in breadth, gorgeously decorated with modern paint andbrilliantly lighted; the galleries leading to the state-rooms risingtier upon tier entirely around it, while above, a skylight of tintedglass shed a soft, warm light. 

There were offices, card-rooms, bar-rooms aboard all these boats; andas the down-trip occupies from forty-eight to one hundredhours--according to the stage of the river and the luck in runningaground, a performance to be expected once in each trip--we becomequite a mutual amusement community by the time it is over. 

This trip the boat was very crowded, and at supper the effect of theline of small tables, filled with officers in uniform, ladiestastefully dressed and a sprinkling of homespun coats--all reflected inthe long mirror--was very bright and gay. After meals, there isgenerally a promenade on the upper deck, where people talk, smoke, inspect each other and flirt. They then adjourn to state-room, saloonor card-room, to lounge or read to kill time; for the Alabama isanything but a picturesque stream, with its low, marshy banks onlyvaried by occasional "cotton slides" and "negro quarters. "

This night was splendidly clear, the moon bright as day, and Staple andI with our cigars staid on deck to scrape acquaintance with the pilotand the small, seedy Frenchman who officiated at the calliope. He wasan original in his way--"the Professor"--his head like a bullet, garnished with hair of the most wiry blackness, cut close as thescissors could hold it, looking like the most uncompromising porcupine. Of course, he was a political refugee. 

"_Dixie! Aire nationale! pas bonne chose!_" he exclaimed, seatinghimself at his instrument and twirling a huge moustache. "_Voila leMarseillaise!_ Zat make hymn national for you!" And he made the whistleroar and shriek in a way to have sent the red caps into the air ahundred miles away. 

"Grand! Splendid!" roared Styles above the steam. "Why, Professor, you're a genius. Come and take some brandy. "

The professor banged the lid of his instrument, led the way instanterdown to our state-room; and, once there, did take something; thensomething else and, finally, something more, till he got verythick-tongued and enthusiastic. 

"Grand aire of ze Liberte!" he cried at last, mounting again to hisperch by the smoke-stack. "Song compose by me for one grand man--ze VanDorn. I make zees--me, myself--and dedicate to heem!" And he banged atthe keys till he tortured the steam into the Liberty duet, from"_Puritani_. "

"How you fine zat, eh? Zat makes ze hymn for ze Souse. Me, I amrépublicain! _Voila!_ I wear ze moustache of _ze revolutionaire_--myhairs cut themselves _en mécontent_! Were zere colere more red as red, I should be zat!"

The professor was so struck by the brilliancy of this idea, that heplayed the air again, until it rang like a phantom chorus over thestill plantations. At last, overcome by emotion and brandy, he slidfrom the stool and sat at the foot of the smoke-stack, muttering:

"Zat is ze hymn--_hic_--dedicate to ze general and to ze--_hic_--countree!"Then he slept the sleep of the just conscience. 

"Thar's the 'Senator, ' and she's gainin' on us, " said the pilot, as wewalked forward, pointing to a thin column of smoke rising over thetrees just abreast of us. 

"How far astern?"

"A matter of two mile round that pint. "

"Splendid night for a race, " muttered Styles. "Will she overtake us, Cap'n?"

"Wail, maibee!" replied the old river dog, while the most professionalgrin shot over his hard-wooden features. "Specially ef I ease up this'ar ole gal. "

"Ha! Now we'll have it. We won't turn in just now, " chuckled Styles, banging me in the back. 

Almost imperceptibly our speed slackens, the thin dark column creepsnearer round the trees on the point in our wake; at last the steamerbursts into sight, not a pistol shot astern. 

There is a sharp click of our pilot's bell, a gasping throb, as if ourboat took a deep, long breath; and just as the "Senator" makes ourwheel we dash ahead again, with every stroke of the piston threateningto rack our frail fabric into shreds. 

The river here is pretty wide and the channel deep and clear. The"Senator" follows in gallant style, now gaining our quarter, now aboat's length astern--both engines roaring and snorting like angryhippopotami; both vessels rocking and straining till they seem to pawtheir way through the churned water. 

Talk of horse-racing and _rouge-et-noir_! But there is no excitementthat can approach boat-racing on a southern river! One by one peoplepop up the ladders and throng the rails. First come the unemployeddeck-hands, then a stray gentleman or two, and finally ladies andchildren, till the rail is full and every eye is anxiously strained tothe opposite boat. 

She holds her own wondrous well, considering the reputation of ours. Ateach burst, when she seems to gain on us, the crowd hold their breath;as she drops off again there is a deep-drawn, gasping sign of relief, like wind in the pines. Even the colonel has roused himself from dreamsof turtle at the St. Charles, and red fish at Pensacola; coming on deckin a shooting jacket and glengary cap, that make him look like a jaunty_Fosco_. He leans over the stern rail, smoking his cabana in long, easy whiffs as we gain a length; sending out short, angry puffs at the"Senator" as she creeps up on us. 

Foot by foot, we gain steadily until the gap is widened to three orfour boat-lengths, though the "Senator" piles her fires till the shoresbehind her glow from their reflection; and her decks--now black withanxious lookers-on--send up cheer after cheer, as she snorts defiantlyafter us. 

Suddenly the bank seems to spring up right under our port bow! We havecut it too close! Two sharp, vicious clicks of the bell; our helm goeshard down and the engines stop with a sullen jar, as I catch a hissingcurse through the set teeth of the pilot. 

A yell of wild triumph rises from the rival's deck. On she comes ingallant style, shutting the gap and passing us like a race-horse, before we can swing into the channel and recover headway. It is asplendid sight as the noble boat passes us; her black bulk standing outin the clear moonlight against the dim, gray banks like a livingmonster; her great chimneys snorting out volumes of massive black smokethat trail out level behind her, from the great speed. Her side towardus is crowded with men, women and children; hats, handkerchiefs andhands are swung madly about to aid the effort of the hundred voices. 

Close down to the water's edge--scarce above the line of foam shecuts--her lower deck lies black and undefined in the shadow of thegreat mass above it. Suddenly it lights up with a lurid flash, as thefurnace-doors swing wide open; and in the hot glare the negrostokers--their stalwart forms jetty black, naked to the waist andstreaming with exertion that makes the muscles strain out in greatcords--show like the distorted imps of some pictured inferno. They, too, have imbibed the excitement. With every gesture of anxious hasteand eyeballs starting from their dusky heads, some plunge the longrakes into the red mouths of the furnace, twisting and turning thecrackling mass with terrific strength; others hurl in huge logs ofresinous pine, already heated by contact till they burn like pitch. Then the great doors bang to; the _Yo Ho!_ of the negroes dies away andthe whole hull is blacker from the contrast; while the "Senator, "puffing denser clouds than ever, swings round the point a hundred yardsahead!

There is dead silence on our boat--silence so deep that the roughwhisper of the pilot to the knot around him is heard the whole lengthof her deck: "Damnation! but I'll overstep her yit, or--bust!"

"Good, old man!" responds Styles--"Let her out and I'll stand thewine!"

Then the old colonel walks to the wheel; his face purple, his glengarypushed back on his head, his cigar glowing like the "red eye ofbattle, " as he puffs angry wheezes of smoke through his nostrils. 

"Damned hard! sir--hard! Egad! I'd burn the last ham in the locker toovertake her!"--and he hurls the glowing stump after the "Senator, " asthe Spartan youth hurled their shields into the thick of the battle ererushing to reclaim them. 

On we speed, till the trees on the bank seem to fly back past us; andround the point to see the "Senator, " just turning another curve!

On still, faster than ever, with every glass on board jingling in itsframe; every joint and timber trembling, as though with a congestivechill!

Still the black demons below ply their fires with the fattest logs, andeven a few barrels of rosin are slyly slipped in; the smoke behind usstretched straight and flat from the smoke-stack. 

Now we enter a straight, narrow reach with the chase just before us. Faster--faster we go till the boat fairly rocks and swings from side toside, half lifted with every throb of the engine. Closer and closer wecreep--harder and harder thump the cylinders--until at last we close;our bow just lapping her stern! So we run a few yards. 

Little by little--so little that we test it by counting her windows--wereach her wheel--pass it--lock her bow, and run nose and nose for ahundred feet!

The stillness of death is upon both boats; not a sound but the creakand shudder as they struggle on. Suddenly the hard voice of our oldpilot crashes through it like a broadaxe:

"Good-bye, Sen'tor! I'll send yer a tug!"--and he gives his bell amerry click. 

Our huge boat gives one shuddering throb that racks her from end toend--one plunge--and then she settles into a steady rush and forgesrapidly and evenly ahead. Wider and wider grows the gap; and we windout of sight with the beaten boat five hundred yards behind us. 

The cigar I take from my mouth, to make way for the deep, long sigh, ischewed to perfect pulp. A wild, pent-up yell of half-savage triumphgoes up from the crowded deck; such as is heard nowhere besides, savewhere the captured work rewards the bloody and oft-repeated charge. Cheer after cheer follows; and, as we approach the thin column of smokecurling over the trees between us, Styles bestrides the prostrate formof the still sleeping professor and makes the calliope yell and shriekthat classic ditty, "Old Gray Horse, come out of the Wilderness!" atthe invisible rival. 

I doubt if heartier toast was ever drunk than that the colonel gave thegroup around the wheel-house, when Styles "stood" the wine plighted thepilot. The veteran was beaming, the glengary sat jauntily on one side;and his voice actually gurgled as he said:

"Egad! I'd miss my dinner for a week for this! Gentlemen, a toast!Here's to the old boat! God bless her ---- _soul!_"

CHAPTER VI. 

BOAT LIFE AFLOAT AND AGROUND. 

The day after the race our trio exhausted all usual resources of boatlife. We lounged in the saloon and saw the young ladies manage theirbeaux and the old ones their children; dropped into the card-rooms andwatched the innocent games--some heavy ones of "draw poker" with a"bale better;" some light ones of "all fours, " with only an occasionalold sinner deep in chess, or solitaire. For cards, conversation, tobacco, yarns and the bar make up boat life; it being rare, indeed, that the _ennui_ is attacked from the barricade of a book. Then weroamed below and saw the negroes--our demons of the night before, muchmodified by sunlight--tend the fires and load cotton. A splendidlydeveloped race are those Africans of the river boats, with shiny, blackskins, through which the corded and tense muscles seem to be bursting, even in repose. Their only dress, as a general thing, is a pair ofloose pantaloons, to which the more elegant add a fancy coloredbandanna knotted about the head, with its wing-like ends flying in thewind; but shirts are a rarity in working hours and their absence showsa breadth of shoulder and depth of chest remarkable, when contrastedwith the length and lank power in the nether limbs. They are aperfectly careless and jovial race, with wants confined to the onlyluxuries they know--plenty to eat, a short pipe and a plug of"nigger-head, " with occasional drinks, of any kind and quantity thatfall to their lot. Given these, they are as contented as princes; andtheir great eyes roll like white saucers and their splendid teeth flashin constant merriment. 

As we got further down the river, the flats became less frequent andhigh, steep bluffs took their place; and at every landing along thesewe laid-by for cotton and took in considerable quantities of "theking. "

Some of the bluffs were from sixty to eighty feet in height; and downthese, the cotton came on slides. These, in most cases, were at anangle of forty-five degrees, or less; strongly constructed of heavybeams, cross-tied together and firmly pegged into the hard bluff-clay. A small, solid platform at the bottom completed the slide. 

Scarcely would the plank be run out when the heavy bales came boundingdown the slide, gaining momentum at every yard of descent, till at thebottom they had the velocity of a cannon-ball. The dexterity andstrength of the negroes were here wonderfully displayed. 

Standing at the edge of the boat--or at the foot of the slide, as theconformation of the landing indicated--heavy cotton-hook in hand, theywatch the descending bale, as it bounds fiercely toward them; and justat the right moment two men, with infinite dexterity of hand andcertainty of eye, strike their hooks firmly into the bagging--holdingon to the plunging mass and going with it halfway across the boat. Fullin front of it a third stands, like a _matador_ ready for the blow; andstriking his hook deep in the end, by a sudden and simultaneous twistthe three stand the bale upon end. Once stopped, two or three morejerks of the hooks and it is neatly stowed away alongside, or on topof, its fellows. 

One constantly sees huge bales of from five to six hundred pounds bounddown a slide eighty feet high--scarcely touching the rail more thanthree times in their steep descent--looking almost round from therapidity of their motion. Yet two negroes drive their hooks into, andspin along with them; visibly checking their speed, till the third one"heads up" and stops them still, in half a boat's width. 

Sometimes a hook slips, the bagging gives, or the footing yields, whenthe mixed mass of man and bale rolls across the boat and goes undertogether. But frightful as it looks to unaccustomed eyes, a moreserious accident than a ducking seldom occurs; and at that, the banksresound with the yells of laughter Sambo sends after hisbrother-in-water. 

"We've pretty thoroughly done the boat, " said Styles, about midday. "Let's go up to the professor's den and see if his head aches from 'zeVan Dorn. '"

So up we mounted, passing on the way the faro bank, that advertises itsneighborhood by most musical jingling of chips and half dollars. 

"Hello, Spring Chicken, " cried Styles, to a youth in a blue sack withshoulder straps, who sat at the door of a state-room near by. "Look outfor the tiger! I hear him about. "

"No danger, me boy, " responded the youth. "I'm too old a stager forthat. "

"Aye, aye! we seen that before, " put in his companion, a buttonedmiddie of eighteen, innocent of beard. "A confounded pigeon came byhere just now, jingling his halves and pretending he'd won 'em. Wastingtime! Wasn't he, Styles? _We're_ too old birds to be caught withchaff. "

"Look alive, my hearty, " answered Staple, "You're pretty near thebeast, and mamma doesn't know you're out. " With which paternaladmonition we ascended. 

The professor was still in a deep sleep; having been transferred by theaid of a deck hand, or two, to his bower. This was a box of astate-room six feet by nine, in which was a most dilapidateddouble-bass, a violin case and a French horn. Over the berth, a crackedguitar hung by a greasy blue ribbon. Staple waked him withoutceremony--ordered Congress water, pulled out the instruments; and soonwe were in "a concord of sweet sounds, " the like of which the mermaidsof the Alabama had not heard before. 

Suddenly, in the midst of a roaring chorus, there was a short, heavyjar that sent us pellmell across the state-room; then a series ofgrinding jolts; and, amid the yelling of orders, jangling of bells andbacking of the wheels, the boat swung slowly round by the bows. We werehard and fast aground!

Of all the unpleasant episodes of river travel, the worst by far is tobe grounded in the daytime. The dreary monotony of bank and stream asyou glide by increases ten-fold when lying, hour after hour, withnothing to do but gaze at it. Under this trial the jolliest faces growlong and dismal; quiet men become dreadfully blue and the saturninelook actually suicidal. Even the negro hands talk under their breath, and the broad _Yah! Yah!_ comes less frequently from below decks. 

Here we lay, two miles above Selma--hard and fast, with engines andanchors equally useless to move us a foot--until midnight. Aboutsundown an up-boat passed just across our bows. Little is the sympathya grounded boat gets unless actually in danger. Every soul aboard ofher, from captain to cook's boy, seemed to think us fair game, andchaff of all kinds was hailed from her decks. But she threw us a Selmapaper of that evening, and a hundred eager hands were stretched overthe side to catch it. 

It fell at the feet of a slight, wiry man of about fifty, withtwinkling gray eyes, prominent features and fierce gray moustache. There was something in his manner that kept the more ardent ones fromplucking it out of his fingers, as he stooped quietly to pick it up;but few on board ever knew that their quiet fellow-passenger was themost widely known "rebel of them all. "

Many a man has read, with quickening breath, of the bold deeds ofAdmiral Raphael Semmes; and some have traced his blazing track to the, perhaps, Quixotic joust that ended his wild sea-kingship, neverrecalling that impassive fellow-passenger. Yet it was he who, seated onthe rail of the "Southern Republic, " read to the crowd that evening. 

"What's the Washington news?"--"Anything more from Virginia!"--"Whatabout Tennessee convention?"--"Has Bragg commenced business?"--and athousand equally eager questions popped from the impatient crowd. 

"There _is_ news, indeed!" answered Captain Semmes. "Listen, myfriends, for the war has commenced in earnest. "

And here, on the quiet southern river, we first heard how Baltimore hadrisen to drive out the troops; how there had been wild work made inspite of the police, and how hot blood of her citizens had stained thestreets of the town. The account ended with the city still in frightfulcommotion, the people arming and companies assembling at theirarmories; and without even hinting the number of those hurt in thefight. 

No more _ennui_ on board now. All was as much excitement as if wewere racing along again; and, through the buzz and angry exclamationsof the knots collected on all hands, we could catch the most variedpredictions of the result, and speculations as to President Lincoln'sreal policy. 

"Maryland must act at once. Egad, sir, _at once_, if she wants to cometo us, sir, " said the colonel, haranguing his group. "If she doesn't, egad! she'll be tied hand and foot in a week! _Facilis descensus_, youknow!"

"Pshaw, Baltimore's noted for mobs, " said an Alabamian. "This is only alittle more than usual. In a week she'll forget all about it. "

"This is more than a mob, " answered a Virginian quietly. "Blood mustcome out of it; for the people will all go one way now, or make twostrong and bitter parties. For my part, I believe Maryland will be withus before the boat gets off. "

Late at night we swung loose and rushed past Selma, with the calliopescreaming "Dixie" and "ze Van Dorn;" for the professor was himselfagain and waxed irate and red-patriotic over the news. We could get nomore papers, however; so suspense and speculation continued until wereached Mobile. 

There we heard of the quelling of the riot; of the course of thecitizens; of Mr. Lincoln's pledges to the Baltimore committee, that nomore troops should pass through the town; of his statement that thosealready passed were only intended for the defense of the Capital. 

"Pretty fair pledges, Colonel, " said Styles, when we got this lastnews. 

"Fair pledges!" responded the colonel, with serious emphasis, "Egad, sir!--_we've lost a State!_"

CHAPTER VII. 

MOBILE, THE GULF CITY. 

Mobile was in a state of perfect ferment when we arrived. The news fromMaryland had made profound sensation and had dissipated the delusivehopes--indulged there as well as in Montgomery--like mists before thesun. 

All now agreed that war must come. Many thought it already upon them. Groups, anxious and steadfast, filled the hotels, the clubs and thepost-office; and the sense of all was that Maryland had spoken not onehour too soon; having spoken, the simple duty of the South was toprevent harm to a hair of her head for words said in its defense. 

Those who had been the hottest in branding the action of Virginia aslaggard, looked to her for the steadiest and most efficient aid, nowthat the crisis faced them; while all felt she would meet the calls ofthe hour with never a pause for the result. The sanguine counted onMaryland, bound by every community of interest, every tie ofsympathy--as already one of the Confederate States. She was no longerneutral, they said. She had put her lance in rest and rallied to thecharge, in the avowed quarrel that the troops attacked were on theirway to oppress her next sister. And nothing could follow but Virginia'sbright falchion must flash out, and the states must lock shields andpress between her and the giant she had roused. 

The Gulf City had not been idle. The echo of the first gun atCharleston had roused her people; and with a wonderful accord they hadsprung to arms. Law books were thrown aside, merchants locked up theirledgers, even students of theology forgot that they were men ofpeace--and all enrolled themselves in the "crack" companies. No wonder, when the very best blood of the state ran in the veins of the humblestprivate; when men of letters and culture and wealth refused any but"the post of honor, " with musket on shoulder; when the most delicatefingers of their fairest worked the flags that floated over them, andthe softest voices urged them to their _devoir_; no wonder, then, thathigh on the roll of fame are now written the names of the MobileCadets--of the Gulf City Guards--of the Rifles--and enough others tomake the list as long as Leporello's. Not one in ten of the best bornyouth of Mobile remained at home; the mechanics, the stevedores andmen of every class flocked to follow their example, so that the cityalone gave two full regiments and helped to fill up others. The newsfrom Virginia and Maryland had given but a fresh impetus to thesepreparations; and, before my return to Montgomery, these regiments hadpassed through, on their way to the new battle ground on the Potomacfrontier. 

On the night of our arrival in the Gulf City, that escape valve for allexcitement, a dense crowd, collected in front of the Battle House andColonel John Forsyth addressed them from the balcony. He had justreturned from Washington with the southern commissioners and gave, hesaid, a true narrative of the manner and results of their mission. Atthis lapse of time it is needless to detail even the substance of hisspeech; but it made a marked impression on the crowd, as the surgingsea of upturned faces plainly told. John Forsyth, already acknowledgedone of the ablest of southern leaders, was a veritable Harry Hotspur. His views brooked no delay or temporizing; and, as he spoke, in vein offiery elegance, shouts and yells of defiant approval rose in full swellof a thousand voices. Once he named a noted Alabamian, whom heseemingly believed to have played a double part in these negotiations;and the excited auditory greeted his name with hisses and execrations. That they did their fellow-citizen injustice the most trying councilsof the war proved; for he soon after came South and wrought, with allthe grand power in him, during the whole enduring struggle. 

Staple was tired of politics, and hated a crowd; so he soon loungedoff to the club, an institution gotten up with a delightful regard tothe most comfortable arrangement and the most accomplished _chef_ inthe South. There one met the most cordial hospitality, the neatestentertainment and the very best wines in the Gulf section. The cook wasan artist, as our first supper declared; and play could be found, too, as needed; for young Mobile was not slow, and money, in those days, wasplenty. 

Altogether, the tone of Mobile society was more cosmopolitan than thatof any city of the South, save, perhaps, New Orleans. It may be thatits commercial connections, reaching largely abroad, produced theeffect; or that propinquity to and constant intercourse with its sistercity induced freer mode of thought and action. Located at the head ofher beautiful bay, with a wide sweep of blue water before her, thecleanly-built, unpaved streets gave Mobile a fresh, cool aspect. Thehouses were fine and their appointments in good, and sometimesluxurious, taste. The society was a very pleasure-loving organization, enjoying the gifts of situation, of climate and of fortune to theirfull. _On dit_, it sometimes forgot the Spartan code; but thestranger was never made aware of that, for it ever sedulouslyremembered good taste. 

Between the drives, dinners and other time-killers, one week slippedaround with great rapidity; and we could hardly realize it when thecolonel looked over his newspaper at breakfast and said:

"Last day, boys! Egad! the cooking here _is_ a little different fromMontgomery--but we must take the 'Cuba' this evening. "

So adieux were spoken, and at dusk we went aboard the snug, neat littleGulf steamer of the New Orleans line. She was a trimmer craft than ourfloating card-house of river travel, built for a little outside work incase of necessity, or the chances of a norther. 

We scudded merrily down the bay towards Fort Morgan, the grim sentinelsitting dark and lonely at the harbor's mouth and showing a row ofteeth that might be a warning. The fort was now put in thorough repairand readiness by Colonel Hardee, of the regular army of the ConfederateStates. 

I was following Styles down from the upper deck, when we heard highvoices from the end of the boat, and recognized one exclaiming:

"Curse you! I'll cut your ear off!"

Round the open bar we found an excited crowd, in the center of whichwas our worldly-minded middie of river-boat memory and "SpringChicken, " his colleague; both talking very loud, and the latterexhibiting a bowie-knife half as long as himself. By considerable talkand more elbowing, we made our way to the boys; and, with the aid of afriendly stoker, got them both safely in my state-room. 

Once there, the man of the world--who, unlike the needy knife-grinder, had a story--told it. After getting on the boat, Spring Chicken hadbeen taking mint with sugar and something; and he took it once toooften. Seeing this, the worldling tried to get him forward to hisstate-room; but, as we passed the fort, a jolly passenger, who had alsotaken mint, waved his hat at the fortification and cried out:

"Hurrah for Muggins!"

Spring Chicken stopped, balanced himself on his heels and announcedwith much dignity--

"Sir, _I_ am Muggins!"

"Didn't know you, Muggins, " responded the shouter, who fortunately hadnot taken fighting whisky. "Beg pardon, Muggins! Hurrah for Peacock!_Yah--a-h!_"

"See here, my good fellow, I'm Peacock!" repeated Spring Chicken. 

"The thunder you are! You can't be two people!"

"Sir!" responded Spring Chicken, with even greater dignity, "I donot--_hic_--desire to argue with you. I am Peacock!"

The man laughed. "The Peacock I mean is a northern man----"

"_I'm_ a northern man, " yelled the now irate Spring Chicken. "Curseyou, sir! what are my principles to you? I'll cut your ear off!" And itwas this peaceful proposition that attracted our attention, in time toprevent any trouble with the ugly knife he drew from his back. 

Spring Chicken had remained passive during the recital of the moresober worldling. Sundry muttered oaths had sufficed him until it wasover, when he made the lucid explanation:

"Reas'l didl't--_hic_--dam decoy--bet ol red--ev'ry cent--_hic_!"

This the worldling translated and the murder was out. When we lostsight of the boys on the Southern Republic, they had ordered wine. Atdinner they had more; and--glowing therewith, as they sat over theircigars on the gallery--did not "stop their ears, " but, on the contrary, "listed to the voice of the charmer. " When the stool pigeon once morestood in the doorway, rattling his half dollars, they followed him intothe den of the tiger. 

"Faro" went against them; "odd-and-even" was worse; _rouge-et-noir_worst of all; and at night they were sober and dead broke, anunpleasant but not infrequent phase of boat life. 

"Didl't have aly wash to spout, " remarked Spring Chicken, with his headunder his arm. 

"Yes--we owed our wine bill, " continued the middie, whose worldlinessdecreased as he got sober, "and our trunk was in pawn to the nigger weowed a quarter for taking care of it. So as soon as the boat touched, Iran for'ard and jumped off, while he waited to keep the things in sighttill I came back. "

"So he was in pawn, too, egad!" said the colonel. 

"Thasso, ol' cock!" hiccoughed Spring Chicken. 

"And when I got the money and we went up town, we met the cussed decoyagain, and we were fools enough to go again----"

"Williz molley--damniz--_hic_--eyes!" interpolated the other. 

"----And we got broke again--and this fellow that hollowed Mugginslooked like the decoy, but he wasn't. That's the whole truth, Mr. Styles. "

"Mussput--_hic_--fi dollus on-jack?" remarked Spring Chicken. "Seeyer, Styse--o'boy, damfattolman--Con'l is!" and he curled from thelounge to the floor and slept peacefully. 

"My young friend, " remarked Styles gravely to the middie, as we tuckedthe insensible Spring Chicken into his berth--"If you want to gamble, you'll do it--so I don't advise you. But these amphibious beasts aredangerous; so in future play with gentlemen and let them alone. "

"And, my boy, " said the colonel, enunciating _his_ moral lesson--"gamblingis bad enough, egad! but any man is lost--yes, sir, lost!--who will drinkmint--_after dinner!_"

With which great moral axioms we retired and slept until our steamerreached the "Queen City of the South. "

CHAPTER VIII. 

NEW ORLEANS, THE CRESCENT CITY. 

At a first glimpse, New Orleans of those days was anything but apicturesque city. Built upon marshy flats, below the level of the riverand protected from inundation by the Levee, her antique and weatheredhouses seemed to cower and cluster together as though in fear. 

But for a long time, "The Crescent City" had been at the head ofcommercial importance--and the desideratum of direct trade had beenmore nearly filled by her enterprising merchants than all others in theSouth. The very great majority of the wealthy population was eitherCreole, or French; and their connection with European houses mayaccount in some measure for that fact. The coasting trade at the warwas heavy all along the Gulf shore; the trade with the islands a sourceof large revenue, and there were lines and frequent private enterprisesacross the ocean. 

For many reasons, it was then believed New Orleans could never become agreat port. Foremost, the conformation of the Delta, at the mouth ofthe river, prevented vessels drawing over fifteen feet--at mostfavorable tides--from crossing either of the three bars; and the mostpractical and scientific engineers, both of civil life and the army, had long tried in vain to remedy the defect for longer than a fewweeks. Numerous causes have been assigned for the rapid reformation ofthese bars; the chemical action of the salt upon the vegetable matterin the river water; the rapid deposit of alluvium as the currentslackens; and a churning effect produced by the meeting of the channelwith the waves of the Gulf. They could not be successfully removed, however, and were a great drawback to the trade of the city; which itslocation at the mouth of the great water avenue of the whole West, makes more advantageous than any other point in the South. 

The river business in cotton, sugar and syrup was, at this time, immense; and the agents of the planters--factor is the genericterm--made large fortunes in buying and selling at a merely nominalrate of percentage. The southern planter of _ante-bellum_ days wasa man of ease and luxury, careless of business and free to excess withmoney; and relations between him and his agent were entirely unique. 

He had the same factor for years, drawing when he pleased for anyamount, keeping open books. When his crop came in, it was shipped tothe factor, the money retained--subject to draft--or invested. But itwas by no means rare, when reckoning day came, for the advance draftsto have left the planter in debt his whole crop to the factor. In thatcase it used to cost him a trip to Europe, or a summer at Saratogaonly; and he stayed on his plantation and did not cry over the spiltmilk, however loudly his ladies may have wailed for the missing_crême-de-la-crême_ of Virginia springs. 

The morning after arrival we at last saw "the house;" which, far frombeing an imposing edifice, was a dingy, small office, just off theLevee, with the dingier sign of "Long, Staple & Middling" over thedoor. There were a few stalwart negroes basking in the sun about theentrance, sleeping comfortably in the white glare, or showing glancingivories, in broad grins--each one keeping his shining cotton hook infull view, like a badge of office. Within was a perfect steam ofbusiness, and Staple _père_ was studying a huge ledger through a pairof heavy gold spectacles--popping orders like fire-crackers, at half adozen attentive clerks. Long, the senior partner, was in Virginia--andMiddling, the junior, was hardly more than an expert foreman of theestablishment. 

"Happy, indeed, to meet you, sir!--93 of Red River lot, Mr. Edds--Heardof you frequently--Terribly busy time these, sir, partner away--13, 094middlins, for diamond B at 16-1/3, Adams--. We dine at seven, youremember Styles--Don't be in a hurry, sir!--1, 642 A. B. , page 684, Carter--Good day--See you at seven. "

And it was only over the perfect claret, at the emphasized hour, thatwe discovered Mr. Staple to be a man of fine mind and extensive culture, a hearty sympathizer in the rebellion--into which he would havethrown his last dollar--and one of the most successful men on theLevee. Long, his senior partner, was a western man of hard, keenbusiness sense, who had come to New Orleans fifty years before, abarefooted deck-hand on an Ohio schooner. By shrewdness, doggedindustry and some little luck, he made "Long's" the best known andrichest house in the South-west, until in the crash of '37 itthreatened to topple down forever. Then Mr. Staple came forward withhis great credit and large amount of spare capital, saved the house andwent into it himself; while Middling, the former clerk of all work, waspromoted, for fidelity in the trying times, to a small partnership. 

Like all the heavy cotton men of the South, Mr. Staple believed firmlythat cotton was king, and that the first steamer into a southern portwould bring a French and British minister. 

"It's against our interest for the present to do so, " he said, confidently; "but my partner and I have advised all our planters tohold their cotton instead of shipping it, that the market may not beglutted when the foreign ships come in. And, yet, sir, it's coming downnow faster than ever. Everybody prefers, in the disorganized state ofthings, to have ready money for cotton, that in three months' time mustbe worth from twenty to thirty cents!"

"Hard to believe, sir, isn't it? Yet our planters, looking at thingsfrom their own contracted standpoint, think the English and Frenchcabinets will defer recognition of our Government. As for 'the house, 'sir, it will put all it possesses into the belief that they can notprove so blind!"

Like most of the wealthy men in New Orleans, Mr. Staple had acharmingly located villa a mile from the lake and drove out everyevening, after business hours, to pass the night. 

"Not that I fear the fever, " he explained. "What strangers regard assuch certain death is to us scarce more than the agues of a NorthCarolina flat. 'Yellow Jack' is a terrible scourge, indeed, to thelower classes, and to those not acclimatized. The heavy deposits ofvegetable drift from the inundations leave the whole country for milescoated four or five inches deep in creamy loam. This decomposes mostrapidly upon the approach of hot weather, and the action of the dews, when they begin to fall upon it, causes the _miasmata_ to rise in denseand poisonous mists. Now these, of course, are as bad in country--exceptin very elevated localities--as in town; but they are only _dangerous_in crowded sections, or to the enervated constitutions that could asill resist any other disease. "

"You astonish me, indeed, " I answered. "For I have always classedyellow fever and cholera as twin destroyers. They must be, from suchseasons as you have every few years. "

"So all strangers think. But to the resident, who from choice, orbusiness engagements, has passed one summer in the city, 'Jack' loseshis terrors. The symptoms are unmistakable. Slight nausea and pain inthe back, headache and a _soupçon_ of chill. The workingman feelsthese. He can not spare the time or the doctor's bill, perhaps. Hepoohs the matter--it will pass off--and goes to work. The delay and thesun set the disease; and he is brought home at night--or staggers tothe nearest hospital--to die of the black vomit in thirty-six hours. Hence, the great mortality. 

"Now, I feel these pains, I at once recognize the fever, go right home, bathe feet and back in hot water, take a strong aperient, put mustardon my stomach and pile on the blankets. In an hour I am bathed in sweattill maybe it drips through the mattress. I put on another blanket, take a hot draught with an opiate, and go to sleep. It is not apleasant thing, with the thermometer at ninety degrees in the shade;but when I wake in the morning, I have saved an attack of fever. "

This regimen was constantly repeated to me. In the district crowdedwith the poorer classes, who are dependent on their daily labor fortheir daily bread, the fever stalks gaunt and noisome, marking hisvictims and seldom in vain. All day long, and far into the night in badseasons, the low, dull rumble of the dead-cart echoed through thenarrow streets; and at the door of every squalid house was the plainpine box that held what was left of some one of its loved inmates. Yetthrough this carnival of death, steadily and fearlessly, the betterclass of workers walk; not dreading the contagion and secure in theirharness of precaution. 

To sleep in the infected atmosphere in sickly quarters was thought moredangerous; but any business man considered himself safe, if he onlybreathed the poisonous air in the daytime. The resident physicians, intheir recent treatment, feel the disease quite in their hands, when noother foe than the fever is to be combated. Any preceding excess ofdiet, drink or excitement is apt to aggravate it; but in ordinarycases, where proper remedies are taken in season, nine out of tenpatients recover. 

Otherwise, this ratio is just reversed; and in the workingclasses--especially strangers--to take the fever, in bad years, is todie. The utmost efforts of science, the most potent drugs--even thebeautiful and selfless devotion of the "Howard Association" and itslike--availed nothing in the wrestle with the grim destroyer, when hehad once fairly clutched his hold. And in the crowded quarters, wherethe air was poison without the malaria, his footing was too sure formortal to prevail against him. 

New Orleans was, at this time, divided into two distinct towns in onecorporation--the French and American. In the one, the French languagewas spoken altogether for social and business purposes, and even inthe courts. The theaters were French, the cafés innocent of English, and, as Hood says, the "very children speak it. " Many persons growup in this quarter--or did in years back--who never, to their oldage, crossed to the American town or spoke one word of English. Inthe society of the old town, one found a miniature--exact to thephotograph--of Paris. It was jealously exclusive, and even the mostpetted beaux of the American quarter deemed it privilege to enter it. Astranger must come with letters of the most urgent kind before he couldcross its threshold. All the etiquette and form of the _ancien régime_obtained here--the furniture, the dress, the cookery, the dances wereall French. 

In the American town the likeness to Mobile was very marked, in themanners and style of the people. The young men of the French quarterhad sought this society more of late years, finding in it a freedomfrom restraint, for which their associations with other Americans inbusiness gave them a taste. The character of the society was gay andeasy--and it was not hedged in so carefully as that of the old town. Strangers were cordially--if not very carefully--welcomed into it; andthe barriers of reserve, that once protected it, were rapidly breakingdown before the inroads of progress and petroleum. 

The great hotels--the "St. Charles, " "St. Louis" and others--wereconstantly filled with the families of planters from all points of theriver and its branches, and with travelers from the Atlantic border aswell. Many of these were people of cultivation and refinement; butmany, alas! the roughest of diamonds with a western freedom ofexpression and solidity of outline, that is national but not agreeable. In the season these people overflowed the hotels, where they hadconstant hops with, occasionally, splendid balls and even masques. Manyof them were "objects of interest" to the young men about town, byreason of papa's business, or Mademoiselle's proper bank account. Sothe hotels--though not frequented by the ladies of the city atall--became, each year, more and more thronged by the young men; andconsequently, each year, the outsiders gained a very gradual, but moresecure, footing near the home society and even began to force their wayinto it. 

It must be confessed that some damsels from Red River wore diamonds atbreakfast; and that young ladies from Ohio would drive tandem to thelake! And then their laughs and jokes at a soiree would give a dowagerfrom Frenchtown an apoplexy!

_Que voulez vous?_ Pork is mighty! and cotton was king!

There was much difference of opinion as to the morals of the CrescentCity. For my own part, I do not think the men were more dissipated thanelsewhere, though infinitely more wedded to enjoyment and fun in everyform. There was the French idea prevalent that gambling was no harm;and it was indulged to a degree certainly hurtful to many and ruinousto some. From the climate and the great prevalence of light wines, there was less drunkenness than in most southern towns; and if othervices prevailed to any great extent--they were either gracefullyhidden, or so sanctioned by custom as to cause no remark, except bystraight-laced strangers. 

Oh! the delicious memories of the city of old! The charming cordialityto be found in no colder latitude, the cosy breakfasts that prefaceddays of real enjoyment--the midnight revels of the _bal masqué_! Andthen the carnival!--those wild weeks when the Lord of Misrule wieldshis motley scepter--leading from one reckless frolic to another till_Mardi Gras_ culminates in a giddy whirl of delirious fun on which, at midnight, Lent drops a somber veil!

Sad changes the war has wrought since then!

The merry "Krewe of Comus" has been for a time replaced by theconquering troops of the Union; the _salons_ where only the best andbrightest had collected have been sullied by a conquering soldiery; andtheir leader has waged a vulgar warfare on the noble womanhood hiscurrish spirit could not gaze upon without a fruitless effort todegrade. 

Of the resident ladies, I can only say that to hear of a fast one--inordinary acceptation of that term--was, indeed, rare. 

The young married woman monopolized more of the society and its beauxthan would be very agreeable to New York belles; but, if they borrowedthis custom from their French neighbors, I have not heard that theyalso took the license of the Italian. 

Public and open improprieties were at once frowned down, and people ofall grades and classes seemed to make their chief study good taste. This is another French graft, on a stem naturally susceptible, of whichthe consequences can be seen from the hair ribbon of the _bonne_ to thedecoration of the Cathedral. 

The women of New Orleans, as a rule, dress with more taste--moreperfect adaptation of form and color to figure and complexion--than anyin America. On a dress night at the opera, at church, or at a ball, the_toillettes_ are a perfect study in their exquisite fitness--theiradmirable blending of simplicity and elegance. Nor is this confined tothe higher and more wealthy classes. The women of lower conditions areadmirably imitative; and on Sunday afternoons, where they crowd to hearthe public bands with husbands and children, all in their best, it isthe rarest thing to see a badly-trimmed bonnet or an ill-chosencostume. The men, in those days, dressed altogether in the Frenchfashion; and were, consequently, the worst dressed in the world. 

The most independent and obtrusively happy people one noticed in NewOrleans were the negroes. They have a sleek, shiny blackness here, unknown to higher latitudes; and from its midst the great whiteeyeballs and large, regular teeth flash with a singular brilliance. Sunday is _their_ day peculiarly--and on the warm afternoons, they baskup and down the thoroughfares in the gaudiest of orange and scarletbandannas. But their day is fast passing away; and in place of thesimple, happy creatures of a few years gone, we find the discontentedand besotted idler--squalid and dirty. 

The cant of to-day--that the race problem, if left alone, will settleitself--may have some possible proof in the distant future; but the fewwho are ignorant enough to-day to believe the "negro question" alreadysettled may find that they are yet but on the threshold of the"irrepressible conflict" between nature and necessity. 

To the natural impressibility of the southron, the Louisianian adds theenthusiasm of the Frenchman. At the first call of the governor fortroops, there had been readiest response; and here, as in Alabama, thevery first young men of the state left office and counting-room andcollege to take up the musket. Two regiments of regulars, in the stateservice, were raised to man the forts--"Jackson" and "St. Philip"--thatguarded the passes below the city. These were composed of thestevedores and workingmen generally, and were officered by such youngmen as the governor and council deemed best fitted. The Levee had beenscoured and a battalion of "Tigers" formed from the very lowest of thethugs and plugs that infested it, for Major Bob Wheat, the well-knownfilibuster. 

Poor Wheat! His roving spirit still and his jocund voice now mute, hesleeps soundly under the sighing trees of Hollywood--that populous"city of the silent" at Richmond. It was his corps of which such wildand ridiculous stories of bowie-knife prowess were told at the Bull Runfight. They, together with the "Crescent Rifles, " "Chasseurs-à-pied"and "Zouaves, " were now at Pensacola. 

The "Rifles" was a crack corps, composed of some of the best young menin New Orleans; and the whole corps of "Chasseurs" was of the samematerial. They did yeomen's service in the four years, and the last onesaw very few left of what had long since ceased to be a separateorganization. But of all the gallant blood that was shed at the call ofthe state, none was so widely known as the "Washington Artillery. " Thebest men of Louisiana had long upheld and officered this battalion as aholiday pageant; and, when their merry meetings were so suddenlychanged to stern alarums, to their honor be it said, not one waslaggard. 

In the reddest flashings of the fight, on the dreariest march throughheaviest snows, or in the cozy camp under the summer pines, the_guidon_ of the "W. A. " was a welcome sight to the soldier of theSouth--always indicative of cheer and of duty willingly and thoroughlydone. 

It was very unwillingly that I left New Orleans on a transport, with abattalion of Chasseurs for Pensacola. Styles was to stay behind for thepresent, and then go on some general's staff; so half the amusement ofmy travel was gone. "The colonel" was _desolé_. 

"_Such_ a hotel as the St. Charles!" he exclaimed, with tears in hisvoice--"such soups. Ah! my boy, after the war I'll come here tolive--yes, sir, to live! It's the only place to get a dinner. Egad, sir, out of New Orleans _nobody_ cooks!"

I suggested comfort in the idea of red snapper at Pensacola. 

"Red fish is good in itself. Egad, I think it _is_ good, " replied thecolonel. "But eaten in camp, with a knife, sir--egad, with a knife--offa tin plate! _Pah!_ You've never lived in camp. " And in a hollow, oracular whisper, he added: "Wait!"

And they were real models, the New Orleans hotels of those days, andthe colonel's commendations were but deserved. In _cuisine_, serviceand wines, they far surpassed any on this continent; and for variety ofpatrons they were unequaled anywhere. 

Two distinct sets inhabited the larger ones, as antagonistic as oil andwater. The _habitués_, easy, critical to a degree, and particular to ayear about their wines, lived on comfortably and evenly, enjoying thevery best of the luxurious city, and never having a cause forcomplaint. The up-river people flocked in at certain seasons by thehundred. They crowded the lobbies, filled the spare bed-rooms, and eatwhat was put before them, with but little knowledge save that it wasFrench. These were the business men, who came down for a new engagementwith a factor, or to rest after the summer on the plantation. One-halfof them were terribly busy; the other half having nothing to do afterthe first day--they always stay a week--and assuming an air of highcriticism that was as funny to the knowing ones as expensive to them. 

At our hotel, one evening, as favored guests, we found ourselves on anexploring tour with mine host. It ended in the wine-room. 

The mysteries of that vaulted chamber were seldom opened to the outerworld; and passing the _profanum vulgus_ in its first bins, we listenedwith eager ears and watering mouths to recital of the pedigree andhistory of the dwellers within. 

Long rows of graceful necks, golden crowned and tall, peered over dustand cobwebs of near a generation; bottles aldermanic and plethoricseemed bursting with the hoarded fatness of the vine; clear, whiteglass burned a glowing ruby with the Burgundy; and lean, jaundicedbottles--carefully bedded like rows of invalids--told of rare andpriceless Hocks. 

From arch to arch our garrulous _cicerone_ leads us, with a heightenedrelish as we get deeper among his treasures and further away from thedaylight. 

"There!" he exclaims at last with a great gulp of triumph. "There!that's _Sherry_, the king of wines! Ninety years ago, the Conde Pesarasent that wine in his own ships. Ninety years ago--and for twenty ithas lain in my cellar, never touched but by my own hand"--and he holdsup the candle to the shelf, inch deep in dust, while the light seems todart into the very heart of the amber fluid, and sparkle and laugh backagain from the fantastic drapery the spiders had festooned around thebottles. "Yes, all the Pesaras are dead years gone; and only this bloodof the vine is left of them. "

"But you _don't_ sell that wine!" gasps the colonel. "Egad! you don'tsell it to those--people--up stairs!"

"I did _once_"--and mine host sighs. "A great cotton man camedown. He was a king on the river--he wanted the best! Money was nothingto him, so I whispered of this, and said twenty dollars the bottle!And, Colonel, he didn't--_like it!_"

"Merciful heaven!" the colonel waxes wroth. 

"So Francois there sent him a bottle of that _Xeres_ in the outer binyonder--we sell it to you for two dollars the bottle--and he said_that_ was wine!"

But of the other family--who live in an American hurry and eat bysteam--was the goblin diner of whom a friend told me in accents of awe. One day, at the St. Charles, a resident stopped him on the way to theiraccustomed table:

"Have you seen these people eat?" he asked. "No? Then we'll stop andlook. This table is reserved for the up-river men who have little timein the city and make the most of it. While they swallow soup, a nimblewaiter piles the nearest dishes around them, without regard to order orquality. They eat fish, roast and fried, on the same plate, swallowingsix inches of knife blade at every bolt. Then they draw the nearest pieto them, cut a great segment in it, make three huge arcs therein withas many snaps of their teeth; seize a handful of nuts and raisins andrush away, with jaws still working like a flouring-mill. Ten minutes istheir limit for dinner. " My friend only smiled. The other adding:

"You doubt it? Here comes a fine specimen; hot, healthy and evidentlybusy. See, he looks at his watch! I'll bet you a bottle of St. Peray he'does' his dinner within the ten. "

"Done"--and they sat opposite him, watch in hand. 

And that wonderful Hoosier dined in seven minutes!

CHAPTER IX. 

A CHANGE OF BASE. 

Whatever activity and energetic preparation there may have beenelsewhere, Pensacola was the first organized camp in the South. GeneralBragg and his adjutant-general were both old officers, and in the faceof the enemy the utmost rigor of discipline prevailed. There had beenno active operations on this line, yet; but the Alabama and theLouisiana troops collected--to the number of about nine thousand--hadalready become soldiers, in all the details of camp life; and wentthrough it in as cheerful a spirit as if they had been born there. 

In popular view, both Bragg and Beauregard were on probation as yet;and it was thought that upon the management of their respectiveoperations depended their status in the regular army. All was activity, drill and practice in this camp; and if the army of Pensacola was not aperfectly-disciplined one, the fault certainly was not with itsgeneral. 

The day we reached camp the President and Secretary of the Navy camedown from Montgomery on a special train for an inspection. They wereaccompanied only by one or two officers, and had a long and earnestconference with General Bragg at his headquarters. After that there wasa review of the army; and the then novel sight was made peculiarlyeffective by surroundings. 

On the level, white beach, glistening in the afternoon sun, were drawnup the best volunteer organizations of the South--line upon line, asfar as the eye could reach--their bright uniforms, glancing muskets andwaving banners giving color to the view. Far in the rear the fringedwoods made dim background; while between, regular rows of whitetents--laid out in regiments and company streets--dotted the plain. 

Out in the foreground stretched the blue waters of Pensacola harbor--thesun lighting up the occasional foam-crests into evanescent diamonds--thegrim fortress frowning darkly on the rebellious display, while a fullband on the parapet played the "Star Spangled Banner. " Over to theleft, half hidden under the rolling sand hills, stood Pensacola, withthe navy yard and hospitals; and yellow little Fort McRea, saucy andrebellious, balanced it on the extreme right. 

As the President, with the general and his staff, galloped down theline, the band of each regiment struck up; and the wildest huzzas--noteven restrained by the presence of their "incarnate discipline"--toldhow firm a hold Mr. Davis had taken upon the hearts of the army. 

By the time the review was over twilight had fallen; and a thousandcamp-fires sprang up among the tents, with flickering, uncertain light. In it sat groups preparing their suppers and discussing what the visitand review might mean. Some said it was for the secretary to inspectthe navy yard; some to examine into the defenses of the fort; and somesaid that it meant scaling ladders and a midnight assault. 

That night we had a jolly time of it in an Alabama captain's tent--withsongs, cards and whisky punch, such as only "Mac" could brew. Even "thecolonel" confessed himself beaten at his great trick; and in complimentdrank tumbler after tumbler. As we walked over to our tent in the earlymist before dawn, he said:

"Egad! there's mischief brewing--mischief, sir! The seat of war's to beremoved to Virginia and the capital to Richmond!"

I stopped and looked at the colonel. Was it the punch?

"That's what the council this evening meant?"

"Just so. Bragg remains, but part of his garrison goes to Beauregard, in Virginia. Trains to Montgomery will be jammed now, so we'd better beoff. And, egad, sir! I'm to get ready for the field. Yes, sir, for thefield!"

Next morning the information that had filtered to me through thecolonel's punch was announced in orders, and enthusiastic cheersgreeted the news that some of the troops were to go to a fieldpromising active service and speedily at that. 

The routine of camp life had already begun to pall upon the betterclass of men, and all were equally anxious to go where they could provemore clearly how ready they were to do their _devoir_. 

Some Alabamians, two Georgia regiments, the _Chasseurs-à-pied_, the"Tigers" and the Zouaves were to go to Virginia; and through thecourtesy of the officers of the latter corps, we got seats toMontgomery in their car; two days later. 

Meantime, all was hum and bustle through the whole camp, and as thelimited rolling stock on the still unfinished railroad could onlyaccommodate a regiment at a time, they left at all hours of the day, ornight, that the trains arrived. Constantly at midnight the dull trampof marching men and the slow tap of the drum, passing our quarters, roused us from sleep; and whatever the hour, the departing troops wereescorted to the station by crowds of half-envious comrades, who "wereleft out in the cold. " And as the trains started--box cars, flats andtenders all crowded, inside and out--yell after yell went up instentorian chorus, echoing through the still woods, in place of

 "That sweet old word, good-bye!"

One gray dawn, six hundred Zouaves filed out of the pines and gotaboard our train. They were a splendid set of animals; medium sized, sunburnt, muscular and wiry as Arabs; and a long, swingy gait told ofdrill and endurance. But the faces were dull and brutish, generally;and some of them would vie, for cunning villainy, with the features ofthe prettiest Turcos that Algeria could produce. 

The uniform was very picturesque and very--dirty. Full, baggy, scarlettrowsers, confined round the waist by the broad, blue band or sash, bearing the bowie-knife and meeting, at mid-leg, the white gaiter; blueshirt cut very low and exhibiting the brawny, sunburnt throat; jacketheavily braided and embroidered, flying loosely off the shoulders, andthe jaunty _fez_, surmounting the whole, made a bright _ensemble_ thatcontrasted prettily with the gray and silver of the South Carolinians, or the rusty brown of the Georgians, who came in crowds to see themoff. 

But the use of these uniforms about the grease and dust of Pensacolacamp-fires had left marks that these soldiers considered badges ofhonor, not to be removed. 

Nor were they purer morally. Graduates of the slums of New Orleans, their education in villainy was naturally perfect. They had the vaguestideas of _meum_ and _tuum_; and small personal difficulties wereusually settled by the convincing argument of a bowie-knife, or brassknuckle. 

Yet they had been brought to a very perfect state of drill andefficiency. All commands were given in French--the native tongue ofnearly all the officers and most of the men; and, in cases ofinsubordination, the former had no hesitancy in a free use of therevolver. A wonderful peacemaker is your six-shooter. 

They might be splendid fellows for a charge on the "Pet Lambs, " or ona--pocket; but, on the whole, were hardly the men one would choose forpartners in any business but a garroting firm, or would desire to havesleep in the company bedroom. 

Their officers we found of a class entirely above them; active, bright, enthusiastic Frenchmen, with a frank courtesy and soldierly bearingthat were very taking. They occupied the rear car of the train, whilethe men filled the forward ones, making the woods ring with their wildyells, and the roaring chorus of the song of the _Zou-Zou_. 

We had crossed the gap at Garland, where the road was yet unfinished, and were soon at the breakfast house, where we mounted the hill in abody; leaving our car perfectly empty, save a couple of buglers whostood on the platform. As I looked back, the elder musician was a mostperfect picture of the _Turco_. He had served in Algiers, and after thewar in Italy brought a bullet in his leg to New Orleans. He was longpast fifty--spare, broad-shouldered and hard as a log of oak. His sharpfeatures were bronzed to the richest mahogany color, and garnished witha moustache and peak of grizzled hair "a cubit and a span"--ornearly--in length. And the short, grizzled hair had been shaved farback from his prominent temples, giving a sinister and grotesque effectto his naturally hard face. Turc was a favorite with the officers, andhis dress was rather cleaner than that of the others; a difference thatwas hardly an improvement. 

We were just seated at breakfast--and having a special train we tookour time--when a wild scream of the whistle, succeeded immediately bythe heavy rumble of cars, came up the hill. We rushed to the windows, just in time to see a column of smoke disappearing round the curve andthe officers' car standing solitary and empty on the road. 

The Zouaves had run away with the train!

The language the officers used, as we surrounded the "solesurvivors"--the two buglers--was, at least, strong; and short, hardwords not in the church service dropped frequently from their lips. 

It was no use; the train had gone and the men with it, and the best wecould do was to speculate on the intention of the runaways, while wewaited the result of the telegrams sent to both ends of the line foranother engine. At last it came puffing up, and we whirled at its fullspeed into Montgomery. 

Meanwhile the _Zou-Zous_ had several hours' start. Led by one ardentspirit--whose motto had been _similia similibus_, until he lost hisbalance of mind--they had uncoupled the officers' car and forced theengineers to take them on. On arriving at Montgomery, they wanderedover the town, "going through" drinking houses until they became wildwith liquor; then bursting open the groceries to get whisky, threateningthe citizens and even entering private houses. The alarm became sogreat, as the Zouaves became more maddened, that the first Georgiaregiment was ordered out and stationed by platoons, with loaded musketsand fixed bayonets, across the streets where the rioters were. Serioustrouble was beginning, when the car with their officers dashed into thedepot. 

The charge of the Light Brigade was surpassed by those irate Creoles. With the cars still in rapid motion, they leaped off, revolver in hand;and charged into the quarter where their drunken men were still engagedin every sort of excess. The old bugler still trotted at their head, his black eyes gleaming at the prospect of a row, and his bugleoccasionally raised to sound the "rally. " Into the midst of the drunkenand yelling crowd dashed the officers; crackling French oaths rollingover their tongues with a snapping intonation, and their pistolswhirling right and left like slung-shot, and dropping a mutineer atevery blow. Habit and the rough usage overcame even the drunken frenzyof the men, and they dropped the plunder from their arms, snatchedmuskets from the corners they had been whirled into, and rapidlydressed into line in the street. 

I saw one beardless boy, slight and small, rush to a huge sergeant andorder him into ranks. The soldier, a perfect giant, hesitated to dropthe handful of shoes he had seized, only for a second. But that wasenough. The youth had to jump from the ground to seize his throat; but, at the same moment, the stock of the heavy revolver crashed over histemple, and he fell like a stricken ox. 

"Roll that carrion into the street!" said the lieutenant to anothersoldier near; and before his order was obeyed the store was empty. 

In a half hour from the officers' arrival the battalion was mustered onMain street, and only nine absentees were reported at roll-call; butmany a _fez_ was drawn far down over a bleeding forehead, and many avillainous countenance was lighted by one eye, while the other wasclosed and swollen. 

The colonel and I had jumped from the car and run on with our Frenchfriends; but the colonel was not the son of Atalanta, and by reason ofa _soupçon_ of gout his feet were not beautiful upon Zion or any otherplace. Neither could he make them "swift to shed blood. "

As we entered the street where the rioters were, I turned and saw him, perfectly breathless, bear his two hundred and fifty pounds avoirdupoisagainst a door. It was not closed, but had only been slammed by thescore of _Zou-Zous_ enjoying the whisky within; and as I looked Isaw a dignified colonel in the C. S. Army turn a complete somersaultinto a group of red-legged devils, who immediately closed around him. 

Gabriel Ravel, though a lighter man, never made a cleaner leap throughthe third story in the side-scene; but there was no time to waste and Iwent back at speed. I had scarcely turned when I saw the colonel's hugeform tower among the red-legs. By the time I reached the door myapparition, revolver in hand, completed what he had begun; and theyslipped by and vanished. 

Luckily the bar of the door had fallen with him, and the old gymnasticsof other days coming back like a flash, he had seized it, made tworapid blows and laid as many of his assailants at his feet; roaring, meanwhile, oaths as thunderous as they were unintelligible. 

"_Sacré-é nom!_" he shouted as he saw me; "shoot 'em, me boy!_Poltrons_, egad! Laugh at me! D----n their eyes! _Can-n-naille!_"

There was a wicked light in my fat friend's eye, and he had recoveredhis second wind; so we sallied out, the colonel still clinging to hisweapon of chance. 

"Good enough for these dogs!" he roared, wrathfully shaking the bar. "Saves the pistol. "

That night at "the Ranche, " as later about many a camp-fire, our Frenchvisitors declared that the colonel's bar had done more effectiveservice than their revolvers; and, as it stood dented and blood-smearedin the corner of that vine-clad porch, it did not belie their praise. 

CHAPTER X. 

EN ROUTE FOR THE BORDER. 

Very soon after their state went out of the Union, and it becamesettled that the policy of the central Government was to takepossession of the border states by force, the people of Virginiadecided that the battle was to be fought on her soil. Her nearness toWashington, the facility of land communication, and the availability ofher waterways for transportation purposes, all pointed to this; and thesouthern Government also became aware that the Potomac boundary of theConfederacy was the one to be most jealously guarded. Under thesecircumstances, when the tender of the use of the state capital atRichmond was made to the Montgomery Government, the advantages of themove were at once apparent, and the proffer was promptly accepted. 

When we returned to Montgomery, preparations for removal were in suchstate of progress that the change would be made in a few days. Archivesand public property not in daily use had already been sent on, and someof the force of the executive departments were already in the newcapital, preparing for the reception of the remainder. Troops in largebodies had already been forwarded to Virginia from all parts of theSouth, and all indications were that, before the summer was over, anactive campaign on the soil of the Old Dominion would be in progress. 

About this time, a telegram from Montgomery appeared in the New York_Tribune_, which created as much comment at the South as at the North. It stated, in so many words, that the whole South was in motion; that afew days would see Mr. Davis in Virginia at the head of thirty thousandmen, Beauregard second in command. With the two sections in a state ofopen hostility, and with armies already in the field and manoeuveringfor position, it was somewhat singular that the avowed correspondent ofa northern journal should be allowed in the southern Capital; but, whenhis dispatches bore on their face some signs of authoritative sanction, it became stranger still. 

The correspondent of the _Tribune_ was a well-known lobby member ofyears standing, but avowedly a southern man. His intercourse with theleaders of the government was, at least, friendly, and his predictionsand assertions in the columns of that newspaper were generally borneout in fact. The state of the country was an anomalous one, but thismethod of waging war was still more so. 

The history of the dispatch in question was simply this: There had beenmuch jubilation in Montgomery over the news from Virginia. Serenadeshad been made, speeches delivered, and the invariable whisky had notbeen neglected. 

Late at night, I was shown a copy of this dispatch, as one about to besent. On my doubting it, I was credibly informed that it had been shownto at least one cabinet officer, and received his approval. And itwent!

When it was finally settled that the Capital was to be moved toVirginia, the city of Montgomery began to wail. It had all along beenutterly and most emphatically opposed to the location of the governmentthere. It would ruin the trade, the morals and the reputation of thetown. Dowagers had avowed their belief that the continuance of theCongress there for one year would render the city as perfect a Sodom asWashington--would demoralize the society beyond purification. 

Men of business had grumbled at being disturbed from their fixedroutine of many years. But now that the incubus was to be removed, there was a strong pressure to prevent--and bitter denunciationsof--the outrage!

Leaders came out in the papers, advising against the practicability;scathing articles about perfidy sometimes appeared; and it was, on allhands, prophesied that the government would lose caste and dignity, andbecome a traveling caravan if the change were made. Where will thenations of Europe find it when they send their ministers to recognizethe Confederate Government?--was the peroration of these eloquentadvocates. 

Now, as there was no contract made or implied, in locating theprovisional government at Montgomery, that it was to be the permanentCapital; or that the exigencies of the war might not necessitate achange to some point more available, this was at least unnecessary. True, the people had made sacrifices, and had inconveniencedthemselves. But what they had done was for the country, and not for theGovernment; and had, besides, been done equally elsewhere. And thelocation, even temporarily, of the Government there had aided the towngreatly. It had become the converging point of railroad and contractbusiness for the Confederacy; and the depots and storehouses locatedthere would be of course continued, throwing a vast amount of businessactivity and money into it. So, though the people might be somewhatmorbid on the subject, their arguments against the change were, on thewhole, if natural, not founded on fact. 

But, perfectly regardless of the thunders of the press and thegrowlings of the people, the preparations for removal and the change ofbase to Virginia went steadily on. By the 20th of May, everything hadbeen completed--the President and Cabinet left Montgomery--the fact, that had for some time been a real one, was formally consummated; andMontgomery became again the Capital of Alabama. 

I had nothing to keep me in town longer, so I started for a leisurelytrip to Richmond. But man proposes; and in this instance, theQuartermaster's Department disposed that travel was to be anything butpracticable. 

Trains, crowded with troops from all directions, met at the junctions, and there had to lay over for hours, or days. Burden trains, withsupplies for the army, munitions of war, or government property fromMontgomery, blocked the road in all directions; and trains running "noton time" had to proceed much more carefully than ordinarily. In fact, there was not the amount of transportation at the disposal of the roadsthat the greatly enhanced demands required; and at every station nearerRichmond, the pressure of passengers and freight became greater. 

Through Georgia I bore the troubles of the transit like a philosopher;but under three detentions between Augusta and Columbia, of from nineto thirteen hours, patience and endurance both gave way. 

South Carolina had gone into the war with her eyes wider open thanthose of her sisters; and while she had yet time, was straining everynerve to utilize all her available resources and to make new ones. Herfactories, tanneries and foundries were all in constant and activeoperation; she was making bountiful preparation for the future. 

Everywhere in the South was earnest endeavor and heartfelt enthusiasmfor the cause; but I saw it nowhere directed into such practical andproductive channels, thus early, as in South Carolina. Charleston, Pensacola and Virginia had drained her of younger and more active men;but the older ones and her vast resources of slave labor made up forthe loss, and neither time nor energy seemed to be misapplied. 

After a rest, I found a freight train with a philanthropic conductor, and started for Kingsville. _Væ Victis!_

I reached that station--what a misnomer!--in a driving mist and a verybad humor. Neither was a fine preparation for the news that a train hadsmashed seventeen miles above, tearing up the track and effectuallyblocking the road. The down train, with which we were to connect, couldnot come through; not a car was visible; no one knew when we could getoff, and the engine we had left was just disappearing around acurve--Charlestonward. 

One hopeful individual ventured a mild suggestion that we should haveto stay all night. He weighed a hundred and eighty pounds, atleast--not a fraction less--so I remained passive; but ten poundssubtracted from his avoirdupois would have brought him a black eye. Stay all night! The idea was an ague!

Kingsville was a splendid aggregation of one house and a long platform. The town--_i. E. _, the house--had, even in palmy days, been remarkableon the road for great dirt, wretched breakfasts and worse whisky. Youentered at one door, grabbed a biscuit and a piece of bacon and rushedout at the other; or you got an awful decoction of brown sugar andturpentine in a green tumbler. Constant travel and crowds of passingsoldiers had not improved it in any particular. The very looks of theplace were repugnant enough in the daytime, but

 "Bold was he who hither came At midnight--man or boy!"

I felt that a night in the rain under the pines, with my bag for apillow, would be endurable; but no mortal with a white skin could darethose bloated and odorous feather-beds, where other things--in theshape of mordants, vivacious, active and gigantic--besides

 "Wicked dreams abuse the curtained sleeper. "

To mend matters, Gartrell's regiment of Georgians, eight hundred andfifty _strong_, and three other companies of Georgians from Pensacola, had been left here to meet a way-train, which failing, they bivouackedby the roadside. In all there were over eleven hundred tobacco-and-ginredolences, remarkably quiet for them; shooting at a mark, goingthrough squad drill, drinking bad liquor by the canteen and swearing ina way that would have made the "Army in Flanders" sick with envy. 

In the latter amusement I joined internally; and it did me so much goodthat I bought the anti-administration newspaper of Charleston and, getting out of bullet range, put my back against a tree and tried toread. _Mercury_ was ever a blithe and sportive god, and his gambols onMount Olympus were noted in days of yore; but the modern namesake--orelse my present position--had soporific tendencies; and fear of thetarget shooters growing dimmer and dimmer, I lost myself in sleep. 

It was near sundown when I was awakened by the snort of a locomotive, and a freight train hove in sight. The drums rolled, the troops formedin line, each packing his household on his back as he trotted along;and, as the cars backed up, the men broke ranks and jumped aboard, filling every crack and corner, and seeming to pile on top of eachother. 

A berth there was utterly impracticable to any man with any of hissenses in active operation. That squirming, dense mass of humanity wasmore than the oldest traveler could stand, and I gave up my place inthe rush. Luckily, there was an express car along, and I found theagent. He was very busy; and eloquence worthy of Gough, or Cicero, orCharles Sumner got no satisfaction. Desperation suggested a masonicsignal, with the neck of a black bottle protruding from my bag. The manof parcels melted and invoked terrible torments on the immortal part ofhim if he didn't let me "g'long wi' the 'spress, " as he styled thatmeans of locomotion. 

The accommodation was not princely--six feet by ten, cumbered withpackages of all shapes and sizes and strongly flavored with bacon andpipe. Yet, "not for gold or precious stones" would I have exchangedthat redolent corner. The agent waxed more and more polite as thebottle emptied, regretted the want of room, regaled himself withfrequent "nips, " and me with anecdotes of a professional nature. 

From him was learned that he was with the train that had carried my oldfriends, the Zouaves, to their fresh fields of glory in Virginia. Theyretained a lively recollection of their lesson at Montgomery, and hadkept rather quiet till reaching Columbia. There the devil again gotunchained among them, and they broke out in a style to make up fortheir enforced good behavior. 

"Sich a shooting of cattle and poultry, sich a yelling and singing ofther darned frenchy stuff--sich a rolling of drums and a damning ofofficers, I ain't hear yit"--said the agent. "And they _does_ ridemore on the outside of the cars than the inside, anyhow. "

Beyond Weldon a knot were balancing themselves on the connecting beamsof the box-cars. Warned by their officers, they laughed; begged by theconductors, they swore. Suddenly there was a jolt, the headway of thecars jammed them together, and three red-legged gentlemen were mashedbetween them--flat as Ravel in the pantomime. 

"And I'm jest a-thinkin', " was his peroration, "ef this yere reegementdon't stop a-fightin' together, being shot by the Georgians and beat bytheir officers--not to mention a jammin' up on railroads--they're gwineto do darned leetle sarvice a-fightin' of Yanks!"

After this period the agent talked, first to himself and then to theblack bottle; while I, seated on a box of cartridges, lit my pipe andwent into a reverie as to the treatment the surgeons would use in thepneumonia sure to result from the leaks in the car. 

In the midst of an active course of turpentine and stimulants, I wasbrought to myself by a jolt and dead halt in mid-road. The engine hadblown off a nut, and here we were, dead lame, six miles from a stationand no chance of getting on. 

My Express friend advised very quietly to "quit this and walk onterFlorence. "

"'Taint but a small tramp after all, " he said. "And ye'll jest catchthe A. M. Up train and miss the sojers. Jest hand this yere to the A. &Co. 's agent, and he'll help yer ef she's crowded. Here's luck!" and hetook a long pull at the bottle and handed it back--ratherregretfully--with a dingy note on the back of an Express receipt. 

For the benefit of literature in ages yet unborn, I give a carefultranscription of this document:

 _"Deer bil this gentilman Is a verry peerticular frend of mine--also My brother-en-law. And you must give him sum Help ef he needs any cos Our engen she's run of the track And I won't be long afore to morrer. _

 _"Yours trewly, _

 "GRIMES. "

Thus armed, I shouldered my bag and started on my tramp over the wetand slippery track, reaching Florence at gray dawn. As I came in sight, there stood the train, the engines cold and fires unlit. I had fulltime, but my good luck--the first since I started--put me in a glow, and I stepped out in a juvenile pace that would have done credit to"the Boy" in training days. As I came nearer, my mercury went rapidlydown to zero. Every car was jammed, aisles packed and box-cars crowdedeven on top. The doorways and platforms were filled with long rows ofgray blankets that smelt suggestively human! Crowds of detainedpassengers and three companies of the "Crescent Guard" had taken theirplaces at midnight, and slept with a peacefulness perfectlyaggravating. As I walked ruefully by the windows, there was no hope!Every seat was filled, and every passenger slept the sleep of the just;and their mixed and volleyed snoring came through, "Keeping time, time, time, In a sort of Runic rhyme. "

There was no sort of use. I'd have to try the Express, and deep was mychuckle as I reread my friend Grimes' remarkable production. It wouldbe an oasis in this desert--that Express car; but lo! when I went tolook for it there was none on the train!

Dead beat I sat on the platform and awaited day. When a fireman beganoperations on the engine, I meekly queried where the Express was. 

"Be n't none, " was the surly rejoinder. 

I was wet and tired and generally bewildered. Was it a wonder that Ithen and there swore at that fireman, as only meek and long-sufferingmen, when aroused, can swear? The volley was effective, however, and hevery politely told me the agent would "be roun'" before the trainstarted. Presently he pointed out the desired individual, to whom Ihastened to hand my note. Now the terrible denunciations my formerfriend had made on his own soul were as nothing to what the presentrepresentative of Adams & Co. Called down upon his own and everybodyelse's immortal function. 

"Well, I hope to be eternally ---- ---- by ----! But it ain't no use!---- ---- my ---- soul, ef yer shan't ride somehow!" remarked thisprofane expressman. "Yer be Hector Grimes' brother, and by ----! goyer shell! Yer married his sister Cynthy--the one as squints? Why---- ---- me! I knowed her when she wasn't knee high--and yer done---- ---- well, by ----! Here, Potty!" and he addressed a greasy manjust mounting the mail car--"Here be Grimes' brother, as _must_ git toWeldon, by ---- ----! So hist him along, will yer?"

"O. K. Jump in, Mr. Grimes, " agreed the mail agent; and by this time Iwas so wet and disgusted I didn't care who I was. So in I went, playing_Grimes_ "for this night only. "

"Here's luck, Potty! may ---- ---- me, but I'm glad I met yer, Grimes, "remarked my profane friend, taking a long pull at the bottle I handedhim in my gratitude. "Here's to your wife, Grimes!" and the carsstarting just then, "deer bil" took another pull and, with greatabsence of mind, put the bottle in his pocket and waved us adieu. 

The Mail car, like the Express, was a box ten feet by six--one-half thespace filled with counter and pigeon-holes, and the other half withmail-bags. Into the remainder were crammed the agent--specific gravityequal to that of two hundred and ninety pounds of feathers--a friend ofhis and myself. The friend I soon found was what is known as "a goodtraveling companion;" _i. E. _, a man who keeps himself primed with broadstories and bad whisky, and who doesn't object to a song in which theair always runs away with the harmony. After we started I tried tosleep. It was no use. Lying on one mail-bag with another for a pillow, that is liable to be jerked out at any station to the near dislocationof your neck, with a funny man sitting nearly on you, are not sedatives. My bottle was gone, so I drank gin out of the funny man's. I hategin--but that night I hated everything and tried the _similia similibus_rule. 

We missed connection at Weldon. Did anybody ever make connection there?We were four hours late, and with much reason had, therefore, to waitfive hours more. If Kingsville is cheap and nasty, Weldon is dear andnastier. Such a supper! It was inedible even to a man who had tastednothing but whisky, gin and peanuts for forty-eight hours. Then thelandlord--whose hospitality was only equaled by his patriotism--refusedto open his house at train time. We must either stay all night, or notat all--for the house would shut at ten o'clock--just after supper. Soa deputation of the Crescents and I waited on him, and after a plaintalk concluded to "cuss and quit. " So we clambered into some platformcars that were to go with the train, and, after a sumptuous supper ofdried-apple pies and peanuts, slept the sleep of the weary. 

CHAPTER XI. 

"ON TO RICHMOND!"

Of course, Petersburg was reached two hours after the train forRichmond had left, but in full time to get half a cold breakfast, atdouble price. For, about the first development one noted in the Southwas the growth of an inordinate greed in the class who had anything tosell, or to do, that was supposed to be indispensable. The small hotelsand taverns along the railways peculiarly evidenced this; for, demandsof passengers must be supplied, and this was the moment for harvestfull and fat. Disgust, wetting, gin and detention had made me feelwolfish; but I wanted none of _that_ breakfast. Still, I gave thebaldheaded man, with nose like a vulture--collecting nimbly the dollarsof the soldiers--a very decided expression of my opinion. He seemeddeeply pained thereat; but no one ever mentioned that he had put downthe price. 

At the depot was Frank C. , an old chum of Washington "germans, " in thenew dress of first sergeant of a Georgia battery. He was rushing acarload of company property to Richmond, and was as eager as I and theCrescents to get to that goal. So, between us, the railroadsuperintendent was badgered into an extra engine; and, mounting Frank'striumphal car, we bumped away from fellow travelers, wanderingdolefully through the mud in vain attempt at time-killing until theevening train. That freight-car--piled as it was with ammunition, wheels and harness--was a Godsend, after the past three days. Cicero, Frank's ancient and black Man Friday, dispensed hot coffee and hugehunks of bread and ham; and a violin and two good voices among theCrescents made the time skim along far faster than since starting. 

"How is it you haven't your commission?" one of the Creoles asked theGeorgian. "When we parted at Montgomery it was promised you. "

"Pledges are not commissions, though, " was the careless reply. "I gottired of waiting the Secretary's caprices, when there was real work tobe done; so one day I went to the War Department and demanded either mysheepskin, or a positive refusal. I got only more promises; so I toldthe Sec. I needed no charity from the government, but would present itwith a company! Then, to be as good as my word, I sold some cotton andsome stock, equipped this company and--_voila tout!_"

"But you are not commanding your company?"

"Couldn't do it, you see. Wouldn't let the boys elect me an officer andhave the Sec. Think I had _bought_ my commission! But, old fellow, I'llwin it before the month is out; and, if God spares me, mother shallcall her boy Colonel Frank, before Christmas!"

Poor Frank! Before the hoped-for day his bones were bleaching in frontof Fort Magruder. One morning the retreat from Yorktown--a pitifulroadside skirmish--a bullet in his brain--and the tramp of McClellan'sadvancing hosts packed the fresh sods over his grave, _herois monumentum_!He was one of many, but no truer heart or readier hand were stilled inall the war. 

Passing out of the cut through the high bluff, just across the "Jeems"river bridge, Richmond burst beautifully into view; spreadingpanorama-like over her swelling hills, with the evening sun gildingsimple houses and towering spires alike into a glory. The city followsthe curve of the river, seated on amphitheatric hills, retreating fromits banks; fringes of dense woods shading their slopes, or making bluebackground against the sky. No city of the South has grander or morepicturesque approach; and now--as the slant rays of the sun kissed hera loving good-night--nothing in the view hinted of war to come, but allof holy peace. 

Just here the James narrows its bed between high banks, and for somethree miles--from Hollywood cemetery down to "Rockett's" landing--theshallow current dashes over its rocky bed with the force and chafe of amountain torrent; now swirling, churned into foamy rapids, againgliding swiftly smooth around larger patches of islands that dot itssurface. On the right hand hills, behind us, rises the suburb villageof Manchester, already of considerable importance as a milling town;and the whole _coup d'oeil_--from the shining heights of Chimborazo tothe green slopes of the city of the silent, the grim, gray old capitolas a centerpiece--makes a Claud landscape that admits no thought of thebloody future!

The railroad bridge--then a frail, giddy structure, wide enough for atrack and footway--spans near a mile across the boiling current. Fromthe car-platform, the treetops far below and the rugged, foam-crownedrocks look inhospitably distant. I have whirled round the high trestleson the Baltimore & Ohio when the work swayed and rattled under theheavy train, threatening each moment to hurl us down the precipitousmountain into the black, rocky bed of the Cheat, hundreds of feetbelow; have dashed at speed round steep grades hewn in the solid rock, where the sharp, jagged peaks rose a thousand feet beneath us; and Ihave raced in pitchy nights on the western rivers in tinder-box boats, that seemed shaking to pieces away from their red-hot furnaces; but Ido not recall any piece of travel that gave the same sense of theinstability of railroad affairs as that James river bridge. 

The city was thoroughly jammed--its ordinary population of fortythousand swelled to three times that number by the sudden pressure. Ofcourse, all the Government, with its thousand employés, had come on;and in addition, all the loose population along the railroad over whichit had passed seemed to have clung to and been rolled into Richmondwith it. Not only did this mania seize the wealthier and well-to-doclasses, but the queerest costumes of the inland corners of Georgia andTennessee disported themselves with perfect composure at hotels and onthe streets. Besides, from ten to fifteen thousand troops were alwayscollected, as a general rendezvous, before assignment to one of theimportant points--Norfolk, the Peninsula, or the Potomac lines. Although these were in camp out of town, their officers and menthronged the streets from daylight to dark, on business or pleasurebent; and the variety of uniforms--from the butternut of the Georgiaprivate to the three stars of the flash colonel--broke the monotony ofthe streets pleasingly to the eye. 

Hotel accommodations in Richmond were always small and plain, and nowthey were all overflowing. The Spotswood, Exchange and American heldbeds at a high premium in the parlors, halls and even on thebilliard-tables. All the lesser houses were equally packed, and crowdsof guests stood hungrily round the dining-room doors at meal-times, watching and scrambling for vacated seats. It was a clear case of"devil take the hindmost, " for their _cuisine_ decreased in quantityand quality in exact ratio to augmentation of their custom. TheRichmond hotels, always mediocre, were now wretched. Such a thing as aclean room, a hot steak, or an answered bell were not to be bought byflagrant bribery. I would fain believe that all concerned did theirbest; but rapid influx absolutely overwhelmed them; and resources ofthe neighboring country--ample to support one-third the numbers nowcollected--were quickly exhausted under suddenly tripled demand. Notransportation for private supplies was available in the overtaxedcondition of the railroads; so the strangers, perforce, had to "grinand bear it, " dry soever as the grin might be. Private boarding-housessprang up like mushrooms on every block; bereaved relicts and ambitiousspinsterhood equally clutching the chance to turn an honest penny. Andnaturally, ordinary trials of boarding-house life were aggravated bycircumstance. Discomfort of the hotels was great enough; but, desiccated into the boarding-house can, it became simply unendurable. In this strait many private families were induced to open their doorsto the better class of strangers; and gradually the whole densepopulation settled down, wedged into comparative quiet. Happily, mylines fell in these pleasanter places; and, whatever the unavoidabletrials, it were base ingratitude in an experimental pilgrim among themail-bags to indite a new Jeremiad thereon. 

Suites of rooms had been reserved at the Spotswood hotel for thePresident and some of his Cabinet; so that house naturally becameheadquarters. Mr. Davis' office, the "Cabinet-room" with the State andTreasury Departments were located in the custom-house; and the otherbureaux of the Government were relegated to the "Mechanics' Institute, "an ungainly pile of bricks, formerly used as library and lecture-rooms. 

The State of Virginia, though not at all on pleasure bent in invitingthe Government to her capital, had yet been of frugal enough mind notto commence preparations in advance of acceptance; and the hejirafollowed so swiftly upon it that we plumped down into their very midst. Miss Bremer--who declared Alexandria entirely finished because shenever heard the sound of a hammer--would have been more than amused atRichmond. The great halls of the Institute were cutting up intooffices, with deafening clatter, day and night; and one of the Cabinetsecretaries--who did not exhibit, if indeed he possessed, thataspiration ascribed to the devil when ill--swore himself almost to ashadow. 

Both these public offices faced upon Capitol Square; a large, iron-fencedspace, beautifully undulating and with walks winding under grand oldtrees. On the central hill stood the old State Capitol, picturesquefrom the river, but grimly dirty on close inspection. It is a plain, quadrangular construction, with Grecian pediment and columns on itssouth front and broad flights of steps leading to its side porticoes. Below were the halls of the legislature, now turned over to theConfederate States Congress; and in the small rotunda connecting themstood Houdon's celebrated statue of Washington--a simple but majesticfigure in marble, ordered by Dr. Franklin from the French sculptor in1785--of which Virginians are justly proud. In the cool, vaultedbasement were the State officials; and above the halls the offices ofthe governor and the State library. That collection, while lacking manymodern works, held some rare and valuable editions. It was presidedover by the gentlest and most courteous _littérateur_ of the South. Many a bedeviled and ambitious public man may still recall his quiet, modest aid, in strong contrast to the _brusquerie_ and "insolence ofoffice, " too much the general rule; and his touching, heart-born poemswere familiar at every southern hearth and camp-fireside. Soon after, the familiar voice of friendship was dulled to him--_exul patriæ_--bythe boom of the broad Atlantic; and now his bones rest far away fromthose alcoves and their classic dust. 

John R. Thompson, the editor of the famous "Southern LiteraryMessenger, " went to London to edit "The Index, " established in thenever-relinquished hope of influencing European opinion. On reachingNew York, when the cause he loved was lost, the staunch friendship ofRichard Henry Stoddard and the appreciation of William Cullen Bryantfound him congenial work on "The Post. " But the sensitive spirit wasbroken; a few brief years saw the end, and only a green memory is leftto those who loved, even without knowing, the purest southern poet. 

From the roof of the Capitol is had the finest view of Richmond, thesurrounding country lying like a map for a radius of twenty miles. Onlyfrom this bird's-eye view can a perfect idea be gained of the elevationof the city, perched above a rolling country--its stretches ofmeadowland below cut by the valley of the James; the river stealing insluggish, molten silver through it, or heaving up inland into bold, tree-bearded hills, high enough to take the light from the clouds ontheir tops, as a halo. Far northward alternate swells of light anddepressions of shadow among the hills; the far-off horizon making agirdle of purple light, blended into the blue of undefined woods. Onclear days, a splendid ozone fills the air at that high perch, thepicture having, as far as the eye can travel, stereoscopic clearness. 

Immediately beneath lies the Square; its winding walks, rare old treesand rich sweep of sod filled with children, so full of enjoyment thatone is half-minded to drop down and roll over the grass with them. Onthe central walk, midway between the Capitol and St. Paul's church, stands Crawford's equestrian Washington in bronze, resting upon acircular base and pedestal of plain granite, in which are bases forstatues of the mighty Virginians of the past. Only the three southernones were now occupied; but those figures--Jefferson, Mason andHenry--were accepted as surpassing in merit the central work. TheWashington is imposing in size and position, but its art is open tocriticism. The horse is exaggeration of pose and muscle; being equallystrained, though not rampant, as that inopportune charger on whichClark Mills perched General Jackson, at the national Capital. Nor isthis "first in peace" by any means "the first" on horseback; the figurebeing theatric rather than dignified, and the extended arm moregymnastic than statuesque. 

An irate senator once told the august body he addressed that it was awarning to them--"pointing straight to the penitentiary!" So, as awhole, the group, if not thoroughly classic, may be admirably useful. 

From Capitol Square, open, wide streets--neatly built up and meetingeach other at right angles--stretch away on all sides; an occasionalspire or dome, and frequent houses larger than the rest, breaking themonotony. Below, toward the river, lie the basins, docks and rows ofwarehouses; and further still is the landing, "Rockett's, " the head ofriver navigation, above which no vessels of any size can come. Justunder the Capitol--to the East--stands the governor's house, a plain, substantial mansion of the olden time, embosomed in trees andflower-beds. Further off, in the same line, rise the red and raggedslopes of Church Hill. It takes its name from the old church in whichPatrick Henry made his celebrated speech--a structure still in prettygood preservation. And still further away--opposite the vanishing pointof the water view--are seen the green tops of Chimborazo Heights andHoward's Grove--hospital sites, whose names have been graven upon thehearts of all southern people by the mordant of sorrow!

Just across the river, to the South, the white and scattered village ofManchester is prettily relieved against the green slopes on which itsits. There the bridge cuts the shining chafe of the river like a blackwire; and just under it, the wind sighs softly in the treetops of BelleIsle, afterward to become so famous in the newspaper annals of theNorth, as a prison for the Union soldiers captured in the long strugglefor the city. 

Far to the west, higher shafts of Hollywood Cemetery gleam among thetrees; and the rapids, dancing down in the sunlight, break away into abroader sheet of foam around its point. Except, perhaps, "BonnieVenture" (_Buona Ventura_), at Savannah, there is no site for acemetery in the South, naturally so picturesque and at the same timesolemn, as this. Rising from comparatively level ground in the rear, itswells and undulates in a series of gentle hills to the river, thatembraces it on three sides. Rows of magnificent old trees in manyplaces arch quite across the walk--giving, even at midday, ahalf-twilight--and the sigh of the river breeze in their tops, minglingwith the constant roar of the rapids, seems to sing a _Te Deum_ forthe dead. The graves are simple and unpretending--only an occasionalcolumn of any prominence rearing itself above the humbler surroundings. 

On a hill--just behind the point where the river curves round theextreme point--rest the ashes of Monroe, enclosed in a large and ornatemausoleum, where they were laid when escorted south by the New YorkSeventh Regiment. That escort was treated with all the generoushospitality Virginia can so well use; and numerous and deep were theoaths of amity between the citizen-soldiers. Though the Seventh werenot notoriously deadly, in the war that followed, only the shortest ofmemories--or, indeed, the most glowing of patriotism--could have erasedthe brother-love, then and there bumpered down!

Under the hills of the cemetery--the dirty, dull canal creeping betweenthem--stand the buildings, dam and powerful pumps of the water service;ordinarily more than adequate for all uses. Usually, the water was pureand clear; but when heavy rains washed the river lands, the "nobleJeems" rushed by with an unsavory and dingy current, that might haveshamed the yellow Tiber and rivaled the Nile itself. Sometimes theweary and worn patriot took his whisky and mud, thick enough to demanda fork; and for days

 "The water is muddy and dank As ever a company pumped. "

The outskirts of Richmond are belted by bold crests, near enough, together to form a chain of natural forts. These were now fortifying;the son of wealth, the son of Erin and the son of Ham laboring inperspiration and in peace side by side. Later these forts did goodturn, during cavalry raids, when the city was uncovered and thegarrison but nominal. 

Gamble's hill, a pretty but steep slope, cuts the river west of thebridge. Rising above its curves, from the Capitol view-point, are theslate-roofed Tredegar Works; their tall chimneys puffing endless blacksmoke against the sunshine, which reflects it, a livid green, upon thewhite foam of the rapids. So potent a factor in the aggressive power ofthe Confederacy was this foundry that it overtopped the regulargovernment agencies. When the war began, this was the only rolling-millof great capacity, of which the South could boast; the only one, indeed, capable of casting heavy guns. Almost the first decisive act ofVirginia was to prevent, by seizure, the delivery to United Statesofficers of some guns cast for them by the Tredegar Works; and, fromthat day, there were no more earnest and energetic workers for thecause of southern independence than the firm of Jos. R. Anderson & Co. It was said, at this time, that the firm was in financial straits. Butit thrived so well on government patronage--spite of sundry boards toconsider if army and navy work was not paid for at ruinously lowrates--that it greatly increased in size; added to its utility byimportations of costly machinery, through the blockade; stood loss ofone-third of its buildings, by fire; used a ship of its own forimportation; and, at the close of the struggle, was in better conditionthan at the commencement. The senior partner was, for a time, in thefield at head of his brigade; but affairs were so well managed, in theinterval, by the Messrs. Tanner--father and son, who were partners withGeneral Anderson--that his absence was not appreciable in the work. 

It was at the Tredegar Works that the famous "Brooke gun"--a rifled7-inch--was cast, tested and perfected. Here the plates for theiron-clads, in almost all southern waters, were rolled or made readyfor use. Here heavy ordnance for the forts was cast, together withshells and shot; and here the torpedoes--sometimes so effective, andusually so useless--were contrived and made. Indeed, the Tredegar Worksso greatly aided the Confederacy, that the lengthening of the war maybe, in large measure, attributed to their capacity, and to the ablezeal with which they were managed. 

So great and effective an agent could not fail to receive, from theRichmond government, every aid in obtainance of supplies, labor andtransportation. "The Works" had mines, mills and pork-packeries invarious sections of the South; thus obtaining coal and metals, as wellas food--at reduced rates, within reach of their wages--for an army ofemployés. So great was the necessary number of these--whites, skilled, in labor--that even closest conscription left the junior of the firm afull battalion of infantry. This, drilled and equipped from his ownshops, Major Tanner led in person, when raids or other straits madetheir soldiering paramount to other occupation. And--even when greatestscarcity of provisions came--the agents of "the Works" proceeded withthose of the commissary of the Confederacy, _pari passu_. 

An odd incident, coming to mind just here, will point the generalestimate of the importance of the Tredegar Works. A special train wascrossing the bridge, en route for Petersburg, at a time whentransportation was rare. A huge negro, blacker than the soot upon hisface, sat placidly on the platform of the rear car. 

"What are you doing here?" was asked by the officer in charge. 

"Rid'n' t' Petesbug, " was the placid reply. 

"Have you paid your fare?"

"Don' got nun t' pay, boss. Rides onner pass, I does!"

"Work for the government?"--this rather impatiently. 

Ebo rolled his eyes, with expression of deep disgust, as he responded, grandly:

"No--_sah!_ Fur t'uther consarn!"

CHAPTER XII. 

SETTLING TO THE REAL WORK. 

Notwithstanding the haste of removal from Montgomery, the vast amountof work to be reduced to regular order, and the apparent confusion ofthe executive departments, affairs rapidly shaped themselves intoworking form soon after the arrival in Richmond. 

That city, as the terminus of railway travel from the South and West, was naturally the rendezvous for all troops coming from the variousquarters of the Confederacy; and, at the date of the change ofgovernment, some fifteen thousand were already collected in the campsabout the town. These comprised levies from every section of the tenstates that had adhered to the southern government--regulars, volunteers and militia and of all arms. 

South Carolina and Louisiana had immediately on their secessionorganized regular armies, on a more perfect and permanent basis thantheir sister states, and had garrisoned their forts--and points thensupposed most vulnerable--with them. The call of the ConfederateGovernment for more troops had not interfered with these organizations, but had brought into the field new material in the shape of volunteerregiments and battalions of cavalry, artillery and infantry. 

While, as a general thing, the rank and file of the state regulars werecomposed of the laboring classes, foreigners and the usual useless andfloating portion of their populations, officered by gentlemen of betterposition and education, appointed by the governors, the volunteers hadin their ranks men of all conditions, from the humblest laborer to thescholar, the banker and the priest. 

They were commanded by men they themselves elected, as being the mostcompetent and acceptable, either by reason of greater ability, ormilitary education. 

Upon the action of her convention, Virginia was found to have been innowise behind the other states in her preparations. In fact, she hadanticipated its somewhat tardy movement and had marshaled into order anarray of her stout yeomanry that was in itself no contemptible army. When she joined the Confederacy, she offered to its acceptance overtwenty full regiments, and parts of others sufficient to make eight orten more. 

Almost all the officers of the United States Army and Navy, from herborders, had promptly resigned and tendered their swords and servicesto her governor. Robert E. Lee--with his great family influence andconnection--Joseph E. Johnston, Magruder, Stuart, and a host of otherswhose names shine bright in the annals of war, had even anticipated theformal act of secession; and its passage found them busily working, with any rank and in any way that could best conduce to the good of thestate. With their aid, Virginia, too, had organized a regular army;and, feeling the necessity for prompt action to be imminent, had armed, drilled and equipped it to the limit of her straightened means; and hadalready begun to put her frontiers into a state of defense. 

General Lee was made commander-in-chief, and the flower of Virginia, from the old army, were made generals and subordinate officers underhim. 

The gentlemen of the Old Dominion were not slow to show a good exampleto the lower classes. Crack companies that had been unused to any moredreadful war than the blank cartridge of a holiday pageant, went in toa man; whole battalions were formed from which no drop of blood mightbe spilled, that did not flow straight from one of the known andhonored of her history. 

Who has not heard of the First Virginia? a name that brings back thegrand old days of chivalric devotion and doughty deed! Who in the Southdoes not honor it? though scarce a dozen of the noble hearts that firstflocked to its proud banner can now gather round the grim and shatteredold lion, who bought with many a wound in front the right to lead it tothe fray. And "Co. F, " in whose ranks were the brilliant advocate, theskillful surgeon, the man of letters and the smooth-faced pet of theMayday gathering--all that made the pride, the boast and the love of, Richmond!

The beacon had been lighted on the mountain top, and had gleamed by herriver sides! The sturdy hunter from the West, and the dashing horsemanfrom the East; the merchant at his till, and the farmer, with hard handon the plough-handle--all heard the voice of the bugle and answeredwith a shout!

Men of all classes--from the highest-born and richest to the humblestand poorest--from the grandsire with his flint-lock to the sunny-hairedstripling scarcely in his teens--with one accord

 "----Came forth at the call With the rush of their rivers when tempests appall, And the torrents their sources unseal!"

Thus, when the Government first felt that Virginia was to be thebattle-ground and decided to lash its fortunes to hers amid the blackbillows that were surging around it, an army was already in the field;partially armed, already somewhat proficient in drill and learning, bythe discipline of camp and bivouac, to prepare for the stern realitiesof war. 

In many instances, the posting of their regulars by the respectivestate governments had been considered so judicious, that the WarDepartment made no change; as, for instance, in garrisoning the fortsin Charleston harbor by the South Carolina Regular Artillery, and thoseat New Orleans by the 1st and 2d Louisiana Regulars. But after thenecessary garrison had been left in the most exposed points, everyavailable man was ordered to Virginia. Here the work of organizationwent on with a smoothness and regularity scarcely to have been lookedfor. Occasionally a hitch occurred that threatened to get the threadsof preparation into an ugly knot; but it was ever unraveled without theGordian treatment. 

Fresh troops from every quarter were collecting rapidly. First cameGregg's regiment of South Carolinians; and they were met with open armsby the Virginians, soldiery and citizens. They received the first gush ofthe new brotherhood of defiance and of danger; and their camp--constantlyvisited by the ladies and even children of Richmond--had more the air ofa picnic than of a bivouac. Many of the men and most of the officers inthe First Carolina bore

 "Names, Familiar in their mouths as household words. "

They were descendants from that other revolution, the politicalcelebrities, or the watering-place beaux; and the houses of Richmondwere opened to them at once. Dinners, parties and rides wereimprovised, and the first comers were voted, especially by the ladies, a "joy forever. " Gradually, as regiment after regiment marched in andthe city filled to overflowing with the still welcome strangers, thenovelty wore off; and, though the feeling of fellowship and kindlinesswas just as strong, the citizens found that their hearts were largerthan their houses, and that even Virginia hospitality must have alimit. Varied, indeed, were the forms one met on every street and roadabout Richmond. Here the long-haired Texan, sitting his horse like acentaur, with high-peaked saddle and jingling spurs, dashed by--apictured _guacho_. There the western mountaineer, with bearskin shirt, fringed leggings, and the long, deadly rifle, carried one back to thedays of Boone and the "dark and bloody ground. " The dirty gray andtarnished silver of the muddy-complexioned Carolinian; the dingybutternut of the lank, muscular Georgian, with its green trimming andfull skirts; and the Alabamians from the coast, nearly all in blue of acleaner hue and neater cut; while the Louisiana troops were, as ageneral thing, better equipped and more regularly uniformed than anyothers in the motley throng. 

But the most remarked dress that flashed among these varied uniformswas the blue-and-orange of the Maryland Zouaves. At the time of theriot of the 19th of April, there had just been perfected a splendidorganization of the younger gentlemen of the Monumental City--averitable _corps d'élite_--known as the "Maryland Guard. " It was asremarkable for excellence of discipline and perfection of equipment, asfor containing the very best blood of the city; and, though taking nopart--as an organization--in the riot, it was immediately afterward putby its officers at the disposal of the Baltimore authorities. 

When it became apparent that Maryland could take no active part in thestruggle, many members of this corps promptly left the luxuries oftheir homes, their early associations, and even the very means oflivelihood, to go south and battle for the principles they held. Theyunhesitatingly expatriated themselves, and gave up all they helddear--except honor--to range themselves under that flag for which theyhad declared. Many of them had been born and reared southerners--manyhad only the chivalric intention to fight for the cause they feltright. Their sympathies all went with the South, and their blood leapedto help her in this her hour of sore trial. 

Was it strange that the generous Virginian should have opened his armsto give these men the embrace of fellowship and brotherhood; that theyshould have been honored guests at every hospitable board; that brighteyes should have glanced brighter at a glimpse of the orange and blue?

Much has been said and much written of the Marylanders in the South; oftheir demoralized condition, their speculative tendencies, and theirwild dissipations. Not a few of them came for plunder--some left theircountry for their country's good:--but in the veins of such only amuddy current ran! Where the Maryland gentleman was found on thestranger soil, it was musket in hand, battling for it; and so well washis _devoir_ done, that he rapidly changed the bayonet for the sword;and more than one general, whose name will live in the South, came fromtheir number. 

Almost all the soldiery wore the broad, soft _slouch_, in place ofthe more military, but less comfortable, _kepi_. There was somethingabout it characteristic of the race--it seemed to suit exactly thefree, careless port of the men--and it was equally useful as aprotection from the fierce June sun, or beating rain, and as anight-cap. 

Arms, too, were as varied as the uniforms. Many whole regiments werearmed with the Belgian or Springfield musket--light, and carrying alarge ball an immense distance; others had only the Mississippi rifle;while some again sported a mixture of rifles, muskets and shot-guns. The greatest variety was in the cavalry--if such it could be called. Men accustomed from infancy to the saddle and the rifle had seizedwhatever weapon they were possessed of; and more at home on horsebackthan on foot, they were, no doubt, ugly enemies in a bush fight, or anambuscade. Many whole companies had no sabers but those their officerscarried, and the very individuality and self-reliance of the men actedas an invincible opponent to drill and discipline. Mounted on horses ofall sizes and colors; equipped with all varieties of trappings; andcarrying slung at their backs every known game-killer--from rifle toduck gun--they would have been a strange picture to the Europeanofficer to which their splendid horsemanship and lithe, agile figurescould have added no varnish to make him believe them cavalry. 

But every man you met, mounted or footman, carried in his belt thebroad, straight, double-edged bowie-knife, useful alike for war-like, or culinary purposes; and few, indeed, did not balance it with therevolver. In some of the crack corps this was strictly prohibited; forthe difficulty has ever been in armies to teach the men to useefficiently the _one_ weapon belonging to them; and that there isno safety in a multitude. 

Long before the first scene of the bloody drama was done--and sternrealities had taken the gilt from the pomp and circumstance of war--theactors had cast aside all the "properties" they did not absolutelyneed. The exhaustion of their first few battles, or a couple ofJackson's marches, taught them that in this race for life and limb, there was no need to carry extra weight. I constantly had brought tomind the anecdote of the Crimean Zouaves, about to charge a redan, whoanswered their officer's query as to the number of cartridges they hadby tapping their saber bayonets. 

The arriving regiments were inspected, mustered into the Confederateservice and drilled by competent officers; vacancies were filled; andsuch wanting equipments, as could be supplied, bestowed upon them. Theywere then brigaded, and after time enough to become accustomed to theircommanders and to each other, were forwarded to points where, at themoment, troops appeared most needed. 

The three points in Virginia, considered as vital, were the Peninsula, formed by the James and York rivers, Norfolk, and the open countryaround and about Orange Courthouse to the Potomac. Fortress Monroeimpregnable to assault, by the land side, and so easily provisioned andgarrisoned by sea, was looked upon as the most dangerous neighbor. Fromits walls, the legions of the North might, at any moment, swoop downupon the unprotected country around it and establish a foothold, fromwhich it would be hard to dislodge them, as at Newport's News. Itspropinquity to Norfolk, together with the vast preponderance of theUnited States in naval power, made an attack upon that place the mostreasonable supposition. The State of Virginia had already put it in asgood defense as the time permitted. General Huger, a distinguishedofficer of Ordnance from the U. S. Service, had at once been sent there;and his preparations had been such that an unfinished earth work, atSewell's Point, stood for four hours, on the 19th of May, thebombardment of the U. S. Ships "Minnesota" and "Monticello. "

The Confederate War Department felt such confidence in the engineeringand administrative ability of General Huger, that it endorsed theaction of Virginia by giving him a brigadier's commission andinstructions to put Norfolk and the avenues of its approach in completestate of defense. A sufficient garrison of picked troops--among themthe Third Alabama and some of the best Richmond companies--was givenhim; and Norfolk was soon declared securely fortified. 

The Peninsula was even more exposed to land attack from FortressMonroe; and General John B. Magruder had been sent there with a part ofthe Virginia army, with headquarters at Yorktown. General Magruder hadlong been a well-known officer of the U. S. Army, where his personalpopularity and a certain magnificence of manner had gained him thesobriquet of "Prince John. " He possessed energy and dash in no meandegree; and on arriving at his sphere of duty, strained every nerve toput the Peninsula in a state of defense. His work, too, was approved bythe Confederate War Department; the commission of brigadier conferredupon him, and re-enforcements--sufficient in its judgment, though notin his--were sent at once to his command. 

While Fortress Monroe threatened the safety of Norfolk, and, by thePeninsula of the lower approaches to Richmond, Alexandria could hold aformidable army, ready at any moment to swoop down by the upper andmore accessible approaches around Orange Courthouse. The occupation ofAlexandria by the Union forces on the 24th of May was looked upon byConfederate leaders as the most decided act of war yet ventured uponby their wary adversary. Whatever may have been done within the_non-seceded_ states, the South deluded herself that it was simplyan exposition of the power of the government--a sort of Chinese warfareof gongs and tom-toms. The passage of the Potomac and seizure of a cityunder the ægis of the Confederate Government was actually crossing theRubicon and carrying the war directly into the southern territory. Fortress Monroe and other fortified points still held by the UnitedStates, in the South, were conceded to be in a measure hers, at leastby the right of possession; but Alexandria was considered part andparcel of the Confederacy, and as such sacred from invasion. Hence nomeans were taken to prevent its occupation. On Virginia soil--many ofits' citizens already in the rebel ranks, and its houses a rendezvousfor the cavalry of the Virginia army, its seizure was construed to meanreal invasion. 

The possession of this key to the land approaches of Richmond; itsgreat facilities of re-enforcement and supply by propinquity to thedepots at Washington and elsewhere; and the determined intention of theFederals to hold and use it, could not be misunderstood. 

And while the Southern Government felt the advantages its possessiongave the Union troops for concentrating and advancing, the people werearoused to a pitch of high indignation by the choice of the troops sentto first invade their soil. 

The war, too, was yet young enough to leave all the romance about it;scenes of violence were as yet rare; and the death of Jackson, with thecircumstances attending it, caused a deep and general feeling ofbitterness. While the southern public opened its arms and took to itssympathy and protection the widow and orphans of the first Virginianwhose blood was shed in her cause, many and bitter were the vows madearound the bivouac to avenge his untimely end. The men who made thegrim vow were of the stuff to keep it; the name of "Jackson, theMartyr, " became a war-cry, and the bloody tracks of Manassas

 "How that oath was kept can tell!"

On the 23d of May, Joseph E. Johnston received his commission asGeneral in the Regular Army, and went to Harper's Ferry in command ofall troops in that region--known as the Army of the Shenandoah. Beauregard, with the same grade, was recalled on his way to the West, and sent to command at Manassas. 

From the great ease of putting troops across the fords of the Potomacinto Virginia, it was considered necessary to concentrate, at pointsfrom which they could be easily shifted, a sufficient reliable force tomeet any such movement; and the two officers in whom the government hadgreatest confidence as tacticians, were sent to watch for and checkmateit. 

Meanwhile, Missouri had risen, the governor had declared the rights ofthe State infringed; and the movements of Generals Lyon andBlair--culminating in the St. Louis riots between the citizens and theDutch soldiery--had put an end to all semblance of neutrality. GovernorJackson moved the state archives, and transferred the capital fromJefferson City to Boonesville. On the 13th of June he issued aproclamation calling for fifty thousand volunteers to defend the Stateof Missouri from Federal invasion; and appointed Sterling Price amajor-general, with nine brigadiers, among whom were Jeff Thompson, Clark and Parsons. Perhaps no state went into open resistance of theUnited States authority as unprepared in every way as Missouri. Herpopulation was scattered; one-half Union, and utterly ignorant ofdrill, discipline, or any of the arts of war. They were, besides, perfectly unarmed, except with their hunting pieces, and the stateCapital, the arsenals and all the larger towns were in possession ofthe Union troops. These laughed at the attempt of Missouri to shake offthe grasp of the government, and their generals boldly proclaimed that"she was under the paws of the lion, and her first movement would causethem to close and crush her life out. "

Still, Price, seconded by his brigadiers, went to work with greatactivity to collect their scattered adherents and put them into form. In a country held by superior forces, with communications cut up and nomeans of information, the task was Herculean, indeed. Yet theyendeavored by zeal and energy to make amends for these deficiencies andfor the want of supplies. Price's name was a tower of strength initself; his hardy compatriots flocked around him, and nearly every daythere were collisions between them and the United States troops. Theseskirmishes, though unimportant in themselves, gave the new soldierslessons in war; and not infrequently added to their scanty stock ofarms and equipments. They were but the first dashes in the grandtableaux of war that Price was yet to hew, with the bold hand of amaster, from the crude mass of material alone in his power to use. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE LEADERS AND THE LED. 

Thus much of detail arranged, General Lee was, for the present, detained in Richmond by the President, as consulting and organizingofficer; and to aid the Adjutant-General--Samuel Cooper, senior generalof the five--in the location of armies, distribution of troops, andassignment of officers. General Lee's perfect knowledge of the_materiel_ of the Virginia army and of the topographical features ofthe state, peculiarly fitted him for this work; but every step wastaken subject to the decision of Mr. Davis himself. The appointments ofofficers, the distribution of troops--in fact, the minutiæ of the WarDepartment--were managed by him in person. 

He seemed fully alive to the vital importance of making the groundworkof the military system solid and smooth. Real preparations had begun solate that only the strong hand could now avail; and though Mr. Walkerstill held the empty portfolio of the secretaryship, he, and the army, and the country knew who, in fact, did the work. But to do Mr. Davisjustice, he did not make his _fantoccini_ suffer if he pulled thewires the wrong way. He was not only President and secretary of fivedepartments--which naturally caused some errors; but that spice of thedictator in him made him quite willing to shoulder the responsibilitiesof all the positions. 

Now, as in Montgomery, I wondered that the frail body--that could notbend--did not break beneath the load of anxiety and bodily labor heimposed upon it. His energy and industry were untiring; and everyafternoon the declining sun found him in the saddle, inspecting andreviewing the troops, at one of the many camps near town. Sometimes thehard, stolid face of the Postmaster-General appeared at his side; againSenator Wigfall galloped along, with his pants stuck in his boots andseeming to enjoy the saddle much more than the curule chair; and often"Little Jeff"--the Benjamin of Mr. Davis' household--trotted at hisside. But there was never a suite, seldom a courier; and wherever hewent, plain, stirring syllables of cheer--and strong, grave words ofincentive--dropped from his lips among the soldiery. They weretreasured as the truth, too, by that rough auditory; for as yet, Mr. Davis was in the zenith of his popularity--a perfect idol with army andpeople. The first sight of the tall, erect figure, swaying so easily tothe action of the powerful gray, was a signal for the wildest cheersfrom the camps; and the people in the streets raised their hats andstood uncovered while the representative man passed. 

Cavil, jealousy and partisan intrigue, in which he and the causefinally went down together, had not yet done their work. There weremany murmurers at real, many growlers at supposed, errors; but noopposition party--truer to itself and its interests than to thecause--had yet been organized on a basis strong enough to defy andthwart "the man. "

Every one connected with the government remarked the vast difference ofits reception by the Richmond and Montgomery people. The Alabamianscame forward with decision and alacrity to offer their lives andfortunes to the cause. They made any sacrifices to the government, assuch; but, privately, they regarded the individuals connected with itas social brigands come to rob their society of all that was good andpure in it. 

Richmond, on the contrary, having given the invitation, made the bestof it when accepted. The people united in sincere effort to show awhole-souled hospitality to all strangers deserving of it. Gentlemen inthe government were received with frank and free-handed kindness; andeven a wretch, who had wintered in the shade of the Washington upas, was allowed to flutter about and not be gunned for by thedouble-barreled spectacles of every respectable dowager!

Richmond was always a great place for excitements; but with the greataddition of inflammable material recently, it required but a very smallspark to raise a roaring, if not dangerous, flame. 

On a bright Sunday in April, when

 "The beams of God's own hallowed day Had painted every spire with gold, And, calling sinful men to pray, Long, loud and deep the bell had tolled"--

the citizens were worshipping quietly and a peaceful stillness reignedeverywhere. Suddenly, as if a rocket had gone up, the rumor flew frommouth to mouth that the "Pawnee" was steaming up the river to shell thecity. The congregations, not waiting to be dismissed, rushed from thechurches with a single impulse; the alarm bell in the Square pealed outwith a frightened chime. For once, even the women of Richmond werealarmed. The whole population flocked toward "Rocketts"--every eyestrained to catch a first glimpse of the terrible monster approachingso rapidly. Old and young men, in Sunday attire, hastened along withrusty muskets and neat "Mantons" on their shoulders; groups ofbareheaded ladies were at the corners, asking the news and repeatingevery fear-invented tale; and more than one of the "solid men" was seenwith hand-baskets, loaded with rock, to dam the river! Late in theevening, the veterans of six hours were dismissed, it turning out thatthere was no cause whatever for the alarm; and when after events showedthem that vessel--so battered and badgered by the riverbatteries--"Pawnee Sunday" became a by-word among the citizens. 

Richmond was not cosmopolitan in her habits or ideas, and there was, insome quarters, a vague, lingering suspicion as to the result of theexperiment; but the society felt that the government was its guest, andas such was to be honored. The city itself was a small one, the societywas general and provincial; and there was in it a sort ofbrotherly-love tone that struck a stranger, at first, as very curious. This was, in a great measure, attributable to the fact that the socialcircle had been for years a constant quantity, and everybody in it hadknown everybody else since childhood. 

The men, as a general thing, were very cordial to the strangers, andsome very delightful and some very odd acquaintances were made amongthem. Chief among the latter was one, whom we may call--as he would say"for euphony"--Will Wyatt; the most perfect specimen of the genusman-about-town in the city. He was very young, with wealth, a pleasingexterior, and an absolute greed for society. His naturally good mindhad been very prettily cultivated--by himself rather than hismasters--and he had traveled just enough to understand, withoutdespising, the weaknesses of his compatriots. He and the omniscientStyles were fast friends, and a card to Wyatt, signed "Fondly thineown, S. S. , " had done the business for me. His house, horses andfriends were all at my service; and in the few intervals that anxietyand duty left for ennui, he effectually drove the monster off. 

"I'm devilish sorry, old man, " he said, one day, after we got wellacquainted, "that there's nothing going on in the social line. Drop inon me at six, to dinner; and I'll show you a clever fellow or two, andmaybe have some music. You understand, my dear boy, we don't entertainnow. After all, it's so late in the season there'd be little doing inpeace times; but this infernal war has smashed us up completely. Getting your nose red taking leave of your tender family is the onlystyle they vote at all nobby now--_À diner!_"

The dinner and music at Wyatt's were not warlike--and particularly wasthe wine not of that description; but the men were. Over cigars, theconversation turned upon the organization of the army; and, accustomedas I was to seeing "the best men in the ranks, " the way these youngbloods talked rather astounded me. 

"Private in 'Co. F, '" answered John C. To my query--he represented oneof the finest estates on the river--"You've heard of 'F, ' of course. Wehang by the old company. Wyatt has just refused a captaincy ofengineers to stick as third corporal. "

"Neat that, in John, " put in Wyatt, "when he was offered the majorityof a regiment of cavalry and refused it to stay in. "

"And why not?" said George H. Shortly. "Pass the Madeira, Will. Iwouldn't give my place in 'F' for the best majority going. As far asthat goes it's a mere matter of taste, I know. But the fact is, if weof the old organizations dodge our duty now by hunting commissions, howcan we hope that the people will come to time promptly?" George H. Hada quarter of a million to his credit, and was an only son--"Now, Ithink Bev did a foolish thing not to take his regiment when Uncle Jeffoffered him the commission. "

"I don't see it, " responded Beverly I. In an aggrieved tone. "Youfellows in 'F' were down on your captain when he took his colonelcy;and I'm as proud of my junior lieutenancy in the old First, as if Icommanded 'F' company itself!"

"But is it usual, " I queried, "for you gentlemen to refuse promotionwhen offered--I don't mean to not seek it--to remain with your oldcompanies? Would you stay in the ranks as a private when as a captainor major you might do better service?"

"_Peutêtre_ for the present, " responded Wyatt--"Don't misunderstand us;we're not riding at windmills, and I sincerely hope you'll see us allwith wreaths on our collars yet. But there's a tacit agreement thatjust now we can do more good in the ranks than anywhere else. Formyself, I don't delight in drill and dirt, and don't endorse thatsentimental bosh about the 'post of honor. ' But our duty is where wecan do most good, and our example will decide many doubtful ones andshame the laggard. "

"And we'll all go out after a few fights, if we don't get popped off, "put in George H. , "and then we'll feel we've won our spurs!"

"Well, I'm not too modest to say that I think we _are_ pretty expensivefood for powder, " said John C. , "but then we're not worth more than the'Crescents, ' the 'Cadets, ' or 'Hampton's Legion. ' The colonel's sonsare both in the ranks of the Legion, and refused commissions. Whyshould the best blood of Carolina do more than the best blood ofVirginia?"

"And see those Baltimore boys, " said Adjutant Y. , of a Georgia legion. "They've given up home, friends and wealth to come and fight for us andthe cause. They don't go round begging for commissions! If my coloneldidn't insist I was more useful where I am, I'd drop the bar and take amusket among them. That sort of stock I like!" But if Lieutenant Y. _had_ taken the musket, a stray bullet might have spoiled a mostdashing major-general of cavalry. 

"I fear very much, " I answered, "that the war will be long enough forall the really good material to come to the surface. The preparationsat the North are on a scale we never before dreamed of, and hergovernment seems determined to enforce obedience. "

"God forbid!" and Wyatt spoke more solemnly than I ever heard himbefore. "But I begin to believe as you do. I'd sooner risk my wreaththan that 'the good material' you speak of should have the 'chance tocome to the surface. ' Think how many a good fellow would be under thesurface by that time!"

"It sometimes sickens me on parade, " said George H. , "when I look downthe line and think what a gap in our old set a volley will make! Ithink we _are_ pretty expensive food for powder, John. Miniés are norespecters of persons, old fellow; and there'll be many a black dressin Richmond after the first bulletin. "

"God send we may all meet here after the war, and drink to the NewNation in Wyatt's sherry!" said Lieutenant Y. "It's better than thewater at Howard's Grove. But the mare'll have hot work to get theadjutant into camp before taps. So, here's how!" and he filled hisglass and tossed it off, as we broke up. 

I have recorded the spirit of a private, everyday conversation, just asI heard it over a dinner-table, from a party of giddy young men. But Ithought over it long that night; and many times afterward when thesickening bulletins were posted after the battles. 

Here were as gay and reckless a set of youths as wealth, position andeverything to make life dear to them could produce, going into adesperate war--with a perfect sense of its perils, its probableduration and its rewards--yet refusing promotion offered, that theirexample might be more beneficial in calling out volunteers. 

And there was no Quixotism. It was the result of reason and aconviction that they were only doing their duty; for, I believe everyman of those I had just left perfectly appreciated the trials anddiscomforts he was preparing for himself, and felt the advantages thata commission, this early in the war, would give him!

It may be that this "romance of war" was not of long duration; and thatafter the first campaign the better class of men anxiously soughtpromotion. This was natural enough. They had won the right to it; andthe sacrifice of their good example had not been without effect. But Ido think it was much less natural that they should have so acted in thefirst place. 

Industry and bustle were still the order of the day in camp; and, intown, the activity increased rather than abated. There were few idlersabout Richmond, even chronic "do-nothings" becoming impressed with theidea that in the universal work they must do something. 

The name of Henry A. Wise was relied upon by the Government as a greatpower to draw volunteers from the people he had so frequentlyrepresented in various capacities. The commission of brigadier-generalwas given him, with authority to raise a brigade to be called the "WiseLegion, " to operate in Western Virginia. Though there was no reason tothink Wise would make a great soldier, his personal popularity wassupposed to be sufficient to counterbalance that objection; for it wasof the first importance to the Government that the western half of theState should be saved to the Confederate cause. In the first place, theactive and hardy population was splendid material for soldiers, and itwas believed at Richmond that, with proper pressure applied, they wouldtake up arms for the South in great numbers; otherwise, when theFederal troops advanced into their country, they might go to the otherside. Again, the products of the rich western region were almostessential to the support of the troops in Virginia, in view ofcontracted facilities for transportation; and the product of theKanawha Salines alone--the only regular and very extensive salt worksin the country--were worth a strenuous effort. This portion ofVirginia, too, was a great military highway for United States troops, _en route_ to the West; and once securely lodged in its almostimpregnable fastnesses, their ejection would be practically impossible. 

General Garnett--an old army officer of reputation and promise--wasalready in that field, with a handful of troops from the Virginia army;among them a regiment from about Richmond, commanded by LieutenantColonel Pegram. The Federals, grasping at once the full importance ofthis position, had sent to meet this demonstration an army underGeneral McClellan, with Rosecrans commanding the advance. There hadbeen no collision, but its approach could not be long delayed; and theSouth wanted men. 

In this posture of affairs, General Wise received his commission andorders. The old politician donned his uniform with great alacrity;called about him a few of the best companies of Richmond, as a nucleus;and went to work with all the vim and activity expected by those whoknew him best. The "Richmond Light Infantry Blues"--the oldest companyin Richmond, commanded by his son--was foremost among them. "Co. F" wasto go West, too; and though its members, one and all, would havepreferred a more promising sphere of duty, at Yorktown, or on thePotomac, every man acquiesced with cheerful spirit. 

"Sair was the weeping" of the matrons and maidens of Richmond, whentold their darlings were to go; but their sorrow did not prevent themost active demonstrations toward the comfort of the outer and innerman. 

"Not a pleasant summer jaunt we're to have, old man, " Wyatt said whenhe bade me good-bye. "I've been to that country hunting and found itdevilish fine; but 'tisn't so fine by half when you're hunting a Yank, who has a long-range rifle and is likewise hunting for you. Then I'vean idea of perpetual snow--glaciers--and all that sort of thing. I feellike the new John Franklin. But I'll write a book--'Trapping the Yankin the Ice-fields of the South. ' Taking title, eh? But seriously, Iknow we can't all go to Beauregard; and there'll be fighting enough allround before it 'holds up. ' God bless you! We'll meet somewhere; if notbefore, when I come down in the fall to show you the new stars on mycollar!"

Thus "Co. F" went into the campaign. Its record there is history. So isthat of many another like it. 

As I have tried to show, this spirit pervaded the whole South to analmost universal extent. Companies like these, scattered among thegrosser material of the army, must have been the alloy that gave to thewhole mass that true ring which will sound down all history! The coarsenatures around could but be shamed into imitation, when they saw thedelicately nurtured darlings of society toiling through mud knee deep, or sleeping in stiffening blankets, without a murmur! And many a chargehas been saved because a regiment like the First Virginia or theAlabama Third walked straight into the iron hail, as though it had beena carnival pelting!

The man who tells us that blood has little effect must have readhistory to very little purpose; or have looked very carelessly into theglass that Nature hourly holds up to his view. 

Wyatt was right when he said "there was nothing doing" socially. Butthere was much doing otherwise. The war was young yet, and eachhousehold had its engrossing excitement in getting its loved ones readyfor the field. The pets of the ball-room were to lay aside broadclothand kids; and the pump-soled boots of the "german" were to be changedfor the brogan of the camp. 

The women of the city were too busy now to care for society and itsfrippery; the new objects of life filled every hour. The anxieties ofthe war were not yet a twice-told tale, and no artificial excitementswere needed to drive them away. The women of Virginia, like her men, were animated with a spirit of devotion and self-sacrifice. Motherssent their youngest born to the front, and bade them bear theirshields, or be found under them; and the damsel who did not bid herlover "God speed and go!" would have been a finger point and a scoff. And the flags for their pet regiments--though many a bitter tear wasbroidered into their folds--were always given with the brave injunctionto bear them worthily, even to the death!

The spirit upon the people--one and all--was "The cause--not us!" andunder the rough gray, hearts beat with as high a chivalry as--

 "In the brave, good days of old, When men for virtue and honor fought In serried ranks, 'neath their banners bright, By the fairy hands of beauty wrought, And broidered with 'God and Right!'"

CHAPTER XIV. 

THE BAPTISM OF BLOOD. 

On the afternoon of June 10, 1861, Richmond was thrown into acommotion--though of a different nature--hardly exceeded by thatexciting Sabbath, "Pawnee Sunday. " Jubilant, but agitated crowdscollected at the telegraph offices, the hotels and the doors of the WarDepartment, to get the news of the first fight on Virginia soil. 

That morning the enemy had pressed boldly forward, in three heavycolumns, against Magruder's lines at Big Bethel Church. He had beensharply repulsed in several distinct charges, with heavy loss, by D. H. Hill's regiment--the first North Carolina, and two guns of the RichmondHowitzers, commanded by Major John W. Randolph--afterward Secretary ofWar. 

Naturally there was great and deep rejoicing over this news in allquarters and from all classes. None had expected a different generalresult; for the confidence in Magruder's ability at that time, and inthe pluck of his troops, was perfect; but the ease and dash with whichthe victory had been achieved was looked upon as the sure presage ofgreat success elsewhere. 

Although the conduct of the fight had been in the hands of Colonel D. H. Hill--afterward so well known as a staunch and hard fightingofficer--and his North Carolinians had illustrated it by more than oneact of personal daring; still the cannon had done the main work and itwas taken as a Richmond victory. 

The small loss, too, where the home people had been so deeplyinterested, added a cheering glow to the news that nothing else couldhave given. Bowed and venerable men, little girls and tremulous oldwomen spoke of the fight "we won. " And why not? Were not their sons, and husbands, and brothers, really a part of them?

It was curious to see how prone the women were to attribute the resultto a special interposition of Divine aid, and to share the laurels, gathered that bright June day, with a higher Power than rested in aSpringfield rifle, or a 12-pr. Howitzer. 

"Don't you tell me one word, cap'n!" I heard an old lady exclaim ingreat ire, at the door of the War Department, "Provi-_dence_ isa-fightin' our battles for us! The Lord _is_ with us, and thar's hishandwritin'--_jest as plain!_"

"Don't say nothin' agin' that, marm, " answered the western captain, with Cromwellian sagacity; "but ef we don't help Providence powerfulhard we ain't agoin' ter win!"

There was a perfect atmosphere of triumph all over the state. Troopslying in camp began to get restless and eager to go at once--evenhalf-prepared as many of them were--to the front. Perfect confidence inthe ability of the South to beat back any advance had been before thetoo prevalent idea of army and people; and the ease of the victoryadded to this conviction a glow of exultation over the invincibility ofthe southern soldier. 

But the confidence begotten by the result had, as yet, a beneficialrather than a bad effect. Enlistments were stimulated and camps ofinstruction vied with each other in energy of preparation and closeattention to drill. Every soldier felt that the struggle might befierce, but would certainly be short; and the meanest private panted tohave his share in the triumphant work while there was yet a chance. Thewomen worked harder than ever; and at every sewing-circle the story ofthe fight was retold with many a glowing touch added by skillfulnarration. And while soft eyes flashed and delicate cheeks glowed atthe music of the recital, needles glanced quicker still through thetough fabric for those "dear boys!"

Along the other army lines, the news from Magruder's inspired the menwith a wild desire to dash forward and have their turn, before thewhole crop of early laurels was gathered. An aide on GeneralBeauregard's staff came down from Manassas a few days after Bethel, incharge of prisoners; and he told me that the men had been in a state ofnervous excitement for an advance before, but now were so wild over thenews, it was hard to restrain them from advancing of their own accord. 

The clear-headed generals in command, however, looked over the flashand glitter of the first success, to the sterner realities beyond; andthey drew the bands of discipline only tighter--and administered thewholesome tonic of regular drill--the nearer they saw the approach ofreal work. 

The Government, too, hailed the success at Bethel as an omen of thefuture; but rather that it tested the spirit of the troops and theirability to stand fire, than from any solid fruits of the fight. Theyunderstood that it was scarcely a check to the great advance to bemade; and though perhaps not "only a reconnaissance that accomplishedits intention, " as the Federal officers declared, it was yet only theresult of such a movement. True, eighteen hundred raw troops, neverunder fire, had met more than double their number and fought steadilyand well from nine o'clock till two; and had, besides, accomplishedthis with the insignificant loss of _one_ killed and seven wounded!

But this was not yet the test that was to try how fit they were tofight for the principles for which they had so promptly flown to arms. The great shock was to come in far different form; and every nerve wasstrained to meet the issue when made. 

The Ordnance Department had been organized, and already brought to apoint of efficiency, by Major Gorgas--a resigned officer of the UnitedStates Artillery; and it was ably seconded by the Tredegar Works. Allnight long the dwellers on Gamble's Hill saw their furnaces shine witha steady glow, and the tall chimneys belch out clouds of dense, luminous smoke into the night. At almost any hour of the day, Mr. Tanner's well-known black horses could be seen at the door of the WarDepartment, or dashing thence to the foundry, or one of the depots. Asconsequence of this energy and industry, huge trains of heavy guns, andimproved ordnance of every kind, were shipped off to the threatenedpoints, almost daily, to the full capacity of limited rolling stock onthe roads. The new regiments were rapidly armed; their old-stylemuskets exchanged for better ones, to be in their turn put through theimproving Tredegar process. Battery equipments, harness works, forges--in fact, all requirements for the service--were at once put inoperation under the working order and system introduced into thebureaux. The efficiency of the southern artillery--until paralyzed bythe breaking down of its horses--is sufficient proof how this branchwas conducted. 

The Medical Department--to play so important and needful a part in thecoming days of blood--was now thoroughly reorganized and placed onreally efficient footing. Surgeons of all ages--some of first force andof highest reputation in the South--left home and practice, to seek andreceive positions under it. These, on passing examination and receivingcommission, were sent to points where most needed, with fullinstructions to prepare to the utmost for the comfort of the sick andwounded. Medicines, instruments, stretchers and supplies of all sortswere freely sent to the purveyors in the field--where possible, appointed from experienced surgeons of the old service; while theprincipal hospitals and depots in Richmond were put in perfect order toreceive their expected tenants, under the personal supervision of theSurgeon-General. 

The Quartermaster's Department, both for railroad transportation andfield service, underwent a radical change, as experience of the earlycampaign pointed out its imperfections. This department is the life ofthe army--the supplies of every description must be received throughits hands. Efficiently directed, it can contribute to the mostbrilliant results, and badly handled, can thwart the most perfectlymatured plans of genius, or generalship. 

Colonel A. C. Myers, who was early made Acting Quartermaster-General, had the benefit of the assistance and advice of an able corps ofsubordinates--both from the old service and from the active businessmen of the South; and, whatever may have been its later abuses, at thistime the bureau was managed with an efficiency and vigor that couldscarcely have been looked for in so new an organization. 

The Commissariat alone was badly managed from its very inception. Murmurs loud and deep arose from every quarter against its numerouserrors and abuses; and the sagacity of Mr. Davis--so entirely approvedelsewhere--was in this case more than doubted. Colonel Northrop hadbeen an officer of cavalry, but for many years had been on a quasisick-leave, away from all connection with any branch of the army--save, perhaps, the paymaster's office. The reason for his appointment to, perhaps, the most responsible bureau of the War Department was amystery to people everywhere. 

Suddenly the news from Rich Mountain came. It fell like a thunderboltfrom the summer sky, that the people deluded themselves was to sailover them with never a cloud! The flood-tide of success, upon whichthey had been floating so gaily, was suddenly dammed and flowed backupon them in surges of sullen gloom. 

The southern masses are essentially mercurial and are more given tosudden extremes of hope and despondency than any people in theworld--except, perhaps, the French. Any event in which they areinterested can, by a partial success, carry them up to a glowingenthusiasm, or depress them to zero by its approach to failure. Thebuzz and stir of preparation, the constant exertion attending it andtheir absorbing interest in the cause, had all prepared the people, more than ordinarily even, for one of these barometric shiftings. Thenews from Bethel had made them almost wild with joy and caused anexcessive elation that could ill bear a shock. The misfortune at RichMountain threw a corresponding gloom over the whole face of affairs;and, as the success at Bethel had been overrated from the Potomac tothe Gulf, so this defeat was deemed of more serious importance than itreally was. 

This feeling in Richmond was much aggravated by her own peculiar loss. Some of her best men had been in the fight, and all that could belearned of them was that they were scattered, or shot. Garnett wasdead; the gallant DeLagnel was shot down fighting to the last; andPegram was a prisoner--the gallant regiment he led cut up anddispersed!

Only a few days before, a crowd of the fairest and most honored thatRichmond could boast had assembled at the depot to bid them God speed!Crowds of fellow soldiers had clustered round them, hard hands hadclasped theirs--while bright smiles of cheer broke through the tears onsoftest cheeks; and, as the train whirled off and the banner thattender hands had worked--with a feeling "passing the love ofwoman"--waved over them, wreathed with flowers, not a heart was in thethrong but beat high with anticipation of brave deed and brilliantvictory following its folds. 

Scarcely had these flowers withered when the regiment--shattered andbeaten--was borne down by numbers, and the flag itself sullied and tornby the tramp of its conquerors. And the shame of defeat was muchheightened to these good people, by the agonies of suspense as to thefate of their loved ones. It was three days after the news of thedisaster reached the War Department before the death of Garnett was acertainty; and longer time still elapsed ere the minor casualties wereknown. When they did come, weeping sounded through many a Virginia homefor its stay, or its darling, stark on the distant battle-field, orcarried into captivity. 

The details of the fight were generally and warmly discussed, but withmuch more of feeling than of knowledge of their real bearings. Publicopinion fixed the result decidedly as the consequence of want of skilland judgment, in dividing the brigade at a critical moment. There was abalm in the reflection, however, that though broken and beaten, the menhad fought well in the face of heavy odds; and that their officers hadstriven by every effort of manhood to hold them to their duty. GeneralGarnett had exposed himself constantly, and was killed by asharp-shooter at Carrock's Ford--over which he had brought the remnantof his army by a masterly retreat--while holding the stream at the headof a small squad. Pegram fought with gallantry and determination. Hefelt the position untenable and had remonstrated against holding it;yet the admirable disposition of his few troops, and the skill andcourage with which he had managed them, had cost the enemy many a manbefore the mountain was won. Captured and bruised by the fall of hishorse, he refused to surrender his sword until an officer, his equal inrank, should demand it. DeLagnel cheered his men till they fell betweenthe guns they could no longer work; then seized the rammer himself andloaded the piece till he, too, was shot down. Wounded, he still foughtwith his pistol, till a bayonet thrust stretched him senseless. 

These brilliant episodes illustrated the gloomy story of the defeat;but it still caused very deep and general depression. This was onlypartly relieved by the news that followed so closely upon it, of thebrilliant success of General Price's army at Carthage. Missouri was sofar away that the loudest shouts of victory there could echo but dimlyin the ears at Richmond, already dulled by Rich Mountain. Still, itchecked the blue mood of the public to some extent; and the Governmentsaw in it much more encouragement than the people. 

There had been much doubt among the southern leaders as to the _materiel_of the western armies, on both sides. Old and tried officers feltsecure, _ceteris paribus_, of success against the northern troops ofthe coast, or Middle States; but the hardy hunters from the West andNorth-west were men of a very different stamp. The resources of thewhole country had been strained to send into Virginia such an army innumbers and equipment as the preparation for invasion of her bordersseemed to warrant. This had left the South and South-west rather morethinly garrisoned than all deemed prudent. The grounds for security inVirginia were that the mass of the southern troops were thoroughlyaccustomed to the use of arms and perfectly at home on horseback; andno doubts were felt that the men of the North-eastern States, thereopposed to them, were far below them in both requirements. The superiorexcellence of the latter in arms, equipment, and perhaps discipline, was more than compensated to the former by their greater familiaritywith the arms they carried and their superiority of physique andendurance. Any advantage of numbers, it was argued, was made up by thefact of the invading army being forced to fight on the ground chosen bythe invaded; and in the excellence of her tacticians, rather more thanin any expected equality of numbers, the main reliance of the southerngovernment was placed. Hence it was full of confidence as to the resultin the East. 

In the West, it was far different. There the armies of the UnitedStates were recruited from the hardy trappers and frontiersmen of theborder; from the sturdy yeomen of the inland farms; and, in manyinstances, whole districts had separated, and men from adjoining farmshad gone to join in a deadly fight, in opposing ranks. Though thepartisan spirit with these was stronger than with other southerntroops--for they added the bitterness of personal hate to the sectionalfeeling--yet thinking people felt that the men themselves were moreequally matched in courage, endurance and the knowledge of arms. 

It is an old axiom in war, that when the _personnel_ of armies isequal, victory is apt to rest with numbers. In the West, the UnitedStates not only had the numbers in their favor, but they were betterequipped in every way; and the only hope of the South was in thesuperiority of its generals in strategic ability. 

Thus, the fight at Carthage was viewed by the Government as a testquestion of deep meaning; and Sterling Price began at once to rank as arising man. The general gloom through the country began to wear off, but that feeling of overweening confidence, in which the people had souniversally indulged, was much shaken; and it was with some misgivingsas to the perfect certainty of success that they began to look upon thetremendous preparations for the Virginia campaign, to which the Northwas bending its every effort, under the personal supervision of GeneralScott. The bitterness that the mass of the people of theSouth--especially in Virginia--felt against that officer did not affecttheir exalted opinion of his vast grasp of mind and great militaryscience. The people, as a body, seldom reason deeply upon such points;and it would probably have been hard to find out why it was so; but themajority of his fellow-statesmen certainly feared and hated "thegeneral" in about an equal degree. It was a good thing for the Souththat this was the case; and that the mighty "On to Richmond!"--theclang of which was resounding to the farthest limits of the North andsending its threatening echoes over the Potomac--was recognized by themas a serious and determined attempt upon the new Capital. 

Every fresh mail, through "the blockade, " brought more and moreastounding intelligence of these vast preparations. Every fresh capthat was exploded, every new flag that was broidered, was dulychronicled by the rabid press. The editors of the North seemed to havegone military mad; and when they did not dictate plans of battles, lecture their government and bully its generals, they told wondrousstories of an army that Xerxes might have gaped to see. 

All the newspaper bombast could easily be sifted, however; and privateletters from reliable sources of intelligence over the Potomac allagreed as to the vast scale and perfection of arrangement of the onwardmovement. The public pulse in the South had settled again to a steadyand regular beat; but it visibly quickened as the time of trialapproached. 

And that time could not be long delayed!

The army of Virginia was in great spirits. Each change ofposition--every fresh disposition of troops--told them that theirleaders expected a fight at any moment; and they panted for it andchafed under the necessary restraints of discipline, like hounds in theleash. 

When General Johnston took command of the "Army of the Shenandoah" atHarper's Ferry, he at once saw that with the small force at his commandthe position was untenable. To hold it, the heights on both sides ofthe river commanding it would have to be fortified, and a clear line ofcommunication maintained with his base. 

General McClellan, with a force equal to his, was hovering about Romneyand the upper Valley, ready at any moment to swoop down upon his flankand make a junction with Patterson, who was in his front, thus crushinghim between them. Patterson was threatening Winchester, at which pointhe would be able to cut Johnston's supplies and at the same time effecthis desired junction with McClellan. 

To prevent this, about the middle of June, General Johnston evacuatedHarper's Ferry, destroying the magazines and a vast amount of property, and fell back to Winchester. Then, for one month, Patterson and heplayed at military chess, on a field ranging from Winchester toMartinsburg, without advantage on either side. At the end of thattime--on the 15th of July--the former made his grand feint of anadvance, which Colonel Jeb Stuart--who was scouting in hisfront--declared to be a real movement; warning General Johnston thatthe blow was at last to fall in earnest. This warning the clear-headedand subtle tactician took in such part, that he at once prepared todispatch his whole force to Manassas to join Beauregard. Well didGeneral Scott say, "Beware of Johnston's retreats;" for--whatever thecountry may have thought of it at the time--the retreat from Harper'sFerry culminated in the battle of Manassas!

Meanwhile, in Richmond the excitement steadily rose, but the work ofstrengthening the defenses went steadily on. Fresh troops arriveddaily--from the South by cars--from the West by railroad and canal; andfrom the country around Richmond they marched in. Rumors of the wildestand most varied sort could be heard at any hour. Now Magruder hadgained a terrible victory at Big Bethel, and had strewn the ground formiles with the slain and spoils! Then Johnston had met the enemy atWinchester and, after oceans of blood, had driven him from the field inutter rout! Again Beauregard had cut McDowell to pieces and planted thestars-and-bars over Alexandria and Arlington Heights! Such was themorbid state of the public mind that any rumor, however fanciful, received some credit. 

Each night some regiments broke camp noiselessly and filed through thestreets like the army of specters that

 "Beleaguered the walls of Prague, "

to fill a train on the Central, or Fredericksburg road, _en route_ forManassas. Constantly, at gray dawn the dull, rumbling sound, cutsharply by the clear note of the bugle, told of moving batteries; andthe tramp of cavalry became so accustomed a sound, that people scarcelyleft their work even to cheer the wild and rugged-looking horsemenpassing by. 

Then it began to be understood, all over the country, that the greatadvance would be over the Potomac; that the first decisive battle wouldbe joined by the Army of the Shenandoah, or that of Manassas. 

A hushed, feverish suspense--like the sultry stillness before the burstof the storm-brooded over the land, shared alike by the people andgovernment. 

My old friend--the colonel of the "Ranche" and "Zouave" memory--wasstationed at Richmond headquarters. Many were the tribulations thatsorely beset the soul of that old soldier and clubman. He had served solong with regulars that he could not get accustomed to theirregularities of the "mustangs, " as he called the volunteers; manywere the culinary grievances of which he relieved his rotund breast tome; and numerous were the early bits of news he confidentially droppedinto my ear, before they were known elsewhere. 

The evening of the 18th of July--hot, sultry and threatening rain--hadbeen more quiet than usual. Not a rumor had been set afloat; and themonotony was only broken by a group of officers about the "Spotswood"discussing Bethel, Rich Mountain and the chances of the next fight. Oneof them, with three stars on his collar, had just declared hisconviction:

"It's only a feint, major! McDowell is too old a soldier to risk afight on the Potomac line--too far from his base, sir! He'll amuseBeauregard and Johnston while they sweep down on Magruder. I want _my_orders for Yorktown. Mark my words! What is it, adjutant?" The coloneltalked on as he opened and read a paper the lieutenant handedhim--"Hello! Adjutant, read that! Boys, I'm off for Manassas to-night. Turning my back on a fight, by ----!"

Just then I felt a hand on my shoulder; and turning, saw my colonelwith his round face--graver than usual--near mine. The thought of somedevilish invention in the pudding line flashed across me, but his firstword put cooks and dinners out of my mind. 

"The ball's open, egad!" he said seriously. "We whipped McDowell'sadvance at Bull Run to-day, sir! Drove 'em back, sir! Did you hear that_mustang_ colonel? Turning his back on a fight! Egad, he'll turn hisstomach on it before the week's out!"

It was true. How McDowell's right had essayed to cross at Blackburn'sFord; how Longstreet's Virginians and the Washington Artillery metthem; and how, after a sharp fight, they retired and gave up the fordis too well known history to be repeated here. 

In an hour the news was public in Richmond and--though received with adeep, grave joy--braced every nerve and steadied every pulse in it. There was no distaste to face the _real_ danger when it showed itself;it was only the sickening suspense that was unbearable. No one in thecity had really doubted the result, from the first; and the news fromthe prelude to the terrible and decisive fight, yet to come, but bracedthe people, as a stimulant may the fevered patient. 

The heavy pattering of the first drops had come, and the strained hushwas broken. 

Beauregard telegraphed that the success of Bull Run was complete; thathis men had borne their baptism of fire, with the steadiness ofveterans; and that a few days--hours, perhaps--must bring the generalassault upon his lines. 

He urged that every available man should be sent him; and withintwenty-four hours from the receipt of his despatch, there was not acompany left in Richmond that had arms to carry him. 

Surgeons were sent up; volunteer doctors applied by dozens forpermission to go; ambulance trains were put upon the road, in readinessat a moment's warning. Baskets of delicacies and rare old wines andpure liquors; great bundles of bandages and lint, prepared by thedaintiest fingers in the "Old Dominion;" cots, mattresses andpillows--all crowded in at the medical purveyor's. Then Richmond, having done all she could for the present, drew a deep breath andwaited. 

But she waited not unhopefully!

Every eye was strained to Manassas plains; every heart throbbedstronger at the mention of that name. All knew that there the giantswere soon to clinch in deadly wrestle for the mastery; that thestruggle was now at hand, when the flag of the South would be carriedhigh in triumph or trampled in the dust!

But no one doubted the true hearts and firm hands that had gatheredthere to uphold that banner!

No one doubted that, though the best blood of the South might reddenits folds, it would still float proudly over the field--consecrated, but unstained!

CHAPTER XV. 

AFTER MANASSAS. 

By noon on the 21st of July the quidnuncs found out that the Presidenthad left that morning, on a special train and with a volunteer staff, for Manassas. This set the whole tribe agog, and wonderful were thespeculations and rumors that flew about. By night, certain news camethat the battle had raged fiercely all day, and the sun had gone downon a complete, but bloody, victory. One universal thrill of joy wentthrough the city, quickly stilled and followed by the gasp of agonizedsuspense. The dense crowds, collected about all probable points ofinformation, were silent after the great roar of triumph went up at thefirst announcement. The mixed pressure of grave, voiceless thankfulnessand strained anxiety, was too deep for words; and they stoodstill--expectant. 

By midnight the main result of the day's fight was known beyond a doubt;how the enemy, in heavy masses, had attacked the Confederate left, andhurled it back and around, entirely flanking it; how the raw troops hadcontested every inch of ground with stubborn valor, but still gave wayuntil the change of front _had made itself;_ how the supports broughtup from the right and center--where a force had to be maintained toface the masses threatening them--came only to meet fresh masses thatthey could only check, not break; how the battle was at one time reallylost!

When science had done all it could to retrieve the day, but the mostobstinate even of the southern troops--after doing more than desperatecourage and determined pluck could warrant--were breaking and givingway, then the wild yell of Elzey's brigade broke through the pines likea clarion! On came that devoted band, breathless and worn with theirrun from the railroad; eight hundred Marylanders--and only twocompanies of these with bayonets--leading the charge! On they came, their yells piercing the woods before they are yet visible; and, as ifby magic, the tide of battle turned! The tired, worn ranks, all daybattered by the ceaseless hail of death, catch that shout, andanswering it, breast the storm again; regiment after regiment hears theyell, and echoes it with a wild swelling chorus! And ever on rush thefresh troops--past their weary brothers, into the hottest of the deadlyrain of fire--wherever the blue coats are thickest! Their front lineswaver--General Smith falls, but Elzey gains the crest of theplateau--like a fire in the prairie spreads the contagion of fear--lineafter line melts before the hot blast of that charge--a moment more andthe "Grand Army" is mixed in a straining, struggling, chaotic mass inthe race for life--the battle is won!

I have heard the fight discussed by actors in it on both sides; haveread accounts from northern penny a-liners, and English correspondentswhose pay depended upon their neutrality; and all agree that the battlewas saved by the advent of Kirby Smith, just at that critical momentwhen the numbers of the North were sweeping resistlessly over thebroken and worn troops of the South. Elzey's brigade no doubt saved theday, for they created the panic. 

"But I look upon it as a most causeless one, " once said an Austrianofficer to me, "for had the Federals stood but half an hourlonger--which, with their position and supports, there was no earthlyreason for their not doing--there could have been but one result. Smith's forces could not have held their own that much longer againstoverwhelming numbers; and the weary troops who had been fighting allday could not even have supported them in a heavy fight. Had Smithreached the scene of action at morning instead of noon, he, too, mighthave shared the general fate, and a far different page of history beenwritten. Coming as he did, I doubt not the battle turned upon hisadvent. The main difference I see, " he added, "is that the Confederateswere whipped for several hours and didn't know it; but just as theFederals found it out and were about to close their hands upon thevictory already in their grasp, they were struck with a panic and ranaway from it!"

By midnight the anxious crowds in Richmond streets knew that the fightwas over, "And the red field was won!"

But the first arrivals were ominous ones--splashed and muddy hospitalstewards and quartermaster's men, who wanted more stretchers andinstruments, more tourniquets and stimulants; and their stories threw adeeper gloom over the crowds that--collected at departments, hotels anddepots--spoke in hushed whispers their words of solemn triumph, ofhope, or of suspense. They told that almost every regiment had beenbadly cut up--that the slaughter of the best and bravest had beenterrible--that the "Hampton Legion" was annihilated--Hampton himselfkilled--Beauregard was wounded--Kirby Smith killed--the first Virginiawas cut to pieces and the Alabama troops swept from the face of theearth. These were some of the wild rumors they spread; eagerly caughtup and echoed from mouth to mouth with a reliance on their truth to beexpected from the morbid anxiety. No one reflected that these men musthave left Manassas before the fighting was even hotly joined; and couldonly have gained their diluted intelligence from the rumors atway-stations. As yet the cant of camp followers was new to the people, who listened as though these terrible things must be true to berelated. 

There was no sleep in Richmond that night. Men and women gathered inknots and huddled into groups on the corners and doorsteps, and theblack shadow of some dreadful calamity seemed brooding over everyrooftree. Each splashed and weary-looking man was stopped andsurrounded by crowds, who poured varied and anxious questioning uponhim. The weak treble of gray-haired old men besought news of son, orgrandson; and on the edge of every group, pale, beseeching faces mutelypleaded with sad, tearless eyes, for tidings of brother, husband, orlover. 

But there was no despairing weakness, and every one went sadly butsteadily to work to give what aid they might. Rare stores of old wineswere freely given; baskets of cordials and rolls of lint were brought;and often that night, as the women leaned over the baskets they socarefully packed, bitter tears rolled from their pale cheeks and fellnoiselessly on bandage and lint. For who could tell but that very pieceof linen might bind the sore wound of one far dearer than life. 

Slowly the night wore on, trains coming in occasionally only todisappoint the crowds that rushed to surround them. No one came who had_seen_ the battle--all had _heard_ what they related. And though no manwas base enough to play upon feelings such as theirs, the love ofcommon natures for being oracles carried them away; and they repeatedfar more even than that. Next day the news was more full, and thedetails of the fight came in with some lists of the wounded. Thevictory was dearly bought. Bee, Bartow, Johnson, and others equallyvaluable, were dead. Some of the best and bravest from every state hadsealed their devotion to the flag with their blood. Still, so immensewere the consequences of the victory now judged to be, that even thewildest rumors of the day before had not told one half. 

At night the President returned; and on the train with him were thebodies of the dead generals, with their _garde d'honneur_. Theseproceeded to the Capitol, while Mr. Davis went to the Spotswood andaddressed a vast crowd that had collected before it. He told them insimple, but glowing, language that the first blow for liberty had beenstruck and struck home; that the hosts of the North had been scatteredlike chaff before southern might and southern right; that the cause wasjust and must prevail. Then he spoke words of consolation to thestricken city. Many of her noblest were spared; the wounded had reapeda glory far beyond the scars they bore; the dead were honored farbeyond the living, and future generations should twine the laurel fortheir crown. 

The great crowd listened with breathless interest to his lightest word. Old men, resting on their staves, erected themselves; reckless boyswere quiet and still; and the pale faces of the women, furrowed withtears, looked up at him till the color came back to their cheeks andtheir eyes dried. Of a truth, he was still their idol. As yet they hungupon his lightest word, and believed that what he did was best. 

Then the crowd dispersed, many mournfully wending their way to theCapitol where the dead officers lay in state, wrapped in the flag ofthe new victory. An hour after, the rain descending in torrents, thefirst ambulance train arrived. 

First came forth the slightly wounded, with bandaged heads, arms inslings, or with painful limp. 

Then came ugly, narrow boxes of rough plank. These were tenderlyhandled, and the soldiers who bore them upon their shoulders carriedsad faces, too; for happily as yet the death of friends in the Southwas not made, by familiarity, a thing of course. And lastly--lifted sogently, and suffering so patiently--came the ghastly burdens of thestretchers. Strong men, maimed and torn, their muscular hands strainingthe handles of the litter with the bitter effort to repress complaint, the horrid crimson ooze marking the rough cloths thrown over them;delicate, fair-browed boys, who had gone forth a few days back so fullof life and hope, now gory and livid, with clenched teeth and mattedhair, and eyeballs straining for the loved faces that must be there towait them. 

It was a strange crowd that stood there in the driving storm, lit up bythe fitful flashes of the moving lanterns. 

The whole city was there--the rich merchant--the rough laborer--theheavy features of the sturdy serving-woman--the dusky, but loving faceof the negro--the delicate profile of the petted belle--all strainedforward in the same intent gaze, as car after car was emptied of itsghastly freight. There, under the pitiless storm, they stood silent andstill, careless of its fury--not a sound breaking the perfect hush, inwhich the measured tramp of the carriers, or the half-repressed groanof the wounded, sounded painfully distinct. 

Now and then, as a limping soldier was recognized, would come a rushand a cry of joy--strong arms were given to support him--tender handswere laid upon his hair--and warm lips were pressed to his blanchedcheek, drenched with the storm. 

Here some wife, or sister, dropped bitter tears on the unconscious faceof the household darling, as she walked by the stretcher where hewrithed in fevered agony. There

 "The shrill-edged shriek of the mother divided the shuddering night, "

as she threw herself prone on the rough pine box; or the wild, wordlesswail of sudden widowhood was torn from the inmost heart of somestricken creature who had hoped in vain!

There was a vague, unconscious feeling of joy in those who had foundtheir darlings--even shattered and maimed; an unbearable and leadenweight of agonizing suspense and dread hung over those who could hearnothing. Many wandered restlessly about the Capitol, ever and anonquestioning the guard around the dead generals; but the sturdy men ofthe Legion could only give kindly and vague answers that but heightenedthe feverish anxiety. 

Day after day the ambulance trains came in bearing their sad burdens, and the same scene was ever enacted. Strangers, miles from home, metthe same care as the brothers and husbands of Richmond; and the meanestprivate was as much a hero as the tinseled officer. 

It is strange how soon even the gentlest natures gain a familiaritywith suffering and death. The awfulness and solemnity of theunaccustomed sight loses rapidly by daily contact with it; even thoughthe sentiments of sympathy and pity may not grow callous as well. But, as yet, Richmond was new to such scenes; and a shudder went through thewhole social fabric at the shattering and tearing of the fair forms sowell known and so dear. 

Gradually--very gradually--the echoes of the fight rolled intodistance; the wildest wailing settled to the steady sob of suffering, and Richmond went her way, with only here and there a wreck of manhood, or pale-faced woman in deepest mourning, to recall the fever of thatfearful night. 

Though the after effect of Manassas proved undoubtedly bad, theimmediate fruits of the victory were of incalculable value. Panic-struck, the Federals had thrown away everything that could impede their flight. Besides fifty-four pieces of artillery of all kinds, horses and mulesin large numbers, ammunition, medical stores and miles of wagon andambulance trains, near six thousand stand of small arms, of the newestpattern and in best condition, fell into the hands of the half-armedrebels. 

These last were the real prize of the victors, putting a dozen newregiments waiting only for arms, at once on an effective war-footing. Blankets, tents and clothing were captured in bulk; nor were they to bedespised by soldiers who had left home with knapsacks as empty as thoseof Falstaff's heroes. 

But the moral effect of the victory was to elate the tone of the armyfar above any previous act of the war. Already prepared not toundervalue their own prowess, its ease and completeness left auniversal sense of their invincibility, till the feeling became commonin the ranks--and spread thence to the people--that one southern manwas worth a dozen Yankees; and that if they did not come in numbersgreater than five to one, the result of any conflict was assured. 

Everything was going smoothly. The first rough outlines had been laidin, with bold effectiveness, a rosy cloud floated over the grimdistance of the war; and in the foreground--only brilliant andvictorious action. 

The Confederate loss, too, was much smaller than at first supposed, notexceeding eighteen hundred; and many of the slightly wounded beganalready to hobble about again, petted by the communities and justlyproud of their crutches and scars. The Federal loss was harder toestimate. Many of their wounded had been borne away by the rush of theretreat; the Government, naturally anxious to calm the public mind ofthe North, made incomplete returns; while large numbers of uncounteddead had been buried on the field and along the line of retreat, bothby the victorious army and country people. From the best dataobtainable, their loss could not have been much short, if at all short, of five thousand. The army was satisfied, the country was satisfied, and, unfortunately, the Government was satisfied. 

Among the people there was a universal belief in an immediate advance. The army that had been the main bulwark of the National Capital wasrushing--a panic-stricken herd--into and beyond it; the fortificationswere perfectly uncovered and their small garrisons utterly demoralizedby the woe-begone and terrified fugitives constantly streaming by them. The triumphant legions of the South were almost near enough for theirbattle-cry to be heard in the Cabinet; and the southern people couldnot believe that the bright victory that had perched upon their bannerswould be allowed to fold her wings before another and bloodier flight, that would leave the North prostrate at her feet. Day after day theywaited and--the wish being father to the thought--day after day the sunrose on fresh stories of an advance--a bloody fight--a splendidvictory--or the capture of Washington. But the sun always set on anauthoritative contradiction of them; and at last the excitement wasforced to settle down on the news that General Johnston had extendedhis pickets as far as Mason's and Munson's hills, and the army had goneinto camp on the field it had so bloodily won the week before. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE SPAWN OF LETHARGY. 

Considering the surroundings, it seems inevitable that the lull afterthe first great victory should have been followed by reaction, all overthe South; and that reasons--as ridiculous as they were numerous--shouldhave been assigned for inaction that appeared so unwarranted. 

Discontent--at first whispered, and coming as the wind cometh--graduallytook tongue; and discussion of the situation grew loud and varied. Oneside declared that the orders for a general advance had been alreadygiven, when the President countermanded them upon the field, and sentorders by General Bonham to withdraw the pursuit. Another version ofthis reason was that there had been a council of the generals and Mr. Davis, at which it was agreed that the North must now be convinced ofthe utter futility of persisting in invasion; and that in the reactionher conservative men would make themselves heard; whereas theoccupation of Washington would inflame the North and cause the peopleto rise as one man for the defense of their capital. An even wildertheory found believers; that the war in the South was simply one ofdefense, and crossing the Potomac would be _invasion_, the effect ofwhich would retard recognition from abroad. Another again declared thatthere was a jealousy between Generals Johnston and Beauregard, andbetween each of them and the President, that prevented concert ofaction. 

The people of the South were eminently democratic and had their ownviews--which they expressed with energy and vim--on all subjects duringthe war; so these theories, to account for the paralysis afterManassas, were each in turn discussed, and each found warm defenders. But gradually it came to be generally conceded that none of them couldbe the true one. The President took no command on his visit toManassas, for he reached the field only after the battle had been wonand the flight commenced. Any suggestions that occurred to him werenaturally made to General Johnston. There is good authority for statingthat he did not make any criticism on one material point, stating toboth generals that the whole plan, conduct and result of the battle methis fullest approval; and on reflection the whole people felt thattheir chief was too much a soldier to have committed the gross breachof discipline indicated. The story of the council came to be regardedas a silly fabrication. The fear of inflaming the North, coming on theheels of a complete and bloody victory, was about as funny as for apugilist whose antagonist's head was "in chancery" to cease strikinglest he should anger him; and events immediately following Manassasshowed there could be little jealousy or pique between the generals, orbetween them and the President. General Johnston, with the magnanimityof the true knight his whole career has shown him to be, declared thatthe credit of the plan and choice of the field of battle was due toGeneral Beauregard; and Mr. Davis' proclamation on the success wascouched in language that breathed only the most honest commendation ofboth generals and of their strategy. The fear of invasion prejudicingopinion abroad was as little believed as the other stories, for--outsideof a small clique--there grew up at this time all over the South such aperfect confidence in its strength and its perfect ability to work itsown oracle, that very little care was felt for the action of Europe. Infact, the people were just now quite willing to wait for recognition oftheir independence by European powers, until it was already achieved. So, gradually the public mind settled down to the true reasons thatmainly prevented the _immediate_ following up of the victory. 

A battle under all circumstances is a great confusion. With raw troops, who had never before been under fire, and who had been all day fiercelycontending, until broken and disordered, the confusion must necessarilyhave been universal. As they broke, or fell back, brigade overlappedbrigade, company mixed with company, and officers lost their regiments. The face of the country, covered with thick underbrush, added to thisresult; so that when the enemy broke and the rout commenced, it washard to tell whether pursuers or pursued were the most disorganizedmass. The army of Manassas was almost entirely undisciplined, and hadnever before felt the intoxication of battle. On that terrible day ithad fought with tenacity and pluck that belonged to the race; but ithad largely been on the principle prevalent at weddings in the "ouldcountry"--when you see a head, hit it! The few officers who desired adisciplined resistance soon saw the futility of obtaining it, and feltthat as the men, individually, were fighting bravely and stubbornly, itwere better only to hold them to that. When the pursuit came, the menwere utterly worn and exhausted; but, burning with the glow of battle, they followed the flying masses fast and far--each one led by his owninstincts and rarely twenty of a company together. 

A major-general, who left his leg on a later field, carried his companyinto this fight. During the pursuit he led it through a by-path tointercept a battery spurring down the road at full speed. They overtookit, mastered the gunners and turned the horses out of the press. In thedeepening twilight, he turned to thank the company, and found itcomposed of three of his own men, two "Tiger Rifles, " a Washingtonartilleryman, three dismounted cavalry of the "Legion, " a doctor, aquartermaster's clerk, and the Rev. Chaplain of the First ----!

This was but a specimen of the style of the pursuit. There was butlittle cavalry--one regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart and a fewsingle companies. No one brigade could be collected in anything likeorder; night was deepening and the enemy's flight was approaching whatwas reasonably supposed to be his reserve. Under these circumstances itwas apparent that prudence, if not necessity, dictated calling in thepursuit by the disordered troops. General Bonham--the ranking officerin front--saw this plainly; and on his own authority gave the orderthat appeared most proper to him. I never heard that, _at this time_, it was objected to by his superior officers. 

Moreover, it was not only the demoralization caused by the pursuitthat was sufficient reason for not following up Manassas. The army, ordinarily, was not in a condition to advance into an enemy's country, away from its regular communications. In the first place, there was notransportation, and the arms were bad. It was a work of time to utilizethe spoils; to distribute arms where most needed; to put the capturedbatteries in condition for use; and to replace with the splendidambulances and army wagons, that had been prepared for the holidaymarch to Richmond, the hastily and clumsily-constructed ones already inuse; and to so give out the captured horses as best to utilize them. This latter was of the utmost moment before an advance could beattempted. The Confederates were shorter of transportation--even ofdefective character--than of anything else; and for days after thefight the flood-gates of heaven seemed to stand open, to deluge thecountry around Manassas until it became a perfect lake of mud. Roadsalready bad were washed into gullies; holes generally knee-deep becameimpassable. It is perfectly easy, therefore, to understand why, for aweek after the battle, delay was necessary; but as week after weekpassed, and there was still no forward movement, it ceased to bestrange that the people should murmur, and ask why it was the army wassatisfied with laurels easily won when fresh ones were within itsgrasp. All felt that veteran officers handling raw troops had to bemore careful in their management, and to count more closely beforeputting them into the new and dangerous position of an invading army, than would meet with the concurrence of a populace naturally ardent anddoubly heated by triumph. 

But it is equally true that for ten days after the battle, Washingtonlay perfectly at the mercy of the South; and by that time the army ofManassas was in better condition than could be expected later; and itwas anxious to move forward. 

But the auspicious moment was not seized; time was given for the brokenfragments of the Union army to be patched again into something likeorganization. Fresh forts and earthworks were hastily thrown up; aperfect chain of defenses formed around Washington, and stronglygarrisoned. The pickets of the opposing armies were near enough toexchange constant shots, and even occasional "chaff. "

Still there was no movement; the summer wore away in utter inactivity. The camp at Orange Courthouse began to be looked upon as a stationaryaffair; while the usual difficulties of camp life--aggravated by thenewness of the troops and the natural indisposition of the southron toreceive discipline--began to show themselves. The army at this time wasprincipally composed of the better educated and better conditioned class, who were the first to volunteer; and as I have already said, many ofthe privates were men of high position, culture and wealth. Thuscomposed, it was equal to great deeds of gallantry and dash. _Elan_ wasits characteristic--but it was hard to reduce to the stratified regularityof an army. Napier has laid down as an axiom that no man is a goodsoldier until he has become a perfect machine. He must neither reasonnor think--only obey. Critics, perhaps equally competent, in reviewingthe Crimean war, differ from this and declare the main advantage of theFrench troops over the Russian was a certain individuality--a pride inthemselves and their army that had been entirely drilled out of theirstolid adversaries. Be this as it may, the _esprit de corps_ of theFrenchman was in his corps only as such; and he would no more havediscussed the wisdom, or prudence of any order--even in his ownmind--than he would have thought of disobeying it. 

The steady-going professional men who sprung to arms throughout theSouth could face a deadly fire, without blenching, for hours; but theycould not help reasoning, with nothing to do for twenty hours out ofevery twenty-four. 

The gay young graduates of the promenade and ball-room could marchsteadily, even gaily, into the fiery belching of a battery, but theycould not learn the practice of unreasoning blindness; and the staunch, hard-fisted countryman felt there was no use in it--the thing was overif the fighting was done--and this was a waste of time. _Nostalgia_--thatscourge of camps--began to creep among the latter class; discontentgrew apace among the former. Still the camp was the great object ofinterest for miles around; there were reviews, parades and divisiondinners; ladies visited and inspected it, and some even lived withinits lines; but the tone of the army went down gradually, but steadily. During the summer more than one of Beauregard's companies--though ofthe best material and with a brilliant record--had to be mustered outas "useless and insubordinate. " Excellence in drill and attention toduty both decreased; and it was felt by competent judges that rust wasgradually eating away the fabric of the army. This was certainly thefault to a great extent of the officers, though it may, in part, havebeen due to the men themselves. In the beginning these had triedhonestly to choose those among them best fitted for command; but likeall volunteers, they fell into the grave error of choosing the mostpopular. Almost all candidates for office were equally eligible andequally untried; so personal considerations naturally came into play. Once elected, they did their duty faithfully, in the field; but wereeither too weak, or too inexperienced, to keep the strict rules ofdiscipline applied during the trying inactivity of camp; and they weretoo conscious of the social and mental equality of their men to enforcethe distinction between officer and private, without which the commandloses half its weight. In some instances, too, the desire forpopularity and for future advancement at the hands of friends andneighbors introduced a spirit of demagogism hurtful in the extreme. 

For these combined reasons the army of Manassas, which a few weeksbefore had gone so gaily "into the jaws of death, " began rapidly tomildew through warp and woof; and the whole texture seemed on the pointof giving way. 

Thoughtful men--who had waited calmly and coolly when the first burstof impatience had gone up--began now to ask why and how long thislethargy was to continue. They saw its bad effects, but believed thatat the next blast of the bugle every man would shake off the incubusand rise in his might a patriot soldier; they saw the steady stream ofmen from North and West pouring into Washington, to be at once boundand held with iron bands of discipline--the vast preparation in men, equipments, supplies and science that the North was using the preciousdays granted her to get in readiness for the next shock. But they feltconfident that the southern army--if not allowed to rust toolong--would again vindicate the name it had won at Manassas. 

These thinkers saw that some branches of the Government still kept upits preparations. Throughout the length of the land foundries weregoing up, and every improvement that science or experience couldsuggest was making in the construction of arms and ammunition;water-power, everywhere off the line of attack, was utilized forpowder-mills and rope-walks; every cloth factory in the country wassubsidized; and machinery of great variety and power was being importedon Government account. Over Richmond constantly hung a dense cloud ofcoal smoke; and the incessant buzz of machinery from factories, foundries and lathes, told of increased rather than abated effort inthat branch of the Government. Then, too, the most perfect confidencewas felt in the great strategic ability of General Johnston--who hadalready found that high level in the opinion of his countrymen, fromwhich neither the frowns of government, the combination of cliques, northe tongues of slanderers could afterward remove him. 

They believed, too, in the pluck and dash of Beauregard; and, combiningthis with the outside activity, evident in every direction, felt theremust be good and sufficient reason for the--to them--inexplicable quietabout the Potomac. 

But perhaps the very worst feature was the effect of the victory uponthe tone of the people at large. The very tongues that had wagged mostimpatiently at the first delay--that had set in motion the wild storiesby which to account for it--had been the first to become blatant thatthe North was conquered. The minutest details of the fight were carriedover the land, repeated at country courts and amplified at bar-roomassemblages, until the common slang was everywhere heard that oneSouthron was equal to a dozen Yanks. Instead of using the time, sostrangely given by the Government, in making earnest and steady stridestoward increasing the army, improving its _morale_ and adding to itssupplies, the masses of the country were upon a rampage of boastfulness, and the notes of an inflated triumph rang from the Potomac to the Gulf. 

In this regard the effect of the victory was most injurious; and had itnot been for the crushing results--from a strategic point of view--thatwould have followed it, partial defeat might have proved a blessing inits place. 

The one, while it threw a gloom over the country, would have nerved thepeople to renewed exertion and made them look steadily and unwaveringlyat the true dangers that threatened them. The other gave them time tofold their hands and indulge in a complacency, ridiculous as it wasenervating. 

They ceased to realize the vast resources of the Union in men, moneyand supplies; and more than all, they underrated the doggedperseverance of Yankee character. It was as though a young boxer, in adeadly conflict with a giant, had dealt a staggering blow; and whilethe Titan braced his every muscle for a deadlier gripe, the weakerantagonist wasted his time lauding his strength and feeling his biceps. 

Meantime, the keen, hard sense of the Washington Government wasted notime in utilizing the reaction on its people. The press and the publicclamored for a victim, and General Scott was thrown into its mawunhesitatingly. The old hero was replaced by the new, and GeneralMcClellan--whose untried and inexperienced talent could hardly haveaugured his becoming, as he did, the best general of the northernarmy--was elevated to his place to please the "dear public. "

The rabid crowds of men and men-women--whose prurient curiosity haddriven them to follow the great on-to-Richmond, with hopes of a firstview of the triumphant entry of the Grand Army--soon forgot theiruncomfortable and terrified scramble to the rear. They easily changedtheir whine of terror to a song of triumph; and New England Judiths, burning to grasp the hair of the Holofernes over the Potomac, prickedthe flagging zeal of their male companions. 

The peculiar error that they were fighting for the Union and theflag--so cruelly dissipated of late--threw thousands into the ranks;heavy bounties and hopes of plunder drew many more; and the stillfrequent interstices were filled with many an Irish-German amalgam, that was supposed to be peculiarly good food for powder. 

And so the summer wore on, the demoralizing influence of the inactionin the camps of the South increasing toward its close. The affair atLeesburg, occurring on the 20th of October, was another brilliantsuccess, but equally barren of results. It showed that the men wouldstill fight as readily and as fiercely, and that their officers wouldlead them as gallantly, as before; it put a few hundred of the enemy_hors de combat_ and maintained "the right of way" by the river to theSouth. But it was the occasion for another shout of triumph--perfectlyincommensurate with its importance--to go up from the people; and ittaught them still more to despise and underrate the power of thegovernment they had so far successfully and brilliantly defied. 

Elsewhere than on the Potomac line, the case had been a littledifferent. Magruder, on the Peninsula, had gained no success of note. Afew unimportant skirmishes had taken place and the Confederate lineshad been contracted--more from choice than necessity. But the combatantswere near enough--and respected each other enough--for constantwatchfulness to be considered necessary; and, though the _personnel_ ofthe army was, perhaps, not as good as that of the Potomac, in the mainits condition was better. 

At Norfolk nothing had been done but to strengthen the defenses. General Huger had striven to keep his men employed; and they, at least, did not despise the enemy that frowned at them from Fort Monroe, andfrequently sent messages of compliment into their camps from the lipsof the "Sawyer gun. " The echo of the pæans from Manassas came back tothem, but softened by distance and tempered by their own experience--orwant of it. 

In Western Virginia there had been a dull, eventless campaign, ofstrategy rather than action. General Wise had taken command on thefirst of June, and early in August had been followed by General John B. Floyd--the ex-U. S. Secretary of War. 

These two commanders unfortunately disagreed as to means and conduct ofthe campaign; and General R. E. Lee was sent to take general command onthis--his first theater of active service. His management of thecampaign was much criticised in many quarters; and the public verdictseemed to be that, though he had an army of twenty thousand men, tolerablyequipped and familiar with the country, Rosecrans out-manoeuvered himand accomplished his object in amusing so considerable a Confederateforce. Certain it is that, after fronting Lee at Big Sewell for ten ortwelve days, he suddenly withdrew in the night, without giving theformer even a chance for a fight. 

The dissatisfaction was universal and outspoken; nor was it relieved bythe several brilliant episodes of Gauley and Cotton Hill, that GeneralFloyd managed to throw into his dark surroundings. 

It is hard to tell how much foundation the press and the public had forthis opinion. There had been no decisive disaster, if there had been noactual gain; and the main result had been to maim men and show thatboth sides would fight well enough to leave all collisions matters ofdoubt. 

It may not here be out of place to correct a false impression that hascrept into the history of the times regarding General Floyd. Thecourteous press of the North--and not a few political enemies who feltsafety in their distance from him--constantly branded him as "traitor"and "thief. " They averred that he had misused his position and betrayedthe confidence reposed in him as U. S. Secretary of War, to sendgovernment arms into the South in view of the approaching need forthem. Even General Scott--whose position must have given him the meansof knowing better--reiterates these calumnies, the falsity of which theleast investigation exposed at once. 

Mr. Buchanan, in his late book, completely exonerates General Floydfrom this charge; and the committee to whom it was referred reportedthat of 10, 151 rifles distributed by him in 1860, the Southern andSouth-Western states received only 2, 849!

Followed by the hate of one government to receive the coldness of theother, John B. Floyd still strove with all his strength for the causehe loved. 

"After life's fitful fever he sleeps well"

in his dear Virginia soil; and whatever his faults--whatever hiserrors--no honest man, North or South, but must rejoice that hisenemies even acquitted him of this one. 

Then the results elsewhere had not been very encouraging when comparedwith the eastern campaign; though Sterling Price had managed to morethan hold his own against all obstacles, and Jeff Thompson had beendoing great things with little means in south-western Missouri. 

Still, since Rich Mountain, no serious disaster had befallenConfederate arms, and the people were fain to be satisfied. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

FROM COURT TO CAMP. 

The winter of '61-2 set in early, with heavy and continued rains. ByChristmas the whole surface of the country had been more than oncewrapped in heavy snow, leaving lakes of mud over which no wheeled thingcould work its way. 

Active operations--along the whole northern frontier at least--werecertainly suspended until spring; and both armies had gone into winterquarters. Military men agree that a winter in camp is the mostdemoralizing influence to which any troops can be subjected. To the newsoldiers of the South it was a terrible ordeal--not so much from theactual privations they were called upon to endure as from other andmore subtle difficulties, against the imperceptible approaches of whichthey could not guard. The Government had used every effort to make themen comfortable, and to supply them with all necessaries at itsdisposal; but still there were numerous articles it could not command. 

The good caterers at home spared no pains, no exercise of ingenuity, and no pinching from fireside supplies, to make the loved ones in campcomfortable. The country had not begun to feel the effects of actualwant in any quarter; but increased demand had lessened supplies on handand somewhat enhanced prices; so the men were comfortably clothed, fedwith plain, but plentiful and wholesome food, and supplied with all theabsolute necessaries of camp life. In addition to these, boxes of allsizes, shapes and contents came into the camps in a continuous stream;and the thousand nameless trifles--so precious because bearing theimpress of home--were received daily in every mess from the Rio Grandeto the Potomac. Still, as the winter wore on, news from the armiesbecame gloomier and gloomier, and each successive bulletin bore moredispiriting accounts of discontent and privation, sickness and death. Men who had gone into their first fight freely and gaily; who had heardthe whistling of bullets as if it had been accustomed music, gave wayutterly before the unseen foes of "winter quarters. "

Here and there, a disciplinarian of the better sort--who combinedphilosophy with strictness--kept his men in rather better condition byconstant watching, frequent and regular drills, rapid marches forexercise, and occasional change of camp. But this was the exception, and the general tone was miserable and gloomy. This could in part beaccounted for by the inexperience of the men, and of their immediatecommanders--the company officers--in whose hands their health andspirits were in no small degree reposed. They could not be brought tothe use of those little appliances of comfort that camp life, even inthe most unfavorable circumstances, can afford--strict attention to theutmost cleanliness in their persons and huts; care in the preparationof their food, and in its cookery; and careful adherence to the simplehygienic rules laid down in constant circulars from the medical andother departments. Where men live and sleep in semi-frozen mud, andbreathe an atmosphere of mist and brush smoke--and every one knows thewonderfully penetrating power of camp-fire smoke--it is not to beexpected that their comfort is enviably great; especially where theyhave left comfortable homes, and changed their well-prepared, ifsimple, food for the hard and innutritious army ration. But suchcreatures of habit are we that, after a little, we manage by propercare to make even that endurable. 

Soldiers are like children, and require careful watching and constantreminding that these small matters--which certainly make up the sum ofcamp life--should be carefully attended to for their own good. Rigiddiscipline in their enforcement is necessary in the beginning to getnovices properly started in the grooves. Once set going, they soonbecome matters of course. But once let soldiers get accustomed tocareless and slovenly habits, and no amount of orders, or punishment, can undo the mischief. Unfortunately, the armies of the South beganwrong this first winter, and the descent was easy; and they made thenew road upon which they had entered far harder than necessary, byneglecting landmarks so plainly written that he who runs may read. _Nostalgia_--that scourge of camps--appeared in stubborn and alarmingform; and no exertion of surgeon, or general, served to check ordecrease it. Men, collected from cities, accustomed to stated hours ofbusiness and recreation, and whose minds were accustomed to someexercise and excitement, naturally drooped in the monotony of a campknee in mire, where the only change from the camp-fire--with stew-pansimmering on it and long yarns spinning around it--was heavy sleep in adamp hut, or close tent, wrapped in a musty blanket and lulled by thesnoring of half a dozen comrades. 

Hale, sturdy countrymen, accustomed to regular exercise and hard work, with nothing to do all day but sun themselves and polish theirbayonets, naturally moped and pined for the homes that were missingthem so sorely. They, too, found the smoky blaze of the camp-fire but asorry substitute for the cheerful hearth, where memory pictured thecomely wife and the sturdy little ones. The hardy mountaineer, pent andconfined to a mud-bound acre, naturally molded and panted for the freshbreezes and rough tramps of his far-away "roost. "

The general morality of the camps was good, but praying is a sorrysubstitute for dry homes and good food; and, though chaplains wereearnest and zealous, the men gradually found cards more exciting thanexhortations. They turned from the "wine of life" to the canteen of"new dip" with a spiteful thirst. There were attempts by the higherofficers--which proved abortive--to discountenance gambling; and themost stringent efforts of provost-marshals to prevent the introductionof liquor to camp reduced the quantity somewhat, but brought down thequality to the grade of a not very slow poison. 

Being much in the numerous camps that winter, I was struck with theuniversal slouch and depression in ranks where the custom had beenquick energy and cheerful faces. Through the whole army was thatenervating moldiness, lightened only by an occasional gleam from those"crack companies" so much doubted in the beginning of the war. 

It had been thought that the gay young men of cities, used to thesedentary life of profession, or counting-room--and perhaps to theirregularities of the midnight dinner and next-morning ball--that thesemen, steady and unflinching as they might be under fire--and willing asthey seemed to undertake "what man dare" in danger or privation, wouldcertainly break down under the fatigues of the first campaign. 

They had, on the contrary, in every instance that came under my ken, gone through that campaign most honorably; had borne the marches, themost trying weather and the greatest straits of hunger, with anelasticity of mind and muscle that had long since astounded andsilenced their most active scoffers. Now, in the bitter depths ofwinter, they went through the dull routine of camp, cheerful andbuoyant, at all times ready for their duty, and never grumbling at thewearing strain they felt to be necessity. When I say that in everyConfederate camp _the best_ soldiers of that winter were "crackcompanies" of the gay youths of the cities, I only echo the verdict ofold and tried officers. Where all did their duty nobly, comparison wereinvidious; but the names of "Company F, " the Mobile Cadets, theRichmond Blues, and Washington Artillery, stand on the record of thosedark days as proof of the statement. Many men from the ranks of thesecompanies had already been promoted to high positions, but they had notyet lost their distinctive characteristics as _corps d' élite_; andadmission to their ranks was as eagerly sought as ever. A strange factof these companies was frequently stated by surgeons of perfectreliability: their sick reports were much smaller than those of thehardiest mountain organizations. This they attributed to two causes:greater attention to personal cleanliness and to all hygienicprecautions; and the exercise of better trained minds and wills keepingthem free from the deadly "blue devils. " Numbers of them, of course, broke down at once. Many a poor fellow who would have achieved abrilliant future perished mid the mud of Manassas, or slept under thesnowy slopes of the western mountains. The practice was kill or cure, but it was in a vast majority of cases, the latter; and men who stoodthe hardship thrived upon it. 

The Marylanders, too, were a marvel of patience. Self-made exiles, notonly from the accustomed comforts of home, but cut off fromcommunication with their absent ones and harrowed by vague stones ofwrong and violence about them--it would have been natural had theyyielded to the combined strain on mind and matter. At midwinter I hadoccasion to visit Evansport and Acquia creek. It had been bitter cold;a sudden thaw had made the air raw and keen, while my horse went to hisgirths at every plunge. More than once I had to dismount in miregirth-deep to help him on. Suddenly I came upon a Maryland camp--supportsto a battery. Some of the soldiers I had known as the gayest and mostpetted of ball-room and club; and now they were cutting wood and fryingbacon, as if they had never done anything else. Hands that never beforefelt an ax-helve plied it now as if for life; eyes that were accustomedto look softly into

 "The sweetest eyes that ever were, "

in the pauses of a waltz, now peered curiously in the reeking stew-pan. Many of their names recalled the history of days long gone, for theirfather's fathers had moved in stately pageant down its brightest pages;and blood flowed in their veins blue as the proudest of earth'snobility. They had left affluence, luxury, the caresses of home--and, harder than all, the habits of society--for what?

Was it thoughtlessly to rush foremost in the delirious shock ofbattle; to carelessly stand unflinchingly where the wing of deathflapped darkest over the glare of the fight; to stand knee-deep inVirginia mud, with high boots and rough shirts, and fry moldy baconover fires of wet brush? Or was it that the old current in theirveins bounded hotly when they believed a wrong was doing; that allelse--home--luxury--love--life!--faded away before the might ofprinciple?

It was an odd meeting with the crowd that collected about me andanxiously asked the news from Richmond, from abroad, but above all, from home. Bronzed and bearded, their huge boots caked with Potomac mudand rough shirts open at their sunburnt throats; chapped hands andfaces grimy with smoke and work, there was yet something about thesemen that spoke them, at a glance, raised above the herd. John Leech, who so reveled in the "Camps at Cobham, " would here have found acompanion-piece for the opposition of the picture. 

"Hello, old boy! any news from home?" yelled a whiskered sergeant, jumping from a log where he was mending a rent in his pants, and givingme a hand the color of his favorite tan gloves in days langsyne--"Pretty tight work up here, you see, but we manage to keepcomfortable!"--God save the mark!

"What do you think Bendann would give for a negative of me?" asked asplendid fellow leaning on an ax, the rapid strokes of which he stilledat my approach--"Not a half bad thing for a fancy ball, eh?" Charlesstreet had no nattier man than the speaker in days gone; and thetailors had found him their pearl beyond price. But Hilberg's best wasnow replaced by a flannel shirt with many a rent, army pants and ajacket that had been gray, before mud and smoke had brought it near theunity of Joseph's best garment. 

"I'd show well at the club--portrait of a gentleman?" he added lightly. 

"Pshaw! Look at _me_! There's a boot for a junior assembly! Wouldn'tthat make a show on a waxed floor?" and little Charley H. Grinned allthe way across his fresh, fair face, as he extended a foot protrudingfrom what had been a boot. 

"D----l take your dress! Peel those onions, Charley!" cried a baldheadedman from the fire--"Don't your heart rise at the scent of this _olla_, my boy? Don't it bring back our dinners at the Spanish legation? Stayand dine with us--if Charley ever has those onions done--and you'llfeast like a lord-mayor! By the way, last letters from home tell methat Miss Belle's engaged to John Smith. You remember her that night atMrs. R. 's fancy ball?"

"Wouldn't mind having a bottle of Mrs. R. 's sherry now to tone up theseonions, " Charley said ruefully. "It _would_ go well with that stew, takenout of a tin cup--eh, cookey?"

"We had lots better at the club, " the cook said, thoughtfully stirringthe mess on the fire--"It was laid in before you were born, Charley. Those were days, boys--but we'll drink many a bottle of it yet underthe stars and bars!"

"That we will, old man! and I'll carry these boots to a junior assemblyyet. But I _would_ like a bottle of old Mrs. R. 's to drink now, _fautede mieux_, to the health of the Baltimore girls--God bless 'em!"

"That I would, too, " said the sergeant. "But that's the hard part ofit!"--and he stuck his needle viciously through the pants--"I alwaysget savage when I think of our dear women left unpro----"

"No particular one, sergeant? You don't mean Miss Mamie on Charlesstreet, do you? Insatiate archer!" cried Charley. 

"Do your cooking, you imp! I mean my dear old mother and my sicksister. D----n this smoke! It will get in a fellow's eyes!"

When Miss Todd gave her picnic in the valley of Jehoshaphat and talkedLondon gossip under the olives, it was an odd picture; it is strange tosee the irrepressible English riding hurdles in the Campagna, andtalking of ratting in the shadow of the Parthenon, as though within thebeloved chimes of Bow; but it was stranger still to see thoseroughened, grimed men, with soleless boots and pants tattered "as if animp had worn them, " rolling out town-talk and well-known names in suchperfectly natural manner. 

And this was only a slice from any camp in the service. The gentlementroops stood hardships better, and bore their troubles and difficultieswith lighter hearts, than any of the mixed corps. It is true that fewof them were left as organizations at the end of the war. 

As the army increased, men of ability and education naturally sifted tohigher place; but they wore their spurs after they had won them. Theygot their commissions when they had been through the baptism of bloodand fire, and of mud and drudgery as well. They never flinched. Thedreariest march--the shortest rations--the deepest snow and themidnight "long roll"--found them ready and willing. History furnishesno parallel. The bloods of the cavalier wars rode hard and foughtlong. They went to the battle with the jest upon their lips, andwalked gaily to the scaffold if need be. But they not only died asgentlemen--they lived as they died. Their perfumed locks were neverdraggled in the mire of the camp, and their silken hose never smirchedbut in the fray. Light songs from dainty lips and brimming gobletsfrom choice _flacons_ were theirs; and they could be merry to-night ifthey died to-morrow. 

The long rapiers of the Regency flashed as keen in the smoke of thefight as the jest had lately rung in the mistress' bower; and how the_blasé_ club man and the lisping dandy of Rotten Row could change tothe avenging war god, the annals of the "Light Brigade" can tell. 

But these lived as gentlemen. In the blackest hour, when none believed"the king should have his own again;" in the deadliest fray and in thesnow-bound trench, _they_ waved the sword of command, and the onlyequality they had with their men was who should fight the furthest. 

But here were gentlemen born--men of worth and wealth, education andfashion--delving side by side with the veriest drudge; fighting as onlygentlemen can fight, and then working as gentlemen never worked before!

Delicately bred youths who had never known rougher work than the _deuxtemps_, now trudged through blinding snows on post, or slept inblankets stiff with freezing mud; hands that had felt nothing harderthan billiard-cue or cricket-bat now wielded ax and shovel as men neverwielded them for wages; the epicure of the club mixed a steaming stewof rank bacon and moldy hard-tack and then--ate it!

And all this they did without a murmur, showing an example of steadfastresolution and unyielding pluck to the hardier and tougher soldiers bythem; writing on the darkest page of history the clear axiom: _Bonsang ne peut mentir!_

CHAPTER XVIII. 

SOCIETY AT THE CAPITAL. 

But while everything was dull and lifeless in the camps of the South, afar different aspect was presented by its Capital. There was a stir andbustle new to quiet Richmond. Congress had brought crowds of attachésand hangers-on; and every department had its scores of dependents. Officers from all quarters came in crowds to spend a short furlough, orto attend to some points of interest to their commands before thebureaux of the War Department. The full hotels showed activity and lifeunknown to them. Business houses, attracted by the increased demands oftrade and the new channels opened by Government necessities, sprang upon all sides; and the stores--though cramped by the blockade--began tobrush off their dust and show their best for the new customers. Everybranch of industry seemed to receive fresh impetus; and houses that hadfor years plodded on in moldy obscurity shot, with the rapidity ofJonah's gourd, up to first-class business. 

The streets presented a scene of unwonted activity; and Franklinstreet--the promenade _par excellence_, vied with "the avenue" inthe character and variety of the crowds that thronged its pavement. Themajority of the promenaders were officers, their uniforms contrastingbrightly with the more quiet dresses around. While many of them werestrangers, and the peculiarities of every State showed in the facesthat passed in rapid panorama, yet numbers of "Richmond boys" came backfor a short holiday; almost every one bringing his laurels and hiscommission. 

My friend, Wyatt, had kept his laughing promise, and showed me acaptain's bars. General Breckinridge had found him hiding in the ranks, and had added A. A. G. To his title. 

"Knew it, old man!" was his comment--"Virtue must be rewarded--merit, like water, will find its level. Captain Wyatt, A. A. G. --demnition neat, eh? Now, I'll be here a month, and we must do something in the socialline. I find the women still industry mad; but the sewing-circles getup small _dullabilities_--'danceable teas, ' as papa Dodd abroad callsthem. They're not splendid to a used-up man, like you--not Paris noryet Washington, but they'll show you our people. "

And Wyatt was right. The people of Richmond had at first held up theirhands in holy horror at the mere mention of amusement! What! with a warin the land must people enjoy themselves? Never! it would be heartless!

But human nature in Virginia is pretty much like human natureeverywhere else; and bad as the war was, people gradually got used to"the situation. " They had lost friends--a relation or two was prettybadly marked perhaps--but what glory the tens and hundreds left hadgained! There was no fighting now; and the poor fellows in camp wouldbe only too glad to know that their brothers-in-arms were being paidfor their toils by the smiles of the fair. The great majority of thestrangers, too, were young men who had been recommended to the mercy ofthe society by these very sufferers in camp. 

Gradually these influences worked--the younger and gayer peopleindulged in the "danceable teas, " Wyatt spoke of, after theirsewing-circles. Imperceptibly the sewing was left for other times; andby Christmas there was a more constant--if less formal andgeneral--round of gaiety than had been known for years. This broughtthe citizens and strangers more together, and naturally the result wasa long season of more regular parties and unprecedented gaiety. Manystill frowned at this, and, as usual, made unhappy Washington thescapegoat--averring that her pernicious example of heartlessness andfrivolity had worked the evil. 

These rigid Romans staid at home and worked on zealously in theirmanufacture of warm clothing, deformed socks and impossible gloves forthe soldier boys. All honor to them for their constancy, if theythought they were right, and the harmless gaiety wrong; and they foughtthe good fight, from behind their _abatis_ of knitting needles, onlywith the innocent weapons of tongue and precept. But human nature andinclination still held their own; and there were many defections fromthe ranks of the elect, to those of the more practical--and probablyequally well-intentioned--pleasure-seekers. 

But parties were by no means the only resource for pleasure-lovers. Anything that combined amusement and put dollars in the treasuries ofcharitable societies became the rage; and here the rigidly virtuous andthe non-elect met on neutral ground. Among the amateurs of the citywere some who would have taken high rank in any musical circle, andthese gave a series of concerts for the benefit of distressed familiesof the soldiers. The performers were the most fashionable of thesociety; and, of course, the judgment of their friends--who crowded tooverflowing the churches where the concerts were held--was not to berelied on. But critics from New Orleans and all parts of the Southdeclared the performances creditable to any city. After them theaudience broke up into little cliques and had the jolliest littlesuppers the winter produced, with the inevitable "lancers" until thesmallest of small hours. 

Then, there were charades and tableaux parties; while a few--moreambitious of histrionic fame--got up private theatricals. Altogether, in the gay set, the first winter of the war was one to be written inred letters, for old Richmond rang with a chime of merry laughter thatfor the time drowned the echo of the summer's fights and the groans ofthe wayside hospitals. 

One unique point in the society of Richmond struck me with a constantlyrecurring surprise. I could not get accustomed to the undisputedsupremacy of the unmarried element that almost entirely composed it. Itconstantly seemed to me that the young people had seized the societywhile their elders' heads were turned, and had run away with it for abrief space; and I always looked to see older people come in, withreproof upon their brows, and take charge of it again. But I looked invain. One day at a dinner, I remarked this to my next neighbor;suggesting that it was only because of the war. She was one of the mostcharming women the society could boast--scarcely more than a bride, just out of her teens, beautiful, accomplished and very gay. 

"Strangers always remark this, " she answered; "but it is not the resultof the war, or of the influx of strangers, as you suppose. Since I canremember, only unmarried people have been allowed to go to parties bythe tyrants of seventeen who control them. We married folks do therequisite amount of visiting and teaing-out; and sometimes even rise inour wrath and come out to dinner. But as for a party--no! As soon as agirl is married, she must make up her mind to pay her bridal visits, dance a few weeks upon sufferance and then fold up her party dresses. No matter how young, how pretty, or how pleasant she may be, theNemesis pursues her and she must succumb. The pleasant Indian idea oftaking old people to the river bank and leaving them for the tide, isoverstrictly carried out by our celibate Brahmins. Marriage is ourGanges. Don't you wonder how we ever dare to declare ourselves oldenough?"

I did wonder; for it had always been a hobby of mine that a certainamount of the married leaven was necessary in every society to give ittone and stamina. Though the French principle of excluding youngladies from all social intercourse, and giving the patent of society to_Madame_, may be productive of more harm than good, the converse seemsequally objectionable. I can recollect no society in which some of themost pleasant memories do not center around the intercourse with itsmarried portion. Richmond is no exception to the rule. In the South, women marry younger than in the colder states; and it often happensthat the very brightest and most attractive points of character donot mature until an age when they have gotten their establishment. Theeducation of the Virginia girl is so very different in all essentialpoints from that of the northerner of the same station, that she isfar behind her in self-reliance and _aplomb_. There is, doubtless, muchin native character, but more in early surroundings and the habitof education. The southerner, more languid and emotional, but lessself-dependent--even if equally "up in" showier accomplishments--is notformed to shine most at an early stage of her social career. Firmerfoothold and more intimate knowledge of its intricacies are necessaryto her, before she takes her place as a woman of the world. 

Hence, I was much puzzled to account for the patent fact that thebetter matured of its flowers should be so entirely suppressed, in theRichmond bouquet, by the half-opened buds. These latter, doubtless, gave a charming promise of bloom and fragrance when they came to theirfull; but too early they left an effect of immaturity and crudity uponthe sense of the unaccustomed. Yet Richmond had written over theportals of its society: Who enters here no spouse must leave behind!and the law was of the Medan. A stranger within their gates had noright to cavil at a time-honored custom; but not one could spend awinter week in the good old town, and fail to have this sense ofunfinishedness in her society fabric. 

The fair daughters of the Capital are second to none in beauty, graceand the higher charm of pure womanhood. Any assembly showed fresh, bright and gentle faces, with constant pretty ones, and an occasionalmarked beauty. There is a peculiar, lithe grace, normal to the South, that is hard to describe; and, on the whole, even when not beautiful, there is a _je ne sais quoi_ that renders her women very attractive. 

The male element at parties ranged from _passé_ beau to the boy withthe down still on his cheek--ancient bachelors and young husbands alikehad the open sesame. But if a married lady, however young in years orwifehood, passed the forbidden limits by accident--_Væ victis!_

She was soon made to feel that the sphere of the mated was pantryor nursery--not the ball-room. To stranger dames--if young andlively--justice a little less stern was meted; but even they, after afew offenses, were made to feel how hard is the way of the transgressor. 

In a community like Richmond, where every one in the circle had playedtogether in childhood, or was equally intimate, such a state of thingsmight readily obtain. In a larger city, never. It spoke volumes for thepurity and simplicity of the society that for years it had gone onthus, and no necessity for any matronage had been felt. But now thecase was different--a large promiscuous element of military guests wasthrown into it; and it struck all that society must change itsprimitive habit. 

The village custom still prevailed in this--a gentleman could call fora lady--take her in his charge alone and without any chaperone--to aparty and bring her back at the "we sma' hours. " This was not onlywell, as long as the "Jeanette and Jenot" state of society prevailed, but it told convincingly the whole story of the honest truth of men andwomen. But with the sudden influx--when a wolf might so readily haveimitated the guise of the lamb--a slight hedge of form could in nomanner have intimated a necessity for it. Yet Richmond, in the proudconsciousness of her simple purity, disdained all such precautions; andthe informalities of the country town obtained in the salons of thenation's Capital. 

But parties were not the only hospitalities the wanderers received atthe hands of the Virginians. In no state in the country one becomesdomesticated so soon as in the Old Dominion. You may come to any of itstowns a perfect stranger, but with a name known to one prominentcitizen, or fortified with a few letters from the right source, and ina time astonishingly short you find yourself at home. This has beentime out of mind Virginian custom; and as Richmond is but a condensationof all that is Virginian, it prevailed here as well. If the strangerdid not give himself up to the whirl and yield himself, "rescue or norescue, " to the lance of the unmarried, he could find, behind the_chevaux de frise_ of clashing knitting-needles, the most genialwelcome and most whole-souled hospitality. 

"Stupid party last night--too full, " criticised Wyatt, as he lounged inmy room one morning. "You seemed bored, old man, though I saw you withNell H. Desperate flirt--pretty, too! But take my advice; let heralone. It don't pay to flirt. "--The ten years between the captain andmyself were to _my_ credit on Time's ledger--"It's all very well tostick up your pennon and ride gaily into the lists to break a lancewith all comers. Society cries _laissez aller!_ and her old dowagersshower _largesse_. Presto! my boy, and you find your back on the grassand your heels in the air. But I've some steady-going cousins I want tointroduce you to. Suit you exactly. "

Confound the boy! Where did he get that idea? But I was introduced tothe "steady-going cousins" and to me now the Richmond of memory beginsand ends in their circle. The jovial, pleasant family dinner around theold-time board; the consciousness of ready welcome to the socialfireside, or partake of the muffin at eight, or the punch--brewed verynear Father Tom's receipt--at midnight. Then the never-to-be-forgottencoterie of the brightest women of the day under the shaded droplight, in the long winter evenings! And none were excluded by the "steadygoers" because they had committed matrimony. They did quantities ofwork that season; baskets of socks, bales of shirts and boxes ofgloves, in numbers marvelous to see, went from that quiet circle towarm the frozen hands and feet, keeping watch and ward for them. Andthe simple words of cheer and love that went with them must have warmedhearts far colder than beat under the rough shirts they sent. 

And never did the genial current of talk--sometimes chatty, sometimesbrilliant--flag for a moment. The foremost men of government andarmy were admitted, and I doubt if ever the most ardent of theunmarried--wilting in the lancers, or deliquescing in the _deuxtemps_--found very much more genuine enjoyment than the "easy goers, "over their distorted socks and impracticable gloves. 

They talked of books, events and people, and no doubt gossiped hugely;but though some of the _habitués_ were on the shady side of thirty andwere sedately walking in the quiet parts of spinsterhood, I never heardone bitter--far less one scandalous, word!

_Ferat qui meruit palmam!_ Let the green leaves adorn those wonderfulwomen!

But the novelty most remarked in the society of this winter was thehousehold of President Davis. Soon after the Government was firmlyestablished in Richmond, the State of Virginia placed at his disposal aplain but comfortable house; and here--with only the ladies of hisfamily and his private secretary--he lived with the quiet simplicity ofa private citizen. 

It will hardly be invading her _sacra privata_ to say that thePresident's lady did everything to remove false ideas that sprung upregarding the social atmosphere of the "Executive Mansion. " She was "athome" every evening; and, collecting round her a staff that numberedsome of the most noted men and brilliant women both of the stranger andresident society, assured all her varied guests a warm welcome and apleasant visit. In this circle Mr. Davis would, after the tryingbusiness of the day, give himself an hour's relaxation before enteringon labors that went far into the night; and favored friends and chancevisitors alike here met the man, where they expected the official. 

Austere and thoughtful at all times, rarely unbending to show the veinof humor hidden deep under his stern exterior, and having besides "thedivinity that doth hedge" even a republican president, Mr. Davis wasnever calculated for personal popularity. Even in the early days of hiscareer he forced by his higher qualities--rather than sought by thearts of a trickster--the suffrages of his people; and they continued tocast their shells for him, even while they clamored that he was "theJust. "

Whatever grave errors reflecting criticisms may lay at his door;whatever share in the ruin of the South, the future historians mayascribe to his unswerving self-will and unvarying faith in his ownpower--no one who traces his career from West Point to the New SaintHelena--will call them failings of the demagogue. 

In these informal receptions of his lady, Mr. Davis said little;listening to the varied flow of talk that showed her equally cognizantand appreciative of social, literary and sterner topics. For theedification of the gayer visitor, she related odd experiences of herpublic life, with rare power of description and admirable flashes ofhumor. She discussed the latest book with some of the small _littérateurs_with whom she was infested; or talked knowingly of the last picture, orthe newest opera, faint echoes from which might elude the grim blockaderson the coast. 

Mr. Davis spoke little, seeming to find a refreshing element in hertalk, that--as she pithily said of some one else--was like tea, thatcheers but not inebriates. Occasionally he clinched an argument, orgave a keener point to an idea by a short, strong sentence. 

After all had partaken of the cup of tea handed round informally, Mr. Davis retired to his study and once more donned his armor for battlewith the giants without and the dwarfs within his territory. 

These informal "evenings" began to grow popular with the better classof Virginians, and tended to a much more cordial tone between thecitizens and their chief. They were broken by bi-monthly "levees, " atwhich Mr. And Mrs. Davis received "the world and his wife. "

But the formal "levee" was a Washington custom and smacked too much ofthe "old concern" to become very popular, although curiosity to see theman of the hour and to assist at an undress review of the celebritiesof the new nation, thronged the parlors each fortnight. A military bandwas always in attendance; the chiefs of cabinet and bureaux moved aboutthe crowd; and generals--who had already won names to liveforever--passed, with small hands resting lightly on their chevrons, and bright eyes speaking most eloquently that old truism about who bestdeserve the fair. 

More than once that winter General Johnston moved through therooms--followed by all eyes and calling up memories of subtle strategyand hard-won victory. Sometimes the burly form of Longstreet appeared, ever surrounded by those "little people" in whom he delighted; and theblonde beard of Hood--whose name already began to shine with promise ofits future brilliance--towered over the throng of leading editors, "senior wranglers" from both houses of Congress, and dancing menwasting their time in the vain effort to talk. 

But not only the chosen ten thousand were called. Sturdy artisans, withtheir best coats and hands scrubbed to the proper point of cleanlinessfor shaking the President's, were always there. Moneyed men came, withspeculation in their eyes, and lobby members trying to throw dusttherein; while country visitors--having screwed their courage up to thedesperate point of being presented--always dropped Mr. Davis' hand asif its not over-cordial grasp burned them. 

But the "levees" on the whole, if odd exhibitions, were at least usefulin letting the "dear public" have a little glimpse of the innerworkings of the great machine of government. And they proved, even morethan the social evenings, the ease of right with which Varina HowellDavis wore her title of "the first lady in the land. "

The men of Richmond have spoken for themselves. They wrote the historyof their class when they came forward--one and all, to sacrificeease--affluence--life for the cause they felt to be just. There weresome, as I shall hereafter endeavor to show, who were dwellers withthem, but were not of them. These did nothing and gave nothingwillingly for a cause in which they saw only a speculation. This is notthe place to speak of such. They belong not to the goodly company ofthose who--whatever their weaknesses, or even their errors--proclaimedthemselves honest men and chivalric gentlemen. 

The young men of the whole South are off-hand and impulsive; eithernaturally careless in pecuniary matters, or made so by habit. Sowingwild oats is an almost universal piece of farming; and the crop is asluxuriant in the mountains of Virginia as in the overflowed lands ofLouisiana. 

Perhaps in Richmond they were not now seen from the most advantageouspoint of view. They were generally young planters from the country, reckless, jovial and prone to the lighter dissipations; or the youngbusiness and professional men, who rebounded from the routine of theirformer lives into a little extra rapidity. One and all--for the eyesthey sought would not have looked upon them else--they had gone intothe army; had fought and wrought well; and now with little to do, booncompanionship and any amount of petting, they were paying for it. Theconstant strain of excitement produced much dissipation certainly--butit seldom took the reprehensible form of rowdyism and debauch. Some mendrank deeply--at dinners, at balls and at bar-rooms; some gambled, asVirginians always had gambled--gaily, recklessly and for ruinousstakes. But find them where you would, there was about the men acareless pervading _bonhomie_ and a natural high tone resistlesslyattractive, yet speaking them worthy descendants of the "Golden HorseShoe Knights. "

As yet the influence of the Government was little felt socially. Thepresence of a large congregation of army men from the various camps hadgiven an impetus to gaiety it would not otherwise have known; but thiswas all. There was little change in the habits and tone of socialintercourse. The black shadow of Washington had not yet begun to spreaditself, and its corrupt breath had not yet polluted the atmosphere ofthe good old town. 

The presence of Congress, with its ten thousand followers, would hardlybe considered as elevating anywhere. There is an odor of tobacco--ofrum--of discredit--of anything but sanctity about the Americanpolitician that makes his vicinage unpleasant and unprofitable. 

Congress had met in the quiet halls of the Virginia legislature. Atfirst all Richmond flocked thither, crowding galleries and lobbies tosee the might and intellect of the new nation in its most augustaspect; to be refreshed and strengthened by the full streams thatflowed from that powerful but pure and placid fountain; to hear wordsthat would animate the faint and urge the ready to braver and higherdeeds. 

Perhaps they did not hear all this; for after a little they stoppedgoing, and the might and majesty of the new giant's intellect was leftseverely to itself. Of the herd of camp-followers who over-flowed thehotels and filled the streets, little note was taken. An occasionalcurious stare--a semi-occasional inquiry as to who they were--and theypassed even up Franklin street without more remark. To the reallyworthy in government or army, the cordial hand of honest welcome wasextended. 

The society unvaryingly showed its appreciation of excellence ofintellect or character, and such as were known, or found to possess it, were at once received on the footing of old friends. But on the whole, the sentiment of the city was not in favor of the run of the newcomers. The leaders of society kept somewhat aloof, and the generalpopulation gave them the sidewalk. It was as though a stately andvenerable charger, accustomed for years to graze in a comfortablepasture, were suddenly intruded on by an unsteady and vicious drove ofbad manners and low degree. The thoroughbred can only condescend toturn away. 

Willing as they were to undergo anything for the cause, the Virginianscould not have relished the savor of the new importations; nor can onewho knows the least of the very unclean nature of our national politicsfor a moment wonder. 

Montgomery had been a condensed and desiccated preparation of theWashington stew, highly flavored with the raciest vices. Richmondenjoyed the same mess, with perhaps an additional kernel or two of thatgarlic. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

DAYS OF DEPRESSION. 

The proverb that misfortunes never come singly soon became a painfulverity in the South; and a terrible reaction began to still thehigh-beating pulses of her triumph. 

The merry echoes of the winter had not yet died away, when it becameoppressingly apparent that proper methods had not been taken to meetthe steady and persevering preparations of the North. Disaster afterdisaster followed the arms of the South in close succession; and thespirits of all classes fell to a depth the more profound, from theirelevation of previous joyance. 

As early as the 29th of the previous August, a naval expedition underCommodore Stringham had, after a short bombardment, reduced the fortsat Hatteras Inlet. In the stream of gratulation following Manassas, this small event had been carried out of sight; and even the conquestof Port Royal, South Carolina, by Admiral Dupont's fleet, on the 7th ofNovember, had been looked upon as one of those little mischances thatonly serve to shade all pictures of general victory. 

They were not taken for what they really were--proofs of the entirelydefenseless condition of an immense sweep of coast, in the face of theheavy and increasing naval armament of the United States. They wereconsidered reverses merely; inquiry went but little deeper and thelesson they should have taught was lost; while the inexplicabletardiness of the War Department left still more important pointsequally defenseless. 

But the news of General Crittenden's utter defeat at Mill Springs, onthe 17th of January--of the disastrous results of his miscalculation, or misguided impetuosity, and of the death of Zollicoffer--came withstunning effect; opening wide the eyes of the whole country to thecondition in which apathy, or mismanagement, had left it. 

As usual, too, in the popular estimate of a success, or a reverse, thepublic laid much stress on the death of Zollicoffer, who was a favoriteboth with them and the army. He was declared uselessly sacrificed, andhis commanding general and the Government came in for an equal share ofpopular condemnation. 

Mr. Davis soon afterward relieved Secretary Walker from the duties ofthe War Office; putting Mr. Benjamin in his seat as temporaryincumbent. The latter, as before stated, was known as a shrewd lawyer, of great quickness of perception, high cultivation, and some grasp ofmind; but there was little belief among the people that he was fit tocontrol a department demanding decision and independence, combined withintimate knowledge of military matters. Besides Mr. Benjamin personallyhad become exceedingly unpopular with the masses. Whether this arosefrom the unaccountable influence he--and he alone--had with his chief, or whether the busy tongues of his private enemies received too readycredence, is hard to say. But so the fact was; and his elevation gaverise to scurrilous attacks, as well as grave forebodings. Both servedequally to fix Mr. Davis in the reasons he had believed good enough forhis selection. 

Suddenly, on the 7th of February, Roanoke Island fell!

Constant as had been the warnings of the press, unremittingly asGeneral Wise had besieged the War Department, and blue as was the moodof the public--the blow still fell like a thunder-clap and shook to thewinds the few remaining shreds of hope. General Wise was ill in bed;and the defense--conducted by a militia colonel with less than onethousand raw troops--was but child's play to the immense armada withheaviest metal that Burnside brought against the place. 

Roanoke Island was the key to General Huger's position at Norfolk. Itsfall opened the Sounds to the enemy and, besides paralyzing Huger'srear communications, cut off more than half his supplies. The defeatwas illustrated by great, if unavailing, valor on the part of theuntrained garrison; by a plucky and determined fight of the littlesquadron under Commodore Lynch; and by the brilliant courage and deathof Captain O. Jennings Wise--a gallant soldier and noble gentleman, whose popularity was deservedly great. 

But, the people felt that a period must be put to these mistakes; andso great was their clamor that a congressional committee investigatedthe matter; and their report declared that the disaster lay at the doorof the War Department. The almost universal unpopularity of theSecretary made this a most acceptable view, even while an effort wasmade to shift part of the blame to General Huger's shoulders. Butwherever the fault, the country could not shake off the gloom that sucha succession of misfortunes threw over it. 

This feeling was, if possible, increased, and the greatest uneasinesscaused in all quarters, by Burnside's capture of Newbern, NorthCarolina, on the 4th of March. Its defenses had just been completed atheavy cost; but General Branch, with a garrison of some 5, 000 men, madea defense that resulted only in complete defeat and the capture of evenhis field artillery. Here was another point, commanding another supplycountry of great value to the commissariat, lost to the South. Butworse still, its occupation gave the Federals an easy base for strikingat the Weldon railroad. 

Nowhere was the weakness of the South throughout the war shown morefully than in her utterly inefficient transportation. Here were thedemands of the army of Virginia and of a greatly-increased populationin and around Richmond, supplied by one artery of communication!Seemingly every energy of the Government should have been turned toutilizing some other channel; but, though the Danville branch toGreensboro'--of only forty miles in length--had been projected morethan a year, at this time not one rail had been laid. 

It is almost incredible, when we look back, that the Government shouldhave allowed its very existence to depend upon this one line--theWeldon road; running so near a coast in possession of the enemy, andthus liable at any moment to be cut by a raiding party. Yet so it was. The country was kept in a state of feverish anxiety for the safety ofthis road; and a large body of troops diverted for its defense, thatelsewhere might have decided many a doubtful battle-field. Theirpresence was absolutely necessary; for, had they been withdrawn and theroad tapped above Weldon, the Virginia army could not have beensupplied ten days through other channels, and would have been obligedto abandon its lines and leave Richmond an easy prey. 

Meanwhile the North had collected large and splendidly-equipped armiesof western men in Kentucky and Tennessee, under command of GeneralsGrant and Buell. The new Federal patent, "the Cordon, " was about to beapplied in earnest. Its coils had already been unpleasantly felt on theAtlantic seaboard; General Butler had "flashed his battle blade"--thatwas to gleam, afterward, so bright at Fort Fisher and Dutch Gap--andhad prepared an invincible armada for the capture of New Orleans; andsimultaneously the armies under Buell were to penetrate into Tennesseeand divide the systems of communication between Richmond and the Southand West. 

General Albert Sidney Johnston was sent to meet these preparations, with all the men that could be spared from Western Virginia and thepoints adjacent to his line of operations. Still his force was veryinadequate in numbers and appointment; while to every application formore men, the War Department replied that none could be spared him. 

The Federal plan was to advance their armies along the watercourses, simultaneously with their gunboats--light draught constructionsprepared expressly for such service; and, penetrating to any possiblepoint, there form depots with water communication to their base. TheTennessee and Cumberland rivers were plainly their highways. The onlydefenses of these streams were Forts Henry and Donelson--weak worksinefficiently garrisoned; for the half million appropriated by Congressfor their defense at the eleventh hour could not have been used intime, even had the money been forthcoming from the treasury. 

With scarcely a check to their progress, the Federals reduced andpassed Fort Henry on the 4th of February, pressing on to Donelson, intoand supporting which work, General Johnston had thrown General J. B. Floyd with some ten thousand troops under Pillow and Buckner. Afterthree days' hard fighting, Floyd found the position untenable andfurther resistance impossible. He, therefore, turned over the commandto Buckner--who refused to abandon the part of the garrison that couldnot escape--and, with General Pillow and some five thousand men, withdrew in the night and made good his escape. 

During the siege of Donelson, Johnston evacuated Bowling Green andawaited its issue opposite Nashville. The result being known, itnaturally followed that this city--undefended by works of anydescription and with an army inadequate to its protection--had to beabandoned. The retreat was at once commenced; and it was on that gloomymarch that Forrest first made the name that now stands with so fewrivals among the cavalry leaders of the world. Commanding a regiment ofcavalry from his own section, he seemed as ubiquitous as untiring. Keeping a constant front to the enemy--now here, now there, and evercool, dauntless and unflinching--he gave invaluable aid in covering therear of that retreat. About this time, also, John H. Morgan began tomake his name known as a partisan chief; and no more thrilling andromantic pages show in the history of the times, than those retailinghow he harassed and hurt the Federals while in Nashville. 

During the progress of these events on the Tennessee and Cumberland, Richmond had been shaken by alternate spasms of suspense and prematureexultation. 

Her citizens could scarcely yet realize that the hitherto despisedYankees had been able to march, almost unchecked, into the heart of aterritory protected by southern forts, southern troops, and the noblestnames in all her bright array. Feeling thus, they still placed somecredence in any rumors that came. 

One morning, news reached Richmond of a brilliant victory at Donelson, and it was received with wild rejoicing. Next night the War Departmentissued the stunning bulletin of the fall of Nashville! When this wasgenerally believed, a gloom settled over the Capital, such as no eventof the war had yet produced. The revulsion was too sudden and completeto be met by reason, or argument; the depression was too hopeless anddespairing to be removed by any declaration of the valor of thedefense, of the orderly character of the retreat, or of the farstronger position Johnston had gained by a concentration of his forceon a ground of his own choice. 

The very name of gunboat began to have a shuddering significance to thepopular mind. A vague, shadowy power of evil far beyond that of anyfloating thing, ancient or modern, was ascribed to it; and the wildpanic constantly created in the Federal mind the year before by thedreaded name of "Black Horse, " or the mere mention of maskedbattery--was re-enacted by the South in deferential awe of thosefloating terrors. 

Under this morbid state of gloom, the Government fell into greater andgreater disfavor. Without much analytical reasoning, the people feltthere must have been a misuse of resources, at least great enough tohave prevented such wholesale disaster. Especial odium fell upon theWar Department and reacted upon the President for retainingincapable--or, what was the same to them, unpopular--ministers in hiscouncil at such vital moment. The press--in many instances filled withgloomy forebodings and learned disquisitions on the I-told-you-soprinciple, fanned the flame of discontent. Mr. Davis soon foundhimself, from being the idol of the people, with nearly half thecountry in open opposition to his views. 

At this moment, perhaps, no one act could have encouraged this feelingmore than his relieving Floyd and Pillow from command, for abandoningtheir posts and leaving a junior officer to capitulate in their stead. Certainly the action of these generals at Donelson was somewhatirregular in a strictly military view. But the people argued that theyhad done all that in them lay; that they had fought nobly untilconvinced that it was futile; that they had brought off five thousandeffective men, who, but for that very irregularity, would have beenlost to the army of the West; and, finally, that General Johnston hadapproved, if not that one act, at least their tried courage anddevotion. 

Still, Mr. Davis remained firm, and--as was his invariable custom insuch cases--took not the least note of the popular discontent. Andstill the people murmured more loudly, and declared him an autocrat, and his cabinet a bench of imbeciles. 

Thus, in a season of gloom pierced by no ray of light; with the enemy, elated by victory, pressing upon contracting frontiers; with discontentand division gnawing at the heart of the cause--the "PermanentGovernment" was ushered in. 

The 22d of February looked dark and dismal enough to depress still morethe morbid sensibilities of the people. A deluge of rain flooded thecity, rushed through the gutters in small rivers, and drenched thecrowds assembled in Capitol Square to witness the inauguration. 

In the heaviest burst of the storm, Mr. Davis took the oath of officeat the base of the Washington statue; and there was something in hismien--something solemn in the surroundings and the associations of hishigh place and his past endeavor--that, for the moment, raised him inthe eyes of the people, high above party spite and personal prejudice. 

An involuntary murmur of admiration, not loud but heart-deep, brokefrom the crowds who thronged the drenched walks; and every foot ofspace on the roof, windows and steps of the Capitol. As it died, Mr. Davis spoke to the people. 

He told them that the fortunes of the South, clouded and dim as theylooked to-day, must yet rise from the might of her united people, toshine out as bright and glorious as to-morrow's sun. 

It was singularly characteristic of the man, that even then he made noexplanation of the course he had seen fit to take--no excuses forseeming harshness--no pledge of future yielding to any will but hisown. The simple words he spoke were wholly impersonal; firm declarationthat he would bend the future to his purpose; calm and solemn iterationof abiding faith that a united South, led by him, must beunconquerable. 

There was a depth in the hearts of his hearers that discontent couldnot touch:--that even discontent had not yet chilled. They saw in himthe representative man of their choice--headstrong certainly, erringpossibly. But they saw also the staunch, inflexible champion of theSouth, with iron will, active intellect, and honest heart bent steadilyand unwearyingly to one purpose; and that purpose the meanest one amongthem clasped to his heart of hearts!

Then, through the swooping blasts of the storm, came a low, wordlessshout, wrenched from their inmost natures, that told, if not of renewedfaith in his means, at least of dogged resolution to stand by him, heart and hand, to achieve the common end. 

It was a solemn sight, that inauguration. 

Men and women left the square with solemn brows and serious voices. There was none of the bustle and pride of a holiday pageant; but therewas undoubtedly a genuine resolve to toil on in the hard road and reachthe end, or fall by the wayside in the effort. 

Having laid out a fixed line of policy, Mr. Davis in no way deviatedfrom it. There were no changes of government measures and no changes ofgovernment men, except the elevation of General George W. Randolph tothe Secretaryship of War. This gentleman--a clear-headed lawyer, atried patriot and soldier by education and some experience--waspersonally very popular with all classes. He was known to possessdecision of character and a will as firm as the President's own; andthe auguries therefrom were, that in future the chief of the War Officewould also be its head. His advent, therefore, was hailed as a new erain military matters. 

But Mr. Benjamin, who became daily more unpopular, had been removedfrom the War Department only to be returned to the portfolio of State, which had been kept open during his incumbency of the former. Thispromotion was accepted by the Secretary's enemies as at once a reproofto them, and a blow aimed at the popular foreign policy. They boldlyaverred that, though the foreign affairs of the Government might notcall for very decided measures, Mr. Benjamin would not scruple--nowthat he more than ever had the ear of his chief--to go beyond his owninto every branch of the Government, and to insert his own peculiar andsubtle sophisms into every recess of the Cabinet. 

To do the Secretary justice, he bore the universal attack with mostadmirable good nature and _sang froid_. To all appearance, equallysecure in his own views and indifferent to public odium, he passed fromreverse to reverse with perfectly bland manner and unwearying courtesy;and his rosy, smiling visage impressed all who approached him withvague belief that he had just heard good news, which would beimmediately promulgated for public delectation. 

The other members of the Cabinet, though not equally unpopular, stillfailed fully to satisfy the great demands of the people. Two of themwere daily arraigned before the tribunal of the press--with whatreason, I shall endeavor, hereafter, to show. 

Mr. Reagan's administration of the Post-office, while very bad, waspossibly as good as any one else could have inaugurated, with the shortrolling-stock and cut roads of ill-managed, or unmanaged systems; andthe Attorney-General was of so little importance for the moment as tocreate but little comment. 

Thus the permanent government of the struggling South was inauguratedamid low-lowering clouds. Every wind from the North and West threatenedto burst them into overwhelming flood; while, within the borders of thenascent Nation, no ray of sunshine yet reflected from behind theirsomber curtain. 

And through the gloom--with no groping hand and with unfalteringtread;--straight to the fixed purport of its own unalterable purpose, strode the great, incarnate Will that could as little bend to clamor, as break under adversity!

CHAPTER XX. 

FROM SHILOH TO NEW ORLEANS. 

Within two weeks of his inauguration, the strongly hopeful words ofPresident Davis seemed to approach fulfillment, through the crushingvictory of the "Merrimac" in Hampton Roads, on the 8th March. There wasno doubt of the great success of her first experiment; and the peopleaugured from it a series of brilliant and successful essays upon thewater. The late bugbear--gunboats--began to pale before the terriblestrength of this modern war-engine; and hopes were cherished that thesupremacy afloat--which had been the foundation of the claim of Federalvictory--was at an end. 

On the 23d of the same month, Jackson--who was steadily working his wayto the foremost place in the mighty group of heroes--struck the enemy aheavy blow at Kernstown. His success, if not of great material benefit, was at least cheering from its brilliance and dash. 

But the scale, that trembled and seemed about to turn in favor of theSouth, again went back on receipt of the news of Van Dorn's defeat, onthe 7th March, in the trans-Mississippi. Price and his veterans--thepride of the whole people, and the great dependence in the West--hadbeen defeated at Elk Horn. And again the calamity assumed unwontedproportions in the eyes of the people from the death of Generals BenMcCollough and McIntosh--the former a great favorite with Government, army and public. 

This news overshadowed the transient gleam from Hampton Roads andKernstown; plunging the public mind into a slough of despond, in whichit was to be sunk deeper and deeper with each successive despatch. 

After Nashville, Island No. 10--a small marsh-surrounded knob in theMississippi river--had been selected by General Beauregard, andfortified with all the appliances of his great engineering skill, untildeemed well-nigh impregnable. It was looked upon as the key to thedefenses of the river, and of the line of railroad communicationbetween New Orleans and the West with the Capital. In the middle ofMarch the Federal flotilla commenced a furious bombardment of thatstation; and though a stubborn defense was conducted by its garrison, some boats succeeded in running its batteries on the 6th April. It wasthen deemed necessary at once to abandon the post, which was done withsuch precipitate haste that over seventy valuable guns--many of themperfectly uninjured; large amounts of stores, and all of the sick andwounded, fell into the hands of the captors. 

On the same day was joined the hardest and bloodiest battle that had tothis time drenched the land with the best blood in it. 

General Grant, with an army of not less than 45, 000 fresh andwell-equipped soldiers, had been facing General A. S. Johnston, seekingto amuse him until a junction with Buell could surely crush his smallforce--not aggregating 30, 000 effective men. To frustrate this intent, Johnston advanced to the attack on the plains of Shiloh, depending uponthe material of his army, and his disposition of it, to equalize thedifference of numbers. 

At early dawn on Sunday, the 6th April, General Hardee, commanding theadvance of the little army, opened the attack. Though surprised--inmany instances unarmed and preparing their morning meal--the Federalsflew to arms and made a brave resistance, that failed to stop theonward rush of the southern troops. They were driven from their camp;and the Confederates--flushed with victory, led by Hardee, Bragg andPolk, and animated by the dash and ubiquity of Johnston andBeauregard--followed with a resistless sweep that hurled them, brokenand routed, from three successive lines of entrenchments. The Federalsfought with courage and tenacity. Broken, they again rallied; andforming into squads in the woods, made desperate bush-fighting. 

But the wild rush of the victorious army could not be stopped! On itsfront line swept!--On, like the crest of an angry billow, crushingresistance from its path and leaving a ghastly wreck under and behindit!

While leading a charge early in the afternoon, General Johnstonreceived a Minié-ball in his leg. Believing it but a flesh wound, herefused to leave the ground; and his falling from his horse, faint withthe loss of blood, was the first intimation the staff had of itsserious nature; or that his death, which followed almost immediately, could result from so slight a wound. 

The loss of their leader was hidden from the men; and they drove theenemy steadily before them, until sunset found his broken anddemoralized masses huddled on the river bank, under cover of thegunboats. 

Here Grant waited the onset, with almost the certainty of annihilation. But the onset never came; that night Buell crossed upward of 20, 000fresh troops; the broken army of Grant was reformed; Wallace's divisionof it joined the main body; and next day, after a terrible anddisastrous fight, the southrons slowly and sullenly retired from thefield they had so nobly won the day before. 

A horrid scene that field presented, as foot by foot the freshthousands of the Federals wrenched it from the shattered and decimatedConfederates; the ground furrowed by cannon, strewn with abandonedarms, broken gun-carriages, horses plunging in agony, and the dead anddying in every frightful attitude of torture!

The battle of Shiloh was the bloodiest of the war. The little army ofthe South had lost near one-third of its whole number; while theFederals had bought back their camp with the loss of not less than16, 000 men. 

And, while the bloodiest field, none had so splendidly illustrated thestubborn valor of the men and the brilliant courage of their leaders. Gladden had fallen in the thickest of the fight--the circumstances ofhis death sending a freshened glow over the bright record he hadwritten at Contreras and Molino del Rey. The names of Bragg, Hardee andBreckinridge were in the mouths of men, who had been held to theirbloody work by these bright exemplars. Wherever the bullets werethickest, there the generals were found--forgetful of safety, and evercrying--"Come!"

Governor Harris had done good service as volunteer aid to GeneralJohnston; and Governor George M. Johnson, of Kentucky, had gone intothe battle as a private and had sealed his devotion to the cause withhis blood. Cheatham and Bushrod Johnson bore bloody marks of the partthey took; while Breckinridge, who had already won undying fame, addedto his reputation for coolness, daring, and tenacity, by the excellencewith which he covered the rear of the army on its retreat to Corinth. 

The results of the battle of Shiloh--while they gave fresh cause fornational pride--were dispiriting and saddening. It seemed as though themost strenuous efforts to marshal fine armies--and the evacuation ofcity after city to concentrate troops--were only to result in anindiscriminate killing, and no more; as if the fairest opportunitiesfor a crushing blow to the enemy were ever to be lost by error, ordelay. 

The death of General Johnston, too--seemingly so unnecessary from thenature of his wound--caused a still deeper depression; and the publicvoice, which had not hesitated to murmur against him during theeventful weeks before the battle, now rose with universal acclaim tocanonize him when dead. It cried out loudly that, had he lived throughthe day of Shiloh, the result would have been different. 

It must be the duty of impartial history to give unbiased judgment onthese mooted points; but the popular verdict, at the time, was thatBeauregard had wasted the precious moment for giving the _coup-de-grace_. The pursuit of the Federals stopped at six o'clock; and if, said peopleand press, he had pushed on for the hour of daylight still left him, nothing could possibly have followed but the annihilation, orcapitulation, of Grant's army. 

On the other hand, Beauregard's defenders replied that the army was soreduced by the terrible struggle of twelve hours--and more bystraggling after the rich spoils of the captured camp--as to renderfurther advance madness. And in addition to this, it was claimed thathe relied on the information of a most trusty scout--none other thanColonel John Morgan--that Buell's advance could not possibly reach theriver within twenty-four hours. Of course, in that event, it was farbetter generalship to rest and collect his shattered brigades, andleave the final blow until daylight. 

An erroneous impression prevailed in regard to this fight, thatJohnston had been goaded into a precipitate and ill-judged attack bythe adverse criticisms of a portion of the press. No one who knew aughtof that chivalric and true soldier would for an instant have believedhe could lend an ear to such considerations, with so vast a stake inview; and the more reasonable theory came to be accepted--that hedesired to strike Grant before the heavy columns that Buell was pouringdown could join him. 

At an events, the sad waste of position and opportunity, and the heavyloss in brilliant effort and valuable lives, caused equaldissatisfaction and gloom. Beauregard's new strategic point commanded avaluable sweep of producing territory, protected the communications, and covered Memphis. Still people were not satisfied; and tongues andpens were busy with the subject, until an event occurred that wrappedthe whole country in wondering and paralyzing grief. 

On the 26th April New Orleans surrendered to Admiral Farragut!

The Federal fleet had long been hovering about the twin forts at themouth of the river; and daily telegrams of the progress of thebombardment and of their impregnability had schooled the country intothe belief that the city was perfectly secure. Day after day the wiresrepeated the same story of thousands of shell and nobody hurt, untilinquiry ceased to be even anxious; and the people were ready to despisethis impotent attempt upon the most important point of the far South. 

So secure had the Government been in her defenses, that regiment afterregiment had been withdrawn from New Orleans and sent to Corinth, untilGeneral Lovell found his command reduced to less than three thousandeffective men--and more than half of these local militia and volunteerorganizations. 

Suddenly came the despatch that the fleet had passed the forts at dawnon the 24th! All was consternation in the city. The confidence had beenso great that daily avocations went on as usual; and the news foundevery one as unprepared for it, as though no enemy had been near. 

Confusion ruled the hour. General Lovell reached the city from below;and, feeling that his handful of men could effect nothing and mightonly offer an excuse for bombardment, he yielded to the desire of thecity authorities and withdrew to Camp Moore. He carried with him allthe munitions and supplies that were capable of transportation; andheld himself ready to return at a moment's notice from the Council. 

Meanwhile, the Federal fleet had engaged the Confederateflotilla--consisting of an incomplete iron-clad, a plated tow-boat ram, and eight or ten useless wooden shells--and after a desperate fight haddriven them off only to be blown up, one by one, by their owncommanders. 

The water-batteries then offered no effective resistance. Theobstructions had been opened to remove accumulated raft, and could notbe closed; and the fleet moved slowly up to seize the rich prize thatlay entirely within its grasp. 

On the 26th April, the "Hartford" leading the van, it anchored off thecity to find it hushed as death and wrapped in the eddying smoke-cloudsfrom fifteen thousand burning bales of cotton. After the first burst ofconsternation, the people took heart; and even at the sight of theenemy's shipping did not lose all hope. There were no soldiers aboard;Butler's army could not dare the passage of the forts in the shells oftransports that contained it; the fleet, cut off as it was from allre-enforcement and supply, could, at worst, only shell the city andretire--again running the gauntlets of the two forts; and then the onlyloss to the city--for the flotilla in its incomplete state could nothave been made effective as a defense--would have been the cotton andthe trifling damage done by the shells. 

So the people hoped on. A long correspondence, coupled with reiteratedthreats of bombardment, ensued between Mayor Monroe and AdmiralFarragut, relative to the State flag that still floated over the CustomHouse. Still the city was not in Federal power and there might yet be achance. 

But on the 28th, the news of the fall of the forts in consequence ofthe surrender of their garrisons--took the last support from the mosthopeful. The city yielded utterly; the marines of the "Hartford"landed, took formal possession, raised the stars and stripes over theCity Hall; and the emblem of Louisiana's sovereignty went down forever!

Three days after, General Butler landed and took command of the city, for which he had not struck a blow. He stationed his garrison in thepublic buildings, the hotels, and even in private houses; and thencommenced a system of oppression and extortion, that--while it made theblood boil in the veins of every southron--has sent his name to thehonest thinkers of the future linked with a notoriety which all historyproves to be unique. 

The annals of the war are not free from small pilferers and viciousimbeciles; but high above the tableau they form, this warrior hasperched himself upon a pinnacle--let us hope--unattainable again!

It is hard to overrate the consequences of the fall of New Orleans. Thecommercial city and port of the whole South-west--its depot andgranary--the key to communication with the trans-Mississippi, and thesentinel over vast tracts of rich and productive territory--her losswas the most stunning blow that had yet been dealt the cause of theSouth. 

It opened the whole length of the Mississippi as a new base foroperations against the interior; and gave opportunities forestablishing a series of depots, from which the Federal armies--if everbeaten and shattered--could be rapidly and effectively recruited. 

Not the least disastrous effect of this blow was its reception by thepeople. After the first bitter wail went up over the land, inquiry camefrom every quarter how long this state of things could last. Positionafter position--fortress after fortress--city after city--declaredimpregnable by the Government up to the very last moment, fell suddenlyand mysteriously; only to expose, when too late, the chain of grievouserrors that inseparably linked the catastrophe with the Government. 

The public demanded at least an explanation of these things--a candidexposé of the condition to which they were reduced. If told they werebattling hopelessly for their frontiers; that the enemy was too strongand the extent of territory too large for sure defense; if told, even, there were grave reason to doubt the ultimate issue--they were yetwilling to battle for the hope, and to go uncomplainingly to the frontand face the gloomy truth. 

But to be buoyed day by day with high-sounding protestations ofinvincibility, only to see their strongest points dropping, one by one, into the lap of the enemy; to be lulled into security to find, toolate, that the Government had deceived them, while it deceived itself;and thus to imbibe a deep distrust of the hands in which their hopesand the future were placed--this was more than they could bear; and "athick darkness that could be felt" brooded over the land. 

But as yet this feeling had not begun in any way to react upon thearmy. The hardy soldiers had enough to do to keep them busy; andbesides had laid up a stock of glorious reminiscences, upon which tofall back when bad news reached them. Only the bare facts of theserapid and terrible blows reached the camps; and stubborn, hard-fisted"Johnny Reb, " looked upon them smilingly as reverses to be made upto-morrow, or the next time he caught "Mr. Yank. "

To the Louisiana soldiers, the news of the fall of their beautiful cityhad a far deeper and more bitter import. Some of the business men ofNew Orleans, who remained in the city, yielded to the promptings ofinterest and fell to worshipping the brazen calf, the Washington highpriest had set up for them. Some refused to degrade themselves andremained to be taught that might is right; and that handcuffs are forthe conquered. Others collected what little they could and fled toEurope; while nobler spirits eluded the vigilance of their captors andcame by scores into the Confederate camps. 

But the women of New Orleans were left behind. They could not come; andagainst them the Pontiff of Brutality fulminated that bull, whichextorted even from the calm and imperturbable British Premier theexclamation--"Infamous!"

The intended insult fell dead before the purity of southern womanhood;but the malignancy that prompted it seared deep into their hearts. Though their defenders were away, the women of New Orleans rose intheir majesty of sex; and, "clothed on with chastity, " defied theoppressor and called on manhood everywhere to judge between him andthem. As

 "When the face of Sextus was seen amid the foes"--

in those earlier days when Roman womanhood was roused to defy thatelder traducer--

 "No women on the housetops But spat toward him and hiss'd; No child but scream'd out curses And shook its little fist!"

And the cry echoed in the hearts of the Louisianians in the battle'sfront. It mattered not so much to them if the defenses had beenneglected; if the proper precautions had not been taken, and theirfiresides and families sacrificed, while they were battling so noblyfar away. They only felt that those dear homes--their wives, andsisters, and sweethearts--were now in the relentless grasp of a herowho burned to war against women. 

And deep in their souls they swore a bitter oath to fight in thefuture, not only for the cause they loved, but for themselves; tostrike each blow, nerved by the thought that it was for the redemptionof their homes and their loved ones; or, if not for this--forvengeance!

Gradually this spirit inoculated their fellow-soldiers. The bitterfeelings of the struggle, strong enough before, became intensified; andin every Confederate camp was brewing a sullen and somber war-cloud, the sudden flashes from which were to strike terror to the heart of theNorth before that summer was done. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

THE CONSCRIPTION AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 

In the midst of the gloom, weighing upon the country about the days ofShiloh, the Confederate Congress moved on a point of vital import toits cause. Weak and vacillating as that body had proved; lacking as itwas in decision, to force its views on the executive, or to resistpopular clamor, backed by _brutum fulmen_ of the press--a moment hadcome when even the blindest of legislators could not fail to see. 

More men, was the cry from every general in the field. With more men, the army of Manassas could have carried the war over the Potomacfrontier; perhaps have ended it there. With more men, Nashville wouldhave been saved and Shiloh won. With more men, the enemy, pouring overthe daily contracting frontiers, if not checked in their advance, mightbe restrained from, or chastised for, the brutal and uncivilizedwarfare that now began to wage, away from all great army centers. 

Great as was the need for new blood and new brains, in the council ofthe nation--still more dire was the need for fresh muscle in itsarmies. Levies must be raised, or all was lost; and the glories thathad wreathed the southern flag, even when it drooped lowest--pricelessblood that had been poured as a sacrament to consecrate it--would allbe set at naught by the imbecility of the chosen lawgivers of thepeople. Thus, after a pressure of months from cooler heads ingovernment, the more thoughtful of the people, and the most farsightedof the press, the few live men in Congress wrung from it the"Conscription Act" on the 16th day of April. 

The reader may have gained some faint idea of the alacrity with whichmen of all classes rushed into the ranks; of the steady endeavor andunmurmuring patience with which they bore the toils and dangers oftheir chosen position; of their unwavering determination to fight thegood fight to the end. That the same spirit as genuinely pervaded themasses of the army now, there is little doubt; but the South--insteadof husbanding her resources, had slept during these precious months theNorth utilized to bring a half million of men against her. 

Now, when she woke to the plain fact that her existence depended--notonly on keeping in the ranks every man already there, but of addinglargely to their numbers--it was but natural that the Government'storpor had, in a slight degree, reacted upon its soldiers. 

When the Government had assumed more form and regularity with increasedproportions and the conviction, forced upon the most obtuse mind, thata struggle was at hand demanding most perfect organization, thelooseness of a divided system had become apparent. The laws against anyState maintaining a standing army were put into effect; and thecombined military power was formally turned over, as a whole, to theConfederate authorities. This change simply meant that completeorganizations were accepted as they stood, as soldiers of theConfederacy instead of soldiers of the states; the men were musteredinto the Confederate service and the officers had their statecommissions replaced by those from the Confederate War Department. Fromthat date, the troops were to look to the central Government for theirpay, subsistence, and supplies. 

In mustering in, all troops--with only exceptions where their contractswith state governments demanded--were received "for three years of thewar. " At Montgomery, many admirable organizations had been tendered tothe Government for one year; and much discussion had ensued on thesubject of their reception. It was then generally believed, even by thelongest heads in the Cabinet, that the war would be _only a campaign_. I have elsewhere alluded to the tenacity with which its supportersclung to this idea; and Mr. Davis was almost alone in his persistentrefusal to accept the troops for less than three years, or the war. Tothe one campaign people he said, very justly, that if the troops weretaken for twelve months, and the war were really over in six, here wasthe Government saddled with the incubus at a standing army, infinitelygreater than its needs; and here large bodies of men who might be ofincalculable service elsewhere, tied to the vitiating and worse thanuseless influences of a peace camp. On the other hand, should the warlast longer, in its very climax a large body of educated soldiers, justtrained to a point of usefulness, would have the right to demand theirdischarge, when their places would be difficult to fill even with rawlevies. There was much dissatisfaction among the one campaign people;but their own argument--that, if received for the war, the troops wouldget home before their proposed twelve months expired--was unanswerable. Now, when the same arguments were used to enforce the passage of theConscription Act, the enemies that Mr. Davis had by this time gatheredaround him, little recked that in their wisdom, they were quoting him. 

This transfer to the Confederate Government covered _all_ the troops ofthe several states, except the militia. This, of course, remained underthe authority of their respective governors. 

Naturally, with the addition to the force originally contemplated by"the assembled wisdom of the land, " the five brigadier-generals allowedby Congress proved totally inadequate. A law had subsequently beenforced from them, granting the appointment of five _generals_--a rankparamount to that of field-marshal in European armies--of the regulararmy, who were to command volunteers; and allowing the President toappoint such number of brigadiers of volunteers as the necessities ofthe service demanded. 

There had been little hesitancy in the selection of the generals--allof them men who had served with distinction in the army of the UnitedStates; and who had promptly left it to cast their lot with the newGovernment. So little difference could be found in their claims forprecedence, that the dates of their old commissions decided it. Theywere Samuel Cooper, Albert Sidney Johnston, Robert E. Lee, Joseph E. Johnston and Pierre G. T. Beauregard. 

These nominations had been received with unanimity by the Senate, andwith profound satisfaction by the people. Had fitness and right beenconsulted equally in other appointments, much priceless blood mighthave been saved to the South. 

Still, at the time, it was believed that the commissions of brigadierof volunteers were conferred upon the most meritorious of the resignedofficers; or, where there was reason to hope good results to theservice--upon the best of those men the troops had chosen ascommanders. Strong pressure was, of course, brought to bear upon thePresident, regarding these appointments; but the verdict of army andpeople was that _these first_ selections were made with as muchjudgment and impartiality as the untried state of the army permitted. 

But fifteen months' quiet endurance of hardship, danger and doubt; theuniversal wail from homes that had never before known, a dark hour, butwhere unaccustomed toil now fought vainly against misery and disease; apervading sense of insecurity for any point, and that thosehomes--broken and saddened as they were--might meet a yet worsefate--all these causes had done their work. Undaunted and unconqueredas the men were, the bravest and most steadfast still longed for asight of the dear faces far away. 

The term of service of more than a hundred regiments would expire soon, enlistments had become slow and were not to be stimulated by anyinducements legislation could offer. The very danger that had beenpointed out in refusing more "twelve months' men" became too imminentto evade. 

The soldiers of the South were more anxious than ever to meet the foe. Added to their love for the cause, many now felt bitter personalincentive to fight; and every blow was now struck alike for country andfor self. But while panting for the opportunity, they had a vaguefeeling that they must fight nearer home and--forgetting that the soleprotection to their loved ones lay in a union, closer and moreorganized than ever--each yearned for the hour when he would be free togo and strike for the defense of his own hearthstone. 

The intent of the conscription was to put every man in the country, between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five, into the army;restricting "details" from the field within the narrowest limits ofabsolute necessity. It retained, of course, every man already in thefield; and, had its spirit been vigorously carried out, would have morethan doubled the army by midsummer. 

It provided for the separate enrollment of each state under a"Commandant of Conscripts;" and for collecting new levies at properpoints in "Camps of Instruction, " under competent officers, thatrecruits might go to the army prepared in drill and knowledge of camplife for immediate service. 

But, the Conscription Act, like all other congressional measures, wassaddled with a companion, "Bill of Exemptions. " This--while so looselyconstructed as almost to nullify all good effect of the law--opened thedoor to constant clashing of personal and public interests, and togreat abuses of the privilege. 

It would, of course, have been folly to draw every able-bodied malefrom districts already so drained of effective population as to havebecome almost non-producing. Such a course would have put thousands ofadditional mouths into the ranks, and still further have reduced thestraitened means for feeding them. And it would have been equallysuicidal to draw from forge and from lathe, those skilled artisans whowere day and night laboring to put weapons in the hands of those sentto wield them. 

But the "Bill of Exemptions" left possible both of these things, at thesame time that it failed to restrain abuses of privileges in certainhigh quarters. The matter of "details" was, of course, essential; andit was only to be supposed that generals in the field could best judgethe value of a man in another position than the front. 

But the most objectionable feature to the army was the "SubstituteLaw, " which allowed any one able to buy a man, not subject to theaction of conscription, to send him to be shot at in his place. Soldiers who had endured all perils and trials of the war, naturallyfelt that if they were retained in positions they objected to, thosewho had been comfortably at home--and in many instances coining thatvery necessity into fortunes--should be forced at the eleventh hour tocome and defend themselves and their possessions. Besides, the class ofmen who were willing to sell themselves as substitutes were of the verylowest order. All citizens of the South were liable to conscription;and the "exempts" open to purchase, were either strange adventurers, ormen over and under age, who--argued the soldiers--if fit for serviceshould come of their own free will. 

Veteran troops had a low enough opinion of the "conscript" as a genus;but they failed not to evince, by means more prompt than courteous, their thorough contempt for the "substitute. "

These causes produced much discontent, where men would cheerfully haveacquiesced in a law essential to the preservation of the fabric theyhad reared and cemented with their blood. To quell this feeling, areorganization of the army was effected. A certain time was allowed forany liable man to volunteer and choose his branch of the service and, if practicable, his regiment; and so great was the dread of incurringthe odium of conscription, that the skeleton veteran regiments rapidlyfilled up to a point of efficiency. They were then allowed to choosetheir own officers by election; and, though this lost to the servicemany valuable men who had become unpopular, still the army was bettersatisfied within itself. 

The refilled regiments were re-brigaded by states when practicable, ageneral from a different state being sometimes placed in command; andthe whole army was divided into corps, of three divisions each, commanded by a lieutenant-general. 

Whatever the weakness of its construction--and the abuses of theexemption and detail power in carrying it out--there can be littledoubt that the conscription at this time saved the country from speedyand certain conquest; and credit should be given to the few activeworkers in the congressional hive who shamed the drones into itspassage. 

Had the men whose term expired been once permitted to go home, theycould never again have been collected; the army would have dwindledinto a corporal's guard here and there; the masses the North waspouring down on all sides would have swept the futile resistance beforeit; and the contest, if kept up at all, would have degenerated into aguerrilla warfare of personal hatred and vengeance, without a semblanceof confederation, or nationality. 

Once passed, the people of the whole country acquiesced in and approvedthe conscription, and gave all the aid of their influence to itsprogress. Here and there a loud-mouthed demagogue would attempt toprejudice the masses against the measure; but scarcely a communityfailed to frown down such an effort, in the great extremity of thecountry, as vicious and traitorous. The opposition that the project hadmet in the administration--from doubt as to its availability--wasremoved by its very first working. What had been in its inception anunpopular measure, received now the approbation of all classes; and thegovernors of every state--save one--went to work with hearty good willto aid its carrying out. 

This exception was Governor Joseph E. Brown, of Georgia, who enteredinto a long wrangle with the administration on the constitutionalpoints involved. He denied the right of Congress to pass such an act, and of the Executive to carry it out within the limits of a sovereignstate; averred--with much circumlocution and turgid bombast--that suchattempt would be an infringement of the State Rights of Georgia, whichhe could not permit. 

Mr. Davis replied in a tone so reasonable, decorous and temperate as towring unwilling admiration even from his opponents. He pointed outbriefly the weak points that rendered the governor's position utterlyuntenable, ignored the implied warning of resistance to the law; andsuccinctly stated that he relied upon the patriotism of Georgians tograsp the full meaning of the crisis their executive failed tocomprehend; and he closed by stating that the conscription must go on. 

Governor Brown found no supporters for his extreme views, even in theanti-administration party. The people felt the imminence of the danger;and here, as in all matters of deep import, they placed theconservation of the cause high above partisan prejudices, or jealousiesof cliques. Utterly silenced by the calm dignity and incisive logic ofMr. Davis, and abandoned by the few supporters his defiance of theadministration had at first collected around him, Governor Brown wasforced to yield; achieving only the conviction that he had the generalcondemnation of the popular voice. 

Once set in motion, the machinery of conscription worked rapidly andsomewhat smoothly. The Camps of Instruction in all states not possessedby the enemy filled rapidly, and the class of conscripts on the wholewas fairly good. By early summer they began to arrive in Richmond and"Camp Lee"--the station where they were collected--became a pointequally of curiosity to the exempt and of dread to the liable. 

It was curious to note the prevalence of the various state-traits, showing in the squads of conscripts from time to time passing throughthe city. The sturdy farmers from the interior, especially those fromVirginia, Georgia and Alabama, though lacking the ease and carelesscarriage of the veteran soldier, had a determined port that spoke fortheir future usefulness. They were not merry naturally. Called fromaccustomed avocations and leaving behind them families defenseless andwithout means of support, they could scarcely have marched gaily, evenwhen willingly, into the Carnival of Death. But they were resolute men, earnest in their love for the South and honest in their wish to serveher--with the musket, if that were better than the plough. 

Tall and lank, but long-limbed and muscular, the Georgians had aswinging stride of their own; and, even when the peculiar dialect didnot ring out over their ranks, something in their general style gavethe idea that these were the men who would one day be fellow-soldiersof the famous "fighting Third. "

Ever and anon came a dejected, weary squad with slouching gait andclayey complexions. Speaking little and then with a flat, unintoneddrawl that told of the vicinage of "salt marsh;" bearing the seeds ofrice-field fevers still in them, and weakly wondering at the novelsights so far from home, the South Carolina conscripts were not ahopeful set of soldiers. As soon as the tread of hostile battalions hadechoed on her soil, the sons of the Palmetto State flew to their posts. State regulars went to the coast, picked volunteer corps came toVirginia. None stayed behind but those really needed there by theGovernment, or that refuse class which had determined to dodge duty, but now failed to dodge "the conscript man. " The former were, ofcourse, as much needed now as ever; the latter did not ride into thebattle with defiance on their brows, but, on the contrary, seemedlooking over their shoulders to find a hole in the mesh that implacableconscription had drawn about them. 

Their next neighbors of the Old North State were hardly better in themain, but some men among them seemed not unlike the militia that hadfought so well at Roanoke Island. Green and awkward; shrinking awayfrom the chaff of passing regulars; looking a little sheepish for beingconscripts, "Zeb Vance's boys" yet proved not unworthy thecompanionship of the men of Bethel, of Manassas and of Richmond. 

At first the border states, or those overrun by the enemy, gave fewadditions to the conscript camps. 

Kentucky, on whose adherence and solid aid to the cause such reliancehad been placed in the beginning, had sadly failed to meet it. With thereminiscences of her early chivalry, her romantic warfare of the "Darkand Bloody Ground, " and the warlike habits of her men, mingledconsiderations of the usefulness of her vast resources and her naturalpoints for defense, lying so near the Federal territory. But as the warwore on and the state still wavered, the bent of her people seemedstrangely to incline to the northern side. Seeking a neutrality thatwas clearly impossible, the division in her councils admitted theFederals within her borders. Then, when it was hopeless to do more, thenoblest and most honored of her sons left Kentucky and rangedthemselves under that banner they had in vain sought to unfurl overher. 

Like Maryland, Kentucky had early formed a _corps d' élite_, called the"State Guard, " which numbered many of the best-born and most culturedyoung men of the state, with headquarters at Louisville. This wascommanded by General S. B. Buckner and under the general control ofGovernor Magoffin. This corps was supposed to represent the feelings ofall better citizens in its opposition to the Union cause. 

But when the action of political schemers--aided by the designs of amoney-loving and interested populace--laid Kentucky, like Maryland, bound hand and foot at the feet of the Federal government; when theUnion council of the state strove to disarm or put them in the Unionranks, the soldiers of the "State Guard" left unhesitatingly and joinedthe army of the South in large numbers. 

Late in November, 1861, a convention had met; and, declaring all bondswith the Union dissolved, passed a formal Ordinance of Secession andsent delegates to ask admission from the Richmond Congress. A monthlater Kentucky was formally declared a member of the Confederacy; butbefore that time Buckner and Breckinridge had received the commissions, with which they were to win names as proud as any in the bright arrayof the South; a Kentucky brigade--whose endurance and valiant deedswere to shed a luster on her name that even the acts of her recreantsons could not dim--were in General Johnston's van; some of her ablestand most venerable statesmen had given up honors and home for theprivilege of being freemen! All the South knew that the admission ofthe state was but an empty form--powerless alike to aid their cause, orto wrest her from the firm grasp the Federal government had set uponher. 

At the time of the first conscription the few men left in Kentucky, whohad the will, could not make their way into Confederate camps; far lesscould the unwilling be forced to come. 

Tennessee, also, had been a source of uneasiness to the RichmondGovernment from the spread of Union tendencies among a portion of herinhabitants. Though she had been a member of the Confederacy near ayear, still the half civilized and mountainous portions of herterritory, known as East Tennessee, had done little but annoy the armynear it, by petty hostilities and even by a concerted plan for burningall the railroad bridges in that section and thus cripplingcommunications. 

Fortunately this scheme had been frustrated, and the half-savagepopulation--for the better class of Tennesseeans were almost unanimousin expression of loyalty to the South--kept in subjection. 

But now with her soil overrun by Federal soldiers, and with a Federalfleet in every river, the state could not respond to the call of theSouth; and, of course, the soldiers she yielded the conscription werefrom the narrow tracts in Confederate possession only. 

One hears much of the "Union feeling" in the South during the war. Immediately on its close, a rank crop of "southern loyalists" hadsprung up in many quarters; basking in the rays of the Freedmen'sBureau and plentifully manured with promises and brotherly love by theopen-mouthed and close-fisted philanthropy of New England. But like alldunghill products, the life of these was ephemeral. Its root struck nodeeper than the refuse the war had left; and during its continuance thegenus was so little known that a Carlyle, or a Brownlow, was lookedupon with the same curiosity and disgust as a very rare, but a veryfilthy, exotic. 

With the exceptions of portions of Kentucky and Tennessee, no parts ofthe South were untrue to the government they had accepted. 

Florida was called "loyal" and General Finnegan proved with what truth. "Loyal" Missouri has written her record in the blood of Price's raggedheroes. Louisiana, crushed by the iron heel of military power, spoiledof her household gods and insulted in her women's name, still bowed nother proud head to the flag that had thus become hostile. 

And the Valley of Virginia! Ploughed by the tramp of invadingsquadrons--her fair fields laid waste and the sanctity of her everyhousehold invaded--alternately the battle-ground of friend andfoe--where was her "loyalty?"

Pinched for her daily food, subsidized to-day by the enemy and freelygiving to-morrow to their own people--with farming utensils destroyedand barns bursting with grain burned in wanton deviltry--the people ofthe Valley still held to the allegiance to the flag they loved; and thelast note of the southern bugle found as ready echo in their hearts asin the first days of the invasion--

 "Their foes had found enchanted ground-- But not a knight asleep!"

In possibly one or two instances, the official reports of invadinggenerals may have been in some slight degree erroneous; newspapercorrespondents are not in every instance absolutely infallible; andperhaps it was more grateful to the tender sensibilities of the warparty at the North to feel that there were hearts of brothers beatingfor them in the glare of burning rooftrees, or swelling with still moreloyal fervor to the cry of the insulted wife!

But at this day--when the clap-trap of war has died away with the rollof its drums; when reason may in some sort take the place of partisanrage--not one honest and informed thinker in the North believes that"loyal" feeling ever had deep root anywhere among the southern masses;or that "loyal citizens" were as one in ten thousand!

Whole communities may have murmured; there may have been "schism in thecouncil and robbery in the mart;" demagogues may have used wildcomparisons and terrible threats about the Government; staunch andfearless newspapers may have boldly exposed its errors and mercilesslylashed its weak or unworthy members; some men may have skulked anddodged from their rightful places in the battle's front!

But, however misplaced the world's verdict may declare theirzeal--however great the error for which they fought and suffered anddied--no man to-day dare refuse to the southern people the need oftheir unparalleled constancy!

Even conquered--manacled and gagged by the blind and blood-thirstyfaction in power--the southern people held on to the small fragmentsof rights left them, with brave tenacity. Willing to accept thatarbitration to which they had submitted their cause, and ready tosuffer with the bright memories of their past, rather than efface themby signing their own degradation. 

They were conquered and bound in the flesh, but there was enough ofmanhood left in the spirit to say--

 "Though you conquer us, men of the North, know ye not What fierce, sullen hatred lurks under the scar? How loyal to Hapsburg is Venice, I wot! How dearly the Pole loves 'his father'--the Czar!"

No more singular sight was presented by all the war than the conscriptdepot at Richmond. The men from the "camps of instruction" in theseveral states--after a short sojourn to learn the simplest routine ofthe camp, and often thoroughly untaught in the manual even--were senthere to be in greater readiness when wanted. Such officers as could bespared were put in charge of them, and the cadets of the VirginiaMilitary Institute were employed as drill officers. 

Citizens of various states--young, old, honest and vicious alike--theconscripts were crowded together in camp, left to their own devicesenough to make them learn to live as soldiers; and put through constantdrill and parade to accustom them to the use of arms. 

Almost every variety of costume obtained among them. The butternutjacket with blue pants of the Federal soldier, the homespun shirt withthe cast-off pants of some lucky officer; and the black broadclothfrock and jauntily-cut pants that some friendly lady had ransacked herabsent one's stores to give, all appeared on dress parade; surmountedby every variety of head gear, from the straw hat of many seasons tothe woolen night-cap the good "marm" had knitted. 

Notwithstanding much work, there was still too much leisure time; and"apple jack" filtered its way through provost guards, and cards, thegreasiest and most bethumbed, wiled many an hour for the unwary andverdant. 

The lower class of conscripts were almost invariably from thecities--the refuse population of the wharf, bar-room and hotel. Unwilling to volunteer, these gentry skulked behind every excuse toavoid conscription; but when forced off at last, they and thesubstitutes banded in an unholy brotherhood to make the best of theirposition. 

Ringleaders in every insubordination and every vice they assumed a_dégagé_, or air of superiority, and fleeced their verdant companionsof the very clothes they wore; while they made the impure air of thecamps more foul with ribald jest and profane song. 

A single glance segregated this element from the quiet countryconscripts. The latter were generally gloomy, thinking of the fielduntilled and the wife and little ones, perhaps, unfed. When they drank"new dip" it was to drown thought, for the fumes of every stew-panbrought back shadowy memories of home and comfort; and when they slepton the damp ground--wrapped in the chance rug, or worn scrap of carpetcharity had bestowed--a sad procession marched through their dreams, and sorrowful and starving figures beckoned them from mountain side andhamlet. 

Great misery and destitution followed the conscription. Large numbersof men, called from their fields just as they were most needed, cutdown greatly the supplies of grain. Almost all who remained at homebought their exemption by giving so large a portion of their product toGovernment as to reduce civil supplies still more; and these two factsso enhanced the price of food--and so reduced the value of money--thatthe poorer classes rapidly became destitute of all but the barest meansof life. Whether this was the result of inevitable circumstance, or theoffspring of mismanagement, in no way affects the fact. Food becamevery hard to procure even at high prices; and the money to get it wasdaily more and more monopolized by a grasping few. 

The Confederate soldier now had a double share of toil and torture. When the smoke of the fight rolled away, and with it the sustainingglow of battle, thought bore him but grim companionship at the campfireside; for he saw famine stalk gaunt and pale through what had beenhis home. 

When tidings of want and misery came, he strove to bear them. When heheard of burning and outrage--where naught was left to plunder--who maywonder that he sometimes fled from duty to his country, to that dutymore sacred to him of saving his wife and children!

Who does not wonder, rather, in reading the history of those frightfuldays, that desertions were so few--that untutored human nature couldhide in its depths such constancy and devotion to principle!

But, great as were the privation and the suffering caused by the firstconscription, they were still to be increased. Through those twinabortions of legislation, the substitute and exemption bills, theresults of the first law proved inadequate to fill the gaps of thefatal fights of the summer. 

Detail and substitute had done their work, as thoroughly as had theshells of Malvern Hill, the bullets of Sharpsburg, or the raw corn ofthe retreat to the river. 

More men were wanted! At whatever cost in territory, or in suffering, more men must be had. And on the 27th September, Congress passed anact extending the age of conscription from 18 to 45 years. But theexemption and substitute laws remained as effective as ever. True, some feeble moves were made toward narrowing the limits of the former;but while it stood a law in any form, enough could be found to read itin any way. The extension law, while it still further drained thealmost exhausted country--and left in its track deeper suffering anddestitution, that brought famine from a comparative term into an actualverity--still left in the cities an able-bodied and numerous class;who, if not actually useless, were far more so than the food-producingcountrymen sent to the front to take their places. 

Yet so blind was the Congress--so impervious to the sharpest teachingsof necessity and so deaf to the voice of common sense and reason, thatunceasingly upbraided it--that this state of things continued more thana year from the passage of the extension act. 

Then, when it was almost too late for human aid to save the cause--whenthe enemy had not only surrounded the contracted territory on everyside, but had penetrated into its very heart--the substitute bill wasrepealed, and every man in the land between the ages of 18 and 45, declared a Confederate soldier subject to service. Then, too, theabuses of exemption and detail, so often and so clearly pointed out, were looked into and measurably corrected. 

Further than this, all boys from 16 to 18, and older men, from 45 to60, though not conscribed, were formed into reserve "home guards;" andthen General Grant wrote to Washington that the cause was won when theRebels "robbed the cradle and the grave. "

But the infantile and the moribund murmured not; and more than once araid was turned and a sharp skirmish won, when the withered cheek ofthe octogenarian was next the rosy face of the beardless stripling!

Only one complaint came, and that was heard with grim amusement alikeby veteran, by conscript, and by substitute. 

The substitute buyers now loudly raised a wail of anguish. Plethoricledger and overflowing till, alas! must be left; the auctioneer'shammer and the peaceful shears must alike be thrown aside, and therusty musket grasped instead; soft beds and sweet dreams of to-morrow'sprofit must be replaced by red mud and the midnight long roll!

It was very bitter; and rising in their wrath, a few of these railed atthe perfidy of the Government in breaking a contract; and even employedcounsel to prove that in effect they were already in the field. 

One ardent speculator even sought the War Department and logicallyproved that, having sent a substitute, who was virtually himself, andthat substitute having been killed, he himself was a dead man, fromwhom the law could claim no service!

But the Department was now as deaf as the adder of Scripture; and thecounsel, let us hope, pleaded not very earnestly. So the substitutebuyers--except in the few cases where the long finger of influentialpatronage could even now intervene--went, as their ill-gotten dollarshad gone before. 

It is plainly impossible, in limits of a desultory sketch, to give evena faint outline of the conscription. Its ramifications were sogreat--the stress that caused it so dire, and the weaknesses and abusesthat grew out of it so numerous, that a history of them were but ahistory of the war. 

Faithfully and stringently carried out, it might have saved the South. Loosely constructed and open to abuse, it was still the most potentengine the Government had used; and while it failed of its intent, itstill for the first time caused the invader to be met by anythingapproaching the whole strength of the country. 

Under its later workings, every man in the South was a soldier; butthat consummation, which earlier might have been salvation--came onlywhen the throes of death had already begun to seize her vitals. 

CHAPTER XXII. 

WAITING FOR THE ORDEAL BY COMBAT. 

If any good fruits were to grow from the conscription, the seed had notbeen planted a moment too soon. 

The whole power of the Union was now to be exerted against the South;and the Washington idea plainly was to lay the ax at the very root ofthe rebellion. 

Desultory movement had already begun in the Valley and along the river;but it masked in nowise plain indication of the massing of troops foranother, and a greater, "On to Richmond!"

The separate corps of Banks, Fremont and Shields were hovering aboutthe flanks of the devoted Army of Manassas; and the decisive blow wasevidently to be aimed at that point. But the clear-sighted andcool-headed tactician at the head of the bulwark of Virginia saw farbeyond the blundering war-chess of his antagonist. He prepared tocheckmate McClellan's whole combination; and suddenly--after weeks ofquiet preparation, of which the country knew no more than theenemy--Manassas was evacuated!

To effect this movement, it was necessary to abandon all the heavyriver batteries, guarding the Potomac, at immense loss in guns andmaterial; and to destroy large quantities of commissary stores, forwhich there was no transportation. But, "Joe Johnston" held themovement to be necessary; and, by this time the South had learned toaccept that what he thought must be correct. The great disparity innumbers, and the evident purpose of the Federals to make Richmond thefocal point of attack, spoke plainly to that perfect soldier thenecessity--_coute que coute_--of bringing his army within easy strikingdistance of the Capital. 

Stonewall Jackson--with Ewell's and Early's divisions of less than tenthousand men of all arms--was detached to watch the enemy; and theretrograde movement was completed so successfully that McClellan neversuspected the evacuation. Two days later, his grand array--"an armywith banners, " bands braying and new arms glinting in the sun--moveddown to the attack; and then, doubtless to his infinite disgust, hefound only the smoking and deserted _debris_ of the Confederate camp. The army he had hoped to annihilate was on its steady and orderly marchfor Richmond. 

Immediately, the baffled Federal embarked his entire force and landedit on the Peninsula--formed by the junction of the York and Jamesrivers--in front of Magruder's fortifications. Failing at the frontdoor, McClellan again read Cæsar, and essayed the back entrance. 

Magruder's line of defense--a long one, reaching entirely across theFederal advance--was held by a nominal force, not exceeding 7, 500effective men. Had this fact been known to its commander, the "grandarmy" might easily have swept this handful before it and marched, unopposed, into the Southern Capital. But "Prince John" was a wily andbold soldier; and, while he sent to the rear most urgent statements ofhis dire need and pressed the government for re-enforcement, he kepthis front covered by ceaseless vigilance, constant shifting of histhinned battalions and continued active advance skirmishing. Soeffective was this as entirely to deceive the enemy. McClellan sat downbefore him and began to fortify!

Amid the anxiety of that moment and the rapid rush of grave events thatfollowed immediately upon it, the great importance of Magruder'stactics on the Peninsula has largely been lost sight of. That they weresimply not to be overestimated, it is tardy justice to state. For, there were scores of occasions in those grim four years, when the cantwent out--"We might have ended the war right here!" It was ever coupledwith--and nullified by--a large and sonorous "if;" but there is noquestion but that--had Magruder permitted the tactician in his front toestimate his weakness--the "Seven days' fights" would never have beenwon, for Richmond would have been lost!

It were impossible to describe accurately the state of public feeling, which now prevailed in the Southern Capital. Absolutely in the dark asto the actual movement and its consequences; knowing only that theircherished stronghold, Manassas, was deserted and its splendid system ofriver batteries left a spoil; hearing only the gloomiest echoes fromthe Peninsular advance and ignorant of Johnston's plans--or even of hiswhereabouts--it was but natural that a gloomy sense of insecurityshould have settled down upon the masses, as a pall. A dread oppressedthem that the recent dramas of Nashville and New Orleans were to bere-enacted on their own central theater; and, ever barometric, thepeople let the mercury drop to zero, as they read the indications inone another's faces. Social pleasures lately so frequent--socialintercourse almost--were now known no more. The music one heard was thequick tap of the timing drum; the only step thought of, the doublequick to the front. 

But gradually, the army that had been manoeuvering about theRappahannock began to arrive; and day and night the endless stream ofmuddy men poured down Main street, in steady tramp for the Peninsula. Grim and bronzed they were, those veterans of Manassas; smeared withthe clay of their camp, unwashed, unkempt, unfed; many ragged and someshoeless. But they tramped through Richmond--after their forcedmarch--with cheery aspect that put to flight the doubts and fears ofher people. Their bearing electrified the citizens; and for the moment, the rosy clouds of hope again floated above the horizon. 

Even the scanty ration the soldiers had become inured to had beenreduced by necessities of their rapid march; and that knowledge causedevery corps that passed through to receive substantial tokens of thesympathy and good will of the townspeople. Ladies and children throngedthe sidewalks, pressing on their defenders everything which the scantyConfederate larder could supply; while, from many of the houses, gloves, socks and comforters rained down upon the worst clad of thecompanies. 

"Johnny Reb" was ever a cheerful animal, with a general spice ofsardonic humor. Thus refreshed, inwardly and outwardly, the men wouldmarch down the street; answering the waving handkerchiefs at everywindow with wild cheers, swelling sometimes into the indescribable"rebel yell!" Nor did they spare any amount of good-natured chaff tothose luckless stay-at-homes encountered on the streets. 

"Come out'r that black coat! I see yer in it!"--"I know ye're aconscrip'. Don't yer want 'er go for a sojer?"--"Yere's yer chance tergit yer substertoot!"--and like shouts, leveled at the head of someunlucky wight, constantly brought roars of laughter from the soldiersand from his not sympathetic friends. Passing one house, a pale, boyish-looking youth was noted at a window with a lady. Both wavedhandkerchiefs energetically; and the men answered with a yell. But theopportunity was too good to lose. 

"Come right along, sonny! The lady'll spare yer! Here's a little muskitfur ye'!"

"All right, boys!" cheerily responded the youth, rising from hisseat--"Have you got a leg for me, too?" And Colonel F. Stuck theshortest of stumps on the window-sill. 

With one impulse the battalion halted; faced to the window, andspontaneously came to "Present!" as the ringing rebel yell rattled thewindows of that block. The chord had been touched that the roughestsoldier ever felt!

Then came the calm; when the last straggler had marched through to thefront and Johnston's junction with Magruder was accomplished. The rosyclouds faded into gray again; and, though the fluttering pulse ofRichmond beat a little more steadily, it was not entirely normal. Rumors came from Yorktown of suffering and discontent. Coupled withexaggerations of the really overwhelming force the enemy had massedbefore it, they proved anything but encouraging. Still, there was nohopelessness; and the preparations, that had by this time become amatter of certainty--stretchers--bandages--lint and coarse, narrowsheets--went steadily on. 

The brave women of the city were a constant reproach, in their quiet, unmurmuring industry, to the not infrequently faint-hearted anddespondent men. Constantly they worked on, and tried to look cheerfullyon the future by the light of the past. No one among them but knew thatreal and serious danger threatened; no one among them but believed thatit would be met as it had been met before--boldly without doubt;triumphantly if God willed!

No need for Virginia's sons to read of the Gracchi, with a thousandCornelias working cheerily and faithfully on the hard, tough fabricsfor them. One day an order came for thirty thousand sand-bags. Neverbefore did needles fly so fast, for who could tell but what that verybag might stand between death and a heart dearer far than aught else onearth. Thirty hours after the order came, the women of Richmond hadsent the bags to Yorktown!

At length, after three weeks of trying suspense, filled with everyfantastic shape of doubt and dread, came news of the evacuation ofNorfolk, the destruction of the iron-clad "Virginia, " and of theretreat from the Peninsula. Not appreciating the strategical reasonsfor these movements, Richmond lost her temporary quiet and again fellto lamenting the dark prospects for the city. 

On the 4th of May, the last of the Confederate forces evacuatedYorktown; reluctantly turning their backs on the enemy, to take up theline of march for Richmond. 

Next day McClellan's advance pressed on; and overtaking their rear, under Longstreet, began heavy skirmishing to harass it, nearWilliamsburg. Seeing the necessity of checking too vigorous pursuit, and of teaching the Federals a lesson, Longstreet made a stand; and, after a severe conflict--in which he inflicted much heavier loss thanhe sustained, besides capturing several field pieces and colors--againtook up his march unmolested. 

The battle of Williamsburg was the one brilliant episode of that gloomyretreat. Although the main army could not be checked to give himre-enforcement, and his wounded had to be left in the hands of theenemy, Longstreet had gained a decided and effective success. But thisone misfortune for the moment dimmed the luster of his achievement inthe eyes of the Richmond people; and, perhaps, prevented much of thegood effect its decisive character might otherwise have had. 

The appearance of the army, after the retreat from Williamsburg, didnot tend to cheer the inexpert. First came squads of convalescent sick, barely able to march, who had been sent ahead to save the ambulancesfor those worse than they. It was a black Sunday afternoon, when thosewan and hollow-eyed men limped painfully through the streets on theirweary way to Camp Winder Hospital. Weak--mud-encrusted and utterlyemaciated--many of them fell by the roadside; while others thankfullyaccepted the rough transportation of any chance wagon, or cart, thatcould carry them to the rest they yearned for. 

But willing and energetic workers were at hand. Orders were obtained;and carriages returning from church, hotel omnibuses--every wheeledthing upon the streets were impressed for the service of mercy. By lateafternoon the wards of Winder Hospital were over-flowing; butnegligent, or overworked, commissaries had neglected to provide food, and many of the men--in their exhausted condition--were reported dyingof starvation! Few women in Richmond dined that Sabbath. Wholeneighborhoods brought their untasted dinners to the chief worker amongthem; and carriages and carts--loaded with baskets and hampers andbearing a precious freight of loving womanhood--wended their way to thehospital. By night hundreds of poor fellows had eaten such food as theyhad not dreamed of for months; gentle hands had smoothed their pillowsand proffered needed stimulants; and sympathizing voices had bid thembe of good cheer, for to-morrow would dawn bright for all. 

But were these worn and wretched men a fair sample of the army that wasto battle for their dear city against the fresh thousands of McClellan?Oh, God! Had toil and privation done its work so thoroughly; and werethese the proud array that had marched to Manassas--the hardened, butgallant host that had gone gaily to Yorktown? Were these the onlydependence of their hopes and their cause?

Sad and troubled were the hearts that beat that day, around thewretched cots of the sufferers. But never a hand trembled--never avoice faltered, as those grand women wrought on at their mission ofmercy. 

After these came a few stragglers and camp followers in hardly betterplight; then the wagon trains; and, finally, the army. 

The roads were in wretched condition. Spring rains and constant use hadchurned them into liquid red mud. Hungry and worn, the men struggledthrough it day after day--bearing their all on their backs, unable tohalt for cooking; and frequently stopped to labor on a broken-downbattery, or a mired wagon. Discipline naturally relaxed. It wasimpossible to keep the weary and half-starved men to regular routine. They straggled into Richmond muddy--dispirited--exhausted; and, throwing themselves on cellar doors and sidewalks, slept heavily, regardless of curious starers that collected around every group. 

Never had the Southern army appeared half so demoralized; half so unfitto cope with the triumphant and well-appointed brigades pressing closeupon it. Had McClellan been at hand, there is little doubt as to whatthe result would have been; but a few days sufficed to change theappearance of the whole army fabric. 

Renewed discipline--that magnetic "touch of the elbow"--attention tothe commissariat and the healthy location of their new camping groundsbrought the men back to good condition in a time wonderfully short tothe lookers-on in the city. 

But they were to have little rest. McClellan advanced to the Chickahominyand strongly fortified his position. Johnston fronted him; and thoughtoo weak to attack at this moment, it became apparent that the firstmove in the game for the great stake must be made in a few days. And itwas equally plain that it was to be made under the loving eyes of thoseall fought best for; within hearing of the Cabinet itself!

The details of the campaign of this eventful summer are too wellknown--and have been too minutely and eloquently described, even werethere space--for me to attempt their repetition here. 

For a week the armies faced each other, plainly in sight; the shrillnotes of "Dixie" mingling with the brazen strains from the Federalbands; and yet no movement was made. Once more Richmond assumed her oldactivity and became a vast camp. Busy looking officers hastened frompoint to point; regiments shifting position passed through town everyhour; mounted orderlies dashed in all directions and batteries, wagontrains and ambulances rumbled in and out of town by every road. Thereflection of the activity around them, and the improved condition ofthe army--in physique and morale--inspired the people; and they oncemore began to feel hopeful, if not overconfident. 

Still the river was undefended. There was no fort. Only a few waterbatteries--out of which the men could easily be shelled--and a fewuseless wooden gunboats protected the water approach to the Capital. Upthis the heavy fleet of Federal iron-clads was even now carefullysounding its way. Every means had been taken to wake the Government tothe necessity of obstructing the river; but either carelessness, or theconfusion consequent on the retreat, had rendered them unavailing. Nowat the last moment, every nerve was strained to block the river and tomount a few guns on Drewry's bluff--a promontory eighty feet high, overhanging a narrow channel some nine miles below the city. 

On the 15th of May, the iron-clads approached the still unfinishedobstructions. There was just time to sink the "Jamestown"--one of thewooden shells that had done such good work under the gallant Barney--inthe gap; to send her crew and those of the "Virginia" and "PatrickHenry" to man the three guns mounted on the hill above--when theiron-clads opened fire. 

Their cannonade was terrific. It cut through the trees and landed themissiles a mile inland. The roar of the heavy guns, pent and echoedbetween the high banks, was like continuous thunder, lit by luridflashes as they belched out 13-inch Shrapnel and scattered ounce ballslike hail among the steadfast gunners on the bluff. 

But the terrible plunging fire of Captain Farrand's sea-dogs damagedthe plating of the armored vessels and kept the wooden ones out ofrange; while the galling sharp-shooting of Taylor Wood's men, on thebanks below, cleared their decks and silenced their guns. Once more thewager of battle was decided for the South; and the ironclads retiredbadly damaged. 

This result was most cheering; but, unlike the early success of thewar, it was received with a solemn, wordless thankfulness. Then, whenthe imminent danger was passed, the Government went rapidly to work toimprove the obstruction and strengthen the battery at Drewry's Bluff. This became a permanent fort, admirably planned and armed with navyguns, worked by the seamen of the disused vessels. The Federals stuckto the name they first gave it--Fort Darling--for no reason, perhaps, but because of the tender reminiscences clinging around it. 

Then came another season of stillness on the Chickahominy lines, whichGeneral McClellan improved to protect his rear communications; and tothrow up strong embrasured fortifications along his wholefront--indicating his intention to sit down before the city in regularsiege; or to fight behind his works. 

Meantime, the course of the Government would have inspired anything butconfidence, had not the people placed the deepest and most abidingfaith in the mettle and truth of their soldiers. 

Congress, after weak and more than useless debates on the propriety ofthe step, precipitately adjourned and ran away from the threateneddanger. These wise legislators had read history. They felt that thecackling which saved Rome was but one of the miracles of thatphilosophic Muse who teaches by experience: and that--as they could notsave their city--they had better save themselves. 

The Departments were packed in case of necessity for flight; and someof the archives were even put on board canal boats and towed beyond thecity. This may have been only a just precaution; but the citizens ofRichmond--looking upon its defense as the key to all furtherresistance--saw in it only acceptance of the worst results; and, whenthe families of the principal officials and officers fled from theCapital and sought safer homes in North Carolina and Georgia, herpeople would not accept as the real reason the averred necessity forsaving the very small amount of provision they consumed. 

But the Legislature of Virginia and the City Council of Richmond metand resolved that they were willing to stand any loss of property andlife--even the destruction of the city--before giving it up to theenemy. They waited upon the President and so explained to him. Mr. Davis solemnly announced his resolution to defend the position while aman remained; and to cast his fate with that of a people who could actso bravely. 

Still, so doubtful was the issue of the contest held by the lukewarm, or cowardly, few that they hesitated not to express their belief thatthe war was done; and they stored in secret places quantities oftobacco to be used as currency when the invaders came in!

When the _dies iræ_ really came; and burning Richmond sent similarlyhidden store, "With the smoke of its ashes to poison the gale"--

little was the sympathy borne on the breeze for them, who--livingearly enough--had shamed the money-changers scourged from the Temple!

CHAPTER XXIII. 

AROUND RICHMOND. 

In the dead stillness of the afternoon of May 30th, the dull thunder ofartillery and the crackling roll of musketry were distinctly heard inevery house in Richmond. 

Deep and painful suspense filled all hearts; until at night it wasknown that the enemy had been driven back and badly punished. 

The history of "Seven Pines" is familiar to all. Some days previous, General Keyes' division had been thrown across the Chickahominy, forthe purpose of feeling the Confederate lines and throwing up works thatwould secure the Federals that stream. The river, swelled by recentrains, rose so suddenly as to endanger Keyes' communications with hisrear; and Johnston determined to attack, while he could thus strike indetail. The miscarriage of part of his plan--by which Huger's troopsdid not join the attack--and his own wound, by a piece of shell, latein the afternoon, alone prevented Johnston's utter destruction of thisFederal corps. As it was, the enemy was driven two miles back of hiscamp. Heavily re-enforced next day, he resisted and drove back adesperate attack about Fair Oaks. 

Now, for the first time, the people of Richmond began to see therealities of war. When the firing began, many ladies were at work forthe soldiers in the churches. These flocked to the doors, pale andanxious, but with a steady determination in their faces, vainly lookedfor in many of the men. Gradually wagons and ambulances began to comein; slowly at first, toward nightfall more rapidly--each one bearingsome faint and suffering form. Then, and not till then, those womenleft their other work and tended the wounded men; giving "the littlecup of water" so precious to them, speaking brave words of cheer whiletheir very souls grew sick at the unwonted sight of blood andsuffering. 

One poor old man, dirty and ragged, lay in a rough, springless cart;his hard, shoeless feet dropping out at its back, and his long, graybeard drenched in the blood that welled from his chest at every jolt. By his side, in the gathering twilight, walked one of Richmond'sfairest daughters; her gentle voice smoothing the rough way to thehospital, and her soft hand wiping the damps from his forehead. 

And there was no romance in it. _He_ could not be conjured into a fairyoung knight--old, dirty, vulgar as he was. But he had fought forher--for the fair city she loved better than life--and the gayest riderin all that band were not more a hero to her!

Next morning the usual stillness of Sunday was broken by the renewedrattle of musketry--though farther off and less continuous than the daybefore; and by the more constant and nearer rumble of ambulance anddead cart. At dawn many of the townspeople had gone in buggies, wagons, and even the huge vans of the express companies, taking with them foodand stimulants, to aid the very limited ambulance corps of the army. 

All day long the sad procession came in. Here a van with four or fivedesperately wounded stretched on its floor; now a buggy with a faintand bandaged form resting on the driver; again the jolting coal cartwith the still, stiff figure, covered by the blanket and not needingthe rigid upturned feet to tell the story. The hospitals were soonovercrowded; huge tobacco warehouses had been hastily fitted up and ashastily filled; while dozens of surgeons, bare-armed and bloody, flitted through them, doing what man might to relieve the fearful havocman had made. 

Women of all ranks and of all ages crowded to them, too; some wan andhaggard, seeking with tearless suspense the dear one they knew to havebeen stricken down; some bearing baskets of stimulants and nourishingfood; but one and all eager and willing

 "To do for those dear ones what woman Alone in her pity can do. "

The struggle had been brief but bitter. Most of the wounds were abovethe waist, for the fighting had been among undergrowth and partlyagainst _abatis_; but the short-range volleys had mowed the men down byranks. More warerooms and even stores on the Main street were opened, fitted with bunks, and filled with the maimed and suffering. 

At all hours, day and night, the passer down Main street would seethrough the open doors long, even rows of white bunks, each one bearingsome form distorted with agony, or calmly passing away; while thetireless surgeon moved from cot to cot. And at the head of each astill, patient form, almost motionless, waved the ceaseless fan orbreathed the low promise of the Living Word, to one who trembled on theverge of the Valley of the Shadow of Death. 

The war was at the very gates now. These palpable witnesses were toonumerous to doubt. But the lips of every gaping wound spoke an eloquentpledge that, while such as these kept watch and ward, the city wassafe. 

Little by little the hospitals thinned; the slightly wounded went backto duty and the badly hurt began to hobble about. But on every handwere the gaunt, sad forms stretched on the narrow cots over which Lifeand Death wrestled for the mastery. And still the tireless love ofwoman watched by them--and still unworded prayers went up that theDestroyer might not prevail. 

The stillness that followed "Seven Pines" was not unbroken. The armieswere so near together that the least movement of either brought on acollision, and constant skirmishing went on. Not a day but had itsminiature battle; and scarce an hour but added to the occupants of thehospitals. As these conflicts most frequently resulted in a Confederatesuccess, they only served to encourage the people, and to bring them tothe high pitch necessary for the prolonged note of war that was soon tosound so near them. 

Just a month after the repulse of the iron-clads from Drewry's Bluff, the bold and daring "Pamunkey Raid" still further aided in this effect. General J. E. B. Stuart had by his successful conduct of the cavalry, no less than by his personal gallantry, worked his way from thecolonelcy he held at Manassas to a major-generalcy of all that arm ofthe Virginia army. He had gained the confidence of General Lee and thegreatest popularity in and out of the army; and, ably seconded by hisbrigadiers, "Jeb Stuart" was expected to do great deeds in the comingcampaign. 

Information being desired of the enemy on certain points, hevolunteered to obtain it. With the advice and direction of thecommanding-general, Stuart started from Richmond; made hisreconnaissance; penetrated to the White House on the Pamunkey andburned the depot there; whipped the enemy's cavalry wherever he metthem; and, making a complete circuit of the Federal rear, with all hiscaptured men and horses, rode back into the city in triumph. 

Whatever may be said of raids in the abstract, this was certainly amost dashing one; and was received with loud acclamation by army andpeople. The latter were by this time in better spirit to receiveencouragement; and, dazzled by its brilliance, rather than weighing itssolid advantages, placed this achievement perhaps above the more usefulsuccess at Williamsburg. 

Then came the news from the Valley. 

That wonderful campaign--which far exceeds in strategic power, brilliant dash and great results any other combination of the war--hadbeen fought and won! It has been justly compared, by a competent andeloquent critic, to Napoleon's campaign in Italy; and--paling all hisother deeds--it clearly spoke Stonewall Jackson the Napoleon of theSouth. 

Coolly looking back at its details, the thinker even now is struck withrespectful wonder. 

Hurling his little force against Front Royal; flashing to Winchesterand routing Banks; slipping between the close converging lines ofFremont and Shields--just in time to avoid being crushed betweenthem--and bearing with him miles of wagon train and spoils; turning onthe pursuing columns of Fremont, driving him back, and then sweepingShields from his path like chaff--Jackson clears his way and marches onfor Richmond!

Still onward, scarcely halting for food or rest--ever on to strike newterror when thought far away; weary, footsore--with scarcely one-halfits former number, but flushed with victory and panting for furtherfame--the little band toils on, passes around Richmond and, just as theopposing cannon begin their last grim argument for her possession, hurlthemselves like an Alpine torrent on the flank of the enemy!

The loss in this wonderful campaign was comparatively small, when weconsider the rapidity of the movements; the terrible marches and thestubborn fighting against overwhelming numbers. 

But there was one place vacant that none could fill. There was one namethat brought the cloud to the brow of the giddiest youth, or the tearto the eye of the toughest veteran in those sturdy ranks; one name thatstilled the song on the march and hushed the rough gossip of thebivouac to a saddened whisper. Turner Ashby was dead!

True knight--doughty leader--high-hearted gentleman--he had fallen whenthe fighting was well-nigh over--his _devoir_ nobly done and his nameas stainless as the bright blade he ever flashed foremost in the fight!

Chivalric--lion-hearted--strong armed--

 "Well they learned, whose hands have slain him, Braver, knightlier foe Never fought 'gainst Moor or Paynim-- Rode at Templestowe!"

All the country missed Ashby. But Virginia mourned him most; and amongher stricken sons, those hard-handed, ragged heroes of Jackson's _OldGuard_--who had marched the furthest and fought the hardest followinghim--were the chiefest mourners. Jackson had reared a noble monument, to be viewed from all the dimmest vistas of the future. But the faircolumn was shattered near its top; and the laurel leaves that twined itwere mingled with evergreen cypress. 

Then the strained suspense was broken. On the 26th of June began thatmemorable series of fights that northern and southern history--voluminousreports of generals and detailed accounts of newspapers, have madefamiliar to all who care to read of battles. 

A. P. Hill's steady attack at Mechanicsville, though at great cost, drove the enemy's right wing back; to be struck next morning on theflank by Jackson and sent, after a sullen and bloody resistance, to theworks near Gaines' Mill. Still on the barefooted boys press withresistless rush, leaving dead or mangled brothers and writhing foemenin their gory track! Never pausing to look back, but each successiveday driving the enemy at the bayonet's point from works frowning withcannon. 

Cold Harbor has told its brilliant story. Frasier's Farm is fought andwon!

With ranks fearfully thinned, scant of food and pausing not to rest, the struggling men press on--ever on! Weary and faltering on the march, the first sharp crack of the rifle lights a new fire in every eye; anddrinking the hot breath of the battle, "Stalwart, they court like Anak's sons The rapture of the fight!"

The tide of the battle swung round and the retreating army ofMcClellan--fighting steadily by day and retreating noiselessly in thenight--fronted from the city which now lay on its left flank. 

The Federals were neither demoralized, nor panic struck, as has beensometimes believed; and such an error, while it has bloody refutationin the nameless graves that make the track of these fights precious tothe southron--does less than justice to the constancy and enduringvalor of the little army that wrung the victory from them at suchfearful cost. 

Their retreat was orderly and steady. Driven each day from works onwhich they relied--marking their path with untold destruction ofmunitions, supplies and even of food on which they depended--thesoldiers of the North were well held together; never refusing to turnand face the resistless foe that hurled itself against them, carelessalike of cannon and steel, weariness and death!

There can be little doubt now of the consummate tact of McClellan'sretreat. It is _the_ bright page in the northern annals of strategy. Beaten each day and driven from his well-chosen strongholds--clearlychosen with a view to such necessities--he still held his armythoroughly in his grasp and carried it off in such order as no Federalforce had yet preserved in the face of retreat. Only the resistlessimpetuosity of the southern troops drove all before them; and thoughcareful analysis may prove in theory that, but for the blunder of asubordinate, Lee could one day have utterly destroyed him, this factshould not detract, in the impartial mind, from the great ability ofMcClellan which really prevented it. 

Still, up to the last bloody day at Malvern Hill, the city lay open tothe Federal general had he known the truth. Between him and the covetedprize was a mere handful of men, who could have offered but slightresistance to his overwhelming numbers; the main army of defense was inhis front, further away than many points of his retreat; and, had hefully understood the position, a bold and dashing stroke of generalshipmight have turned the scale, spite of all the red successes of southernarms. More than once in the "Seven Days" a rapid march by the flankwould have put McClellan in possession of the Capital and secured himin its strong defenses; from which the wearied troops of Lee couldscarcely have ejected him. 

But it was not to be. When the shattered and torn Confederates drewoff, like lions at bay, from the horrid slopes of Malvern Hill--leavingthem drenched with priceless blood and piled thick with near one-thirdtheir number--McClellan declined further battle and withdrew his beatenarmy to the fleet. 

He had made a great retreat. But he had lost his great stake. 

When the armies lay at Mechanicsville, both were plainly visible frommany points in the city. From the Capitol, miles of encampment could beseen, spreading out like a map; and in the dusk the red flash of eachgun and the fiery trail of its fatal messenger were painfully distinct. The evening before Hill's advance, the poet-librarian of the Capitolwas pointing out the localities to a company of officers and ladies. Among them was a lady who had suffered much in the flesh and beendriven from her home for brave exertions in that cause, which was inthe end to leave her widowed spirit with no hope on this side of thenarrow house. A terrific thunderstorm had just passed over the hostilehosts; but the dense masses of cloud had rolled away to the river, leaving it in deep shadow, while a bright reflection from the sunsetwrapped both camps in a veil of mellow light. Not a shot disturbed thestill peacefulness of the scene, to give token of the wild work alreadyshaped out for the next week. Suddenly a glorious rainbow shaped itselfin the transparent mist over the Confederate camp, spanning it from endto end. The lady pointed it to the poet. 

"I hail the omen!" she said. "It is a token of God's promise thatyonder flood will not overwhelm us! That His hand will be raised as ofold, to hurl it back from His chosen people!"

And when the omen was accomplished and Richmond was safe, the poet sentthe lady those classic lines so well-known in the South--"The BattleRainbow. "

Next afternoon the great fight began. The sharp, quick rattle of smallarms, and the dull incessant boom of artillery told of hot work evennearer than "Seven Pines. " So sharp and clear were the reports that itseemed the fight must be on the very edge of town; and the windowsrattled at every discharge. 

Almost every man, worthy of the name, was at the front; but the braveand steadfast women of Richmond collected in groups and--while theylistened with blanched faces and throbbing hearts--still tried to cheerand comfort each other. 

They spoke of the past; of their faith in the flower of the South atthat moment battling for them; and they heard the sound of the cannongrowing farther and fainter, only to feel more loving trust in thosewho, under God, had saved them from that chiefest of ills!

Day by day, as the tide of battle surged farther off, it sent intoRichmond cheering news that nerved afresh these brave hearts for thehorror to come. Gaines' Mill, Cold Harbor and Frasier's Farm rolledback their echoes of triumph; news came of the strait into whichMcClellan was driven and that one day more must see him a prisoner inthe city he had dared--his splendid host swept away and destroyed. Finally the news of Malvern Hill--the wild shout of battle scarcedrowning the death-cry--sent a thrill of mingled agony and pride totheir very heart's core. 

But day by day, as the red tide rolled back, it swept into Richmondterrible fragments of the wreck it had made. Every conveyance thatcould follow the army, or could be pressed from the almost strippedcountry around it, bore in from the River Road its load of misery. Manassas had hinted the slaughter of a great fight; Seven Pines hadsketched all the hard outlines of the picture; but the Seven Days putin the dismal shadows, with every variation of grotesque horror. 

In the dearth of transportation and the hurry of onward movement, manyhad been left for days with stiffening wounds on the field, orroadside. Others had undergone the loss of limbs at field hospitals;some were bent and distorted in their agony; and again the stiff, setjaw and wide, glassy eye, told that the journey was over before the endwas reached. 

The chain of regular hospitals and even the temporary one--nearlyemptied since Seven Pines--now rapidly filled and overflowed. Privatehouses swung wide their doors and took in wounded men--brothers alikeif gentle-blooded Louisianian, or hard-handed mountainmen--and thewomen, one and all, wrought as if their energies had never before beentaxed or even tested. 

But a black shadow had come and brooded deep over Richmond. Half thegentle forms gliding noiselessly among the suffering were draped inblack; and many a pale face was saddened with an anguish deeper thanfurrowed those resting on the coarse pillows around. 

The fight was won. The enemy that had for months flaunted his victoriousflag in full sight of the Capitol was baffled and beaten. New glorieshad clustered round the flag of the South; new quarrels and doubts hadbeen sent to the North. Lee, Jackson, Longstreet, the Hills and Hoodhad added fresh laurels to brows believed to have room for no leafmore. Almost every officer had proved himself worthy of the prayers ofsuch women as the South owned--of that even higher glory of leadingsuch troops as fought to defend them. 

But at what awful cost had all this been bought! The slaughter of theirnearest and dearest had been terrific: women, the highest and lowliest, met by the cot of the sufferer; and, in the free masonry of love, tended the living and comforted each other for their dead. 

But through the brave endeavor of their sacred office, these noblesisters of mercy showed no yielding to the claims of self. Over theirown sorrows they rose triumphant--tended the faint--cheered thedespondent--filling the place of wife and mother to those who shouldnevermore see home--even while

 "The air is filled with farewells to the dying And wailings for the dead; The voice of Rachel for her children crying Can not be comforted. "

CHAPTER XXIV. 

ECHO OF SEVEN DAYS, NORTH AND SOUTH. 

The result of the "Seven Days" was to produce a profound joyousness inthe South, which lightened even those deep shadows from the sorrowsthat had fallen upon individuals; to raise the spirits of the wholepeople and to send into every heart that loved the cause a glow ofconfident pride in the southern soldier--chastened somewhat by presentsorrow and tempered, perhaps, by the lessons of the past--that nothingin their after misfortunes could quench. 

But while it taught the people this, the victory taught the Governmentthat no energy could be too great--no watchfulness misplaced, inpreparing for the heavy blows of the northern government at all times, and at any point, to carry out its pet scheme of reducing the southernCapital. 

The blatant triumph that had followed other victories and the secureapathy of the southern government, had alike been swept away by thatterrific surge of battle, rolled back harmlessly, only when on thepoint of overwhelming us; and in their stead came the deep-seatedresolve to _act_ in the present, even while they _dreamed_ in thefuture. 

In the North, a hoarse roar of rage went up. The good behavior of theirtroops and the great ability of their general--unquestioned even by themen who had steadily fought and doggedly driven him before them--wereboth lost sight of in the wild wail that went up over--the cost!

Millions upon millions had been spent in equipping the grand army--allwasted now in that futile effort to conquer the Rebel Capital--offeredas a burnt offering to the avenging War God; and only the blood of itsthousands to manure the fields in front of the coveted city!

There was a howl of malediction against the only general so fartried--who had proved himself a tactician in anything but name; and aspart of its policy the northern government shamelessly sacrificedMcClellan, while it could not but unhesitatingly acknowledge his merit. 

Unlike the South, the North throughout the whole war bent its everyenergy toward concentrating the most useful elements among its manyparties. Seeming to bend to the will of each; propitiating all popularelements and utilizing all able ones; listening patiently to themouthing of demagogues and the vituperation of the press; distributingits contracts so as to make every dollar of patronage tell; andhandling the great engine, Wall street, in masterly style--theWashington government simply collected and sifted the varied mass ofopinion and material--to form from it a composite amalgam-policy thatproved its only salvation. Through every change in that policy--throughevery gradation of animus that affected the complexion of the war--themasses of the North really believed they were fighting for theConstitution--for the flag, and for the Union!

Whether they were so tightly blindfolded as not yet to see their error, is no question to be discussed here. 

No sooner had the howl gone up through the North, against the Generalwho--spite of refused re-enforcements, jealousy and intrigue behind hisback, and the terrible enemy before him--had saved his army, than theGovernment responded to it. Large numbers of men were sent fromHarrison's Landing to Acquia Creek; the Federal forces at Warrentown, Alexandria and Fredericksburg were mobilized and strengthened; and thebaton of command was wrenched from the hand of McClellan to be placedin that of Major-General John Pope!

The history of this new popular hero, to this time, may be summed up bysaying that he had been captain of Topographical Engineers; and thatthe books of that bureau showed he had prosecuted his labors withperhaps less economy than efficiency. 

Rapidly promoted for unknown reasons in the western armies, the publichit upon him as the right man at last; and the complaisant Governmentsaid: "Lo! the man is here!" and made him general-in-chief of the Armyof Virginia. 

From the command of Pope dates a new era in the war. No longer atemperate struggle for authority, it became one for conquest andannihilation. He boldly threw off the mask that had hitherto concealedits uglier features, and commenced a systematic course of pillage andpetty plundering--backed by a series of curiously bombastic and windyorders. 

Calmly to read these wonderful effusions--dated from "Headquarters inthe saddle"--by the light of his real deeds, one could only conceivethat General Pope coveted that niche in history filled by Thackeray's_O'Grady Gahagan_; and that much of his reading had been confined tothe pleasant rambles of Gulliver and the doughty deeds of Trenck andMunchausen. 

To sober second thought, the sole reason for his advancement might seemhis wonderful power as a braggart. He blustered and bragged until theNorth was bullied into admiration; and his sounding boasts that he had"only seen the backs of his enemies, " and that he had "gone to look forthe rebel, Jackson"--were really taken to mean what they said. WhenPope did at last "find the rebel, Jackson, " the hopeful public over thePotomac began to believe that their truculent pet might have simplyparaphrased Falstaff, and cried--

 "Lying and thieving have blown me up like a bladder!"

For Jackson gave the bladder a single prick, and lo! it collapsed. 

Resting his wearied and shattered troops only long enough to get themagain into fighting trim, General Lee prepared to check the third greatadvance upon Manassas. Working on the inner line and being thus betterable to concentrate his strength, he left only enough troops aroundRichmond to delay any advance of McClellan from the Peninsula; and, before the end of July, sent Stonewall Jackson--with Ewell's, A. P. Hill's, and his own old division under General Charles S. Winder, inall about 10, 000 men--to frustrate the flatulent designs of thegong-sounding commander, whose Chinese warfare was echoing so loudlyfrom the frontier. 

Cautious, rapid and tireless as ever, Jackson advanced into Culpepercounty; and on the 9th of August gave the gong-sounder his first lessonon the field of Cedar Mountain. Throwing a portion of his force underEarly on the enemy's flank and bringing Ewell and, later, Winderagainst his front, Jackson forced him from his position after a bloodyfight, which the advance of A. P. Hill turned into a complete victory. 

Cedar Mountain was a sharp and well-contested fight; but theConfederates inflicted a loss five times their own, held the field, andcaptured a number of prisoners and guns. General Winder led his troopsgallantly to the charge, but just at the moment of collision he wasstruck and mortally wounded by a shell. And the unstained spirit of thegallant son of Maryland winged its flight, ere the shouts of victorycould cheer it on its way!

The Washington government at once ordered the remains of McClellan'sarmy to General Pope; and massing with them Burnside's army atFredericksburg and the vicinity, strained every nerve to aid hissuccessful advance. 

But here we may digress for the moment, to take a bird's-eye view ofmatters of grave moment passing in distant quarters of the Confederacy. 

While victory had perched upon Confederate banners in Virginia, a heavycloud was gathering over the West; threatening to burst and sweep ruinand destruction over the whole trans-Alleghany region. Not dispiritedby the reverses in Virginia, the northern government remitted nothingof its designs upon the West, but rather pushed them toward more rapidcompletion. These designs were to hold the State of Kentucky by thearmy under Buell, wrest from the South the possession of Tennessee andAlabama--as a base for attack upon Georgia and cutting through to theseaboard; and to push the army under Grant down through Mississippi tothe Gulf. These movements would not only weaken the Confederacy, bydiverting so many men, ill to be spared, to watch the various columns;but would, moreover, wrest from it the great grain-producing andcattle-grazing sections from which the armies were mainly fed. Simultaneously with these a heavy force was to be massed underMcClernand in Ohio, to sweep down the Mississippi; while the weak showof Confederate force in the states west of the river was to be crushedbefore it could make head. 

Such was the Federal programme; well conceived and backed by everyappliance of means, men and material. To meet it we had but a smallnumerical force to defend an extensive and varied tract; and at theCapital grave fears began to prevail that the overpowering numbers andpoints of attack would crush the little armies we could muster there. 

Nor was the feeling of the people rendered more easy by theirconfidence in the general to whom the defense of this invaluablesection was entrusted. General Braxton Bragg--however causeless andunjust their dictum may have been--had never been popular with thesouthern masses. They regarded him as a bloodthirsty martinet, andlistened too credulously to all silly stories of his weakness andseverity that were current, in the army and out. Influenced rather byprejudice than by any real knowledge of the man, they believed himvain, arrogant and weak; denying him credit for whatever realadministrative ability that he possessed. The painful result of hiscommand was later emphasized by the pessimists, to justify theirincredulity as to his executive powers. 

Besides, many people believed that General Bragg was a pet--if not acreature of Mr. Davis; and that he was thrust into a position thatothers deserved far more, when he succeeded Beauregard in command ofthe army of the West. 

The latter officer had, after the evacuation of Corinth, been compelledto retire by ill health; and Bragg was soon sent to take his place, with the understanding in the minds of the people that Kentucky was tobe the theater of active operations, and that a programme ofaggression--rather than of defense--was to be carried out, as suggestedby Beauregard. 

General Bragg entered upon his command with a show of greatvigor--falling into General Beauregard's views that a diversion towardOhio, threatening Cincinnati, would leave the main army free to marchupon Louisville before re-enforcements could reach Buell. With thisview General Kirby Smith, with all the troops that could be spared--illclad, badly equipped, and with no commissariat--was pushed forwardtoward the Ohio. On the 29th of August--while our victorious cannonwere still echoing over the field of the second Manassas--he met anddefeated the enemy at Richmond; pressed on to Lexington, and thence toa point in easy reach of Cincinnati--at that moment not only the greatgranary and storehouse of the Federal armies of the West, but theirdepot and arsenal as well; her wharves crowded with transports, quartermasters' steamers and unfinished gunboats, and her warehousesbursting with commissary and ordnance stores. 

When the news of Smith's triumphant march to the very gates ofCincinnati reached Richmond, it was universally believed that the citywould be captured, or laid in ashes; and thinking men saw great resultsin the delay such destruction would cause to the advance of the enemyinto the heart of their territory. 

Meantime, General Bragg had entered Kentucky from Chattanooga, with anarmy re-enforced and better equipped than had been seen in that sectionsince the war began. Once more cheering reports came to Richmond thatthe Confederates were in full march for the enemy; that any momentmight bring news of the crushing of Buell before re-enforcements, orfresh supplies, could reach him. Great was the disappointment, therefore, when news really came of the withdrawal of southern troopsfrom before Cincinnati; and that all action of Bragg's forces would bepostponed until Smith's junction with him. 

Intense anxiety reigned at the Capital, enlivened only by the fitfulreport of the fight at Munfordville--inflicting heavy loss upon bothsides, but not productive of any result; for, after the victory, Braggallowed Buell to escape from his front and retire at his will towardthe Ohio. That a Confederate army, at least equal in all respects, saveperhaps numbers, to that of the enemy, should thus allow him to escapewas then inexplicable to the people; and, as far as I have learned, itis so still. 

There is no critic so censorious as the self-appointed one; no god soinexorable as the people's voice. General Bragg's last hold upon thesouthern masses--military and civil--was lost now. 

The fight at Munfordville occurred on the 17th of September, but it wasnot until the 4th of the next month that the junction with Smith waseffected at Frankfort. Then followed a Federal advance upon that town, which proved a mere diversion; but it produced the effect of deceivingGeneral Bragg and of causing him to divide his forces. Hardee's andBuckner's divisions were sent to Perryville; and they withCheatham's--who joined them by a forced march--bore the brunt of thebattle of Perryville on the 8th of October. Notwithstanding the greatdisparity of numbers, the vim of the "barefooted boys" prevailedagainst the veterans of Buell's army, under General G. W. Thomas. Theygained a decided advantage over three times their number, but onceagain what was a mere success might have been a crushing defeat, hadBragg's whole army been massed at Perryville. 

It is neither within the scope nor the purpose of this chapter to givemore than a bare skeleton of events, or to discuss the delicate pointsof strategy; but it was a great dash to the hopes of the entire peoplethat what might have been a crushing blow to Buell--freeing threestates from Federal occupation--resulted only in the retreat of theConfederates from Kentucky. 

For, whatever may have been the cause, or the necessity for themovement, the army was hastily withdrawn. Supplies were burned;disabled carriages and abandoned arms marked the retreat; and theterror-stricken people who had, a few weeks before, dismissed thesouthern banners with vivas and blessings to certain victory, now sawthat same army, to their dismay and sorrow, filing sadly and wearilytoward the border. 

Almost equally as astonished as their retreating enemy, the Federalspressed on in pursuit, hot and close; and it was only the ability anddash with which General Wheeler covered the retreat of the army--ladenas it was with captured arms and munitions, and encumbered with crowdsof women and children, who dared not stay behind--that saved it fromdestruction on that disastrous road from Perryville to Cumberland Gap. 

Loud, deep and bitter were the comments of the people when the fullnews of the Kentucky campaign reached them. Unpopular as the name ofBragg had been before, it was now mentioned often with execration; andthe reverses of his universally-condemned favorite reacted upon thepopularity of Mr. Davis as well. Without understanding the details ofthe campaign, and with no patience to listen to the excuses of his fewdefenders, the public voice was unanimous in denunciation of the planand conduct of the whole movement; and it arraigned the President forthe fault of his inferior, calling him to trial before a jury thatdaily was becoming more biased and more bitter against him. 

Like all the gloomy pages of Confederate history, the Kentucky campaignwas illumined by flashes of brilliance, dash and enduring courage, surpassed by no theater of the war. Disastrous as it was in result, itfixed more firmly than ever the high reputation of Kirby Smith; itwreathed the names of Buckner, Hardee, Cheatham and Adams with freshbays; and it gave to Joseph Wheeler a record that the people of thatcountry will long remember. 

In the events first preceding the disaster, too, as well as in hisindependent raid during July, John H. Morgan had added additionalluster to his rising star, that was only to culminate in his exploitsof the next year. These were the brighter gleams; but the whole picturewas, indeed, a somber one; and there can be no wonder at the people'sanger and distrust when they looked upon it. For it showed a vast andrich territory, teeming with those supplies needed most, yielded up tothe full uses of the enemy; a people one with the South at heart givenover to oppression of an alien soldiery and unable to co-operate withtheir own long days to come; and across the face of the somber picturewas drawn the track of the blood of hundreds of brave men; sacrificedneedlessly, the people said--and in a manner stupid, if not barbarous. 

A grave injustice had been done the people of Kentucky, because oftheir conduct during the retreat. Baseless charges of their cowardiceand treachery had been bandied about in the mouths of the unreflecting;the many had been made to suffer for the baseness of the few; and theshield of the state had been tarnished because of an inaction herpeople could not avoid. 

Crushed, bound and deserted, as they were--with their only reliancefading away from their eyes, and a bitter and triumphant enemy in hotpursuit at their very doors--it would have been worse than folly--itwould have been suicide! had the people on the line of that retreatoffered a blatant sympathy. Utterly useless to others it must havebeen--and even more ruinous to themselves!

And this is the verdict of that Justice who, though slow of foot, failsnot to overtake Truth, in her own good time. 

CHAPTER XXV. 

THE WAR IN THE WEST. 

And misfortunes did not come singly, but in battalions. 

The trans-Mississippi was so far distant that only broken echoes of itstroubles could penetrate the web of hostile armies between it and theCapital. But those echoes were all of gloom. Desultory warfare--withbut little real result to either side, and only a steady drain onConfederate resources and men--had waged constantly. A trifling successhad been gained at Lone Jack, but it was more than done away with byaggregate losses in bloody guerrilla fighting. Spies, too, had beenshot on both sides; but the act that came home to every southern heartwas the wanton murder of ten Confederates at Palmyra, by the order ofGeneral McNeil, on the flimsy pretext of retaliation. The act, and itsattendant cruelties, gained for him in the South the name of "TheButcher;" and its recital found grim response in every southerncamp--as each hard hand clasped tighter round the hard musketstock--and there was an answering throb to the cry of Thompson's promptwar song:

 "Let this be the watchword of one and of all-- Remember the Butcher, McNeil!"

Meantime, Mississippi had been the scene of new disasters. Vicksburg, the "Queen of the West, " still sat unhurt upon her bluffs, smilingdefiance to the storm of hostile shot and shell; teaching a lesson ofspirit and endurance to which the whole country looked with admirationand emulation. On the 15th of August the iron-clad ram, "Arkansas, " hadescaped out of the Yazoo river; run the gauntlet of the Federal fleetat Vicksburg and made safe harbor under the town, to aid in its heroicdefense. 

Twenty days thereafter, General Breckinridge made a most chivalrous anddashing, but equally useless and disastrous, attack upon Baton Rouge. His small force was greatly outnumbered by the garrison, behind heavyworks and aided by a heavy fleet of gunboats: and after a splendidlygallant fight, that had but one serious result--he was forced towithdraw. That result was the loss of the ram Arkansas--which went downto co-operate with this movement. Her machinery became deranged, andthere was only the choice of surrendering her to the enemy, or ofsending her the road that every Confederate iron-clad went sooner, orlater--and she was blown up. 

But the gloom was only to grow deeper and deeper, with thickeningclouds and fewer gleams of light. 

After the fight at Iuka, in which that popular darling had beendefeated and forced to fall back before superior numbers, Price hadcombined his army with that of Van Dorn; and on the 3d of October, thelatter led them to another wild and Quixotic slaughtering--standing outamong the deeds even of that stirring time, in bold relief forbrilliant, terrible daring, and fearful slaughter--but hideous in itswaste of life for reckless and ill-considered objects. The forces ofthe enemy at Corinth were in almost impregnable works; and VanDorn--after worsting them in a hot fight on the 3d, and driving theminto these lines, next day attacked the defenses themselves and wasdriven back. Officers and men behaved with a cool and brilliant daringthat savored more of romance than of real war; deeds of personalprowess beyond precedent were done; and the army of Mississippi addedanother noble page to its record--but written deep and crimson in itsbest blood. 

And another piteous cry was wrung from the hearts of the people to knowhow long, O, Lord! were these terrible scenes--_killings_, not battles;and with no result but blood and disaster!--to be re-enacted. 

After its retreat from Kentucky, Bragg's army rested for over a monthat Murfreesboro, the men recruiting from the fatigues of thatexhausting campaign; and enjoying themselves with every species ofamusement the town and its kindhearted inhabitants offered--in thatcareless reaction from disaster that ever characterized "Johnny Reb. "There was no fresh defeat to discourage the anxious watchers at adistance; while the lightning dashes of John Morgan, wherever there wasan enemy's railroad or wagon train; and the flail-like blows ofForrest, gave both the army and the people breathing space. 

But fresh masses of Federals were hovering upon the track of theill-starred Bragg, threatening to pounce down upon and destroyhim--even while he believed so much in their inaction as to think offorcing them into an advance. The Federals now held West and MiddleTennessee, and they only needed control of East Tennessee to have asolid base of operations against Northern Georgia. Once firmlyestablished there, they could either force their way across the stateand connect with their Atlantic seaboard fleets; or could cut the soleand long line of railroad winding through the Confederate territory;thus crippling the whole body by tapping its main vital artery, andcausing death by depletion. Rosecrans, with an army of between fortyand fifty thousand men, was lying in Nashville, watching and waitingthe moment for his telling blow. 

This was the posture on Christmas, 1862. Three days after the enemystruck--heavily and unexpectedly. 

The first intimation General Bragg had of the movement was cavalryskirmishes with his advance. These continued daily, increasing infrequency and severity until the 30th of December, when the contendingarmies were near enough for General Polk to have a heavy fight with theFederal right. 

Next day, the weather being bitter and the driving sleet filling theatmosphere, the general battle was joined. McCowan and Cleburne, underHardee, charged the Federal's right through a deadly hail of artilleryand small arms, that darkened the air as thickly as the sleet--drivinghim back at the bayonet's point and swinging his front round from hiscenter. The fierce valor of the southern troops and the brilliant dashof their leaders was resistless; and evening fell upon a field, wetwith the blood of the South, but clearly a field of victory. Though theFederals fought with desperation, they were so badly hurt that Braggbelieved they would fall back that night, in such confusion as to leavethem his easy prey. 

Morning of the New Year dawned cold, dark and stormy; but the enemy wasstill in sight, having only taken up a stronger position on a hill andposted his artillery most advantageously. It began to look as ifGeneral Bragg's telegram to Richmond of the victory he had gained, might require a postscript; but all that long New Year's day he allowedthe enemy time to recuperate and strengthen his position. 

It seemed as though another Shiloh was to be re-enacted; a victorywrenched from heavy odds by valor and skill was to be nullified bydelay in crushing the enemy, while yet demoralized. 

Next day came; and then Breckinridge was sent through a terrific stormof balls and shell, that cut down his gallant boys like grass beforethe scythe. On, into the Valley of the Shadow they strode; thinned, reeling, broken under that terrible hail--but never blenching. And thecrest was won! but the best blood of Kentucky, Louisiana, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama and North Carolina was flooding that horrid field!Over two thousand noble fellows lay stiff, or writhing with fearfulwounds--thick upon the path behind the victorious column. 

And then--with that fatality that seemed ever to follow the fortunes ofthe unfortunate general in command--the army fell back!

Broken was the goblet of victory; wasted the wine of life! And it wasaccepted as but small consolation, by the people who hoped and expectedso much--small surcease to the sob of the widow and the moan of theorphan! that "the retreat to Tullahoma was conducted in good order. "

And again the public voice rose loud and hoarse and threatening againstthe general and the President, whose favorite he was declared to be. 

But amid the darkening clouds that frowned close and threatening uponhim--fearless of the future and heedless of the ominous roar ofdissatisfaction far and near--sat the ruling spirit of the storm he hadraised. Grim, steady and purposeful, Jefferson Davis worked his busybrain and frail body almost past belief, to redeem the errors of hischosen instruments--seeking no counsel, asking no aid--and day by daylosing the confidence of the sand-shifting populace, who had once madehim their God! And one act of his now did more than all besides toreassure the public mind. 

Joseph E. Johnston was sent to command the armies of the West! Sincehis wound at "Seven Pines, " the Government--from causes unknown to thepeople--had allowed this brilliant soldier to rust in inactivity; andnow, when all of evil that ill-fortune and want of combination couldaccomplish had been done in the West, he was singled out, and sentforth to reap the harvest so bitterly sown. He was told, in effect, totake the frayed and scattered ends of armies and campaigns and bindthem into a firm and resisting chain of strategy; or--to bear the sinsof others upon his shoulders and have the finger of History point tohim as the man who lost the West! But patriot soldier and true knightas he was--little resentful of the coldness of Government as he wasdoubtful of his own ability--"Joe Johnston" accepted the test cheerilyand went forth to do, or die. 

 "For the Johnstons have ever borne wings on their spurs, And their motto a noble distinction confers-- '_Ever ready!_' for friend, or for foe!"

And this worthy son of noble sires went to clear the Augean Stables ofthe West; and the God-speed of his own state--swelled into a heartychorus by the voice of the country--followed him on his knightlyerrand!

Meantime, Lincoln's famous Proclamation of Emancipation had beenpromulgated. It made little difference to the people of the South; forit was at that time looked upon as a vaunt as idle as if he haddeclared the throne of England vacant. Secure in their belief in theirright doing, and in the trusty arms and deadly rifles that defended it, the southern masses never dreamed the day would come when thatproclamation would be more than the paper upon which it was engrossed. Still, in the general gloom upon them, it was taken as but anotheraugury of the bitter spirit animating their enemies; and of the extentto which it would drive them in this war for the Union and flag. 

And so the close of '62 fell dark and dismal upon the distractedcountry; enlivened only by the sole gleam in Virginia--the repulse ofBurnside from Fredericksburg. But even the joy for this triumph wasdashed by the precious blood spilled to purchase it; another vent forthat steady drain of men, material and endurance--already almost pastbearing. 

But there was no weak yielding in Government, or in people. Men lookedat each other through the gloom, and even as they asked--"Brother, whatof the night?"--struck hands in a clasp that meant renewed faith in thecause and renewed determination to prove its right. 

Early in the New Year, news reached Richmond of Magruder's amphibiousvictory, the recapture of Galveston; which town had fallen a prey tothe enemy's naval power early in October. On the last night of'62--while the wearied troops of Bragg were sleeping on the bloodyfield of Murfreesboro--General Magruder, with a mixed command of threeregiments of raw infantry, some nineteen pieces of field artillery, anda boarding fleet of four unarmed boats, came down silently toGalveston. The Federal fleet--consisting of the Harriet Lane, theClifton, the Westfield and the Ossawa--were lying just off the town;covering it with their broadsides and supported by a force of infantry. 

Coming suddenly upon them, like shadows through the darkness, Magruder's land force opened a hot fire with field artillery--and aidedby the daring boarding of the Lane by Colonel Leon Smith's co-operatingwater party--captured the former steamer, burned one other, and drovethe remaining ones, with their tenders, to sea; where it was impossibleto follow them. 

This gallant and comparatively bloodless raising of the Galvestonblockade was a gleam of hopeful light; especially as it was almostcoincident with the first approach to a naval success, by the force ofCommodore Ingraham in Charleston Harbor on the 30th of January. Thevessels under his command were ill-built, awkward tubs--as willhereafter be seen; but the terrible Brooke gun did its work at longrange, and drove the wooden blockading fleet from the harbor for themoment. 

This victory, unimportant as it was--for the blockade it claimed toraise was renewed and strengthened within a few days--was cheering;for, said the people, if the Confederates can succeed on the water, surely the star of the South is not really on the wane. 

But there was, after the New Year, a sudden stoppage of activemovements on both sides. The terrific crash of hostile cannon--thecontinuous roar of opposing small arms--and the groan of the Federalmixed with the death-cry of the Confederate, were all suddenly stilled. The fearful tornado of war that had swept for many months theonce-smiling Southland--leaving its wake only the blackened track ofruin piled thick with stiffened corpses!--was suddenly hushed; asthough the evil powers that had raised it must pause to gather freshstrength, before once more driving it in a fiercer and deadlier blast. 

In the West, we had lost in the early year the strong position ofArkansas Post with its large accumulation of stores and its garrison ofover 3, 000 men; but the Queen City still sat defiant and unharmed, thehostile fleet and army having left its fruitless task; and the twinstronghold of Port Hudson showed another row of ugly teeth, into rangeof which no Federal force seemed yet ready to venture. 

On the Atlantic seaboard, too, the prospects, at this time, appearedmore cheering. Girt as it was, with one unbroken line of watchfulcruisers, with every port apparently sealed by blockade--southerningenuity and pluck still defied them and ran in precious stores ofarms, clothing and medicines. General Beauregard had taken activecommand of South Carolina and Georgia; and had put the defenses of bothcoasts--especially of Charleston and Savannah--into such a state offitness as quite satisfied the Government and made the people of thosestates calm and confident in his ability to protect them and theirs. General Gustavus W. Smith--the friend and comrade of General JoeJohnston--had, like him, been rewarded for his sacrifices in comingSouth, and his able exertions afterward, by the coldness and neglect ofthe Government. But like him, too, he forgot personal wrongs; and, whenordered to North Carolina, threw his whole energy and skill into theworks of defense for the coast and for that vital artery of railroad, on which the life of the South depended. 

Butler still waged his peculiar warfare upon unarmed men and weak womenin the soft nest he had made himself, at New Orleans; but Mobile rearedher defiant crest and took into her bosom peaceful vessels laden withstores of priceless utility, only to send them out again--bristlingwith rifled cannon, fleet-winged and agile, ready to pounce upon theFederal shipping. 

In the Middle West, Johnston's presence had acted like oil upon thedarkening waters of trouble and despair. There had been no record offresh disaster, or fresh mismanagement; the troops were recruiting, resting and increasing in numbers and efficiency; the cavalry, mobilized under Van Dorn--at last placed in his proper sphere--had doneefficient and harassing, if desultory warfare, upon the enemy's smallposts and communications. Pegram--by his effective raid throughKentucky--had shown that her people there were not forgotten by theirbrothers beyond; and his skillful retreat--laden with heavy droves ofcattle and in the face of a superior force--gained him high praise fromhis superior officers. 

And so the people watched and waited--hopeless no longer, but quiterecovered from the prostration of the rapid, heavy and continuous blowsof the previous autumn. Steadfast and buoyant, as they were ever, themasses of the South once more turned their backs upon past disaster, looking eagerly through the dark cloud for the silver lining they feltmust be beyond. 

And again, as ever, they turned their eyes toward Virginia--stately andcalm amid the shock of battle. And they hoped not in vain; for over herblackened fields--furrowed by shot and shell, drenched with blood ofbest and bravest, but only more sacred for the precious libation--wasagain to ring the clarion shout of victory that ever swelled from thelines of Stonewall Jackson!

CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE FAILURE IN FINANCE. 

When the competent historian shall at last undertake a thoughtful workupon our great struggle, there can be little doubt that he will rankamong the primary causes of the Confederacy's dissolution the graveerrors of its financial system. 

These errors he will find not only in the theory and framework of thatsystem--founded upon a fallacy, but also in the detailed workings ofits daily management; and in persistent adherence to a line of policy, each day proved more fatal. 

In a previous chapter, allusion has been made to the feeling ofconscious superiority, pervading all classes of government and peopleat the inception of the struggle, at Montgomery. This extended to allclasses of the people; and the universal belief in the great dogma ofsecession--"Cotton is king!"--was doubtless the foundation of thatcardboard structure of Confederate finance, which the first rude shocktoppled to pieces, and the inexorable breath of demand shriveled intonothingness. 

At Montgomery, the promises of ease in money matters were all thatcould have been asked. The people, everywhere, had come forward withfrank, unanimous selflessness. They had faith in the cause--faith inthe Government--faith in themselves; and they proved it by their works, giving with lavish hand from their substance. It was felt that thegreat prosperity of the North had, in a great measure, come from theSouth; that the looms of New England were fed with southern cotton;that the New York custom house was mainly busied over southern exports;that the soil of the South was, by the alchemy of trade, transmutedannually into three-fifths of the gold in the Federal treasury. 

"Egad, sir!--money is our last trouble, sir!" my old friend, the colonel, had cried with enthusiasm. "The country teems with riches--actuallyteems, sir! with gold. We have only to stretch out our hands to gatherit in--more than we want, egad! _Men_ we need, sir!--but _money_, never!"

And the colonel was right in theory. But that very overweeningconfidence in her strength proved the South's greatest weakness; andwhere was needed the strong, nervous grasp of a practical and practicedhand, to seize at once the threads of gold, and weave them into a solidcord of system--weak and shifting fingers were allowed to tangle andconfuse them, till each in turn was snapped and rendered worse thanworthless. Mr. C. G. Memminger, whom the President elevated to theTreasury Department, was untried and unknown out of his own State; butso great was the confidence of the people in their financial power--sosimple did the problem of its development seem to them--that they weretrustful and satisfied, until the stern grasp of necessity roughlyshook them from their golden dream. And they awoke, like the sleeper ofGerman legend, to find their hands filled with worthless yellow leavesand grains of chaff, where they had dreamed of treasure beyond compare. 

Immediately upon his appointment, thoughtful men--who could look alittle beyond the rose-colored clouds of the present--had pressed uponSecretary Memminger the necessity for establishing heavy foreigncredits, to draw against in case of future need. The currency of thesouthern banks was comparatively nothing, in view of increasedexpenditures. The cotton which was gold--food--clothing--everything tothe South, with the open ports of the North, would be more worthlessthan the wampum of the Indians, so soon as the threatened blockademight seal up her ports and exclude the European purchaser. But, on thecontrary, if that cotton were bought on the faith of theGovernment--and planters would willingly have sold their last pound forConfederate bonds; if it were shipped to Europe at once and sold in hermarket, as circumstances might warrant, the Confederacy would, ineffect, have a Treasury Department abroad, with a constantly accruinggold balance. Then it could have paid--without agencies and middlemenbeyond number, who were a constant moth in the Treasury--in cash and atreduced prices, for all foreign supplies; those supplies could havebeen purchased promptly and honestly, and sent in before the blockadedemanded a toll of one-half; but above all, the interest and principalof such bonds to the planters could have been paid in coin, and aspecie circulation thus been made, instead of the fatal and endlesspaper issues that rendered Confederate credit a scoff, and weakened theconfidence of the southern people in the ability and integrity of thatdepartment. 

In this sense--and this sense alone--_Cotton was king!_ But the handsthat could have lifted him safely upon a throne and made every fiber agolden sinew of war, weakly wrested the scepter from his grasp, and hidhim away from the sight and from the very memory of nations. 

It was as though the youngest of the nations aped the legendarytraditions of the oldest. After the potent and vigorous King Cotton waskilled by starvation, Confederate finance treated him as Jewish mythdeclares dead King Solomon was treated. In his million-acred temple, hestood--cold, white and useless--leaning upon his broken staff; whiletimorous leadership gaped at his still majesty--

 "Awed by the face, and the fear, and the fame Of the dead king standing there; For his beard was so white and his eyes so cold, They left him alone with his crown of gold!"

Had the Government bought--as was urged upon it in the fall of '61--allthe cotton in the country, at the then prices, and paid for it inConfederate bonds at six per cent. , that cotton--according tocalculations of the best cotton men of the South--would have producedin Liverpool, during the next three years, at rapidly-increasing prices, _over one thousand millions of dollars in gold!_ Granting this erroneous, even by one-half, it follows that the immense specie balance thus held, would--after paying all accruing interest--have left such a surplus asto have kept the currency issue of Confederate States' notes merelynominal, and even then have held them at a par valuation. 

The soldier, who freely bared his breast to the shock of a hundredbattles for his country, his fireside and his little ones, could thenhave sent his pittance of eleven dollars a month to that fireside, withthe consciousness it might buy those dear ones bread at least. But longbefore the darkest days fell upon the South, his whole month's paywould not buy them _one pound of bacon_!

Secretary Memminger would seem to have had some theory, or reasons ofhis own, for refusing to listen to the plain common sense in thesesuggestions from practical sources. With a strictly agriculturalpopulation to supply, he insisted on the issue of Confederate notes insuch volume that the supply far exceeded the demand. For, had therebeen a large manufacturing population actively employed in the South, as there was in the North, the inflation of currency might have beentemporarily concealed by its rapid passage from hand to hand. But withno such demand--with only the daily necessities of the household and ofthe person to relieve--the plethora of these promises to pay naturallyresulted, first in sluggishness, then in a complete break-down of thewhole system. 

Still, from the joyous days of Montgomery, and the triumphant onesafter Manassas--through the doubtful pauses of the next winter and thedark days of New Orleans--on to the very _Dies iræ_--there pervadedgovernment and people a secure belief that the finances of the Northwould break down, and the war collapse for want of money!

And so tenacious were people and rulers of this ingrained belief, thatthey cherished it, even while they saw the greenbacks of the FederalGovernment stand at 25 to 30 per cent. Depreciation, while their ownTreasury notes dropped rapidly from _one hundred_ to _one thousand_!

Let us pause for one moment to examine upon what basis this dream wasfounded, before going into the sad picture of want--demoralization--ruin!into which the errors of its Treasury plunged the southern people. 

Accepting the delusive estimate that all the property of the UnitedStates, in 1861, represented but one-fifth more than that of theConfederate States; and that over three-fifths of the gold duties werefrom cotton and cotton fabrics, and products of the South alone, it waseasy for the southern eye to see a future of trial, if not of ruin, forthe North. Then, too, at the beginning of the war it was reasoned thatthe northern army of invasion, working on exterior lines, mustnecessarily be greater far in numbers and in cost, than the army ofdefense, working on interior lines. Moreover, the vast-proposedblockade, by increasing to a point of anything like efficiency thevessels, armament, and personnel of the United States navy, would costmany millions. Thus, in short, the southern thinker could very readilypersuade himself that the annual expenditures of the Federal Governmentmust--even with the strictest economy and best management--run tounprecedented and undreamed-of sums. 

The demand for increased appropriations with the very first call of Mr. Lincoln for troops, justified this belief; the budget of '62 to theUnited States Congress went far beyond all expectation; and the wildwaste, extravagance, and robbery that swelled each succeeding estimate, were but more and more proof to the southern thinker, that he must beright. But he had made one grave miscalculation. 

Into the woof of delusion which he continued to weave, for enwrappinghis own judgment, such reasoner omitted wholly to cross the warp ofcombined result. He neglected that vastly-important filament--properand value-enhancing handling of his valuable production; the realitythat southern cotton, sugar and rice had become so great a factor innational wealth, mainly through manipulation by northern hands. He didnot stop to calculate that--those hands removed and, in addition, theports of the South herself hermetically sealed--all product, notconsumable, must become as valueless as the leaves and dross of theGerman's dreamer!

The expenses of the North have ever been paid by the South, hereasoned. This sum now withdrawn, it follows that not only will theincreased expenses of the North not be paid; but the heavy balance willbe efficient in the southern Treasury, to meet our far smallerexpenses. 

With equal ability in management, this result _might_ have happened;for there is no sort of doubt that depreciation in southern money was, in some regards, reason for appreciation in northern. But while thepolicy of the southern Treasury was weak, vacillating and destructive, that of the northern was strong, bold and cautious. While Mr. Memminger--instead of utilizing those products which had heretoforebeen the life-blood of northern finance--allowed the precious momentsto pass; and flooded the country with paper, with only future, insteadof present and actual, basis of redemption, the northern Secretarystruck boldly at the very root of the matter and made each successivedisaster to northern arms another link in the strengthening chain ofnorthern credit. 

The Union finances did indeed appear desperate. The stoppage of a sureand heavy means of revenue, at the same moment that the spindles of NewEngland stood still for want of food; the increased demand for fabricsand supplies, that had now to be imported; and the vast increase ofexpenditure, coincident with decrease in revenue, left but had one dooropen to escape. The North was flooded with greenback promises to pay, issued with one sole basis of redemption--the chance of absoluteconquest of a people roused, warlike, and determined to yield nothingsave their lives. 

To meet this issue and the interest of the vast debt incurred, taxationin the North rapidly increased, until the oppressive burden represented, in one or another shape, _near 20 per cent. _ of the real property ofthe people!

Besides, the North, unlike ourselves--argued the hopeful southernfinancier--does not go into the war as a unit. New York, the greatmoney center, is entirely opposed to the war; New England isdiscontented at the stoppage of her factories and the loss imposed uponher people; and the great West, ever more bound to the South than tothe East, by community of interest and of pursuit, must soon see thather only road to salvation is down the great river that has heretoforebeen the one lung that gave her the breath of life! Will the cuteYankee of New England submit to be ruined, and starved, and taxed inaddition? Will the great commercial metropolis let the grass grow inher streets and the vessels rot at her wharves, that once laughed withsouthern cotton? Will the granary and meat-house of the Union yield allher produce for baseless paper promises and, in addition pay heavy taxto carry on a war, suicidal as she must see it?

Such were the delusions of the South--based, it may be, upon reason, and only delusions because underestimating and despising the greatingenuity of the enemy, and the vast cohesive power of _interest_!

If the Washington government could not make the war popular, it couldat least make it a great money job. If it could not bring it at once tothe hearts of its people, it could at least force it directly upontheir pockets. 

The vast increase in army and navy gave sudden and excitingly novelemployment to thousands of men then out of situations; the unprecedenteddemand for materials of war--arms--munitions--clothing--supplies--turnedthe North and East into one vast armory and quartermaster's store;while the West was a huge commissary department. Then the Governmentpaid well and promptly, if it did pay in greenbacks. These dailychanged hands and nobody stopped to inquire on what the promise to paywas based. 

Great contracts were let out to shrewd and skillful moneyed men; theseagain subdivided became the means of employing thousands of idlehands--while each sub-contractor became a missionary to the mob topreach the gospel of the greenback!

But above all was the shrewdness and finesse with which the bonds weremanipulated. The suction once applied, the great engine, Wall street, was pumped dry; and self-preservation made every bondholder a _defacto_ emissary of the Treasury Department. 

Banker and baker, soldier and seamstress, were equally interested inthe currency. It became greenback or nothing, and the United Statesused the theory of self-preservation on which to build a substantialedifice of public credit. 

These were the hard, real reasons that dissipated at last the dream ofthe South; that kept the greenback promise of the manufacturing Northat little below gold, while the grayback of the producing South wentdown--down--from two--to ten--twenty--at last, to one thousand dollarsfor one. 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

DOLLARS, CENTS, AND LESS. 

And now, looking back to the struggling and suffering South, one askswith wonder how these results could have transpired. 

Unlike the North, the South went into the struggle with her whole souland her whole strength. Every man came forward with one accord, willingto work in the way he best might for the cause he held sacred; ready togive his arm, his life, and all he had beside, for the general good. Whole regiments were put into service, armed, uniformed and equipped, without costing the central government one dollar; and in someinstances--as of that spotless knight, true gentleman and pure patriot, Wade Hampton--raised by the energy, paid for by the generosity, and ledto death itself by the valor of one man!

Corporations came into this general feeling. Railroads put theirrolling-stock and their power in the hands of the Government; agreeing, as early as the origin of the Montgomery government, to take their payat _half rates_ and in government bonds. Banks put their facilities andtheir circulation, manufacturers their machinery and foundries theirmaterial, at public disposition, for the bare cost of existence. Farmers and graziers cheerfully yielded all demanded of them! And howthe women wrought--how soft hands that had never worked before pliedthe ceaseless needle through the tough fabric--how taper fingers packedthe boxes for camp, full from self-denial at home--shall shine down allhistory as the brightest page in story of noble selflessness. 

In the deadly hail of hostile batteries; in the swelteringharvest-field of August, and at the saddened and desolate fireside ofDecember, the southern people wrought on--hoped on!

And the result of all this willing sacrifice was greatly to reduce theburdens on the treasury. For reasons before stated the southern armywas smaller, and its transportation cost far less, than that of theenemy. Its equipment was far cheaper, and its subsistence for everyreason infinitely smaller. 

Still, with an outlay per diem scarcely more than one-tenth that of theNorth--which amounted to near $4, 000, 000! daily; with the teemingfields and bursting warehouses filled with cotton--a year back, auriferous in every fiber--worthless now; and with a people thus unitedto act and to aid it, the Southern Treasury continued to flood thecountry with paper issues, based only on the silver lining of the cloudthat hung darker and ever darker over the South. 

With _one-tenth_ the population in the field and the rest workingfor them, there was no real demand for this inordinate issue. One-tenththe volume of currency properly distributed, with a coincident issue ofbonds, would have relieved the actual necessities of buyer and seller. But still the wheels worked on--still Treasury notes fluttered out, until every bank and store and till was glutted with them. 

Then the results of the inflation came with relentless and rapid pace. With the people still convinced of the inevitable outcome of theirunited efforts; with the thinkers of the South still evolving theirtheories of the philosopher's stone to change all this mass of paperinto gold; and with the press of the country blatant about the speedyand certain collapse of northern credit; above all, with millions ofpounds of cotton rotting in our warehouses--Confederate money, littleby little, bought less and less of the necessaries of life. 

At first the change was very gradual. In the summer of 1861, personscoming to Richmond from Europe and the North spent their gold as freelyas the Treasury notes. Then gold rose to five, ten, fifteen, andfinally to forty per cent. Premium. There it stuck for a time. But theissues increased in volume, the blockade grew more effective, andmisgivings about the Treasury management crept into the minds of thepeople. Gold went up again, ten per cent. At a jump, until it touched ahundred--then rapidly to a hundred and fifty. 

"The whole system looks devilish blue, " said Styles Staple, who wascuring an ugly wound in his thigh. "I've been writing 'the house' aboutit, and the Gov. Thinks the hour has passed for utilizing the cotton. If that can't be impressed by the Government, the whole bottom willfall out of this thing before many months. "

"If it ever passes the two hundred, " solemnly quoth the colonel inanswer, "egad, sir! 'twill go up like a rocket! Up, sir! egad! cleanout of sight!"

I candidly answered that I could not see the end of the inflation. 

"I do, " Styles growled--"Repudiation!"

"Well, that's no end of a nobby thing!" cried Will Wyatt, who wasalways bored about anything more serious than the last book, orcharging a battery. "Cheerful that, for a fellow's little pile to go uplike a rocket, and he not even to get the stick. "

"He can have the smoke, however, " answered Styles more cheerily, as hehobbled over and gave a $5 note for a dozen cigars. 

And this began rapidly to be the tone, everywhere out of trade. A vaguefeeling of insecurity about the power of the Government to check theonward flood of issue prevailed in all classes. This produced areckless expenditure for anything tangible and portable. And at lastthe colonel's prediction was verified; for money touched the twohundred per cent. , and went up--up--by the one hundred; until in a timeincredibly short--and with such a suddenness that people had no time tobe surprised--the Confederate treasury note stood still for a moment, worth _twenty to one_ for _gold_!

This may be accounted for, in small part, by the scarcity of suppliesand the increasing efficiency of the blockade. But it must beremembered that the value of gold remained a constant quantity and thegold dollar in Richmond, note-flooded and blockade-bound, _boughtmore_ of almost any article than it ever had before. 

With a string of active vessels watching every port and cove, to snapup the daring ventures between the island ports and the coast; with apowerful enemy thundering at every point of entrance to southernterritory, still the fortunate man who had gold, or who could draw uponEurope, or the North, actually lived much cheaper than in any placebeyond the lines! Singular as this statement may appear, it is actualfact. At this moment--before the depreciation of currency became suchas to give it no value whatever--board at the best hotels in Richmondwas $20 per day--equivalent to $1 in gold, while it was $3 in New York, or Washington; a suit of clothes could be had for $600 or $30 in gold, while in New York it cost from $60 to $80; the best whisky was $25 pergallon--$1. 25 in gold, while in the North it was more than double. 

Rapidly gold rose in the market, and in the absence of stocks becamethe only vehicle for financial gambling. From time to time, as abrilliant success would grace Confederate arms, the fall of Treasurycredit would be checked. But it was only for the moment--and it wentdown steadily, rapidly, fatally. And as steadily, as rapidly and asfatally did the Treasury shuttles fly; spinning out the notes, like awhirlwind in autumn. And tighter grew the blockade, and fewer the meansof supply. Stocks on hand were long since gone; little came to replacethem, and the rich were driven to great straits to live, while the pooralmost starved. 

Away from the army lines and great centers of cities, the suffering wasdreadful; impressments stripped the impoverished people; conscriptionturned smiling fields into desert wastes; fire and sword ravaged manydistricts; and the few who could raise the great bundle of papernecessary to buy a meal, scarce knew where to turn in the generaldesolation, to procure it even then. In the cities, it was a littlebetter; but when beef, pork and butter in Richmond reached $35 perpound; when common cloth was $60 per yard, shoes $200 to $800 per pair, and a barrel of flour worth $1, 400, it became a difficult problem tofill one's stomach at any outlay. 

And all this time the soldiers and Government employés were being paidon a gold basis. The private received _eleven_ (afterward twenty-one)dollars per month--amounting at the end of 1863 to just _fifty-fivecents in coin_! At the last payments, before the final actions atPetersburg, the pay of a private for one month was _thirty-threecents_!

Nor were officers of the army and navy better paid. With their rank inthe old service guaranteed them, they also received about the same pay, when gold and paper money were of equal value. Later Congress believedit would be a derogation from its dignity to "practically reduce thevalue of its issues, " as one member said, "by raising officers' pay. "Thus a lieutenant in the navy, probably of twenty years' experience, and with a family dependent upon him, though debarred from all otherlabor, received $1, 500 per year--equal in gold to the sum of $4. 25 permonth; while a brigadier, or other higher general, received nearly $8per month. 

These things would provoke a smile, did they not bring with them thememory of the anguished struggle to fight off want that the wives andchildren of the soldier martyrs made. I have gone into detail furtherthan space, or the reader's patience may warrant; and still, "Behold, the half is not told!"

I would not, if I could, record the bitter miseries of the lastdreadful winter--paint the gaunt and ugly outlines of womanhood, squalid, famished, dying--but triumphant still. One case only will tellthe tale for all the rest. A poor, fragile creature, still girlish andrefined under the pinched and pallid features of starvation, totteredto me one day to beg work. 

"It is life or death for me and four young children, " she said. "Wehave eaten nothing to-day; and all last week we lived on _three pintsof rice!_"

Will Wyatt, who was near, made a generous offer of relief. Tears spranginto the woman's eyes as she answered, "You mean kindness, major; but Ihave never asked charity yet. My husband is at the front; and I onlyask a right--to be allowed to work for my children!"

Such were the sufferings, such the spirit of southern women!

When it was too late--when the headlong road to ruin had been more thanhalf-way run--some feeble attempts were made to stay the downward rush. Of course, they were useless--worse than useless, in that they madewidespread a feeling of distrust, already deep-seated with reflectingmen. The volume of currency had reached such expansion that its valuewas merely nominal for purposes of subsistence, when the devices of Mr. Memminger to lessen it began to be pressed in earnest. 

The people had now begun to see that the whole theory of the Treasurywas false; that the moment for utilizing the cotton supply had indeedbeen lost; and they murmured loud and deep against the Secretary andthe President; whom they believed not only retained him in office, butendorsed his destructive policy. Mr. Davis, the people said, wasautocratic with his Cabinet, and would have displaced Mr. Memmingersummarily, had he not favored that peculiar financial system. Mr. Davis, too, was known to have been hostile to the absorption andexportation by the Government of all the cotton. He had, moreover, recommended against any legislation by Congress to contract thecurrency and stop the issues. Now, therefore, the inflation and utterinadequacy of the paper money was laid at his door, as well as Mr. Memminger's; and the people, feeling there was no safety for them, began to distrust the good faith of such reckless issue. A system ofbarter was inaugurated among the country people; and they traded offthings only needful for others absolutely essential. They began to feela dread of taking the notes of the Government, and in many instancesrefused them utterly. And yet these very people yielded cheerfully tothe constantly insolent, and not infrequently illegal, demands of theimpressment officers. 

In the cities, too, a point had been reached where the promise of theGovernment to pay was looked upon as a bitter joke. Bonds wereconstantly refused in business transactions, and only Treasurynotes--as a medium of temporary exchange--were accepted. 

Then, as a necessary measure, came the imperative order for funding thecurrency. All the millions of old issues were to be turned into thetreasury, by a certain date, and exchanged for bonds. If the unluckyholder could not, or would not, deposit or exchange, he lostthirty-three per cent. Of the value of the Government pledge he held. The old issues went rapidly out of sight; but the measure did notappreciably lessen the current medium, while it _did_ very appreciablylessen the confidence in the integrity of the Department. 

It is but the first step in repudiation, thought the people. IfGovernment will on any pretext ignore one-third of its obligation, whatguarantee have we for the other two? And so, justly or unjustly, thecountry lost all faith in the money. Men became reckless and paid anyprice for any article that would keep. Tobacco--as being the mostcompact and portable--was the favorite investment; but cotton, realestate, merchandise--anything but the paper money, was grasped at withavidity. 

It has often been charged that speculators ruined the currency. But, togive the children of the devil their due--we can scarcely think butthat the currency made the speculators. 

Had the plain system been adopted, by which the currency dollar couldhave ever approximated to coin, it would have been simply impossiblefor the holders of supplies to have run prices up to extortionatefigures. Not that I would for one instant excuse, or ask any mercy for, those unclean vultures who preyed upon the dead credit of theirGovernment; who grew fat and loathsome while they battened on themiseries of the brave, true men who battled for them in the front ranksof the fight. But while the fault and the shame is theirs, it may notbe disguised that the door was not only left open for their baseplundering, but in many cases they were urged toward it by the veryhands that should have slammed it in their faces. 

When we come to consider the question of the blockade, we may, perhaps, see this more clearly. Meantime, in glancing down the past by the lightof experience, one can not but marvel at the rapid, yet almostimperceptible, epidemic that fastened incurably upon the people, spreading to all classes and sapping the very foundations of theirstrength. 

In the beginning, as vast crowds poured into Richmond--each man with alittle money and anxious to use it to some advantage--trade put on anew and holiday dress. Old shops were spruced up; old stocks, by aid ofbrushing and additions, were made to appear quite salable and rapidlyran off. The demand made the meat it fed upon, until stores, shops andbooths sprang up in all parts of the city and on all the roads leadinginto it from the camps. Gradually--from causes already noted--suppliesbecame more scarce as money became more plenty. The pinch began to befelt by many who had never known it before; and almost every one, whohad any surplus portables, was willing to turn them into money. In thisway, those who had anything to sell, for the time, managed to live. Butthe unfortunates who had only what they needed absolutely, or who wereforced to live upon a fixed stipend, that did not increase in any ratioto the decrease of money, suffered terribly. 

These were only too ready to take the fever of speculation; and to buyany small lots of anything whatever that might sell again at a profit. This was the class from which the main body of amateur speculators wasrecruited. One successful venture led to another and gave added meansfor it. The clerk, or the soldier, who yesterday cleared his hundred ona little turn in whisky, to-morrow might hope to double it--thenreinvest his principal and his profits. It was marvelous how valuesrose over night. One might buy anything, a lot of flour--a line offruits--a hogshead of molasses, or a case of boots to-day, with almosta certainty of nearly doubling his outlay to-day week. 

The ordinary channels of trade became clogged and blocked by itsconstant increase. Auction houses became the means of brokerage; andtheir number increased to such an extent that half a dozen red flags atlast dotted every block on Main street. And incongruous, indeed, werethe mixtures exposed at these sales, as well as in the windows of thesmallest shops in Richmond. In the latter, bonnets rested on the sturdylegs of cavalry boots; rolls of ribbon were festooned along the crossedbarrel of a rifle and the dingy cotton umbrella; while cartridges, loaves of bread, packages of groceries, gloves, letter paper, packs ofcards, prayer-books and canteens, jostled each other in admirableconfusion. 

At these auctions there was utter want of system. Hogsheads of primerum would be put up after kegs of spikes; a case of organdies wouldfollow a good cavalry horse; and then might come four second-handfeather-beds and a hundred boarding cutlasses. 

But everything soever found a purchaser; some because they wereabsolutely needed and the buyer dreaded waiting the next week's rise;the majority to sell again in this insane game of money-making. 

But varied as were the motives for speculation, the principal ones werebreadstuffs and absolute necessities of life; and while the minorspeculators--the amateurs--purchased for _quick_ profits--theprofessional vultures bought for _great_ ones and could afford to wait. 

The first class reached into every rank of society; the second wereprincipally Yankee residents--caught in Richmond by the war, orremaining for the sole purpose of making it pay--and a smaller class ofthe lowest Polish Jews. Ishmaels both, owning no kinship and nocountry, their sole hope was gain--gain at the cost of reputation andcredit themselves--gain even at the cost of torture and starvation tothe whole South beside. These it was who could afford to buy in bulk;then aid the rise they knew must come inexorably, by hoarding up greatquantities of flour, bacon, beef and salt. 

It mattered not for themselves who suffered--who starved. It matterednot if the noble fellows at the front lived on a scant handful ofcornmeal per day--if starving men died before the works they were tooweak to mount--if ghastly objects in hospital and trench literallyperished, while their storehouses burst with food--waiting for a rise!

It is too ugly a picture to dwell upon. Suffice it that the humanhyenas of speculation did prey upon the dying South; that they lockedup her salt while the men in the trenches perished for it; that thricethey stored the flour the people felt was theirs, in such quantitiesand for so long, that before their maw for gain was glutted, seriousriots of the starving called for the strong hand to interfere. And tothe credit of Government and southern soldier, be it said--even in thatdark hour, with craving stomach and sickening soul--"Johnny Reb" obeyedhis orders and guarded the den of the hyena--from his own hungeringchildren, perhaps!

No weak words of mine may paint the baseness and infamy of the vulturesof the market. Only a Doré, with a picture like his Frozen Hell, orUgolino--might give it faint ideal. 

And with the feeling how valueless was the money, came anotherepidemic--not so widespread, perhaps, as the speculation fever; butequally fatal to those who caught it--the rage for gambling!

Impulsive by nature, living in an atmosphere of constant and increasingartificial excitement, feeling that the money worth little to-day, perhaps, would be worth nothing to-morrow--the men of the South gambledheavily, recklessly and openly. There was no shame--little concealmentabout it. The money was theirs, they argued, and mighty hardly earned, too. They were cut off from home ties and home amusements; led the lifeof dumb beasts in camp; and, when they came to town--ho! for "thetiger. "

Whether these reasons be valid or not, such they were. And really tothe camp-wearied and battle-worn officer, the saloon of the fashionableRichmond "hell" was a thing of beauty. Its luxurious furniture, softlights, obsequious servants and lavish store of such wines and liquorsand cigars as could be had nowhere else in Dixie--these were only partof the inducement. Excitement did the rest, leaving out utterly thevulgar one of possible gain, so rarely did that obtain. But in thesefaro-banks collected the leading men, resident and alien, of theCapital. Senators, soldiers and the learned professions sat elbow toelbow, round the generous table that offered choicest viands moneycould procure. In the handsome rooms above they puffed fragrant andreal Havanas, while the latest developments of news, strategy andpolicy were discussed; sometimes ably, sometimes flippantly, but alwaysfreshly. Here men who had been riding raids in the mountains of theWest; had lain shut up in the water batteries of the Mississippi; orhad faced the advance of the many "On-to-Richmonds"--met after longseparation. Here the wondering young cadet would look first upon somenoted raider, or some gallant brigadier--cool and invincible amid therattle of Minié-balls, as reckless but conquerable amid the rattle ofivory chips. 

So the faro-banks flourished and the gamblers waxed fat like Jeshurun, the ass, and kicked never so boldly at the conscript man. Nor were theyall of ignoble memory. There is more than one "sport" in the Southto-day, who made warm and real friends of high position from his actsof real generosity then. 

Whatever may be the vices of gamblers as a class, many a soldier-boywill bear witness to the exception that proves the rule. One of the"hells" at least was a _home_ for the refugee; and whether theMaryland soldier came dirty, and hungry and ragged from camp, withnever a "stamp" in his pocket; whether he came wearied and worn, but"full of greenbacks, " from a trip across the lines--the post of honorat the table, the most cordial welcome and most generous glass of winewere ever his. 

However the holy may be horrified--however the princely speculator mayturn up his keen-scented nose, I here record that, during the fouryears of dark and bloody war--of pinching want and bitter trial, therewas no more generous, free-hearted and delicate aid given to thesuffering soldier-boy, than came from the hand of the Baltimorefaro-banker. 

So in Richmond high and low gambled--some lightly for excitement'ssake--some dashingly and brilliantly--a few sullenly and doggedly goingin to gain. Few got badly hurt, getting more in equivalent of wines, cigars and jolly dinners than they gave. They looked upon the "hell" asa club--and as such used it freely, spending what they had andwhistling over their losses. When they had money to spare they played;when they had no money to spare--or otherwise--they smoked theircigars, drank their toddies and met their friends in chaff and gossip, with no more idea that there was a moral or social wrong than if theyhad been at the "Manhattan" or the "Pickwick" of to-day. 

I do not pretend to defend the habit; but such it was, and such all themen who remember the Capital will recognize it. 

Of that other class, who "went in for blood"--some got badly hurt inreputation and in pocket. But the dead cause has buried its dead; andtheir errors--the result of an overstrained state of society andindubitably of a false money-system--hurt no one but themselves. 

And so, with the enemy thundering at the gates; with the echoed_whoo!_ of the great shells almost sounding in the streets; andwith the ill-provided army staggering under the burthen ofdefense--almost too heavy for it to bear--the finances of theConfederacy went from bad to worse--to nothing!

The cotton that the alchemy of genius, or even of business tact--mighthave transmuted into gold, rotted useless; or worse, as a bait for theraider. The notes, that might have been a worthy pledge of governmentalfaith, bore no meaning now upon their face; and the soldier in thetrench and the family at the desolate fireside--who might have beencomfortably fed and clad--were gnawed with very hunger! And when thepeople murmured too loudly, a change was made in men, if not in policy. 

Even if Mr. Trenholm had the ability, he had no opportunity to proveit. The evil seed had been sown and the bitter fruit had grown apace. Confederate credit was dead!

Even its own people had no more faith in the issues of theirgovernment; and they hesitated not--even while they groped on, ever onto the darkness coming faster and faster down upon them--to declarethat the cause of their trouble was Mr. Memminger; with the Presidentbehind him. 

But, though the people saw the mismanagement and felt its cause--thoughthey suffered from it as never nation suffered before--though theyspoke always bitterly and often hotly of it; still, in their greateststraits and in their darkest hours, no southern man ever deemed it butmismanagement. 

The wildest and most reckless slanderer could never hint that one shredof all the flood of paper was ever diverted from its proper channel bythe Secretary; or that he had not worked brain and body to the utmost, in the unequal struggle to subdue the monster he had created. 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

ACROSS THE POTOMAC AND BACK. 

Of such vast import to the southern cause was Lee's first aggressivecampaign in Maryland; so vital was its need believed to be, by thepeople of the South; so varied and warm was their discussion of it thatit may seem proper to give that advance more detailed consideration. 

Imperfect and inadequate as such a sketch must be, to the soldier, itmay still convey in some sort, the ideas of the southern people upon amomentous question. 

Coincident with the evacuation of the Peninsula by the Federals wasGeneral Lee's movement, to throw beyond the Rapidan a force sufficientto prevent Pope's passage of that river. After Cedar Mountain, Jacksonhad disappeared as if the earth had swallowed him up. It was believedin the North that the advance of Pope's masses had cut him off from themain army and locked him up in the Shenandoah Valley; while theSouth--equally ignorant of his designs and confident of theirsuccess--rested on the rumor that he had said:

"Send me more men and no orders!"

Suddenly a beacon flashed into the sky, telling in the flames from thedepots at Manassas and Bristow Stations that the famous passage ofThoroughfare Gap had been made--millions of property, stores androlling-stock given to feed the flames. Jackson was in Pope's rear!

This Confederate corps now fronted toward the main army of Lee, and thebragging Federal found himself between the upper and nether millstones. Still he had little doubt that he could turn upon the small force ofJackson and crush it before Lee could advance to his rescue. Followingthis plan, and depending also upon the heavy masses Burnside wasbringing down to him from Fredericksburg, Pope attacked Jackson indetail at Bristow and at Manassas, with no other effect than to berepulsed heavily in both instances. 

The attack, however, warned Jackson of the enemy's purpose and of hisown critical position; and, on the night of August 28th, he made amasterly flank movement that put him in possession of the old battle-fieldof Manassas plains; at the same time opening his communications with Lee'sadvance. 

In all this, General Stuart gave most efficient aid both in beatingback heavy attacks of the enemy's cavalry, and in keeping Jacksonadvised of the course of Pope's retreat--or advance, as it might becalled--from Warrenton to Manassas. 

By the 29th of August, Longstreet's corps had effected the passage ofThoroughfare Gap and united with Jackson; and on that day these corpsengaged with Pope's advance in a terrific fight, lasting from middaytill dark--the prelude to the great drama that was next day to delugethe field of Manassas a second time with the blood of friend and foe. 

Before daylight next morning, the cannon again woke the wearied andbattle-worn ranks, sleeping on their arms on the field they had won;and sent a fresh impulse to the hearts of their brothers, toilingsteadily on to join them in the great fight to come. Heavy firing andsharp skirmishing for position filled the forenoon; but then the massesof hostile infantry joined in the shock of battle, more terrible thanthe one of the year before. The men were more disciplined and hardenedon both sides; and the Federal leaders, feeling that their only hopelay in victory now, hurled brigade after brigade against the nowvindictive and battle-thirsty Confederates. 

Line after line emerges from enveloping clouds of smoke, charging thefronts that Longstreet and Jackson steadily oppose to them. Line afterline melts before that inevitable hail, rolling back scattered andimpotent as the spume the angry ocean throws against a graniteheadland!

Broken again and again, the Federals, with desperate gallantry, hurlagainst the unflinching crescent that pours its ceaseless rain of firethrough them; while the great guns behind its center thunder and roll

 "In the very glee of war, "

sending death-winged bolts tearing and crushing through them. 

Through the carnival of death Hood has sent his Texans and Georgians ata run--their wild yells rending the dull roar of the fight; theirbayonets flashing in a jagged line of light like hungry teeth! Jacksonhas swung gradually round the enemy's right; and Stephen Lee'sartillery has advanced from the center--ever tearing and crashingthrough the Federal ranks, scattering terror and death in itsunswerving path!

The slaughter has been terrific. Federal and Southron have fought welland long. Piles of mangled and gory dead lie so mingled that gray andblue are undistinguished. But the wild impetuosity of the "raggedrebels"--nerved by the memories of this field's old glories--toned upby the Seven Days, and delirious with the glow of presentvictory--sweeps the Federal back and doubles his line. It breaks--freshregiments pour in with deadly shot and fearful yell; the Federal linemelts into confusion--rout! and the Second Manassas is won. 

The victory was as complete as that of the year before; an absoluterout was only saved the Federals by falling back to the reserve underFranklin, when the retreat became more orderly, as there was nopursuit. 

The solid fruits of the victory were the annihilation of all the plansof the gong-sounder, and the complete destruction of the new"On-to-Richmond;" the capture of over 7, 000 prisoners--paroled on thefield--and his admitted total loss of 28, 000 men. 

New glories, too, shone around the names of Lee, Jackson, Longstreet, Hood, Kemper and Jenkins; and the efficient aid and splendid fightingof the cavalry of Stuart, Hampton and Bev Robinson, here proved thatarm to have reached its point of highest efficiency. 

The heart of the South, still throbbing with triumph after the SevenDays and their bright corollary of Cedar Mountain, went up in one wildthrob of joyous thanksgiving. So satisfied were the people of thesagacity of their leaders and the invincible valor of their troops; socarried away were they by the splendid reflection from the glory overManassas plain--that this time they never even stopped to question whythere had been no pursuit; why the broken enemy had not been completelycrushed. All they felt was that Virginia was free from the invader. ForGeneral Loring, in the Kanawha, had driven the enemy before him andentirely cleared that portion of the state; while on this line he washastening rapidly back to Washington to meet the expected advance ofLee toward the Capital. 

Without resting his army, the latter divided it into three corps, undercommand of Jackson, Longstreet and A. P. Hill; and moved rapidly towardthe accomplishment of that cherished hope of the southern people--anoffensive campaign on the enemy's soil. 

Jackson passed with his accustomed swiftness to the occupation of theheights commanding Harper's Ferry and to the investment of thatposition; while the other corps moved to the river at different points, to cut off the re-enforcements the alarmed Federals might send to itsrescue. Great was the alarm and intense the excitement at Washington. The sudden turn of the tables--the cold dash to hopes that the braggingof their new hero had raised to fever heat, and the transformation ofthe crushed rebel into an avenging invader, created equal surprise aspanic. Pope summarily dropped from the pinnacle of public favor intodisgrace; and McClellan was the only mainstay the Federal Governmentcould fall back on, to check the victorious Lee. 

Meanwhile, equal excitement reigned in the Rebel Capital, but it wasjoyous and triumphant. The people had long panted to see the theater ofblood and strife transferred to the prosperous and peaceful fields oftheir enemy. They had a secure feeling that when these were torn withshell and drenched with carnage; when barns were rifled and cropstrampled by hostile feet, the northern people would begin to appreciatethe realities of a war they had so far only seen by the roseate lightof a partial press. Secure and confident in the army that was to worktheir oracle, the hope of the South already drew triumphant pictures ofdefeated armies, harassed states, and a peace dictated from the FederalCapital. 

On the 14th of September, D. H. Hill, of Longstreet's corps--stationedat Boonesboro to protect Jackson's flank--was attacked by a heavyforce. Heavily outnumbered, Hill fought a dogged and obstinatebattle--giving and taking terrific blows, only ceasing when nightstopped the fight. It was hard to tell which side had the best of theactual fighting; but the great object was gained and the next dayHarper's Ferry, with its heavy garrison and immense supply of arms, stores and munitions, was surrendered to Jackson. 

Great was the joy in Richmond when the news of the brilliant fight atBoonesboro--the first passage of arms on Maryland soil--and of thecapture of the great arsenal of the North reached her anxious people. It was, they felt, but the presage of the great and substantialtriumphs that Lee and his veterans _must_ win. Higher rose theirconfidence and more secure became their calculations; and the vividcontrast between the ragged, shoeless and incongruous army of the Southwith the sleek, spruce garrison surrendered to them, only heightenedthe zest of the victory and the anticipation of those to follow. 

But a sudden check was to come to this mid-career of anticipation, anda pall of doubt and dismay was to drape the fair form of Hope, even inher infancy. 

Two days after the fall of Harper's Ferry--on the 17th ofSeptember--Lee had massed some 35, 000 men on the banks of the Antietam, near Sharpsburg--a village ten miles north-east of Harper's Ferry. McClellan, pressing him hard with an army four times his ownnumbers--composed in part of raw levies and hastily-massed militia, andin part of the veterans of the armies of the Potomac--seemed determinedon battle. Trusting in the valor and reliability of his troops, andfeeling the weakness of being pressed by an enemy he might chastise, the southern chief calmly awaited the attack--sending couriers tohasten the advance of A. P. Hill, Walker and McLaws, whose divisionshad not yet come up. 

Ushered in by a heavy attack the evening before--which was heavilyrepulsed--the morning of the 17th saw one of the bloodiest and mostdesperate fights in all the horrid records of that war. Hurling hisimmense masses against the rapidly dwindling Confederate line; only tosee them reel back shattered and broken--McClellan strove to crush hisadversary by sheer strength. No sooner would one attacking columnwaver, break, retreat--leaving a writhing and ghastly wake behindit--than a fresh host would hurl against the adamantine line that sunkand shriveled under the resistless fire, but never wavered. In all thefearful carnage of the war--whether resulting in gloom, like that ofCorinth, or purchasing brilliant victory with precious blood--men neverfought better than did that battle-torn, service-worn handful that hadjust saved Richmond--broken the glittering, brazen vessel ofdestruction; and now sent its defiant yell through hostile mountains. 

All that valor and endurance could do had been done; and atmid-afternoon the battle seemed well-nigh lost. Just then the missingdivisions--some 12, 000 men--reached the field. Wearied, unfed andfootsore, they were; but the scent of battle rested and refreshed themas they went into the thickest of the fight. But even they could notsave the day. Outnumbered and shattered, but unconquered still, theConfederates could not advance from the field they had held at suchbitter cost. And when night stopped the aimless carnage, each army, toocrippled to renew the fight, withdrew toward its base. McClellan couldnot pursue; and the Confederates fell back doggedly, sullenly, andrecrossed into Virginia. 

As usual in the North, a wild howl went up against McClellan. Inresponse to this _brutum fulmen_, he was promptly removed by Halleck, for not conquering an army that had proved itself invincible!

Bitter indeed was the hour that brought to Richmond the story ofSharpsburg. Flushed with hope, undoubting of triumph, her citizens onlylistened for the wild cheer that would echo back from conqueredWashington. But the sound that reached their ears was the menacing roarfrom retreating ranks that left near one-third their number stark andghastly on that grim field, where the Death Angel has so darkly flappedhis wings. 

Thus ended the first Maryland campaign. 

It had given the people their wish; it had carried the gray jacketsover the border and stricken the enemy sorely on his own soil. But ithad left that soil drenched with the blood of some of the bravest andbest; the noble Branch and chivalric Starke had both fallen where theirmen lay thickest--torn and ghastly on that terrible field. 

The details of that field which the Richmond people gathered from thenorthern papers, deepened their gloom. And through it rose a hoarsewhisper, swelling at last into angry query, why had the campaignmiscarried? If the army was inadequate in numbers, why had General Leecarried it over that river he had never crossed before, when his ownarmy was better and the enemy less prepared? And if, as stated, the menwere ill-provided in munitions and transportation--as they were knownto be with clothes and rations--why had Government forced its onlybulwark well-nigh to annihilation?

It mattered little, the people said, that the results had been far moredisastrous to the North than to the South--both in prestige and loss. The North could far better afford it. What was the killing of a fewthousand raw troops, or the destruction of a few thousand stand ofarms, compared to the precious cost of holding the field at Sharpsburg?

And gradually these complaints, as in all such cases, answeredthemselves; and then the vials of southern wrath began to empty overthe unfortunate Marylanders, who had not risen to aid their brothers intheir sore need. How unjust were these charges will soon be shown. 

And so the people murmured to relieve their overfull hearts, until thecalm and steady course of the general they had never doubted, quietedthem once more. 

The outcry in the North resulted in the choice of General A. E. Burnside to command the new invasion; and he was of course hailed asthe augur, who was surely this time to read the oracle. Watchful, calm, and steadfast, the Confederate waited, through the months ofpreparation, to meet the new advance--so disposing part of his forceabout Winchester as to prevent the favorite Valley-road On-to-Richmond. With a renewed, and splendidly appointed, army, Burnside moved inNovember toward Fredericksburg; thinking that this time he had reallygotten between Lee and Richmond. 

What was his disgust to find, when he reached the Rappahannock, thatthe Confederate army was not all at Winchester, but was before him todispute his crossing. After some unavailing manoeuvers for position, the Federals sat down on the heights of Stafford, oppositeFredericksburg; made works at their leisure; and spread a perfect cityof tents and booths over a line of some five miles. Outnumbered as hewas, General Lee could do nothing but watch and wait for the crossingthat must come, sooner or later; and meantime he chose his line ofbattle. 

Just back of Fredericksburg, stretching some two miles southward, is asemi-circular plain bordered by a range of hills. These stretch fromHamilton's crossing beyond Mayre's Hill on the left; and are coveredwith dense oak growth and a straggling fringe of pines. On these hills, Lee massed his artillery, to sweep the whole plain where the enemy mustform, after his crossing; and arranged his line of battle with A. P. Hill holding the right and Longstreet the left. On the night ofDecember 10th, Stafford Heights opened a furious bombardment of thetown, tearing great gaps through the thickest populated quarters. 

Into the bitter winter night tender women and young children weredriven, shivering with fright and cold, half clad; seeking safety fromthe screaming shells that chased them everywhere. Under thisbombardment, the pioneers commenced their pontoons at three points. Thestorm of grape and canister was too great to contest the landing, whichwas effected next day. 

As the heavy fog that had obscured the sun cleared away, the regularlines of the Federals advanced to the attack, raked and torn bybatteries. Broken, they were formed again, only to be mowed downafresh; while the scream of a thousand shells from Stafford filled theair with a continuous _whoo_, amid which the rattle of southernmusketry sang ever fiercer and swifter. Then dark masses of blue cameout of the town and formed for the charge, under a terrific fire fromthe Washington Artillery on Mayre's Hill. Steadily and fearlessly didMeagher's First Brigade move to the attack. Crowded into the narrowroad, swept by the accurate fire of the Louisianians and McLaws'veterans--the head of the column went down, only to be filled by thegallant fellows behind. Into the jaws of death they came, up to thevery works--then, with half their number dead and dying about theirfeet, they broke, the left gave way--and the bloody field was won atall points. The victory was terrible and complete. 

But it had cost dear, and the rejoicing in Richmond was tempered withsorrow for the loss of such as Maxcy Gregg, Cobb, and many others, lying cold upon the field of victory. 

And with the first feeling of triumph the news brought, came thethought that this time _surely_ the enemy would be pushed--this time hewas indeed a prey! Broken and demoralized, with a deep river in hisrear that he _must cross in pontoons_, the people felt that he couldsurely be destroyed before reaching his Stafford stronghold. But onceagain, as ever, the shattered and broken legions of Burnside wereallowed two days to recover from their demoralization; to pass atleisure, over the trap behind them. 

Great was the amaze, bitter the disappointment of the people; and theinquiry how and why this had been done, became universal. But thesouthern people above every other feeling had now come to cherish aperfect and unquestioning faith in General Lee; and even while theywondered at a policy that invariably left a beaten enemy to recover, and only become stronger--still they questioned with a firm reliancethat there _must_ be some reason, invisible to them but good andpotent still. 

There were no active operations immediately succeeding Fredericksburg. Picket fighting; cavalry skirmishes, severe but fruitless; andtemporary raids of the enemy to devastate the country around the rearof their army, and to penetrate into that beyond their lines, occupyingthe winter and early spring. But there was full leisure for the peopleto look upon the ugliest features of the war. Fredericksburg was aruin, riddled with shot and shell, tenanted only by the poorestclasses. Her once cheerful and elegant population were ruined andstarving refugees in Richmond; the smiling tracts stretching back tothe Potomac were one broad, houseless waste--browned by fire, and cutwith the winding wagon-roads of the enemy. Constant incursions of hiscavalry--for "raiding" had now become a feature of the war--harassedthe people, everywhere removed from the immediate army lines. Theseslaughtered and drove off their cattle, stole and consumed theirsupplies, burned their barns, _and destroyed their farming utensils!_--arefinement of barbarity to non-combatants, never before practiced by acivilized race. 

Then, too, the news from the West, heretofore sketched, reacted onRichmond; and the gloom in the Capital grew deep and universal. Burnside had, meantime, been dismissed in disgrace for his shamefulfailure. The inevitable howl had again gone up in the North; then theinevitable result had come. Joseph Hooker was now the coming man--thewar-gong was sounded more loudly than ever; the army was re-enforced togreater size than ever; and so equipped that its general proclaimed itthe "finest army on the planet. " Agog with preparation, and stuffedfull with promises of certain success this time, the North forgot themany slips between its lips and the coveted cup of triumph, and waitedin secure impatience for the moment when the roads would permit Hookerto advance. 

And the South waited, too--not hopefully, nor with the buoyantanticipation of the past, but still with a confidence in its cause andits defenders nowise diminished; with even more fixed determinationnever to yield, while there were muskets left and hands to grasp them. 

At last the movement came. Late in April, Hooker divided his immensearmy into two columns, one menacing right crossing below Fredericksburg, to hold the troops at that point; the other crossing above, to flankand pass to their rear, combining with the other wing and cuttingcommunication with Richmond. Taking command in person of his rightwing--while the left was confided to General Slocum--Hooker rapidlycrossed the river, concentrating not less than 60, 000 men on theChancellorsville road, eleven miles above Fredericksburg. Grasping thesituation at once, Lee ordered the small force there back to Mine Run, until re-enforced; and then, on the 2d of May, Stonewall Jacksoncompleted that wonderful and painful circuit of the enemy--so brilliantin conception, so successful in result. Late in the afternoon hereached their extreme right and rear, secure and unsuspecting. Neverstopping to rest, the Eldest Son of War hurled himself like athunderbolt on the confident and intrenched enemy--scattering theeleventh corps (Sigel's) like chaff, and hurling them, broken anddemoralized, upon their supports. The very key of the enemy's campaignwas driven out; and the "one hour more of daylight!" the hero-generalprayed for--or the merciful sparing of his priceless life by the God ofBattles--would have shown complete defeat, even annihilation, ofHooker's right. 

But it was not so written in the Book of Life! A wise dispensation, whose object we may see, removed the best and greatest soldier of thewar--sorely stricken by the hands of his own devoted men, in thedarkness; the routed enemy was given, by this unequaled misfortune, andby fast falling night, opportunity for partial reorganization. 

Hooker's right was turned and doubled upon his center; but he was stillstrong in numbers, and had the advantage of position and heavy works, abatis and rifle-pits. 

Next morning General Lee assaulted in force, all along the line; andafter heavy and bloody fighting, drove him from his position at allpoints. Sedgwick, however, had crossed the river at Fredericksburg, driving the Confederates from the town and carrying Mayre's Hill byassault. This acted as a check to Lee, who was forced to detachMcLaws' division to drive Sedgwick back from his own rear. This hesuccessfully accomplished, and--Anderson reaching McLaws just intime--on the 4th of May, the last of the series of the battles of theRappahannock resulted in complete defeat of Sedgwick. 

Still, Hooker was permitted to withdraw his army across the river; butthe campaign of the week had been successful in utterly breaking hisplans and clearly defeating him in every engagement. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

OVER AGAIN, TO GETTYSBURG. 

The campaign of the Rappahannock had shown brilliant flashes ofstrategy and valor. It had proved that a badly-provided army of lessthan 50, 000 Confederates--barefooted, blanketless and half-fed, butproperly led--could, even when surrounded and out-flanked, defeat andset at naught 120, 000 of the best-appointed troops ever sent againstthem. It revived, in some degree, the drooping spirits of the people;but a sorrow that rose to agony wrung the heart of the South, when whatwas earth of her peerless, pure and idolized Jackson was laid in theCapitol, wrapped in the flag he had made immortal. 

Shattered and emaciated veterans, noble-browed matrons and pale, delicate maidens gathered around that sacred bier, in the awed hush ofa common sorrow, too deep for words. Tears coursed over cheeks that hadbeen bronzed in the fire of battle; sobs rose from hearts that had losttheir dearest and nearest without a murmur, save--_Thy will be done!_And little children were lifted up to look upon what was left of himwho would ever be the greatest one of earth to them. And through thecoffin-lid, that calm, still face seemed hourly to grow more holy andmore radiant; the light of battle faded out from its softening linesand the seal of the God of Peace rested in plain token upon theglorified brow. 

Truly did every one who looked upon it feel:

 "O, gracious God! not gainless is the loss! A glorious sunbeam gilds thy sternest frown-- For, while his country staggers 'neath the Cross, He rises with the Crown!"

And when the funeral procession passed the streets of the Capital, thewhole people stood bareheaded and mute. Following the wailing notes ofthe dirge with unsteady feet, moved the escort of ragged and war-wornsoldiers--their tattered banners furled--and every torn dress anddented gun-carriage speaking eloquently of the right they had earned tosorrow for him. It was no mocking pageant. No holiday soldiery, spruceand gay, followed that precious bier--no chattering crowds pointed outthe beauties of the sight. Solemn and mourning the escort passed; sadand almost voiceless the people turned away and, going to their homes, sat with their sorrow. 

After the Rappahannock fights came a lull of several weeks; and it wasearly in June when General Lee advanced to force the enemy out of thestate. His army had been reorganized and strengthened as much as possible;General R. S. Ewell was chosen successor to Jackson; and to him, Longstreetand A. P. Hill--raised now to a full lieutenant-general--was given commandof the three corps. 

Diverging from the main line, after some little coquetting forposition, Ewell charged Jackson's "foot cavalry" upon Winchester, capturing the town with its heavy depots of stores and munitions; whileHill kept Hooker amused, and Longstreet slowly forged his way towardthe river. 

Great was the joy of the poor town when it once more welcomed thegray-jackets. From the beginning it had been battle-ground and billetof both armies a dozen times. Tossed from Federal to Confederatepossession--a very shuttlecock of war--it had been harassed, robbed andpillaged by the one; drained of the very dregs by free gifts to theother. But the people of Winchester never faltered in their faith; andto-day her noble women go down the roll of heroism and steadfast truth, hand in hand with the noblest ones of our history. 

And the joy in Winchester was somewhat reflected at the harassed andeager-watching Capital. Undiminished by the sorrows of the last fall, undimmed by its reverses, still burned the southern desire to plant itsvictorious flag on hostile soil. It was neither a thirst for vengeancenor an empty boast; rather a yearning for relief--a craving for therest from blood and battle-shocks that such a campaign would give. 

It was with deep satisfaction, then, that Richmond heard that Ewell hadcrossed the Potomac at Williamsport, pushed on through Hagerstown and, leaving Early at York, had passed to Carlisle; that Longstreet hadfollowed him at Williamsport; and that A. P. Hill had crossed atShepherdstown and pushed for Chambersburg, reaching there on the 27thof June. 

Hooker, falling rapidly back upon Washington--at which point hebelieved the movement aimed--had been sacrificed, and with more justicethan usual, to popular clamor. General Geo. G. Meade replaced him incommand, and strained every nerve to collect numbers of men, irrespective of quality--seeming to desire to crush the invasion byweight alone. 

Wild was the alarm in the North when the rebel advance had penetratedthe heart of Pennsylvania; when York was held by Early and laid undercontribution and Harrisburg was threatened by Ewell. The whole Northrose in its might. Governors Seymour, of New York, Andrew, ofMassachusetts, and Curtin, of Pennsylvania, put their whole militia atthe service of the President; the energy at Washington, momentarilyparalyzed, soon recovered; and by the last day of the month, Meade hadcollected an army of near 200, 000 men. Many of these were, of course, new levies and raw militia; but near one-half were the veterans of thearmies of McClellan, Burnside and Hooker; men who had fought gallantlyon southern soil and might be expected to do so on their own. 

It seems that Lee's intention was to flank Meade; and leaving him inMaryland, to pass into Pennsylvania, occupy Harrisburg, destroycommunications between Washington and the North and reducePhiladelphia. 

Such, at least, was the universal belief of the southern people; and sorapidly did their mercurial temperament rise under it, and so great wastheir reliance in the army that was to accomplish the brilliantcampaign, that they looked upon it already as a fixed fact. Now, atlast, they felt, we will teach the Yankees what invasion really means. With their Capital leaguered, their President and Cabinet fugitives bywater, and their great thoroughfare and second city in our hands, wewill dictate our own terms, and end the war. 

Such _might_ have been the case, had Gettysburg been won, or had thatbattle never been fought. 

If Lee's intention was to flank Meade and avoid a fight at the outsetof the campaign, it was thwarted by the rapid concentration of troopsin his front, near Gettysburg. To prevent being struck in detail andsecure his communications, Lee was forced to recall Ewell and toconcentrate his army. Hill and Longstreet were ordered up fromChambersburg; and by July 1st the opposing armies faced each other;each feeling its way cautiously and knowing that the result of thisgrapple of the giants must in a great measure decide the war. Meade'sdefeat would lose Washington, leave the heart of the North open, anddemoralize the only army in that section. Lee's defeat, on the otherhand, would jeopardy his very existence and probably leave Richmond aneasy prey to fresh advance. 

But in Richmond none of this was felt; for all that was known of thearmy was its victorious entry into Pennsylvania; and absurdlyexaggerated stories of the dire panic and demoralization of the enemyreceived perfect credence. 

Then the shock came. 

On the 1st of July, Hill's advance encountered the enemy underReynolds; and--after a fierce struggle, in which their general waskilled--drove them back into and through the town. Here they werereformed on a semi-circular crest of hills; massing their artillery andholding their position until dark. Their loss was heavier far thanHill's, and the men not in as good fighting trim; but it was very late, and General Lee feared pressing their reserve. Had he known that it wasonly the advance of Meade, broken and demoralized, that held the crest, he could undoubtedly have carried and occupied it. The fearful battlesof the next two days, with their terrific loss of life, doubtless hungon this lost opportunity. 

By next morning the enemy had massed the remainder of his army behindthese hills, now frowning with two hundred guns and blue with one denseline of soldiery. Under a fearful cannonade, through a hail of bulletsthat nothing living might stand, Stewart works his way slowly andsteadily forward on the enemy's left; driving him from line after lineof works and holding every inch gained, by dogged valor andperseverance. Hays and Hoke (of Early's) advance into the ploughingfire of the rifled guns--march steadily on and charge over their owndead and dying, straight for Cemetery Heights. This is the key of theenemy's position. That once gained the day is won; and on the bravefellows go, great gaps tearing through their ranks--answering everyfresh shock with a savage yell. Line after line of the enemy gives waybefore that terrible charge. The breastwork is occupied--they aredriven out! Melting under the horrid fire, unfaltering still--thegray-jackets reach the very hill!

Nothing mortal can stand the enfilading fire. They give way--again theycharge--they are at the very works! But the fire is too heavy for theirthinned ranks to stand; and night falls over the field, illumined bythe red flash of cannon--drenched with blood and horrid with carnage offriend and foe. But there is no advantage gained, save a slight advanceof Stewart's position on their left. 

With the morning of the third day came the conviction that the vitalstruggle must be made for Cemetery Heights. Lee _must_ win them--andthen for victory!

All the artillery was massed upon this point. Then awoke the infernalechoes of such an artillery duel as the war was never to see again. Theair was black with flying shot and shell, and their wild _whoo!_ madeone continuous song through the sultry noon. Forth from the canopy ofsmoke and their screen of trees, comes the chosen stormingparty--Pickett's division of Virginians; supported on the right byWilcox and on the left by Heth's division under Pettigrew, its owngeneral having been wounded in the head the day before. 

Unmindful of the fire-sheeted storm into which they march--down intothe Valley of the Shadow of Death stride that devoted band. Now, theyemerge into the Emmetsburg road, straight on for the coveted heights. On! never blenching, never faltering--with great gaps crashing throughthem--filling the places of the dead with the living next to die--On!into the jaws of death goes the forlorn hope! They are at therise--they reach the crest; and then _their batteries are suddenlysilent_!

Behind them is the ghastly road, furrowed and ploughed by ceaselessshot, slippery with blood and dotted thick with their writhing, bleeding brothers. Behind them is death--defeat! Before them a hundredbelching cannon--a dense, dark mass of blue, relieved only by thevolleying flash that shakes and rolls along their shattered line! Stillup they go! on--ever on! That small Virginia division, shattered, bleeding--_and alone_ reaches the works--fights for one moment andthen--_has won them_!

But there are no supports--Pettigrew has not come up; and the decimatedVirginians are literally overwhelmed by the fresh masses poured uponthem. Broken, torn, exhausted, they fall back--scattered into terribledeath-dealing knots, that fight their way sullenly and terribly home totheir own lines!

That charge--unequaled in history--has fearfully crippled the enemy. Hecan not pursue. But it has failed, and the battle of Gettysburg isover!

That night General Lee fell back toward Hagerstown, turning in hisretreat to show front to the enemy that dared not attack. Nine days hestayed on the Maryland shore, waiting the advance that never came; thenhe recrossed the river, on the night of the 13th, and again fell backto the Rappahannock lines. 

The second Maryland campaign had failed!

Into the midst of the general elation in Richmond crashed the wildrumors from the fight. We had driven the enemy through the town; weheld the height; we had captured Meade and 40, 000 prisoners. Washingtonwas at our mercy; and Lee would dictate terms of peace fromPhiladelphia!

These were the first wild rumors; eagerly sought and readily creditedby the people. They were determined to believe and would see no changeof plan in General Lee's forced battle at Gettysburg, instead of on theplains at Harrisburg. 

Then over the general joy, creeping none knew whence nor how, butrapidly gaining shape and substance, came a shadow of doubt. Crowdsbesieged the War Department, anxious, excited, but still hopeful. Thenthe truth came; tempered by the Government, but wildly exaggerated bynorthern sources. 

Down to zero dropped the spirits of the people; down to a depth ofdespairing gloom, only the deeper from the height of their previousexultation. The dark cloud from Gettysburg rolled back over Richmond, darkened and made dense a hundred fold in the transit. 

The terrible carnage of that field was exaggerated by rumor. Pickett'sgallant division was declared annihilated; it was believed that thearmy had lost 20, 000 men; and it was known that such priceless blood asthat of Garnett, Pettigrew, Armistead, Pender, Kemper, Semmes andBarksdale had sealed the dreadful defeat. 

It only needed what came the next day, to dash the last drop from thecup of hope the people still tried to hold to their lips; and that wasthe news of the fall of Vicksburg, on the 4th of July. 

And out of the thick darkness that settled on the souls of all, came upthe groan of inquiry and blame. Why had the campaign failed? theyasked. Why had General Lee been forced into battle on ground of theenemy's choosing? Why had he attacked works that only an army like hiswould have made an effort to take, when he could have flanked the enemyand forced him to fight him on his own terms? Why had theGovernment--as was alleged--allowed the crucial test of liberty--thecrisis campaign of the war--to be undertaken without propertransportation and supplies of ammunition?

And why, above all, had the general they still loved and trusted, spiteof their doubts--why had he sent their beloved Virginians unsupportedto the shambles? Why had he fought the whole Yankee army with onedivision?

Such were the murmurs on every side. And though they gradually diedaway, after the first shock of surprise and grief had passed; stillthey left a vague feeling behind that all was not well; that graveerrors had been committed somewhere. For the southern people could notget over the feeling that there were no odds of numbers and positionthat could cause defeat to a southern army, properly supplied andproperly handled. So, although the murmurs ceased, the conviction didnot die with them that the battle of Gettysburg was a grave error; thatthere had been a useless waste of priceless lives; and that thecampaign had been nullified, which else had ended the war. 

And unlike other post-disaster conclusions of the southern people, thisdid not die out. It only became strengthened and fixed, the more lightwas thrown on the vexed questions and the more they were canvassed. Theexcuses of the War Department that ammunition had given out, werescornfully rejected. Then, said the people, that was your fault. General Lee could not depend--in a campaign in the heart of an enemy'scountry and far away from his base--upon his captures. And as to hisnot intending to fight a pitched battle, how could he calculate uponthat, or why then did he fight it; and upon ground of the enemy'schoice?

And with the other objections to the conduct of the campaign, came thatof the general's treatment of the people of Pennsylvania. It was feltto be an excess of moderation to a people whose armies had not sparedthe sword, the torch and insult to our unprotected tracts; and it wasargued--without a shadow of foundation--that Lee's knightly courtesy tothe Dutch dames of Pennsylvania had disgusted his troops. 

Those starving and barefooted heroes would have thought it right iftheir beloved chief had fallen down and worshiped the makers ofapple-butter! They felt he could do no wrong; and it was indirectinjustice to the gallant dead that dotted Cemetery Hill--and to the noless gallant living ready to march up to those frowning heightsagain--to intimate that any action of their general would, or _could_, have made them fight better. 

Excessive as was that moderation--ill advised as it might have proved, in case of a long campaign--it could have had no possible effect on thefortunes of the disastrous and brief one just ended. 

Equally unjust as that popular folly, was the aspersion upon southernsympathizers in Maryland, that they did not come forth to aid theirfriends. The part of Maryland through which southern armies passed inboth campaigns were sparsely settled, and that with strong Unionpopulation. The Marylander of Baltimore and the lower counties--whatevermay have been his wishes, was gagged and bound too closely to express, far less carry them out. Baltimore was filled with an armed guard andwas, moreover, the passage-way of thousands of troops; the lowercounties were watched and guarded. And, moreover, the Confederate armywas not _practically_ in Maryland, but from the 20th of June to the 1stof July. 

The taunt to the down-trodden Marylanders--oppressed and sufferingbravely for conscience sake--we must in justice to ourselves believeonly the result of grief and disappointment. Men, like goods, can onlybe judged "by sample;" and, from the beginning to the end of the war, Maryland may point to Archer, Winder, Elzey, Johnson and many anothernoble son--unhonored now, or filling, perhaps, a nameless grave--andask if such men came from among a people who talked but would not act!And so in sorrow, disappointment and bitterness ended the secondMaryland campaign. 

And with it ended all hopes of carrying the war beyond our own gates infuture; happy could we beat it thence, baffled and crushed as everbefore. 

For the short, sharp raid of General Early--penetrating to the gates ofthe Capital and with possible capabilities of even entering them--canhardly be considered an organized scheme of invasion. It was rather thespasmodic effort by a sharp, hard blow to loosen the tightening anddeath-dealing grip upon our throat, and give us time for one long, deepbreath before the final tug for life. 

CHAPTER XXX. 

THE CONFEDERACY AFLOAT. 

Measured by the popular test, success, the Confederate States Navywould, perhaps, be accorded little merit. Even cursory examination intothe vast difficulties and discouragements with which it contended, willdo it prompt justice. 

No men who joined the southern service sacrificed more than her navyofficers. The very flower of the old service, they had grown gray intheir slow promotion to its positions of honor; their families dependedfor sole support upon the pittance of pay they received. Still theyhesitated not a moment to range themselves under the banners theirnative states had unfurled. Once there, no men labored morefaithfully--and efficiently. Subject to misconstruction, to jealousy, to petty annoyances--and later, to the most pinching straits ofpoverty--they were ever uncomplaining and ever ready. 

Many and varied were the calls upon them. They commanded landbatteries, trained raw gunners and drilled lubberly conscripts; theywere bridge-builders, carpenters, wood-cutters, chemists and colliers;and, at the best, it was hard for the veteran who had, for forty years, trod the deck of a frigate, to be cooped in the contracted limits of arazeed tug, or an armed pilot boat. But once there he made the best ofit; and how well he wrought in the new sphere, the names of Hollins, Lynch, Buchanan and Tucker still attest. 

At the time the first Army Bill was passed by Congress, a law was alsomade securing to resigned naval officers the same rank they held in theUnited States service. But there was scarcely a keel in Confederatewaters, and small indeed was the prospect for the future; so theseimpatient spirits, panting for active work, were put into unsuitablepositions at the very outset. Later, a bill was passed for aprovisional navy, but there was no fleet for their occupation. Thedepartment, therefore, used the discretion given it to confer a fewhonorary titles, and to appoint a vast number of subordinate officers, for shore duty in its work-shops and navy-yards. 

The acceptability of Mr. Mallory to the people, at the outset of hiscareer, has been noted. They believed that his long experience in thecommittee of naval affairs was guarantee for the important trustconfided to him. Moreover, he was known to be relied upon by Mr. Davisas a man of solid intellect, of industry and perseverance. If hisknowledge of naval affairs was entirely theoretical, it mattered littleso long as he could turn that knowledge to practical account, by thecounsel and aid of some of the most efficient of the scientific sailorsof the Union. 

Mr. Mallory took charge of the Navy Department in March, '61. At thistime the question of iron-clads had attention of naval builders on bothsides of the Atlantic; and deeming them indispensable to naval warfare, the Secretary's first movement was a strong memoir to Congress, urgingimmediate and heavy appropriations for their construction at NewOrleans and Mobile. With a treasury empty and immovably averse toanything like decisive action, the astute lawgivers of Montgomeryhesitated and doubted. The most that could be forced from them weresmall appropriations for the fitting out of privateers. 

The first venture, the "Sumter, " was bought, equipped and put intocommission at the end of April; and in the course of a few weeks sheran out of New Orleans, in command of Raphael Semmes, and the stars andbars were floating solitary, but defiant, over the seas. The history ofher cruise, the terror she spread among the enemy's shipping, and theparalysis she sent to the very heart of his commerce, are too wellknown to need repetition here. Badly-built craft as she was for such aservice, she was still more badly equipped; but so eminently successfulwas she that both Government and Congress must have been incurablyblind, not to put a hundred like her upon every sea where the Unionflag could float. 

Had one-twentieth the sum frittered away in useless iron-clads, andworse than useless "gunboats, " been put into saucy and swift wasps likethe "Sumter, " their stings must have driven northern commerce from thesea; and the United States ports would have been more effectuallyblockaded, from a thousand miles at sea, than were those of thesouthern fleet-bound coast. 

It may not be irrelevant here to allude to the finale of theConfederate cruisers; and to recall the most inane farce of all thoseenacted by the madmen who held power in '66. 

In the January of that year, Raphael Semmes was seized and thrown intoprison. He was now charged--not with having violated his parole givento General Grant, who was personally and morally responsible for hispersecution--not with doing aught but "obeying the laws themselves;"but he was charged with having escaped, the year before, from thecustody of a man whose prisoner he was not and had never been--withhaving broken from a durance that ought to have existed! Fromincontrovertible testimony, we know that Captain Semmes only raised thewhite flag, after his vessel began to sink; that he stayed on her deckuntil she went down beneath him; that no boat came to him from the"Kearsage, " and that he was in the water full an hour, before the boatof the "Deerhound" picked him up and carried him aboard that yacht. 

But radical hatred, and thirst for vengeance on a disarmed enemy, raised the absurd plea that Semmes became a prisoner of war by raisingthe white flag; that by so doing he gave _a moral parole_! andviolated it by saving himself from a watery grave and afterward takingup arms again. It is only a proof that the country was a little lessmad than the radical leaders, that the unheard-of absurdity of its NavyDepartment was not sustained by popular opinion. It would have no doubtbeen chivalric and beautiful in Raphael Semmes to have drowned in theocean, because the boat of the "Kearsage" would not pick him up afteraccepting his "moral parole;" but, as he did not see it in that light, and as he was never called upon to surrender by any officer of thatship, he was perfectly free the moment his own deck left him in thewaves. The white flag was but a token that he desired to save the livesof his men; and would surrender them and himself, if opportunity weregiven. But even granting the nonsensical claim that it made him aprisoner--the laws of war demand absolute safety for prisoners; and thefact of the "Kearsage" leaving him to drown was, in itself, a release. 

There is no necessity for defense of Captain Semmes' position; but itmay be well to record how blind is the hate which still attempts tobrand as "_Pirate_" a regularly-commissioned officer in service, whoselong career gained him nothing but respect under the northern--nothingbut glory under the southern flag. If Raphael Semmes be a "pirate, "then was the northern recognition of belligerents but an active lie!Then was Robert E. Lee a marauder--Wade Hampton but a bushwhacker, andJoseph E. Johnston but a guerrilla!

When the "Sumter" began her work, she was soon followed by the"Florida"--a vessel somewhat better, but still of the same class. Underthe dashing and efficient Maffitt, the "Florida, " too, wrought daringdestruction. Her record, like that of her rival, is too familiar forrepetition; as is the later substitution of the "Alabama" for theworn-out "Sumter. "

During the long war, these three vessels--and but two of them at onetime--were the only cruisers the Confederacy had afloat; until justbefore its close, the "Shenandoah" went out to strike fresh terror tothe heart and pocket of New England. Then, also, that strong-handed andcool-headed amphiboid, Colonel John Taylor Wood, made--with wretchedvessels and hastily-chosen crews--most effective raids on the coastingshipping of the Northeast. 

One popular error pervades all which has been said or written, on bothsides of the line, about the Confederate navy. This is the generaltitle of "privateer, " given to all vessels not cooped up in southernharbors. Regularly-commissioned cruisers, like the "Alabama" and"Florida, " the property of the Navy Department, and commanded by itsregularly-commissioned officers, were no more "privateers" than werethe "Minnesota, " or "Kearsage. "

There was a law passed, regulating the issue of letters of marque; andfrom time to time much was heard of these in the South. But after thefirst spirt of the saucy little "Jeff Davis, " not more than two orthree ever found their way to sea; and even these accomplished nothing. 

At one time, a company with heavy capital was gotten up in Richmond, for the promotion of such enterprises; but it was looked upon as a joband was little successful in any sense. 

So, with all the ports of the world open to belligerent ships; withunsurpassed sailors "panting for the very lack of element" in mustyoffices, privateers did not increase in number; and one of the mosteffective engines of legitimate warfare was but illustrated, instead ofbeing utilized. 

Meantime, the Navy Department had ceased to importune forappropriations to build iron-clads at New Orleans; an omission thatcarried the grave responsibility for loss of that city, and for the fargraver disaster of the closing of the whole river and the blockade ofthe trans-Mississippi. For had the "Louisiana" been furnished with twocompanion ships of equal strength--or even had she been completelyfinished and not had been compelled to succumb to accidents within, while she braved the terrific fire from without--the Federal fleetmight have been crushed like egg-shells; the splendid exertions ofHollins and Kennon in the past would not have been nullified; the bloodof McIntosh and Huger would not have been useless sacrifice; and thehomes of the smiling city and the pure vicinage of her noble daughtersmight not have been polluted by the presence of the commandant, whocrawled in after the victorious fleet. 

Norfolk, however, had come into southern possession, by the secessionof Virginia; and the vast resources of her navy-yard--only partlycrippled by the haste of the Federal retreat--stimulated theGovernment. A meager appropriation was passed for the construction ofthe "Merrimac;" or rather for an iron-clad ship upon the hull of thehalf-destroyed frigate of that name. Had the whole amount necessary forher completion been given, the vessel would have been ready weeksbefore she was, under the dribblet system adopted. Then, indeed, itwould be hard to overestimate her value; damage to shipping in HamptonRoads; or her ultimate effect upon McClellan's campaign. 

No appropriation for an object of vital import could be shaken freefrom its bonds of red tape; and this one was saddled with an incubus, in the bill for the "construction of one hundred gunboats. " The schemeto build that number of wooden vessels of small size seemed equallyshort-sighted and impracticable. They could only be built on inlandrivers and creeks, to prevent attacks by the enemy's heavier vessels;and hence they were necessarily small and ineffective. The interiornavy-yards had, moreover, to be guarded against surprises by theenemy's cavalry; and as men were so scarce, it was generally arrangedthat the navy-yard should follow the army lines. Constantly shiftingposition--caused by the rapid movements of the enemy, left theseimpromptu ship-yards unprotected; and then a small party of raiderswould either burn them, or force their builders to do so. It was notuntil the appropriation was nearly spent--although _not one efficient_gunboat of this class was ever finished--that the system was abandonedas utterly worthless and impracticable. 

Had the large sum thus wasted been applied to the purchase of swift andreliable cruisers--or to the speedy and energetic completion of oneiron-clad at a time--it would have read a far more telling story to theenemy, both in prestige and result. 

But even in the case of these, energy and capital were divided anddistracted. On completion of the "Merrimac, " there were in the courseof construction at New Orleans, two mailed vessels of a differentclass--one of them only a towboat covered with railroad iron. Therewere also two small ones on the stocks at Charleston, and another atSavannah. The great difficulty of procuring proper iron; of rolling itwhen obtained; and the mismanagement of transportation, even when theplates were ready--made the progress of all these boats very slow. Practicality would have concentrated the whole energy of the Departmentupon one at a time; not have left them all unfinished, either to proveutterly useless at the trying moment, or to fall a prey to superiorforce of the enemy. 

The plan of the "Merrimac" was unique, in the submersion of herprojecting eaves; presenting a continuous angling coat of mail evenbelow the water-surface. She was built upon the razeed hull of the old"Merrimac, " of four-and-a-half-inch iron, transverse plates; andcarried an armament of seven-inch rifled Brooke guns, made expresslyfor her. There was much discussion at one time, as to whom the creditfor her plan was really due. It finally was generally conceded, however, that her origin and perfection were due to Commander John M. Brooke; and the terrible banded rifle-gun and bolt, she used with sucheffect on the "Cumberland, " was his undisputed invention. 

Much wonder had the good people of Norfolk expressed in their frequentvisits to the strange-looking, turtle-like structure. Day by day sheslowly grew; and at length, after weary work and weary waiting, took onher armament; then her crew was picked carefully from eager volunteers:her grand old captain took his place, and all was ready for the trial. 

During all this time Hampton Roads had been gay with Federal shipping. Frigates, gunboats, transports and supply ships ran defiantly up anddown; laughing at the futile efforts of the point batteries to annoythem, and indulging in a dream of security that was to be most rudelybroken. The "Susquehanna" frigate, with heaviest armament in theFederal navy, laid in the channel at Newport News, blockading the mouthof James river and cutting off communication from Norfolk. The"Congress" frigate was lying near her, off the News; while the"Minnesota" lay below, under the guns of Fortress Monroe. The EricssonMonitor--the first of her class, and equally an experiment as her rebelrival--had come round a few days before to watch the "Virginia, " as thenew iron-clad was now rechristened. 

The great ship being ready, Flag-Officer Buchanan ordered the "Jamestown, "Captain Barney, and the "Yorktown, " Captain Tucker, down from Richmond;while he went out with the "Raleigh" and "Beaufort"--two of thesmallest class of gunboats, saved by Captain Lynch from Roanoke Island. This combined force--four of the vessels being frail wooden shells, formerly used as river passenger boats--carried only _twenty-seven_guns. But Buchanan steamed boldly out, on the morning of the 8th ofMarch, to attack an enemy carrying quite _two hundred and twenty_ ofthe heaviest guns in the United States navy!

It was a moment of dreadful suspense for the soldiers in the batteriesand the people of Norfolk. They crowded the wharves, the steeples, andthe high points of the shore; and every eye was strained upon the blackspecks in the harbor. 

Slowly--with somewhat of majesty in her stolid, even progress--the"Virginia" steamed on--down the harbor--past the river batteries--outinto the Roads. Steadily she kept her way, heading straight for the"Cumberland;" and close to her stuck the frail wooden boats that asingle shell might have shattered. On she went--into full range. Thensuddenly, as if from one match, shipping and shore batteries belchedforth the great shells hurtling over her, hissing into thewater--bounding from her side like raindrops from a rock! On sheheaded--straight for the "Cumberland;" the crew of that ship steadilyworking their heated guns and wondering at the strange, silent monsterthat came on so evenly, so slowly--so regardless alike of shot andshell. Suddenly she spoke. 

The terrible shell from her bow-gun tore the huge frigate from stern tobow; driving in her quarter, dismounting guns and scattering deathalong its course. Shocked and staggered, Uncle Sam's tars still stuckto their work. Once more the "Cumberland" delivered her wholebroadside, full in her enemy's face at pistol range. It was her deathvolley. The submerged ram had struck home. A great rent yawned in theship's side; she filled rapidly--careened--went down by the bows--herflag still flying--her men still at quarters!

On past her--scarce checked in her deadly-slow course--moved the"Virginia. " Then she closed on the "Congress, " and one terrificbroadside after another raked the frigate; till, trembling like acard-house, she hauled down her colors and raised the white flag. The"Beaufort" ranged alongside and received the flag of the "Congress", and her captain, William R. Smith, and Lieutenant Pendergrast asprisoners of war. These officers left their side-arms on the "Beaufort"and returned to the "Congress;" when--notwithstanding the white flag--ahot fire was opened from shore upon the "Beaufort", and she wascompelled to withdraw. Lieutenant Robert Minor was then sent in a boatfrom the "Virginia" to fire the frigate; but was badly wounded by aMinié-ball, from under the white flag; and Captain Buchanan wasseriously hit in the leg by the same volley. Then it was determined toburn the "Congress" with hot shot. 

There is no room for comment here; and no denial of these facts hasever been made, or attempted. 

Meanwhile, the frigates "Minnesota", "St. Lawrence" and "Roanoke" hadadvanced and opened fire on the "Virginia"; but upon her approach tomeet it, they retired under the guns of the fort; the "Minnesota" badlydamaged by the heavy fire of her antagonist, while temporarily aground. 

Next day the "Virginia" had a protracted but indecisive fight with the"Monitor;" the latter's lightness preventing her being run down andboth vessels seeming equally impenetrable. Later in the day thevictorious ship steamed back to Norfolk, amid the wildest enthusiasm ofits people. The experiment had proved a success beyond the wildestexpectation: and a new era seemed opened in naval warfare. 

But however great the meed of praise deserved by the iron ship and hercrew, at least as much was due to those of the wooden gun-boats thathad so gallantly seconded her efforts. All day long had those frailshells been urged into the thickest of that terrific fire. Shot flewby, over and through them; and it seemed miraculous that they were nottorn into shreds!

The success of the "Virginia", while it gave food for much comment atthe North and in Europe, had the effect of stimulating the Departmentto renewed exertions elsewhere. At the same time it raised the navygreatly in the estimation of the people, who began now to see of whatmaterial it was composed, to accomplish so much with such limited meansand opportunity. And this opinion was to be strengthened, from time totime, by the brilliant flashes of naval daring that came to illuminesome of the darkest hours of the war. 

Who does not remember that defense of Drewry's Bluff when Eben Farrandhad only three gunboat crews and _three hastily mounted guns_, withwhich to drive back the heavy fleet that knew Richmond city layhelpless at its mercy?

And those desperate, yet brilliant fights off New Orleans, againstevery odds of metal, numbers, and worse, of internal mismanagement. Dothey not illustrate the character of the navy, and bring it out in boldrelief of heroism? Nor should we forget the brief but brilliant life ofthe "Arkansas"--born in danger and difficulty; surrounded on every sideby numberless active foes; and finally dying, not from the blow of anenemy, but from the fault of those who sent her forth unfinished andincomplete!

Those trying times recall the conduct of Captain Lynch and his squadronof shells; and of the veteran Cooke in the batteries, on the dark daythat lost Roanoke Island. Nor may we lose sight of the splendid conductof that latter grim old seadog, when, returning wounded andprison-worn, he bore down on Plymouth in the "Albemarle" and crushedthe Federal gunboats like egg-shells. 

And conspicuous, even among these fellow-sailors, stands John TaylorWood. Quick to plan and strong to strike, he ever and anon wouldcollect a few trusty men and picked officers; glide silently out fromRichmond, where his duties as colonel of cavalry on the President'sstaff chained him most of the time. Soon would come an echo from thefrontier, telling of quick, sharp struggle; victorious boarding and aFederal gunboat or two given to the flames. I have already alluded tohis dashing raid upon the fishery fleet; but his cunning capture of thegunboats in the Rappahannock, or his cool and daring attack on the"Underwriter, " during Pickett's movement on Newberne, would alone givehim undying reputation. 

The United States had a navy in her waters that would class as thethird maritime power of the world; and this she rapidly increased byevery appliance of money, skill and energy. She bought and built shipsand spent vast sums and labor in experiments in ordnance, armoring andmachinery. As result of this, the Federal navy, at the end of thesecond year of the war, numbered some 390 vessels of all grades, carrying a fraction over 3, 000 guns. Before the end of the war it hadincreased to near 800 vessels of war of all grades; the number of gunshad doubled and were infinitely heavier and more effective; and thenumber of tenders, tugs, transports and supply ships would have swelledthe navy list to over 1, 300 vessels. 

To meet this formidable preparation, the Confederate Navy Department inMay, '61, had _one gulf steamer_ in commission; had the fragments ofthe Norfolk Navy Yard; the refuse of the harbor boats of Charleston, New Orleans, Savannah and Mobile to select from; and had, besides, theneglect of Congress and the jealousy of the other branch of the service. 

Spite of all these drawbacks, the rare powers of the navy officersforced themselves into notice and use. 

Before the close of the war, the only two rolling-mills in theConfederacy were in charge of navy officers. They built powder-millsand supplied their own demands; and, to a great extent, those of thearmy. They established rope-walks and became the seekers for theinvaluable stores of niter and coal that both branches of the serviceso much needed. More than this, they made from nothing--and in spite ofconstant losses from exposure to the enemy and incomplete supplies--afleet of iron-clads numbering at one time nine vessels; and a woodennavy at the same moment reaching some thirty-five. 

But these--scattered over the vast area of water courses, far fromsupporting each other--were unable to cope with the superior strengthof metal and construction brought against them. 

That much-discussed torpedo system, too--regarding the utility of whichthere was such diversity of opinion--had its birth and perfection inthe navy. It was a service of science and perseverance; frequently ofexposure to every peril. It required culture, nerve and administrativeability; and it was managed in the main with success. Still the resultswere hardly commensurate with the outlay involved; for though Jamesriver, some of the western streams, and Charleston harbor wereliterally sown with torpedoes, yet only in rare and isolatedinstances--such as the "De Kalb" and "Commodore Jones"--did the resultsequal the expectation. Thousands of tons of valuable powder, much goodmetal and more valuable time at the work-shops were expended ontorpedoes; and, on the whole, it is very doubtful if the amountdestroyed was not more than balanced by the amount expended. 

Thus, with varying fortunes--but with unceasing endeavor and unfailingcourage--the navy worked on. That hue and cry against it--which abrilliant success would partially paralyze--soon gathered force in itsintervals of enforced inaction. Just after the triumph of Hampton Roadswas, perhaps, the brightest hour for the navy in public estimation. People then began to waver in their belief that its administration wasutterly and hopelessly wrong; and to think that its chief had notperhaps sinned quite as much as he had been sinned against. 

The old adage about giving a bad name, however, was more than illustratedin Mr. Mallory's case. He had no doubt been unfortunate; but that hereally was guilty of one-half the errors and mishaps laid at his doorwas simply impossible. Not taking time--and, perhaps, without therequisite knowledge--to compare the vast discrepancy of force betweenthe two governments, the masses only saw the rapid increase of theFederal navy and felt the serious effects of its efficiency. Then theygrumbled that the Confederate secretary--with few work-shops, scatterednavy-yards, little money and less transportation--did not proceed _paripassu_ to meet these preparations. Every result of circumstance, everyaccident, every inefficiency of a subordinate was visited upon Mr. Mallory's head. Public censure always makes the meat it feeds on; andthe secretary soon became the target for shafts of pitiable malice, orof unreflecting ridicule. When the enemy's gunboats--built at securepoints and fitted out without stint of cost, labor or material--ascendedto Nashville, a howl was raised that the Navy Department should havehad the water defenses ready. True, Congress had appropriated half amillion for the defenses of the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers; butthe censorious public forgot that the money had been voted too late. Even then it was quite notorious, that in the red-tape system ofrequisition and delay that hedged the Treasury--an _appropriation_ andthe _money_ it named were totally diverse things. 

When New Orleans fell, curses loud and deep went up against the NavyDepartment. Doubtless there was some want of energy in pushing theiron-clads there; but again in this case the money was voted very late;and even Confederate machine-shops and Confederate laborers could notbe expected to give their material, time and labor entirely fornothing. Had Congress made the appropriations as asked, and had themoney been forthcoming at the Treasury--New Orleans might not havefallen as she did. 

Later still, when the "Virginia" was blown up on the evacuation ofNorfolk, a howl of indignation was raised against Secretary, Departmentand all connected with it. A Court of Inquiry was called; and CommodoreTatnall himself demanded a court-martial, upon the first court notordering one. 

The facts proved were that the ship, with her iron coating and heavyarmament, drew far too much water to pass the shoal at Harrison'sBar--between her and Richmond. With Norfolk in the enemy's hands, thehostile fleet pressing her--and with no point whence to drawsupplies--she could not remain, as the cant went, "the grim sentinel tobar all access to the river. " It was essential to lighten her, ifpossible; and the effort was made by sacrificing her splendid armament. Even then she would not lighten enough by two feet; the enemy pressedupon her, now perfectly unarmed; and Tatnall was forced to leave andfire her. 

People forgot the noble achievements of the ship under naval guidance;that, if destroyed by naval men, she was the offspring of naval genius. With no discussion of facts, the cry against the navy went on, evenafter that splendid defense of Drewry's Bluff by Farrand, _whichalone saved_ Richmond!

As a pioneer, the "Virginia" was a great success and fully demonstratedthe theory of her projector. But there were many points about her opento grave objections; and she was, as a whole, far inferior to thesmaller vessels afterward built upon her model at Richmond. Armed withthe same gun, there is little doubt but the "Monitor" would haveproved--from her superior lightness and obedience to her helm--no lessthan from her more compact build--at least her equal. Officers on the"Virginia" shared in this belief of her advantages over her terribleantagonist. 

On the whole, the experience of the war tells of honest endeavor andbrilliant achievement, under surpassing difficulty, for the Confederatenavy. That it was composed of gallant, noble-hearted men, none who werethrown with them can doubt; that they wrought heart and hand for thecause, in whatever strange and novel position, none ever did doubt. 

They made mistakes. Who in army, or government, did not?

But from the day they offered their swords; through the unequal contestof the Sounds, the victorious one of Hampton Roads; pining for the seain musty offices, or drilling green conscripts in sand batteries; marchingsteadily to the last fight at Appomattox--far out of their element--theConfederate sailors flinched not from fire nor fled from duty. Thoughtheir country grumbled, and detraction and ingratitude often assailedthem; yet at the bitter ending no man nor woman in the broad South butbelieved they had done their _devoir_--honestly--manfully--well!

Who in all that goodly throng of soldiers, statesmen and critics--didmore?

CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE CHINESE-WALL BLOCKADE, ABROAD AND AT HOME. 

Potent factor in sapping the foundations of Confederate hope and ofConfederate credit, was the blockade. 

First held in contempt; later fruitful mother of errors, as to themovements and intentions of European powers; ever the growingconstrictor--whose coil was slowly, but surely, to crush out life--itbecame each year harder to bear:--at last unbearable!

At first, Mr. Lincoln's proclamation was laughed to scorn at the South. The vast extent of South Atlantic and Gulf coast--pierced withinnumerable safe harbors--seemed to defy any scheme for hermeticsealing. The limited Federal navy was powerless to do more than keeploose watch over ports of a few large cities; and, if these were eveneffectually closed, it was felt that new ones would open, on everyhand, inviting the ventures of enterprising sailors. 

This reasoning had good basis, at first; and--had the South made promptand efficient use of opportunity and resources at hand, by placingcredits abroad and running in essential supplies--the result of thefirst year's blockade might largely have nullified its effect, for thelast three. But there seemed indurated contempt for the safety-bearinglook ahead; and its very inefficiency, at the outset, of the blockadelulled the South into false security. 

The preceding pages note the rapid and vast growth of the Union navy;but the South misjudged--until error had proved fatal--that enterpriseand "grit" of Yankee character; that fixed steadiness of purpose whichforced both, ever, into most resultful effort. And, so gradual wereappreciable results of this naval growth; so nearly imperceptible wasthe actual closing of southern ports--that the masses of the peoplerealized no real evil, until it had long been accomplished fact. 

Already record has been made of the urgence on Government of sendingcotton abroad, and importing arms, munitions and clothing, whichordinary foresight declared so needful. But--only when the propermoment had long passed--was the then doubtful experiment made. 

A twin delusion to the kingship of cotton besotted the leaders as tothe blockade. Arguing its illegality equal to its inefficiency, theywere convinced that either could be demonstrated to Europe. And herelet us glance briefly at the South's suicidal foreign policy; and atthe feeling of other people regarding it. 

Under the Treaty of Paris, no blockade was _de facto_, or to berecognized, unless it was demonstrated to be effectual closing of theport, or ports, named. Now, in the South, were one or two ships, atmost, before the largest ports; with an average of one vessel for everyhundred miles of coast! And so inefficient was the early blockade ofCharleston, Wilmington and New Orleans, that traders ran in and out, actually with greater frequency than before those ports were proclaimedclosed. Their Government declared--and the southern people believed--thatsuch nominal blockade would not be respected by European powers; andreliant upon the kingship of cotton inducing early recognition, bothbelieved that the ships of England and France--disregarding the impotentpaper closure--would soon crowd southern wharves and exchange the royalfleece for the luxuries, no less than the necessaries, of life. 

When the three first commissioners to Europe--Messrs. Yancey, Rost andMann--sailed from New Orleans, on March 31, '61, their mission washailed as harbinger to speedy fruition of these delusive thoughts, towhich the wish alone was father. Then--though very gradually--beganbelief that they had reckoned too fast; and doubt began to chillglowing hopes of immediate recognition from Europe. But there was none, as yet, relative to her ultimate action. The successful trial trip ofthe "Nashville, " Captain Pegram, C. S. N. --and her warm reception bythe British press and people--prevented that. And, after every victoryof the South, her newspapers were filled with praise from the press ofEngland. But gradually--as recognition did not come--first wonder, thendoubt, and finally despair took the place of certainty. 

When Mr. Yancey came back, in disgust, and made his plain statement ofthe true state of foreign sentiment, he carried public opinion to hisside; and--while the Government could then do nothing but persist ineffort for recognition, now so vital--the people felt that dignity wasuselessly compromised, while their powerless representatives were keptabroad, to knock weakly at the back door of foreign intervention. 

Slight reaction came, when Mason and Slidell were captured on the highseas, under a foreign flag. Mr. Seward so boldly defied the rampantLion; Congress so promptly voted thanks to Captain Wilkes, forviolating international law; the Secretary of the Navy--after slylypulling down the blinds--so bravely patted him on the back--that theSouth renewed her hope, in the seeming certainty of war between the twocountries. But she had calculated justly neither the power ofretraction in American policy, nor Secretary Seward's vast capacity foreating his own words; and the rendition of her commissioners--withtheir perfectly quiet landing upon British soil--was, at last, acceptedas sure token of how little they would accomplish. And, for over threeyears, those commissioners blundered on in thick darkness--that mightnot be felt; butting their heads against fixed policy at every turn;snubbed by subordinates--to whom alone they had access; yet eating, unsparingly and with seeming appetite, the bountiful banquet of coldshoulder!

It is not supposable that the people of the South realized to the fullthat humiliation, to which their State Department was subjecting them. Occasionally Mr. Mason, seeing a gleam of something which might someday be light, would send hopeful despatches; or before the hopeful eyesof Mr. Slidell, would rise roseate clouds of promise, light withbubbles of aid--intervention--recognition! Strangely enough, thesewould never burst until just after their description; and the secretaryfostered the widest latitude in press-rumors thereanent, but deemed itpolitic to forget contradiction, when--as was invariably the case--thenext blockade-runner brought flat denial of all that its precedent hadcarried. 

Still, constant promises with no fulfillment, added to limited privatecorrespondence with foreign capitals, begat mistrust in elusivetheories, which was rudely changed to simple certainty. 

Edwin DeLeon had been sent by Mr. Davis on a special mission to Londonand Paris, after Mr. Yancey's return; his action to be independent ofthe regularly established futility. In August, 1863, full despatchesfrom him, to the southern President and State Department, were capturedand published in the New York papers. These came through the lines andgave the southern people the full and clear exposé of the foreignquestion, as it had long been fully and clearly known to theirgovernment. 

This publication intensified what had been vague opposition to furtherretention abroad of the commissioners. The people felt that theirnational honor was compromised; and, moreover, they now realized thatEurope had--and would have--but one policy regarding the Confederacy. 

Diplomatically regarded, the position of the South was actuallyunprecedented. Europe felt the delicacy--and equally the danger--ofinterference in a family quarrel, which neither her theories nor herexperience had taught her to comprehend. Naturally jealous of thegrowing power of the American Union, Europe may, moreover, have hearddictates of the policy of letting it exhaust itself, in this internalfeud; of waiting until both sides--weakened, wearied and wornout--should draw off from the struggle and make intervention morenominal than needful. This view of "strict neutrality"--openly vauntedonly to be practically violated--takes color from the fact of herpermitting each side to hammer away at the other for four years, without one word even of protest!

Southern prejudice ever inclined more favorably toward France thanEngland; the scale tilting, perhaps, by weight of Franco-Latininfluence among the people, perhaps by belief in the suggested theoriesof the third Napoleon. Therefore, intimations of French recognitionwere always more welcomed than false rumors about English aid. 

In the North also prevailed an idea that France might intervene--oreven recognize the Confederacy--before colder England; but that did notcause impartial Jonathan to exhibit less bitter, or unreasoning, hatredof John Bull. Yet, as a practical fact, the alleged neutrality of thelatter was far more operative against the South than the North. For--omitting early recognition of a blockade, invalid under the Treatyof Paris--England denied _both_ belligerent navies the right torefit--or bring in prizes--at her ports. Now, as the United States hadopen ports and needed no such grace, while the South having no commercethus afforded no prizes--every point of this decision was against her. 

Equally favoring the North was the winking at recruiting; for, if menwere not actually enlisted on British soil and under that flag, thousands of "emigrants"--males only; with expenses and bounty paid byUnited States recruiting agents--were poured out of British territoryeach month. 

When France sent her circular to England and Russia, suggesting thatthe time had come for mediation, the former summarily rejected theproposition. Besides, England's treatment of the southern commissionerswas coldly neglectful; and--from the beginning to the end of theConfederacy, the sole aid she received from England was personalsympathy in isolated instances. But British contractors and traders hadtacit governmental permission to build ships for the rebels, or to sellthem arms and supplies, at their own risks. And, spite of thesewell-known facts, northern buncombe never tired of assailing "the rebelsympathies" of England!

With somewhat of race sympathy between the two peoples, the Frenchemperor's movements to feel the pulse of Europe, from time to time, onthe question of mediation, kept up the popular delusion at the South. This was shared, to a certain extent, even by her government; and Mr. Slidell's highly-colored despatches would refan the embers of hope intoa glow. But while Napoleon, the Little, may have had the subtlest headin Europe, he doubtless had the hardest; and the feeble handling by thesouthern commissioner, of that edged-tool, diplomacy, could havearoused only amusement in those subordinate officials, whom alone hereached. 

The real policy of France was doubtless, from the beginning, as fixedas was that of England; and though she may have hesitated, for a time, at the tempting bait offered--monopoly of southern cotton andtobacco--the reasons coercing that policy were too strong to let herswallow it at last. 

For the rest, Russia had always openly sympathized with the North; andother European nations had very vague notions of the merits of thestruggle; less interest in its termination; and least of all, sympathywith what to them was mere rebellion. 

And this true condition of foreign affairs, the Confederate StateDepartment did know, in great part; should have known in detail; andowed it to the people to explain and promulgate. But for some occultreason, Mr. Benjamin refused to view the European landscape, exceptthrough the Claude Lorrain glass which Mr. Slidell persistently held upbefore him. The exposé of Mr. Yancey, the few sturdy truths Mr. Masonlater told; and the detailed resumé sent by Mr. DeLeon and printed inthe North--all these were ignored; and the wishes of the whole peoplewere disregarded, that the line begun upon, should not be deviatedfrom. There may have been something deeply underlying this policy; forSecretary Benjamin was clear-sighted, shrewd and well-informed. Butwhat that something was has never been divulged; and thepeople--believing the Secretary too able to be deluded by hissubordinate--revolted. 

The foreign policy grew more and more into popular disfavor; the presscondemned it, in no stinted terms; it permeated the other branches ofthe government and, finally, reacted upon the armies in the field. Forthe growing dislike of his most trusted adviser began to affect Mr. Davis; his ready assumption of all responsibility at the beginninghaving taught the people to look direct to him for all of good, or ofevil, alike. 

As disaster followed disaster to southern arms; as one fair city afteranother fell into the lap of the enemy; as the blockade drew its coiltighter and tighter about the vitals of the Confederacy--the cry of thepeople was raised to their chief; demanding the cause of it all. Thefirst warm impulses of patriotic and inflammable masses had pedestaledhim as a demigod. The revulsion was gradual; but, with the third yearof unrelieved blockade, it became complete. And this was due, in part, to that proclivity of masses to measure men by results, rather than bytheir means for accomplishment; it was due in greater part, perhaps, tothe President's unyielding refusal to sacrifice either his convictions, or his favorites, to popular clamor, however re-enforced by argument, or reason. 

Mr. Davis certainly seemed to rely more upon Mr. Benjamin than anymember of his Cabinet; and the public laid at that now unpopularofficial's door all errors of policy--domestic as well as foreign. Popular wrath ever finds a scape-goat; but in the very darkest hour Mr. Benjamin remained placid and smiling, his brow unclouded and his sleek, pleasant manner deprecating the rumbling of the storm he had raised, byhis accomplishments and sophistries. When his removal was clamorouslydemanded by popular voice, his chief closed his ears and moved onunheeding--grave--defiant!

Calm retrospect shows that the Confederacy's commissioners were, fromfirst to last, only played with by the skilled sophists of Europe. And, ere the end came, that absolute conviction penetrated the blockade;convincing the South that her policy would remain one of strictnon-intervention. 

After each marked southern success, would come some revival ofrecognition rumors; but these were ever coupled, now, with an important"if!" If New Orleans had not fallen; if we had won Antietam; ifGettysburg had been a victory--then we _might_ have been welcomedinto the family of nations. But over the mass of thinkers settled thedark conviction that Europe saw her best interest, in standing by towatch the sections rend and tear each other to the utmost. Every fibereither lost was so much subtraction from that balance of power, threatening to pass across the Atlantic. The greater the straits towhich we reduce each other, said the South, the better will it pleaseEurope; and the only faith in her at last, was that she hoped to seethe breach permanent and irreconcilable, and with it all hopes of rivalpower die!

If the theory be correct, that it was the intent of the Great Powers tofoster the chance of two rival governments on this continent, it seemsshort-sighted in one regard. For--had they really recognized the direextremity, to which the South was at last brought, they should eitherhave furnished her means, directly or indirectly, to prolong thestrife; or should have intervened and established a broken andshattered duality, in place of the stable and recemented Union. 

Nor can thinkers, on either side, cavil at Europe's policy during thatwar; calculating, selfish and cruel as it may seem to thesentimentalist. If corporations really have no bowels, governments cannot be looked to for nerves. Interest is the life blood of theirsystems; and interest was doubtless best subserved by the course of theGreat Powers. For the rumors of destitution and of disaffection inFrance and England--caused by the blockade-begotten "cottonfamine"--that crept through the Chinese wall, were absurdly magnified, both as to their proportions and their results. And the sequel provedthat it was far cheaper for either nation to feed a few thousand idleoperatives--or to quell a few incipient bread riots--than to unsettle afixed policy, and that at the risk of a costly foreign war. 

There was bitter disappointment in the South, immediately succeedingdissipation of these rosy, but nebulous, hopes in the kingship ofcotton. Then reaction came--strong, general and fruitful. Sturdy"Johnny Reb" yearned for British rifles, shoes, blankets and bacon; buthe wanted them most of all, to _win_ his own independence and to forceits recognition!

There are optimists everywhere; and even the dark days of Dixie provedno exception to the rule. It was not unusual to hear prate of thevast benefits derived from the blockade; of the energy, resource andproduction, expressed under its cruel constriction! Such optimists--equallyat fault as were their pessimistic opponents--pointed proudly to thepowder-mills, blast-furnaces, foundries and rolling-mills, springingup on every hand. They saw the great truth that the internal resourcesof the South developed with amazing rapidity; that arms were manufacturedand supplies of vital need created, as it were out of nothing; but theymissed the true reason for that abnormal development, which was the direstress from isolation. They rejoiced to very elation at a popular effort, spontaneous--unanimous--supreme! But they realized little that it wasexhaustive as well. 

Could these life-needs the South was compelled to create within, havebeen procured from without, they had not alone been far less costly intime, labor and money--but the many hands called from work equally asvital had not then been diverted from it. The South was self-supporting, as the hibernator that crawls into a stump to subsist upon its own fat. But that stump is not sealed up, and Bruin--who goes to bed in autumn, sleek and round, to come out a skeleton at springtime--quicklyreproduces lost tissue. With the South, material once consumed was goneforever; and the drain upon her people--material--mental--moral--waspermanent and fatal. 

One reason why the result of the blockade--after it became actuallyeffective--was not earlier realized generally at the South, was thatprivate speculation promptly utilized opportunities, which theGovernment had neglected. What appeared huge overstock of clothing andother prime necessities had been "run in, " while there was yet time;and before they had advanced in price, under quick depreciation ofpaper money. Then profits doubled so rapidly that--spite of theirenhanced risk from more effective blockade--private ventures, and evengreat companies formed for the purpose, made "blockade-breaking" theroyal road to riches. Almost every conceivable article of merchandisecame to southern ports; often in quantities apparently sufficient toglut the market--almost always of inferior quality and manufacturedspecially for the great, but cheap, trade now sprung up. 

Earlier ventures were content with profit of one, or two hundred percent. ; calculating thus for a ship and cargo, occasionally captured. But as such risk increased and Confederate money depreciated, percentage on blockade ventures ran up in compound ratio; and it becameno unusual thing for a successful investment to realize from fifteenhundred to two thousand per cent. On its first cost. 

Still, even this profit as against the average of loss--perhaps twocargoes out of five--together with the uncertain value of paper money, left the trade hazardous. Only great capital, ready to renew promptlyevery loss, could supply the demand--heretofore shown to have grownmorbid, under lost faith in governmental credit. Hence sprung the greatblockade-breaking corporations, like the Bee Company, Collie & Co. , orFraser, Trenholm & Co. With capital and credit unlimited; with branchesat every point of purchase, reshipment and entry; with constantlygrowing orders from the departments--these giant concerns could controlthe market and make their own terms. 

Their growing power soon became quasi dictation to Government itself;the national power was filtered through these alien arteries; and theSouth became the victim--its Treasury the mere catspaw--of the selfsamesystem, which clear sight and medium ability could so easily haveaverted from the beginning!

Even when pressure for supplies was most dire and Government had becomealmost wholly dependent for them upon the monopoly octopus--it wouldnot move. Deaf to urgent appeals of its trusted officers, to establisha system of light, swift blockade-runners, the Department admittedtheir practical necessity, by entering into a limited partnership witha blockade-breaking firm. And, it must go without saying that thebargain driven was like the boy's: "You and I will each take half andthe rest we'll give to Anne!"

As noted, in considering finance, the mania for exchanging paper moneyfor something that could be enjoyed, grew apace as the war progressed. Fancy articles for dress, table luxuries and frippery of all sorts camenow into great demand. Their importation increased to such bulk as, atlast, to exclude the more necessary parts of most cargoes; and not lessto threaten complete demoralization of such minority as made any money. It may seem a grim joke;--the starving, tattered--moribund Confederacypassing sumptuary laws, as had Venice in her recklessness of riches!But, in 1864, a law was necessitated against importation of allarticles, not of utility; forbidden luxuries being named per schedule. That its constant evasion--if not its open defiance--was very simple, may be understood; for the blockade firms had now become a powercoequal with Government, and exceptions were listed, sufficient tobecome the rule. 

And so the leeches waxed fat and flourished on the very life-blood ofthe cause, that represented to them--opportunity! And, whatever hasbeen said of speculators at Richmond, they were far less culpable thanthese, their chiefs; for, without the arch-priests of greed, speculation would have died from inanition. The speculators were mosthungry kites; but their maws were crammed by the great vultures thatsat at the coast, blinking ever out over the sea for fresh gains; withnever a backward glance at the gaunt, grim legions behindthem--naked--worn--famished, but unconquered still!

Transportation needs have been noted, also. No department was worseneglected and mismanaged than that. The existence of the Virginia armywholly depended on a single line, close to the coast and easily tapped. Nor did Government's seizure of its control, in any manner remedy theevil. Often and again, the troops around Richmond were withoutbeef--once for twelve days at a time; they were often without flour, molasses or salt, living for days upon cornmeal alone! and theever-ready excuse was want of transportation!

Thousands of bushels of grain would ferment and rot at one station;hundreds of barrels of meat stacked at another, while the army starvedbecause of "no transportation!" But who recalls the arrival of ablockader at Charleston, Savannah, or Wilmington, when its ventureswere not exposed at the auctions of Richmond, in time unreasonablyshort!

These facts are not recalled in carping spirit; nor to pronouncejudgment just where the blame for gross mismanagement, or favoritismshould lie. They are recorded because they are historic truth; becausethe people, whom they oppressed and ruined--saw, felt and angrilyproclaimed them so; because the blockade mismanagement wastwin-destroyer with the finance, of the southern cause. 

The once fair cities of Charleston, Savannah and Wilmington sufferedmost from the blockade, both in destruction of property anddemoralization of their populations. The first--as "hot-bed of treason"and equally from strategic importance--was early a point of Federaldesire; but the fleet had been compelled to stand idly by and witnessthe bloodless reduction of Sumter. Later--when strengthened armamentsthreatened constant attack--Lee and Beauregard had used every resourceto strengthen defenses of the still open port. What success they had, is told by the tedious and persistent bombardment--perhaps unexampledin the history of gunnery; surely so in devices to injure non-combatantinhabitants. 

On the 30th January, '63, the two slow, clumsy and badly-built rams, under Captain Ingraham--of Martin Koszta fame--attacked the blockadingsquadron and drove the Union flag completely from the harbor; butre-enforced by iron-clads, it returned on the 7th of April. Again, after a fierce battle with the fort, the Federal fleet drew off, leaving the "Keokuk" monitor sunk; only to concentrate troops and buildheavy batteries, for persistent attempt to reduce the devoted city. Thehistory of that stubborn siege and defense, more stubborn still; of thewoman-shelling "swamp-angel" and the "Greek-fire;" of the deeds ofprowess that gleamed from the crumbling walls of Charleston--all thisis too familiar for repetition. Yet, ever and again--through woodenmesh of the blockade-net and its iron links, alike--slipped a fleet, arrowy little blockader into port. And with what result has just beenseen!

Wilmington--from long and shoal approach to her proper port--was moredifficult still to seal up effectually. There--long after every otherport was closed--the desperate, but wary, sea-pigeon would evade thebig and surly watcher on the coast. Light draught, narrow, low in thewater, swift and painted black--these little steamers were commanded bymen who knew every inch of coast; who knew equally that on themdepended life and death--or more. With banked fires and scarce-turningwheels, they would drop down the Cape Fear, at night, to within ahundred yards of the looming blockade giant. Then, putting on allsteam, they would rush by him, trusting to speed and surprise to eludepursuit and distract his aim--and ho! for the open sea. 

This was a service of keen excitement and constant danger; demandingclear heads and iron nerves. Both were forthcoming, especially fromnavy volunteers; and many were "the hair-breadth 'scapes" that made thenames of Maffit, Wilkinson and their confreres, household words amongthe rough sea-dogs of Wilmington. 

Savannah suffered least of the fair Atlantic sisterhood, from theblockade. The early capture of her river forts blocked access to herwharves, almost effectually; though occasional steamers still slippedup to them. Yet, she was in such easy reach of her more open neighbors, as to reap part of the bad fruits with which they were so over-stocked. 

These proud southern cities had ever been famed throughout the land, for purity, high tone and unyielding pride. At the first bugle-blast, their men had sprung to arms with one accord; and the best blood ofGeorgia and the Carolinas was poured out from Munson's Hill toChickamauga. Their devoted women pinched themselves and stripped theirhomes, to aid the cause so sacred to them; and on the burningsand-hills of Charleston harbor, grandsire and grandson wrought side byside under blistering sun and galling fire alike!

How bitter, then, for those devoted and mourning cities to see theirsacred places made mere marts; their cherished fame jeopardied by refusestay-at-homes, or transient aliens; while vile speculation--ineffablygreedy, when not boldly dishonest--smirched them with lowest vices of thelust for gain! Shot-riddled Charleston--exposed and devastated--invitednothing beyond the sterner business of money-getting. There, wasoffered neither the leisure nor safety for that growth of luxury andriotous living, which at one time possessed Wilmington. 

Into that blockade mart would enter four ships to one at any otherport; speculators of all grades and greediness flocked to meet them;and money was poured into the once-quiet town by the million. And, withtastes restricted elsewhere, these alien crowds reveled in foreigndelicacies, edibles and liquors, of which every cargo was largely madeup. The lowest attaché of a blockade-runner became a man of mark andlived in luxury; the people caught the infection and--where they couldnot follow--envied the fearful example set by the establishments of the"merchant princes. "

Was it strange that the people of leaguered Richmond--that the wornhero starving in the trench at Petersburg--came to execrate thosevampires fattening on their life-blood; came to regard the very name ofblockade-runner as a stench and the government that leagued with it asa reproach? For strangely-colored exaggerations of luxury and licensewere brought away by visitors near the centers of the only commerceleft. Well might the soul of the soldier--frying his scant ration ofmoldy bacon and grieving over still more scant supply at his distanthome--wax wroth over stories of Southdown mutton, brought in ice fromEngland; of dinners where the _patés_ of Strasbourg and the fruits ofthe East were washed down with rare Champagne. 

Bitter, indeed, it seemed, that--while he crawled, footsore and faint, to slake his thirst from the roadside pool--while the dear ones at homekept in shivering life with cornbread--degenerate southerners andforeign leeches reveled in luxury untold, from the very gain thatcaused such privation!

This misuse of that blockade-running--which strongly handled had provedsuch potent agency for good--bred infinite discontent in army and inpeople alike. That misdirection--and its twin, mismanagement offinance--aided to strangle prematurely the young giant they might havenourished into strength;--

 "And the spirit of murder worked in the very means of life!"

But the Chinese-wall blockade was tripartite; not confined to closingof the ocean ports. Almost as damaging, in another regard, were theoccupation of New Orleans, and the final stoppage of communication withthe trans-Mississippi by the capture of Vicksburg. 

The Heroic City had long been sole point of contact with the vastproductive tracts, beyond the great river. The story were twice-told ofa resistance--unequaled even by that at Charleston and beginning withfirst Union access to the river, by way of New Orleans. But, in May, '62, the combined fleets of Porter and Farragut from the South, andDavis from the North, rained shot and shell into the coveted town forsix terrible weeks. Failing reduction, they withdrew on June 24th;leaving her banners inscribed--_Vicksburg victrix!_

In May of the next year, another concentration was made on the "key ofthe Mississippi;" General Grant marching his army one hundred and fiftymiles from its base, to get in rear of Vicksburg and cut off itsrelief. The very audacity of this plan may blind the careless thinkerto its bad generalship; especially in view of the success that at lastcrowned its projector's hammer-and-tongs style of tactics. His recklessand ill-handled assaults upon the strong works at Vicksburg--so freelycriticised on his own side, by army and by press--were but preface of avolume, so bloodily written to the end before Petersburg. 

Under ordinary combinations, Johnston had found it easy to crush Grantand prevent even his escape to the distant base behind him. But, unhappily, Government would not re-enforce Johnston--even to the verylimited extent it might; and Mr. Davis promoted Pemberton to alieutenant-generalcy and sent him to Vicksburg. But this is no place todiscuss General Pemberton's abilities--his alleged disobedience oforders--the disasters of Baker's creek and Big Black; or his shuttingup in Vicksburg, hopeless of relief from Johnston. Suffice it, thedismal echo of falling Vicksburg supplemented the gloom afterGettysburg; and the swift-following loss of Port Hudson completed theblockade of the Mississippi; and made the trans-river territory aforeign land!

The coast of Maine met the waters of the Ohio, at the mouth of theMississippi; and two sides of the blockade triangle were completed, almost impervious even to rebel ingenuity and audacity. It needed butcareful guard over the third side--the inland border from river tocoast--to seal up the South hermetically, and perfect her isolation. 

That perfection had long been attempted. Fleets of gunboats ploughedthe Potomac and all inland water-approaches to the southern frontier. Ashrewd detective system, ramifying from Washington, penetrated the"disaffected" counties of Maryland; spying equally upon shore andhousehold. The borders of Tennessee and Kentucky were closely picketed;and no means of cunning, or perseverance, were omitted to prevent thepassage of anything living, or useful, into the South. But none of thisavailed against the untiring pluck and audacity of the inlandblockade-breakers. Daily the lines were forced, spies evaded, and bold"Johnny Reb" passed back and forth, in almost guaranteed security. 

Such ventures brought small supplies of much-needed medicines, surgicalinstruments and necessaries for the sick. They brought northernnewspapers--and often despatches and cipher letters of immense value;and they ever had tidings from home that made the heart of exiledMarylander, or border statesman sing for joy, even amid thenight-watches of a winter camp. 

Gradually this system of "running the bloc. " systematized and receivedgovernmental sanction. Regular corps of spies, letter-carriers andsmall purchasing agents were organized and recognized by armycommanders. Naturally, these also made hay while the sun shone; comingback never--whatever their mission--with empty hands. Shoes, cloth, even arms--manufactured under the very noses of northern detectivesand, possibly, with their connivance--found ever-ready sale. Therunners became men of mark--many of them men of money; for, while thisbranch never demoralized like its big rival on the coast, the serviceof Government was cannily mixed with the service of Mammon. 

Late in the war--when all ports were closed to its communication withagents abroad, the Richmond Government perfected this spy system, inconnection with its signal corps. This service gave scope for tact, fertility of resource and cool courage; it gave many a brave fellow, familiar with both borders, relief from camp monotony, in the freshdangers through which he won a glimpse of home again; and it gave avast mass of crude, conflicting information, such as must come fromrumors collected by men in hiding. But its most singular and mostromantic aspect was the well-known fact, that many women essayed thebreaking of the border blockade. Almost all of them were successful;more than one well nigh invaluable, for the information she brought, sewed in her riding-habit, or coiled in her hair. Nor were these coarsecamp-women, or reckless adventurers. Belle Boyd's name became historicas Moll Pitcher; but others are recalled--petted belles in the societyof Baltimore, Washington and Virginia summer resorts of yore--who rodethrough night and peril alike, to carry tidings of cheer home and bringback news that woman may best acquire. New York, Baltimore andWashington to-day boast of three beautiful and gifted women, high intheir social ranks, who could--if they would--recite tales of lonelyrace and perilous adventure, to raise the hair of the budding beauxabout them. 

But it may be that the real benefits of "running the bloc. " werecounterbalanced by inseparable evils. The enhancement of prices andconsequent depreciation of currency may not have felt this systemappreciably; but it tempted immigration of the adventurous and viciousclasses, while it presented the anomaly of a government trading on itsenemy's currency to depreciation of its own. For the trade demandedgreenbacks; and the Confederacy bought these--often the product ofillicit traffic--from the runners themselves, at from twenty to _onethousand_ dollars C. S. , for one U. S. !

Such is the brief, and necessarily imperfect, glance at the tripleblockade, which steadily aided the process of exhaustion and ruin atthe South. Such were its undeniable effects upon the Government and thepeople. And that these, in part at least, might have been averted bybold foresight and prompt action--while the blockade was yet butpaper--is equally undeniable!

With this, as with most salient features of thatbitter--gallant--enduring struggle for life; with it, as in mostmundane retrospects--the saddest memories must ever cluster about the"might have been!"

CHAPTER XXXII. 

PRESS, LITERATURE AND ART. 

However much of ability may have been engaged upon it, the press of theSouth--up to the events just preceding the war--had scarcely been thatgreat lever which it had elsewhere become. It was rather a localmachine than a great engine for shaping and manufacturing publicopinion. 

One main cause for this, perhaps, was the decentralization of theSouth. Tracts of country surrounding it looked up only to their chiefcity, and thence drew their information, and even their ideas on thetopics of the day. But there it ceased. The principal trade of theSouth went directly to the North; and in return were received northernmanufactures, northern books and northern ideas. Northern newspaperscame to the South; and except for matters of local information, orlocal policy, a large class of her readers drew their inspirationchiefly from journals of New York--catholic in their scope asunreliable in their principles. 

These papers were far ahead of those of the South--except in very rareinstances--in their machinery for collecting news and gossip; formaking up a taking whole; and in the no less important knowledge ofmanipulating their circulation and advertising patronage. The newspapersystem of the North had been reduced to a science. Its great object was_to pay_; and to accomplish this it must force its circulation innumbers and in radius, and must become the medium of communicating withfar distant points. Great competition--application of _il faut bienvivre_--drove the drones from the field and only the real workers wereallowed to live. 

In the South the case was entirely different. Even in the large cities, newspapers were content with a local circulation; they had alittle-varying clientele which looked upon them as infallible; andtheir object was to consider and digest ideas, rather than topropagate, or manufacture them. 

The deep and universal interest in questions immediately preceding thewar, somewhat changed in the scope of the southern press. People in allsections had intense anxiety to know what others, in differentsections, felt on vital questions that agitated them; and papers werethus forced, as it were, into becoming the medium for interchange ofsentiment. 

An examination of the leading journals of the South at this periodwill show that--whatever their mismanagement and want of businesssuccess--there was no lack of ability in their editorial columns. Suchorgans as the New Orleans _Delta_, Mobile _Advertiser_, Charleston_Mercury_ and Richmond _Examiner_ and _Whig_ might have taken rankalongside of the best-edited papers of the country. Their literaryability was, perhaps, greater than that of the North; their discussionsof the questions of the hour were clear, strong and scholarly, andpossessed, besides, the invaluable quality of honest conviction. Unlikethe press of the North, the southern journals were not hampered by anybusiness interests; they were unbiased, unbought and free to say whatthey thought and felt. And say it they did, in the boldest and plainestof language. 

Nowhere on the globe was the freedom of the press more thoroughlyvindicated than in the Southern States of America. And during the wholecourse of the war, criticisms of men and measures were constant andoutspoken. So much so, indeed, that in many instances the operations ofthe Government were embarrassed, or the action of a departmentcommander seriously hampered, by hostile criticism in a paper. In navaloperations, and the workings of the Conscript Law, especially was thisfreedom felt to be injurious; and though it sprang from the perfectlypure motive of doing the best for the cause--though the smallestsouthern journal, printed on straw paper and with worn-out type, wasabove purchase, or hush money--still it might have been better at timeshad gag-law been applied. 

For, with a large proportion of the population of different sectionsgathered in huge army communities, their different newspapers reachedthe camps and were eagerly devoured. Violent and hostile criticisms ofGovernment--even expositions of glaring abuses--were worse than uselessunless they could be remedied; and when these came to be the text ofcamp-talk, they naturally made the soldiers think somewhat as they did. 

Now, the greatest difficulty with that variously-constituted army, wasto make its individuals the perfect machines--unthinking, unreasoning, only obeying--to which the perfect soldier must be reduced. "JohnnyReb" _would_ think; and not infrequently, he would talk. The newspapersgave him aid and comfort in both breaches of discipline; and in someinstances, their influence against the conscription and impressmentswas seriously felt in the interior. Still these hostilities had theirorigin in honest conviction; and abuses were held up to the light, thatthe Government might be made to see and correct them. 

The newspapers but reflected the ideas of some of the clearest thinkersin the land; and they recorded the real and true history of publicopinion during the war. In their columns is to be found the only reallycorrect and indicative "map of busy life, its fluctuations and its vastconcerns" in the South, during her days of darkness and of trial. 

These papers held their own bravely for a time, and fought hard againstscarcity of labor, material and patronage--against the depreciation ofcurrency and their innumerable other difficulties. Little by littletheir numbers decreased; then only the principal dailies of the citieswere left, and these began to print upon straw paper, wall papering--onany material that could be procured. Cramped in means, curtailed insize, and dingy in appearance, their publishers still struggled bravelyon for the freedom of the press and the freedom of the South. 

Periodical literature--as the vast flood of illustrated andunillustrated monthlies and weeklies that swept over the North wasmisnamed--was unknown in the South. She had but few weeklies; and thesewere sturdy and heavy country papers--relating more to farming than tonational matters. Else they were the weekly editions of the citypapers, intended for country consumption. Few monthly magazines--saveeducational, religious, or statistical ventures, intended for certainlimited classes, were ever born in the South; and most of those fewlived weakly and not long. 

De Bow's _Review_, the _Southern Quarterly_, and the _LiteraryMessenger_, were the most noteworthy exceptions. The business interestsof the larger towns supported the first--which, indeed, drew part ofits patronage from the North. Neither its great ability nor the tasteof its clientele availed to sustain the second; and the _Messenger_--longthe chosen medium of southern writers of all ages, sexes andconditions--dragged on a wearisome existence, with one foot in thegrave for many years, only to perish miserably of starvation during thewar. 

But any regular and systematized periodical literature the South neverhad. The principal reason doubtless is, that she had not the numerousclass of readers for amusement, who demand such food in the North; andof the not insignificant class who did indulge in it, nine-tenths--forone reason, or another, preferred northern periodicals. This is notaltogether unnatural, when we reflect that these latter were generallybetter managed and superior in interest--if not in tone--to anythingthe South had yet attempted. They were gotten up with all theappliances of mechanical perfection; were managed with business tact, and forced and puffed into such circulation as made the heavy outlayfor first-class writers in the end remunerative. 

On the contrary, every magazine attempted in the South up to that timehad been born with the seeds of dissolution already in it. _Voluntarycontributions_--fatal poison to any literary enterprise--had beentheir universal basis. There was ever a crowd of men and women amongsouthern populations, who would write anywhere and anything for thesake of seeing themselves in print. And while there were many able andaccomplished writers available, they were driven off by theseFree-Companions of the quill--preferring not to write in such company;or, if forced to do it, to send their often anonymous contributions tonorthern journals. These two reasons--especially the last--availed tokill the few literary ventures attempted by more enterprising southernpublishers. The first of these two in a great measure influenced thescarcity of book-producers, among a people who had really very fewreaders among them; and even had the number of these been larger, itseems essential to the increase of authors that there should be theconstant friction of contact in floating literature. 

Good magazines are the nurseries and forcing houses for authors; andalmost every name of prominence in modern literature may be traced backalong its course, as that of magazinist, or reviewer. 

The South--whether these reasons for it be just or not, the fact ispatent--had had but few writers of prominence; and in fictionespecially the names that were known could be numbered on one'sfingers. W. Gilmore Simms was at once the father of southern literatureand its most prolific exemplar. His numerous novels have been verygenerally read; and, if not placing him in the highest ranks of writersof fiction, at least vindicate the claims of his section to force andoriginality. He had been followed up the thorny path by many whostopped half-way, turned back, or sunk forgotten even before reachingthat far. 

Few, indeed, of their works ever went beyond their own boundaries; andthose few rarely sent back a record. Exceptions there were, however, who pressed Mr. Simms hard for his position on the topmost peak; andmost of these adventurous climbers were of the softer sex. 

John Esten Cooke had written a very clever novel of the olden society, called "Virginia Comedians. " It had promised a brilliant future, whenhis style and method should both ripen; a promise that had not, so far, been kept by two or three succeeding ventures launched on thesedoubtful waters. Hon. Jere Clemens, of Alabama, had commenced a seriesof strong, if somewhat convulsive, stories of western character. "Mustang Gray" and "Bernard Lile, " scenting strongly of camp-fire andpine-top, yet had many advantages over the majority of successfulnovels, then engineered by northern publishers. Marion Harland, as her_nom de plume_ went, was, however, the most popular of southern writers. Her stories of Virginia home-life had little pretension to the higherflights of romance; but they were pure, graphic and not unnaturalscenes from every-day life. They introduced us to persons we knew, ormight have known; and the people read them generally and liked them. Mrs. Ritchie (Anna Cora Mowatt) was also prolific of novels, extractedprincipally from her fund of stage experience. Piquant and bright, witha dash of humor and more than a dash of sentiment, Mrs. Ritchie's bookshad many admirers and more friends. The South-west, too, had given usthe "Household of Bouverie" and "Beulah;" and it was reserved for MissAugusta Evans, author of the latter, to furnish the _only_ novel--almostthe only book--published within the South during continuance of thewar. The only others I can now recall--emanating from southern pens andentirely made in the South--were Mrs. A. De V. Chaudron's translationof Mülbach's "Joseph II. , " and Dr. Wm. Sheppardson's collection of "WarPoetry of the South. "

This is not an imposing array of prose writers, and it may beincomplete; but it is very certain that there are not many omissions. 

In poetry, the warmer clime of the South would naturally have beenexpected to excel; but, while the list of rhymsters was longer thanLeporello's, the _poets_ hardly exceeded in number the writers ofprose. Thompson, Meek, Simms, Hayne, Timrod and McCord were the fewnames that had gone over the border. Up to that time, however, theSouth had never produced any great poem, that was to stand _æreperennius_. But that there was a vast amount of latent poetry in ourpeople was first developed by the terrible friction of war. 

In the dead-winter watches of the camp, in the stricken homes of thewidow and the childless, and in the very prison pens, where they werecrushed under outrage and contumely--the souls of the southrons rose insong. 

The varied and stirring acts of that terrible drama--its tryingsuspense and harrowing shocks--its constant strain and privations musthave graven deep upon southern hearts a picture of that time; and thereit will stand forever, distinct--indelible--etched by the mordant ofsorrow!

Where does history show more stirring motives for poetry? Every rood ofearth, moistened and hallowed with sacred blood, sings to-day a nobledirge, wordless, but how eloquent! No whitewashed ward in yonderhospital, but has written in letters of life its epic of heroism, ofdevotion, and of triumphant sacrifice!

Every breeze that swept from those ravished homes, whence peace andpurity had fled before the sword, the torch and that farblacker--nameless horror!--each breeze bore upon its wing a pleadingprayer for peace, mingled and drowned in the hoarse notes of a stirringcry to arms!

But not only did our people feel all this. They spoke it with universalvoice--in glowing, burning words that will live so long as strength andtenderness and truth shall hold their own in literature. 

For reasons thus roughly sketched, no great and connected effort hadbeen made at the South before the war. Though there had been sudden andfitful flashes of rare warmth and promise, they had died before theirfire was communicated. That the fire was there, latent and still, theybore witness; but it needed the rough and cruel friction of the war tobring it to the surface. 

What the southron felt he spoke; and out of the bitterness of his trialthe poetry of the South was born. It leaped at one bound from theovercharged brain of our people--full statured in its stern defiancemailed in the triple panoply of truth. 

There was endless poetry written in the North on the war; and much ofit came from the pens of men as eminent as Longfellow, Bryant, Whittierand Holmes. But they wrote far away from the scenes they spokeof--comfortably housed and perfectly secure. The men of the North wrotewith their pens, while the men of the South wrote with their hearts!

A singular commentary upon this has been given us by Mr. Richard GrantWhite--himself a member of the committee. In April, 1861, a committeeof thirteen New Yorkers--comprising such names as Julian Verplanck, Moses Grinnell, John A. Dix and Geo. Wm. Curtis--offered a reward offive hundred dollars for a National Hymn! What hope, feeling, patriotism and love of the cause had failed to produce--for the linealdescendants of the "Star Spangled Banner" were all in the South, fighting under the bars instead of the stripes--was to be drawn out bythe application of a greenback poultice! The committee advertisedgenerally for five hundred dollars' worth of pure patriotism, to beground out "in not less than sixteen lines, nor more than forty. "

Even with this highest incentive, Mr. White tells us that dozens ofbarrelfuls of manuscript were rejected; and not one patriot was foundwhose principles--as expressed in his poetry--were worth that muchmoney! Were it not the least bit saddening, the contemplation of thisattempt to buy up fervid sentiment would be inexpressibly funny. 

Memory must bring up, in contrast, that night of 1792 in Strasbourg, when the gray dawn, struggling with the night, fell upon the pale faceand burning eyes of Rouget de Lisle--as with trembling hand he wrotethe last words of the _Marseillaise_. The mind must revert, incontrast, to those ravished hearths and stricken homes and decimatedcamps, where the South wrought and suffered and sang--sang words thatrose from men's hearts, when the ore of genius fused and sparkled inthe hot blast of their fervid patriotism!

Every poem of the South is a National Hymn!--bought not with dollars, but with five hundred wrongs and ten times five hundred precious lives!

To one who has not studied the subject, the vast number of southern warpoems would be most surprising, in view of restricted means for theirissue. Every magazine, album and newspaper in the South ran over withthese effusions and swelled their number to an almost countless one. Many of them were written for a special time, event, or locality; manyagain were read and forgotten in the engrossing duties of the hour. Butit was principally from the want of some systematized means ofdistribution that most of them were born to blush unseen. 

Before my little collection--"South Songs, from the Lays of LaterDays"--went to press, over nineteen hundred poems had accumulated on myhands! And since that time the number has greatly increased. There werebattle odes, hymns, calls to arms, pæans and dirges and prayers forpeace--many of them good, few of them great; and the vast majority, alas! wretchedly poor. Any attempted notice of their authors in limitslike this would be sheer failure; and where many did so well, it wereinvidious to discriminate. The names of John R. Thompson, JamesRandall, Henry Timrod, Paul Hayne, Barron Hope, Margaret Preston, JamesOverall, Harry Lyndon Flash and Frank Ticknor had already becomehousehold words in the South, where they will live forever. 

Wherever his people read anything, the classic finish of his "Latané, "the sweet caress of his "Stuart" and the bugle-blast of his "Coercion"and "Word with the West, " had assured John R. Thompson's fame. Theliltful refrain of "Maryland, my Maryland" echoed from the Potomac tothe Gulf; and the clarion-call James R. Randall so nobly used--"There'sLife in the Old Land Yet!"--warmed every southern heart, by the deadashes on its hearth. Who does not remember "Beechenbrook, " that pureVestal in the temple of Mars? Every tear of sympathy that fell upon itspages was a jewel above rubies, in the crown of its gentle author. 

Paul Hayne had won already the hearts of his own readers; and hadgained transatlantic meed, in Tennyson's declaration that he was "thesonneteer of America!" And the yearning sorrow in all eyes that lookedupon the fresh mound, above what was mortal of tender Henry Timrod, wasmore eloquent of worth than costly monument, or labored epitaph. 

But not only the clang of action and the freedom of stirring scenesproduced the southern war-poems. Camp Chase and forts Warren andLafayette contributed as glowing strains as any written. Those grimbastiles held the bodies of their unconquered inmates; while theirhearts lived but in the memory of those scenes, in which their fetteredhands were debarred further portion. Worn down by confinement, hungerand the ceaseless pressure of suspense; weakened by sickness and oftenoppressed by vulgar indignity--the spirit of their cause still lingeredlovingly around them; and its bright gleams warmed and lighted thedarkest recesses of their cells. 

That bugle blast, "Awake and to horse, my brothers!", Teackle Wallissent from the walls of Warren, when he was almost prostrated bysickness and mental suffering. Another poem, more mournful but with abeautiful thought of hope beyond, comes from that dismal prison-pen, Camp Chase. Colonel W. S. Hawkins, a brave Tennesseean, who was heldthere two long years, still kept up heart and ministered to hisfellow-sufferers day and night. The close of the war alone releasedhim, to drag his shattered frame to "his own, fair sunny land, " and layit in the soil he loved so well. But he has left a living monument; andthe tender pathos of "The Hero without a Name"--and the flawlesspoetical gem that closes his "Last of Earth, " will be remembered aslong as the sacrifices of their noble author. The pent walls of othermilitary prisons sent forth plaintive records of misery, as well asstirring strains of hope unconquered; but the two here named are easilyfirst of the rebel-prisoner poets. 

Dirges for the great dead became a popular form, in which the spirit ofsouthern song poured itself out. I had in my collection no fewer thanforty-seven monodies and dirges on Stonewall Jackson; some dozens onAshby and a score on Stuart. Some of these were critically good; all ofthem high in sentiment; but Flash's "Jackson"--heretofore quoted, whennoting that irremediable loss--stands incomparably above the rest. Short, vigorous, completely rounded--it breathes that high spirit ofhope and trust, held by that warrior people; and, not alone the finestwar dirge of the South, it is excelled by no sixteen lines in anylanguage, for power, lilt and tenderness!

Perhaps Thompson's "Dirge for Ashby, " Randall's song of triumph overdead John Pelham and Mrs. Margaret Preston's "Ashby, " may rankside-by-side next to the "Jackson. " The modest author of the last-nameddid not claim it, until the universal voice of her people called forher name; and it is noteworthy that large numbers of war-song writershid from their just meed, behind the sheltering anonymous. And theuniversal characteristic of this dirge-poetry is not its mournfultenderness--while nothing could be more touching than that; but itsstrong expression of faith in the efficacy of the sacrifice and in thefull atonement of the martyrdom!

The battle-breeze bore back to the writers no sound of weak wailing. Itwafted only the sob of manly grief, tempered by a solemn joyousness;and--coming from men of many temperaments, amid wide-differing scenesand circumstance--every monody bears impress of the higher inspiration, that has its origin far beyond the realm of the narrow house!

Sacred to one and all--in the Dixie of yesterday, in the southern halfof the cemented Union of to-day--is the memory of that past. Sweet andbitter commingled, as it is, we clasp it to our heart of hearts andknow--that were it bitterer a thousand fold--it is ours still! So I maynot leave the field of southern song, unnoting its noblest strain--itsfuneral hymn! Father Ryan's "Conquered Banner" is so complete infulfillment of its mission, that we can not spare one word, while yetno word is wanting! Every syllable there finds it echo far down inevery southern heart. Every syllable has added significance, as comingfrom a man of peace;--a priest of that church which ever held forthfree and gentle hand to aid the cause of struggling freedom!

In hottest flashings of the fight; in toilsome marches of winter; infearful famine of the trenches--the Catholic soldiers of theConfederacy ever acted the motto of the Douglas; their deeds eversaid--"Ready! aye, ready!"

And, in fetid wards of fever hospital; in field-tents, where the busyknife shears through quivering flesh; on battle-ground, where shatteredmanhood lies mangled almost past semblance of itself; at hurriedburial, where gory blanket, or rough board, makes final rest for some"Hero without a name;"--there ever, and ever tender and tireless, thepriest of Rome works on his labor of love and consolation! And thegentlest daughter of the eldest church was there as well. All southernsoldiers were brothers, in her eyes; children of the One Father. Andthat noble band of Sisters of Mercy--to which our every woman belonged;giving light and hope to the hospital, life itself to the cause--thatband knew no confines of ministry--no barriers of faith, which madecharity aught but one common heritage!

Over the border, too; in struggling Maryland, in leaguered Missouri, and far into the North, the Catholic clergy were friends of thesouthern cause. They ceased never openly to defend its justice; quietlyto aid its sympathizers. They helped the self-exiled soldier to bearunaccustomed hardships, on the one side; carried to his lonely mother, on the other, tidings of his safety, or his glory, that "caused theheart of the widow to sing for joy!"

Fitting, then, it was that a father of that church should chant therequiem for the dead cause, he had loved and labored for while living;that Father Ryan should bless and bury its conquered banner, when thebitter day came that saw it "furled forever. "

But is that proud flag--with the glory and the pride wrought into itsfolds, by suffering, honor and endurance unexcelled--really "furledforever?" The dust of centuries may sift upon it, but the moth and themold may harm it not. Ages it may lie, furled and unnoted; but in herown good time, historic Justice shall yet unfold and throw it to thebreeze of immortality; pointing to each glorious rent and to each holydrop that stains it!

The war-poetry of the South has been dwelt upon, perhaps, at too greatlength. But it was, in real truth, the literature of the South. To sumit up may be repeated, after a lapse of twenty-five years--thatsentence from the preface to my "South Songs, " which raised such ireamong irreconcilables of the southern press:--"In prose of all kinds, the South stood still, during the war; perhaps retrograded. But herbest aspiration, 'lisped in numbers, for the numbers came!'"

Even then her poetry proved that there was life--high, brave life--inthe old land yet; even then it gave earnest that, when the bitterstruggle for bread gave time for thought, reason and retrospect, southern literature would rise, in the might of a young giant, andshake herself wholly free from northern domination and convention. 

In art and her twin sister, music, the South displayed taste andprogress truly remarkable in view of the absorbing nature of herduties. Like all inhabitants of semi-tropic climes, there had ever beenshown by her people natural love and aptitude for melody. While thisnatural taste was wholly uncultivated--venting largely in plantationsongs of the negroes--in districts where the music-master wasnecessarily abroad, it had reached high development in several of thelarge cities. Few of these were large enough, or wealthy enough, tosupport good operas, which the wealth of the North frequently lured toitself; but it may be recalled that New Orleans was genuinely enjoyingopera, as a necessary of life, long before New York deemed it essentialto study bad translations of librettos, in warmly-packed congregationsof thousands. 

Mobile, Charleston, Savannah and other cities also had considerablelatent music among their amateurs; happily not then brought to thesurface by the fierce friction of poverty. And what was the musicaltalent of the Capital, has elsewhere been hinted. When the tirelessdaughters of Richmond had worked in every other way, for the soldiersthemselves, they organized a system of concerts and dramatic eveningsfor benefit of their families. At these were shown evidences ofindividual excellence, truly remarkable; while their average displayedtaste and finish, which skilled critics declared would comparefavorably with any city in the country. 

The bands of the southern army--so long as they remained existent asseparate organizations--were indisputably mediocre, when notatrociously bad. But it must be recalled that there was little time topractice, even in the beginning; literally no chance to obtain newmusic, or instruments; and that the better class of men--who usuallymake the best musicians--always preferred the musket to the bugle. Norwas there either incentive to good music, or appreciation for it, amongthe masses of the fighters. The drum and fife were the best they hadknown "at musters;" and they were good enough still, to fight by. So, recalling the prowess achieved constantly, in following them, it may bewondered what possible results might have come from inspiration of amarine band, a Grafulla, or a Gilmore!

Likewise, in all art matters, the South was at least a decade behindher northern sisterhood. Climate, picturesque surrounding and naturalwarmth of character had awakened artistic sense, in many localities. But its development was scarcely appreciable, from lack of opportunityand of exemplar. The majority of southern girls were reared at theirown homes; and art culture--beyond mild atrocities in crayon orwater-color, or terrors bred of the nimble broiderer's needle--was amyth, indeed. A large number of young men--a majority, perhaps, ofthose who could afford it--received education at the North. Such ofthese as displayed peculiar aptitude for painting, were usually sentabroad for perfecting; and returning, they almost invariably settled innorthern cities, where were found both superior opportunities andlarger and better-paying class of patrons. But, when the tug came, nota few of these errant youths returned, to share it with their nativestates; and some of them found time, even in the stirring days of war, to transfer to canvas some of its most suggestive scenes. 

Of them, the majority were naturally about Richmond; not only as thegreat army center, but as the center of everything else. Among thelatter were two favorite pupils of Leutze, William D. Washington andJohn A. Elder. Both Virginians, by birth and rearing, they had thegreat advantage of Dusseldorf training, while they were thoroughlyacquainted and sympathetic with their subjects. Some of Washington'sfigure-pieces were very successful; finding ready sale at prices which, had they continued, might have made him a Meissonnier in pocket, aswell as in local fame. His elaborate picture, illustrating the "Burialof Latané"--a subject which also afforded _motif_ for Thompson'smost classic poem--attracted wide attention and favorable verdict fromgood critics. Mr. Washington also made many and excellent studies ofthe bold, picturesque scenery of his western campaigning, along theGauley and Kanawha. 

Elder's pictures--while, perhaps, less careful in finish than those ofhis brother student--were nothing inferior as close character-studiesof soldier-life. Their excellence was ever emphasized by prompt sale;and "The Scout's Prize" and the "Raider's Return"--both horse andlandscape studies; as well as a ghastly, but most effective picture ofthe "Crater Fight" at Petersburg, made the young artist great reputation. 

Washington's "Latané" had _post-bellum_ reproduction, by the graver;becoming popular and widely-known, North and South. The three ofElder's pictures, named here, were purchased by a member of the Britishparliament; but, unfortunately, were destroyed in the fire of the _Diesiræ_. The two first were duplicated, after the peace; and they gainedpraise and successful sale in New York. 

Mr. Guillam, a French student, worked carefully and industriously, athis Richmond studio; producing portraits of Lee, Jackson and others;which, having exaggerated mannerisms of the French school, stillpossessed no little merit. A remarkable life-size picture of GeneralLee, which produced much comment in Richmond, was done by a deaf-mute, Mr. Bruce. It was to have been bought by the State of Virginia;possibly from sympathy with the subject and the condition of theartist, rather than because of intrinsic merit as an art-work. 

But, perhaps, the most strikingly original pictures the war producedwere those of John R. Key, a Maryland lieutenant of engineers; one ofthose descendants of "The Star Spangled Banner, " early noted in thischapter. Young, ambitious and but little educated in art, Mr. Key madeup that lack in boldness of subject and treatment. His school waslargely his own; and he went for his subjects far out of the beatentrack, treating them afterward with marked boldness and dash. 

"Drewry's Bluff" was a boldly-handled sketch of what the northern armypersisted in calling "Fort Darling. " It showed the same venturesomeoriginality in color-use, the same breadth and fidelity that marked Mr. Key's later pictures of Sumter, Charleston harbor and scenes on theJames river. 

These pictures named in common, with minor sketches from pencils lessknown at that time--among them that of William L. Sheppard, now famousas graphic delineator of southern scenes--illustrate both the detailsof the unique war, and the taste and heart of those who made it. Amidbattles, sieges and sorrows, the mimic world behind the Chinese wallrevolved on axis of its own. War was the business of life to every man;but, in the short pauses of its active strife, were shown both thetaste and talent for the prettiest pursuits of peace. And theapparently unsurmountable difficulties, through which these wereessayed, makes their even partial development more remarkable still. 

The press, the literature and the art of the SouthernConfederacy--looked at in the light of her valor and endurance, shiningfrom her hundred battle-fields--emphasize strongly the inborn nature ofher people. And, while there were many whom the limits of this sketchleave unnamed, that sin of omission will not be registered against theauthor; for the men of the South--even in minor matters--did their workfor the object and for the cause; not for self-illustration. 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

WIT AND HUMOR OF THE WAR. 

If it be true that Sir Philip Sidney, burning with fever of hisdeath-wound, reproved the soldier who brought him water in his helmet, that "he wasted a casque-full on a dying man, " then humor borrowedlargely of heroism. 

Many a ragged rebel--worn with hunger and anxiety for the cause, or forthose absent loved ones who suffered for it--was as gallant as Sidneyin the fray; many a one bore his bitter trial with the same gay heart. 

We have seen that the southron, war-worn, starving, could pour out hissoul in noble song. Equally plain is it, that he rose in defiant gleeover his own sufferings; striving to drown the sigh in a peal ofresonant laughter. For humorous poetry abounds among all southernwar-collections; some of it polished and keen in its satire; most of itstriking hard and "straight-from-the-shoulder" blows at some detectederror, or some crying abuse. 

One very odd and typical specimen of this was the "Confederate MotherGoose;" only catch verses of which appeared in the "Southern LiteraryMessenger, " when under editorial charge of rare George Bagby. It wasborn of accident; several officers sitting over their pipes, aroundBagby's editorial pine, scribbled in turn doggerel on some war subject. So good were a few of these hits that they astonished their unambitiousauthors, by appearance in the next issue of the magazine. As a recordof war-humor, a few of them may be of interest at this late day. Thisone shows the great terror struck to the hearts of his enemies by thewar-gong of General Pope:

 "Little Be-Pope, he came at a lope, 'Jackson, the Rebel, ' to find him. He found him at last, then ran very fast, With his gallant invaders behind him!"

"Jackson's commissary" was a favorite butt for the shafts of rebelhumor. Another "Mother Goose" thus pictures him:

 "John Pope came down to our town And thought him wondrous wise; He jumped into a 'skeeter swamp And started writing lies. But when he found his lies were out-- With all his might and main He changed his base to another place, And began to lie again!"

This verse on McClellan does not go to prove that the South respectedany less the humane warfare, or the tactical ability of him hisgreatest opponents declared "the North's best general. "

 "Little McClellan sat eating a melon, The Chickahominy by, He stuck in his spade, then a long while delayed, And cried 'What a brave general am I!'"

Or this, embalming the military cant of the day:

 "Henceforth, when a fellow is kicked out of doors, He need never resent the disgrace; But exclaim, 'My dear sir, I'm eternally yours, For assisting in changing my base!'"

Perhaps no pen, or no brush, in all the South limned with bolder strokethe follies, or the foibles, of his own, than did that of InnesRandolph, of Stuart's Engineer staff; later to win national fame by his"Good Old Rebel" song. Squib, picture and poem filled Randolph'sletters, as brilliant flashes did his conversation. On Mr. Davisproclaiming Thanksgiving Day, after the unfortunate Tennessee campaign, Randolph versified the proclamation, section by section, as sample:

 "For Bragg did well. Ah! who could tell What merely human mind could augur, That they would run from Lookout Mount, Who fought so well at Chickamauga!"

Round many a smoky camp-fire were sung clever songs, whose humor diedwith their gallant singers, for want of recording memories in thosebusy days. Latham, Caskie and Page McCarty sent out some of the best ofthe skits; a few verses of one by the latter's floating to mind, fromthe snowbound camp on the Potomac, stamped by his vein of rollickingsatire-with-a-tear in it:

 "Manassas' field ran red with gore, With blood the Bull Run ran; The freeman struck for hearth and home, Or any other man! And Longstreet with his fierce brigade Stood in the red redan; He waved his saber o'er his head, Or any other man! Ah! few shall part where many meet, In battle's bloody van; The snow shall be their winding-sheet, Or any other man!"

Naturally enough, with a people whose nerves were kept at abnormaltension, reaction carried the humor of the South largely into travesty. Where the reality was ever somber, creation of the unreal found popularand acceptable form in satiric verse. Major Caskie--who ever went intobattle with a smile on his lips--found time, between fights, for broadpasquinade on folly about him, with pen and pencil. His very cleverparody of a touching and well-known poem of the time, found its way tomany a camp-fire and became a classic about the Richmond "hells. " Itbegan:

 "You can never win them back, Never, never! And you'd better leave the track Now forever! Tho' you 'cut' and 'deal the pack' And 'copper' every Jack, You'll lose 'stack' after 'stack'-- Forever!"

Everything tending to bathos--whether for the cause, or againstit--caught its quick rebuke, at the hands of some glib funmaker. Oncean enthusiastic admirer of the hero of Charleston indited a glowingode, of which the refrain ran:

 _Beau sabreur, beau canon_, _Beau soldat_--Beauregard!

Promptly came another, and most distorted version; its peculiar refrainenfolding:

 Beau Brummel, Beau Fielding, Beau Hickman--Beauregard!

As it is not of record that the commander of the Army of NorthernVirginia ever discovered the junior laureate, the writer will not essayto do so. 

Colonel Tom August, of the First Virginia, was the Charles Lamb ofConfederate war-wits; genial, quick and ever gay. Early in secessiondays, a bombastic friend approached Colonel Tom, with the query: "Well, sir, I presume your voice is still for war?"

To which the wit replied promptly: "Oh, yes, devilish still!"

Later, when the skies looked darkest and rumors of abandoning Richmondwere wildly flying, Colonel August was limping up the street. A_quidnunc_ hailed him:

"Well! The city is to be given up. They're moving the medical stores. "

"Glad of it!" called back Colonel Tom--"We'll get rid of all this bluemass!"

From the various army camps floated out stories, epigrams and anecdotesunnumbered; most of them wholly forgotten, with only a few rememberedfrom local color, or peculiar point. General Zeb Vance's apostrophe tothe buck-rabbit, flying by him from heavy rifle fire: "Go it, cotton-tail! If I hadn't a reputation, I'd be with you!"--was afavorite theme for variations. Similarly modified to fit, was theprotest of the western recruit, ordered on picket at Munson's Hill:

"Go yander ter keep 'un off! Wy, we'uns kem hyah ter fight th' Yanks;an' ef you'uns skeer 'un off, how'n thunder ez thar goan ter be ascrimmidge, no how?"

A different story--showing quick resource, where resources werelacking--is told of gallant Theodore O'Hara, who left the noblest poemof almost any war, "The Bivouac of the Dead. " While he wasadjutant-general, a country couple sidled shyly up to headquarters ofhis division, one day; the lady blushingly stating their business. Itwas the most important one of life: they wanted to marry. So, a councilof war was held, no chaplain being available; and the general insistedon O'Hara tying the knot. Finally, he consented to try; the couplestood before him; the responses as to obedience and endowment weremade; and there O'Hara stuck fast!

"Go on!" prompted the general--"The benediction. "

The A. A. G. Paused, stammered; then, raising his hand grandly, shoutedin stentorian tones:

"In the name and by the authority of the Confederate States of NorthAmerica, I proclaim you man and wife!"

A grim joke is handed down from the winter camps before Atlanta, whenrations were not only worst but least. A knot round a mess-fireexamined ruefully the tiny bits of moldy bacon, stuck on theirbayonet-grills, when one hard old veteran remarked:

"Say, boys! Didn't them fellers wot died las' spring jest _git_ th'commissary, though!"

Another, not very nice, still points equally the dire straits of themen, from unchanged clothing, and their grim humor under even thattrial. Generals Lee and Ewell--riding through a quiet road in deepconsultation, followed by members of their staff--came suddenly upon aNorth Carolinian at the roadside. Nude to the waist, and careless ofthe august presences near, the soldier paid attention only to the dingyshirt he held over the smoke of some smoldering brush. The generalspast, an aide spurred up to the toilet-making vet, and queried sharply:

"Didn't you see the generals, sir? What in thunder are you doing?"

"Skirmishin'!" drawled the unmoved warrior--"An' I ent takin' nopris'ners, nuther!"

After this lapse of time--when retrospect shows but the gloom andsorrow which shadowed the dark "days of storm and stress, " while noneof the excitement and tension in them remains--it may seemincomprehensible that the South could laugh in song, while she sufferedand fought and starved. Stranger still must it be to know that many amerry peal rang through the barred windows of the fortress-prisons ofthe North. Yet, many a one of the exchanged captives brought back arollicking "prison glee;" and some sing, even to-day, the legend of"Fort Delaware, Del. "

The "Prison Wails" of Thomas F. Roche, a Marylander long captive, is aclose and clever parody on General Lytell's "I am dying, Egypt, " whichcame through the lines and won warm admirers South. It describes prisondiscipline, diet and dirt, with keen point and broad grin. From itsopening lines:

 "I am busted, mother--busted! Gone th' last unhappy check; And th' infernal sutlers' prices Make my pocket-book a wreck!--"

to the human, piteous plaint that ends it:

 "Ah! Once more, among the lucky, Let thy hopeful buy and swell; Bankers and rich brokers aid thee! Shell! sweet mother mine, Oh! shell!--"

the original is closely followed and equally distorted. 

But strangest, amid all strange humors of the war, was that whichechoed laughter over the leaguered walls of scarred, starving, desperate Vicksburg! No siege in all history tells of greater peril andsuffering, borne with wondrous endurance and heroism, by men and women. It is a story of privation unparalleled, met by fortitude and calmacceptance which recall the early martyrdoms for faith! And, indeed, love of country grew to be a religion, especially with the women of theSouth, though happily none proved it by stress so dire as those of herheroic city; and they cherished it in the darkest midnight of theircause, with constancy and hope that nerved the strong and shamed thelaggard. 

That history is one long series of perils and privations--of absoluteisolation--sufficient to have worn down the strongest and to havequenched even

 The smile of the South, on the lips and the eyes-- Of her barefooted boys!

Yet, even in Vicksburg--torn by shot and shell, hopeless of relief fromwithout, reduced to direst straits of hunger within--the supreme rebelhumor rose above nature; and men toiled and starved, fought theirhopeless fight and died--not with the stoicism of the fatalist, butwith the cheerfulness of duty well performed! And when Vicksburg fell, a curious proof of this was found; a manuscript bill-of-fare, surmounted by rough sketch of a mule's head crossed by a human handholding a Bowie-knife. That memorable _menu_ reads:

 HOTEL DE VICKSBURG, BILL OF FARE, FOR JULY, 1863. 

 SOUP: Mule tail. 

 BOILED: Mule bacon, with poke greens; mule ham, canvassed. 

 ROAST: Mule sirloin; mule rump, stuffed with rice; saddle-of-mule, _à l'armee_. 

 VEGETABLES: Boiled rice; rice, hard boiled; hard rice, any way. 

 ENTRÉES: Mule head, stuffed _à la Reb_; mule beef, jerked _à la Yankie_; mule ears, fricasseed _à la getch_; mule side, stewed--new style, hair on; mule liver, hashed _à l'explosion_. 

 SIDE DISHES: Mule salad; mule hoof, soused; mule brains _à l'omelette_; mule kidneys, _braisés_ on ramrod; mule tripe, on half (Parrot) shell; mule tongue, cold, _à la_ Bray. 

 JELLIES: Mule foot (3-to-yard); mule bone, _à la_ trench. 

 PASTRY: Rice pudding, pokeberry sauce; cottonwood-berry pie, _à la_ iron-clad; chinaberry tart. 

 DESSERT: White-oak acorns; beech-nuts; blackberry-leaf tea; genuine Confederate coffee. 

 LIQUORS: Mississippi water, vintage 1492, very superior, $3; limestone water, late importation, very fine, $3. 75; spring water, Vicksburg bottled up, $4. 

 Meals at few hours. Gentlemen to wait upon themselves. Any inattention in service should be promptly reported at the office. 

 JEFF DAVIS & CO. , _Proprietors_. 

 CARD: The proprietors of the justly-celebrated Hotel de Vicksburg, having enlarged and refitted the same, are now prepared to accommodate all who may favor them with a call. Parties arriving by the river, or by Grant's inland route, will find Grape, Cannister & Co. 's carriages at the landing, or any depot on the line of entrenchments. Buck, Ball & Co. Take charge of all baggage. No effort will be spared to make the visit of all as interesting as possible. 

This capture was printed in the Chicago _Tribune_, with the commentthat it was a ghastly and melancholy burlesque. There is really a trainof melancholy in the reflection that it was so little of a burlesque;that they who could endure such a siege, on such fare, should have beencompelled to bear their trial in vain. But the quick-satisfyingreflection must follow of the truth, the heroism--the moralinvincibility--of a people who could so endure and--laugh!

But it was not only from the soldiers and the camps that the humor ofthe South took its color. Spite of the strain upon its betterpart--from anxiety, hope-deferred and actual privation--the society ofevery city keeps green memories of brilliant things said and written, on the spur of excitement and contact, that kept the sense of the wholepeople keenly alert for any point--whether serious or ridiculous. 

The society of the Capital was marked evidence of this. It preservedmany epigrammatic gems; often coming from the better--and brighter--halfof its composition. For Richmond women had long been noted for societyease and _aplomb_, as well as for quickness of wit; and now the socialamalgam held stranger dames and maidens who might have shown in any_salon_. 

A friend of the writer--then a gallant staff-officer; now a grave, sedate and semi-bald counsellor--had lately returned from Europeancapitals; and he was, of course, in envied possession of brilliantuniform and equipment. At a certain ball, his glittering blind-spursbecame entangled in the flowing train of a dancing belle--one of themost brilliant of _the_ set. She stopped in mid-waltz; touched myfriend on the broidered chevron with taper fingers, and sweetly said:

"Captain, may I trouble you to dismount?"

Another noted girl--closely connected with the administration--made oneof a distinguished party invited by Secretary Mallory to inspect anewly-completed iron-clad, lying near the city. It was after manyreverses had struck the navy, causing--as heretofore shown--destructionof similar ships. Every detail of this one explained, lunch over andher good fortune drunk, the party were descending the steps to thecaptain's gig, when this belle stopped short. 

"Oh! Mr. Secretary!" she smiled innocently--"You forgot to show us onething!"

"Indeed?" was the bland query--"Pray what was it?"

To which came the startling rejoinder:

"Why your arrangement for blowing them up!"

There was one handsome and dashing young aide, equally noted forinfluence at division-headquarters, which sent him constantly toRichmond; and for persistent devotion, when there, to a sharp-wittedbelle with a great fortune. One night he appeared at a soiree in brandnew uniform, his captain's bars replaced by the major's star on thecollar. The belle, leaning on his arm wearily, was pouting; whenanother passed and said: "I congratulate you, major. And what are yournew duties?"

The officer hesitated only one instant, but that was fatal; for the ladyon his arm softly lisped: "Oh! he is _Mrs. _ General ----'s commissary, with the rank of major!"

It is needless to add that the epigram--unjust as it was--had itseffect; and the belle was no more besieged. 

But of all the bright coteries in Richmond society--its very arcanum ofwit, brilliance and culture--rises to memory that wholly unique set, that came somehow to be called "the Mosaic Club. " Organization it wasnone; only a clique of men and women--married as well as single--thatcomprised the best intellects and prettiest accomplishments of theCapital. Many of the ladies were Will Wyatt's "easy goers;" evertolerant, genial and genuine at the _symposia_ of the Mosaics, asthey showed behind their _chevaux-de-frise_ of knitting-needleselsewhere. Some of them have since graced happy and luxurious homes;some have struggled with poverty and sorrow as only true womanhood maystruggle; some have fought out the battle of life, sleeping now at restforever. But one and all then faced their duty--sad, bitter, uncongenialas it might be--with loyalty and tender truth; one and all were strongenough to put by somber things, when meet to do so, and enjoy to thefull the better pleasures society might offer. 

And the men one met wore wreaths upon their collars often; quite aslikely _chevrons_ of "the men" upon their sleeves. Cabinet ministers, poets, statesmen, artists, and clergymen even were admitted to the"Mosaics;" the only "_Open sesame!_" to which its doors fell widebeing that patent of nobility stamped by brain and worth alone. 

Without organization, without officers; grown of itself and meeting aschance, or winter inactivity along army lines dictated--the Mosaic Clubhad no habitat. Collecting in one hospitable parlor, or another--asgood fortune happened to provide better material for the delighting"muffin-match, " or the entrancing "waffle-worry, " as Will Wyattdescribed those festal procedures--the intimates who chanced in townwere bidden; or, hearing of it, came to the feast of waffles and theflow of coffee--real coffee! without bids. They were ever welcome andknew it; and they were likewise sure of something even better thanmuffins, or coffee, to society-hungry men from the camps. And oncegathered, the serious business of "teaing" over, the fun of the eveningbegan. 

The unwritten rule--indeed, the only rule--was the "forfeit essay, " agame productive of so much that was novel and brilliant, that no laterinvention of peace-times has equaled it. At each meeting two hats wouldbe handed round, all drawing a question from the one, a word from theother; question and word to be connected in either a song, poem, essay, or tale for the next meeting. Then, after the drawing for forfeits, came the results of the last lottery of brain; interspersed with musicby the best performers and singers of the city; with jest andseriously-brilliant talk, until the wee sma' hours, indeed. 

O! those nights ambrosial, if not of Ambrose's, which dashed the somberpicture of war round Richmond, with high-lights boldly put in bymaster-hands! Of them were quaint George Bagby, Virginia's pethumorist; gallant, cultured Willie Meyers; original Trav Daniel;Washington, artist, poet and musician; Page McCarty, recklesslybrilliant in field and frolic alike; Ham Chamberlayne, quaint, cultivated and colossal in originality; Key, Elder and other artists;genial, jovial Jim Pegram; Harry Stanton, Kentucky's soldier poet--anda score of others who won fame, even if some of them lost life--on fardifferent fields. There rare "Ran" Tucker--later famed in Congress andlaw school--told inimitably the story of "The time the stars fell, " orsang the unprecedented ballad of "The Noble Skewball, " in his ownunprecedented fashion!

It was at the Mosaic that Innes Randolph first sang his now famous"Good Old Rebel" song; and there his marvelous quickness was Aaron'srod to swallow all the rest. As example, once he drew from one hat thewords, "Daddy Longlegs;" from the other, the question, "What sort ofshoe was made on the Last of the Mohicans?" Not high wit these, toordinary seeming; and yet apparent posers for sensible rhyme. But theypuzzled Randolph not a whit; and--waiving his "grace" until thesubsequent meeting, he rattled off extempore:

 "Old Daddy Longlegs was a sinner hoary And punished for his wickedness, according to the story. Between him and the Indian shoe, this likeness doth come in, One made a mock o' virtue, and one a moccasin!"

Laughter and applause were, in mid-roar, cut by Randolph's voicecalling:

 _Corollary first:_ If Daddy Longlegs stole the Indian's shoe to keep his foot warm, that was no excuse for him to steal his house, to keep his wigwam. 

And again he broke down--only to renew--the chorus with:

 _Corollary second:_ Because the Indian's shoe did not fit any Mohawk, was no reason that it wouldn't fit Narragansett!

Such, in brief retrospect was the Mosaic Club! Such in part the fun andfancy and frolic that filled those winter nights in Richmond, whensleet and mud made movements of armies, "Heaven bless us! a thing ofnaught!"

The old colonel--that staff veteran, so often quoted in thesepages--was a rare, if unconscious humorist. Gourmet born, connoisseurby instinct and clubman by life habit, the colonel writhed in spiritunder discomfort and camp fare, even while he bore both heroically inthe flesh; his two hundred and sixty pounds of it! Once, Styles Stapleand Will Wyatt met him, inspecting troops in a West Virginia town; andthey received a long lecture, _à la_ Brillat Savarin, on enormities ofthe kitchen. 

"And these people have fine wines, too, " sadly wound up the colonel. "Marvelous wines, egad! But they don't know how to let you enjoy them!"

"'Tis a hard case, " sympathized Styles, "I do hear sometimes of afellow getting a stray tea, but as for a dinner! It's no use, colonel;these people either don't _dine_ themselves, or they imagine we don't. "

"Did it ever strike you, " said the colonel, waxing philosophic, "thatyou _can't_ dine in but two places south of the Potomac? True, sir. Egad! You may stumble upon a country gentleman with a plentiful larderand a passable cook, but then, egad, sir! he's an oasis. The mass ofthe people South don't live, sir! they vegetate--vegetate and nothingelse. You get watery soups. Then they offer you mellow madeira withsome hot, beastly joint; and oily old sherry with some confounded stew. Splendid materials--materials that the hand of an artist would makeluscious--egad, sir; _luscious_--utterly ruined in the handling. It'stoo bad, Styles, too bad!"

"It is, indeed, " put in Wyatt, falling into the colonel's vein, "toobad! And as for steaks, why, sir, there is not a steak in this wholecountry. They stew them, colonel, actually _stew beefsteaks_! Listen tothe receipt a 'notable housewife' gave me: 'Put a juicy steak, cut twoinches thick, in a saucepan; cover it well with water; put in a largelump of lard and two sliced onions. Let it simmer till the water dries;add a small lump of butter and a dash of pepper--and it's done!' Thinkof that, sir, for a _bonne bouche_!"

"Good God!" ejaculated the colonel, with beads on his brow. "I haveseen those things, but I never knew how they were done! I shall dreamof this, egad! for weeks. "

"Fact, sir, " Wyatt added, "and I've a theory that no nation deservesits liberties that stews its steaks. Can't gain them, sir! How can menlegislate--how can men fight with a pound of stewed abomination holdingthem like lead? 'Bold and erect the Caledonian stood, ' but how long doyou think he would have been 'bold, ' if they had stewed his 'rare beef'for him? No, sir! mark my words: the nation that stews its beefsteakscontracts its boundaries! As for an omelette----"

"Say no more, Will!" broke in the colonel solemnly. "After the war, come to my club and we'll dine--egad, sir! _for a week!_"

That invincible pluck of the southron, which carried him throughstarvation and the sweltering march of August, through hailing shot andshell, and freezing mud of midwinter camps--was unconquered even afterthe surrender. Equally invincible was that twin humor, which laughedamid all these and bore up, even in defeat. Some of the keenest hits ofall the war--tinctured though they be with natural bitterness--arerecalled from those days, when the beaten, but defiant, Rebel waspassing under the victor's yoke. 

Surprising, indeed, to its administrators must have been the result of"the oath, " forced upon one green cavalryman, before he could return tofamily and farm. Swallowing the obnoxious allegiance, he turned to theFederal officer and quietly asked:

"Wail, an' now I reck'n I'm loyil, ain't I?"

"Oh, yes! You're all right, " carelessly replied the captor. 

"An' ef I'm loyil, I'm same as you 'uns?" persisted the lately sworn. "We're all good Union alike, eh?"

"Oh, yes, " the officer humored him. "We're all one now. "

"Wail then, " rejoined Johnny Reb slowly, "didn't them darned rebs jestgeen us hell sometimes?"

City Point, on the James river, was the landing for transports withsoldiers released from northern prisons, after parole. A bustling, self-important major of United States volunteers was at one time there, in charge. One day a most woe-begone, tattered and emaciated "Johnnie"sat swinging his shoeless feet from a barrel, awaiting his turn. 

"It isn't far to Richmond, " suddenly remarked the smart major, tonobody in particular. 

"Reck'n et's neer onto three thousin' mile, " drawled the Confed. Weakly. 

"Nonsense! You must be crazy, " retorted the officer staring. 

"Wail, I ent a-reck'nin' adzact, " was the slow reply--"Jest tho't so, kinder. "

"Oh! you did? And pray why?"

"Cos et's took'n you'uns nigh onto foore year to git thar fromWash'nton, " was the settling retort. 

In the provost-marshal's department at Richmond, shortly aftersurrender, was the neatest and most irrepressible of youths. Neverdiscourteous and often too sympathetic, he was so overcurious as to bewhat sailors describe as "In everybody's mess and nobody's watch. " Oneday a quaint, Dickensesque old lady stood hesitant in the officedoorway. Short, wrinkled and bent with age, she wore a bombazine gownof antique cut--its whilom black red-rusty from time's dye. But "AuntSallie" was a character in Henrico county; and noted withal for thesharpest of tongues and a fierce pair of undimmed eyes, which now shoneunder the dingy-brown poke bonnet. Toward her sallied the flippantyoung underling, with the greeting:

"Well, madam, what do _you_ wish?"

"What do I wish?" The old lady grew restive and battle-hungry. 

"Yes'm! That's what I asked, " retorted the youth sharply. 

"What do I wish?" slowly repeated the still-rebellious dame. "Well, ifyou _must_ know, I wish all you Yankees were in ---- hell!"

But not all the humor was confined to the governing race; some of itspoints cropping out sharply here and there, from under the wool of "theoppressed brother"--in-law. One case is recalled of the spoiled bodyservant of a gallant Carolinian, one of General Wheeler's brigadecommanders. His master reproved his speech thus:

"Peter, you rascal! Why don't you speak English, instead of saying 'wahyo' is'?"

"Waffer, Mars' Sam?" queried the negro with an innocent grin. "Yo alluscalls de Gen'ral--_Weel_-er?"

Another, close following the occupation, has a spice of higher satire. A Richmond friend had a petted maid, who--devoted and constant to hermistress, even in those tempting days--still burned with genuine negrocuriosity for a sight of everything pertaining to "Mars' Linkum'smen"--especially for "de skule. "

For swift, indeed, were the newcome saints to preach the Evangel ofalphabet; and negro schools seemed to have been smuggled in by everyarmy ambulance, so numerously did they spring up in the capturedCapital. So, early one day, Clarissa Sophia, the maid of color, donnedher very best and, "with shiny morning face, " hied her, like anythingbut a snail, to school. Very brief was her absence; her returnreticent, but pouting and with unduly tip-tilted nose. After a timenegro love for confidences conquered; and the murder came out. 

The school-room had been packed and pervaded with odors--of sanctity, or otherwise--when a keen-nosed and eager school-marm rose up to exhorther class. She began by impressing the great truth that every sisterpresent was "born free and equal;" was "quite as good" as she was. 

"Wa' dat yo's sain' now?" interrupted Clarissa Sophia. "Yo' say Isejess ekal as yo' is?"

"Yes; I said so, " was the sharp retort, "and I can prove it!"

"Ho! 'Tain't no need, " replied the lately disenthralled. "Reck'n I is, sho' nuff. But does yo' say dat Ise good as missus?--_my_ missus?"

"Certainly you are!" This with asperity. 

"Den Ise jess gwine out yere, rite off!" cried Clarissa Sophia, suitingaction to word--"Ef Ise good as _my_ missus, I'se goin' ter quit; fur Ijess know _she_ ent 'soshiatin' wid no sich wite trash like you is!"

And so--under all skies and among all colors--the war dragged its wearylength out; amid sufferings and sacrifices, which may never berecorded; and which were still illumined by the flashes of unquenchablehumor--God's tonic for the heart!

Had every camp contained its Froissart--had every social circle heldits Boswell--what a record would there be, for reading by generationsyet unborn!

But--when finished, as this cramped and quite unworthy chronicle ofrandom recollections is--then might the reader still quote justly herof Sheba, exclaiming:

"And behold! the one-half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not toldme!"

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THE BEGINNING OF THE END. 

While neither in itself--perhaps not the combination of the two--wasfinal and conclusive, the beginning of the end of the Confederacy maybe dated from the loss of Vicksburg and the simultaneous retreat fromGettysburg. For these two disasters made all classes consider moredeeply, both their inducing causes and the final results that mustfollow a succession of such crushing blows. 

There can be little doubt that a complete victory at Gettysburg, vigorously followed up, would have ended the war; and thegenerally-accepted belief in the South was that the exhaustive defeatwas proportionately bad. The war had been going on two years and ahalf. Every device had been used to put the whole numerical strength ofthe country into the field and to utilize its every resource. The Southhad succeeded to a degree that stupefied the outside world andastonished even herself. But the effort had exhausted, and left herunfit to renew it. Over and again the armies of the East and West hadbeen re-enforced, reorganized and re-equipped--and ever came the heavy, relentless blows of the seemingly-exhaustless power, struggled againstso vainly. The South had inflicted heavy loss in men, material andprestige; but she wasted her strength in these blows, while unhappilyshe could not make them effective by quick repetition. 

The people, too, had lost their early faith in the Government. They hadsubmitted to the most stringent levy of conscription and impressmentever imposed upon a nation. They had willingly left their fields togrow weeds, their children to run wild and perhaps to starve; they hadcheerfully divided their last supplies of food with the Government, andhad gone to the front steadily and hopefully. But now they could notfail to see that, in some points at least, there had been grossmismanagement. The food for which their families were pinched andalmost starved, did not come to the armies. Vast stores of provisionand supplies were blocked on the roads, while speculators' venturespassed over them. This, the soldiers in the trench and the laborer atthe anvil saw equally. 

They saw, too, that the Government was divided against itself; for theworse than weak Congress--which had formerly been as a nose of wax inMr. Davis' fingers--had now turned dead against him. With the stolidobstinacy of stupidity it now refused to see any good in any measure, or in any man, approved by the Executive. 

Under the leadership of Mr. Foote--who wasted the precious time ofCongress in windy personal diatribes against Mr. Davis and his"pets"--nothing was done to combine and strengthen the rapidlysundering elements of Confederate strength. Long debates on GeneralPemberton; weighty disquisitions on such grave subjects as the numberof pounds of pork on hand when Vicksburg was surrendered; and violentattacks on the whole _past_ course of the administration, occupiedthe minds of those lawgivers. But at this time there was no singlemeasure originated that proposed to stop the troubles in the future. 

Therefore, the people lost confidence in the divided Government; andlosing it began to distrust themselves. Suffering so for it, they couldnot fail to know the terrible strain to which the country had beensubjected. They knew that her resources in men and material had beentaxed to the limit; that there was no fresh supply of either upon whichto draw. This was the forlorn view that greeted them when they lookedwithin. And outside, fresh armies faced and threatened them on everyside--increased rather than diminished, and better armed and providedthan ever before. 

This state of things was too patent not to be seen by the plainest men;and seeing it, those became dispirited who never had doubted before. And this time, the gloom did not lift; it became a settled and doggedconviction that we were fighting the good fight almost against hope. Not that this prevented the army and the people from working still, with every nerve strained to its utmost tension; but they workedwithout the cheery hopefulness of the past. 

Fate seemed against them. Had they been Turks they would have said: "Itis _kismet_! Allah is great!" As they were only staunch patriots, theyreasoned: "It is fearful odds--but we _may_ win. " And so solemnly, gloomily--but none the less determined--the South again prepared forthe scarcely doubtful strife. 

The stringent addenda to the Conscription law--that had come toolate--were put into force. All men that could possibly be spared--andwhom the trickery of influence could not relieve--were sent to thefront; and their places in the Government were filled by the aged, thedisabled, and by women. In the Government departments of Richmond--andin their branches further South--the first ladies of the land tookposition as clerks--driven to it by stress of circumstances. And now asever--whether in the arsenals, the factories, or the accountant'sdesk--the women of the South performed their labor faithfully, earnestly and well. Those men who could not possibly be spared, wereformed into companies for local defense; were regularly drilled, mustered into service, and became in fact regular soldiers, simplydetailed to perform other work. When the wild notes of the alarm bellsent their frequent peals over Richmond, and warned of an approachingraid--armorer, butcher and clerk threw down hammer and knife and pen, and seized their muskets to hasten to the rendezvous. Even theshopkeepers and speculators, who seemed conscription-proof, weremustered into some sort of form; driven to make at least a show ofresistance to the raid, by which they would suffer more than anyothers. But it was only a show; and so much more attention was paid inthese organizations to filling of the commissary wagon than of thecartridge-box, that the camps of such "melish, " in the woods aroundRichmond, were converted more into a picnic than a defense. 

Supplies of war material, of clothing, and of arms, had now become asscarce as men. The constant drain had to be supplied frommanufactories, worked under great difficulties; and these now werealmost paralyzed by the necessity for their operatives at the front. Old supplies of iron, coal and ore had been worked up; and obtainingand utilizing fresh ones demanded an amount of labor that could not bespared. The blockade had now become thoroughly effective; and, except arare venture at some unlooked-for spot upon the coast, no vessel wasexpected to come safely through the network of ships. Blankets andshoes had almost completely given out; and a large proportion of thearmy went barefoot and wrapped in rugs given by the ladies of thecities, who cut up their carpets for that purpose. 

Yet, in view of all this privation; with a keen sense of their ownsacrifices and a growing conviction that they were made in vain, thearmy kept up in tone and spirits. There was no intention or desire toyield, as long as a blow could be struck for the cause; and the veteranand the "new issue"--as the new conscripts were called in derision ofthe currency--alike determined to work on as steadily, if not socheerily, as before. 

And still Congress wrangled on with Government and within itself; stillMr. Foote blew clouds of vituperative gas at President and Cabinet;still Mr. Davis retained, in council and field, the men he had chosen. And daily he grew more unpopular with the people, who, disagreeing withhim, still held him in awe, while they despised the Congress. Even inthis strait, the old delusion about the collapse of Federal financeoccasionally came up for hopeful discussion; and, from time to time, Mr. Benjamin would put out a feeler about recognition from governmentsthat remembered us less than had we really been behind the great wallof China. 

After Gettysburg and Vicksburg, came a lull in the heavier operationsof the war. But raids of the enemy's cavalry were organized and sent topenetrate the interior South, in every direction. To meet them wereonly home guards and the militia; with sometimes a detachment ofcavalry, hastily brought up from a distant point. This latter branch ofservice, as well as light artillery, now began to give way. The fearfulstrain upon both, in forced and distant marches, added to the wearingcampaigns over the Potomac, had used up the breed of horses in theSouth. Those remaining were broken down by hard work and half feed; sothat one-half the cavalry was dismounted--belonging to "Company Q" themen called it--and the rest was scarcely available for a rapid march, or a very heavy shock. 

But the cavalry of the enemy had increased wonderfully in drill, discipline and general efficiency. Armed with the best weapons, mountedupon choice horses, composed of picked men and officered by the boldestspirits in the North, Federal cavalry now began to be the most potentarm of their service. Men sadly recalled the pleasant days when thebrilliant squadrons of Hampton, or Fitz Lee--the flower of the South, mounted on its best blood stock--dashed laughingly down upon threetimes their force, only to see them break and scatter; while many oftheir number rolled over the plain, by the acts of their own steedsrather than of hostile sabers. Even much later, when the men wereragged and badly armed, and the horses were gaunt from famine, theystill could meet the improving horsemen of the enemy and come offvictors--as witness the battles of the Fords. But now the Yankees hadlearned to fight--and more incomprehensible still to the Reb, they hadlearned to ride! They were superior in numbers, equipment, and--to behonest--in discipline; and could no longer be met with any certainty ofsuccess. It was a bitter thing for the Golden Horse Shoe Knights; butlike many ugly things about this time, it was true. So the Yankeeraids--aimed as a finality for Richmond, but ever failing approach totheir object--still managed to do incalculable mischief. They drove offthe few remaining cattle, stole and destroyed the hoarded mite of thewidowed and unprotected--burned barns--destroyed farming utensils; and, worse than all, they demoralized the people and kept them in constantdread. 

As a counter-irritant, and to teach the enemy a lesson, General Morgan, early in July, started on a raid into the Northwest. With 2, 000 men anda light battery, he passed through Kentucky and on to the river, leaving a line of conquest and destruction behind him--here scatteringa regiment of the enemy--there demoralizing a home guard; and, at theriver, fighting infantry and a gunboat, and forcing his way across intoIndiana. Great was the scare in the West, at this first taste the finefruits of raiding. Troops were telegraphed, engines flew up and downthe roads as if possessed; and in short, home guards, and other troops, were collected to the number of nearly 30, 000 men. 

Evading pursuit, and scattering the detached bands he met, Morgancrossed the Ohio line--tearing up roads, cutting telegraphs, andinflicting much damage and inconceivable panic--until he reached withinfive miles of Cincinnati. Of course, with his merely nominal force, hecould make no attempt on the city; so, after fourteen days of unrestingraiding--his command pressed, worn out and broken down--he headed forthe river once more. A small portion of the command had alreadycrossed, when the pursuing force came up. Morgan made heavy fight, buthis men were outnumbered and exhausted. A few, following him, cut theirway through the enemy and fled along the north bank of the Ohio. Thepursuit was fierce and hot; the flight determined, fertile inexpedients, but hopeless in an enemy's country, raised to follow thecry. He was captured, with most of his staff and all of his commandthat was left--save the few hundred who had crossed the river andescaped into the mountains of Virginia. 

Then for four months--until he dug his way out of his dungeon with asmall knife--John Morgan was locked up as a common felon, starved, insulted and treated with brutality, the recital of which sickens--evenhaving his head shaved! There was no excuse ever attempted; no pretensethat he was a guerrilla. It was done simply to glut spite and to make adreaded enemy feel his captors' power. 

Meantime General Bragg, at Tullahoma, faced by Rosecrans and flanked byBurnside's "Army of the Cumberland, " was forced to fall back toChattanooga. Rosecrans pressed him hard, with the intent of carryingout that pet scheme of the North, forcing his army down through Georgiaand riddling the Cotton States. It is inessential here to recount thedetails of these movements. Rosecrans had a heavy and compact force;ours was weak and scattered, and Bragg's urgent appeal for men met theinvariable answer, there were none to send. For the samereason--insufficient force--Buckner was forced to abandon Knoxville;and a few weeks later Cumberland Gap, the key-position to EastTennessee and Georgia, was surrendered!

At this critical juncture the loss of that position could scarcely beexaggerated; and the public indignantly demanded of Government why ithad been lost. The War Department shifted the responsibility, anddeclared that no reason existed; that the place was provisioned andimpregnable, and that the responsibility rested alone with the officerin command, who was now a prisoner with his whole force. 

This hardly satisfied the public clamor; and so ill-omened acommencement augured badly for the success of the campaign forposition, in which both armies were now manoeuvring. The real detailsof these preliminary movements are scarcely clear to this day. GeneralBragg's friends declare that he forced Rosecrans to the position; hisenemies, that Rosecrans first out-generaled him and then laid himselfopen to destruction, while Bragg took no advantage of the situation. 

However this may be, we know that on the morning of the 19th September, '63, the battle of Chickamauga was commenced by the enemy in a seriesof obstinate division engagements, rather than in a general battle;Bragg's object being to gain the Chattanooga road in the enemy's rear, and his to prevent it. The fighting was heavy, stubborn and fierce, andits brunt was borne by Walker, Hood and Cleburne. Night fell on anundecided field, where neither had advantage; and the enemy perhaps hadsuffered more heavily than we. 

All that night he worked hard to strengthen his position; and ourattack--which was to have commenced just at dawn--was delayed from somemisapprehension of orders. At length Breckinridge and Cleburne openedthe fight, and then it raged with desperate, bloody obstinacy, untillate afternoon. At that time the Confederate right had been repulsed;but Longstreet's left had driven the enemy before it. Then the wholesouthern line reformed; moving with steady, resistless sweep upon theconfident enemy. He fought obstinately--wavered--rallied--then brokeagain and fled toward Chattanooga. The rout was complete and the enemyso demoralized that Longstreet--feeling that he could be crushed whilepanic-struck--ordered Wheeler to intercept his flight. It was statedthat Longstreet's order was countermanded by General Bragg;but--whatever the reason--there was no pursuit!

The fruits of the hard-won victory were 8, 000 prisoners, 50 pieces ofartillery, near 20, 000 muskets--_plus_ a loss of life barren ofresults. For, instead of crushing the enemy and completely relievingthe state and the Georgia frontier, the failure to press Rosecrans atthe moment left him free communication with his rear and full time torecuperate. Instead of pressing on, General Bragg took position onMissionary Ridge; and criticism of the hour declared that he thusinvested the Federals in the town, which--by a rapid advance--mightalready have been his, without a fight. 

It is neither the intent, nor within the scope of these papers--evendid their author possess the ability for it--to enter into detailedcriticism of military events; far less to reopen those acrimoniouspartisanships, so bootless at the time and worse than useless now. But, to comprehend the state of public feeling at the South, it is essentialto have the plain data, upon which it was based; and to have plainlystated the causes to which popular opinion ascribed certain results. 

After Chickamauga, there was very general--and seemingly notcauseless--discontent. The eternal policy of massing great armies, atany sacrifice; fighting terrible battles; and then failing to close thegrasp upon their fruits--apparently already in hand--had worn publicpatience so threadbare, that it refused to regard Chickamauga asanything more than another of those aimless killings, which had sooften drenched the West, to no avail. 

Strong and open expression was made of the popular wish for GeneralBragg's removal; but Mr. Davis refused--as ever--to hear the people'svoice, in a matter of policy. He retained General Bragg, and the peopleheld him responsible for what they claimed was the result--LookoutMountain!

_Fas est ab hoste doceri. _ Public clamor at the North declared thatloss of command should reward Rosecrans for loss of the battle; and, inmid-October, he was superseded by General Grant. 

Like all popular heroes of the war, Grant had become noted, ratherthrough hard-hitting than strategic combination. His zenith was mountedon the capture of Vicksburg; a project which northern generalsdenounced as bad soldiership and possible of success, only through anenemy's weakness. At this time, he was certainly not in high estimationof his own army, because of dogged disregard of loss in uselessassaults; and it will be recalled that General McClernand wascourt-martialed for his declaration that he "could not be expected tofurnish brains for the whole army!" The estimate of Grant's compeers isnot refuted by any evidence in the War Department that, from Shiloh toAppomattox, he ever made one combination stamped by mark of anysoldiership, higher than courage and bull-dog tenacity. Even scoutingthe generally-accepted idea, in the army of Vicksburg and later in thatof Chattanooga--that McPherson provided plans and details of hiscampaigns; and dismissing McClernand's costly taunt as mereepigram--this was the accepted estimate of General Grant's tacticalpower. 

But he inaugurated his command at Chattanooga with boldness and vigor. He concentrated 25, 000 troops in the town; opened his communications;and then--to prevent any possible movement flanking him out ofthem--boldly took the initiative. 

Meantime, Longstreet had been detached by General Bragg, for thatbadly-provided, badly-digested and wholly ill-starred expedition toKnoxville; one which seemed to prove that the history of misfortune wasever to repeat itself, in impracticable diversions at precisely thewrong time. For, even had this corps not been badly equipped andrationed, while almost wholly lacking in transportation, it certainlydepleted a daily-weakening army, in the face of one already double itsnumbers and daily increasing. 

On November 18th--spite of management that forced him to subsist onprecarious captures--Longstreet reached the enemy's advanced lines, atKnoxville; drove him into the city and completely isolated him fromcommunication. Capitulation was a mere matter of time; but disastrousnews from the main army drove the Confederate to the alternative ofassault, or retreat. Choosing the former, he made it with the samedesperate gallantry displayed at Gettysburg, or Corinth; illustrated bybrilliant, but unavailing, personal prowess. The strength of theenemy's works--and openness of approach, with wire netting interlacedamong the stumps of the new clearing, was too much for the southernsoldiers. Several times they reached the works, fighting hand-to-hand;but finally Longstreet fell back, in good order and carrying hissubsistence. He chose his own line of retreat, too; and with such goodjudgment as to be within reach of any new combination of Bragg--fromwhom he was now cut off--or, failing that, to keep his rear openthrough Virginia, to Lee's army. 

Meantime, Grant massed troops in Chattanooga, sufficient in his judgmentto crush Bragg; and, learning of the latter's detachment of Longstreet'scorps, determined to strike early and hard. On the 25th he attacked withhis whole force, in two grand columns under Thomas, Sherman and Hooker. The little southern army of less than forty thousand was judiciouslyposted; having advantage of being attacked. The terrible shock of thedouble attack was successfully repulsed on the right by Hardee, on theleft by Buckner. Broken, reeling--shattered--he was hurled back, onlyto form again with splendid courage. Once more checked and driven back, after desperate fighting on both sides, the Federals made a third advancewith steady, dogged valor. Then constancy was rewarded; they broke theConfederate center; swung it in disorder upon the wings; and, holdingthe ground so hotly won, had the key to the position. 

Still the day was not wholly lost to the South, had her men not givenway to causeless panic. Left and right followed center--lost all orderand fell back almost in flight. Then the scattered and demoralized armywas saved from utter ruin, only by the admirable manner in whichCleburne covered that rout-like retreat, day after day; finally beatingback Thomas' advance so heavily that pursuit was abandoned. 

Missionary Ridge cost the South near 8, 000 men; all the Chickamaugaartillery and more; and the coveted key-position to the situation. Butit cost, besides, what could even less be spared; some slight abatementin the popular confidence in our troops, under all trials heretofore. Reasoning from their dislike to General Bragg, people and pressdeclared that the men had been badly handled through the wholecampaign; yet--so inured were they to the ragged boys fightingsuccessfully both the enemy and our own errors--there came general badaugury from the panic of Missionary Ridge. 

Mr. Davis had visited Bragg's army, after the howl that went up on hisfailure to press Rosecrans. On his return, the President appearedsatisfied and hopeful; he authorized statement that the delay afterChickamauga was simply strategic; and the impression went abroad thatBragg and he had affected combinations now, which would leave Grantonly the choice between retreat and destruction. 

If these tactics meant the detaching of Longstreet--said thoughtfulcritics--then are combination and suicide convertible terms!

Neither was public feeling much cheered by the aspect of the war inVirginia. Lee and Meade coquetted for position, without definiteresult; the former--weakened by Longstreet's absence--striving to slipbetween Meade and Washington; the latter aiming to flank and massbehind Lee, on one of the three favorite routes to Richmond. The falland winter wore away with these desultory movements; producing many asharp skirmish, but nothing more resultful. These offered _motif_ fordisplay of dash and military tact on both sides; that at Kelly's Ford, on the Rapidan--where the Federals caught the Confederatesunprepared--showing the hardest hitting with advantage on the Unionside. The compliment was exchanged, by a decisive southern success atGermania Ford; but the resultless fighting dispirited and demoralizedthe people, while it only harassed and weakened the army. Both lookedto the great shock to come; forces for which were gathering, perhapsunseen and unheard, yet felt by that morbid prescience which comes inthe supreme crises of life. 

The trans-Mississippi was now absolutely cut off from participationin the action of the eastern Confederacy; almost equally so fromcommunication with it. Still that section held its own, in the warfarepeculiar to her people and their situation. Quick concentrations;sharp, bloody fights--skirmishes in extent, but battles in exhibitionof pluck and endurance--were of constant occurrence. Kirby Smith--becomealmost a dictator through failure of communication--administered hisdepartment with skill, judgment and moderation. Husbanding his internalresources, he even established--in the few accessible ports, defiant ofblockade--a system of foreign supply; and "Kirby Smithdom"--as it cameto be called--was, at this time, the best provisioned and prepared ofthe torn and stricken sections of the Confederacy. 

Note has been made of the improvement of Federal cavalry; and of theirraids, that struck terror and dismay among the people. During thewinter of '63-'64, Averill penetrated the heart of Virginia, scatteringdestruction in his path; and, though he retired before cavalry sent topursue him--he even shot his horses as they gave out, in the forcedflight--his expedition had accomplished its object. It had proved thatno point of harassed territory was safe from Federal devastation; thatthe overtaxed and waning strength of the South was insufficient toprotect them now!

Gradually--very gradually--this blight of doubt and dissatisfactionbegan to affect the army; and--while it was no longer possible to filltheir places by new levies--some of the men already at the front beganto skulk, and even to desert. 

Though still uncondoned, the crime of these was roughly urged uponthem; for imagination brought to the ears of all, the shriek of thedistant wife, insulted by the light of her burning roof and turnedstarving and half-clothed, into the snowy midnight! And all the morehonor was it to the steadfast that they held out--dogged butwilling--to the bitter end; fighting as man had not fought before--notonly against their enemy--not only against their own naturalimpulses--but against hope, as well!

For the mass of that grand, tattered and worn army never faltered; andonly their enduring patriotism--backed as it was by selfless energy oftheir home people--availed to make up for the lost opportunities of theGovernment!

In Congress was vacillation, discord, vacuity; while the people weregoaded to the absurd charge, that some of its members were traitors!But the great diplomat has graven the truth, that an error may be worsethan a crime; and the errors of the Confederate Congress--from _alpha_to _omega_--were born of weakness and feeble grasp on the promptoccasions of a great strife, like this which so submerged theirlittleness. 

It is in some sort at the door of Congress that the head of thegovernment, harassed by overwork, distracted by diverse trifles--eachone too vital to entrust to feeble subordinates; buffeted by thegathering surge without and dragged down by the angry undertow within, lost his influence, and with it his power to save!

The beginning of the end had come upon the South. Her stoutest andbravest hearts still, "Like muffled drums, were beating Funeral marches to the grave!"

CHAPTER XXXV. 

THE UPPER AND NETHER MILLSTONES. 

From the earliest moment General Grant assumed command in the West, theold idea of bisecting the Confederacy seems to have monopolized hismind. The oft-tried theory of "drilling the heart of the Rebellion"--bycutting through to the Atlantic seaboard--had never been lost sight of, but in Grant's hands it was to be given practical power and direction. 

To effect that object, it was essential to make North Georgia theobjective point; and North Georgia--now as ever--offered a stubborn andwell-nigh insurmountable barrier. But the northern War Department wasnow fully impressed with the importance of crushing the spine of theConfederacy; and the fact was as clearly realized in the North, as inthe South, that the vital cord of Confederate being ran from Atlanta toRichmond! Therefore, every facility of men and material was furnishedthe commander, who at that moment stood out--in reflected lights fromVicksburg and Missionary Ridge--as the military oracle of the North;and he was urged to press this design of the campaign to a vigorous andspeedy issue. 

During the winter of 1863-64, General Grant incubated his grand scheme, and with the month of February brought forth a quadruple brood ofridiculous mice. 

His plan--in itself a good and sound one--was to secure a permanentbase nearer than the Mississippi. To accomplish this he must firstsecure Mobile, as a water base, and connect that with some defensiblepoint inland. At the same time that this attempt was made--and whilethe troops guarding the passway into Georgia might be diverted--Thomas, commanding the Chattanooga lines, was to advance against that point. 

The plan was undoubtedly sound, but the general's want of balancecaused him to overweight it, until its own ponderousness was itsdestruction. On the 1st of February, Sherman, with a splendidly-appointedforce of 35, 000 infantry, and corresponding cavalry and artillery, marched out of Vicksburg; to penetrate to Mobile, or some other pointmore accessible, on the line of the proposed new base. Simultaneously aheavy force approached the city from New Orleans; Smith and Grierson, with a strong body of cavalry, penetrated Northern Mississippi; andThomas made his demonstration referred to. 

Any candid critic will see that four converging columns, to beeffective, should never have operated so far away from their point ofconvergence, and so far separated from each other. The enterprise wasgigantic; but its awkwardness equaled its strength, and its own weightbroke its back. 

Sherman, harassed by cavalry and skirmishers--advanced in solid column;while Polk, with his merely nominal force, was unable to meet him. Butthe latter fell back in good order; secured his supplies, and soretarded his stronger adversary, that he saved all the rolling-stock ofthe railroads. When he evacuated Meridian, that lately busy railroadcenter was left a worthless prize to the captor. 

Meantime Forrest had harassed the cavalry force of Smith and Grierson, with not one-fourth their numbers; badly provided and badly mounted. Yet he managed to inflict heavy loss and retard the enemy's march; butfinally--unable to wait the junction of S. D. Lee, to give the battlehe felt essential--Forrest, on the 20th February, faced the Federalsquadrons. Confident of an easy victory over the ragged handful ofdismounted skirmishers, the picked cavalry dashed gaily on. Chargeafter charge was received only to be broken--and Forrest was soon infull pursuit of the whipped and demoralized columns. Only once theyturned, were heavily repulsed, and then continued their way to Memphis. 

This check of his co-operating column and the utter fruitlessness ofhis own march, induced a sudden change of Sherman's intent. He fellrapidly back to Vicksburg; his army perhaps more worn, broken anddemoralized by the desultory attentions of ours, than it would havebeen by a regular defeat. 

Meantime the New Orleans-Pensacola expedition had danced on and offMobile without result. Thomas had been so heavily repulsed on the 25th, that he hastily withdrew to his lines at Chickamauga--and the greatcampaign of General Grant had resulted in as insignificant a fizz asany costly piece of fireworks the war produced. 

On the contrary, history will give just meed to Forrest, Lee and Polkfor their efficient use of the handfuls of ill-provided men, with whomalone they could oppose separate and organized armies. They savedAlabama and Georgia--and so, for the time, saved the Confederacy. Therecould be no doubt that the sole safety of the invading columns wastheir numerical weakness. General Grant's practice of a perfectly soundtheory was clearly a gross blunder; and had Polk been in command of twodivisions more--had Lee been able to swoop where he only hovered--orhad Forrest's ragged boys been only doubled in number--the story toldin Vicksburg would have been even less flattering to the strategicability of the commander. 

As it was, he had simply made a bad failure, and given the South twomonths' respite from the crushing pressure he was yet to apply. For thepet scheme of the North was but foiled--not ruined; and her whole powersang but the one refrain--_Delenda est Atlanta!_

And those two months could not be utilized to much effect by the South. Worn in resources, supplies--in everything but patient endurance, shestill came forth from the dark doubts the winter had raised, hopeful, if not confident; calm, if conscious of the portentous clouds loweringupon her horizon. 

Meanwhile, Grant, elevated to a lieutenant-generalcy, had beentransferred to the Potomac frontier; and men, money, supplies--withoutstint or limit--had been placed at his disposal. 

On the 1st February, Mr. Lincoln had called for 500, 000 men; and on the14th March for 200, 000 more!

General Grant, himself, testified to the absolute control given him, ina letter to Mr. Lincoln, under date of 1st May, '64--from Culpeper C. H. , which concludes: "I have been astonished at the readiness withwhich everything asked for has been granted without any explanationbeing asked. Should my success be less than I desire and expect, theleast I can say is, that the fault is not with you. "

With these unlimited resources, he was given almost unlimited power;and the jubilant North crowed as loudly as it had before Manassas, theSeven Days, or Fredericksburg. 

In Richmond all was quiet. The Government had done all it could, andthe people had responded with a generous unanimity that ignored allpoints of variance between it and them. All the supplies that could becollected and forwarded, under the very imperfect systems, were sent tothe armies; all the arms that could be made, altered or repaired, weregot ready; and every man not absolutely needed elsewhere--with the rareexceptions of influence and favoritism openly defying the law--wasalready at the front. 

And seeing that all was done as well as might be, the Capitalwaited--not with the buoyant hopefulness of the past--but with patientand purposeful resolve. 

And the ceaseless clang of preparation, cut by the ceaseless yell ofanticipated triumph, still echoed over the Potomac--ever nearer andever louder. Then, by way of interlude, on the 28th March, came thenotorious Dahlgren raid. Though Kilpatrick was demoralized and drivenback by the reserves in the gunless works; though Custar's men retiredbefore the furloughed artillerists and home guards; and thoughDahlgren's picked cavalry were whipped in the open field by one-fourththeir number of Richmond clerks and artisans!--boys and old men who hadnever before been under fire--still the object of that raid remains ablot even upon the page of this uncivilized warfare. It were useless toenter into details of facts so well and clearly proved. That the ordersof Dahlgren's men were to release the prisoners, burn, destroy andmurder, the papers found on his dead body showed in plainest terms. 

No wonder, then, that many in Richmond drew comfort from soothingbelief in special Providence, when three trained columns of pickedcavalry were turned back in disgraceful flight, by a handful ofinvalids, old men and boys!

The feeling in Richmond against the raiders was bitter and universal. Little vindictive, in general, the people clamored that arson andmurder--as set forth in Dahlgren's orders--merited more seriouspunishment than temporary detention and highflown denunciation. Theaction of the Government in refusing summary vengeance on thecavalrymen captured, was indubitably just and proper. Whatever theirobject, and whatever their orders, they were captured in arms and werebut prisoners of war; and, besides, they had not really intended morethan dozens of other raiders had actually accomplished on a smallerscale. 

But the people would not see this. They murmured loudly against theweakness of not making these men an example. And more than one of thepapers used this as the handle for violent abuse of the Government andof its chief. 

At last all preparations were complete; and the northern army--asperfect in equipment, drill and discipline as if it had never beendefeated--came down to the Rapidan. 

Grant divided his army into three corps, under Hancock, Warren andSedgwick; and on the 5th May, his advance crossed the river, only tofind Lee quietly seated in his path. Then commenced that series ofbattles, unparalleled for bloody sacrifice of men and obstinacy ofleader--a series of battles that should have written General Grant thepoorest strategist who had yet inscribed his name on the long roll ofreverses. And yet, by a strange fatality, they resulted in making him ahero to the unthinking masses of his countrymen. 

Lee's right rested on the Orange road; and an attempt, after thecrossing, to turn it, was obstinately repulsed during the entire day, by Heth and Wilcox. During the night Hancock's corps crossed the river, and next morning received a fierce assault along his whole line. Thefighting was fierce and obstinate on both sides; beating back the rightand left of Hancock's line, while sharply repulsed on the center(Warren's). Still his loss was far heavier than ours, and the result ofthe battles of the Wilderness was to put some 23, 000 of Grant's men_hors de combat_; to check him and to force a change of plan at thevery threshold of his "open door to Richmond. " For next day (7th May)he moved toward Fredericksburg railroad, in a blind groping to flankLee. 

It is curious to note the different feeling in Washington and Richmondon receipt of the news. In the North--where the actual truth did notreach--there was wild exultation. The battles of the Wilderness wereaccounted a great victory; Lee was demoralized and would be swept fromthe path of the conquering hero; Grant had at last really found the"open door!" In Richmond there was a calm and thankful feeling that thefirst clinch of the deadly tug had resulted in advantage. Waningconfidence in the valor of men, and discretion of the general, wasstrengthened, and a somewhat hopeful spirit began to be infused intothe people. Still they felt there would be a deadlier strain this timethan ever before, and that the fresh and increasing thousands of theNorth could be met but by a steadily diminishing few--dauntless, tireless and true--but still how weak! Yet there was no _give_ tothe southern spirit, and--as ever in times of deadliest strain andperil--it seemed to rise more buoyant from the pressure. 

Next came the news of those fearful fights at Spottsylvania, on the 8thand 9th--in which the enemy lost three to our one--preceding the greatbattle of the 12th May. By a rapid and combined attack the enemy brokeLee's line, captured a salient with Generals Ed Johnson and George H. Stewart and part of their commands, and threatened, for the time, tocut his army in two. But Longstreet and Hill sent in division afterdivision from the right and left, and the fight became general anddesperate along the broken salient. The Yankees fought with obstinacyand furious pluck. Charge after charge was broken and hurled back. Onthey came again--ever to the shambles! Night fell on a field piledthick with bodies of the attacking force; in front of the brokensalient was a perfect charnel-house!

By his own confession, Grant drove into the jaws of death at Spottsylvania_over 27, 000 men_! But his object was, for the second time, utterlyfrustrated; and again he turned to the left--still dogged andobstinate--still seeking to flank Lee. 

On the 14th, Grant was again repulsed so sharply that his advancewithdrew; and then the "greatest strategist since Napoleon" struck outstill for his cherished left; and, leaving "the open door, " passed downthe Valley of the Rappahannock. 

Lee's calm sagacity foresaw the enemy's course, and on the 23d Grantmet him face to face, in a strong position near the North Anna. Blundering upon Lee's lines, throwing his men blindly against worksthat were proved invincible, he was heavily repulsed in twoattacks--with aggregate loss amounting to a bloody battle. Failing inthe second attack (on the 25th) Grant swung off--still to the left--andcrossing the Pamunkey two days later, took up strong position near ColdHarbor on the last day of May. 

Lee also moved down to face Grant, throwing his works up on a slightcurve extending from Atlee's, on the Central Railroad, across the oldCold Harbor field--averaging some nine miles from Richmond. Our generalwas satisfied with the results of the campaign thus far; the army wasbuoyant and confident, and the people were more reliant than they hadbeen since Grant had crossed the Rapidan. They felt that the nearnessof his army to Richmond in no sense argued its entrance into hercoveted defenses; and memories of Seven Pines, and of that other ColdHarbor, arose to comfort them. 

In the North, great was the jubilee. It was asserted that Grant couldnow crush Lee and capture his stronghold at a single blow; that thepresent position was only the result of his splendid strategy andmatchless daring; and the vapid boast, "I will fight it out on thisline if it takes all summer"--actually uttered while he was blindlygroping his way, by the left, to the Pamunkey!--was swallowed whole bythe credulous masses of the North. They actually believed that Grant'sposition was one of choice, not of necessity; and that Lee's movementto cover Richmond from his erratic advance--though it ever presented anunbroken front to him, and frequently drove him back with heavyloss--was still a retreat!

Both sides can look now calmly and critically at this campaign--seeminglywithout a fixed plan, and really so hideously costly in blood. WhenGrant crossed the Rapidan, he could have had no other intention than tosweep Lee from his front; and either by a crushing victory, or a forcedretreat, drive him toward Richmond. Failing signally at the Wilderness, he abandoned this original plan and took up the Fredericksburg line. Here again the disastrous days of Spottsylvania foiled him completely;and he struck for the Tappahannock and Fort Royal line. Lee's emphaticrepulse of his movement on the North Anna again sent Grant across thePamunkey; and _into the very tracks of McClellan two yearsbefore_!

But there was one vast difference. McClellan had reached this base withno loss. Grant, with all McClellan's experience to teach him, had notreached this point at a cost of less than 70, 000 men!

Had he embarked his troops in transports and sailed up the river, Grantmight have landed his army at the White House in twenty-four hours; andthat without the firing of a shot. But he had chosen a route that wasto prove him not only the greatest strategist of the age, but the mostsuccessful as well. The difference of the two was simply this: he tooktwenty-six days instead of one; he fought nine bloody engagementsinstead of none; he made four separate changes in his digested plan ofadvance; and he lost 70, 000 men to gain a position a condemned generalhad occupied two years before without a skirmish!

But the people of the North did not see this. They were only allowedpartial reports of losses and changes of plan; they were givenexaggerated statements of the damage done to Lee and of his direstrait; and the fact of Grant's proximity to the Rebel Capital was madethe signal for undue and premature rejoicing. He was alreadyuniversally declared the captor of Richmond, by a people willing toaccept a fact with no thought of its cost; to accept a result for thecauses that produced it. 

But Grant was now in a position when he could not afford to await theslow course of siege operations. He could not allow time for the hubbubat the North to die away and reflection to take its place. Blood to himwas no thicker than water; and he must vindicate the boasts of hisblind admirers--cost thousands of lives though it might. Once more hemarshaled his re-enforced ranks, only to hurl them into the jaws ofdeath. For though worn away by the fearful friction of numbers--meltedslowly in the fiery furnace of battle--the little Confederate force satbehind its works, grim, defiant--dangerous as ever!

Could Grant crush out that handful by the pure weight of his freshthousands--could he literally hurl enough flesh and blood against it tosweep it before him--then the key of every road to Richmond was in hishands! So, on the morning of the 3d of June, Hancock's corps rushed tothe assault. 

Impetuous and fierce, the charge broke Breckinridge's line. Fresh menpoured in and, for a moment, the works were in the enemy's hands. Butit was only for a moment. They rallied, relief came--the conflict wasfierce and close--but it was short. When the smoke rose, Hancock's linewas broken and retreating. Again and again he rallied it splendidly, only to be hurled back each time with deadlier slaughter. On the otherpoints Warren and Burnside had been driven back with terrible loss; andalong the whole southern line the death-dealing volley into theretreating ranks rang the joyous notes of victory. Grant had played thegreat stake of his campaign and lost it!

He had lost it completely, and in an incredibly short time. Near 30, 000men told the horrid story of that ferocious hurling of flesh and bloodagainst earthworks. Near one-fifth of his whole force had paid for hislast great blunder, while the Confederate loss was less than _one-tenth_his own!

Even McClellan's line had failed the sledge-hammer strategist, andnothing was left but to transfer his army to the south side of theJames. Lingering with dogged pertinacity on his slow retreat--turningat every road leading to the prize he yearned for, only to be beatenback--Grant finally crossed the river with his whole force on the 13thof June. 

The great campaign was over. It had been utterly foiled at every point;had been four times turned into a new channel only to be more signallybroken; and had ended in a bloody and decisive defeat that left Grantno alternative but to give up his entire plan and try a new one on atotally different line. For the southern arms it had been one unbrokensuccess from the Rapidan to Cold Harbor; for though sometimes badlyhurt, the Confederates had never once been driven from an importantposition; had never once failed to turn the enemy from his chosen lineof advance--and had disabled at the least calculation 120, 000 of hismen at the cost of less than 17, 000 of their own!

Such was the southern view, at the moment, of this campaign ofinvasion; as unparalleled in the history of war, as was that ofStonewall Jackson in the Valley. Such is the view of southern thinkers, to-day; and it is backed by the clearest judgment and calmest criticismof the North. 

That success was made the test of merit; that attrition at last woreaway unre-enforced resistance; that highest honors in life, andnational sorrow in death, were rewards of a man--truly great in manyregards, if justly measured; all these are no proof that General Grantwas either a strategist, or a thinker; no denial that his Rapidancampaign--equally in its planning and its carrying out--was a bald andneedlessly-bloody failure!

And, realizing this at the supreme moment, can it be wondered that thepeople of Richmond, as well as the victorious little army, grew hopefulonce more? Is it strange that--mingled with thanksgivings fordeliverance, unremitting care of the precious wounded, and sorrow forthe gallant dead of many a Virginia home--there rose a solemnjoyousness over the result, that crowned the toil, the travail and theloss?

And so the South, unrefreshed but steadfast, girded her loins for thenew wrestle with the foe, now felt to be implacable!

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

"THE LAND OF DARKNESS AND THE SHADOW OF DEATH. "

It is essential to a clear understanding of the events, directlypreceding the fall of the Confederacy, to pause here and glance at themeans with which that result was so long delayed, but at last so fullyaccomplished. 

From official northern sources, we learn that General Grant crossed theRapidan with three corps, averaging over 47, 000 men. Therefore, he musthave fought the battles of the Wilderness with at least 140, 000 men. Atthat time the total strength of General Lee's morning report did notshow 46, 000 men for duty. Between the Wilderness and Spottsylvania, Grant was re-enforced to the extent of near 48, 000 picked men; andagain at Cold Harbor with near 45, 000 more. Northern figures admit anaggregate of 97, 000 _re-enforcement_ between the Rapidan and the James!In that time, Lee, by the junction of Breckinridge and all thefragments of brigades he could collect, received less than 16, 000re-enforcement; and even the junction with Beauregard scarcely swelledhis total additions over 20, 000. 

Grant's army, too, was composed of the picked veterans of theNorth--for his Government had accepted large numbers of hundred-day menfor local and garrison duty, that all the seasoned troops might be senthim. Yet with an aggregate force of 234, 000 men, opposed to a total ofless than 63, 000, General Grant failed signally in the plan, or plansof his campaign--losing in twenty-six days, and nine heavy fights andseveral skirmishes, _seven men for one of General Lee's_!

Can any candid thinker analyze these results and then believe Grant astrategist--a great soldier--anything but a pertinacious fighter? Canone realize that anything but most obstinate bungling could have swungsuch an army round in a complete circle--at a loss of over one-half ofits numbers--to a point it could have reached in twenty-four hours, without any loss whatever? For the soldiers of the North, in thisdisastrous series of blunders, fought with constancy and courage. Beaten day after day by unfailing troops in strong works, they evercame again straight at those impregnable positions, against whichobstinate stolidity, or blind rage for blood, drove them to theslaughter. Hancock's men especially seemed to catch inspiration fromtheir chivalric leader. Broken and beaten at the Wilderness--decimatedat Spottsylvania, they still were first in the deadly hail of ColdHarbor--breaking our line and holding it for a moment. Sedgwick andWarren, too--though the victim of unjust prejudice, if not ofconspiracy--managed their corps with signal ability, in those ceaselesskillings into which Grant's "strategy" sent them. 

Nor was the immense superiority of numbers already shown, all. For thismain advance--like every other of General Grant's--had co-operatingcolumns all around it. Add to the men under his immediate command, those of the adjunct forces under his inspiration--Butler, 35, 000, Hunter, 28, 000 and Sigel, 10, 000--and there foots up a grand total of307, 000 men!

We may, therefore, consider that General Lee, in the summer campaign of1864, kept at bay and nullified the attack of 307, 000 men with scarcelyone-fifth their number; not exceeding 63, 000![1]

 [1] Some time after the notes were made, from which these figures are condensed, two articles on Grant's campaign appeared in print--one in the New York "_World_, " the other, by Mr. Hugh Pleasants, in "_The Land We Love_" magazine. Writing from diametrically opposite standpoints, with data gathered from opposing sources, Mr. Pleasants and the "_World_" very nearly agree in their figuring; and it was gratifying to this author to find that both corroborated the above estimates to within very inconsiderable numbers. Later historical papers have not materially changed them; save, perhaps, some southern claims still further to reduce Lee's army. 

While Grant was engaged in his pertinacious failures to flank Lee, General Sheridan--whose fame as a cavalry leader was already in themouths of men in such pet names as "Little Phil" and "CavalrySheridan"--made a raid of considerable proportions toward Richmond. Flanking Lee upon the right, he proceeded over the North and SouthAnna, damaging the railroads at Beaver Dam and Ashland stations. Thencehe moved toward Richmond, but was met at Yellow Tavern by GeneralStuart with a small body of his cavalry and a hastily-collected forceof infantry. A sharp engagement resulted in forcing the enemy off; whenhe passed down the James to Turkey Island, where he joined Butler'sforces. 

But the fight had one result far more serious to the South--the deathof General J. E. B. Stuart--the gallant and popular leader ofConfederate cavalry; so ill to be spared in those days of watchfulsuspense to come, when General Lee keenly felt the loss of "the eyes ofthe army. "

During the whole fight the sharp and continuous rattle of carbines, broken by the clear boom of field artillery, was distinctly heard inRichmond; and her defenseless women were long uncertain what the resultwould be. They knew nothing of the force that was attacking, nor ofthat which was defending their homes; every man was away save the agedand maimed--and the tortures of doubt and suspense were added to theaccustomed strain of watching the end of the fight. When the news camethere was deep thankfulness; but it was solemn and shadowed from thesorrow that craped the victory. 

Meantime, General Sigel had threatened the Valley with a heavy force;but, in mid-May he had been met by General Breckinridge and wasdefeated with such loss of men and munitions, that he retreatedprecipitately across the Shenandoah. The co-operation of Sigel wasvirtually at an end. 

But the more important co-operation had been equally unsuccessful. Simultaneously with Grant's passage of the Rapidan, General Butler, with an army of 35, 000 men and a fleet of iron-clads, double-enders, gunboats and transports sufficient for a war with England, sailed upthe James. This force was intended to proceed direct to Richmond, or tomarch into undefended Petersburg, as the case might seem best towarrant. The land forces disembarked at Bermuda Hundred and, afterfortifying heavily on the line of Howlett's House, made seriousdemonstrations direct on Drewry's Bluff. Butler supposed that, thedefenses being entirely uncovered by the drain of men for Lee's army, he could carry them with ease. In this hope he relied much upon thepowerful aid of the fleet; but Admiral Lee, ascending in adouble-ender, lost his pioneer-boat, the "Commodore Jones" and verynearly his own flag-ship, by a torpedo, opposite Signal Station. Thisstopped the advance of the fleet, as the river was supposed to be sownwith torpedoes. 

Nowise daunted, General Butler--like the true knight and chivalrousleader his entire career proves him to be--drew his line closer roundthe coveted stronghold. But on the 16th of May, Beauregard sallied outand struck the hero of New Orleans so suddenly and so sharply that hedrove him, with heavy loss and utter demoralization, clear from hisadvanced lines to Bermuda Hundred. Only the miscarriage of a part ofthe plan, entrusted to a subordinate general, saved Butler's army fromcomplete destruction. 

As it was, he there remained "bottled up, " until Grant's peculiarstrategy had swung him round to Petersburg; and then the "bottle-imp"was released. 

Seeing himself thus foiled on every hand--his magnificent plans utterlycrushed, and his immense numbers unavailing--Grant struck into newcombinations. Hunter had already penetrated into West Virginia as faras Staunton; and hounding on his men with the savagery of thebloodhound, was pushing on for Lynchburg and the railroad lines ofsupply adjacent to it. Grant at once detached Sheridan with a heavyforce, to operate against the lines from Gordonsville andCharlottesville. 

Simultaneously he, himself, was to strike a resistless blow atPetersburg; and thus with every avenue of supply cut off, the leagueredCapital must soon--from very weakness--drop into eager hands stretchedout to grasp her. 

On the 16th and 17th June, there were sharp and heavily-supportedattacks upon portions of the Confederate line before Petersburg. Theexpectation evidently was to drive them in by sheer weight; for it wasknown only that part of Lee's forces had crossed the river, and theline was one of immense extent--requiring three times his whole forceto man it effectively. 

But, as ever before, General Grant underrated his enemy; and, as everbefore, his cherished theory of giving six lives for one to gain hispoint failed. Both attacks were heavily repulsed. Still holding to thattheory, however, Grant attacked the whole Confederate front at dawn ofthe 18th. Driven back with heavy slaughter, the men were again sent in. Four times that day they rallied and came well up to the works; andfour times they were sent back reeling and bleeding. Even Grant'sobstinacy could not drive them again into certain destruction; and theassault on Petersburg had failed utterly, at the cost of 14, 000 men forthe experiment. 

On that same day, Hunter was driven back from an assault on Lynchburg, and sent in disgraceful rout through West Virginia. 

Hampton, too, had done his share as ever in the long war. He had caughtSheridan at Trevellian's Station, and compelled him to retreat andentirely abandon his part of Grant's new programme; and a little laterhe came upon Kautz and Wilson--in a railroad raid below Petersburg--anddefeated them disastrously, capturing their trains, artillery and alarge proportion of their men. 

Thus, by July, these rough and repeated lessons had taught even GeneralGrant that hammering with flesh and blood upon earthworks was toocostly; that barn-burning and railroad-tearing cavalry were noteffectual to reduce the city that had so laughed to scorn his brillianttactics of the left flank!

A more disgusted, if not a wiser man, he sat down and fortified for aregular siege; as fully convinced as ever that the blood of thesoldiers was the seed of the war; as fixed in his theory that he couldspare seven lives for one and gradually by this fearful "swapping, withboot, " reduce the capital he had failed to win by soldierly methods orskillful combination. 

And the southern people felt that was the test to be applied to themnow. Bayonet and steel, rapine and torch had failed; but now theprocess of _pulverizing_ was to come. "Southern blood!" was GeneralGrant's war-cry--"Southern blood by the drop, if it take rivers ofours. Southern lives by the score--and we can well pay for them withthe hundred!"

And, looking the alternative squarely in the face, the southern peoplefor the last time girded their loins for the shock; feeling they coulddo what men might and when they could no longer do--they could die!

Once more the tide of battle had rolled away from Richmond; but itsurged up, redder and rougher, against her sister city. And staunchlittle Petersburg braced herself to meet its advancing waves--everoffering to them her dauntless breast and ever riding above them, breathless but victorious. Old men with one foot in the grave--boyswith one foot scarce out of the cradle, stood side by side, with thebronzed veterans of Lee's hundred fights. Women sat quiet, the shellsof Grant's civilized warfare tearing through their houses and throughthe hospitals. And fearless for themselves, they worked steadily on, nursing the wounded and the sick; giving from their daily-decreasingstore with self-forgetfulness; encouraging the weak by their presenceand their courage. 

But not alone the fierce sounds immediately around them claimed theattention of the people of the Capital. From North Georgia came thehoarse echo of renewed strife; and they felt, in sober truth, moreimmediate anxiety for the result there than at their own doors. Inuredto danger and made familiar with its near approach, the people ofVirginia looked calmly forward to the most fearful shock of battle, ifit was nothing more. They knew the crushing force of Grant's numbers, but the danger was tangible and they could see a possible issue out ofit, through blood and sacrifice. But they knew and felt that Atlantawas the back door to Richmond. Let the enemy once enter that and dividethe spinal column of the Confederacy, and what hope was there! For abrief space the maimed and dying body might writhe with final strength;the quivering arms strike fierce, spasmodic blows; but no nourishmentcould come--the end must be death--and death from inanition!

The people knew and felt this fully. They were perfectly aware that, should Atlanta fall and the enemy penetrate to our rear lines ofcommunication, the cause was lost. We might make a fierce resistancefor the moment; but without supplies, all organized plan must cease. And the wildest hope indulged in that event was the possibility of adetached and guerrilla warfare that would make the country untenable. 

Therefore, every eye was turned toward Dalton, where Johnston's littlearmy now was--every ear was strained to catch the first echo of thethunder about to roll so ominously among the Georgia mountains. 

Upon General Grant's elevation to the chief command, General W. T. Sherman had been left in charge in the West. Not discouraged by thefailure of Grant's quadruple advance, two months before, Shermandivided his army--like that operating on the Rapidan--into three corps. Thomas, leading the center, or direct advance; Schofield, the left onthe North-east, and McPherson the right on the South-west--he movedupon Dalton, almost simultaneously with Grant's passage of the Rapidan. And like Grant, he essayed a flank movement; but with far differentresult. 

There was another point of similarity--the great disparity of numbers. Sherman could not have had in all, far short of 80, 000 men; whileJohnston's greatest exertions could not collect at Dalton an effectiveforce of 35, 000. Many of these, too, were local troops and raw levies, green and undisciplined; while Sherman's forces were the flower of thewestern army. 

Such were the points of similarity; but there was one great differenceknown to the Confederate leaders and people. Sherman would use everyadvantage of strategy and combination, rather than attempt thesledge-hammer style of attack developed by Grant. And there was more tobe dreaded from his quiet and cautious approach--with its accompanyingcare for human life, that would preserve his army--than from any directassault, however vigorous. This was proved at the very outset; for hisadvance on Dalton was a piece of military tact that--unlike Grant's atthe Wilderness--was founded upon sound calculation. McPherson wasthrown so far round to the South-west as seriously to threatenJohnston's communications; and by the 8th of June, the latter wasforced to evacuate Dalton and retire down Resaca Valley toward the lineof the Etowah river. 

This movement was accomplished with quiet and perfect ease; keepingever a steady front to the enemy, pressing rapidly on. 

Feeling that the fate of the whole cause was now vested in the littlearmy left him to defend the great key--Atlanta--Johnston was greatenough to resist the opportunities for glorious battle; to give up, without a struggle--which could only entail resultless waste ofmen--the rich tracts so valuable to us; to offer himself to thecondemnation of unthinking censure--all to insure the safety of thatvital organ of Confederate life. 

On the 14th June, the enemy pressed heavily against temporary works inResaca Valley and was twice repulsed, with heavy loss. Then Johnstonturned upon him and gained a decisive advantage--driving him two miles. On the two succeeding days, his attempts amounted to scarcely more thanskirmishes; and on the third our troops resumed, unmolested, theirretreat along the line of the Etowah. By the end of the month Johnstonhad taken up a strong position, with his center resting upon KenesawMountain; while the enemy had thrown up works, at some points nearereven than those at Petersburg. 

At dawn on the 27th, Sherman attacked along the whole line, directinghis main strength to Kenesaw Mountain. He was repulsed decisively onboth flanks and with especial slaughter in the center; losing over3, 500 men. Next day Cleburne's division defeated McPherson's corps in asevere fight, inflicting even heavier loss than it had sustained atKenesaw Mountain. But these fights--while retarding the enemy's advanceand causing him a loss three times our own--were all nullified bySherman's effective use of that flanking process, so strangely misusedby his rival in Virginia. Those movements were but those of pawns uponthe board; while the serious check to Johnston at Dalton--the flankmovement upon his right--was repeated here. On the 4th of July he wasflanked out of his mountain fastnesses and was falling back uponAtlanta. 

There is no stronger proof of the hold General Johnston had upon themasses of the people and of their respectful confidence in his greatability, than their reception of this news. They had watched his longretreat almost without a fight; had seen the enemy penetrate almost tothe heart of Georgia, occupying rich tracts of our most productiveland, just ready for the harvest; and finally had heard him thunderingat the very gates of Atlanta--to enter which they felt were death tous. And yet the people never murmured at their general, nor at the armyhe commanded. There was an unshaken conviction that he was doing hisbest; that his best was _the_ best. But the Government had notforgotten nor forgiven General Johnston; and for wholly inexplicablereasons, he was summarily transferred from his command and replaced byGeneral Hood, on the 18th of July. 

People could not see the ground for Johnston's removal; for he hadfollowed the very same line that had earned General Lee the wildestenthusiasm of the people, even while it gave him almost supreme controlof the military power of the Confederacy. Lee had fallen back to hisproper base--so had Johnston. The former had faced far greater odds andhad inflicted far heavier punishment upon the enemy; but the latter hadcontended against strategic ability rather than blind force--againsthuman sagacity rather than brute courage. And if Johnston had inflictedless damage, his wise abstinence from battle had saved many lives, invaluable now; and in the end he had placed his army in almostimpregnable works around the great prize he was to guard. Foreseeingthe result of his opponent's strategy, he had nullified it by seekingthe position into which he would finally have been forced. 

So far, the Virginia and the Georgia campaigns had been markedlysimilar in conduct and result. Both armies, driven by overwhelmingnumbers, had drawn their lines around their last strongholds; and therekept their enemy at bay. And had General Johnston been allowed to reapthe reward of his clear foresight and patient abstinence--who can tellbut the festering Lazarus might yet have risen whole, and defied thevast wealth of aggression hurled against it?

The universal and outspoken disgust of the people at the removal ofJohnston, was in no sense referable to their objection to hissuccessor. General Hood had forced their highest admiration, and boughttheir warmest wishes, with his brilliant courageous and hisfreely-offered blood. They knew him to be dauntless, chivalrous andbeloved by his men; and, even if untried in a great command, they werewilling to give him the benefit of the doubt. His first movements, too--seemingly so brilliant and dashing, compared to the more steadybut resultful ones of Johnston--produced a thrill of pride and hopewith all the people, save the thoughtful few, who felt we could notafford now to buy glory and victory unless it tended to the oneresult--safety. 

On the 20th July Hood assumed the offensive. He struck the enemy'sright heavily and with success; repeating the blow upon his extremeleft, on the 22d. The advantage on both days was with the Confederates;they drove the enemy from his works, captured several thousandprisoners, and killed and wounded over 3, 000 men. But there was nosolid gain in these fights; and, the enemy shifting his line after themfurther to the east, there was another furious battle on the 28th dayof July. 

In this Hood was less successful, losing heavily and gaining little orno ground. The results of the fights at Atlanta were briefly these:Hood had broken the long and sagacious defensive course; the peoplewere perhaps inspirited at the cost of over 4, 000 invaluable men; andthe enemy was taught that we were too weak to drive him from his line, or even to make any solid impression on him. 

Feeling this--and secure in a line of communication with hisbase--Sherman sat doggedly and grimly down before Atlanta. He felt hecould wait. 

But the end came, before even the Federal leader could have expected. After the fights at Atlanta, Hood feared the cutting of hiscommunications. He was fearful, lest the system that had forcedJohnston from Dalton and Kenesaw Mountain might be made availableagainst him here; and the very means he had adopted to prevent itprecipitated the disaster. He divided his forces into two distinctarmies--sending one, under Lieutenant-General Hardee, to Jonesboro, twenty-two miles away!

Sherman, aware of the movement--which had in fact resulted from histhreatening of Hood's flank--forced his superior numbers wedge-likeinto the gap, and effectually separated the wings. Then he struck indetail. Hardee, at Jonesboro, failed to make any impression upon him onthe 1st of September, while Hood--weakened and unable to check hismovements on the left--was forced, on the 31st August, to decide uponthe evacuation of Atlanta!

This fatal movement was accomplished on the evening of the 1st ofSeptember, without further loss; but the key to the Confederatecause--the sole barrier to the onward sweep of Sherman to theocean--was in his hands at last!

There may have been causes operating on General Hood that were notknown to the people; for the results and their motive was shrouded insilence. His dispatch announcing the fall of the most important pointwas very brief; stating in a few lines that Hardee, having failedagainst the enemy at Jonesboro, while he could not oppose his flankmovement at Atlanta, he had given up that city. Even later--whenGeneral Hood published his report of the Atlanta campaign--he differsin essential points from General Johnston, and neither his theories northeir carrying out are made comprehensible to the public. 

There was a terrible shock to the people of the South in the fall ofAtlanta. They knew its importance so fully that its loss was the morekeenly felt. There came sudden revulsion from the hope that had begunonce again to throb in the public pulse. The loud murmurs that hadarisen after other defeats were wanting now; but a sullen andincreasing gloom seemed to settle over the majority of the people. Itwas as though they were stunned by the violence of the shock and feltalready its paralyzing influence. It was in vain that a ten days' trucewas granted by the victorious enemy, during which Mr. Davis visited thearmy and spoke brave words of future victory. The people had now lostall faith in Mr. Davis and his methods; and they sullenly refused toaccept the happy auguries of victory he drew from crushing defeat. Eventhe army itself--while still doggedly determined to strike its hardestto the bitter end--began to feel that it was fighting against hope. 

And in that ten days' truce there was little chance for those worn andwasted battalions to recuperate. There were no fresh men to send totheir aid; few, indeed, were the supplies that could be forwarded them. But they looked into the darkness ahead steadily and calmly; they mightnot see their path in it, but they were ready to march without thepath. And even as they watched and waited, so at Petersburg andRichmond a small but sleepless David watched the grim Goliath, stretched in its huge bulk before their gates. Ceaselessly the trainsflashed back and forth over the iron link between those two cities--nowSiamese-twinned with a vital bond of endurance and endeavor. Petersburg, sitting defiant in her circle of fire, worked grimly, ceaselessly--with what hope she might! and Richmond worked for her, feeling that every drop of blood she lost was from her own veins aswell. 

And so for many weary months the deadly strain went on; and the twincities--stretched upon the rack--bore the torture as their pasttraining had taught the world they must--nobly and well!

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

DIES IRÆ--DIES ILLA. 

It is nowise within the scope of these sketches to detail thatmemorable siege of Petersburg, lasting nearly one year. It wereneedless to relate here, how--for more than ten months--that longsouthern line of defense, constantly threatened and almost asconstantly assailed, was held. Men know now that it was not bystrength, but by sleepless watch and dogged endurance, that less than30, 000 worn men--so dotted along works extending near forty miles, thatat points there was one soldier to every rod of earthwork--held theirown, even against the earlier onsets. Men now realize why the Federalgeneral--failing in every separate effort to buy a key-position, evenat the cost of six lives for one--was forced to sit down sullenly andwait the slow, but sure, process of attrition. 

These matters are now stamped upon the minds of readers, on both sidesof the Potomac. In the North they had voluminous reports of everydetail; and the cessation of interest elsewhere gave full leisure tostudy them. In the South, 30, 000 earnest historians from the trencheswere sought, each one by eager crowds; and the story of every cannonadeand skirmish and charge, told in honest but homely words, was burnedinto the memory of intent listeners. 

Slowly that summer wore itself away. Steadily that bloody historytraced itself out; punctuated, now by many a fierce and sudden rush ofcrowding Federals--ever beaten back with frightful loss; again by raresorties from our line, when our leaders saw the chance to strike sometelling blow. 

But spite of care in those leaders and superhuman endurance in the men, the southern troops were worn with watching and steadily melting away. Close, ceaseless fighting thinned their ranks; there were no moremen--even the youngest of the land, or its first borns--to take theplaces of the lost veterans. General Grant's words were strictlytrue--"the South had robbed the cradle and the grave!" The boasted armyof the North, led by her latest-chosen champion and strategist, waskept at bay by a skeleton of veterans, barely held together by theworn-out sinews and undeveloped muscle of old age and infancy. 

Then the fall of Atlanta came!

The people were not to be deceived by platitudes about "strategicpurposes, " or empty nothings about "a campaign to nullify it. " They hadgotten now beyond that; and saw the terrible blow that had been dealtthem in all its naked strength. They felt that an army that had failedto check Sherman, when it was behind strong works, would hardly do soin the open field. They felt that he could now at his leisure bore intothe coveted heart of our territory; that the long-attempted "bisectionof the rebellion" was accomplished; that further aid, or supplies, fromthat section was impossible. And then the people of Richmond turnedonce more with unfailing pride, but lessening hope, toward thedecreasing bands that still held their own gates secure. But they sawhow the deadly strain was telling upon these; that the end was near. 

But even now there was no weak yielding--no despairing cry among thesouthern people. They looked at the coming end steadily andunflinchingly; and now, for the first time, they began to speculateupon the possible loss of their beloved Capital. It was rumored inRichmond that General Lee had told the President that the lines werelonger than he could hold; that the sole hope was to evacuate the townand collect the armies at some interior point for a final struggle thatmight yet sever the bonds, ever closing tighter and tighter upon us. And the rumor added that Mr. Davis peremptorily and definitely rejectedthis counsel; declaring that he would hold the city, at any cost andany risk. 

For once--whatever cause they had to credit these reports--the popularvoice was louder on the side of the unpopular President than on that ofthe idolized general. The tremendous efforts to capture the Capital;the superhuman exertions made to defend it in the last four years, _hadmade Richmond the cause_! People argued that if Richmond was lost, theState of Virginia was lost, too; that there was no point in NorthCarolina where the army could make a stand, for even that "interiorline" then became a frontier. Beyond this the people felt the moraleffect of such a step; and that the army, as such, could never becarried out of Virginia. And with the ceaseless discussion of thisquestion, came the first yearnings for peace propositions. 

To this extremity, the South had been confident and fixed in her views. Cheated of her hopes of foreign intervention, she had yet believed herability to work out her own oracle; through blood and toil--even ruin, perhaps--but still to force a peace at last. But now the popular voicewas raised in answer to the vague words of peace that found their wayover the Potomac. If there be any desire in the North for cessation ofthis strife, said the people, for God's sake let us meet it half way. Even the Congress seemed impressed with the necessity of meeting anyovertures from the North, before it was too late and our dire straitshould be known there. But it was already too late; and the resultlessmission of Mr. Stephens to Fortress Monroe proved that the WashingtonGovernment now saw plainly that it could force upon us the terms itmade the show of offering. 

The failure of this mission, no less than the great mystery in whichthe Government endeavored to wrap it, produced a decided gloom amongthe thinking classes; and it reacted upon the army as well. Thesoldiers now began to lose hope for the first time. They saw they werefighting a hydra; for as fast as they lopped off heads in anydirection, fresh ones sprang up in others. They began, for the firsttime, to feel the contest unequal; and this depressing thought--addedto the still greater privations following the loss of Georgia--madedesertion fearfully common, and threatened to destroy, by that cause, an army that had withstood every device of the enemy. 

And so the fall wore into winter; and the news from General Hood'slines only added to the gloom. After the truce of ten days, followingthe fall of Atlanta, Hood had moved around and gotten almost inSherman's rear. For a moment there was great exultation, for it wasbelieved he would destroy the enemy's communications and then attackhim, or force an attack on ground of his own choosing. Great was theastonishment and great the disappointment, when Hood moved rapidly toDalton and thence into Alabama, leaving the whole country south ofVirginia entirely open, defenseless, and at Sherman's mercy. 

And, as usual, in moments of general distress, Mr. Davis was blamed forthe move. He had, it was said, removed Joe Johnston at the very momenthis patient sagacity was to bear its fruits; he had been in Hood's campand had of course planned this campaign--a wilder and more disastrousone than the detachment of Longstreet, for Knoxville. Whosesoever mayhave been the plan, and whatever may have been its ultimate object, itfailed utterly in diverting Sherman from the swoop for which he had solong hovered. For, while the small bulwark of Georgia was removed--andsent in Quixotic joust against distant windmills--the threateningforce, relieved from all restraint, and fearing no want of supplies inher fertile fields, pressed down, "Marching thro' Georgia. "

Meantime Hood, with no more serious opposition than an occasionalskirmish, crossed the Tennessee at Florence, about the middle ofNovember. The enemy fell back before him, toward Nashville, until itseemed as if his intent was to draw Hood further and further away fromthe _real_ point of action--Sherman's advance. On the 30th of November, however, Thomas made a stand at Franklin; and then resulted a terrificbattle, in which the Confederates held the field, with the loss ofone-third of the army. Six of our generals lay amid their gallant deadon that unhappy field; seven more were disabled by wounds, and one wasa prisoner. The enemy's loss was stated at far less than ours; and heretired into Nashville, to which place our army laid siege on the 1stof December. 

Weakened by the long march and more by the terrible losses of Franklin;ill-supplied and half-fed, Hood's army was compelled to rely upon theenemy's want of supplies driving him out. On the 15th of December heattacked our whole line, so furiously as to break it at every point. Hood's defeat was complete; he lost his whole artillery--over fiftypieces--most of his ordnance and many of his supply trains. In thedreadful retreat that followed, General Forrest's vigorous coveringalone saved the remnant of that devoted army; and on the 23d ofJanuary, 1865--when he had brought them once more into temporarysafety--General Hood issued a farewell order, stating that he wasrelieved at his own request. 

Gallant, frank and fearless even in adversity, he did not shirk theresponsibility of the campaign; declaring, that disastrous and bitteras it had been, he had believed it best. 

So ended all real resistance in the South and West. The enemy hadgained the back door to Richmond, had shattered its supports and hadmarched on to the rear of those strongholds that had so long defied hispower from the sea. 

It was but a question of time, when Charleston and Savannah shouldfall; and even the most hopeful could see that Virginia was the onlysoil on which resistance still walked erect. 

Meanwhile, the winter was passing in Richmond in most singular gayety. Though the hostile lines were so close that the pickets could "chaff"each other without raising their voices, still both had learned thatdirect attacks in front were not practicable; and such was the state ofthe roads all around Petersburg, that no movement out of works could beattempted. Therefore more active fighting had for the moment ceased;numbers of young officers could get to Richmond, for a few days at atime; and these came worn and tired from camp and famished for societyand gayety of some sort. And the younger ladies of Richmond--ready asthey ever were to aid and comfort the soldier boys with needle, withbandage, or with lint--were quite as ready now to do all they could inplans for mutual pleasure. 

They only felt the strain was for the moment remitted; they recked notthat it was to come to-morrow for the final crush; and they enjoyedto-day with all the recklessness of long restraint. 

Parties were of nightly occurrence. Not the brilliant and generousfestivals of the olden days of Richmond, but joyous and gay assemblagesof a hundred young people, who danced as though the music of shells hadnever replaced that of the old negro fiddler--who chatted and laughedas if there were no to-morrow, with its certain skirmish, and itspossible blanket for winding-sheet. For the beaux at these gatheringswere not only the officers on leave from Petersburg; the lines drawnclose to the city furnished many an acquisition, who would willingly doten miles in and out, on horseback through the slush and snow, for one_deux temps_ with "somebody in particular. "

And many a brave fellow had ridden direct from the ball-room into thefight. I can well recall poor H. Now, as he looked when last I saw himin life. Ruddy and joyous, with his handsome face one glow of pleasure, he vaulted gaily to his saddle under the bright moon at midnight. Curbing his restive horse, and waving a kiss to the bright facespressed against the frosty pane, his clear _au revoir!_ echoed throughthe silent street, and he was off. 

Next morning a country cart brought his lifeless body down Main street, with the small blue mark of a bullet in the middle of the smooth, clear, boyish brow. Never leaving his saddle, he had ridden into apicket fight, and a chance shot had cut short the life of so muchpromise. 

But it is not meant that these parties entailed any waste of thosesupplies, vital alike to citizen and soldier. They were known as"Starvations;" and all refreshments whatever were forbidden, save whatcould be drawn from the huge pitcher of "Jeems' River" water, surrounded with its varied and many-shaped drinking utensils. Many ofthese, even in the houses of the best provided, were of common blownglass, with a greenish tinge that suggested a most bilious condition ofthe blower. The music was furnished by some of the ancient negrominstrels--so dear to the juvenile southern heart in days gone by; ormore frequently by the delicate fingers of some petted and favoredbelle. And never, amid the blare of the best trained bands, the poppingof champagne, and the clatter of forks over _paté de foies gras_, wasthere more genuine enjoyment and more courtly chivalry to the _beausexe_, than at these primitive soirées. 

The "Starvations" were not the only amusements. Amateur theatricals andtableaux again became the rage in midwinter; and talent of nocontemptible grade was displayed on many an impromptu stage. And thatespecial pet horror of supersensitive godliness--the godless Germancotillion--even forced itself into the gayeties of the winter. Greatwas the wrath of the elect against all amusements of the kind--butchiefest among outrages was this graceless German. But despite thedenunciations, the ridicule, and even the active intervention of one ortwo ministers, the young soldiers and their chosen partners whirledaway as though they had never heard a slander or a sermon. 

I have already endeavored to show how a certain class in Richmonddeprecated gayety of all kinds two years before. These, of course, objected now; and another class still was loud and violent against it. But, said the dancers, we do the fighting--we are the ones who arekilled--and if we don't object, why in the deuce should you? Cooped upin camp, with mud and musty bacon for living, and the whistling ofMiniés and whooing of shells for episode, we long for some pleasurewhen we can get off. This is the sole enjoyment we have, and we go backbetter men in every way for it. 

This was rather unanswerable argument; and the younger ladies were allwilling to back it; so _malgré_ long faces and a seeming want of theunities, the dancing went on. 

We have heard a great deal _post-bellum_ bathos about that strangemixture of gay waltzes, and rumble of dead-cart and ambulance; but onemust have heard the sounds together before he can judge; and no one whowas not in and of that peculiar, and entirely abnormal, state ofsociety, can understand either its construction, or its demands. 

But the short spasm of gayety, after all, was only the fitful andfeverish symptom of the deadly weakness of the body politic. It wasmerely superficial; and under it was a fixed and impenetrable gloom. The desertions from the army were assuming fearful proportions, that nolegislation or executive rigor could diminish; supplies of bare foodwere becoming frightfully scarce, and even the wealthiest began to bepinched for necessaries of life; and over all brooded the dread cloudof a speedy evacuation of the city. 

Every day saw brigades double-quicking back and forth through thesuburbs; the continuous scream of steam-whistles told of movement, hereand there; and every indication showed that the numbers of men wereinadequate to man the vast extent of the lines. As the spring opened, this became more and more apparent. There was no general attack, but afew brigades would be thrown against some ill-defended work here; andalmost simultaneously the undefended lines there would have a forcehurled against them. It almost seemed that the enemy, aware of ourweakness, was determined to wear out our men by constant action, beforehe struck his heavy blow. How dear the wearied, starving men made thesepartial attacks cost him, already his own reports have told. 

March came, and with it, orders to remove all government property thatcould possibly be spared from daily need. First the archives and paperswent; then the heavier stores, machinery and guns, and supplies not inuse; then the small reserve of medical stores was sent to Danville, orGreensboro. And, at last, the already short supplies of commissarystores were lessened by removal--and the people knew their Capital wasat last to be given up!

The time was not known--some said April, some the first of May; but thefamilies of the President and Cabinet had followed the stores; thefemale Department clerks had been removed to Columbia--and there was nodoubt of the fact. After four years of dire endeavor and unparalleledendurance, the Capital of the South was lost!

In their extremity the people said little, but hope left them utterly. In the army or out, there were few, indeed--and no Virginians--butbelieved the cause was lost when the army marched away. 

Richmond was Virginia--was the cause!

With Sherman already in possession of Charleston and Savannah, and thearmy unable to do aught but retreat sullenly before him--with Virginiagone, and the Confederacy narrowed down to North Carolina, a strip ofAlabama and the trans-Mississippi--what hope was left?

After General Johnston had been relieved at Atlanta, the Department hadmanaged, on one reason or another, to shelve him until now. The publicvoice was loudly raised against the injustice done the man they admiredmost of all the bright galaxy of the South; and even Congress woke fromits stupor long enough to demand for the great soldier a place to usehis sword. This was in January; but still the government did notrespond, and it was not until the 23d February that he was restored tocommand. Then--with the shattered remnant of his army, augmented, butnot strengthened by the fragments of flying garrisons--he could onlyfall back before the victorious progress of that "Great March" he mighteffectually have checked, on its threshold at Atlanta. 

Deep gloom--thick darkness that might be felt--settled upon the wholepeople. Hope went out utterly, and despair--mingled with rage andanguish as the news from the "Great March" came in--took its place inevery heart. But in every heart there was bitter sorrow, humiliation--but no fear. As Richmond became more and more empty, andthe time to abandon her drew nearer and nearer, her people made whatprovision they might to meet the enemy they had scorned so long. Oneclass and one alone, showed any sign of fear--the human vultures solong fattened on the dead and dying--the speculators. 

With every preparation long since made for the event--with cellars andattics stored with tobacco and other merchandise--with Confederateblood-money converted into gold--these Shylocks now shivered inanticipation of the coming greenbacks, for abject dread of thebluebacks that were to bring them. There is one gleam of satisfactionthrough the gloom of the great fire--it partly purified the city ofthese vermin and the foul nests they had made themselves. 

All seemed ready during March, and the people watched every movement, listened for every sound, that might indicate actual evacuation. Eachmorning the city rose from its feverish sleep, uncertain whether, ornot, the army had withdrawn in the stillness of the night. 

During all this fitful suspense there was no general fight along thelines, and from time to time hope would flicker up, and for the momentthrow the shadows into shape of a possible victory--a saving blow forthe storm-racked ship of state, now her decks had been cleared fordesperate action. Then it would down, down again, lower than before. 

With the end of March the enemy made new combinations. His wholedisjointed attacks had been against the South Side road, the mainartery of supply and retreat. He had ceased organized attacks on theworks, and sought only to strike the communications. Now, Sheridan, with a formidable force, was sent to Five Forks; and Richmond heard, onthe first day of April, of desperate fighting between him and Pickett. 

Next morning, the 2d April, rose as bright a Sunday as had shone in allRichmond that spring. The churches were crowded, and plainly-dressedwomen--most of them in mourning--passed into their pews with pale, sadfaces, on which grief and anxiety had both set their handwriting. Therewere few men, and most of these came in noisily upon crutches, or paleand worn with fever. 

It was no holiday gathering of perfumed and bedizened godliness, thatSunday in Richmond. Earnest men and women had come to the house of God, to ask His protection and His blessing, yet a little longer, for thedear ones that very moment battling so hotly for the worshipers. 

In the midst of a prayer at Dr. Hoge's church, a courier enteredsoftly, and advancing to Mr. Davis, handed him a telegram. Noiselessly, and with no show of emotion, Mr. Davis left the church, followed by amember of his staff. A moment after another quietly said a few words tothe minister; and then the quick apprehensions of the congregation werearoused. Like an electric shock they felt the truth, even before Dr. Hoge stopped the services and informed them that Richmond would beevacuated that night; and counseled they had best go home and prepareto meet the dreadful to-morrow. The news spread like wildfire. Granthad struck that Sunday morning--had forced the lines, and General Leewas evacuating Petersburg!

The day of wrath had come. 

Hastily the few remaining necessaries of the several departments werepacked, and sent toward Danville, either by railroad or wagon. Ordnancesupplies, that could not be moved, were rolled into the canal;commissary stores were thrown open, and their hoarded contentsdistributed to the eager crowds. And strange crowds they were. Fragile, delicate women staggered under the heavy loads they bore to sufferingchildren at home; the pale wife clutched hungrily at the huge ham, orthe bag of coffee, for the wounded hero, pining at home for such adelicacy. Children were there with outstretched hands, crying for whatthey could carry; and hoary-headed men tugged wearily at the barrels ofpork, flour, or sugar they strove to roll before their weak arms. 

Later in the evening, as the excitement increased, fierce crowds ofskulking men, and coarse, half-drunken women, gathered before thestores. Half-starved and desperate, they swore and fought amongthemselves over the spoils they seized. Orders had been given todestroy the whisky at once; but, either from lingering tenderness, orfrom the hurry of the movement, they were only partially obeyed. 

Now the uncontrolled swarms of men and women--especially the wharf ratsat Rockett's where the navy storehouses were--seized the liquor andbecame more and more maddened by it. In some places where the barrelswere stove, the whisky ran in the gutters ankle deep; and herehalf-drunken women, and children even, fought, to dip up the covetedfluid in tin pans, buckets, or any vessel available. 

Meanwhile, preparation went on rapidly; the President and Cabinet leftfor the South--General Breckinridge, Secretary of War, alone remainingto direct the details of evacuation. Everything was ready for the fewremaining troops to withdraw, leaving the works on the northern side ofthe James unoccupied, before daylight. Then the officer with theburning party went his rounds, putting the torch to every armory, machine-shop and storehouse belonging to the Government. By midnightthese had begun to burn briskly; one lurid glare shot upward to thesky, from the river; then another and another. The gunboats had beenfired, and their crews, passing to the shore equipped for camp, followed the line of the retreating army up the river bank. 

Who, that was in it, will ever forget that bitter night? Husbandshastily arranged what plans they might, for the safety of families theywere forced to leave behind; women crept out into the midnight, toconceal the little jewelry, money or silver left them, fearing generalsack of the city and treachery of even the most trusted negroes. Fornone knew but that a brutal and drunken mob might be let loose upon thehated, long-coveted Capital, in their power at last! None knew but thatthe black rule of Butler might be re-enacted--excelled; and women--whohad sat calm and restful, while the battle of Seven Pines and the roarof Seven Days, and the later Cold Harbor, shook their windows--nowbroke down under that dreadful parting with the last defenders of theirhearths! Death and flame they had never blanched before; but thenameless terrors of passing under the Yankee yoke vanquished them now. 

Pitiful were leave-takings of fathers with their children, husbandswith new-made brides, lovers with those who clung to them in evengreater helplessness. Ties welded in moments of danger and doubt--inmoments of pleasure, precious from their rarity--all must be severednow, for none knew how long--perhaps forever! For man, nor woman, mightpierce the black veil before the future. Only the vague oppression wasthere, that all was over at last; that days to come might meanprotracted, bloody mountain warfare--captivity, death, separationeternal!

So men went forth into the black midnight, to what fate they dreamednot, leaving those loved beyond self to what fate they dared not dream!

But even in that supreme hour--true to her nature and true to herpast--the woman of Richmond thought of her hero-soldier; not ofherself. The last crust in the home was thrust into his reluctant hand;the last bottle of rare old wine slyly slipped into his haversack. Every man in gray was a brother-in-heart to every woman that night!

Long after midnight, I rode by a well-remembered porch, where all thatwas brightest and gayest of Richmond's youth had passed many happyhours. There was Styles Staple; his joyous face clouded now, his glibtongue mute--with two weeping girls clinging to his hands. Solemnly hebent down; pressed his lips to each pure forehead, in a kiss that was asacrament--threw himself into their mother's arms, as she had been hisown as well; then, with a wrench, broke away and hurled himself intosaddle. There was a black frown on Staple's face, as he rode up by me;and I heard a sound--part sob; more heart-deep oath--tear out of histhroat. If the Recording Angel caught it, too, I dare swear there wasno record against him for it, when--thirty hours later--he answered tohis name before the Great Roll-Call! For no more knightly lips willever press those pure brows; no more loyal soul went to its rest, outof that dire retreat. 

Two hours after midnight, all was ready; and all was still, save themuffled roll of distant wagons and, here and there, the sharp call of abugle. Now and again, the bright glare, above the smoke round the wholehorizon, would pale before a vivid, dazzling flash; followed by swayingtremble of the earth and a roar, hoarsely dull; and one more ship ofthe little navy was a thing of the past. 

Later still came to the steady tramp of soldiers--to be heard for thelast time in those streets, though its echo may sound down all time!The last scene of the somber drama had begun; and the skeletonbattery-supports filed by like specters, now in the gloom, now in theglare of one of the hundred fires. No sound but the muffled word ofcommand came from their ranks; every head was bowed and over many acheek--tanned by the blaze of the fight and furrowed by winternight-watches--the first tear it had ever known rolled noiselessly, todrop in the beloved dust they were shaking from their feet. 

Next came gaunt men, guiding half-starved horses that toiled along withrumbling field-pieces; voiceless now and impotent, as once, to welcomethe advancing foe. And finally the cavalry pickets came in, with littleshow of order; passed across the last bridge and fired it behind them. Over its burning timbers rode General Breckinridge and his staff;--thelast group of Confederates was gone;--Richmond was evacuated!

_Dies iræ--dies illa!_

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

AFTER THE DEATH BLOW WAS DEALT. 

Just as dawn broke through the smoke-eddies over the deserted Capital, the morning after its evacuation, two carriages crept through the emptystreets, toward the fortifications. In them--grave-faced and sad--satthe Mayor of Richmond and a committee of her council, carrying theformal surrender to the Federal commander on the northern bank of theJames. 

Many a sad, a few terrified, faces peered at them through closedshutters; but the eager groups about the fires, striving still tosecure scraps from the flames, never paused for a glance at the men whobore the form of the already accomplished fact. 

Before long, eager watchers from Chimborazo Heights saw bluecoats risedim over the distant crest. Then came the clatter of cavalry, sabersdrawn and at a trot; still cautiously feeling their way into thelong-coveted stronghold. Behind followed artillery and infantry incompact column, up the River Road, through Rockett's to Capitol Square. There they halted; raised the Stars-and-stripes on the staff from whichthe Stars-and-bars had floated--often in their very sight--for fourweary, bitter years!

It was a solemn and gloomy march; little resembling the people's ideaof triumphal entry into a captured city. The troops were quiet, showinglittle elation; their officers anxious and watchful ever; and deadsilence reigned around them, broken only by the roar and hiss offlames, or the sharp explosion as they reached some magazine. Not acheer broke the stillness; and even the wrangling, half-drunken bummersround the fires slunk sullenly away; while but few negroes showed theirfaces, and those ashen-black from indefinite fear; their great mouthsgaping and white eyes rolling in curious dread that took away theirfaculty for noise. 

By the time Weitzel's brigade of occupation had been posted--andseveral regiments massed on the Capitol--the fire had become general. Intending only to destroy munitions and supplies of war--the firingparty had been more hasty than discreet. A strong breeze sprang up, offthe river, and warehouse followed warehouse into the line of theflames. Old, dry and crammed with cotton, or other inflammablematerial, these burned like tinder; and at many points, whole blockswere on fire. 

A dense pall of smoke hovered low over the entire city; and through itshone huge eddies of flames and sparks, carrying great blazing planksand rafters whirling over the shriveling buildings. Little by littlethese drew closer together; and by noon, one vast, livid flame roaredand screamed before the wind, from Tenth street to Rockett's; lickingits red tongue around all in its reach and drawing the hope--the verylife of thousands into its relentless maw!

Should the wind shift, that rapidly-gaining fire would sweep uptown anddevour the whole city; but, while the few men left looked on indismayed apathy, deliverance came from the enemy. The regiments inCapitol Square stacked arms; were formed into fire-squads; and sped atonce to points of danger. Down the deserted streets these marched; nowhidden by eddying smoke--again showing like silhouettes, against thevivid glare behind them. Once at their points for work, the men went atit with a will; and--so strong was force of discipline--with no singleattempt at plunder reported!

Military training never had better vindication than on that fearfulday; for its bonds must have been strong indeed, to hold that army, suddenly in possession of city so coveted--so defiant--so deadly, forfour long years. 

Whatever the citizens may vaguely have expected from Grant's army, whatthey received from it that day was aid--protection--safety! Demoralizedand distracted by sorrow and imminent danger; with almost every maleabsent--with no organization and no means to fight the new and terribleenemy--the great bulk of Richmond's population might have beenhouseless that night, but for the disciplined promptitude of the Uniontroops. The men worked with good will; their officers, with ubiquitousenergy. If the fire could not be stayed, at any particular point, asquad entered each house, bore its contents to a safe distance; andthere a guard was placed over them. 

Sad and singular groups were there, too. Richmond's best and tenderestnurtured women moved among their household gods, hastily piled in thestreets, selecting this or that sacred object, to carry it in their ownhands--where? Poor families, utterly beggared, sat wringing their handsamid the wreck of what was left, homeless and hopeless; while, here andthere, the shattered remnant of a soldier was borne, on a stretcher inkindly, if hostile, hands, through clouds of smoke and mourningrelatives to some safer point. 

Ever blacker and more dense floated the smoke-pall over the desertedcity; ever louder and more near roared the hungry flames. Andconstantly, through all that dreadful day, the _whoo!_ of shells frommagazines, followed by the thud of explosion, cut the dull roar of thefire. For--whether through negligence or want of time--charged shellsof all sizes had been left in the many ordnance stores when the torchwas applied. These narrow brick chambers--now white hot and with afurnace-blast through them--swept the heaviest shells like cinders overthe burning district. Rising high in air, with hissing fuses, theyburst at many points, adding new terrors to the infernal scene; andsome of them, borne far beyond the fire's limit, burst over the houses, tearing and igniting their dry roofs. 

Slowly the day, filled with its hideous sights and sounds, wore on; andslowly the perseverance of man told against the devouring element. Thefire was, at last, kept within its own bounds; then gradually forcedbackward, to leave a charred, steaming belt between it and the unharmedtown. Within this, the flames still leaped and writhed and wrangled intheir devilish glee; but Richmond was now comparatively safe, and herwretched inhabitants might think of food and rest. Little had theyrecked of either for many a dread hour past!

The provost-marshal, that unfailing adjunct to every occupation, hadfixed his office at the court-house. There a mixed and singular crowdwaited gloomily, or jostled eagerly, for speech of the autocrat of thehour. Captured officers stood quietly apart, or peered out earnestlythrough the smoke drifts, while their commitments to Libby Prison weremade out; anxious and wan women, of every sphere in life, besieged theclerk preparing "protection papers;" while a fussy official, of highergrade, gave assurance to every one that guards should be placed abouttheir homes. For the deserted women of Richmond dreaded not only thepresence of the victorious enemy, but also that of the drunken andbrutalized "bummers" and deserters who stayed behind their own army. 

The guards were really stationed as promptly as was practicable; thefire-brigade men were sent to quarters; pickets in blue patroled theoutskirts; and, by nightfall, the proud Capital of the SouthernConfederacy was only a Federal barrack!

For two days after their entrance the Union army might have supposedthey had captured a city of the dead. The houses were all tightlyclosed, shutters fastened and curtains drawn down; and an occasionalblue-coated sentry in porch, or front yard, was the sole sign of life. In the streets it was little different. Crowds of soldiers movedcuriously from point to point, large numbers of negroes mixing withthem--anxious to assist their new found brotherhood, but wearing mostawkwardly their vested rights. Here and there a gray jacket wouldappear for a moment--the pale and worn face above it watching withanxious eyes the unused scene; then it would disappear again. This wasall. The Federals had full sweep of the city--with its silent streetsand its still smoking district, charred and blackened; where, for acreafter acre, only fragments of walls remained, and where tall chimneystacks, gaunt and tottering, pointed to heaven in witness against theuseless sacrifice. 

For two days this lasted. The curious soldiers lounged about the silenttown, the burned desert still sent up its clouds of close, fetid smoke;the ladies of Richmond remained close prisoners. Then necessity drovethem out, to seek food, or some means to obtain it; to visit the sickleft behind; or to make charitable visits to those who might be evenless provided than themselves. 

Clad almost invariably in deep mourning--with heavy veils invariablyhiding their faces--the broken-hearted daughters of the Capital movedlike shadows of the past, through the places that were theirs nolonger. There was no ostentation of disdain for their conquerors--noassumption of horror if they passed a group of Federals--no affectedbrushing of the skirt from the contact with the blue. There was onlydeep and real dejection--sorrow bearing too heavily on brain and heartto make an outward show--to even note smaller annoyances that mightelse have proved so keen. If forced into collision, or communication, with the northern officers, ladies were courteous as cold; they made noparade of hatred, but there was that in their cold dignity which spokeplainly of impassable barriers. 

And, to their credit be it spoken, the soldiers of the North respectedthe distress they could but see; the bitterness they could notmisunderstand. They made few approaches toward forcing theirsociety--even where billeted in the houses of the citizens, keepingaloof and never intruding on the family circle. 

For several days the water-approaches to the city could not be clearedfrom the obstructions sunk in them; all railroad communication wasdestroyed, and the whole population was dependent upon the slendersupport of the wagon trains. Few even of the wealthiest families hadbeen able to make provision ahead; scarcely any one had either gold, orgreenbacks; and suffering became actual and pinching. Then came theorder that the Federal commissary was to issue rations to those needingthem. Pinching themselves, as they did; preferring to subsist on theslenderest food that would sustain life, to accepting the charity ofthe enemy--many of those suffering women were driven by sheerhunger--by the threatened starvation of their children, or of the lovedwounded ones near them--to seek the proffered bounty. They forced theirway into the surging, fighting crowd of greasy and tattered negroes, ofdark-faced "bummers" and "loyal" residents--and they received smallrations of cornmeal and codfish; bearing them home to be eaten withwhat bitter seasoning they might of tears from pain and humiliation. 

The direst destitution of the war had been nothing to this. With theirown people around them, with hope and love to sustain them, the womenof Richmond did not wince under the pinch of want. But now, surroundedby enemies, with not a pound of flour, or a cent of currency, actualstarvation--as well as humiliation--stared them in the face. The fewwho went to draw rations, sat down in blank despair. They _could not_make up their minds to go again. The fewer still, who had the leastsurplus from immediate wants, distributed it freely; and a cup of sugarfrom a slender stock was bartered here for a few slices of the hoardedham, or a pound or two of necessary meal. 

Meantime, sutlers, peddlers and hucksters swarmed in like locusts, onthe very first steamers up the river. They crowded Broad street, theunburned stores on Main, and even the alleyways, with great piles ofevery known thing that could be put up in tin. They had calculated on arich harvest; but they had reckoned without their host. There was nomoney in Richmond to spend with them; and after a profitless sojourn, they took up their tin cans, and one by one returned North--certainlywiser and, possibly, better men. It was peculiar to note theuniversality of southern sympathy among these traders. There wasscarcely one among them who didn't think the war "a darned shame;" theywere intensely sympathetic and all came from South of the Pennsylvanialine. But the supporters, either of their principles, or their trade, were the few lucky negroes who could collect "stamps, " in never sosmall qualities; and to such the sutlers were a joy forever. 

Shut off entirely from any communication with their retreating troopsand mingling so little with their captors, Richmond people got onlymost startling and unreliable rumors from the army. Clinging, with thetenacity of the drowning, to the least straw of hope, they would notyet give up utterly that army they had looked on so long asinvincible--that cause, which was more than life to them! Though theyknew the country around was filled with deserters and stragglers;though the Federals had brigades lying round Richmond in perfectidleness--still for a time the rumor gained credit that General Lee hadturned on his pursuer, at Amelia Court House, and gained a decisivevictory over him. Then came the more positive news that Ewell was cutoff with 13, 000 men; and, finally, on the 9th of April, Richmond heardthat Lee had surrendered. Surely as this result should have been lookedforward to--gradually as the popular mind had been led to it--still itcame as a blow of terrific suddenness. The people refused to believeit--they said it was a Yankee trick; and when the salute of one hundredguns rang out from forts and shipping, they still said, bitterly, itwas a ruse to make them commit themselves. 

Gradually they came to accept the inevitable; and, as the last ray ofhope died out, its place was filled with the intense yearning to knowthe fate of those lost and loved ones--to know if they had died at thebitter ending, or lived to be borne away into captivity. Forgettingpride, hostility--all but their anxiety for those so precious to themnow--the women caught at every shred of information; questionedignorant soldiers eagerly; and listened patiently to the intelligiblenews the officers were only too willing to give. And at last theserumors assumed tangible form--there was no longer any room to doubt. General Lee, weakened by desertion and breaking down of his men--byGeneral Ewell's capture and by the sense of hopelessness of furtherresistance, had on the morning of the 9th of April, surrendered 24, 000men--including the volunteer citizens, and the naval brigade of all theRichmond ship's-crews--and with them 8, 000 muskets! Such, too, was thecondition of the horses that the Federals refused even to drive themaway from their stands. Little need, indeed, had there been for thoseextra brigades around the city. 

Then Richmond, sitting like Rachel in her desolation, waited for thereturn of her vanquished--heroes still to her. News came of the generalparole; and every sound across the river--every cloud of dust at thepontoon bridge--was the signal for a rush to doorstep and porch. Dayspassed and the women--not realizing the great difficulties oftransportation--grew impatient to clasp their loved ones once more totheir hearts. False outcries were made every hour, only to result insickening disappointment and suspense. At last the evening of the thirdday came and, just at dusk, a single horseman turned slowly intodeserted Franklin street. 

Making no effort to urge his jaded beast, travel-stained and wearyhimself, he let the reins fall from his hands and his head droop uponhis chest. It was some time before any one noticed that he wore thebeloved gray--that he was Major B. , one of the bravest and most staunchof the noble youth Richmond had sent out at the first. Like electricitythe knowledge ran from house to house--"Tom B. Has come! The army iscoming!"

Windows, doorsteps and curbstones became alive at the words--each womanhad known him from childhood--had known him joyous, and frank, and evergay. Each longed to ask for husband, son, or brother; but all held backas they saw the dropped head, and felt his sorrow too deep to bedisturbed. 

At last one fair wife, surrounded by her young children, stepped intothe road and spoke. The ice was broken. The soldier was surrounded;fair faces quivering with suspense, looked up to his, as soft voicesbegged for news of--"somebody's darling;" and tender hands even pattedthe starved beast that had borne the hero home! The broad chest heavedas it would burst, a great sob shook the stalwart frame, and a hugeteardrop rolled down the cheek that had never changed color in thehottest flashes of the fight. And then the sturdy soldier--conqueringhis emotion but with no shame for it--told all he could and lightenedmany a heavy heart. And up to his own door they walked by his side, bareheaded and in the roadway, and there they left him alone to befolded in the embrace of the mother to whom he still was "glorious inthe dust. "

Next morning a small group of horsemen appeared on the further side ofthe pontoons. By some strange intuition, it was known that General Leewas among them, and a crowd collected all along the route he wouldtake, silent and bareheaded. There was no excitement, no hurrahing;but, as the great chief passed, a deep, loving murmur, greater thanthese, rose from the very hearts of the crowd. Taking off his hat andsimply bowing his head, the man great in adversity passed silently tohis own door; it closed upon him, and his people had seen him for thelast time in his battle harness. 

Later others came, by scores and hundreds; many a household was madeglad that could not show a crust for dinner; and then for days Franklinstreet lived again. Once more the beloved gray was everywhere, and oncemore bright eyes regained a little of their brightness, as they lookedupon it. 

Then suddenly the reins were tightened. On the morning of the 14th, thenews of Lincoln's murder fell like a thunderclap upon victor andvanquished in Richmond. At first the news was not credited; then anindignant denial swelled up from the universal heart, that it was forsouthern vengeance, or that southern men could have sympathy in so vilean act. The sword and not the dagger was the weapon the South hadproved she could use; and through the length and breadth of theconquered land was a universal condemnation of the deed. 

But the Federal authorities--whether sincere in their belief, ornot--made this the pretext for a thorough change of policy in Richmond. 

First came uniform orders, that none of the insignia, or rank marks, ofthe South should be worn--a measure peculiarly oppressive to men whohad but one coat. Then came rules about "congregations of rebels, " andthree Confederates could not stand a moment on a corner, withoutdispersion by a provost-guard. 

Finally came the news of Johnston's surrender--of the last blow to thecause, now lost indeed. Still this fact had been considered a certainone from the date of Lee's surrender; and it bore none of the crushingweight that had made them refuse to believe in the latter. Confident asall were in General Johnston's ability to do all that man might, theystill knew his numerical weakness; that he must ere long be crushedbetween the upper and nether millstones. So this news was received witha sigh, rather than a groan. 

There was a momentary hope that the wise covenant between GeneralsJohnston and Sherman, as to the basis of the surrender, would beindorsed by the Government; but the result of its refusal and of thefinal surrender on the 13th--was after all little different from whatall had expected. Even the wild and maddened spirits, who refused toaccept Lee's cartel, and started to work their way to Johnston, couldhave had no hope of his final success in their calmer moments. 

But Johnston's surrender did not lift the yoke from Richmond, in anydegree. Police regulations of the most annoying character were imposed;the fact of a parole bearing any significance was entirely ignored; nosort of grace was shown to its possessor, unless he took the oath; andmany men, caught in Richmond at this time and far from home, werereduced to distress and almost starvation by the refusal oftransportation. 

All this the southern people bore with patience. They submitted to allthings but two: they would not take the oath and they would not mixsocially with their conquerors. In that respect the line was asrigorously drawn in Richmond, at that time, as ever Venice drew itagainst the Austrian. Not that any attempt was omitted by the Federalsto overcome what they called this "prejudice. " There was music inCapitol Square, by the best bands of the army, and the ladies werespecially invited by the public prints. Not one went; and the officerslistened to their own music in company with numbers of lusty blackemancipated, who fully felt themselves women and sisters. Next it wasgiven out that the negroes would not be admitted; but then the officerslistened alone, and finally gave it up. Failing in public, everyeffort--short of rudeness and intrusion, which were never resortedto--was made to effect a social lodgment in private. But no Federaluniform ever crossed a rebel threshold, in those days, save onbusiness. The officers occupied parts of many houses; but they weremade to feel that the other part, occupied by the household, wasprivate still. 

Another infliction, harder to bear, was the well-meant intrusion of oldfriends from the North. Pleasure parties to Richmond were of constantoccurrence; and for the time quite eclipsed in popularity, with theWashington idlers, the inevitable pilgrimage to Mt. Vernon. Gailydressed and gushing over in the merriment of a party of pleasure, thesevisitors often sought out their _ante-bellum_ friends; and then andthere would condone the crime of rebellion to them--sitting indesolation by the ashes of their household gods. It is not hard tounderstand how bitter was proffered forgiveness, to those who neveradmitted they could have been wrong; and perhaps the soft answer thatturneth away wrath, was not always given to such zealously officiousfriends. 

There was little bitterness expressed, however much may have fermentedin the hearts of the captured; and, as a general thing, the people weregrateful for the moderation of the Yankees, and appreciated the goodthey had done at the fire. But, deeper than any bitterness could havesunk, was that ingrained feeling that there were two peoples that thesecould never again mingle in former amity, till oil and water might mix. The men especially--and with much apparent reason--were utterlyhopeless of the future; and, collecting in knots, they would gloomilydiscuss the prospect of emigration, as if that were the sole good thefuture held. There can be little doubt that had the ability beentheirs, a large majority of the young men of the South would have goneabroad, to seek their fortunes in new paths and under new skies. Luckily, for their country, the commander at Richmond failed to keephis agreement with the paroled officers; and--after making out rolls ofthose who would be granted free permission and passage to Canada, England or South America--those rolls were suddenly annulled and thewhole matter given up. Thus a number of useful, invaluable men who haveever since fought the good fight against that outrage--the impositionof negro dominance over her--were saved to the South. 

And that good fight, begun in the natural law of self-preservation, haseventuated to the interests of a common country. For no one who doesnot intimately understand the character of the negro--his mental andmoral, as well as his physical, constitution--can begin to comprehendthe sin committed against him, even more than against the white man, byputting him in the false attitude of equality with, or antagonism to, the latter. 

No one, who did not move among the negroes, immediately after conquestof the South--and who did not see them with experience-opened eyes--canapproach realization of the pernicious workings of that futile attempt. 

Writing upon the inner details of the war and its resulting action uponthe morale of the southern people, omission can not be made of thatlarge and unfortunate class; driven--first by blind fanaticism, laterby fear of their own party existence--into abnormal condition by theultra radicals. The negro rapidly changed; "equality" frittered awaywhat good instincts he had and developed all the worst, innate withhim. It changed him from a careless and thriftless, but happy andinnocent producer, into a mere consumer, at best; often indeed, into abesotted and criminal idler, subsisting in part upon Nature'sgenerosity in supplying cabbage and fish, in part upon thethoughtlessness of his neighbor in supplying chickens and eggs. 

Yet--so powerful is result of habit; on so much foundation of nature isbased the Scythian fable--the negroes of the South, immediatelysucceeding the surrender, used the new greatness thrust upon them withsurprising innocence. Laziness, liquor and loud asseverations offreedom and equality were its only blessings claimed; and thecommission of overt acts, beyond those named, were rare enough to provethe rule of force of habit. Lured from old service for a time, most ofthem followed not far the gaudy and shining Will-o'-the-Wisp; andalmost all--especially the household and personal servants--soonreturned to "Ole Mas'r" once more, sadder and wiser for the futilechase after freedom's joys. But, even these were partly spoiled andrendered of far less practical use to themselves, or to theiremployers. 

The "negro question" to-day is made merely a matter of politics, ratherthan one of political economy. At the date of the Confederacy's death, it is a matter of history. 

Gradually--by very slow degrees--people in Richmond--as elsewhere inthe South, further removed from victor's contact--began to grow so faraccustomed to the chains imposed upon them, that they seemed lessunbearably galling. Little by little--forced by the necessities ofthemselves and of those still dearer--men went to work at new andstrange occupations; doing not what they would, but what they could, inthe bitter struggle with want for their daily bread. But, spite ofearnest resolve and steady exertion, "There was little to earn and many to keep--"

and every month it seemed to grow harder and harder to make the baremeans of life. And not alone did the men work--hard and steadily, earlyand late. As the women of the South had been the counsellors, thecomforters, the very life of the soldiers when the dark hour wasthreatened; so they proved themselves worthy helpmeets now that it hadcome. 

No privation was too great, no work too unaccustomed for them toundergo. Little hands that had never held even a needle until the war, now wrought laboriously at the varied--sometimes even menial--occupationsthat the hour demanded. And they worked, as they had borne the war--withnever a murmur; with ever a cheering word for the fellow-laborer besidethem--with a bright trust in the future and that each one's particular"King should have his own again. "

And here the author's task is ended--albeit far from completed; for solittle has been told, where there was so much to tell. But, there wasno longer a Rebel Capital, to offer its inside view; and what followedthe fall--were it not already a twice-told tale--has no place in thesepages. Disjointed sketches, these have perchance told some new, orinteresting, facts. Certes, they have omitted many more, well worth thetelling, noted during those four unparalleled years; but plainly notcompressible, within the limits of one volume. 

Happily, the trials, the strain, the suffering of those years remainwith us, but as a memory. That memory is, to the South, a sacredheritage which unreasoning fanaticism may not dim--which Time, himself, shall not efface. To the North that memory should be cleared ofprejudice and bitterness, becoming thus a lesson priceless in worth. 

Happily, too, the sober second thought of a common people, aided by theloyalty of the South--to herself and to her plighted faith--has changedinto recemented union of pride and of interest, that outlook from thecrumbled gates of Richmond, which made her people groan in theirhearts:

_Solitudinem faciunt appellantque pacem!_

FINIS. 

APPENDIX. 

_FIRST AND LAST BLOOD OF THE WAR. _

While the battle of Bethel is recorded in the foregoing pages as thefirst decided fight of the war between the States, it may leaveerroneous impression not to note the date of "first blood" really shedin action on southern soil. In the report of the Adjutant-general ofthe State of Virginia, for 1866, occurs this entry:

 J. Q. Marr, graduated July 4, 1846. Lawyer, Member of the Virginia Convention. Entered military service as Captain of Virginia Volunteers, April 1, 1861. Killed at Fairfax Courthouse, Virginia, May 13, 1861. First blood of the war. 

Naturally, many conflicting statements as to the last effective shot ofthe long struggle were made and received as true. The most reliablewould appear to be the following, reproduced from a paper printed bythe boys of Mr. Denson's school, in the village of Pittsboro, N. C. , in1866:

 The accomplished author of that series of interesting papers, "The Last Ninety Days of the War in North Carolina, " published in _The Watchman_, New York, states that the last blood of the war was shed near the Atkins plantation, a few miles from Chapel Hill, on the 14th April, 1865. In a later number of the same paper, a member of the First Tennessee Cavalry says that it is a mistake; that companies E and F, of the same regiment to which he belonged, skirmished sharply with the Federals on the 15th, and claims that this was the last blood shed. Both are in error; there was a skirmish near Mt. Zion church, two miles south-east of Pittsboro, North Carolina, between a body of Wheeler's cavalry and a party of Federals, on the 17th of April; two Yankees were wounded, and three others, with several horses, captured. There was other skirmishing in the neighborhood about this time, and as late as the 29th (two days after General Johnston surrendered), a squad of Federal cavalry rode through Pittsboro, firing upon the citizens and returned soldiers, and receiving their fire in return. These men were pursued and overtaken near Haw river, where a skirmish occurred, in which two of the Yankees were killed and two others wounded, one mortally. This Haw river incident is a familiar and well authenticated one and most probably it really showed the last of the long bloodshed. 

 * * * *

_WHY NO PURSUIT AFTER MANASSAS. _

Attention has frequently been drawn to the restiveness of the entiresouthern people, under alleged neglect to seize golden opportunitiesfor pressing the enemy, after Confederate successes. Most frequentlyrepeated of all these charges, is that which puts upon the shoulders ofJefferson Davis the onus of delay--and of all resulting evil--after thefirst victory on Manassas Plains. This charge receives semi-officialsanction, from ex-Vice-President Stephens; for his history of the warplainly asserts that to the President was due "the failure of theConfederate troops to advance after the battle of Manassas. " Thefollowing correspondence between the two men most interested in thatmooted question may therefore be read with interest by all candidthinkers:

 RICHMOND, VA. , November 3, 1861. 

 _General J. E. Johnston, Commanding Department of the Potomac:_

 SIR: Reports have been and are being widely circulated to the effect that I prevented General Beauregard from pursuing the enemy after the battle of Manassas, and had subsequently restrained him from advancing upon Washington City. Though such statements may have been made merely for my injury, and in that view their notice might be postponed to a more convenient season, they have acquired importance from the fact that they have served to create distrust, to excite disappointment, and must embarrass the administration in its further efforts to re-enforce the armies of the Potomac, and generally to provide for the public defense. 

 For these public considerations, I call upon you as the commanding general, and as a party to all the conferences held by me on the 21st and 22d of July, to say whether I obstructed the pursuit of the enemy after the victory at Manassas, or have ever objected to an advance or other active operation which it was feasible for the army to undertake?

 Very respectfully yours, etc. , JEFFERSON DAVIS. 

 HEADQUARTERS, CENTREVILLE, November 10, 1861. 

 _To His Excellency, the President:_

 SIR: I have had the honor to receive your letter of the 3d instant, in which you call upon me, as the "Commanding General, and as a party to all the conferences held by you on the 21st and 22d of July, to say:

 "Whether I obstructed the pursuit after the battle of Manassas. 

 "Or have ever objected to an advance, or other active operations which it was feasible for the army to undertake. "

 To the first question I reply: No. The pursuit was "obstructed" by the enemy's troops at Centreville, as I have stated in my official report. In that report I have also said why no advance was made upon the enemy's capital (for reasons) as follows:

 The apparent freshness of the United States troops at Centreville, which checked our pursuit; the strong forces occupying the works near Georgetown, Arlington and Alexandria; the certainty, too, that General Patterson, if needed, would reach Washington with his army of more than 30, 000, sooner than we could; and the condition and inadequate means of the army in ammunition, provision and transportation, prevented any serious thoughts of advancing against the Capital. 

 To the second question, I reply, that it has never been feasible for the army to advance further than it has done--to the line of Fairfax Courthouse, with its advanced posts at Upton's, Munson's and Mason's Hills. After a conference at Fairfax Courthouse with the three senior General officers, you announced it to be impracticable to give this army the strength which those officers considered necessary to enable it to assume the offensive. Upon which, I drew it back to its present position. 

 Most respectfully your obedient servant, J. E. JOHNSTON. 

 A true copy:

 G. W. C. LEE, Col. And A. D. C. 

 * * * *

_THE FIRING UNDER THE WHITE FLAG, IN HAMPTON ROADS. _

Reference has been made in these pages, to the peculiar circumstancesof the wounding of Flag-Lieutenant Robert D. Minor, in the "Merrimac"fight on the 8th March, 1862. The official report of Fleet-CaptainFranklin Buchanan distinctly states the facts and formulates thecharge, accepted by the author. From that lengthy and detailed officialdocument is reproduced verbatim this

 EXTRACT FROM REPORT OF FLAG-OFFICER BUCHANAN. 

 NAVAL HOSPITAL, NORFOLK, March 27, 1862. 

 _To Hon. S. R. Mallory, Secretary of the Navy:_

 * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 While the Virginia was thus engaged in getting her position, for attacking the Congress, the prisoners state it was believed on board that ship that we had hauled off; the men left their guns and gave three cheers. They were soon sadly undeceived, for a few minutes after we opened upon her again, she having run on shore in shoal water. The carnage, havoc and dismay, caused by our fire, compelled them to haul down their colors, and to hoist a white flag at their gaff half-mast, and another at the main. The crew instantly took to their boats and landed. Our fire immediately ceased, and a signal was made for the Beaufort to come within hail. I then ordered Lieutenant-Commanding Parker to take possession of the Congress, secure the officers as prisoners, allow the crew to land, and burn the ship. He ran alongside, received her flag and surrender, from Commander William Smith and Lieutenant Pendergrast, with the side-arms of those officers. They delivered themselves as prisoners of war on board the Beaufort, and afterward were permitted, at their own request, to return to the Congress, to assist in removing the wounded to the Beaufort. They never returned, and I submit to the decision of the Department whether they are not our prisoners. While the Beaufort and Raleigh were alongside the Congress, and the surrender of that vessel had been received from the commander, she having two white flags flying, hoisted by her own people, a heavy fire was opened upon them from the shore and from the Congress, killing some valuable officers and men. Under this fire the steamers left the Congress; but as I was not informed that any injury had been sustained by those vessels at that time, Lieutenant-Commanding Parker having failed to report to me, I took it for granted that my order to him to burn her had been executed and waited some minutes to see the smoke ascending from her hatches. During this delay we were still subjected to the heavy fire from the batteries, which was always promptly returned. 

 The steam frigates Minnesota and Roanoke, and the sailing frigate St. Lawrence, had previously been reported as coming from Old Point; but as I was determined that the Congress should not again fall into the hands of the enemy, I remarked to that gallant young officer, Flag-Lieutenant Minor, "that ship must be burned. " He promptly volunteered to take a boat and burn her, and the Teazer, Lieutenant-Commanding Webb, was ordered to cover the boat. Lieutenant Minor had scarcely reached within fifty yards of the Congress, when a deadly fire was opened upon him, wounding him severely and several of his men. On witnessing this vile treachery, I instantly recalled the boat and ordered the Congress destroyed by hot shot and incendiary shell. 

 * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 FRANKLIN BUCHANAN, _Flag Officer_. 

 * * * *

_DEPRECIATION OF CONFEDERATE CURRENCY. _

In the chapters on Finance and Dollars and Cents, reference has beenmade to the rapid depreciation of C. S. Treasury notes. The condensedtable appended--gathered from most reliable data--will explain thismore clearly than could a volume:

 RELATIVE VALUE OF GOLD FROM JANUARY 1, 1861, TO MAY 12, 1865. 

 1861. --January 1st to May 1st, 5 per cent. ; to October 1st, 10 per cent. ; October 15th, 12 per cent. ; November 15th, 15 per cent. ; December 1st, 20 per cent. 

 1862. --January 1st, 20 per cent. ; February 1st, 25 per cent. ; February 15th, 40 per cent. ; March 1st, 50 per cent. ; March 15th, 65 percent. ; April 1st, 75 percent. ; April 15th, 80 per cent. ; May 1st. 90 per cent. ; May 15th, 95 per cent. ; June 15th, 2 for 1; August 1st, 2. 20 for 1; September 1st, 2. 50 for 1. 

 1863. --February 1st, 3 for 1; February 15th, 3. 10 for 1; March 1st, 3. 25 for 1; March 15th, 5 for 1; May 15th, 6 for 1; June 1st, 6. 50 for 1; June 15th, 7. 50 for 1; July 1st, 8 for 1; July 15th, 10 for 1; August 15th, 15 for 1; November 15th, 15. 50 for 1; December 15th, 21 for 1. 

 1864. --March 1st, 26 for 1; April 1st, 19 for 1; May 1st, 20 for 1; August 15th, 21 for 1; September 15th, 23 for 1; October 15th, 25 for 1; November 15th, 28 for 1; December 1st, 32 for 1; December 31st, 51 for 1. 

 1865. --January 1st, 60 for 1; February 1st, 50 for 1; April 1st, 70 for 1; April 15th, 80 for 1; April 20th, 100 for 1; April 26th, 200 for 1; April 28th, 500 for 1; April 29th, 800 for 1; April 30th, 1, 000 for 1, May 1st (last actual sale of Confederate notes), 1, 200 for 1. 

 * * * *

_GENERAL LEE'S FAREWELL ORDER TO THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA. _

 HEADQUARTERS ARMY NORTHERN VIRGINIA, April 10, 1865. 

 GENERAL ORDER, } NO. 9. }

 After four years of arduous service, marked by unsurpassed courage and fortitude, the Army of Northern Virginia has been compelled to yield to overwhelming numbers and resources. I need not tell the brave survivors of so many hard-fought battles, who have remained steadfast to the last, that I have consented to this result from no distrust of them; but, feeling that valor and devotion could accomplish nothing that would compensate for the loss that must have attended the continuance of the contest, I determined to avoid the useless sacrifice of those whose past services have endeared them to their countrymen. 

 By the terms of agreement, officers and men can return to their homes and there remain until exchanged. You will take with you the satisfaction that proceeds from the consciousness of duty well performed; and I earnestly pray that a merciful God will extend to you His blessing and protection. With unceasing admiration of your constancy and devotion to your country and a grateful remembrance of your kind and generous consideration for myself, I bid you an affectionate farewell. 

 R. E. LEE, _General_. 

 * * * *

_GENERAL JOHNSTON'S FAREWELL ORDER TO THE ARMY OF TENNESSEE. _

 HEADQUARTERS ARMY TENNESSEE, Near Greensboro, N. C. , April 27, 1865. 

 GENERAL ORDER, } NO. 18. }

 By the terms of a military convention made on the 26th instant, by Major-General W. T. Sherman, United States Army, and General J. E. Johnston, Confederate States Army, the officers and men of this army are to bind themselves not to take up arms against the United States until properly relieved from that obligation, and shall receive guarantees from the United States officers against molestation by the United States authorities so long as they observe that obligation and the laws in force where they reside. 

 For these objects, duplicate muster-rolls will be made out immediately, and after the distribution of the necessary papers, the troops will be marched under their officers to their respective States, and there be disbanded, retaining all private property. 

 The object of this convention is pacification, to the extent of the authority of the commanders who made it. Events in Virginia which broke every hope of success by war, imposed on its general the duty of sparing the blood of this gallant army and saving our country from further devastation and our people from ruin. 

 J. E. JOHNSTON, _General_. 

 * * * *

_GENERAL SHERMAN'S ORDER ON HIS CONVENTION WITH GENERAL JOHNSTON. _

 HEADQUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI. In the Field, Raleigh, N. C. , April 27, 1863. 

 SPECIAL FIELD ORDER, } NO. 65. }

 The General Commanding announces a further suspension of hostilities and a final agreement with General Johnston, which terminates the war as to the armies under his command and the country east of the Chattahoochee. 

 Copies of the terms of convention will be furnished Major-Generals Schofield, Gillmore and Wilson, who are specially charged with the execution of its details in the Department of North Carolina, Department of the South, and at Macon and Western Georgia. 

 * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 General Schofield will procure at once the necessary blanks, and supply the Army Commanders, that uniformity may prevail; and great care must be taken that the terms and stipulations on our part be fulfilled with the most scrupulous fidelity, whilst those imposed on our hitherto enemies be received in a spirit becoming a brave and generous army. 

 Army Commanders may at once loan to the inhabitants such of the captured mules, horses, wagons and vehicles as can be spared from immediate use; and the Commanding Generals of Armies may issue provisions, animals and any public supplies that can be spared, to relieve present wants and to encourage the inhabitants to renew their peaceful pursuits, and to restore the relations of friendship among our fellow-citizens and countrymen. 

 Foraging will forthwith cease, and, when necessity or long marches compel the taking of forage, provisions or any kind of private property, compensation will be made on the spot; or, when the disbursing officers are not provided with funds, vouchers will be given in proper form, payable at the nearest Military Depot. 

 By order of

 MAJOR-GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN. 

 L. M. DAYTON, _Assistant Adjutant-General_. 

RECENTLY ISSUED--BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 

Juny: or Only One Girl's Story. 

271 PAGES. PAPER COVERS. PRICE, 50 CENTS. 

Sold by all Dealers; or Mailed (Prepaid), on receipt of Price, byTHE GOSSIP PRINTING CO. , Mobile, Ala. 

CONDENSED PRESS COMMENT. 

"Juny" is a lively story. --[_Cincinnati Enquirer. _

A racily written, exciting tale of the South. --[_Portland Argus. _

A dramatic story of southern life. It is full of incident. --[_Albany(N. Y. ) Express. _

Vividly told, with a beautiful Octoroon as the central figure. --_HarrisburgTelegram. _

Entertaining romance of the "Society crust"--upper and under. --[_KansasCity Journal_. 

More dramatic than "Creole and Puritan;" more genuine fun than "Rock orthe Rye. "--[_Augusta News. _

Showing varied phases of the great city, in the _salon_, the clubs andthe slums. --[_Syracuse Herald. _

It is full of excitement and adventure and, on that score alone, willprove interesting--[_Evening Wisconsin. _

The plot is good; and the author's name sufficient guarantee forliterary excellence. --[_Columbus Despatch. _

By a writer who has attained reputation, the romance will proveinteresting reading. --[_San Francisco Call. _

A bright, readable story, full of action; the dialects true to life andthe climax artistically managed. --[_Toledo (O. ) Bee. _

There is much to be commended in "Juny, " and the character of theheroine is certainly well drawn. --[_Town Topics. _

The characters are strongly drawn; and the story, sensational andromantic, has dramatic force. --[_American Stationer. _

From the author of "Creole and Puritan" and other stories; and is verybright and readable. --[_Rochester Post-Express. _

Above any Mr. DeLeon has yet written; and can be placed above the bestwork of modern times. --[_New Orleans Picayune. _

A book of merit. The author shows close acquaintance with MissMurfree's dealing with the same class. --[_Minneapolis Journal. _

Contains many good situations and some striking types of life, of whichthe "Leading Man" is the most comic. --[_The Bookseller. _

Most ambitious of this author's works; containing a plot of thrillinginterest and several new American types. --[_Baltimore American. _

Cleverly constructed and containing more than one good character. Thereader who begins it will be sure to read it to the close. --[_New YorkSun. _

Has been complimented very highly. It is very readable, the charactersstrong; and the plot contains many dramatic situations. --[_SavannahNews. _

An exceedingly bright and cleverly written story; charmingly told; mostespecially felicitous in all that treats of southern character andlife. The old negro is a masterpiece of _genre_ sketching; and theLouisiana girl and her Octoroon mother are no less clean cut andgraphic. Mr. DeLeon is the promising writer of the South. He knows hispeople and region thoroughly. --[_Chicago Times. _

A very romantic story. The book is sensational; but the skill withwhich the story is told saves it from being ridiculous. --[_SanFrancisco Chronicle. _

Most successful descriptive and character studies. Animated from thevery first chapter; and once beginning, one can scarcely leaveit. --[_New Orleans Bee. _

The sketch of moonshining life in the North Carolina mountains is, tosay the least, clever. The author has made a distinct success inthis. --[_Hartford Post. _

The devotion of the old negro for his "chile" and the affectionspringing up between her and Wilmot Browne are the features of thebook. --[_North American. _

A highly exciting story of life, in widely differing circles. All ofthe bad characters are disposed of rapidly, but with a proper eye toeffect. --[_New York Herald. _

Just the thing for the car or hammock; a lively novel, introducing manyodd characters in many odd situations of high and low life. --[_MinneapolisHousekeeper. _

Well written and full of "situations, " many of them wrought up to apoint of thrilling interest. The many characters are drawn in naturalcolors. --[_Brooklyn Citizen. _

Mr. DeLeon has written several novels which had a run; but this onesurpasses any in cleverness of plot, thrilling situations and generalinterest. --[_Salt Lake Herald. _

Brightness of dialogue and richness of incident. The suicide of thegambler is a startling effect; worthy of the imagination anddescriptive power of Zola!--[_Mobile Register. _

The same authority pronounces "the leading man of the Grand Duke'sOpera House" the most original type in comic fiction since we met _SamWeller_. --[_Denver Republican. _

Some situations, especially those in the slums of the "East Side, " areintensely dramatic. _Juny_ and the characters that surround her areexceedingly well drawn. --[_Philadelphia Times. _

"Juny" is bright and sensational. * * The Mobile novelist is especiallyhappy in his southern scenes and characters; but his plots have widerange and embrace high and low life. --[_Atlanta Constitution. _

T. C. DeLeon has recommended himself as a writer of talent and power. His latest work is perhaps his best, as his wit, his dramatic force andhis striking ability for character drawing are all forciblyexhibited. --[_Columbus (O. ) Journal. _

We have not read a better story for many a day. Mr. DeLeon has advancedrapidly to foremost rank among American novelists of the present day. The plot is skillfully framed and many thrilling, as well as humorous, situations keep the reader's mind alert. --[_Chicago Herald. _

T. C. DeLeon, whose "Rock or the Rye, " a clever parody of Amelie Rives, was a decided success, has added "Juny" to the list of his novels; thescene changing from a moonshiner's camp to New York, with the heroine abeautiful Octoroon girl. --[_San Francisco Argonaut. _

Southern authors are coming to the front. Among those named more andmore frequently of late is T. C. DeLeon. The story is as full of plotas it can hold; and if action plays as large a part in fiction, asDemosthenes averred it did in oratory, "Juny" should be a popularbook. --[_Boston Commonwealth. _

Mr. DeLeon's "Creole and Puritan" proved most conclusively that hecould write well; and his satire on the "Quick or the Dead" was laughedover by the whole country. The story of "Juny" shows the creative powerof the author. It is strong and his descriptive powers have fullsway. --[_New Orleans Picayune. _

The old negro and the detective, Mr. Hunter Beagle, seem to have beentaken from life and are carefully elaborated. * * The "Art Evolutionist"is a very clever portrayal of the creature who is made possible by, andsubsists upon, the _fads_ for which the present century must everremain responsible. --[_Courier-Journal. _