CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 The Gift of 
 
 NEWTON C. FARR 
 
 Class of 1909 
 
Cornell University Library 
 E605 .C79 
 
 Letters of a Confederate officer to _hs 
 3 1924 030 906 303 
 
 olin 
 
 Overs 
 
LETTERS 
 
 OF A 
 
 CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 TO 
 
 HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 
 
 DURING 
 
 THE LAST YEAR OF THE WAR 
 OF SECESSION 
 
 PARIS : 
 
 Neal's English Library, 248 Rue de Rivoli 
 Place de la Concorde 
 
 NEW YORK, 
 
 Reprinted 
 WILLIAM ABBATT 
 1913 
 (Being Extra No. 24 of The Magazine of History with Notes and Quebibs) 
 
 391 
 
¥2< 
 
 ^J l^ 
 
 Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924030906303 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE 
 
 IN introducing these Letters to the few friends by whom they 
 will be read, it is unnecessary to say that they were written 
 in the heat of conflict, and in the fullness of that patriotic 
 ardour and enthusiasm which distinguished the southern man in 
 support of the cause loved and lost. 
 
 393 
 
EDITOR'S PREFACE 
 
 AMONG all the literature of the War of the Rebellion, we re- 
 /^^ call but two items which were published in Europe; both, 
 obviously, from the Southern side. 
 
 The first of these wie have already republished in our Extra 
 No. 13, the "Right Flanker", and we now offer our subscribers the 
 second : "Letters of a Confederate OflScer to his family in Europe 
 during the last year of the War of Secession." 
 
 So rare is the original that but the one copy from which we make 
 our own, has turned up in many years : and this one was bought by 
 the Library of Congress last May. It was issued from "Neal's 
 English Library, Paris," and was doubtless privately printed in 
 a very small edition, for the author's immediate friends — hence it 
 is unknown to the general public. 
 
 Its picture of the South in 1864 is of great interest. The 
 letters the author wrote and received were all carried by blockade- 
 runners, and as some of these were probably captured, this accounts 
 for the gaps in the series. 
 
 The author's name we ascertained, after making search in every 
 direction in the South, was Richard W. Corbin, a son of a Southern 
 family long settled in Paris. 
 
 395 
 
LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 59 Rue de Vaeennes, 
 
 February 9th, 1864. 
 My Dear Mother: 
 
 I was so painfully conscious of the grief you would experience 
 when apprised of that which I am about to break to you now, that 
 I tried to postpone the moment as long as possible of communicating 
 what will be the subject of this letter. But the time has now come 
 for me to procrastinate no longer, and to execute the saddest part 
 of a determination fixed, final and irrevocable. This determina- 
 tion which I am resolved to carry out with little delay, is to make 
 an attempt to get into the South, and when there to act as it be- 
 comes a man who wishes to earn the respect of his countrymen. 
 It is not by frittering and dreaming away the best years of my life 
 that I can expect to win that esteem, without which I feel I would 
 be eternally miserable. Were my sensibilities dead, my conscience 
 silent, this frivolous, good-for-nothing mode of existence would 
 most likely suit me very well; but thank God I have not so far lost 
 all self-respect as to hesitate any longer between the pleasures of 
 Capua and the exigencies of what I consider to be my duty. What 
 that is I think I am at an age to appreciate, and therefore my mind 
 is made up. 
 
 My dearest mother, you must not take up the erroneous idea 
 that all this is a mere freak, a transient ebullition of martial en- 
 thusiasm, which will simmer down and not be heard of in a few 
 days. Disabuse yourself of that notion, I entreat you, for never 
 yet have I been more inflexibly determined to carry out a resolve 
 than I have been for the past three or four months. This plan, you 
 see, is not the result of caprice, or of feverish impatience, but on 
 the contrary the ripened fruit of mature reflection. Ah, how often 
 have I tried to argue myself by the most ingenious casuistry into 
 
 397 
 
8 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 the conviction that after all this cowardly inactivity was right and 
 proper; but my conscience was not to be beguiled by such sophistry. 
 
 Sometimes I would try to suppress my inward yearning and 
 by an air of levity and insouciance lead you to believe that I was 
 content — ^yes, even in these stern times, with an horizon bounded 
 by the Bois de Boulogne and the Jockey Club. But after these 
 efforts I found that my aspirations to be up and doing only grew 
 more and more ardent. You know too well that I am not so 
 preposterously infatuated with myself as to imagine that I am 
 compounded of very heroic materials, and consequently you will 
 not tax me with inordinate conceit when I say that I feel I am 
 fitted for higher things than a lounge on the Boulevards. My 
 future happiness depends upon this step. If I don't shake off this 
 dull sloth, my life will for evermore be embittered by the most 
 galling and humiliating regrets. Having opened my heart to you 
 I feel that you love me too much to impede a project so essential 
 to my happiness. Just think that if you have now any affection for 
 your idle, useless son, how much more that affection will be en- 
 hanced if it is mingled with a little pride at his manliness. I feel 
 some hopes that if my pen lacks the eloquence, at any rate it is 
 not deficient in the earnestness necessary to secure your approval 
 for this enterprise. With it I shall set out rejoicing, without it 
 I shall nevertheless persevere, although the load upon my heart 
 will be a grievous one. I ought to have said all this at La Boulaye 
 but the fact is I had not the heart to give you this additional pain 
 just before separating. You have ere this learnt that the sad event 
 which we all dreaded has just taken place, and that Madame de 
 Paris is no more. It was this morning that she departed this life. 
 Jean, unfortunately, was not present when death overtook her, 
 having returned for some refreshment; but he was aware that her 
 dissolution was inevitable, for Trousseau* told him that the poor 
 sufferer could not live through the day. All this is so sad that I 
 
 *Dr. Trousseau the celebrated French physician. 
 
 398 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 
 
 have not the courage to prolong this letter; and so, with my fond 
 love to dear Bella, who I hope is in a fair way of recovery, I em- 
 brace you with all my heart. 
 
 Your devoted son, 
 
 London, April 14th, 1864. 
 My dear Mother: 
 
 Bessie deserves a heap of thanks for her delicious little note, 
 and I hope you will tell her how grateful I am for it. I am happy 
 to say that her assurances touching the passport difficulty have been 
 verified, for, after demurring a little, the French Consul granted 
 my request on the strength of the shooting license, which came very 
 opportunely; and now, with this valuable document in my pos- 
 session I am to all intents and purposes a Johnny Crapaud, and can 
 snap my fingers at all Yankeedom. Pray thank Henry on my 
 account, for all the trouble, although ineffectually, which he has 
 given himself on my behalf. If I can't thank him for the deed, I 
 do so most heartily for the will. Our passage over was very smooth, 
 they say, but I knew nothing of it, as I began to snooze long before 
 the boat left the wharf. We had some pleasant companions, 
 amongst whom was Lawley. He told us that he was going out to 
 Dixie on or about the 20th, in a small private vessel, the Nassau. 
 I have pretty nearly got through all my work here, and therefore 
 we shall start for Liverpool tomorrow, in order to have a good chat 
 with Tom, who has secured my berth. I am going out with a mag- 
 nificent , outfit: Cook's clothes are capital, and he has obligingly 
 undertaken to procure all the military accessories I shall require. 
 This is a great advantage, as I get a reduction of fifteen to twenty 
 per cent, on every article he purchases for me. Besides the two 
 cadeaux you got for me, we have purchased three woolen cloaks, 
 three woolen shawls and some other articles which I shall distribute 
 amongst my kith and kin when I reach the sunny S. I shall 
 
 399 
 
10 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 write to you from Liverpool in order to report my first impressions 
 of the ship. In the meanwhile, adieu. With best love to the 
 dear ones around you. 
 
 I tenderly embrace you. 
 
 Steamer Europa, off Queenstown, 
 
 April 17th, 1864. 
 My dear little Mother: 
 
 We have just come in sight of the coast of Green Erin, and in a 
 few moments I expect I shall be lying off Queenstown; I therefore 
 avail myself of this temporary stop to tip you a few lines. 
 
 We left Liverpool yesterday at two P. M., the hour of our 
 departure having been postponed from eight in the morning to that 
 time on account of a change in the steamer. The Arabia, which 
 was advertised to start yesterday, was unable to be ready in time, 
 having just arrived from Boston when we left. It appears that 
 she encountered some rough weather coming over, and was thereby 
 considerably retarded : in fact all the steamers are overdue, amongst 
 them the City of Washington, which we have just met. By her sig- 
 nals she informed us that she had been no less than three weeks 
 and a half coming from New York. So far we are experiencing 
 most delightful weather, and I trust that old Neptune's fury is 
 spent by this time, and that he will not give us much annoyance. 
 I cannot say that I am favourably impressed with the Europa; 
 she is the oldest ship on the line, and consequently is deficient in 
 the comforts and appliances of more modern vessels. They call 
 her the tortoise of the line! I only hope she will make up for her 
 extreme slowness by excessive safety. She is a very old friend of 
 my father's, who wa6, you remember, on board of her when she 
 ran into the Charles Bartlett. INIy travelling companion Captain 
 Averell, is a trump; his manners are quiet, unassuming and gentle- 
 manly; in this respect I am lucky. At Queenstown we expect 
 
 400 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 11 
 
 another Confederate; that will be jolly, for then we can defy the 
 Yankee element, which is sadly preponderant. There are some 
 sombre-visaged "down-Easters" who look Bowie knives at us, but 
 we treat them with ineffable scorn. We are slackening speed, and 
 in a few moments we shall come to a full stop — that must perforce 
 be the case with this scrawl, and so adieu until Halifax. 
 
 Your devoted son. 
 
 Halifax Hotel, Halifax, 
 
 April 30th, 1864. 
 My dear Mother: 
 
 I have this instant landed, and true to my promise I lose no 
 time in announcing to you the safe arrival of your rebellious son in 
 Halifax. But to my great disgust I find that the outward-bound 
 steamer calling at this port has left. I shall have therefore to 
 send these lines to New York, from whence there is no means of for- 
 warding them to you before Wednesday next. I fully counted 
 upon our hitting the aforesaid steamer when I started, but man 
 proposes and [the Atlantic] disposes, for instead of getting in on 
 Tuesday, as we might have done had the Europa been a boat of 
 average speed, and had we also been favoured with ordinary fair 
 weather, the welcome sound of "Land ahead" only gladdened our 
 ears this morning at eight A. M. From the moment our poor old 
 tub steamed away from Queenstown until within two days of our 
 arrival, she had to contend with head winds, head seas — altogether 
 the weather was as bad as it could be, in fact such a stirring up of 
 the vasty deep at this season of the year has not been seen within 
 the memory of that superannuated salt yclept the oldest mariner. 
 The Europa indulged in a succession of saltatory eccentricities 
 very unbecoming in one so aged; when so engaged I can only com- 
 pare her to an oceanic Rigolboche. To give you an idea of the 
 knocking and tumbling about we had to endure, I will merely say 
 that for ten days consecutively I never sat down to dinner without 
 
 401 
 
12 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 having a plate of soup deposited in my lap, or without being bowled 
 out of my seat with a ponderous joint, which would every now and 
 then break loose from its moorings and come thumping along like 
 the most formidable of Druid's rams. But notwithstanding all 
 these difficulties my appetite being exceedingly wolfish, I hardly 
 missed a meal. Being rather a jolly, devil-may-care lot, we got to 
 look upon the showering down of glasses and cruet-stands upon our 
 heads as exhilarating little incidents. After our achievements in 
 the feeding line I almost think I could cook and eat an omelette 
 on the tight rope, a la Blondin. I think I told you in my scrawl 
 from Queenstown that I was not prepossessed with the looks of most 
 of my fellow-passengers; but I have had reason to alter my past 
 impression of them, and to satisfy myself of the truth of the adage 
 that appearances are deceptive. With a few exceptions the indi- 
 viduals whom I thought to be Yankees, turned out to be Nova Scot- 
 ians and New Brunswickers; than whom no people are more sym- 
 pathetic or kindly disposed towards the South. Judging from 
 their twang, and also from the cut of their jibs you might almost 
 fancy them to be unmitigated Down-Easters; but just get them on 
 the great South question, and you will soon find that they are a 
 hundred times more friendly than either the English or Canadians. 
 
 En route I made the acquantance of a very pleasant and gentle- 
 manly Virginian, who was on his way over to this port in order to 
 take command of the famous blockade runner, the City of Peters- 
 burg, which is now refitting here. Mr. Cameron (that is his name) 
 has kindly invited us to go down with him to Bermuda in his splen- 
 did craft; an offer which Captain Averell and myself accepted most 
 readily, seeing that the Alpha is a very slow and small boat, and 
 that she was crowded with an unwashed set of passengers, and 
 laden down to the water's edge with cattle. The City of Petersburg 
 on the contrary merely carries out a supply of coal. She is one of 
 the fastest Clyde built-boats. They tell me she averages a rate of 
 fifteen and a half to sixteen knots an hour. This speed will enable 
 
 402 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 13 
 
 US to run round the Yankees, should they chivy us. Our sleeping 
 accommodations on board of her will be infinitely better than in 
 the Europa, and as to the cooking it will be unexceptionable, I am 
 sure, I'udging from a sample which we have had of it at luncheon. 
 The captain thought on arriving here that we would be able to get 
 off this afternoon, but it appears that owing to extensive repairs 
 required by the engines, we shall not be able to start before Tuesday. 
 This delay does not distress me much, as it will enable me to pur- 
 chase sundry articles much needed by the Confederates; and more- 
 over time will not hang heavily on our hands, for thanks to the 
 kindness of some hospitable citizens, I am sure that we shall live 
 upon the fat of the land. Tomorrow we are going on a grand fishing 
 expedition in the neighborhood, where we are promised great 
 sport. Our cicerone tells us that the other day he caught in three 
 hours twenty-seven trout, ranging from one pound to eight pounds. 
 I wish Jean were to participate in the fun. When we came along- 
 side the wharf we saw no less than four blockade-runners lying 
 in different parts of the harbour, and amongst them the notorious 
 A. D. Vance, or "Advance" as the sailors call her. She has been 
 marvelously successful hitherto, having made as many as eight 
 round trips between Bermuda and Wilmington. I have just 
 spoken to her purser, who estimates the profits realized by her at 
 fifteen hundred thousand dollars in gold. It did our hearts good to 
 hear the lusty cheers with which the crew and passengers of the 
 Euro-pa responded to the salutation of this little Secesh flotilla as we 
 steamed past it. The captain and officers did not attempt to 
 restrain this manifestation of good feeling, for they are capital 
 fellows and don't disguise their sympathies for our noble cause. 
 I had just got thus far when, to my ineffable horror, Averell came 
 in to tell me that this letter cannot possibly get away in time for the 
 New York steamer. My letter will therefore have to wait for the 
 Boston boat of the 10th instant. 
 
 I must now allude to a melancholy incident which happened 
 
 403 
 
14 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 just as the Europa was getting under weigh. Some of the Boston- 
 bound passengers had gone ashore, and when the signal gun was 
 fired they were hurrying aboard. A nice young Scotchman, whom 
 I had often spoken to during the voyage, was ascending the plank 
 after shaking hands with me, when by some accident it tilted over 
 and he nearly fell into the water. A Custom House officer who 
 was standing on the wharf by my side seized hold of his coat col- 
 lar, and I grasped one of his arms just as he was sinking. By this 
 assistance we saved him from being mangled by the paddle-wheel 
 of the steamer, but alas, we could not pull him up fast enough to 
 rescue one of his legs , which was crushed into a jelly between the 
 paddle-box and one of the posts of the wharf. Just picture to 
 yourself the horror of the sight when my eyes fell upon his muti- 
 lated limb. He was instantly taken to the hotel, the best surgeon 
 in this city was called in, who immediately amputated his poor leg 
 below the knee. He bore the operation nobly: I did not hear him 
 utter a groan, but big tears trickled down his cheeks as the surgeon 
 was performing his bloody task. He had come out on a pleasure 
 trip, and was on his way to the Western States. What a sad mis- 
 hap for him at this distance from his friends. As he was quite 
 alone and friendless, Averell, a ship companion and myself take it 
 by turns to watch over him and to minister to his wants. My 
 "watch" is coming on in a few minutes, and so I shall have to pull 
 up. I don't know what he will do without us when we are obliged 
 to go, as he does not know a soul in this place who takes the slight- 
 est interest in him. I am endeavouring to get a nurse for him, but 
 with little success so far. One of the doctors has come in to tell 
 me that gangrene has set in, and that his case is very dangerous 
 and in fact that two days will decide it. Horrible, horrible, indeed. 
 
 I must now say good-bye to you, not however without sending 
 my fondest love to my excellent father and to all the dear ones 
 around you. 
 
 Your devoted son, 
 P. S. — I address this to Isabella. 
 
 404 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 15 
 
 Hamilton Hotel, 
 
 Hamilton, Bermuda 
 
 May 11th, 1864. 
 My dear Father: 
 
 At Halifax, as I was folding up the letter in which I gave that 
 dear little mother an account of my trip from the "tight little island" 
 to the black shores of Nova Scotia, I could not help muttering deep 
 imprecations against the adverse winds that retarded the progress 
 of the venerable but alas, not rapid Europa. I was then savagely 
 ignorant of the golden opportunity which presented itself most 
 unexpectedly, and which enabled me to despatch the missive in 
 question a fortnight earlier than I had allowed myself to reckon on. 
 I heard by accident that the steamer A. D. Vance was about to go to 
 England on the sly, for repairs. The moment the welcome intelli- 
 gence fell upon my ear I rushed in mad haste to her wharf, but she 
 had slipped her moorings when I got there, and had already begun 
 to steam off. However I was not to be discouraged by that mis- 
 chance, and so I forthwith chartered a boat, and after an hour of 
 superhuman exertions I managed to get alongside of her, and in the 
 most touching accents I implored the first mate to mail my letter 
 as soon as he reached England; this he agreed to do. If she does 
 not fall foul of a Yankee cruiser you will receive these lineis, but if 
 the Fates decree otherwise, my "kakography" will be consigned 
 to the flames, or in the deep boSom of the ocean buried. We were 
 detained in Halifax until last Friday by a series of vexatious inpedi- 
 ments. Our captain had originally intended to put to sea at least 
 on Monday evening, but at the last moment he was apprised of a 
 plot hatched by the rascally Yankee Consul for the purpose of 
 capturing the City of Petersburg. It appears that this bright-mind- 
 ed official had been tampering for sometime with the chief engi- 
 neer and a portion of the crew, and had succeeded in bribing them 
 by a combination of worthless greenbacks* and bad whiskey. But 
 
 *The author does not seem to have had personal knowledge of the value of Secretary 
 Chase's famous first issue of National currency. — [Ed.] 
 
 405 
 
16 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 fortunately our skipper got wind of these machinations, and incon- 
 tinently packed off the traitors. The present engineer is a good 
 Southern man and thoroughly competent, but it took him a long 
 time to get the engines (which had been probably put out of gear), 
 again into working order. We were chased by a Federal steamer on 
 leaving Halifax, but luckily we had sound men in the engine-room, 
 and by piling on plenty of steam our good ship ran cleverly away 
 from the Yankees. Our voyage hither wa:s not marked by any 
 very noteworthy incidents, except on the morning of the last day, 
 when, a few minutes after sunrise, we espied a big man-of-war 
 steering athwart our course. We fully expected to be peppered 
 with shell and solid shot every minute. This rather uncomfortable 
 state of suspense lasted for what I thought a little eternity; but 
 to our intense relief the man on the lookout at the masthead in- 
 formed us that she was a British frigate. I drew a long breath and 
 as the visions of Fort Lafayette, green pork, with "Beast" Butler 
 in the background gradually vanished, I felt, like falling down 
 and worshipping the Union Jack. We put into Hamilton, a beau- 
 tiful little seaport, situated on the gem of this lovely group of 
 islands. The group consists of no less than three hundred and 
 sixty -five islands of every imaginable shape and size, and all within 
 a pistol-shot of one another; but some of them are so small that 
 it is by mere courtesy they can be dignified with the name of 
 islands. 
 
 Nature must have been in one of her gayest moods when she 
 decorated this coral reef, for at every step one comes upon a charm- 
 ing view, or upon some sweetly scented plant which would turn the 
 heads of all the Parisian perfumers. The horticultural resources 
 of this place are immense, and if the lazy negroes who constitute 
 three-fourths of the population would only assist Nature a little, 
 in consideration of the immeasurable riches she has so bountifully 
 showered upon them, I am sure that the vegetables of the "vexed 
 Bfermoothes" would beat all creation. By the way, I protest 
 
 406 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 17 
 
 indignantly against the injury which the immortal "Swan" did to 
 these gay and sparkling islands by making them the local habita- 
 tion of that horrid old monster Caliban. They came into the world 
 with the best auspices, but like many of Nature's spoilt children 
 they have missed their vocation, and instead of becoming the 
 abode of Dryads and Fairies a swarm of the ugliest and "meanest" 
 darkies ever shipped from the coast of Africa have settled down here 
 like a blight. Before the emancipation the Estates here were very 
 productive, but soon after the manumission of the slaves these lands 
 receded from cultivation, and now they yield literally nothing at 
 all. With the exception of some very fine vegetables, all that is 
 consumed, whether in the shape of eatables or drinkables, is im- 
 ported. 
 
 A Bermudian was telling me this morning that it is impossible 
 to get any work out of these rascally niggers as he contemptuously 
 termed them. They are both indolent and insolent, and unless 
 pinched with hunger they scornfully refuse the easiest employment. 
 This blockade business suits them to a T for they get very liberal 
 pay for the small jobs it necessitates, and after loading and un- 
 loading the steamers that may chance to dribble in, you will see 
 them basking in the sun for hours and hours, like torpid alligators. 
 I think the most rabid of Exeter Hall Ranters would confess that 
 free black labour is a mad Utopia and that it is incompatible with 
 thrift and industry. But distance lends enchantment to the view, 
 and with some three thousand miles of salt water between them 
 and their colonies these fanatics fancy they have conferred a great 
 blessing on the negro race, whilst in fact their ill-timed philanthropy 
 has proved the curse of the blacks and the ruin of the whites. 
 
 It is really too bad to see the munificent gifts of Heaven 
 squandered away because these benighted wretches are too slow 
 to turn them to account; and yet Bermuda is said to be hardly a 
 fair criterion of the system. In Barbados and the other West 
 India islands it is infinitely worse, for there Sambo has reached 
 
 407 
 
18 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 the lowest pitch of demoralization. My Bermudan friend tells me 
 that had it not been for this war the white population would have 
 decreased, but as soon as this abnormal state of things is over, the 
 decrease will go on afresh. He is confident that ultimately the 
 descendants of Ham are to remain masters of the islands, and then 
 it will not be long before they relapse into barbarism and fetichism. 
 The deduction I draw from all this is that there is a good time 
 coming for Bermuda, and that ere a century elapses cannibalism 
 will be one of the prominent features of the place. Oh Wilberforce, 
 you were an unmitigated humbug! 
 
 The two principal ports are St. George and Hamilton, but 
 St. George is the more important business place of the two, and 
 it is there that the blockade interest is concentrated; but I stopped 
 here because the accommodation is better. I think it is likely I 
 shall have to remain here for a week longer, for no steamer will 
 venture out before the next moon. I am rather glad of that, for 
 what with fishing, cruising and bathing I shall manage to kill the 
 time pleasantly enough; however, as this missive is going in a 
 vessel sailing for England in a few days, I shall tip you a line just 
 before embarking, in order to tell you what steamer is to take me 
 on to Dixie; for the present I am entirely in the dark as to that. 
 The blockade-runners of late have not been so unfortunate, and 
 I am in hopes that the blockading squadron off Wilmington, having 
 been terribly scared by the sortie of a Confederate ironclad, will 
 not hug the shore so close as it has done hitherto. 
 
 Captain Maffit is expecting a very fast boat from England, 
 and it is upon the cards that I may go in under his auspices. 
 
 The latest news from Dixie is of a satisfactory nature with the 
 exception of one item, which speaks of the wound of Longstreet. 
 It is said that he is very severely wounded, but we have not been 
 able to make out whether his life is despaired of. Burnside has 
 
 1 John N. Maffit (1819-1886) originally an officer in the Navy, entered the service of the 
 Confederacy in 1861, and commanded the "Florida." 
 
 408 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 19 
 
 been forced back with tremendous loss, and it appears that Grant 
 has been pretty roughly handled on the Rappahannock. These 
 advantages, coupled with the surrender of Plymouth and Banks' 
 rout, show that Fortune has not quite deserted our good cause. 
 Sanguine people here think that the war will come to a close this 
 summer. They tell me that I have arrived just in time to be too 
 late. These prophecies will give you some comfort perhaps, and 
 I jot them down for what they are worth; but I confess they are 
 very galling to my martial ambition. I have been obliged to put 
 off all my winter clothing and to don the thinnest raiment I could 
 fork out of my trunks. It is really very warm, and yet the heat 
 is so delightfully tempered by the moisture of the Gulf stream, and 
 the atmosphere is so delightfully impregnated with the perfumes 
 of thousands on thousands of fragrant plants growing in rank 
 luxuriance, that even with my strong dislike to very hot weather 
 I cannot help enjoying this balmy climate. Under its influence 
 I feel that I would very quickly become a regular lazzarone, and 
 go in for nothing but the dolce far niente. I hear that the Florida 
 has just arrived and that the natives of course are rushing off to see 
 her, so as I have reached the foot of my twelfth and last page, I 
 think I shall follow the crowd, and bid you adieu with a heap of 
 kisses to my dearest mother and to all the good folks at home. 
 Believe me, dearest father. Your devoted son. 
 
 Steamship Lilian, 
 St. George's Habbour, Bermuda, 
 
 June 1st, 1864. 
 Dear Father: 
 
 "Patience is bitter, but its fruits are sweet." Never has the 
 truth of that saying been more fully exemplified than in my case; 
 for after a few weeks of vexatious detention in the vexed Ber- 
 moothes, I had the ineffable pleasure of receiving your welcome 
 missive enclosing those affectionate lines from Mother, Bessie and 
 
 409 
 
20 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 Jean, just as I was on the verge of sailing hence for the land of 
 cotton. You will be not a little surprised that at this late date I 
 am still vegetating on this island, and you will take up the idea that 
 like the whining schoolboy, I am creeping unwillingly to the South- 
 ern school of adversity. It is not my fault, but the cause of all this 
 delay was the moon, whose indiscreet rays have betrayed many an 
 ill-starred boat into the hands of Messieurs les Yankees. 
 
 We blockade-runners are a terrible unpoetic race of people, 
 for the "Queen of the Night" is our bugbear, and instead of making 
 odes to her like sentimental loons, we heap imprecations upon her 
 of a decidedly profane nature. But at last the nights are pro- 
 nounced to be dark enough for the timid crafts that nestle under 
 the folds of the Union Jack to venture on their illicit errands. 
 *'Jove Juvante," I shall be off tomorrow in the crack ship Lilian, 
 commanded by Captain Maffit. It was a toss-up whether I should 
 pop into Dixie on board of the City of Petersburg, when she left on 
 the 12th ultimo, or whether I should remain here until the present 
 moon. I was strongly advised not to do the former, as the risks 
 of capture would be very great, from the fact that most probably 
 the moon would be shining brightly when she got off Wilmington. 
 I abandoned that plan, and most luckily, for steamers just in from 
 the south report that my friend the City of Petersburg has not been 
 heard of, and the belief is spreading here that she has been nabbed 
 by Lincoln's cruisers. 
 
 This is a painful conjecture, for Averell is on board of her. 
 Nothing could shake his resolve of going in on her, and I fear that 
 he is paying the penalty of stubbornness in some Northern Bastile. 
 I have every reason to congratulate myself upon my decision of 
 running the gauntlet under Maffit's auspices, for in addition to his 
 courage, experience and general company, I shall have the advan- 
 tage of enjoying the society of Lawley, Mr. Bowers, and Vizetelly, 
 the correspondent of the Illustrated London News, who are all three 
 booked for the Lilian. She is considered by competent judges here 
 
 410 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 21 
 
 to be the finest boat of the kind which has yet been seen in this 
 harbour. Her speed is said to be second to none, and as far as her 
 commander is concerned, he is the best by far of all the officers 
 engaged in the blockade; for he knows every inch of the North 
 Carolina coast, and he has given up "splicing the main brace." 
 Taking all these auspicious circumstances into consideration, I 
 arrive at the conclusion that we must and shall get in; but there is 
 many a slip between th'e cup and the lip, and therefore, par le 
 temps qui court, it does not do to be too sanguine. The company 
 to which this steamer belongs is connected with the State of Geor- 
 gia, and through the instrumentality of Major Walker, the agent 
 for the war department at this depot, I might have got a free pas- 
 sage in her; but then I could only have got this as a conscript. Now 
 I have no wish of being considered as such, my action being 
 entirely voluntary. I have therefore decided, in order to be as 
 free and untrammeled as possible, to pay for my passage. The 
 fare, considering the distance, is very high, but then I shall be 
 quite independent, a position I consider worthy of a pecuniary 
 sacrifice. 
 
 The charge is £30, but as the disbursement of that sum would 
 make a considerable hole in my finances, I have drawn upon you for 
 the amount, provided you do not object to pay a draft for that 
 amount — if so, I suppose I can meet the liability with what money 
 we have in the Confederacy. Of course the Yankee telegrams have 
 undertaken to prove to the European public that the Federal ar- 
 mies have carried everything before them in Virginia, and that 
 the rebellion is on its last legs. At the first flush those accounts 
 seem very appalling, but divesting them of all their bounce and 
 exaggeration, we here gather from them that the irresistible Graint 
 has done very little during the past three weeks save lose seventy 
 thousand men to advance five miles. According to the laws of 
 arithmetical progression, at that rate the Army of the Potomac 
 would be reduced to a corporal's guard before it reached the for- 
 
 411 
 
22 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 tifications of the Southern Capital, even admitting that it con- 
 sists of four hundred thousand men. Cool and long-headed men 
 here, after comparing the reports of the Southern Generals with 
 those of the Yankees, have come to the conclusion that the balance 
 of advantages is on our side; and I can assure you that these block- 
 ade people are very matter-of-fact and dispassionate. I don't 
 know where they may have been before they came here, but cer- 
 tain it is that now they are as free from fanaticism as any neutral 
 I have seen. If I imagined they represented Southern feeling I 
 would long ago have come to the conclusion that Confederates are 
 a very impassive, apathetic race. It is wonderful how refrigerating 
 the manipulation of dollars and cents is. 
 
 A gentleman here showed me a letter dated Richmond, the 
 24th, from a friend of his who is said to be a sagacious observer of 
 events; well, the view he takes of the late fights is the reverse of 
 despondent. I have lately made the acquaintance of the famous 
 Colonel St. Leger Grenfell, who was for a long time Bragg's inspec- 
 tor-general of cavalry, and after that, chief of Morgan's staff. 
 He is the man Fremantle speaks of in his book.^ You remember 
 he says this bellicose John Bull is a great talker; but that he is one 
 of the rare instances where tall talking is commensurate with great 
 deeds. The fact is, his life has been one long series of adventures 
 and hair-breadth escapes, and I don't think there is a part of the 
 world where he has not figured more or less prominently. This 
 roving spirit has just left the Confederacy on account of a difference 
 which has occurred between him and the President about John 
 Morgan, who it appears is no favorite of the administration. I 
 don't think this is his only motive for leaving Dixie, and I have 
 taken up the notion that he conceives that he has not received pro- 
 motion adequate to his services, or that he is jealous of Polignac, 
 who has just been appointed Major General. Anyhow, I got on 
 very well with the Dugald Dalgetty in question, and he gave me 
 
 2 Three months in the Southern States, by Lieut. Col. W. H. Freemantle, an officer of the 
 British Army. 
 
 412 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 23 
 
 some very good letters of introduction to some southern officers, 
 and to Morgan in particular, who is evidently much attached to 
 him, judging from the exalted certificate he has given to him, and 
 which I had occasion to read. Mr. Bowns will give me the box you 
 mention, in a few minutes : I anticipate great pleasure in opening it. 
 I am delighted to hear that you have sent me my field-glass : it will 
 be most acceptable, as I had begun long ago to appreciate the full 
 extent of my forgetfulness. As to the epistolary envoy, I have 
 never had such a treat, and as Maffit has just remarked, if I devour 
 these tidings with such tremendous avidity after a separation of a 
 few weeks, what shall I do when months and perhaps years in- 
 tervene? I am jotting off these lines on board the Lilian, and 
 when I began writing I was under the impression that we would get 
 under weigh tomorrow; but I have been informed that in order to 
 "muddle" the Yankees as much as possible, we shall leave in a 
 couple of hours. For that purpose they are getting up steam in 
 desperate haste. The hissing and boiling water causes the boat to 
 quiver and vibrate in the most distressing manner to a man intend- 
 ing to write. If this scrawl is more than usually badly written I 
 must plead extenuating circumstances, for if dancing on a volcano 
 is a ticklish pastime, caligraphy on board a blockade runner is an 
 utter impossibility. I had hoped that I could chat with you a little 
 longer, but alas they tell me I must fold this up without further 
 delay. With the help of God, my next will be from Wilmington 
 or Richmond. Until then adieu to all the dear folks at home. 
 
 Your devoted son, 
 
 Wilmington, C.(onfederate S.(tates) 
 
 June 5th, 1864. 
 My dear Mother: 
 
 Veni, Vici, and as Julius Caesar remarked, we have gone in 
 and won. Thank Heaven, I am at last on Confederate soil, having 
 most successfully passed through that awful ordeal yclept the 
 
 413 
 
24 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 blockade. There have been so many captures of late among the 
 blockade-running squadron, that I have every reason fervently to 
 bless my stars at having reached this haven of refuge, sound in 
 wind arid limb. I wrote to you a few minutes before sailing that the 
 dear little Lilian was getting up steam for Dixie, We steamed out 
 of St. George at six o'clock on Wednesday afternoon. 
 
 Amongst our live freight, or our live-stock — as the captain 
 facetiously called your offspring and his travelling companions — 
 were the amiable and accomplished correspondent of the "Thun- 
 derer," and a most amusing and jovial bon-vivant rejoicing in the 
 name of Vizetelly , who came here on a mission from the Illustrated 
 London News. It is his intention to draw what he sees by field 
 and flood, for the special amusement and edification of those in- 
 diflferent John Bulls. I trust that he will be the occasion of sending 
 to his paper the sketch of many a Yankee stampede. But to re- 
 turn to our muttons, in addition to these Britishers were three 
 Confederate officers belonging to the army of the west, and who had 
 recently effected their escape from Fort Chase. This, for a boat 
 whose everything is sacrificed to speed and freight-carrying ca- 
 pacity, was an awfully big lot of passengers: so much so that there 
 was no accommodation, in the European sense of the word, for us. 
 In fact at night, if the weather was at all fine, we would have to 
 shift for ourselves on the quarter-deck; if it was at all squally we 
 pigged together on the floor of our small dining room, or in amongst 
 the cargo. 
 
 You would have taken us without doubt for some of Lee's 
 ragamuffins, had you witnessed our going condition when we dis- 
 embarked this morning to report at the commanding general's 
 head-quarters. My clothes were so weather-stained and seedy, 
 my physiognomy was so thickly besmeared with a vile coating, 
 composed of salt water and coal dust, that it required the closest 
 observation and very keen powers of discrimination to distinguish 
 
 414 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 25 
 
 this child from the very blackest of firemen. Mais a la guerre 
 comme <^ la guerre, and I assure you we're a very jolly albeit a very 
 dirty set. 
 
 From the start until Friday evening everything was going on 
 as merrily as a marriage bell. We were rolling off with ease our 
 fourteen knots, or about twenty-four kilometres an hour. No 
 Yanky was visible in the horizon, and it was the captain's inten- 
 tion, had we been able to keep this speed, to rush through the block- 
 ade on Saturday morning before sunrise. 
 
 We would have to grope our way about the coast until we saw 
 the Cape Fear lighthouse — ^for, as is often the case in the Gulf 
 Stream, the sky was cloudy at noon, and old Sol's countenance 
 very indistinct; consequently an accurate observation was out of 
 the question. As it turned out, we would have struck the coast 
 twenty-five miles south of the entrance of the harbour, had we 
 stuck to the same course, but a portion of our engines became so 
 terribly heated that we were obliged to slow them. In that con- 
 dition the captain thought that his boat was not fit that night for a 
 dash through the fleet. He therefore determined to turn back and 
 go out some sixty miles to sea, and there stop the ship. As there 
 was no more excitement in store for us that night, I went to sleep 
 on the deck. When I awoke next morning I found the Lilian 
 going all round the compass, performing what the sailors call cir- 
 cular navigation. 
 
 To beguile the tedium of that species of navigation we devised 
 all sorts of pastimes, and amongst them sea-bathing. Two of the 
 Confederate officers jumped in, and just as I was preparing to 
 follow suit one of the sailors shouted out that he saw a shark. In 
 presence of such an enemy the rebels skedaddled in Bull Run style 
 and hastily clambered up the sides of the boat. In a second after, 
 a huge shark made his appearance. He was evidently awfully 
 hungry, for he swam round the ship several times in quest of what 
 
 415 
 
26 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 I think would not constitute a very first-class repast even for a 
 shark; for after six months' incarceration in a Yankee dungeon a 
 Southerner can scarcely be considered a very dainty morsel. The 
 search proving fruitless, he gave his tail a flirt suggestive of intense 
 disgust, and made himself scarce. This little incident had fluttered 
 us a little, and we were gradually regaining our composure when 
 the hand at the masthead sang out "Sail ho". All our glasses 
 came into play, and after a time we discovered a large steamer 
 straight ahead of us, that is to say between us and Wilmington. 
 The only thing to be done was to put about and steam away from 
 the fellow in the direction of Bermuda. He was bearing down upon 
 us as fast as he could go, and at first seemed to be gaining upon us, 
 but as the Lilian settled down earnestly into her working she flew 
 through the water, and then it was evident that the pace was too 
 much for the cruiser; she however, pegged away after us with all 
 the dogged tenacity characteristic of the Yankee race. 
 
 When we no longer saw her, Maffit, after a little dodging, 
 steered back in the direction of Dixie. It was then that I became 
 convinced that his reputation as a consummate navigator was 
 deserved, for notwithstanding all the zigzagging and doubling 
 which we had to execute in order to elude our pursuer he brought 
 the Lilian, soon after sunset, within a distance of some twelve miles 
 off the coast and at the exact point when the steering of the ship 
 devolved upon the pilot. We stood till nine o'clock, and then the 
 pilot gave the order to go at full speed. 
 
 It was, I will confess, a very anxious moment, and with the 
 exception of Maffit, who is the perfection of coolness and self- 
 possession, and the pilot, we all looked rather nervous. As we 
 were passing through the outer cordon of blockaders, I fancied 
 like the Irishman that I could hear the palpitation of my heart a 
 great many yards. They did not see, and so far we were unmo- 
 lested. This gave us some confidence, and yet the hardest part 
 
 416 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 27 
 
 Tvas to come, for the Yankee squadron comprising the inner semi- 
 circle, lies close to the bar, and the distance between each ship 
 hardly averages half a mile. Whilst we were tearing along flashes 
 of lightning now and then illuminated a dense bank of clouds ahead 
 of us. These we took at first to be the ominous precursors of a 
 shell or solid shot. There was of course a good deal of what the 
 Southerners call "flickering", that is to say, bobbing and dodging of 
 heads. Just as we were about to go over the bar we passed within 
 a biscuit throw of what seemed to be a floating monster on our 
 starboard side. We every moment expected a broadside; but the 
 Yankees were napping and thanks to God we gave them the go-by. 
 This last danger being past a frantic shaking of hands ensued, and 
 everybody congratulated everybody else. Whilst we were all 
 crowding on the bridge the pilot told us to look out for a volley, as 
 one of the enemy's launches was close to us. We all fell flat upon 
 our faces; and whilst I was in the act of doing so I saw the boat, 
 dropping astern of us. She appeared to be filled with armed men, 
 and I fully expected they would pepper us with Minie bullets, but 
 fortunately they did not take any heed of us. 
 
 Our surmise for thus escaping is that she took the Lilian for a 
 Pederal gunboat. Maffit now tells me that he fully expected a 
 very warm reception; instead of which not a gun was fired at us; 
 he is of the opinion that the vessels which ran out on the same night 
 as we ran in must have drawn off the attention of the enemy. 
 Without such a diversion it is impossible to understand their want of 
 vigilance. The Florse, which came in a couple of hours after us 
 had not our luck, for she received a feu d'enfer, but without doing 
 any injury to her except to one of her smokestacks. I have just 
 Jieard that one of the steamers which attempted to run in that 
 night was sunk by the Yankees. I am most comfortably installed 
 here, at the house of Mr. CoUey, an owner of blockade ships, who 
 lives in very good style indeed for the times. I esteem myself 
 very fortunate at not being obliged to put up at the hotel, the filth 
 
 417 
 
28 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 and nastiness of which baffles description. Here I have plefeiSant 
 company, Lawley, who is decidedly a very pleasant person, being 
 one of Mr. CoUey's guests; a cuisine which in normal times would 
 be pronounced very fair, and, what is very hard to be procured in 
 the Confederacy, immaculate sheets. 
 
 This is a strange prelude, is it not, to the hardships which I 
 have been led to expect when I undertook my journey; but this is 
 no criterion of the poverty and the hardships in the South, for if 
 any place in the Confederacy is at all thriving it ought to be Wil- 
 mington, which has the monopoly of the blockade business. To- 
 morrow morning I start with Lawley for Richmond, as I am anxious 
 what the real position of military affairs is, and that is the only 
 point where any prompt and reliable intelligence can be procured. 
 All the people I have spoken to express sanguine hopes in General 
 Lee's gallant army, and his ability to hold the capital against 
 Grant's forces, which are rapidly being decimated by this succession 
 of frightful slaughters, as well as by disease. They don't look 
 for a complete rout like that at Bull Run or Fredericksburg, but 
 they think it probable that Grant will have to desist from sheer 
 exhaustion. 
 
 Lee'.s army having been heavily reinforced, is stronger than it 
 was at the commencement of the last campaign. General WTiitney* 
 puts down the whole of our losses at twelve thousand men, which 
 is a small number compared with the carliage among the Yankees. 
 I made that officer's acquaintance on landing, and was most favour- 
 ably impressed by his quiet, modest manners. He commands 
 this department and is looked upon as a very able general. He 
 won, you remember, great distinction in the Peninsula, by his 
 dashing conduct at the head of one of the crack divisions. He con- 
 siders the military position as promising, but deplores the death of 
 Jenkins, whom he looked upon as a splendid officer. Stewartf is 
 
 *Thi3 was undoubtedly General W, H. C. Whiting, the defender of Fort Fisher. 
 fJeb" Stuart. 
 
 418 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 29 
 
 greatly regretted, but I perceive he has greater prestige in Europe 
 than in the Confederacy, where his military talent is rather dis- 
 puted. If General Read's wound is mortal his loss will be the 
 greatest loss of all, for he is regarded as a man of extraordinary 
 ability. 
 
 The City of Petersburg was not wrecked after all; I found her 
 lying near the wharf as we came in; she is going out tomorrow and 
 will take this letter. I shall write to you as soon as I get to Rich- 
 mond, and with many thanks to you and all for the glorious batch 
 of letters handed to me by Mr. Ward, I fondly embrace you. 
 
 The Ballard House, Richmond, 
 
 June 10th, 1864. 
 My Dear Father: 
 
 My journey hither was certainly not one of bewildering rapid- 
 ity, and yet I can hardly realize the fact that I am within the walls 
 of the beleaguered capital of dear Dixie. It seems as it were an 
 ugly dream that after all the comforts and frivolities of a luxurious 
 life I should be surrounded by the stern realities of a hideous war. 
 Yes, here I am in the hotbed of treason, which for the nonce is 
 converted into a vast hospital for the accommodation of the woun- 
 ded in the last battles in the vicinity. Almost at every step my 
 gaze is met by the sight of trains of poor fellows maimed and muti- 
 lated by the brutal mercenaries of the North. Such is the pitch of 
 callousness to which men and women have arrived here, after wit- 
 nessing for three bloody years all the horrors of war, that now they 
 eye these miserable objects with apparent indifference. This 
 indifference does not arise, I am sure, from any dullness of sensibil- 
 ity; these people have shown too often by their acts of devotion how 
 good their hearts are, for me to suspect that their feelings are at all 
 dead. No, I think that as they are prepared for the same fate, 
 that it comes from a wish not to render themselves miserable by an 
 exhibition of compassion which would be of no use to the objects of 
 
 419 
 
30 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 it. I have been struck very forcibly by the sense of security which 
 seems to prevail here among all classes. The dangers which en- 
 viron this city, the chief aim of Yankee malignity, are very great. 
 Grant, at the head of his mighty force, is only some fifteen miles 
 off; and yet such is the unbounded confidence of the people in Lee 
 and his noble army, that you hear them talking not only of driving 
 the enemy back, but gobbling him up. So far, all the charges of 
 the Yankees have been repulsed with frightful slaughter and with 
 comparatively little loss to the Southerners, who are now for the 
 first time fighting from behind breastworks. I had last night a 
 few moments' conversation with a colonel who had just arrived 
 from the front. He told me that without any sort of exaggeration 
 the enemy lost, in front of a brigade of Georgians, no less than six 
 hundred men killed and about three thousand wounded, whilst 
 the Georgians are only minus four men since that fight. It is 
 thought that Grant is going to cross the Chickahominy, and that he 
 will follow in McClellan's footsteps towards Richmond, if he does 
 not attempt to cross over to the southern bank of the James River; 
 but there the gallant Beauregard waits him with the splendid army 
 which gave Butler so sound a drubbing the other day. Everything 
 indicates that this is the supreme effort of the North to crush out the 
 South. Never has their fighting been characterized by such des- 
 peration and recklessness. Their battalions have been repeatedly 
 hurled against the Southern breastworks with unwonted impetu- 
 osity and dash, but each time they have reeled back in disorder 
 and cut to pieces. I have not spoken to a single soldier here who 
 was not convinced that the Yankee courage in the recent battles 
 has been screwed up by means of the strongest whiskey. One of 
 them who was slightly wounded in one of those engagements told 
 me that some of the Yankees were so drunk when they charged 
 that they could hardly stand upon their legs, and that they would 
 roll harmlessly into the entrenchments, and there allow themselves 
 to be disarmed. In some cases they were so mad with liquor that 
 
 420 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 31 
 
 they would throw away their muskets and run into the cannon's 
 mouth. Nothing is too bad for these miscreants in Washington. 
 They now cap the climax by hurrying their own men into eternity 
 when beastly drunk. Horrible, horrible. I hope that the missive 
 in which I gave my dear mother an account of our successful trip 
 through the blockaders will reach her. I confided it to the care of 
 the purser of the City of Petersburg, requesting him to mail it as soon 
 as he got to Bermuda. It was a great relief to find this old friend 
 of mine lying alongside the wharf at Wilmington, for I had some 
 time before feared that she had been pounced upon by the Yankees. 
 She was seen attempting to run in, and was therefore obliged to put 
 back with a pack of cruisers at her heels. They chevied her right 
 into Nassau. There she remained for a few days in order to get 
 a supply of coal, and then she popped in, not however without 
 getting a shower of shot and canister. Captain Averell, whom I 
 have had the pleasure of meeting, tells me that they had a mighty 
 hot time of it; it almost reminded him of Seven Pines. I trust 
 that she will get to Bermuda safely, and as she is a very fast boat 
 there is a chance the more in her favour; but the Federals have now 
 so many fast cruisers lurking about the two cordons of blockaders, 
 that I consider running out fully as risky as running in. Although 
 we managed to elude the enemy with perfect impunity, I do not 
 look upon the blockade as child's play; in my opinion it is awfully 
 ticklish work trying to get through it. To do so successfully, speed 
 coupled with skillful seamanship is absolutely requisite. These 
 two indispensable qualities I found in the Lilian. I fear she will 
 lose her able commander. Captain MaflSt, who I judge is the best of 
 fellows and the most skillful of navigators; for his return here has 
 been hailed with delight, and the Secretary of the Navy has given 
 him a practical proof of it by pouncing upon him with an important 
 command just at the time when poor Maffit wanted to make a 
 little money in blockade running; but as I tell him, such are the 
 drawbacks to a too exalted reputation. 
 
 421 
 
32 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 This will cause the light-heeled Lilian to go down terribly in 
 the betting. I left Wilmington on Tuesday with Lawley, who has 
 stopped there a day in order to pen a communication to the "Thun- 
 derer" in which he recorded his impressions in the grandes emotions 
 which I shared with him. He gave it to me to read, and I can 
 vouch for its being graphic as well as truthful; we were not a little 
 loath, both of us, to leave the hospitable and comfortable residence 
 of Mr. Colby, which is like an oasis in the desert of privation. It 
 required no little force of will to give up all these luxuries and face 
 the filth, tediousness and thousand discomforts of our Southern 
 railroads. 
 
 Fortunately I stumbled on Mr. John Robinson, the son of Mr. 
 Robinson of Philadelphia, who is now military superintendent of 
 that line. He gave us permission to camp in the baggage car, a 
 favour which we appreciated very highly, I assure you, for with our 
 rugs we could lie down amongst the baggage. Our couches were 
 not of the downiest, it is true, but anything is preferable in these 
 times to the cars, which are densely packed with soldiers rushing to 
 the front. After half an hour's experience of them I was able fully 
 to realize the horrors of the Black Hole of Calcutta. 
 
 Our car was wedged in between two others containing ammu- 
 nition; very unpleasant neighbors at all times, but more so with an 
 engine which throws out a regular /^m d' artifice of sparks. To make 
 matters worse a terrific storm occurred, which became so violent 
 that the train had to be stopped. The flood-gates of Heaven were 
 opened to their widest extent. Never have I seen rain pour down 
 with such fury; each drop seemed large enough to fill a bucket; 
 the artillery of the gods, too, blazed and thundered forth in deafen- 
 ing peals. I saw the lightning, like an immense ball of fire, descend 
 and fell a large tree. Remembering that I was sandwiched between 
 these two very unpleasant cars, I felt inclined to observe the first 
 part of Cromwell's apothegm, but slightly to modify the other part 
 
 4'2'2 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 33 
 
 of it* We passed through to the west of Petersburg, a district 
 which had been the scene of the Yankee raid ordered by Butler, 
 and when he was so handsomely repulsed by Beauregard, For 
 miles and miles along the track the cowardly depredators had left 
 behind them marks of their passage — ^the charred remains of once 
 cosy cottages, the ruins of farmhouses, were visible in sad succes- 
 sion. I have been here only a few hours, and I have heard of more 
 atrocities committed by these Vandals than I could -attempt to 
 narrate in the space of twenty sheets. 
 
 The advance of the Northern horse has been marked by more 
 acts of wanton Vandalism than hitherto. Some counties have been 
 entirely devastated, and among them I fear that Caroline county 
 has been a heavy sufferer. I hear that a gentleman's house situated 
 there was stripped of all its furniture, decorations and food. Some 
 valuable rosewood tables and chairs were smashed into atoms and 
 then turned into breastworks. These accounts make me very 
 anxious to learn the fate of my uncle's estate; for that purpose I 
 shall make enquiries not only respecting him, but also about the 
 other members of our family. 
 
 In my next letter I shall communicate what facts I shall have 
 been able to gather; this I shall do as promptly as possible. In 
 future I intend writing very frequently, as that is, I think, the only 
 way in these disjointed times of informing you of the state of 
 my health and of my whereabouts. So far my health is all that 
 can be desired. I have taken up my quarters at the Ballard House 
 (Old Exchange) I here share a tolerably comfortable room with a 
 Captain Wright, of Alabama, who plants on the same river as 
 Lygon. 
 
 He was a fellow-passenger of mine in the Lilian, having just 
 escaped from a Yankee prison to Bermuda. As he will pass on his 
 way home through Montgomery, I shall entrust the present for my 
 
 *Put your trust in God, but keep your powder dry.. 
 
 423 
 
34 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 dear Aunt Randolph to his care. The prices here, owing to de- 
 pression of the currency, are absurdly high. For instance, I pay 
 three dollars for a couple of eggs, eight for a beefsteak, and fifteen 
 for a small chicken. This is appalling at first if you don't bear in 
 mind th&,t the proportion of gold to paper is about one to seventeen. 
 The late financial meafsure, however, has raised the value of paper, 
 for now seventeen Confederate notes will buy a gold dollar, whilst 
 a year ago twenty-seven would not do that — so you see there is an 
 improvement, and I am told it is going on gradually — so much the 
 better. Write very often yourself, and I beseech you to tell mother, 
 Bella and Bessie to do the same. With this species of stimulant I 
 know that my spirits will never be depressed. 
 Fafewell. Your devoted son. 
 
 My last letter was dated Wilmington, 6th. 
 
 P. S. — ^I got here not one minute too soon, for a Yankee raiding 
 party stopped the train which followed the one I was in, took the 
 passengers prisoners, and after burning the cars and turning up 
 some of the rails, returned to Norfolk with their captives. A little 
 more and I was in the clutches of Beast Butler. This is what the 
 people here call escaping by the skin of one's teeth. 
 
 Ballabd House Richmond, 
 
 June 15tb, 1864. 
 My dear Father: 
 
 In my last week's letter to you I told you that I purposed 
 making enquiries about our kinsfolk in Dixie in order to give a re- 
 port which I know you are most anxiously expecting. I have at 
 length been able to glean the following facts, partly from Mrs. 
 Lewis, and partly from your nephew, Nicholas C, who has just 
 arrived here from the Reed's, after running innumerable perils in 
 getting through the enemy's lines. The Yankees, during their 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 35 
 
 occupation of Caroline County, burned and destroyed private 
 property in their wonted barbarous style; but strange to say, al- 
 though my uncle's neighbours were subjected to every sort of 
 cruelty and indignity, yet he was treated with comparative clemen- 
 cy for the scoundrels contented themselves with carrying oflF some 
 of his horses and oxen and with shooting those they could not take 
 away; but they did not insult Aunt Virginia or my cousin Anna 
 Munford, who were staying at the Reed's when Burnside's corps 
 camped in its vicinity. Soldiers were constantly lounging into the 
 house, but except upon the larder and the store-room, which they 
 mbsl; eflfectually cleared out, they did not commit any other de- 
 predations. 
 
 Some of the negroes were infduced to leave the farm, but the 
 majority preferred remaining. Nicholas tells me that notwith- 
 standing the presence of the enemy, they were perfectly civil and 
 subordinate. All labour however is stopped by order of the Fed- 
 erals, who threaten to shoot the darkies if they do any work in the 
 fields. Nicholas was stopping at the old homestead when the 
 army of Grant marched through the county, and in order to avoid 
 capture he had to conceal himself in the woods in the daytime. 
 At night he had to creep cautiously into the house. The negroes 
 offered him all the assistance in their power, and when asked 
 whether he was on the place or lurking in the neighborhood, they 
 pretended not to know what had become of him, notwithstanding 
 the most awful threats if they were caught hiding the truth. My 
 cousin finding this state of things unbearable, started, after taking 
 leave of the inmates of the Reeds', for Richmond — a most hazardous 
 undertaking. From the moment of his departure to the time he 
 reached the fortifications of the city, five days and nights elapsed. 
 During the journey he was frequently shot at by the Yankees, who 
 took him for a bushwhacker. At one time they actually got within 
 one hundred yards of him, and then blazed away — ^but happily 
 without hurting him. His privations, poor fellow, were very great, 
 
 425 
 
36 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 for he had only a scanty supply of bread with which to quiet the 
 cravings of hunger; but like the immense majority of Southern 
 people he bore these hardships cheerfully, and having got his dis- 
 charge he prosecuted his studies in medicine, and now he occupies 
 a position as surgeon in one of the hospitals appropriated to the 
 Yankee wounded. Every one is in good health, I am glad to hear, 
 at the Reed's. 
 
 Aunt Virginia, notwithstanding the propinquity of the Yan- 
 kees, was doing very well. Your brother John is in Montgomery. 
 Having succeeded in selling his Virginia farm he has bought a pleas- 
 ant little place in that pleasant town, and is now engaged in super- 
 intending the cotton purchased by the government. The berth 
 is said to be a good one. His eldest son occupies the post of quar- 
 termaster in a brigade of Longstreet's corps. He has the repu- 
 tation of being a very efficient officer. His brother Lygon, who 
 has no vocation for the military profession, is employed in the 
 treasury department. My uncle Lygon has not left his plantation 
 since the war broke out; the reports concerning him are satisfac- 
 tory. Your sister Anna's sons, whom you expressed so much solic- 
 itude about, have both been providentially saved. The eldest 
 one was taken prisoner at Fort Donelson, but after a few months' 
 imprisonment he got his exchange and re-entered the army, I 
 think in the capacity of an adjutant. Frank Randolph is now a 
 Major in the cavalry, having distinguished himself on various 
 occasions. 
 
 Ever since the beginning of the war he has been in the thickest 
 of the fights. He received his last promotion after a brilliant 
 cavalry charge. I expect that if his career is not cut short he will 
 shortly be appointed to a colonelcy, for he is regarded as one of the 
 most promising officers in the service. 
 
 So far the tidings I have communicated are not so bad for 
 these sanguinary times. 
 
 426 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 37 
 
 We have of late been amused at the jubilant tone of the North- 
 ern press, which tries to make out that all Grant's movements 
 hitherto have been great successes, where Lee has foiled him every- 
 where. It is clear that the disastrous repulses he has met within 
 the Wilderness and Spottsylvania have compelled him to modify 
 his programme, which was to march straight through the Con- 
 federate lines down to the city; instead of which his progress has 
 been of a sidelong nature, and attended with the most awful car- 
 nage of the war. 
 
 His present point of attack might have been reached almost 
 without firing a gun, and yet after butting his head unsuccessfully 
 against the Confederate positions a number of times, and after los- 
 ing seventy thousand men in the attempt to carry them, he claims 
 a series of victories. Reports come in frequently that the Yankees 
 are very much disheartened by the frightful slaughter in their 
 ranks. It is even said that Grant has no little trouble in bringing 
 them up to the scratch; but we will be able to estimate their de- 
 moralization in the next battle. 
 
 There is no sign of anything of the sort in the Confederate 
 army — that I can vouch for; I have visited the different corps and 
 have come to the conclusion that Lee cannot be whipped, for never 
 have his troops been in better heart and spirits. They are roughly 
 clad, it is true, but their clothing is better than it ever was and 
 they have never been as well-shod since the war commenced. There 
 are provisions in the army in this city which can be made to last 
 seven months. The soldiers now, compared to that which they 
 have had to endure hitherto, are bountifully supplied; they get 
 full rations, have coffee and sugar, luxuries whicih up to the present 
 time they had not often indulged in. 
 
 Some of the brigades are so abundantly provided for that they 
 have frequently given their rations to the poor of the city, amongst 
 whom there is really a great deal of suffering owing to the exorbi- 
 
 427 
 
38 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 tant prices of food, caused by the proximity of Grant's army, and 
 also by the cutting up of the railroads; but it is hoped that this 
 pressure is only temporary. 
 
 I wish that some of the faint-hearted soi-disant Confederates, 
 who no doubt think that the South is at its last gasp, could be 
 transplanted here at the stroke of a magic wand. They would then 
 see sights which indicate anything but fear ot despondency. 
 
 There is no noise or agitation in the streets. The citizens 
 pursue their daily avocations without evincing any signs of terror. 
 The ladies in the evening sit on the doorsteps of their houses and 
 there chat cheerfully, whilst their fingers are busily engaged in 
 knitting or sewing for the soldiers. Were not the stillness of this 
 doomed city broken at intervals by the distant booming of cannon, 
 you would really little suspect that twenty millions of Yankees had 
 concentrated all their fiendish ingenuity on its destruction. Al- 
 though not hardened to these emotions like inhabitants, I have been 
 infected by contagion of their serene confidence, and now if at all 
 solicitous it is more about affairs in Georgia than about the fate of 
 Richmond. 
 
 I have written to Mr. Hodgson and to Mr. Cowper, but I fear 
 owing to the irregularity of postal communication that I shall not 
 for a long time get answers from them. Nothing has been received 
 from you, or from the dear folks at home, since I have landed in 
 rebeldom. 
 
 With love to you all I fondly embrace you. 
 
 Your devoted son, 
 
 Richmond, June 26th, 1864. 
 My dear Mother: 
 
 More than three weeks have elapsed since I first set foot on the 
 shores of Dixie, and yet, notwithstanding the most diligent enquiries 
 
 428 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 39 
 
 I have not heard of the arrival of a missive from you or any of my 
 beloved correspondents. I don't, however, give myself up to 
 despair, and I am buoyed up with the hope that when they do come 
 they will come "not as single spies, but in battalions". I ought not, 
 however, to be surprised at this long interval in our correspondence, 
 for to the risks and uncertainties of the blockade must be super- 
 added the dislocation of postal communication caused to Richmond 
 by the enemy. 
 
 The Yankees have taken a leaf out of Morgan's and poor 
 Stewart's book, and are now displaying more dash than we gave 
 them credit for, in the shape of raid-making. They prowl about 
 the vicinity, tear up the railroad tracks, cut telegraph wires, to the 
 intense disgust of the post-office officials; so you see than even after 
 arriving in the Confederacy letters are a very long time in reaching 
 their destination. As an instance of this postal irregularity; I 
 wrote to Mr. Cowper and to Mr. Hodgson immediately after 
 landing, and yet I have not received any answer from either of those 
 gentlemen. The only thing to be done is to peg away in the hope 
 that out of a mass of missives one may perchance be received. This 
 is what I am doing, but alas so far with little success. 
 
 Sheridan and his vile gang of plunderers, after a succession of 
 discomfitures have at length been whipped out of the Peninsula, 
 where they have perpetrated the most fiendish atrocities, and now, 
 after a sound drubbing administered to them by Hampton, they 
 are cowering demoralized and panic-stricken, under the protection 
 of their gunboats. When Nicholas C — ran the gauntlet of the 
 Federal pickets, as I related in my last letter to Father, Caroline 
 County was occupied by Grant's army, and the poor old family 
 homestead was hemmed in on all sides by the Federals, who pillaged 
 and destroyed all the private residences within their reach. 
 
 Up to the time of his departure they had not molested any of 
 the inmates of the Reed's or stolen anything from the interior of 
 
 429 
 
40 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 the house; but to my inexpressible sorrow I have just heard that 
 the comparative immunity of my poor uncle was of short duration; 
 for when Grant, after that "overwhelming victory" of Cold Har- 
 bour, was obliged to resume his triumphant but crab-like march to 
 Richmond, he was followed by Sheridan's shattered command, 
 who revenged themselves on the defenceless women and children 
 for the hard blows of the Virginian cavalry dealt them. Maddened 
 by repeated defeats they entered the Reed's and proceeded to take 
 all they could lay their hands on. They carried oflF or tore up most 
 of the clothes that were to be found, and not content with robbing 
 my uncle Robert, aunt Virginia and cousin Anne of all they had, 
 the ruffians actually laid violent hands on the food and money 
 belonging to the slaves. This is their new system of forcing the 
 negroes, for having found the poor creatures loath to leave their 
 masters they now destroy all their provisions, in the hope that the 
 fear of starvation would make them follow the invaders. Some of 
 the servants at the Reeds were induced by the threats and lying 
 representations of the Yankees to run away, but the majority of 
 them stubbornly declined to abandon their homes. I am con- 
 strained by decency from attempting to narrate all the abominable 
 outrages which many unfortunate women have been the victims 
 of in this last campaign. Outrages so horrible that we ought to 
 blush now at the thought of having lived in amity and under the 
 same government with such fiends incarnate. 
 
 Four of these Vandals entered the house of a gentleman in 
 King William County. He was away at the time, but his wife 
 and daughter had not had time to effect their escape. They were 
 immediately seized upon and every species of brutal indignity was 
 offered them. Their shrieks were happily heard by some of the 
 negroes, who rushed to the rescue Justin time to save them from 
 the hands of the detestable Northern savages. The two women 
 were locked up in a safe place by the slaves, who in order to mollify 
 the incensed Yankees laid before them all the edibles and drinkables 
 
 430 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 41 
 
 that were in the house. In the meantime one of the darkies ran 
 to headquarters of General Fitzhugh Lee, informed him of what had 
 takeh place, and the general sent a troop of cavalry under the 
 guidance of the faithful slave, to the house. It was surrounded 
 and the Yankee wretches were bagged whilst gorging. A rope was 
 procured and they were hanged to the nearest tree. Things have 
 come to such a pass now that forbearance ceases to be a virtue. 
 The coarse and brutal natures of the Northern people are incapable 
 of appreciating patience and moderation; in fact impunity only 
 renders them more furious and malignant. 
 
 Reprisals have therefore become absolutely necessary, and 
 it is only by striking terror into their black souls that their enor- 
 mities can be stopped. These excesses of the enemy have so ex- 
 asperated the people of the south that old men and the gentlest 
 women all clamour for retribution, and the government is very 
 much blamed for its weakness in submitting to Yankee barbarities 
 and in not taking an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 
 
 I went yesterday to visit the battlefield of Cold Harbour, 
 where the Yankees are said to have lost twelve thousand men. 
 The battle had raged there about a month ago, and yet the ground 
 was strewed with the corpses of Yankee soldiers festering in the 
 broiling sun. The carnage must have been awful, for within the 
 space of ten square yards I counted no less than thirty dead bodies 
 clothed in the Federal uniform. In some cases the flesh had 
 been gnawed away, and the skeletons alone remained, clothed in 
 Lincoln's detestable livery. On some parts of the field the dead 
 men were literally heaped up like stones. Perched on these 
 mounds of human putrefaction were the sleek and sluggish buz- 
 zards of Virginia, engaged in a hideous orgie. Like the shoddy 
 contractors of the North they have grown fat on the war. The 
 last campaign of Grant's must have met with their approval, for 
 never has the army of the Potomac supplied them with such copi- 
 ous meals. 
 
 431 
 
42 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 Accoutrements and muskets were lying about in all directions, 
 mixed up with cooking utensils and every description of debris. 
 Notwithstanding these indisputable signs of a precipitate retreat, 
 Grant and his employers have the audacity to claim a victory at 
 Cold Harbour. 
 
 The scene of desolation was heartrending. Fields which 
 before this deadly struggle were covered with waving crops, are 
 now trampled under foot and devastated; the houses in the 
 vicinity are battered down and abandoned; and the poor farmers 
 will have nothing to gather this year but Yankee carcasses mowed 
 down by Southern musketry. My guide and companion on this 
 sad expedition was a young Frenchman, who lost an arm in one of 
 the fights of the West. 
 
 As we were rambling over the battlefield we fell in with two 
 stragglers belonging to Grant's army. One of them was broken 
 down and was lying down almost dead with heat and thirst. Al- 
 though tales of Northern ruthlessness were fresh upon my memory, 
 I could not refrain from giving him some restorative in the shape 
 of a little whiskey and water and a little liquid ginger, which is said 
 to be an excellent thing for this climate. His comrade professed 
 to be very contrite, and told me he had been entrapped into the 
 seh^ice when drunk, and that a few days after his impressment he 
 had been sent down to fight the south. He appeared very anxious 
 to be taken prisoner, and swore s61emnly that he would never re- 
 enter the army. I had sallied out with the intention of joining 
 the rear of Lee's army, but after hunting about for it all day, we 
 met a cavalryman who told us that the whole of "Massa Bob's" 
 force had crossed the James river in order to confront the invincible 
 Ulysses, who had again changed his base. So we determined to 
 retrace our steps to Richmond, and the next morning I left in a 
 settler's wagon for Petersburg, where General Lee has established 
 his headquarters. The railroad to that place had been cut by the 
 enemy, therefore I had to choose this mode of locomotion, which 
 
 432 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 43 
 
 was none the pleasantest, seeing that the heat was intense and the 
 dust exceeded anything of the kind I had ever suffered before. I 
 reached Petersburg after a journey of ten hours and made straight 
 for the headquarters of the great comma'nder; but aides-de-camp 
 and orderlies were rushing in and out so frantically that I thought 
 this was not a seasonable occasion for an humble individual like 
 myselt to ask for an interview. I had brought out a letter from 
 Mr. W. C. Rives (whose kindness let me tell you in passing I shall 
 never forget) to General Field, now commanding Hood's famous 
 division of Texans and Georgians, and so I determined to shape my 
 course towards his division. In order to do so I had to make many 
 enquiries but the civilians were too much flurried to give me much 
 information, for the Yankees were shelling the city at the time and 
 the noisy projectiles were tumbling about in a very alarming 
 manner. I saw one in particular fall through the roof of a Yankee 
 hospital, and the shrieks which followed the explosion were the 
 most awful I ever heard. I don't know how long I should have 
 been obliged to loaf about had I not met a civil young soldier who 
 kindly volunteered to show me the way to Field's division, as he 
 belonged to a Georgian brigade in that division. I followed him, 
 and he first took me to his own regiment, which not having yet got 
 into line of battle was taking it easy pro tern, in a cosy little valley 
 well sheltered from the enemy's artillery. There I was asked by 
 some of the privates to partake of their supper. The warm-hearted 
 fellows pressed me so much that I consented to pitch into their 
 grub, not however without some compimction, as I thought of the 
 harrowing stories about starvation amongst the soldiers which have 
 grieved us ever since this war commenced. But my scruples were 
 soon quieted when I perceived they had plenty of corn-meal out of 
 which they made capital cakes, an abundance of bacon and vege- 
 tables, and very fair coffee. 
 
 After supper the good-natured guide showed me the way to 
 General Field's headquarters. I had a few moments' very inter- 
 
 433 
 
44 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 esting conversation with the general, who is a very gentlemanly and 
 well-informed man. He gave me permission to visit his lines. 
 When we started for our breastworks night had come, and skir- 
 mishing was going on all along the front; consequently our pro- 
 gress thither, to say the least was very exciting, for minie balls 
 whistled every now and then close to our ears, and shells burst, as 
 I thought, very near to us. At last we reached the trenches. 
 There I sat some time chatting with the Texans, who seem to be a 
 jovial set of fellows and utterly unmindful of cannon balls and rifle 
 bullets. Crack, crack went the enemy's rifles, and yet my Texan 
 friends laughed and talked as unconcernedly as if they were en- 
 joying themselves in a cafe. The enemy made an attack upon our 
 right that night, and were repulsed with great loss, losing sixteen 
 hundred prisoners. It is evident that after the carnage of the past 
 six weeks they no longer charge on our breastworks with any dash. 
 The Southern troops are dead tired of burrowing like moles in holes 
 and trenches; they want to meet the foe in the open, and drive oflF 
 Grant as they did McClellan. I am happy to say that so far my 
 health is capital, although the heat is the most terrific I have ever 
 experienced. There are in the room in which I am writing, no less 
 than one hundred and five degrees, and yet it is supposed to be in 
 the shade. But alas I have come to the end of my last sheet, so 
 I must say adieu to you and my dear mother. 
 
 Ballard House, Richmond, 
 
 July 1st, 1864. 
 My Dear Father: 
 
 Uncle Sam's Grant, by his grand strategic movement to the 
 south side of the James has sent the universal Yankee nation into 
 ecstasies; but we think here that he will not justify his present posi- 
 tion any more than he has done elsewhere the crazy exulta- 
 tion of the Northern papers. It is just possible that their gullible 
 readers, who are still indulging in amiable hopes and visions of 
 
 434 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 45 
 
 Fourth of July jubilees in the doomed city of Richmond, the aspect 
 of which is to be rendered ineffably festive for the occasion by 
 decorating the lamp-posts round the Capitol with the dangling 
 detested forms of Jeff. Davis and his rebel accomplices — it is 
 just possible say I, that they may be disappointed and that their 
 pleasant day dreams may not be realized. When (oh much-to-be- 
 deplored event) we threw off the comparatively mild rule of King 
 George, to submit to the loathsome rule of King Mob. I am happy 
 to see that the Southern people, both high and low, are rapidly 
 losing their admiration for dirty democracy. In the army a 
 healthy reaction has set in against the unbridled license and brazen 
 corruption inherent to our much-bepuffed institutions. By ming- 
 ling amongst the men in the ranks one soon becomes aware of 
 their distrust in the politicians, as they contemptuously call their 
 representatives in Congress. I have often heard them express their 
 determination, as soon as this war is over, of sweeping away all 
 those fellows, and of taking the management of their affairs into 
 their own hands. It will be an Augean task, but it is the only way 
 of ensuring the peace and tranquillity of the country. I hope those 
 intentions will be carried out, for the intelligence, wealth and res- 
 pectability of the Confederacy are concentrated in the army; the 
 men who have kept out of it ostensibly to control the destinies of 
 this commonwealth, are not equal to the times; they are for the 
 most part whiskey-drinking ranters of the old United States pat- 
 tern. It is really painful amidst the heroism of the soldiers and 
 the beautiful self-devotion of the women, to witness the same vul- 
 garity and indecorum which converted the halls of the United 
 States Congress into a bear-garden. We must change all that. 
 This is too great a people to be represented by a parcel of rowdies 
 who chew, spit and whittle while discussing questions of the greatest 
 importance. Such men are fit representatives of Yankees but not 
 of a nation endowed like the South with qualities so noble. It 
 is a notable fact that those noisy fire-eaters, of the Wiggin* and 
 
 * WigfaU. 
 
 435 
 
46 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 Toombs' stripe are now consigned to the limbo of oblivion, having 
 been unable to stand the severe test of events. For the most part 
 they have cut a very poor figure in the field, and now they are 
 eclipsed by men who had no sort of notoriety before this war. 
 These are my impressions on the foregoing subject, and I give them 
 to you for what they are worth, as you asked me to communicate 
 unreservedly the result of my observations. I thought that where 
 there is so much to be admired and extolled I could well afford to 
 make a few strictures on what I consider bad features of our polit- 
 ical system. The defects can be easily remedied, and will be reme- 
 died I feel certain, for the people are fully alive to them and are 
 not in a humour to tolerate such abuses. I have been most hospi- 
 tably entertained by all the parties to whom I brought letters of 
 introduction, and also by several of your old friends; Mrs. Stanard 
 among the number has shown me every sort of kindness. She 
 does the honours of her house in so genial and unaffected a manner 
 that it is impossible not to feel at ease when under its roof. 
 
 You must tell your excellent kind old friend Mason that I feel 
 most grateful for the hospitality which has been extended to me by 
 his most amiable wife. Her anxiety to conduce to my comfort 
 iis really quite motherly, and I appreciate it the more because of the 
 tenderness and maternal solicitude of one whom I love as never son 
 loved a mother, and who yet deserves more love than that. 
 
 Aunt Virginia has at last arrived from the Reeds. She is 
 not looking too badly, considering that ever since the last raid 
 starvation has stared her in the face. The poor woman was highly 
 pleased to see me, and although not very demonstrative, she was 
 in raptures with the presents I brought her. I have made her 
 promise that she would give you a recital of the great trials which 
 she underwent whilst the Federals were prowling about Caroline 
 County, and also of her plucky conduct under the circumstances. 
 I have been constantly on the move for the last ten days, oscillating 
 between the army and Richmond. Now having made several in- 
 
 436 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 47 
 
 dispensable arrangements, I shall go for good to General Field's 
 headquarters, where I expect to stay some time, as he has given me 
 the position of volunteer aide on his stafiF. 
 
 As I mentioned in a former letter, he is a noble fellow and very 
 generally beloved, both by officers and men, on account of his 
 genial and agreeable manners. The outfit I brought over from 
 London will therefore come in very handy, and with the exception 
 of a bag I was ready to take the field from the very first. Horse- 
 flesh is at a premium now in the Confederacy; it was therefore not 
 without difficulty that I found a quadruped good enough to make 
 a charge. Fortunately I stumbled on a wounded Soiith Carolinian, 
 who told me his horse was for sale. The animal proving satis- 
 factory I decided to become its owner, which I did in the following 
 manner: I had bought a barrel of sugar for five pounds in Halifax, 
 with the intention of sending some of it down to Aunt Anna and 
 some to the Cowpers; but railroad communications being so terri- 
 bly uncertain and robberies of hourly occurrence, I thought my 
 saccharine presents stood a very ripe chance of never reaching their 
 destination. To sell the barrel was my first impulse, but upon 
 second thoughts I proposed to swap my sugar, with three hundred 
 dollars to boot, against the horse. The sugar was worth twelve 
 hundred dollars; added to the abovesaid sum it amounted to fif- 
 teen hundred dollars, the price asked for him. The bargain has 
 just been struck, and now I am in possession of a good cavalry 
 horse, born and bred in the little secesh state. I straightway 
 christened my purchase "Palmetto". I think that were this tran- 
 saction to be related in the Jockey Club would create some amuse- 
 ment. I ought to tell you that fifteen hundred dollars in paper is 
 only one hundred dollars in gold. I hear that the Wilmington road 
 is again in running order. The person who agreed to take charge 
 of this scrawl is in a hurry to be oflf; I must therefore, as they say 
 here, "dry up". 
 
 My next will be dated from the front. 
 
 Your devoted son, 
 
 4S7 
 
LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 Headquarters of Field's Division, 
 
 Longstreet's Corps, A(rmt) N(orthern V)a 
 July 5th, 1864. 
 My Dear Mother: 
 
 The links in our correspondence are destined, I fear to be so 
 frequently snapped, that I fully expect you will be not a little sur- 
 prised to hear that I am now part and parcel of the veteran Army 
 of North Virginia. I wrote to my dear father on the eve of my 
 departure from Richmond, informing him that in accordance with 
 my long-cherished plans I had offered my humble services to the 
 Confederacy, and that I had been fortunate enough to obtain a very 
 acceptable position on General Field's staff, in the capacity of a 
 Volunteer aide. Don't frown, I beseech you dear mother, when 
 you read this for I have been generally congratulated on my good 
 luck in getting so desirable a place. I am told that I ought to 
 felicitate myself on getting into this snug berth, for in addition to 
 the opportunities which may offer of gaining a little credit for my 
 zeal and other good qualities which I trust this strange and event- 
 ful phase of life may develop in me, I shall have in addition to these 
 opportunities the advantage of .agreeable association with gentle- 
 men and men of the world. My general commands Hood's old 
 corps, which has the pretension, and a well-founded one too, of 
 considering itself the crack division of General Longstreet's corps. 
 Lawley's letters and Freemantle's book have shown that after their 
 exploits at Gettysburg and Chickamauga our boys have some 
 grounds for being a little conceited. Our chief, one of Kentucky's 
 noblest sons, was an officer in the old United States army. Like 
 many Kentuckians, amongst whom are to be counted some of our 
 very best generals, he committed his destinies to those of the "Way- 
 ward sisters," and helped to thrash the Yankees at Bull Run. He 
 is a very tall, manly and handsome fellow. His maimers are so 
 quiet and refined that so far my relations with him have been of the 
 most satisfactory nature, and I feel quite certain that time will 
 improve this agreeable impression. 
 
 438 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 49 
 
 The other members of the staflf are thoroughly good fellows 
 and are doing all in their power to post me up, and to make me as 
 comfortable as the times will admit. 
 
 I am for the present the General's only aide, the other two 
 officers serving in that capacity being away; my position therefore 
 is not a sinecure, for since my arrival here I have carried about a 
 great many orders. Our headquarters are situated in a large 
 farm-yard, well shaded by large trees, under which we stretch our 
 blankets at night. I cannot assert that the soil of Virginia is quite 
 as soft as the "sommiers elastiques" to which I have been so long 
 habituated; but I have been able to ascertain from personal ex- 
 perience that Shakespeare was, as usual, in the right when he 
 declared that 
 
 "Weariness can snore upon the flint 
 Whilst restive sloth finds his down pillow hard." 
 
 My snug berth is not by any means a bed of roses, but although I 
 haVe to rough it a little my health was never better, and as to my 
 appetite, it is perfectly wolfish. It would amuse you to see with 
 what gusto I devour my rations of bacon and cabbage, just as if it 
 was one of Maria's most masterly concoctions. Yesterday was 
 the terrible Fourth of July, on which glorious anniversary the 
 secesh nut was not only cracked to atoms, "Mais petit hon homme 
 vit encore" and we are silently but confidently awaiting the Yankee 
 onslaught. That we can well afford to do, as our position is a very 
 strong and healthy one. The location of the Northern army is on 
 the contrary very bad, the country in the rear of their lines being 
 very marshy and sickly. The water they have to drink is said to 
 be of the worst description and to have caused a great deal of 
 sickness in their ranks. Fortunately for us the springs here are 
 delicious. Early yesterday we were on the tiptoe of expectation 
 lest Grant might try to console the North for the non-capture 
 of Richmond by a furious assault on our lines, combined with a 
 
 439 
 
50 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 grand bombardment of poor Petersburg. He, strange to say, was 
 unusually quiet, and contented himself during the day with throw- 
 ing some shells into the city, which did not do much damage beyond 
 smashing some furniture in two empty houses and killing two 
 mules. Along the enemy's breastworks there was a good deal of 
 noise and cheering caused by whiskey and buncombe, which was 
 very freely dispensed by their grog-shop Generals.* At night 
 their festivities were wound up by a grand /^m d* artifice of mortar 
 bombs, none of which did us any harm. It is a very fine sight to 
 see one of these huge balls of fire describing graceful parabolas 
 in the heavens; but between ourselves, although Uncle Sam's 
 little entertainment was very good of the kind, I prefer the fireworks 
 of the fifteenth of August, f If this letter is more than usually badly 
 written and stupid, you must blame the Yankees for it; they per- 
 sist in keeping up a constant rattle of musketry, interspersed now 
 and then with the booming of huge "Dahlgrens". Now this noise 
 is rather apt to flutter a raw recruit, so be indulgent, to the emotion 
 attending a first appearance. I am on duty now, and therefore this 
 missive must be brought to a full stop. 
 
 Field's Headquarters, Raglan's Farm, 
 
 Longstreet's Corps, 
 
 JuLT 8th, 1864. 
 My Dear Mother: 
 
 In my last I told you that the great, the mighty the irresistible 
 Ulysses had not come in time on the festive day consecrated by 
 Yankeedom to brag and buncombe. Since then he has been toler- 
 ably quiet, consequently allowing us to take ease with dignity under 
 the shade of the wide-spreading trees which do picket duty under 
 the General's quarters against the ruthless rays of this relentless 
 Virginian sun. Even in this comparatively cool spot the mercury 
 
 * When in the trenches I could distinctly hear their bands playing that abominably 
 vulgar air "Yankee Doodle". 
 
 t The celebration in Paris of the fall of the Bastile. 
 
 440 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 51 
 
 stands at 98, but when my duties take me down to the trenches I 
 generally come to the conclusion that this is a mild temperature, 
 and that I ought to consider myself lucky at not having to endure 
 their heat, rendered still more disagreeable by the total stagnation 
 of the air behind our breastworks. To the left of Field's division 
 our lines are so close to the Yankees that we not only hear their 
 band plainly, but at times the voices of their officers, the nasal 
 twang of which is very audible. Their sharpshooters — ^the best 
 branch, by-the-by, of the Federal service — are always wide-awake 
 and always ready to pick off the rash secesh who ventures to raise 
 his "knowledge-box" above the parapets; a gulp of fresh air being 
 only attainable at the expense of a broken skull. The men, with 
 characteristic cheerfulness, allow themselves to be basted by the 
 inexorable sun, not however without expressing the hope that 
 "Massa Bob" will soon give them permission to charge the "blue- 
 bellies," as they disdainfully designate their more abdominal ad- 
 versaries. 
 
 Anything, in the opinion of our boys, is better than this de- 
 testable trench life which they have led for two months. They 
 don't want to burrow much longer like moles in the sand, for this 
 mode of warfare is to them very humiliating. But General Lee, 
 by persisting in fighting behind dirt, has again given evidence of his 
 wisdom and sagacity, for from the first battle of this campaign up 
 to the present moment, our losses have only been about eighteen 
 thousand, out of which a large proportion are prisoners and wound- 
 ed men, a great many of whom have already returned to their 
 respective commands. Now the Yanks themselves admit to have 
 lost since the fight began no less than eighty thousand men. Strange 
 to say, although our men are unable to take any exercise or to in- 
 hale fresh air, yet the sanitary condition of the army leaves nothing 
 to be desired. This shows the immense superiority of veteran and 
 seasoned troops over green ones, as in the case of Grant's army, 
 which owing to the terrific slaughter in it, is now made up of 
 
 441 
 
52 LEXERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 hundred days' men, and raw Paddies freshly decoyed from the 
 Emerald Isle. Deserters are constantly coming in from the enemy's 
 lines; they tell us that General Ulysses Grant really intended a 
 grand assault of our lines on the Fourth of July, and for that pur- 
 pose oceans of whiskey, the Yankee pluck-infusing specific, were 
 administered to the soldiers. Orations of an intensely blood-and- 
 thunder order were delivered by patriotic contractors and shoddy 
 politicians who had come down to have some fun, and to enjoy at a 
 safe distance the spectacle of a "right big fight". But alas — they 
 were disappointed in their humane expectations, for all these stim- 
 ulants failed to screw the courage of their mercenaries up to the 
 sticking point. If I am not much mistaken the Yanks have had 
 their fill of rebel earthworks and rebel bayonets. To pass the time 
 the enemy's artillery had a little brush with ours last night; at one 
 time their mortar shells came down so thick around our head- 
 quarters that we were obliged to retreat hastily but strategically 
 to the farmhouse. When the fire slackened we emerged from our 
 subterranean place of refuge, and again resumed our slumbers 
 sub tegmine fagi, notwithstanding our explosive visitors. Such is 
 habit. I am more and more struck with the traits which Man has 
 in common with that most philosophical reptile, the cat. I am 
 sorry I have applied the epithet "reptile" to those favorites of dear 
 Isabella; she will never forgive me, I know. The soldiers have a 
 strong aversion to those "mortal" shells, as they are called in the 
 Confederate ranks. The fact is that at night they are very ugly 
 customers, and pounce upon a poor body like a hawk upon a chicken. 
 A burly Texan private told me that he had never been able to sur- 
 mount his dislike of them. "I can stand Minie bullets and cannon 
 balls" said he, "but them tarnal mortals air mighty unpleasant; 
 they'd annoy a fellow if he were at the bottom of a well." My 
 saddle, that masterpiece of English saddlery, and my boots, those 
 masterpieces of French cordwainers, are the objects of never-ending 
 admiration on the part of the officers of this army; but the men, 
 who must be excused for not being so appreciative (poor souls) are 
 
 442 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 53 
 
 disposed to be a little sarcastic at my expense. When they are 
 marching by they will sometimes say jocularly "Come out of them 
 boots, I say, Mister; I see your head a-peeping out", or else "Get 
 a corkscrew for the gentleman, he wants to get out of his boots". 
 In the Confederate army officers of all ranks, whose faces are not 
 known by the men, are equally exposed to a volley of chaff, for the 
 Southern soldier is an inveterate joker — ^he even chaffed his idol, 
 Stonewall Jackson, for his ungainly seat on horseback. And yet 
 if you speak to them civilly they will always give you an intelligent 
 and ready reply. Provided you are not arrogant or overbearing 
 they will invariably try to oblige you with alacrity. As I was 
 riding along the lines with the chief engineer of the army, General 
 Smith, a very smart and stylish fellow, rather rigid in his attitude 
 and carriage, we came to a Mississippi regiment, and I distinctly 
 heard one of the privates remark to a comrade: "I say. Bill, look 
 at that there officer;he's rather stiff and stuck up, ain't he?" "Yes," 
 answered the other, with that drawl peculiar to some Southerners, 
 "I reckon he had ramrod tea for breakfast". We are lost here in 
 a maze of conjecture as to what will be the next move on the great 
 Virginian chess-board. There are indications on the enemy's left 
 of a movement towards or perhaps across the James river, for there 
 is great bustling going on in that direction; but come what may 
 we are prepared for his wiliest strategy. It is thought by some 
 officers that Grant is about to pull up stakes and sneak off to 
 Washington, which is said to be in jeopardy on account of Early's 
 presence in Maryland. That general commands universal con- 
 fidence, and is thought one of the best leaders of the Stonewall stripe 
 in the army; he is at the head of thirty thousand men belonging 
 to Jackson's old corps. If I am not mistaken he will give the North 
 a big scare. In the meantime poor Petersburg is being ruthlessly 
 shelled by the Vandals, who seem bent upon destroying it piece- 
 meal out of their wantonness and malice, for it has no importance 
 to us in a military point of view. I walked about the city this 
 morning, and perceived that the exodus was now complete. All 
 
 443 
 
54 LETTERS OP A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 the shops are closed and all the inhabitants who have nowhere else 
 to go to, live in the cellars of their houses; it is melancholy to see 
 nothing but battered walls and charred ruins. The hiss and ex- 
 plosion of the Yankee shells is followed by a few minutes of the 
 most oppressing stillness, which is again broken by the bursting of 
 another of these hideous projectiles. Soldiers, like naughty school 
 boys, are sadly addicted to mischief; this is to a certain extent 
 the case with our men, but their offences are very venial on the 
 whole. The worst case which has come under my notice is that of 
 a party of Alabamians, who killed a calf on the sly, but were 
 caught by the provost guard in the act of butchering him. The 
 men in their defence said that the poor beast had been severely 
 wounded by the eppmy while browsing in the neighbouring field. 
 One of them with a wink remarked that they had solely been ac- 
 tuated by motives of humanity in killing him to save his life. The 
 general confiscated the animal, and ever since we have fared capi- 
 tally, thanks to the Alabamians. As the enemy manifests no in- 
 clination for the present of butting his head against our lines, I have 
 obtained a twelve hours' leave of absence to go to Richmond. My 
 principal object in going thither is to enquire whether anything has 
 been received for me from you or from any of my dear corres- 
 pondents. Oh how I long to revel on a fat batch of letters from 
 sweet home. Tell father, Bella, Bessie and their worser halves 
 that they must write often and not allow themselves to be dis- 
 couraged by the risks to which their delightful communications are 
 exposed. My love to Mister Bob, the same to my dear little name- 
 sake. Ask him whether he thinks that a gray tunic with buff 
 facings and light gray trousers make a pretty uniform. I am very 
 anxious to have the opinion of so experienced a judge of military 
 dress on that point. I am afraid he will say that the chasseurs 
 are much more chics, for if I am not very much mistaken they wear 
 yellow jackets tucked up with pea-green, and sky-blue-scarlet 
 pants. Adieu, dearest of mothers. 
 
 444. 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 55 
 
 Headquahtees Field's Division, I. R. Corps, A. N. V., 
 
 Petersburg, July 27th, 1864. 
 My Dear Father: 
 
 My late jucundus comes in via Captain Averell, who has just 
 written me to say that he is on the eve of returning to Europe and 
 that he will kindly take charge of the letters which I may have to 
 entrust to him; but alas, owing to the confusion worse confounded 
 of the post-office and the impatient dilatoriness of southern rail- 
 roads, his note has come to hand at the eleventh hour, thereby 
 allowing me only a few minutes to fly you these hasty lines. Cap- 
 tain has the intention of going to Paris; when there he promises me 
 that he certainly will put in an appearance at No. 59, and tell you 
 how harmoniously we pulled together during our journey to the 
 vexed Bermoothes. He will moreover, give you the latest news from 
 the southern point of view. This will, I know, be most acceptable 
 to you, for Yankee forgers of lies for the European market are 
 striving harder than ever to throw dust into the eyes of the public. 
 Last night we were on the tiptoe of expectation for orders to march 
 towards the Shenandoah, as it was rumoured that Early, incumber- 
 ed with his Maryland plunder and all sorts of impediments, was 
 hotly pursued by a Federal force largely outnumbering his own. 
 Some fears were felt lest he should be overpowered, and conse- 
 quently we hoped to be sent to his assistance with Finnegan's 
 men. This hope was knocked on the head by the glorious official 
 intelligence just received that this worthy successor of Stonewall 
 had suddenly wheeled round upon the Yankee General Crook 
 (the man who superseded the vandal Hunter) and inflicted a crush- 
 ing defeat upon him. This is one of the most brilliant victories of 
 the war, and reminds me of JafeJ^on'is palmy days. The enemy 
 are again wiped out from the Valley, which is still the consecrated 
 ground of Yankee touts. This is a brilliant termination to the 
 Maryland campaign we are all ready to admit, but still it condemns 
 us to stagnation in these horrid Ptetersburg trenches. This life, 
 
 445 
 
66 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 although not productive of sickness among the soldiers, as one 
 might expect, is very trying to their patience, and they are longing 
 to stretch their legs by a good long march, now that the weather 
 has become cool and pleasant. You will have heard by this time 
 of the removal of Johnston and the appointment of Hood to the 
 Tennessee army. This change surprised the army very much, 
 and has been the unceasing subject of favourable and adverse 
 comments. For my part I am in favour of it, as I never have had a 
 very brilliant opinion of Johnston as a general commanding Con- 
 federate troops; he carried prudence to an excess, and never would 
 give battle until the victory was almost a certainty beforehand. 
 Well, under the present circumstances such a condition of affairs 
 is impossible, for when can it be expected that we shall have the 
 advantage of numbers and position in this war? He had the latter 
 at the commencement of the last campaign, but for some inex- 
 plicable reason he abandoned a formidable stronghold in Northern 
 Georgia, and as the country south of that is as level as a bilUard- 
 table there is no saying how far the Confederate general would 
 have fallen back. It was facetiously said that he intended to es- 
 tablish his base in the Gulf of Mexico and if necessary throw pon- 
 toons across to Cuba, preparatory to a retrogade movement to 
 the land of fragrant "weeds". I herewith enclose a letter from Mr. 
 William Cowper, received a little more than a week ago; I sent 
 you a copy of it a few days ago in a letter to Bessie. You will be 
 much pained to hear that in addition to Hamilton, his brother 
 has also lost John, who died last winter, of fever, in hospital. 
 I fear that the poor old gentleman, in the present state of his health 
 will not be able to withstand these terrible blows. Since your letter 
 of the 11th of June I have not received a line from any of you, but 
 I live in the hope of soon getting another of those delightful batches 
 which make me the happiest man in the whole Division. 
 
 My love to my dearest mother, and to all those nearest and 
 dearest to you. 
 
 446 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 57 
 
 Headquarters Field's Division, 
 
 Petersburg, August 26th, 1864. 
 My Dear Mother: 
 
 In any other times I would have felt very guilty at allowing the 
 greater part of a month to elapse without writing to you; but in 
 this instance it is regret and not compunction that I feel; for not 
 being any longer master of my movements, I had to yield to the 
 force of circumstances and anxiously long for a little crevice of time 
 in which to resume my correspondence with you. It has at last 
 come, and I joyfully avail myself of it. 
 
 Some three weeks have flown by since I wrote to you from the 
 north side of the James river, whither this division had been sent 
 at the time of Grant's grand subterranean operation before Peters- 
 burg, the strategy of which was characterized by the fiendish 
 ingenuity of Yankee warfare; but fortunately the execution was 
 not on a par with the conception of the scheme, and the engineer 
 was hoisted with his own petard. As I told you from my head- 
 quarters near Chafin's Bluflf, we fully expected to pitch into the 
 Yankees immediately on arriving on the north side of the river, 
 but when our division had got into position the enemy had dis- 
 appeared from our front. As far as the fighting was concerned we 
 had a little respite, but the staff did not profit much by it, for 
 General Field having been placed ad interim in command of that 
 division of the Richmond defences, our duties became very onerous; 
 but we were to a certain extent compensated by the importance 
 it gave us, for we literally became monarchs of all we surveyed. 
 This comparative repose was however of short duration. Our 
 scouts, a few days after, brought us the intelligence that the enemy 
 had thrown a pontoon bridge across the river and that a large force 
 was moving across it. We had but few troops with us, but prep- 
 arations were made for a resolute defence of the line committed to our 
 care. On Sunday they drove our skirmishers in, and in the afternoon 
 they attempted to carry a portion of our intrenchments. For that 
 
 447 
 
58 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 purpose they hurled against us two divisions of their Second Corps, 
 which rushed towards our position with yells, banners flying and 
 bands playing. When they advanced to within about seven hun- 
 dred yards of our line two twelve pounders, loaded with canister, 
 blazed away at them. Our artillery is not considered by any means 
 the most efficient branch of our service, and of late has been rather 
 sneered at in this army; but on this occasion if did terrible execu- 
 tion. The Yanks advanced in four lines of battle, and a magnifi- 
 cent spectacle it was to witness that mighty host bearing down upon 
 our thinly-manned breastworks. Notwithstanding my emotion I 
 could not refrain from admiring the sight. Our fire made wide 
 breaches in their ranks, and after the third discharge the whole 
 line wavered and fluttered like a flag in the wind; another shell 
 exploding in their midst, they broke and fled in every direction 
 without retaining a shadow of their former organization. In their 
 frantic haste to get out of range of our murderous shots they threw 
 away guns, equipments and all their warlike paraphernalia. De- 
 serters told us that they lost very heavily in that abortive charge. 
 They again renewed the attack, but with less vigour, on our left, 
 and were driven back with great loss by our dismounted cavalry. 
 This was the last of that day's fighting — ^with the shades of night 
 there came a cessation of hostilities. The next day passed off 
 quietly enough. There was a little picket-firing, but no general 
 engagement; the enemy was evidently preparing for another des- 
 perate onslaught. We ascertained later that no less than three 
 corps, numbering about thirty -five thousand men, had come over; 
 we, on the other hand received a few re-inforcements and girded 
 our loins for the coming encounter. In the morning of Tuesday 
 the Yankees attacked us in heavy force, but we repulsed them very 
 handsomely. Finding that these repeated assaults on that part 
 of the line did not pay. General Hancock felt for a more vulnerable 
 point, which he discovered on our left. After riding about ever 
 since dawn, the general and his staff halted in a field in the rear of 
 
 448 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 59 
 
 Wright's brigade of A. P. Hill's corps. The day was a sultry one, 
 and the heat, superadded to other exertions, made us so weary that 
 we got oflf our horses and laid down for a few moments on the grass. 
 We had not been there many seconds when we were aroused by a ter- 
 rific cannonade, followed by heavy volleys of musketry. We 
 mounted horses in a trice; presently squads of frightened men came 
 from the front in anything but a leisurely manner. They informed 
 us that the whole Yankee army had charged them, and that they 
 had been obliged to give way. The firing increased; the air was 
 alive with Minie balls; the ground was torn up by shells and can- 
 non balls, and in a few minutes the whole of Wright's brigade was 
 stampeding towards us. We strove to rally them by entreaties 
 and by menaces, and with pistols drawn we threatened to shoot 
 them if they did not go back, but it was of no avail; you might as 
 well try to argue with a flock of affrighted sheep as with a crowd of 
 panic-stricken soldiers. Up to this time we cannot account for this 
 stampede. The attack, it was true, was sudden and unexpected, 
 and the force of the enemy enormous, but the men who were now 
 flying before the Yankees had always beaten them, and had inva- 
 riably borne themselves on every battlefield with distinguished 
 bravery. We are therefore much puzzled to find out what caused 
 them to disgrace the name of their brigade in that manner. My poor 
 comrade Captain Mason, was shot through the body during our 
 fruitless efforts to rally the men; he fell into the hands of the ene- 
 my. We have since heard that he is not likely to live, although 
 General Hancock, who was an old friend and classmate of General 
 Field at West Point, promises to have him well attended to. The 
 general, finding that nothing can be got out of these men, decided 
 to fall back, for the Federals were swooping down upon us in over- 
 whelming numbers; it seemed as though forty thousand men would 
 be an under-estimate of the force. I was sent by him for rein- 
 forcements. I had orders to bring up without delay, two brigades 
 of our own division, viz: Laws' Alabama and Binning's Georgians. 
 
 449 
 
60 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 They came up at a double quick amid a very galling fire, they were 
 formed right under the guns of the enemy, and then they rushed 
 in with a deafening war-whoop. It was really splendid to witness 
 the dash of these gallant fellows. I was so carried away with en- 
 thusiasm that I cantered along side of them, but alas I did not ac- 
 company them during the whole of their triumphant advance for 
 my faithful charger, poor Palmetto, fell imder me, pierced in the 
 left hip by a Minie ball. I was a little stunned by the fall, and 
 when I managed to extricate myself from under him our brave 
 boys had beaten back the foe and recaptured theposition which they 
 had taken from us. I am happy to say that our loss was relatively 
 small, whilst that of .the enemy must have been very heavy — ^the 
 battlefield was literally blue with their dead and wounded; we 
 moreover captured seven hundred prisoners. The fight was not 
 a long one, not having lasted over an hour and a half, but old vet- 
 erans tell me that for the time it lasted the battle of Darbytown was 
 one of the hottest affairs they had ever been in. The shelling was 
 positively infernal; all the woods at the rear of the battlefield were 
 torn and chopped to pieces by the enemy's artillery; it is a wonder 
 that any one should have survived such a tempest of shot and shell, 
 but our brave soldiers did not mind it any more than if it had been 
 a summer shower. I cannot say that I like these Yankee shells, 
 but I have got used to them, for since I joined the army I have been 
 plentifully regaled with them. But what I strongly object to are 
 the Minie balls. Some buzz like hornets, others mew like cats, 
 when they pass you; all these sounds indicate a great proximity 
 to your knowledge-box, and if I was not afraid of being afraid I 
 think I would skedaddle like Wright's men. All the wounded 
 prisoners that we took concur in reporting the brutality and in- 
 competency of their oflBcers as flagrant. One of them, a French- 
 man who was badly stuck in the thigh with a bayonet, told me that 
 all the officers of his regiment were drunk, so much so that some of 
 them could not stand when the fight commenced. On that oc- 
 
 450 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 61 
 
 casion I was able to convince myself that the native element in the 
 Northern army was conspicuous by its absence alone; for out of 
 ten prisoners that I questioned not one was a full-blooded Yankee. 
 Among them there were a Frenchman, three Irishmen, four Ger- 
 mans a Belgian and an Italiain. With the exception of the Irishry 
 none of them understood English. Among other curiosities I saw 
 some wounded gentlemen of African descent who had been spared 
 by a merciful North Carolina brigade; had they fallen into the 
 clutches of Hood's old division I doubt much whether they would 
 have survived to tell the tale. They professed to be very penitent, 
 and seeing I was rather disposed to protect them than to ill-treat 
 them I got a good deal out of them. They addressed me in a much 
 more humble or if I may use the expression, slavish manner — than 
 any darkies I have hitherto come across in the sunny South. All 
 said they had been forced into the army, and as at Petersburg they 
 had been put in front at the point of the bayonet. The part of the 
 line which they attacked was not broken, and stepping outside 
 the breastworks a horrid spectacle met my gaze; hundreds of these 
 wretched African soldiers had been mowed down, and were lying 
 thick in front of our works. On the whole, notwithstanding the 
 misbehavior of that brigade of Hill's corps, our achievement was a 
 very brilliant one; for with a handful of men, say seven thousand 
 at the outside, we drove back three of the enemy's largest corps; 
 and as usual our division won for itself and its commander golden 
 opinions. General Lee, towards the close of the fight, rode up and 
 congratulated the general on the able manner in which he had hand- 
 led his troops. At one time it was touch and go, and it required 
 great coolness and skill on the part of our general to parry the at- 
 tempts of the Yankees to turn our flanks; had they succeeded in 
 accomplishing that the consequences might have been very serious. 
 The reverse was a very heavy one to the enemy; by sending over 
 the best troops they evidently counted on a success. We had sev- 
 eral small artillery and picket engagements during the rest of the 
 
 451 
 
62 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 week, but finally they sloped oS without trumpet or drum, and on 
 Sunday morning Hancock & Co., had "vamosed". Desertions 
 from the Yankee army have been so frequent during this campaign 
 that General Lee has desired to encourage them by circulating 
 throughout Grant's army a paper in which kind treatment and pro- 
 tection is promised to those soldiers who come over to us voluntari- 
 ly. This has produced the desired effect, for deserters flock into 
 our lines at a monstrous rate, and the cry is "still they come". 
 
 Last week has been a very fatiguing one to us. For ten days 
 we have not had time to pull off our boots; and as to sleep we have 
 had to nap it, h la grace de Dieu, at one time sleeping in a slushy 
 rifle pit, at another in a shaky morass. This is very rough work, 
 it is true, and well calculated to try the mettle of a Parisian lounger. 
 Well, wonderful to say, I have never felt stronger or more healthy. 
 At one time I was a little annoyed by the scorbutic effects of our 
 salt meat diet, but now I am all right again, owing to the splendid 
 Maryland beef for which we are indebted to old Jubal Early, our 
 eflScient commissary. As a pis alter for their failure on the North 
 side, the Yankees attacked and captured a portion of the Weldon 
 railroad; a small force of our infantry was sent to dislodge them. 
 It succeeded in driving them for the distance of three miles, taking 
 over two thousand prisoners with the Yankee general Hayes. The 
 enemy acknowledge a loss of no less than three thousand killed and 
 wounded in that affair. Our people being exhausted with their 
 exertions, had to stop. On Thursday a rear and flank attack was 
 made by A. P. Hill which was eminently successful. We drove 
 them from that part of the track which was of importance to us. 
 They still retain a couple of miles of it, but they are welcome to it 
 for we can do without it. Three thousand more were captured. 
 I can vouch for the accuracy of thatstatement, as I saw them march- 
 ing down the main street of this city, and a more cowed, grimy and 
 forlorn set of fellows I have never laid eyes on. W^e had arrived 
 here the night before to act as a corps of reserve in case the attack- 
 
 452 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 63 
 
 ing column had required any support. We were under arms for 
 several hours, ready to start at a moment's notice; but A. P. Hill's 
 men did their work so well as to need no reinforcement from Long- 
 street's corps. 
 
 Now for the first time since Saturday week I have been able to 
 indulge in a complete course of ablutions, and to smoke a quiet pipe 
 of fragrant Virginia tobacco; two most inestimable luxuries, for 
 I was longing for a whiff of the delicious weed, and with respect to 
 the other the external application of water was as necessary to me 
 as it would be to those unclean animals that are called — de soie 
 in Burgundy. 
 
 I think our successes of the past fortnight will give the peace 
 candidate a great lift at Chicago, and may perhaps insure his nomi- 
 nation. The army and the people ardently desire a cessation of 
 the carnage, but the idea of an armistice, as it is understood in the 
 North, is scouted by every one but the faint-hearted. A very pretty 
 sort of armistice 'twould be, with our territory occupied by the 
 enemy, and ports blockaded. If it was accepted by us, all the 
 advantages acquired by us during this campaign would be lost, 
 and as we have to deal with the most slippery and cunning people in 
 the world, there are a thousand chances to one that we would be 
 circumvented and imposed upon. These Yankees are so utterly 
 faithless, that I feel confident that if they found us off our guard 
 whilst the negotiations were going on, they would without hesita- 
 tion fetter us. 
 
 I am dying to hear from you all, but this wish has only been 
 gratified once since I have been in the Confederacy, and yet scores 
 of blockade runners have arrived, but without bringing me a line 
 from you. I ought not to complain, for your case is analogous to 
 mine, and I suppose that you will only receive a very small pro- 
 portion of the many letters that I have written to you. If there 
 is any likelihood of our being quiet at all, I shall apply for a leave 
 
 453 
 
64 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 of absence to go to Richmond in order to ask my friends there, 
 whether, happily, there are any missives for your forlorn son. My 
 love to my dear father, to Bella and Bessie^ and their excellent hus- 
 bands, and with many kisses, I must now bid you good-bye. 
 
 Your affectionate son. 
 
 Headquarters Field's Division, 
 NEAR Petersburg, 
 
 September 13th, 1864. 
 My Dear Father: 
 
 A well-sustiained correspondence between two loving souls is 
 truly delightful, for then tidings of those nearest and dearest, and 
 affectionate messages are reciprocally interchanged. By a little 
 stretch of imagination one can almost fancy that it is a conversa- 
 tion, and figure to one's self that the familiar voice strikes one's 
 ear. But when letter after letter despatched with exemplary regu- 
 larity fails to elicit any response, then hope fades away and the 
 heart sickens. The latter, I grieve to say, is my case, for after 
 months of anxious suspense I have at length settled down intoa state 
 of sullen despair. I really think that if by a miracle, a line from 
 any of you should ever reach me, I would not believe the evidence of 
 my senses. I would not, however, have you to take up the impres- 
 sion that by those gloomy excogitations, I am inclined to put a bad 
 construction upon your silence. I know that bales of missives from 
 the dear folks at home have been shipped in unlucky blockade run- 
 ners, and that they are wasting their sweetness in the briny waters 
 of the stormy Atlantic, but that does not make my case any the 
 less painful. 
 
 The army of Tennessee, as I feared, has met with a severe re- 
 verse; but bad as it is I have no idea that Georgia will be wrested 
 from us by the invader. We still have some backbone left, no mat- 
 ter what the Yankees say, and if our authorities display proper en- 
 
 454 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 65 
 
 ergy, and for the nonce sacrifice their selfish prejudices and antip- 
 athies to the public weal, the enemy may yet be driven out of 
 Northern Georgia, and be compelled to take the back track. We 
 have just received the cheering intelligence that Kirby Smith has 
 crossed the "father of Waters" with a portion of the army. This 
 will be a valuable accession to those western forces. The public 
 are down upon Hood for the abandonment of Atlanta. It is true 
 he was out-generalled by Sherman (who, be it said in passing I con- 
 sider the Napoleon of the North), but had his men fought as they 
 ought to have fought, I am not sure but that the result would have 
 been diflferent. These western troops have been commanded so 
 long by incompetent and nerveless generals that their steadiness in 
 the field is not much to be relied upon. The men of this corps, who 
 saw them fight at Chickamauga, all say their fighting is vastly dif- 
 ferent from ours. In fact, those Mississippians and Tennesseans 
 resemble the Yankees a good deal: they bluster, brag, and lie be- 
 fore a battle, but whilst it is going on they are as meek as mice. 
 Longstreet really won that victory for Bragg. There was some 
 talk after the fall of Atlanta of sending two divisions, ours being 
 one of them, down to Georgia; none of us relished the idea much 
 of being separated from this army, which is really a happy family, 
 in order to join Hood's uncongenial command, but, thank God the 
 rumor did not take on reality. The Yanks are of course jubilant, 
 and in their wild exultation last Sunday they fired a salute of one 
 hundred shotted guns upon poor Petersburg, which resulted in the 
 killing of a woman and two children. When Grant hears of the 
 frightful execution that was done, his joy will doubtless, know no 
 bounds. On the whole, I think that the moral effect of the fall of 
 Atlanta on the Northern elections will be worse than the material 
 effect on the South. After a season of unexampled drought rain 
 has poured in torrents for several days, and now another change is 
 setting in. The wind is furiously high, and the temperature ter- 
 ribly low; this change, of course, entails camp fires and lots of 
 
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66 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 blankets. With these and other expedients resorted to by soldiers 
 in order to increase their creature comforts, we are able to bid de- 
 fiance to the bleak north-wester. 
 
 Since the battle of Darbytown I am minus part of the "pride, 
 pomp, and circumstances of glorious war" in the way of horseflesh, 
 for my noble warhorse, the much-by-me-lamented Palmetto, was 
 killed by a Yankee bullet in that memorable engagement. Poor 
 Palmetto! he was a splendid charger; so willing, so spirited, and 
 yet so manageable under fire, he combined all the steadiness of a 
 veteran with the dash of a young soldier. The day before his 
 death Palmetto had been hit by a shell, but this did not damp his 
 ardour, for the gallant animal was galloping proudly with ears erect 
 and nostrils open, when the mes'senger of death struck him. But 
 let us stop! My feeling is getting the better of me; I am growing 
 very pathetic over a very small event for these frantic times. I 
 hope this letter will reach you — ^I am going to entrust it to the kind 
 care of Mr. Cameron, the owner of the City of Petersburg and other 
 successful blockade runners. 
 
 If you do not get it, j'y perdrai mon Latin. 
 With my best love to all the well-beloved. 
 
 Believe me, your devoted son. 
 
 Headquarters, Field's Division, 
 
 Thursday, Oct. 6th, 1864. 
 My Dear Mother: 
 
 So mournful was the tone of my last missive to my father, that 
 it might almost have been called a wail of misery; if you thought it 
 too low-spirited, there was some cause for that, for after nine months 
 of feverish expectation I had begun to dread that I was henceforth 
 doomed to a terrible dearth of home tidings. But I have changed 
 my tune, for now I have the happiness to thank you and my other 
 
 456 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 67 
 
 kind correspondents for two delightful communications which 
 reached me within the last fortnight. 
 
 What a happy time for the rebel! The first to come to hand 
 was the batch containing your and my father's letters of the 5th 
 of August, together with the counterfeit presentment of dear little 
 Rob ; as a work of art I think it is a success, but with regard to the 
 likeness I am not competent to speak, for to tell you the truth I 
 should not have recognized the little cherub, so altered is he; why, 
 when I left Sweet Home, Monsieur Robert was, as the Irishman 
 would say, most unquestionably "barefooted on the top of his 
 head;" and now the incipient cocades is blessed with a luxuri- 
 ant head of hair, it might have been a wig it is true, but it looks re- 
 markably natural; however, that does not signify, and I am im- 
 mensely proud to have a nephew with such a splendid head of hair. 
 
 As neither of you alluded in those letters to the receipt of mine 
 from Bermuda and Wilmington, I concluded that they were burned 
 at sea; this annoyed me very much, becausfe I thought that your 
 anxiety at receiving no tidings from me would be great, but, much 
 to my relief, your letters of the 9th of July announced a few days 
 ago that you had got the news of my arrival in Dixie. I was long- 
 ing to write to you instanter but that was not possible, on account 
 of the constant marching and counter-marching that we have had 
 to perform for the past three weeks; all day and sometimes all 
 night in the saddle, is the sort of work we have had to do ever since 
 the 20th of last month. When the first batch reached me, we were 
 on a long tramp to support Hampton, and to amuse the Yanks 
 whilst he operated in the rear; the whole thing was a success, es- 
 pecially the bovine part of it, for the enemy only perceived that 
 Hampton's cavalry had gobbled up two thousand five hundred 
 head of cattle, and horses innumerable, when it was too late to re- 
 capture them. After that we had a few little fights with the Yan- 
 kees. On Thursday we suddenly received orders to march over to 
 the north side of the James River. We got here just in the nick of 
 
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68 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 time to prevent the enemy, who had stolen a march upon us, from 
 capturing the outer line of fortifications. We drove them back 
 with huge slaughter, especially amongst the citizens of African de- 
 scent, who are still lying as thick as blackberries on the battle- 
 field. The prisoners all tell the same tale, viz: that they are placed 
 in the front ranks, and are told that if they run back, the white 
 troops will shoot them down. The Yankee advance was a surprise, 
 and they consequently captured a small portion of the line which 
 was held by local troops, who behaved in a far from gallant style; 
 if they had been at all steady the enemy ought never to have got 
 into those works. It is intended to retake that portion of the lines, 
 and for that purpose we made a reconnaissance in force. In doing 
 this, I had the misfortune to get my horse (dear little Torpedo) 
 wounded, he fell so suddenly that I thought he was killed; I am 
 happy to say that I was mistaken, I now entertain some hope of 
 his recovery. He was struck by the bullet on the right side of the 
 neck, it took a downward course and lodged near his left shoulder 
 blade, but fortunately without injuring the bone. As it is merely a 
 severe flesh wound, the Division Vet. says that with proper care, 
 my poor little nag will probably get over it. I am justified in 
 hoping so, for I have seen horses here recover from the most hide- 
 ous mutilations. Fortunately, I was not on him, when the bullet 
 hit him; had I been it is more than probable that my left leg would 
 have been crushed, so sudden was his fall. The enemy had opened 
 a desultory fire at the time, in order to stop the reconnaissance, 
 and we had just dismounted to put our cavalry out of danger, when 
 this Yankee bullet whizzed past us and buried itself in Torpedo's 
 neck. I am literally afoot, having had one horse killed and anoth- 
 er badly wounded in less than six weeks. Under these circumstan- 
 ces I have applied for leave of absence, in order to go down to Geor- 
 gia, and to see for myself after our affairs in that state. My re- 
 quest has been granted, and I shall therefore set out for Columbia, 
 S. C, to-morrow, and shall go thence to Savannah and Tibeauville. 
 
 458 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 69 
 
 The vicissitudes and uncertainties of every war, and of this 
 one in particular, are so great that not possessing superhuman pre- 
 science or that clairvoyance which sees through millstones, I shall 
 not attempt to prophesy what the issue of this campaign will be; 
 this stroke of ill luck may not have run out, or, on the other hand, 
 Fortune's wheel may soon be turned the other way. Come what 
 may, I feel confident (mark! this is my personal opinion, unin- 
 fluenced by any reputed sages in or out of the army) that Richmond 
 will not fall this year. The more narrowly I observe these moment- 
 ous events, the more I am convinced that there is no greater game 
 of chance than the bloody game at which we are now playing, and 
 therefore to predict dogmatically that such and such a thing will 
 happen is an idle waste of words. The times are out of joint, rea- 
 son is unhinged, and everything generally going or gone off the 
 track. How then is it possible for the most sagacious mind. North 
 or South, to know that it will occur between this and the ides of 
 November? The fact is, there is no longer any scope for farsighted 
 sagacity, chance rules the hour, the tide fluctuates. Under the 
 circumstances I cannot help comparing the man (be his reputation 
 for prescience ever so great) who would have us believe he sees far 
 into futurity, to those prophets of the turf who are regarded as un- 
 mitigated humbugs. Nothing has tended to convince me more than 
 the recent fights in the Valley, that war is a big lottery. We never 
 dreamt for a moment that Early's forces could be worsted, and we 
 all looked upon victory up there as a dead certainty; we were 
 doomed to be disappointed, Sheridan did whip us, but how did he 
 do it? Through the superiority of his cavalry over our worthless 
 Valley troopers; these must not be confounded with Hampton's 
 cavalry, which is a very efficient body. The mounted forces of the 
 Valley have been entirely demoralized by the predatory mode of 
 warfare which they have been engaged in along the Maryland 
 frontiers. Raids have proved the curse of a great part of our 
 Southern cavalry; honest men before the war have been converted 
 
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70 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 into horse thieves and henroost plunderers, and in the course of 
 time a well-discipHned regiment has become a disorderly rabble, 
 fit only for pillage. I think Napoleon said in his usual sententious 
 way, the greater the blackguard, the better the soldier! This 
 aphorism does not hold good here, for I have noticed that the great- 
 est thieves are the greatest cowards; they are a terror to the women 
 and children, and often do more harm to friends than to the enemy. 
 Of this kind was Morgan's command in the opinion of the regular 
 army; it was nothing but an omnium gatherum of rogues and free- 
 booters, the discipline was lax and the morality execrable. His 
 Kentucky campaign was a failure through these causes alone, and 
 thousands who would have flocked to his standard when he went 
 there were so disgusted with the conduct of his men that they held 
 themselves aloof. If these fellows have achieved any reputation, 
 it is owing to the newspaper puffs. I have seen enough of this 
 country to convince me that the pets of the newspapers are not 
 necessarily good soldiers. Thorough soldiers, good patriots, are 
 above currying favour with penny-a-liners, and bidding for their 
 praises. The moral of all this is, that we lost the battle of Win- 
 chester on account of the utter insufiiciency of these ^^alley maraud- 
 ers; our infantry never fought better, they had actually driven 
 back the Yanks with great loss and were following up their suc- 
 cesses, when their left flank was turned over owing to the stamped- 
 ing of the above -named cavalry. 
 
 It is said that the western horizon is brightening, but seeing is 
 believing, and in a few days I shall see how Beauregard, whom I 
 look upon as a good though not brilliant general, will set about re- 
 trieving our fallen fortunes there. The hero of heroes, the worthy 
 successor of Jackson, Forrest, is busily at work in Sherman's rear, 
 and I think that those operations will be productive of some great 
 results. My next letter will be penned at Columbia or Savannah. 
 
 460 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 71 
 
 In the meantime, adieu, dearest mother, don't forget to kiss 
 all the family circle for me. 
 
 Your devoted son, 
 
 P. S. — ^In my last letter, I requested you to send me some of the 
 latest French publications, should you have a good chance of doing 
 so, I trust you will avail yourself of it, for I am dying to pore over a 
 good French book. 
 
 TiBEAUVILLE, 
 
 October 18th. 
 My dear Father: 
 
 If, as I hope, my last letter from the front to my beloved 
 mother reached her before these lines, then neither you nor she 
 will be much surprised at this sudden change of base, for in it I 
 apprized you of my intention of going down to Georgia for a few 
 weeks, having succeeded in obtaining a short furlough. On join- 
 ing Massa Robert's* army, I had made up my mind not to apply 
 for such a permission until Christmas, but I had reckoned without 
 the Yankee bullets which have spared neither of my poor horses. 
 The last one (dear little Torpedo) came to grief in the Fort Har- 
 rison fight; he was shot in the neck, and is now hors [e] de combat, 
 as the bullet has buried itself so deep that it cannot be extracted; 
 I feel that he is lost to me. It is a grievous loss, the more especial- 
 ly as he was rapidly becoming the best charger in the army. A 
 dismounted aide-de-camp is the fifth wheel to the wagon, and there- 
 fore this leave of absence was granted me without much reluctance, 
 Torpedo's mishap being my opportunity. I left Richmond on the 
 7th ultimo. The scare caused by Grant's menacing movements 
 having by that time greatly subsided, I got on board of the Rich- 
 mond and Danville cars, and after a long and tedious journey of 
 three days, in the most atrocious of conveyances (sometimes I had 
 
 *GeneraI Lee. 
 
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72 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 nothing but common trucks to lie on), I reached Columbia, S. C. 
 I tarried one day in that pretty place in order to rest my cramped 
 and bruised limbs. Columbia has not the blighted aspect of most 
 Southern cities. When there I was advised to shape my course to- 
 wards Tibeauville, via Augusta and Savannah, and not by way of 
 Charleston, where the yellow fever is very rife. I accordingly 
 passed through the bustling town of Augusta and thence went to 
 Savannah, thus flanking "Yellow Jack." Hearing that there was 
 still a good deal of sickness there, I only halted a few hours in Sa- 
 vannah and prosecuted my trip to Tibeauville, which I reached on 
 the 13th. It is a new settlement situated about ninety miles from 
 Savannah and the Gulf railroad. There I met with a very kind and 
 hearty welcome, both Messrs. James and William Cowper, by their 
 cordial greeting, seeming to be glad to see me; it is under the roof 
 of the latter gentleman that I am penning these lines. In 1862, 
 when the stampede occurred along the sea coast, several of our 
 Altamaha neighbours determined to migrate to this spot, the in- 
 ducement for doing so being the cheapness of the lands and the 
 salubrity of the climate. The country is a wild one and the soil, 
 it is true, is very light, but the impression then prevailed that the 
 war would soon be over, and that if the lands produced just enough 
 to feed the negroes during this temporary migration, it was all that 
 could be expected. Messrs. Cowper considering the proximity of 
 the railroad was desirable, after consulting together came to the 
 conclusion that it was the best thing that could be done under the 
 circumstances, and so they followed suit. Our land here was pur- 
 chased for a mere song, but it was only partially cleared and is very 
 poor indeed. It is situated in the midst of a vast pine barren. 
 These trees are the finest I have ever seen yet, it is a matter of great 
 wonderment to me that they should grow to such an enormous size 
 in this inferior soil. Oh! would that they could be transplanted to 
 La Boulaye, then they would be worth a magnificent fortune. 
 Some of them, however, have been turned to account by Mr. Wil- 
 
 462 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 73 
 
 liam Cowper, who built his house entirely of pine wood, he was the 
 architect, and our sable carpenters constructed it. A remarkably 
 cosy and snug dwelling it is, I assure you, the doors shut well, the 
 windows are fully as wind and wet-proof as those of your apart- 
 ments in No. 59 — and, mark! these are home manufactures; for 
 little or nothing was bought that could be made by our people. 
 The nail item being in these times a very heavy one, a substitute 
 in the shape of pine-knot pegs was hit upon, and it has been found 
 to answer very well. Nothing could have better exemplified than 
 this war, the truth of the adage that "necessity is the mother of in- 
 vention," for here is a colony of planters who, before these troubles, 
 were dependent upon Yankees for necessaries as well as luxuries; 
 they are forced to dispense with the latter, and their ingenuity sup- 
 plies them with the former. 
 
 Food in these frantic times is terribly dear, but clothing is still 
 more so, and to fit out a large gang of negroes is an enormous ex- 
 pense. Last year the whole of the gang was rigged out from head to 
 foot with clothing woven, spun, and made up upon the place; the 
 wool was shorn from the backs of a few sheep we happily owned, 
 the cotton was grown here, and the dyes manufactured in Mr. W. 
 Cowper's laboratory. I herewith enclose some samples of our 
 homespuns, if they are not very elegant they at any rate have the 
 merit of being strong and serviceable. Now, this is very creditable, 
 is it not, for a set of eflfete and luxurious planters.'' Our textile 
 manufactures are pronounced superior to any in the neighbourhood, 
 and consequently the Hopeton darkies are very proud of their fac- 
 tory. You will be doubtless gratified to learn that the exigencies 
 of the times have developed so much industry and ingenuity. I 
 expect that you will be still more pleased and astonished, when I as- 
 sure you that all the machinery from the cotton ginning and spin- 
 ning wheel up to the loom itself was made here, and that the lathe 
 with which they were turned was also a home manufacture. The 
 operatives are becoming quite expert and very fond of the factory. 
 
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74 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 Considering the times we might have esteemed ourselves pretty 
 lucky on the whole, had the corn crop only been tolerably good, 
 but alas, such was not the case, and owing to the torrential rains 
 that have prevailed throughout this region of country, the yield of 
 corn on this property will not feed one-tenth of the gang; whereas 
 if the crop had succeeded, we would have had a large surplus for 
 sale. To supply that deficit, we shall have to buy a considerable 
 quantity, and at present prices it will require the disbursement of 
 no small sum. I have had the old steam-engine advertised for sale; 
 it ought to sell well, if so, the proceeds will keep the estate out of 
 debt. As there is employment here for only a small number of 
 hands, it has been deemed expedient to hire out as many as we can, 
 for in doing so we economize not only food but clothing. Each 
 hand, on an average, produces about three hundred and sixty dollars 
 a year, and he gets plenty of molasses and hominy and five pounds 
 of bacon a week. The negroes are contented with this species of 
 labour, seeing that they are well fed. Now the negroes who re- 
 main here don't get as much food, their bill of fare consisting of 
 hominy, vegetables, and molasses (for we plant sugar cane here, 
 this year we hope to make as many as fifteen barrels), but they are 
 for the most part either very young or very old people, and submit 
 to this scanty fare rather than be hired out. On my arrival the 
 good creatures crowded around me and nearly shook my hands off, 
 they were so glad to see me, and on account of the hairy appendage 
 which now adorns my chin and cheeks, they all exclaimed "Oh! 
 Massa, we would not have knowed you if we had not seed you," a 
 truism which no Irishman would dare to dispute. I did not per- 
 ceive any surliness amongst them, nor could I discern any signs of 
 discontent. We have lost about thirty-five negroes by sickness 
 and running away, since the removal from Hopeton, and amongst 
 them some prime hands; lately two young men, Amos and Wilson, 
 ran off to the Yankees. This was somewhat surprising, for they 
 had always appeared very happy and contented, and had never 
 
 464 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 75 
 
 given any trouble whatever. They are a queer whimsical people, 
 and where they are concerned it is impossible to build any theory. 
 
 As an instance of this I will adduce the case of Doctor Fr 's 
 
 gang, which was considered the worst on the river; his darkies were 
 all thought very inferior in every respect to any others, and yet he 
 had not lost one by running away, whilst the Nightingale negroes, 
 who were well cared for and petted, stampeded in a body at the out- 
 break of the war, and were only retaken with great difficulty; since 
 then a great many have run away. The Butler estate has lost over 
 one hundred. In the war of 1812 the slaves who were treated with 
 the greatest kindness and leniency were the first to slope off; on the 
 other hand, those who were under a strict system did not attempt to 
 run off. This present war has been so fruitful of these discrepan- 
 cies that the most enthusiastic theorists on both sides cannot but 
 be discouraged in the long run. All the refugee planters round 
 here say that their negroes have never been so submissive or do- 
 cile, and yet the loyalty of these sons of Africa is not much to be 
 counted on. 
 
 My chief inducement in coming down here was to pay Hopeton 
 a visit, but I have been obliged to relinquish that project on account 
 of the sickness which prevails along the coast. God willing, I hope 
 to do so at Christmas. I am told that like all the plantations along 
 the river ours is in the most horrible condition, owing to the freshets 
 and neglect. All the banks and trunks have been swept away; to 
 put them in order will cost us much time, money and labour. It 
 is a consolation, but a meagre one, to know that the inundations 
 having been so heavy we could not have made anything for two 
 years; in the meantime, it is true the lands have been resting, and 
 if we are not irretrievably smashed I hope that premium crops may 
 still be raised at Hopeton. Mr. James Cowper's health, of late, 
 has been breaking down under the weight of the cares and afflic- 
 tions which have beset him; the hot weather, too, of this summer 
 had sadly impaired it, arid his family tell me that they have lost 
 
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76 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 all hope of his recovery, but fortunately a favourable change has 
 set in, and I am happy to say that I found him, although very in- 
 firm, looking much better than I expected. The loss of his two 
 sons, Hamilton and John, who both died of typhoid fever, has cast 
 a sad gloom on himself and his family His three other sons are in 
 the army — ^James in the Engineer corps, Alexander is with Early 
 in the Valley, and Robert has been a prisoner at Fort Delaware 
 ever since the battle of Gettysburg. I purpose staying here a few 
 days longer, and then going on to Savannah, where I shall remain 
 a short while provided there is less sickness, and then I shall re- 
 trace my steps towards Virginia with my servant Daniel, who has 
 grown up to be a strong and hearty fellow. You remember his 
 health was very bad when we were at Hopeton together, and then 
 it was generally thought that he was too consumptive to live. He 
 is a good faithful boy, and knows perfectly how to attend to a horse; 
 I have therefore decided to take him up to the front as my camp 
 servant. I meditate inflicting some more of my caligraphy on you 
 at Savannah. Adieu, dear father; kiss my angelic mother, Bella, 
 Bessie, and all their belongings for me. 
 
 Your devoted son, 
 
 Camp, near Richmond, 
 
 Field's Division, 
 November 24th, 1864. 
 Sweetest Mother: 
 
 Profiting by my brief sojourn in the placid little city of Savan- 
 nah, towards the end of October, I indulged in some ink-spilling, 
 the results of which were a few fly tracks, which I addressed to my 
 beloved father. As a particularly long hiatus in my correspond- 
 ence gives you pain, I hope that fortune will favour the aforesaid 
 fly tracks during their trans-oceanic flight. After an absence of 
 about a month from the A. N. V., I returned to the Old Dominion 
 early in the present month, and forthwith rejoined the command of 
 
 466 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 77 
 
 which I am proud to be a member. Although my trip to, and stay 
 in Georgia, was on the whole as satisfactory as I could expect in 
 these times, yet I was in great glee to turn my back upon the abomi- 
 nable cars of the Richmond and Savannah railroads, and to be once 
 more rid of their indescribable discomforts. I do not hesitate to 
 declare that I would a thousand times prefer to face the hardships 
 of a winter campaign, or the privation of a Northern prison, than to 
 undergo the horrors of a Southern car. Immediately on my arrival 
 I went to my excellent friend Mrs. Mason, with the cheering pre- 
 sentiment that perhaps some letters from you and my other dear 
 correspondents might be in her safe keeping. Picture to yourself 
 my extasies of delight, for I received from her kind hands two glori- 
 ously fat envelopes containing your letter of the 17th and 28th; 
 Bessie's of the 9th and 23rd; Jean's of the 11th; and dear little 
 Richard's of the 8th of the same month. This was indeed a feast 
 well calculated to cheer the heart of your ragged rebel of a son, who 
 has not had many of those treats. I was glad to learn that you 
 had received pretty regularly my letters of the month of June, I 
 trust that those or the succeeding months will be as fortunate. My 
 joy would have been well nigh marred by the intelligence you com- 
 municated to me of my dear Isabella's misfortune, had it not been 
 palliated by the comforting assurance that she was doing well. 
 T6ll her, dear, dear mother, that my sympathy in this sad trial is 
 proportioned to my love for her If her health is as you say in a 
 satisfactory condition, I have not much apprehension for the morale, 
 as she, in addition to her buoyant temperament, has her noble little 
 boy to console her, — ^that diminutive sunbeam will, I warrant it, 
 dissipate the lowest spirits. I must not omit to mention the 
 pleasure I experienced at finding amongst the contents of the ple- 
 thoric envelopes another of the dear little fellow's photographs, as 
 well as two likenesses of my Sco to-Gallic namesake; say to the dear 
 little Highlander that his pretty cartes-de-visite enhanced the de- 
 ight I derived from his well-written, well expressed, and affection- 
 
 467 
 
78 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 ate epistle. I am the proudest of uncles, and if a certain great gun 
 on your side of the briny waters owes his success to the fact that 
 he is the nephew of his uncle, how much more ought I to congratu- 
 late myself upon being the uncle of such nephews? I have been so 
 courteously and so kindly treated by our most estimable General, 
 by his staff and by officers of this glorious little division, on re- 
 turning the other day I was so warmly greeted, that I now begin to 
 regard this army as my second home. From the first I made many 
 agreeable acquaintances in the command; since then they have 
 ripened into sincere friendship, these I feel will be lasting and their 
 fruits sweet, for they have taken root in the mellow soil of mutual 
 respect and esteem, without which I contend that friendships are 
 more or less hollow and fragile. Here there is not much room for 
 imposture or hypocrisy, the fiery ordeal of this sort of life being a 
 test which they cannot resist, danger is a touchstone which exposes 
 cowardice, and privation in the long run will eventually tear away 
 the mask of selfishness, and thus, war a hateful curse though it be, 
 develops the good qualities of good men on the one hand, and makes 
 the bad ones of bad men appear in all their hideous nakedness. 
 Judge of my gratified astonishment when I returned, I was told 
 my wounded nag had recovered, and instead of his being in extremis 
 I found him alive and actually kicking. In a short time he will be 
 I hope, perfectly well. He has got over a wound that would have 
 killed nine horses out of ten. It is with animai'ls like human beings, 
 a powerful constitution and good blood give them many chances of 
 recovery. 
 
 During my absence two pretty heavy fights occurred. The 
 second one was a brilliant success, for we repelled a Yankee attack 
 very handsomely. The first one would have been equally so, had 
 Hoke supported us, but as usual he was slow or showed the white 
 feather. We had to charge the portion of the Yankee works on the 
 Newmarket and Darbytown roads, and we had got within forty 
 yards of them, notwithstanding a withering fire from the front 
 
 468 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 79 
 
 (several officers have told me that they had never seen a more regu- 
 lar and beautiful advance, the brigades moved as if they were on 
 the parade ground), but Hoke not coming up the Yankees who 
 were in an advance work on our right gave all their attention to our 
 advancing line, and poured a deadly flank fire into us; so terrible 
 was it that General Field gave the order to fall back, which was 
 done slowly and doggedly. The gallant General Gregg was killed 
 in this affair by an enfilading shot; his loss is deeply lamented by 
 both officers and men whose idol he was; he commanded the Tex- 
 ans. At his burial, which took place with all due pomp, there was 
 hardly a dry eye in all that brigade. General Lee considered him 
 the best brigadier in the army. Shortly before his death it was 
 rumoured that he would assume the command of the lamented 
 Rodes's division, and a worthy successor he would have made to 
 that able general. The deaths in general officers, this campaign, 
 that I regard the most to be deplored, are those of Rodes, Jenkins, 
 and Gregg — they were all three men of the right stuff. The day 
 after I got back the Yankees again thumped their heads against 
 our line, and were most disastrously hurled back. They assaulted 
 our breastworks in immensely heavy columns, but could not stand 
 up against the well-directed fire of our artillery and rifles, and they 
 fled helter-skelter, throwing away all that could impede their flight, 
 much to the amusement of our boys, who enjoyed this affair as 
 much as if it had been a cricket match or a horse race. Our losses 
 on that occasion were very small, they did not amount to more than 
 twenty at the very outside, in killed and wounded; whereas the 
 enemy suffered very heavily. I saw myself four hundred of them 
 surrender in a lump. In other parts of the field many prisoners 
 were made. I feel confident that twelve hundred will not cover 
 their losses in our front. The men fought with redoubled spirit 
 and zest because Longstreet was there to inspire them with confi- 
 dence, by his imperturbable serenity and admirable sang-froid. 
 I have heard many soldiers say they love to look at the old war- 
 
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80 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 horse before going into battle, because he looks so composed and 
 self-possessed that he never seems to be haunted with the fear of 
 failure. If he had not been wounded at the most critical moment 
 of the battle of the Wilderness, the flank movement which he was 
 about to initiate would have most probably routed Grant's army. 
 General Field assumed command of the corps, but before the gen- 
 eral-in-chief 's plans could be communicated to him, it was too late 
 to execute them. It seems that the fates have ordained that some 
 such untoward event should always neutralize our greatest vic- 
 tories. The glorious battle of Chancellorsville is another instance 
 of that "juighon." All was quiet when I left Georgia, as it was 
 supposed that Sherman was going north in pursuit of Hood, but, 
 since I left that state it appears that he has cut loose from his 
 base and that he is flying about generally. The movement is an 
 extremely hazardous one, and although it has sent the North into 
 a state of crazy rapture, it is just possible that the hero of Atlanta 
 may come to grief. But we are in a complete fog respecting what 
 is going on in Georgia at present, as the newspapers are requested 
 not to publish news from that quarter, which our inquisitive friends 
 the Yankees might turn to account. For the nonce they are de- 
 pendent upon us for intelligence from Sherman, and it is our policy 
 to deny it them as long as possible. General Lee's army is fully 
 larger by twenty thousand men than it was when I left, and if all the 
 line is as strong as the one we now occupy, I do not think that a 
 legion of three hundred thousand imps, headed by his Satanic 
 Majesty himself, could carry it. Adieu, my beloved mother, thank 
 my dear father and the other dear folks for their epistolary souve- 
 nir. 
 
 Your devoted son. 
 
 470 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 81 
 
 Camp, near Richmond, 
 
 Headquarters, Field's Division, 
 
 December 9th, 1864. 
 My Dear Father: 
 
 I seize with avidity a golden opportunity which has just pre- 
 sented itself of forwarding to you with perfect safety the following 
 lines. My most excellent friend, Monsieur the French Vice-Con- 
 sul at Richmond, has just apprised me of his sudden determination 
 to leave poor bleeding Dixie in a couple of days, and to return to 
 France as fast as steam could carry him. He has kindly offered to 
 take charge of this letter to you, and as it is sure of reaching its des- 
 tination I think that I had better embody in it a summary of several 
 items of interest contained in my previous missives to you and my 
 other beloved correspondents. These, owing to the thousand and 
 one risks of the blockade, which is becoming every d'aiy more 
 stringent, I doubt whether you will ever get. At the beginning of 
 the month of October I wrote to my dear mother, saying that I 
 purposed going down in Georgia in order to look after our interests 
 there. I left the army after the very severe fight we had with the 
 enemy on the 27th of September. At one time things had a very 
 ugly look; the Yanks, by stealing a march upon us, had got alarm- 
 ingly near to the rebel capital, and had not our division come across 
 the river in the nick of time at a double quick I think that the ceru- 
 lean abdomens could have played havoc in the city, but I have no 
 idea of their having been able to effect a lodgment there. We had 
 a very exciting race with them for Fort Gilmor, one of the most im- 
 portant links in the chain of defences around Richmond, but fortu- 
 nately the game and high-mettled rebs reached that goal before 
 Butler's motley crowd of niggers and Dutchmen. Enraged at be- 
 ing thus headed off, the "beast" ordered a charge, as usual putting 
 his sable soldiery in front of the storming party; they came up very 
 gallantly to within thirty yards of our works. I was in the fort at 
 the time, and could not help admiring this solid and compact column 
 with its forest of bayonets glistening in the sun. I might then 
 
 471 
 
82 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 have felt nervous and anxious about the ability of our little band 
 of men to resist such a mighty host had I not felt unbounded con- 
 fidence in their indomitable courage and steadiness. At the dis- 
 tance of some thirty yards we poured a deadly volley into their 
 midst, and with a yell mounted the parapets; then occurred a 
 changement a vue almost without a parallel in this bloody drama, 
 the defiant mass breaking up into a disordered mob, and scattering 
 like chaff before the wind. Some of the negroes, who, by-the-bye, 
 behaved much better than the white troops, still kept advancing, 
 and attempted with much intrepidity to scale the parapets; every 
 one of them was either killed or taken prisoner in the attempt. 
 Ofl&cers helped their men to shoot them down; my Adams' re- 
 peater acquitted itself very creditably on that occasion. The next 
 day we had a brush with them again; in it my dear little horse was 
 badly wounded in the neck and shoulder. He fell so suddenly that 
 we all thought he was killed, but I am happy to say that Torpedo 
 is himself again, thanks to the care bestowed upon him by a kind 
 Virginian farmer in whose hands I left him. I don't know what I 
 would have done had I lost him, for good chargers are terribly 
 scarce in Dixie now-a-days. In my horseless condition, I applied 
 for a permission to go to Richmond, and thence to Georgia. I 
 stopped a few days in Richmond, and then set out for the south. 
 After a long and tedious journey, I got to Tibeauville. The Cow- 
 pers and our genial neighbours on the wild Altama* were very glad to 
 see me, I found them squatting in a wild and barren forest of pine 
 trees, but bearing their privations with that Mark Tapley-like buoy- 
 ancy which characterises our brave people in this their fiery ordeal. 
 They had to start from first principles, and went to work like pio- 
 neers in the far west, clearing lands and building up shanties. Mr. 
 William Cowper has constructed a snug little house of pine boards, 
 in it I assure you that I passed a fortnight very pleasantly; his 
 ingenuity and untiring energy have, by this time, supplied many of 
 
 *The Altamaha River. 
 
 472 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 83 
 
 the inconveniences of the times. Had not the crops for the past 
 two years been very bad in that region of Georgia we would have 
 raised amply suflScient to feed our negroes, but unfortunately owing 
 to the shortness of the corn crop, we have been obliged to purchase 
 provisions for our negroes. This, at present prices, is a heavy ex- 
 pense. With regard to clothing we get on famously, for we raise 
 our own cotton and wool, we spin and weave it. These homespuns 
 make very excellent negro clothing; I enclose herewith some sam- 
 ples that I think do credit to Mr. Cowper's factory. You will ap- 
 preciate them the more when I tell you that he made the lathe 
 which made the spinning and weaving machines which made these 
 textures. On arriving, I was literally mobbed by the negroes, 
 young and old, who seemed as pleased to see me as if this Abolition 
 crusade had never been thought of. Mr. Cowper told me that they 
 are as docile as ever, and that unless some extraordinary induce- 
 ment was held out to them he thought that they would not run off. 
 We have lost a few in that way, and quite a large number by sick- 
 ness when they were removed into the interior. As there is no em- 
 ployment for the majority of them upon the place Mr. Cowper has 
 hired out a good many to private individuals, who are bound to 
 feed them well, but this winter, provided that Sherman's incursion 
 does not knock this project on the head, we hope to get a Govern- 
 ment contract, together with Dr. Troop, for the employment of 
 our hands at very good prices. Our gangs will jointly be placed 
 under the supervision of Mr. Cowper. I hope that this arrange- 
 ment will be better for our darkies and more lucrative to us. 
 
 After a stay of a fortnight with the Cowpers I went to Savan- 
 nah and saw Mr. Hodgson, who took me to the Georgia State Bank. 
 I was there told by the cashier that the sum of two thousand dol- 
 lars in Treasury bonds, bearing an interest of four-and-a-half per 
 cent, was to your credit. This amount had accumulated there be- 
 fore Mr. Teft's death, and was made up of sums paid in liquidation 
 of some of the notes due to you. At that time the Treasury notes, 
 
 473 
 
84 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 in which these sums were paid, were as good as gold; it was only 
 later that they began to topple down. On the 17th of February 
 last an act was passed for the purpose of amending the currency; 
 pursuant to it the holders of Treasury notes were obliged to invest 
 at (in) four-and-a-half per cent. Treasury bonds at par, or submit 
 to a discount of thirty-three and a third per cent, if the notes of 
 the old issue were returned. Now, Mr. Cowper, being at that 
 time your only representative on this side of the water, was advised 
 to fund this sum, a course approved of by Hodgson as they are 
 worth from 70 to 75 dollars in the hundred, and as, moreover, they 
 are receivable in payment of taxes at present prices; supposing 
 that we had taxes to the tune of five thousand dollars to pay, three 
 thousand five hundred inVe'sted in treasury notes would meet that 
 charge. Your Albany and Gulf railroad bonds are considered a 
 safe thing; you have, I think, twenty-five thousand dollars in- 
 vested in them. Well, Mr. Hodgson told me that if they were to be 
 sold now they would fetch over one hundred thousand dollars. 
 Since the death of Mr. Teft none of the interest on any of your 
 securities has been collected, and the directors of the bank will 
 not receive any payments in depreciated currency on your behalf, 
 unless ordered by you to do so. When in Savannah I had the 
 pleasure of seeing a great deal of your amiable f Tiend Mr. Hodgson, 
 who, together with his wife and her sister, were extremely kind to 
 me. 
 
 I got back to Massa Robert's army the day before one of the 
 prettiest affairs it has been my luck to witness. The whole of But- 
 ler's large army assaulted the lines occupied by Field's division on the 
 north side of the James, between the Darbytown and Williamsburg 
 roads. They attacked us in six lines of battle, but we soon disposed 
 of them, and they fled, leaving their dead and wounded upon the 
 field of battle. They lost in front of us not a man less than two 
 thousand, whilst we had only thirty killed and wounded. Since 
 the fight a formidable line of breastworks has been thrown up, 
 
 474 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 85 
 
 running from the Chickahominy to the James; it is by far the most 
 formidable line of entrenchments our men have fought behind 
 since this war has commenced, every resource and device of en- 
 gineering skill having been bestowed upon it to make it impreg- 
 nable. If it is carried by the Yankees I shall be much surprised 
 at their dash, and much disappointed with our men. The army 
 is in fine spirits; this lull of six weeks in active hostilities has done 
 our veterans a great deal of good. It is also wonderful how the 
 army has increased. I have no doubt that it is larger by twenty 
 thousand men than it was last September; if we have no more 
 fighting this year Lee's forces will be as large as they were at the 
 beginning of this campaign. Our men are very comfortably lodged 
 in snug log huts of their own construction, they are well fed and 
 pretty warmly clad and shod — a shoeless rebel is not often seen 
 now. Two of our brigades have built large log theatres, and in a 
 few days will begin their performances, provided old Ulysses allows 
 them to do so. The Texian troupe is really very good, and as good 
 in its way as the famous Zouaves of Sebastopol. Until very lately 
 I thought that we would subside quietly into winter quarters, but 
 certain indications portend warm work somewhere in front. I 
 have an idea that we on the left will not come in for it, but that 
 Grant will try our centre, for that is the only point against which 
 he has not butted his head since he sat down in front of Petersburg. 
 But on the other hand, all this stir among the Yankees may only 
 be a feint to divert our attention from Sherman, who seems to be 
 going on vigorously with his work of desolation in Georgia. The 
 Government is very reticent as to the measures taken to oppose 
 him, and, as the telegraph is silent, his movements are shrouded in 
 mystery ; I think however, that Savannah, or some point between 
 that city and Charleston, is the object of his grand raid. It is 
 pretty generally thought that if he reaches the coast he will be in a 
 very shattered condition; some sanguine people think that he will 
 be gobbled up, but those who live will see. 
 
 475 
 
86 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 Early's men have just come down from the Shenandoah Valley, 
 they marched past this corps in the morning; our boys jeered them 
 piteously for their discomfitures near Winchester. They were con- 
 siderably nettled at this chaff, and at one time I thought a row was 
 imminent between the two corps. 
 
 You express so much solicitude concerning my health that I 
 feel bound to reassure you touching it. My health has been, thank 
 heavens, very satisfactory, ever since I reached Confederate soil. 
 The campaign has been pretty rough and fatiguing, it is true, but 
 no ragged rebel has stood it half as well as I have done. My ap- 
 petite is wolfish in the extreme, and I devour bacon which out- 
 ranks General Lee himself with a voracity that would horrify the 
 gourmets of the Cafe Riche. Now we are in clover, for the General 
 has established his quarters at a farm, where we are really comfort- 
 ably installed. The owners, when the Yankees advanced, fled 
 to town, but their negro servants are still here and from them we 
 get an abundance of milk and good butter, two luxuries which are 
 highly prized in camp. I hope that we shall not be moved this 
 winter, for if we remain in our present quarters I shall be able to 
 see something of Richmond society; a visit now and then to the 
 capital of the Confederacy will be a pleasant break in the monotony 
 of camp life. In some of my preceding letters I asked you to send 
 me several articles, the list of which I appended to them, but as it 
 is uncertain if they have or ever will reach you, I must be forgiven 
 if I bore you with a reiteration of the same request. First and 
 foremost, I would like about eighty yards of Confederate gray cloth 
 (I send a sample of the colour along with this), also four yards of 
 gros bleu cloth, two of buff cloth, and a few yards of gold lace, nearly 
 one inch wide; a couple also of felt hats would be most acceptable. 
 I should also require a pair of cavalry boots, as my present ones are 
 decidedly the worse for wear. A dozen bottles of Cognac, safely 
 landed in Dixie, and forwarded to your son, would cheer the cockles 
 of his heart; a little inward fortification of that sort is necessary 
 
 476 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 87 
 
 these frosty mornings when we have to ride along the picket line. 
 Should you be able to squeeze in a few Chester cheeses, they would 
 be not superfluous. I am ashamed to treat of such homely matters, 
 but the fact is soldiers are as greedy as schoolboys, and the present 
 petition reminds me of the happy days when I used to beg for plum 
 cakes at Mr. Alfrey's. Before bringing my scrawl to a close, I 
 must thank you, my divine mother, dear Bessie, dear Jean, and my 
 bright little namesake, for their epistolary souvenirs of the month of 
 August. As usual, I devoured them with a light heart. The photo- 
 graphs of the two noble little fellows are charming, and as is proper, 
 vastly admired here. Adieu, my dear father, give my love to all 
 the dear folks. 
 
 Your devoted son. 
 
 Headquarters Field's Division, 
 Allen's Farm, 
 
 December 29th, 1864. 
 My Dear Mother: 
 
 Opportunity being bald behind, I lose no time in grasping it 
 eagerly by the forelock. An Englishman, who is about returning 
 to the "tight little island," has kindly volunteered to bear this 
 scrawl across the vasty deep. Conformably with the rule which I 
 have laid down, of never missing the smallest chance of communing 
 with you or some other of my dear correspondents, I have availed 
 myself with pleasure of his offer. The missive which I entrusted 
 to the care of Monsieur Tabonelle is doubtless near its destination, 
 if it has not reached it by this time. I therein told my father to 
 whom it was addressed, that my sanitary condition left nothing to be 
 desired. Since then, that most satisfactory condition has not 
 varied at all, and I am happy to say that I am still in a state of high 
 preservation. At the time I was writing, I hugged the hope that 
 all hostilities, as far as this army is concerned, were bottled up for 
 the winter, but a change has come over the spirit of my dream, for 
 
 477 
 
88 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 hardly had I handed the letter to its amiable bearer when we re- 
 ceived marching orders, and I had to scamper off to get the division 
 under way. On these occasions the post of aide is a dog's life and 
 still more so at this season of the year, when the "Old Dominion" 
 is one vast morass. It is not very jolly to have to leave one's cosy 
 camp fire, and to flounder up to one's horse's girths in Virginia 
 slush, than which the most vivid imagination cannot picture any- 
 thing more atrocious. To cap the climax, you now and then run 
 foul of a snag, lying treacherously hidden in mud and darkness across 
 your path. This frequently entails a spill for both steed and rider; 
 such was my luck on Saturday, the 11th ultimo, my only compensa- 
 tion for all these tribulations was to be savagely growled and scowl- 
 ed at by drowsy brigadiers who, having indulged in visions of re- 
 pose, were terribly put out at being told to move out of the trenches 
 with three days' cooked rations. The weather was as bad as it 
 could be, a raw nor'wester scourged our faces, which were moreover 
 battered by a fierce hail storm. This was not pleasant but it is all 
 like war, and as Longstreet's orders were peremptory, when day- 
 light began to struggle through the dull leaden clouds we sallied 
 out of our works. The object of the movement was a reconnais- 
 sance in force, for the purpose of feeling the enemy's strength and 
 position on the north side of the James. We splashed along through 
 the mud and sleet, until we struck the enemy's pickets. A sharp 
 little fight then ensued, but we soon drove the enemy back to their 
 main line; in this engagement we captured a lot of prisoners and 
 horses. I had also the good luck to take a prisoner, whom I eased 
 of his sabre and also of a very fine water-proof coat, an article which 
 I needed very badly, since my own had fallen into the hands of the 
 cerulean abdomens. 
 
 After disposing thus of the enemy's outposts, we marched and 
 countermarched until we came upon the Yankee line of works. 
 These movements are very difiicult of execution, as the country is 
 densely wooded, the jungle at some places being so thick as to baf- 
 
 478 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 89 
 
 fle one's ingenuity in getting through it. These almost impene- 
 trable forests, coupled with the tortuousness and rottenness of the 
 roads have necessitated a departure from the old European system 
 of warfare. Poor aides are invariably put to their wits' end in 
 striving to get about to the diflferent commands. Sometimes, 
 such is the intricacy of the labyrinth in which they frequently find 
 themselves, that before they are aware of it the enemy are all 
 around them, and to their horror they discover that they are 
 "turned round" and are riding bang into the opposite lines. Many 
 of them have been gobbled up in that way. Having reached the 
 Yankee line of battle, the General, his Adjutant, and myself rode 
 on to reconnoitre the enemy, but owing to this horrible region we 
 stumbled up against a party of the enemy's skirmishers, who upon 
 seeing us blazed away at the party, and before we could see the fel- 
 lows, Minies were singing around us rather spitefully. Under the 
 circumstances the General rapidly came to the conclusion that dis- 
 cretion is the better part of valour, and so he wheeled round, stuck 
 spurs into his horse, and skedaddled at a brisk pace; we followed 
 suit, and after an exciting race, the danger was over. I drew a long 
 breath, and congratulated myself sincerely upon having been missed. 
 I then fully appreciated the feelings of the numerous rabbits which 
 gave your muffish son the good-bye at LaBoulaye, so much to his dis- 
 gust. If the report of this not over-glorious stampede ever reaches 
 them, they and their persecuted brethren will exult over my dis- 
 comfiture. We sent out scouts and sharpshooters to feel the enemy, 
 and proceeded to make preparations preliminary to an attack, but 
 our scouts on returning reported that the position was so strong a 
 one that it could only be carried at a great sacrifice. Longstreet 
 and General Field, after some consultation, decided to fall back, and 
 not a little to their satisfaction our wet and weary soldiers turned 
 their faces camp ward. This expedition, barring the number of men 
 engaged, bore some likeness to that of the "King of France who, 
 with twenty thousand men, marched up a hill, and then marched 
 down again." 
 
 479 
 
90 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 It was late when I got back to headquarters, and not in a con- 
 dition calculated to excite envy, but a delightful surprise awaited 
 me, for, thank God, on dismounting my faithful steed Sambo 
 handed me your dear letter of the eleventh of October, enclosing 
 Bessie's from Plassac; both of them acted as powerful restoratives 
 on this broken-down reb. The sad tones which pervaded your 
 lines I can well appreciate, for, wrapped up as is your heart in the 
 cause, you must have been depressed by this deplorable tide of 
 Confederate reverses. Since you wrote more misfortunes have 
 fallen to our lot, and a heavy gloom hangs over the country. The 
 situation is one of great gravity, and I frankly confess that it gives 
 me more concern than I have ever felt hitherto; but, if drastic 
 measures be resorted to, it is time yet to purge the country of its 
 invaders. Floyd's defeat in Tennessee, Sherman's raid through 
 Georgia, have necessitated the employment of very violent reme- 
 dies. The most important of these, but a desperate one, it is true, 
 is the armament of the negroes. Ever since I first landed in the 
 Confederacy I have heard the subject discussed, and have been 
 surprised to observe how many men are in favour of that last resort. 
 Before this da'rk hour in the history of our revolution, the employ- 
 ment of the African element as soldiers was regarded by many far- 
 seeing men in the army as one of the necessities which the vicissi- 
 tudes of war might force upon us; they admitted that such an 
 event was much to be deplored, and hoped that we should not have 
 to withdraw "Cuffy" from his peaceful avocations in order to make 
 food for powder of him. But misfortunes of late have come upon 
 us, not as single spies but in battalions, and we shall have to play 
 our last card in order to restore the numerical equilibrium in this 
 unequal contest. One hundred thousand negroes, say even only 
 fifty thousand, thrown into the Southern scale, would perhaps turn 
 the war balance and enable us to achieve our independence. Is 
 not the prize worth the hazard? I think so, most decidedly. For 
 we know what Mr. Lincoln's programme is; he very candidly told 
 
 480 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 91 
 
 US that subjugation involves the manumission of our slaves, and in 
 order to secure that end he runs them off and puts arms into their 
 hands; he therefore not only takes them from us, but uses them as 
 a means to crush us. Under the circumstances, would it not be 
 better for us to say to the negroes, "Fight for us, and you will not 
 only be free, but you will retain your homes; if you go over to the 
 Yankees they will either force you into their ranks or leave you to 
 starve in the inhospitable cities of the north." The negro's at- 
 tachment to his home would operate as a powerful inducement to 
 remain with us and join his fortunes with ours; this will be an evil 
 I admit, but at any rate it will be the lesser of two evils — "If ills be 
 necessary, then let us meet them like necessities." These opinions 
 will doubtless startle you, and when I left you all I little thought 
 that I would ever hold such views, but the necessities of the case 
 have forced me to adopt them too. I still say and think that the 
 negro's happiest condition is slavery. You have only to go over 
 the country to convince you of that; he is infinitely better fed and 
 clad than our poor soldiers; he leads an easy and regular life com- 
 pared with the ragged rebels. When free, the inherent thriftless- 
 ness and indolence of the African will preponderate over his better 
 qualities, and will destroy his usefulness. All that is very true, 
 and from a humanitarian point of view I deprecate the abolition 
 of slavery; but, to use an Americanism, we must let humanity slide 
 for the nonce, and resort to every expedient for saving our national 
 existence. That is the sole object of this struggle, we are fighting 
 for dear life, for nationality. Four years of blood and carnage have 
 made all other questions subordinate to that one great issue, in- 
 dependence; if we could maintain with it the maintenance of our 
 servile institution, 'twould be better for the whites as well as for 
 the blacks, but if not, let us sacrifice even that on the altar of our 
 country. To get his ship afloat again many a sailor has had to 
 pitch the valuable cargo overboard. The simile is applicable to 
 us; a flood of disasters has driven our straining and struggling ship 
 
 481 
 
92 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 upon those hated banks from which she fled four years ago; to 
 lighten her slavery must be thrown overboard, or she may perhaps 
 become the prey of the wreckers of Yankeedom. At the outset of 
 this conflict, southern dash, individual courage and self-devotion 
 made up for a multitude of wants and deficiencies; for instance, 
 Jackson's shoeless little band of heroic ragamuflfins, consisting of 
 less than twelve thousand men, routed and drove away four huge 
 armies, numbering at the very lowest an aggregate of one hundred 
 thousand Yankees. B\it since then the Northern armies, which 
 are as large as ever, have been better disciplined, and are certainly 
 much better commanded. The Yankee generals of the present 
 period are very superior to the Milroys, Popes and Bumsides of the 
 early part of the war, "C'est en forgeant, quon devient forgeron," 
 says the Gallic adage, and the Yankees have been hammering away 
 for such a time at their military improvements that at last they 
 have put into the field armies that are much tougher than they used 
 to be. I have seen how these northern fellows fight, and that at 
 unpleasantly close quarters, I have witnessed their charges, and I 
 have vivid recollections of a hot little charge against them. Well, 
 after six months' campaigning, I am ocularly satisfied that the 
 Yankees are not very easy to thrash. Such is the opinion of mil- 
 litary men over here, who are not so prone to underrate the fighting 
 of their opponents as those bombproof heroes who swagger about 
 the lobbies of Congress, or the Cafe du Grand Hotel. Things have 
 come to such a pass that we must resort to a desperate extremity, 
 in order to counterbalance the increased eflBciency and replenished 
 ranks of the northern hosts. Did not the Russians in 1814, burn 
 Moscow to save their country? The sacrifice was an awful one, 
 but the French invaders reeled back shattered and disheartened. 
 Let the abolition of slavery be the Moscow of the South, for if we 
 arm the slaves we shall have to free them; we cannot, in this 19th 
 century, make them fight in bondage like the Greeks did, and we 
 cannot put a musket into their hands as we would a spade or a hoe. 
 
 482 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 93 
 
 I think that were the war to cease to-morrow, with all our consti- 
 tutional rights recogiaized, the life of our peculiar institution would 
 be a very precarious one. In the States where it flourished before 
 the war, and where the occupation by the enemy has given it so 
 severe a shock, it can never be re-established. The docility and 
 the submissiveness of the darkies are very remarkable; I was struck 
 with that at Tibeauville, but the vicinity of the Yankees leads to 
 their demoralization and disorganization. Some remain on the 
 plantation, others — and they are mostly the bone and sinew of the 
 gangs — ^go over to the foe, this leaves upon the hands of the planter 
 a residuuin of old people and young children, which is utterly un- 
 productive. Rather than bear this incubus he has to sell them, 
 (and who would have them now) .'* or to let them take care of them- 
 selves. I am not an enthusiastic admirer of the negro; I don't 
 believe, it is true, that he is endowed with those truculent instincts 
 the humane Northerners counted upon, but on the other hand, 
 I have come to the conclusion that he is treacherous and slippery ; 
 there are exceptions, but in point of numbers, a drop out of an 
 ocean of disloyalty. But well-officered and disciplined, our darkies 
 would, I am certain, prove as eflficient in our hands as in those of the 
 Yankees. But to obtain this degree of efficiency, the organization 
 of that new material would have to be very perfect and very com- 
 plete, for after all discipline is the great condition of success in war, 
 and infinitely more effective than individual gallantry without 
 cohesion. 
 
 Poor little mother, I have inflicted a terribly long repetition 
 upon you, and it is not improbable that your prosy son would still 
 be "pegging away" at the same subject, were it not for the provi- 
 dential arrival of two batches of letters which have just come to 
 hand. The first one contains two missives: one of the 22nd of 
 September, from Bessie; and another of the 29th, from my dear 
 father: the other and more voluminous bundle comprised delectable 
 communications of November 9th, from you, sweetest mother, and 
 
 483 
 
94 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER 
 
 from my dear sister Bessie. This envelope was a most acceptable 
 box of wonders for to boot the "Reb." had the inexpressible 
 felicity of reading Jean's and Henry's epistolary souvenirs. Tell 
 my dear little namesake that his uncle is in ecstasies with his last 
 pretty little letter to me, as well as with the picture of the Confeder- 
 ate flag. I know not which to extol the more, the scribe or the 
 artist, he is certainly a budding Raphael. I was greatly delighted 
 to learn in Jean's letter that Isabella's health was again in a satis- 
 factory condition. It was a great relief to me, for I had felt very 
 anxious about that dear one, ever since I heard of her sad accident. 
 I hope before long to have another treat like the last one, which was 
 really a royal New Year's gift for my father mentions on a scrap of 
 paper, dated November 18th, that he had received my missives of 
 August 26th and September 13th, and that they would soon be re- 
 plied to. Awaiting good fortune I must "dry up," and with a 
 thousand affectionate messages to your beloved circle I fondly kiss 
 you, my dearest little mother. 
 
 Cleveland, Va., 
 
 Mat 6th, 1865. 
 My Dearest Mother: 
 
 Since that dark day of humiliation on which the commander 
 of the once victorious Army of Northern Virginia avowed himself 
 vanquished, and bade us lay down our arms and give ourselves 
 up as prisoners of war to the generalissimo of our enemies — since 
 then, dear mother, I have made every effort upon earth to commu- 
 nicate with you, but with what success I am almost afraid to conjec- 
 ture, but out of the three missives that I despatched to you from 
 time to time, through different channels, I trust that one at least 
 has reached you. As it is only too possible that they may share 
 the fate of many of their predecessors, I ought to give you their 
 substance over again, which is decidedly of an egotistical character. 
 Thanks to a merciful Providence, I have come out of this last calam- 
 
 484 
 
TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 95 
 
 itous campaign without what may be called a wound, and with my 
 health, if possible, better than ever. Now that the din of battle is 
 hushed, and the excitement of the fierce contest at an end, painful 
 thoughts crowd upon me at every instant, for I cannot refrain from 
 musing over the calamitous events of the past month, and from 
 thinking of all the noble souls that I have seen fall around me. And 
 yet their blood has been poured out in vain. But the anguish of 
 these reflections is soothed a little by the gratitude with which my 
 heart is overflowing for my Maker's divine protection of me, amid 
 all the perils which surrounded all those that did their duty, up 
 to the last scene of the bloody tragedy which has just closed. 
 Grateful, indeed, ought I to feel that my life has been spared, and 
 that ere long, if God permits it, I may fold you in my arms. I am 
 sound in body, it is true, but sick at heart, for there is not a hope 
 left us to cling to, nothing but flat despair. After the surrender I 
 left the hateful place of our disgrace, — ^Appomattox Court House, 
 with General Field and several of his friends, and at his invitation 
 I accompanied him to the Northern Neck of Virginia, where his 
 father-in-law, Mr. Royal Mason, resided. It is in the house of that 
 most excellent and hospitable gentleman that I am at present in- 
 diting this letter; I have been staying here nearly three weeks. 
 My motive for making so long a stay was to get across the Potomac 
 into Maryland as soon as the blockade was raised, and thence to 
 N. York, from which place I intended sailing back to Europe; but 
 an order has been published by the powers that be forbidding all 
 paroled prisoners from going North until further notice. I have 
 therefore decided to go to Richmond, from whence I shall take ship- 
 ping to Halifax, as transportation is furnished us by the Federal 
 authorities to that point. I shall apprize you of all my movements 
 from Richmond, whither I proceed to-morrow. If by remaining 
 I think I can be of use to our interests in this section I shall do so, 
 but in the present chaotic state of things there is, I fear, little pros- 
 pect of my being able to do anything of permanent advantage. As 
 
 485 
 
96 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER TO HIS FAMILY IN EUROPE 
 
 there is a chance of my soon giving the rein to my garrulity when 
 we two meet again, I ought for the present to bridle my pen; were 
 I not to see you before long, I would incontinently commence a 
 narration of the trials, exploits and admirable endurance of our 
 noble old division. Whilst other commands were melting by dis- 
 organization and desertion. Field's division was as full of fight, and 
 as compact, as it was at the meridian of our glory. The darkest 
 cloud has its silver edging, and it is a proud reflection, amid all this 
 gloom, to know that our brave boys are as much respected by 
 friend and foe as the Old Guard was at Waterloo. 
 
 Adieu, dearest mother, I beseech you to kiss all the dear ones 
 for me a thousand times over. 
 
 Your devoted son. 
 
 FINIS 
 
 486 
 
As neii a fae-simile of the original as possible.) 
 
 JOURNAL 
 
 OF THE 
 
 EXPEDITION 
 
 UP THE 
 
 River St. LAWRENCE: 
 
 Containing 
 
 A true and moft particular Account of the 
 Tranfactions of the Fleet and Army un- 
 der the Command of Admiral Saunders 
 and General JVolfcj from the Time of 
 their Embarkation at Louisbourg 'til af- 
 ter the Surrender of §^U E B E C K . 
 
 By the SERJEANT- MAJOR of Gen. Hop- 
 fonV Grenadiers. 
 
 BOSTON: Printed and Sold by Fowle and 
 Draper, at their Printing- Office in Marlborough- 
 ftreet. 1759. 
 
EDITOR'S PREFACE 
 
 The "Journal" which we give herewith is one of the rarest 
 items of Americana. Prior to 1912 only one copy of the original 
 was known to exist — that in the Library of Congress, which the 
 Librarian furnished a photographic facsimile for our use. 
 
 Since then a second has been sold at auction in New York. 
 
 Never before has it been reprinted in the Unites States, and 
 but once elsewhere; and as a plain, straightforward story of Wolfe's 
 famous expedition, by a non-commissioned officer of his force — of 
 the 40th Foot — ^it possesses a positive interest, quite apart from 
 its rarity. It may not be superfluous to remind the reader that 
 Americans had a share in the expedition : for among the transports 
 were seventy -four vessels mainly American; nine hundred Ameri- 
 can "rangers" were among the soldiers, and two hundred and forty 
 seamen had come from Boston, and won high praise from Admiral 
 Saunders for their services. 
 
 489 
 
A JOURNAL, c|c. 
 
 Louisbourg, June 1, 1759. 
 
 WE EMBARK'D on board the Transport Harwood, bound on 
 the Expedition to Canada. — ^The 4th Day we set Sail for the 
 River St. Lawrence, which we made on the 9th Day, and 
 there we lay 'til the 16th, before we got into the River; which is 
 very wide and mountainous. For about forty Leagues up the 
 River the Depth of Water is 100 Fathoms. The 16th Day we 
 came into seventeen-fathom Water; and on the 23d we join'd 
 Admiral Durell, who had 7 Sail of the Line, with some Frigates 
 with him, which lay as a Guard to protect the River, at a Place 
 call'd the Island of Coudre. — ^This Island is pleasantly situated, 
 lies partly high, and was very well peopled before we came up: — 
 And passing this Island about a League up, we anchor'd, and two of 
 our Boats went in Shore and was attack'd by a small party of 
 Canadians and Indians, and was obliged to retreat to their Ships. 
 
 The 25th we made the out End of the Island of Orleans, and 
 on the 27th we landed on it without the loss of a Man. — ^A small 
 Party of Rangers were almost surrounded by a large Party of In- 
 dians; but the Rangers rush'd through them with the Loss of only 
 one Man; what Damage the Enemy sustain'd is uncertain. 
 
 On the 29 th the French sent five Fire-Ships down among our 
 Fleet; but, thank God, they did no Damage. The same Day we 
 marched about 6 Miles, under the Command of Col. Carlton^, and 
 encamped that same Night in Sight of the French Army, and like- 
 wise in Sight of the Town. — Gen. Monckton's Brigade and a Party 
 of Rangers landed on the South Side; we had a small Attack, by 
 which we had 3 kill'd, 2 wounded and 4 taken Prisoners. 
 
 1 Carlton was the future Sir Guy Carleton. He was then quartermaster general. 
 
 491 
 
102 EXPEDITION UP THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE 
 
 July 1st, the Enemy came against our Detachment on the 
 South-side of the River with floating Batteries; but our Shipping 
 soon drove them off; — the Damage they suffer'd is not known. 
 Same Day the Louisbourg Grenadiers^ went a Foraging; we had two 
 kill'd and scalp'd, belonging to the 22d Regiment. The same Day 
 we marched to the West End of the Island, in order to join the 
 Louisbourg Battalion : A Party of the Enemy fired out of the Woods, 
 and wounded two Men. 
 
 July the 5th, a Barge came between the Island and the main 
 Land, to sound the Depth of Water: The French fir'd four Cannon- 
 Shot at her, and came down on a large Bar of Sand, from whence 
 they fir'd small Arms; also five Canoes came down the River, loaded 
 with Indians, who took the Barge, made one Man Prisoner, and 
 wounded another belonging to the 22d Regiment. On the same 
 Day their floating Batteries attack'd our Shipping; but was soon 
 obliged to quit their Firing. — Gen. Monckton opened a small 
 Battery upon the South Side: The first Day they cannonaded and 
 bombarded on both Sides; but lost never a Man. 
 
 The 8th we landed on Queheck-'^h.oxe, without any Intercep- 
 tion, and marched up the River about two Miles; when the Louis- 
 bourg Grenadiers being order'd out to get Fascines, they had 
 scarce sat down to take a small Refreshment, and detach'd a small 
 Party of Rangers to guard the Skirts of the Wood, before a large 
 Party of Indians surrounded them, kill'd and scalp'd 13, wounded 
 the Captain-Lieutenant and 9 Privates; they likewise kill'd and 
 wounded 14 of the Royal Americans, wounded 2 of the 22d and 
 one of the 40th Regiment; we got only 3 Prisoners, and kill'd 2 of 
 the Savages, — 
 
 The third Day our Shipping was drove off by the Enemy's 
 Shells. — We got only some few Prisoners, 'til the 12th Day, when 
 
 2 The Louisbourg Grenadiers were drawn from five regiments the First (Royals), 17th, 2id, 
 40th and 45th, none of which were present as a whole. The total force of the Grenadiers was 
 241. 
 
 492 
 
EXPEDITION UP THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE 103 
 
 the French built a Battery against us, but had not Time to mount 
 any Guns on it; for we soon demolish'd it with our Field-Pieces 
 and Hauitzers.' The fourteenth Day their floating Batteries came 
 out after our Boats, but we soon drove them back again. — ^The 
 16th, we set the Town on Fire, about 12 o'Clock, which continued 
 burning all that Day. 
 
 On the 17th we went out a Fascining, and to make Oars, with 
 a small Party to cover us; — 5 were kill'd, of which 4 were scalp'd, 
 and we was oblig'd to quit the Wood directly; the Indians came 
 up very close, and kill'd and scalp'd one Man close by us; the 
 Grenadiers of the 45th Regiment fir'd upon them, and I saw one 
 drop, but the Indians took him off in a Minute: We had 5 kill'd 
 belonging to the 35th Regiment, and one dangerously wounded; 
 the 15th Reg. had one wounded; the 45th Reg. had one wounded 
 very bad; but our People returning upon them, made them fly so 
 fast that they were obliged to leave their Blankets and Match- 
 coats, with several other Things, behind them; but we could not 
 get one of them Prisoners. A Deserter came to us, from whom we 
 had an imperfect Account of their Forces; which, however, gave 
 us some Encouragement. 
 
 July 18th, the Deserter went out with our Light-Infantry, to 
 show them a Place where to cross the Falls; the Indians fir'd on 
 them, but hurt none: Likewise the same Night some of our Ship- 
 ping pass'd the Town, and one run ashore on the South Side of the 
 River. The 19th Day the floating Batteries came out to attack 
 our Shipping round the Harbour; but our Batteries on the Land- 
 Side drove them off, so that the Shipping receiv'd but two Shot. — 
 On the 20th an Accident happen'd in the Light-Infantry's Camp; 
 a Man sitting in his Tent, with his Firelock by him, taking hold 
 of the Muzzle to pull it towards him, it went off and wounded him 
 in the Thigh, so that he died the same Night. 
 
 3;;Hauitzers"andU^^i^^^^^ 
 Hauits i 
 
 493 
 
104 EXPEDITION UP THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE 
 
 The 21st Day of July all the Grenadiers cross'd over to the 
 Island of Orleans; the Indians attack'd us very smartly, as we was 
 marching to the Water-Side. — Same Day the Enemy open'd two 
 Batteries on us, which raked our Camps. Our Troops, with Sea- 
 men, stormed a Battery on the S. Side, spiked the Cannon, broke 
 the Mortars, broke into their Magazine, took all their Powder, and 
 threw all the Shot and Shells into the Water. 
 
 July 22d we set the Town on Fire, which burnt all the next 
 Day: Some of our Shipping went to pass the Town; but they fir'd 
 so hot, that they were oblig'd to turn back. 
 
 The 23d 300 Provincials landed on the Island of Orleans, which 
 was some Reinforfcement. 
 
 July 25th, the Louisbourg Battalion and three more Companies 
 of Grenadiers, with 3 Companies of Light-Infantry, went round the 
 Island of Orleans. — ^The 27th we arrived at our Camp ; and we re- 
 ceiv'd News, That our Forces on Montmorancy Side had been at- 
 tack'd the Day before, and likewise got the better of the Enemy; 
 we had an Account that we kill'd 300 of them, but the Number of 
 wounded none of us could tell: Our loss was 5 Officers and 32 Pri- 
 vates, 12 of whom were kill'd, and the rest wounded. The same 
 Day we went to get our Plunder,^ which we discovered on our March 
 round the Island, consisting of Gowns, Shifts, Petticoats, Stockings, 
 Coats and Waistcoats, Breeches, Shoes, and many other Articles 
 too tedious to mention, — and some Cash ; which, if the Things had 
 been sold to the Value, would have fetch'd upwards of 500 1. Sterl. 
 The same Night the French sent five Fire-Floats down, which made 
 great Confusion among our Fleet; but the Men of War sent their 
 Boats and tow'd them ashore, where they burnt out without further 
 Damage 
 
 July 29, Otway's^ and Hopson's^ Grenadiers went on board the 
 
 4"Plunder" is usually considered an Americanism, but here we have an English use of it 
 
 5 Otway's was the 36th Foot. 
 
 6 Hopson's was the 40th Foot. 
 
 494 
 
EXPEDITION UP THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE 105 
 
 Three-Sisters, Witmore's and Warburton's on board the Russell, 
 the rest in flat-bottom Boats and other vessels, with a full Intent to 
 land on a Part of the French Shore; so as by that Means we might 
 come at the Town: The first Push we made was on the 31st of July, 
 with 13 Companies of Grenadiers, supported by about 5 Thousand 
 Battalion-Men; — as soon as we landed we fixed our Bayonets and 
 beat our Grenadier's-March, and so advanced on; during all this 
 Time their Cannon play'd very briskly on us; but their Small- 
 Arms, in their Trenches, lay cool 'till they were sure of their Mark; 
 then they pour'd their Small-shot like Showers of Hail, which caus'd 
 our brave Grenadiers to fall very fast: Brave Gen. Wolfe saw that 
 our Attempts were in vain, so he retreated to his Boats again: 
 The Number of kill'd and wounded that Day was about 400 Men; — 
 in our Retreat we burnt the two Ships^ which we had ran ashore on 
 that Side to cover our Landing. 
 
 The 3d Day of August a Party of Capt. Dunks' s Rangers went 
 from the Island of Orleans to Quebeck-'&ide, a little down the River; 
 they were attack'd by a Party of French, and was smartly engag'd 
 for the Space of half an Hour; but the Rangers put them to flight, 
 kill'd several and took one Prisoner: The Rangers lost one Lieuten- 
 ant, who died of his Wounds soon after, and 2 or 3 others. They 
 got a great deal of Plunder. 
 
 Aug. 4th the French made an Attempt of crossing the Falls, 
 but our Train fir'd Hauits and Cohorns so fast, that they were 
 oblig'd to retreat without accomplishing any Thing; — what Dam- 
 age was done them I know not. 
 
 On the 6th a Victualing-Ship sail'd from our Fleet, and went 
 below the Falls, the French hove Shot and Shells in great Number 
 at them; but did them no Harm. 
 
 The 8th of Aug. two Centinels being at the Falls, they took an 
 Indian and bro't him Prisoner to the General, who sent him on 
 board the Admiral. At 12 o'Clock at Night we threw a Carcass 
 
 495 
 
106 EXPEDITION UP THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE 
 
 and one Shell on the Enemy's Battery of 9 Guns, which blew up 
 their Magazine, Platforms, and burnt with such Violence that some 
 of the Garrison were oblig'd to get into Boats to save themselves 
 from the Flames. The 9th Day we set the Town on Fire, being the 
 3d Time. 
 
 On the 10th the French floated a Thing down in the Form of a 
 Floating-Battery; one of our Ships sent out a Boat to see what it 
 was, and just as the Seamen were going to juqap on board, it blew 
 up and kill'd one Midshipman and wounded four Sailors. — ^The 
 same Day about 30 Sailors went a Plundering on the South-side 
 of the River, and as they were about their Prey, they was surpris'd 
 by a Party of Indians and drove off; but they all got safe to their 
 Boats, tho' not without the Loss of their Plunder. 
 
 The 11th Instant there was an Engagement between our 
 Scouting-Parties and the Indians; our People drove them off; 
 we had a great Number wounded, several very badly, but the most 
 slightly; there was but few kill'd: There was one of the 35th Reg. 
 told me, he saw an Indian who fir'd at him, but missed him; that 
 he levelled his Piece and fir'd at the Indian, and miss'd him hke- 
 wise; upon which the Indian immediately threw his Tommaha^k 
 at him and miss'd him; whereupon the Soldier, catching up the 
 Tommahawk, threw it at the Indian and levell'd him, and then 
 went to scalp him; but 2 other Indians came behind him, and one 
 of them stuck a Tommahawk in his Back; but did not wound him 
 so much as to prevent his Escape from them. 
 
 The 12th Day we had an Account of General Murray's going 
 to land above the Town — He made an Attempt to land twice and 
 was beat off; he made the third Attempt, and landed on the South- 
 Shore with the Loss of about 100 kill'd and wounded; The same 
 Day we had an Account from the Enemy, That Gen. Amherst's 
 Army was taken very badly, and that they were oblig'd to turn 
 back again. 
 
 496 
 
EXPEDITION UP THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE 107 
 
 On the 13th we had an Account by one of the French Gunners, 
 who deserted to us that Night, That the Enemy had very Httle 
 Provisions; he hkewise gave an Account that a Body of French 
 and Indians came over the Falls, the same Side that our Army was 
 on, and that they had four Days Provisions with them, and re- 
 main'd there still. 
 
 The 14th a Sailor belonging to the Dublin Man of War, en- 
 deavour'd to swim over to the French, over the River; but the Cur- 
 rent ran so strong, that he was driven on Shore on the Island-Side, 
 and was taken up by one of Hop son's Grenadiers and carried to 
 their Quarter-Guard, from whence he was carried on board his own 
 Ship again, stark naked. 
 
 The 15th of Aug. Captain Gorham returned from an Incursion 
 in which Service were employ 'd, under his Command 150 Rangers, 
 a Detachment from the different Regiments, Highlanders, Marines, 
 &c. amounting in the whole to about 300, an arm'd Vessel, three 
 Transports, with a Lieutenant and Seamen of the Navy to attend 
 him; of which Expedition they gave the following Account: 
 
 "That on the 4th of August they proceeded down to St. PauFs 
 Bay, (which is opposite to the North Side of this Island) where was 
 a Parish containing about 200 Men, who had been very active in 
 distressing our Boats and Shipping. — ^At 3 o'clock in the Morning 
 Capt. Gorham landed, and forced two of their Guards, of 20 Men 
 each, who fir'd smartly for some Time; but that in two Hours they 
 drove them all from their Covering in the Wood, and clear'd the 
 Village which they burnt, consisting of about 50 fine Houses and 
 Barns; destroy 'd most of their Cattle, &c. — ^That in this one 
 Man was kill'd and 6 wounded; but that the Enemy had two kill'd, 
 and several wounded, who were carried off. — ^That from thence they 
 proceeded to Mai Bay, ten Leagues to the Eastward on the same Side 
 where they destroyed a very pretty Parish, drove off the inhabit- 
 ants and Stock without any Loss; after which, they made a Descent 
 
 497 
 
108 EXPEDITION UP THE RIVEE ST. LAWRENCE 
 
 on the South Shore, opposite the Island of Coudre, destroyed Part 
 of the Parish of St. Jnn's and St. Roan, where were very handsome 
 Houses, with Farms, and loaded the Vessels with Cattle; after 
 which they returned from their Expedition." 
 
 The same Day 1 of our Schooners went from the Fleet below 
 the Fall, and the French fir'd 8 or 9 Shot at her; but miss'd her. 
 This Day a Party of young Highlanders came to the Island of 
 Orleans from Gen. Moncktons Encampment, on Purpose to de- 
 stroy all the Canada-Side. — ^The same Day our People set one of the 
 Enemy's Floating-Batteries on Fire; — and in the Night General 
 Monckton set the Town on Fire, (being the 4th Time) and the Flames 
 raged so violently, that 'twas imagin'd the whole City would have 
 been reducd to Ashes. 
 
 August 18th, a Sloop and Schooner went below the Falls, the 
 French hove Shot and Shells at them, but did 'em no Damage. 
 The same Day the Enemy hove a Bomb from the Town, which 
 kill'd one Man and wounded 6 more, — one Man had his Arm cut 
 off by a Piece of the same Shell. 
 
 On the 20th the Louisbourg Grenadiers began their March 
 down the main Land of Quebeck, in order to burn and destroy all 
 the Houses on that Side. — On the 24th they were attack'd by a 
 Party of French, who had a Priest for their Commander; but our 
 Party kill'd and scalp'd^ 31 of them, and likewise the Priest, their 
 Commander: They did our People no Damage. The three Com- 
 panies of Louisbourg Grenadiers halted about 4 Miles down the 
 River, at a Church called the Guardian- Angel, where we were order'd 
 to fortify ourselves till further Orders; we had several small Parties 
 in Houses, and the Remainder continued in the Church. — ^The 25th 
 began to destroy the Country, burning Houses, cutting down Corn, 
 and the like: At Night the Indians fired several scattering Shot at 
 the Houses, which kill'd one of the Highlanders and wounded an- 
 
 7 This is almost unique as an admission of scalping by British regulars. 
 
 498 
 
EXPEDITION UP THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE 109 
 
 other; but they were soon repulsed by the Heat of our Firing: — 
 It was said that the Number of the Enemy consisted of 800 Cana- 
 dians and Indians. Sept. 1st we set Fire to our Houses and Forti- 
 fications, and marched to join the Grand Army at Montmorancy; 
 the 3 Companies of Grenadiers were ordered to hold themselves in 
 Readiness to march at a Minute's Warning. 
 
 The 26th a Serjeant of the 35th Regiment deserted across the 
 Fall, and our People fir'd several Grape-Shot after him; notwith- 
 standing which he got clear oflF to the Enemy. 
 
 The 27th of August some of our Shipping went past the Town, 
 which fir'd so hot at them with Shot and Bombs, that one would 
 have thought it impossible for any Vessel to pass; but they receiv'd 
 little or no Damage. The 29th, 5 Sail went to pass the Town, up 
 the River; the Town fir'd very warm all the Time of their passing, 
 and I was very well informed, That only 15 of their Shot took Place 
 out of all their Firing: Likewise the 30th Instant four of our Ships 
 pass'd the Town, where they kept a continual Firing; but did us 
 very little Damage. 
 
 Sept. 1. all the Sick and Women that was on Montmorancy- 
 Side, came over to the Island of Orleans; on the 2d Instant a large 
 Body of V/olje's Troops came over, with the Louisbourg Grenadiers, 
 and encamped that Night on the same Island. 
 
 The 3d Day all the Army left Montmorancy Side and we set 
 all the Houses and Fortifications on Fire, and then we embark'd in 
 flat-bottom Boats and came up above the Fall; the French fir'd 
 very brisk all the Time of our passing, but did us no Damage, and 
 we went over to Point Levee and encamped there. 
 
 Sept. 4th the Louisbourg Grenadiers and the Remainder of the 
 Army, cross'd over to Foint-Levee from the Island of Orleans, and 
 encamped there. — ^The same Day 4 Men came from Gen. Amherst's 
 Army; they was 26 Days on their Journey, and inform'd us. That 
 we had got Ticonderoga, and likewise Crown-Point. 
 
 499 
 
110 EXPEDITION UP THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE 
 
 Sept. 5th about 5 or 6000 Men marched up the River, on Point- 
 Levee Side, to go above the Town, and carried one Month's Provi- 
 sion up in Sloops. The same Day one of the Royal- Americans, 
 who was taken Prisoner by \he French-Indians the 31st of July last, 
 made his Escape and came to the Porcupine^ Sloop of War, that 
 lay a little below the Fall; he informs us, That there is no more than 
 about 300 Indians that carries Arms; but that there was a great 
 Number of Women and Children, that they were very scant of 
 Provisions; likewise that he himself had been 48 Hours without 
 any Thing to eat; He further said, that the Enemy were very 
 numerous in their Intrenchments, consisting of at least 14,000 
 Men, of which 11,000 were Canadians and the rest Regulars, the 
 latter of whom were heartily tir'd with the Siege. 
 
 Sept. 6th the Schooner Terror of France went above the Town, 
 in the middle of the Day, as she pass'd they kept up a constant 
 Fire at her, and she receiv'd five of their Shot; one in her Jib, two 
 in her Mainsail and 2 in her Foresail; but lost none of her Hands, 
 nor did she sustain any further Damage. 
 
 The whole Army being on Voiut-Levee Side, the main Body 
 were order 'd to get ready to march above the Town, on the South 
 Side, and to take only one Shirt and one Pair of Stockings, besides 
 what we had on : We marched up the River about 8 Miles, and then 
 embarked on board the Men of War and Transports that were up 
 the River; the Number that embarked was 3349 Men, with a Party 
 of the Train of Artillery. 
 
 Sept. 10 the Weather being very wet, and the Troops very 
 much crowded on board the Men of War and Transports, the General 
 thought proper to land us on the South Side again; which was a 
 great Decoy to the French: We marched to the Church of St. 
 Nicholas, under the Command of General Monckton, where we 
 
 8 The captain of the Porcupine, which was the smallest vessel — but one — in the squadron, 
 mounting only fourteen guns, was John Jervis, destined to become Earl St. Vincent, and one of 
 the great figures among Nelson's captains. 
 
 500 
 
EXPEDITION UP THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE 111 
 
 halted. The next Day we received InteUigence of a small Number 
 of French and Indians, who were driving some Cattle; — we dis- 
 patched a Party of 500 Men, who took the Cattle, but the Enemy 
 got off. 
 
 The 12th we received Orders to embark on board our Ships 
 again. 
 
 The 13th we had Orders to land; so we fell down the River in 
 the Ships and Boats till we came a little above the Town, where the 
 Enemy least suspected us (for where the Enemy thought we should 
 have landed, they had about 600 Horse; but what Number of Foot 
 we could not say; we could perceive that they was intrench'd and 
 had 5 Floating-Batteries to intercept our Landing). 
 
 On the 14th we landed, at break of Day, and immediately at- 
 tacked and routed the Enemy, taking Possession of a Battery of 
 4 24-Pounders, and one thirteen Inch Mortar, with but an incon- 
 siderable Loss. We then took Post on the Plains of Abraham, 
 whither M. Montcalm (on hearing that we had landed, for he did 
 not expect us) hasted with his whole Army (consisting of Cavalry 
 as well as Infantry) to give us Battle; about 9 o'Clock we observed 
 the Enemy marching down towards us in three Columns, at 10 they 
 formed their Line of Battle, which was at least six deep, having 
 their Flanks covered by a thick Wood on each Side, into which 
 they threw above 3000 Canadians and Indians, who gauled us much ; 
 the Regulars then marched briskly up to us, and gave us their first 
 Fire, at about Fifty Yards Distance, which we did not return, as it 
 was General iVolfe's express Orders not to fire till they came within 
 twenty Yards of us — ^They continued firing by Platoons, advancing 
 in a very regular Manner till they came close up to us, and then the 
 Action became general: In about a Quarter of an Hour the Enemy 
 gave way on all Sides, when a terrible Slaughter ensued from the 
 quick Fire of our Field Pieces and Musquetry, with which we pur- 
 su'd them to the Walls of the Town, regardless of an excessive heavy 
 
 501 
 
112 EXPEDITION UP THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE 
 
 Fire from all their Batteries. The Enemy lost in the Engagement, 
 Lieut. Gen. Montcalm (who was torn to Pieces by our Grape-Shot) 
 2 Brigadier-Generals; one Colonel; 2 Lieutenant-Colonels; and 
 at least 1300 Officers and Men kill'd and 200 taken Prisoners at 
 their very Sally-Ports, of which 58 were Officers. — On our Side was 
 killed the brave and never to be forgotten General WOLFE : with 
 9 Officers, 4 Serjeants and 44 Privates; wounded, Brigadier-Gener- 
 al Monckton; Colonel Carlton, Quarter-Master-General; Major 
 Barre, Adjutant-General; and 50 other Officers, with 26 Serjeants 
 and 557 Privates. — ^This Action was the more glorious, as the Ene- 
 my were at least 12,000 strong, besides 500 Horse; whereas we, 
 at the utmost, did not consist of above 3500, some of whom did not 
 engage; — ^for at the Time of the Engagement Colonel Scott' was out 
 burning the Country with 1600 Men ; Col. Burton^'^ was at 'Poin.t-Levee 
 with 2000 Men; and on the Island of Orleans there were 1500; 
 whereas our whole Army, at our first embarking at Louisbourg, did 
 not exceed 8240 Men. 
 
 At Ten o'Clock at Night we surpriz'd their Guard and took 
 Possession of their Grand Hospital, wherein we found between 12 
 and 1500 Sick and Wounded. 
 
 We lay on our Arms all Night, and in the Morning we secured 
 the Bridge of Boats which the Enemy had over Charles River, and 
 possessed cwrselves of all the Posts and Avenues that was or might 
 be of any Consequence leading to the Town, and broke Ground at 
 100 Yards Distance from the Walls; we likewise got up 12 heavy 
 24-Pounders; six heavy Twelve-Pounders, some large Mortars, 
 and the 4 8-inch Hauitzers, to play upon the Town, and we had been 
 employed three Days, intending to make a Breach, and storm the 
 City Sword in Hand, but we were prevented by their beating a 
 Parley, and sending out a Flag of Truce with Articles of Capitu- 
 lation, and the next Day, being the 17th of September, we took Pos- 
 
 9 "Colonel" Scott was Major Scott, who commanded the American Rangers. 
 
 10 Colonel Burton was Lieut. Col. Burton commanding the ISth Foot. 
 
 502 
 
EXPEDITION UP THE RIVER ST. LAWRENCE 113 
 
 session of the City, where we found 250 Pieces of Cannon, a Number 
 of Mortars, from 9 to fifteen Inches, Field-Pieces, Hauitzers, &c. 
 with a large Quantity of Artillery-Stores. 
 
 M. Vaudreuille, the Governor-General of New-France, stole 
 out of the City before the Capitulation; leaving only about 600 
 Men, under the Command of Mon. Ramsay, by whom the Capitu- 
 lation was signed. The poor Remains of the French Regulars, with 
 about 10,000 Canadians, retired to Jaques Quartiers under the Com- 
 mand of M. Levy: but the Canadians deserted him in great Num- 
 bers, and came in and surrendered themselves. 
 
 Sept. 19th the French Garrison were embarked on board Trans- 
 ports; Such of the Inhabitants as would come in and take the Oaths 
 of Allegiance, were permitted to enjoy their Estates. 
 
 Brigadier General Murray is Governor of the Town, and the 
 whole Army left to Garrison it. 
 
 During the whole Siege from first to last, 535 Houses were 
 burnt down, among which is the whole eastern Part of the lower 
 Town (save 6 or 8 Houses) which make a very dismal Appearance. 
 We also destroyed upwards of Fourteen Hundred fine Farm- 
 Houses in the Country, &c. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
 503 
 
THE 
 
 MAGAZINE OF HISTORY 
 
 WITH 
 
 NOTES AND QUERIES 
 
 Sxtra NumtoB 21-24 
 
 VOL. VI 
 
 W^ILLIAM ABBATT 
 
 410 East 32d Street New Y oek 
 
 1913 
 
INDEX TO VOLUME VI. 
 
THE MAGAZINE OF HISTORY 
 
 WITH NOTES AND QUERIES 
 
 Extra Numbtra 21-24 
 
 VOL. VI 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 By an unfortunate error, Nos. 21 and 22 were not paged consecutively: hence the ref- 
 erences to them are put under the heads of the Nos. — thus: 
 
 21—10 
 
 22—12, etc. 
 Nos. 23 and 24 are paged consecutively and referred to by pages only. 
 
 POBTBAIT OF LIEUTENANT NATHANIEL FANNING Frontispiece 
 
 THE NARRATIVE OF NATHANIEL FANNING . Bt Himself 21-1 
 
 SERVICE WITH THE FRENCH TROOPS IN AFRICA (1840) 
 
 Philip Kearny 22-1 
 
 A DASHING DRAGOON . . . . Mayne Reid 22-59 
 
 A LITTLE LOOKING-GLASS FOR THE TIMES (1764) "G. C." 22-69 
 
 AN IMPARTIAL REVIEW (1800) . . Chables Pettit 327 
 
 THE GWIN FANCY-DRESS BALL, (1858) John De S. Haviland 351 
 
 LETTERS OF A CONFEDERATE OFFICER TO HIS FAMILY 
 
 IN EUROPE (1864) . Richaed W. Cobbin 391 
 
 A JOURNAL OF THE EXPEDITION UP THE RIVER ST. LAW- 
 RENCE (1759) . Anon 487 
 
INDEX 
 
 Angelica, brig 21 1 
 
 Authon, Captain Nicholas 21-113 et seq. 
 
 Ariel, privateer 21-79 et seq. 
 
 Aurora, frigate 21 125 
 
 Babcock, Captain 21 23 
 
 Bayard, Thomas F 385 
 
 Baylor, Eugene (La) 360 
 
 Bon Homme Richard and Serapis battle 
 
 21 36 
 
 Blockade, running the 413-417 
 
 Bodichon, B. L. S. (Mrs.) 380 
 
 Bodisco, Waldemar 373 
 
 Bowlin, Mrs 374 
 
 Brady, Matthew B 383 
 
 Brooke, Dr. Laurence 21 54 
 
 Burlingame, Anson 384 
 
 Butler, Andrew P. (S. C.) 382 
 
 Caen, France 21 135 
 
 Calais 21 137 
 
 Cherbourg 21 142 
 
 Cameron, J. Donald 360 
 
 Chasseurs d'Afrique in action 22 36 
 
 City of Petersburg, blockade-runner. .402, 410 
 
 Clay, Clement C, Jr., Mrs 388 
 
 Clingman, Thomas L. (N. C.) 381 
 
 Cochrane, Gen. John 377 
 
 Cold Harbor, battlefield of 431 
 
 Dale, Commodore Richard, sketch of . 21 111 
 
 Darbytown, battle of 449 
 
 Davis, Jefferson, Mrs 378 
 
 DeHaviland, J. V. S., U. S. A 375 
 
 Douglas, Stephen A. (Mrs.) 379 
 
 Earl of Keith 21 170 
 
 Edinburgh Castle, plan to take 21 27 
 
 Emory, Major Wm. H., U. S. A. (Mrs.) 387 
 
 Europa, steamer 400 
 
 Evans, Mrs. A. H. (Tex.) 378 
 
 Fanning, Lieutenant Nathaniel, por- 
 trait Frontispiece 
 
 life of 21 xii 
 
 Field, Gen. Edward 437 
 
 Forton Prison, massacre of Am. prison- 
 ers at 21 11 
 
 Franklin 21-214 et seq. 
 
 Greenhow, Mrs. Robert (Rose O'Neill). 385 
 
 Gregg, Gen. Maxcy 469 
 
 Guichen, Count De 21 199 
 
 Gwin Fancy Dress Ball (The) 351 
 
 Gwin, Miss 374 
 
 Gwin, Miss C 374 
 
 Gwin, William M 354 
 
 Gwin, Mrs. William M 358, 373 
 
 Hamilton, Bermuda 405 
 
 Hartley, David, M. P 21 11 
 
 Hatch, Israel T 380 
 
 Howe, General Sir William 21 2, 4 
 
 Impartial Review (An) 327 
 
 "Jack the Painter" 21 7 
 
 Jervis, John, Admiral before Quebec. . . 500 
 
 Jones, John Paul 21-21 et seq. 
 
 his squadron 21-22 et seq. 
 
 Kearny, General Philip, charge at Chur- 
 
 ubusco 22 62 
 
 Kearny, General Philip^portrait . . . 22Front. 
 
 Keitt, Lawrence M. (S. C.) 389 
 
 Key, Philip Barton 380 
 
 Kingman, Eliab 386 
 
 Landais, Captain Pierre 21-24 et seq 
 
 Lilian, blockade-runner 409 
 
 Little (A) Looking Glass for the Times 
 
 22 67 
 
 L'Orient, France 21-20, 73 
 
 Louisbourg Grenadiers 492 
 
 McCarter, Captain 21 153 
 
 Maffit, J. N 408 
 
 Magruder, Colonel John B 383 
 
 Manly, Captain John 21 143 
 
 Medeah, Aljiers 22 48 
 
 Milianah, Algiers, capture of 22 23 
 
INDEX 
 
 Morlaix, France 21 113 
 
 Mowry, Sylvester 386 
 
 Nantes, France 21 20 
 
 Napier, Lord 388 
 
 Negroes, arming the, in 1864 480 
 
 Nelson, General William, U. S. A 378 
 
 Ouseley, Miss 360 
 
 Ouseley, Sir W. Gore 389 
 
 Paris 21-214 et seq. 
 
 Pearson, Captain Richard. . . .21-44, 58, 109 
 
 Petersburg, Va. bombardment of 433 
 
 Pettit, Charles 325 
 
 Pendleton, Geo. H. (Mrs..) 381 
 
 Philips, Mrs. Philip (Ala.) 360 
 
 Plantation, Georgian, in 1864 462 
 
 Poore, Ben. Perley 380 
 
 Prisons; Forton 21 8, 18 
 
 Pugh, Geo. G. (Mrs.) (O.) 382 
 
 Quebec, capture of, skirmishes before 492 e< seg. 
 
 Reid, Mayne, on General Kearny. . . .22 56 
 
 Russell, Odo 360, 375 
 
 Ryan, Captain 21 153 
 
 St. Leger, Grenfell, Colonel 412 
 
 Sanders, Mrs. George N. (N, Y.) 376 
 
 Savage, John (N. Y.) 378 
 
 Service with the French troops in 462 
 
 Africa 22 1 
 
 Sickles, Daniel E. (Mrs.) 387 
 
 Stack, Lieutenant Edward 21 33 
 
 Stoeckel, Mme. de 385 
 
 Sullivan, 21-82, 86 
 
 Thompson, Mrs. John R. (N. J.) 360, 374 
 
 Tibeauville, Ga., in 1864 462 
 
 Tower of London 21 155 
 
 Valee, Marshal 22-2 el seq. 
 
 Vance, A. D., blockade-runner 403 
 
 Wells, Jonathan, American seaman. .21 50 
 
 Whiting, Gen. W. H. L 418 
 
 Wolfe, General James, repulse before 
 
 Quebec 495 
 
 capture of Quebec 501 
 
 — death of 502 
 
 Wren, Rev. Thomas 21-9, 16 
 
 portrait 21 17 
 
 Wright, Edward H. (N. J.) 373 
 
 Zouaves in Africa 22-5, 19