A night of disturbed sleep, owing to the ponderous thumping
of the walking beam close to my head, the whizzing of steam, and the roaring of
the steam-trumpet to warn vessels out of the way — mosquitoes, too, had a good
deal to say to me in spite of my dirty gauze curtains. Soon after dawn the
vessel ran alongside the jetty at Fortress Monroe, and I saw indistinctly the
waterface of the work which is in some danger of being attacked, it is said, by
the Virginians. There was no flag on the staff above the walls, and the place
looked dreary and desolate. It has a fine bastioned profile, with moat and
armed lunettes — the casemates were bricked up or occupied by glass windows,
and all the guns I could make out were on the parapets. A few soldiers were
lounging on the jetty, and after we had discharged a tipsy old officer, a few
negroes, and some parcels, the steam-pipe brayed —it does not whistle— again,
and we proceeded across the mouth of the channel and James River towards
Elizabeth River, on which stand Portsmouth and Gosport.
Just as I was dressing, the door opened, and a tall, neatly
dressed negress came in and asked me for my ticket. She told me she was
ticket-collector for the boat, and that she was a slave. The latter
intelligence was given without any reluctance or hesitation. On my way to the
upper deck I observed the bar was crowded by gentlemen engaged in consuming, or
waiting for, cocktails or mint-juleps. The latter, however, could not be had
just now in such perfection as usual, owing to the inferior condition of the
mint. In the matter of drinks, how hospitable the Americans are! I was asked to
take as many as would have rendered me incapable of drinking again; my excuse
on the plea of inability to grapple with cocktails and the like before
breakfast, was heard with surprise, and I was urgently entreated to abandon so
bad a habit.
A clear, fine sun rose from the waters of the bay up into
the purest of pure blue skies. On our right lay a low coast fringed with trees,
and wooded densely with stunted forest, through which creeks could be seen
glinting far through the foliage. Anxious looking little wooden lighthouses,
hard set to preserve their equilibrium in the muddy waters, and bent at various
angles, marked the narrow channels to the towns and hamlets on the banks, the
principal trade and occupation of which are oyster selling and oyster eating.
We are sailing over wondrous deposits and submarine crops of the much-loved
bivalve. Wooden houses painted white appear on the shores, and one large
building with wings and a central portico surmounted by a belvedere, destined
for the reception of the United States sailors in sickness, is a striking
object in the landscape.
The steamer in a few minutes came along-side a dirty,
broken-down, wooden quay, lined with open booths, on which a small crowd,
mostly of negroes, had gathered. Behind the shed there rose tiled and shingled
roofs of mean dingy houses, and we could catch glimpses of the line of poor
streets, narrow, crooked, ill-paved, surmounted by a few church-steeples, and
the large sprawling advertisement-boards of the tobacco-stores and
oyster-sellers, which was all we could see of Portsmouth or Gosport. Our vessel
was in a narrow creek; at one side was the town — in the centre of the stream
the old “Pennsylvania,” intended to be of 120 guns, but never commissioned, and
used as receiving ship, was anchored — alongside the wall of the Navy Yard
below us, lay the “Merrimac,” apparently in ordinary. The only man-of-war fit
for sea was a curiosity — a stumpy bluff-bowed, Dutch-built looking sloop,
called the "Cumberland." Two or three smaller vessels, dismasted,
were below the “Merrimac,” and we could just see the building-sheds in which
were one or two others, I believe, on the stocks. A fleet of oyster-boats
anchored, or in sailless observance of the Sunday, dotted the waters. There was
an ancient and fishlike smell about the town worthy of its appearance and of
its functions as a seaport. As the vessel came close along-side, there was the
usual greeting between friends, and many a cry, “Well, you've heard the news?
The Yankees out of Sumter! Isn't it fine!” There were few who did not
participate in that sentiment, but there were some who looked black as night
and said nothing.
Whilst we were waiting for the steam ferry-boat, which plies
to Norfolk at the other side of the creek, to take us over, a man-of-war boat
pulled along-side, and the coxswain, a handsome, fine-looking sailor, came on
deck, and, as I happened to be next him, asked me if Captain Blank had come
down with us? I replied, that I did not know, but that the captain could tell
him no doubt. “He?” said the sailor, pointing with great disgust to the skipper
of the steamer. “Why he knows nothin’ of his passengers, except how many
dollars they come to,” and started off to prosecute his inquiries among the
other passengers. The boat along-side was clean, and was manned by six as stout
fellows as ever handled an oar. Two I made sure of were Englishmen, and when
the coxswain was retiring from his fruitless search, I asked him where he
hailed from. “The Cove of Cork. I was in the navy nine years, but when I got on
the West Ingy Station, I heerd how Uncle Sam treated his fellows, and so I
joined him.” “Cut and run, I suppose?” “Well, not exactly. I got away, sir.
Emigrated, you know!” “Are there any other Irishmen or Englishmen on board?” “I
should think there was. That man in the bow there is a mate of mine, from the
sweet Cove of Cork; Driscoll by name, and there's a Belfast man pulls number
two; and the stroke, and the chap that pulls next to him is Englishmen, and
fine sailors they are, Bates and Rookey. They were in men-of-war too.” “What!
five out of seven, British subjects!” “Oh, ay, that is — we onst was — most of
us now are 'Mericans, I think. There's plenty more of us aboard the ship.”
The steam ferry was a rickety affair, and combined with the
tumble-down sheds and quays to give a poor idea of Norfolk. The infliction of
tobacco-juice on board was remarkable. Although it was but seven o'clock every
one had his quid in working order, and the air was filled with yellowish-brown
rainbows and liquid parabolas, which tumbled in spray or in little flocks of
the weed on the foul decks. As it was Sunday, some of the numerous flagstaff's which
adorn the houses in both cities displayed the United States bunting; but
nothing could relieve the decayed air of Norfolk. The omnibus which was waiting
to receive us must have been the earliest specimen of carriage building in that
style on the continent; and as it lunged and flopped over the prodigious bad
pavement, the severe nature of which was aggravated by a street railway, it
opened the seams as if it were going to fall into firewood. The shops were all
closed, of course; but the houses, wooden and brick, were covered with signs
and placards indicative of large trade in tobacco and oysters.
Poor G. P. R. James, who spent many years here, could have
scarce caught a novel from such a place, spite of great oysters, famous wild
fowl, and the lauded poultry and vegetables which are produced in the surrounding
districts. There is not a hill for the traveller to ascend towards the close of
a summer's day, nor a moated castle for a thousand miles around. An execrable,
tooth-cracking drive ended at last in front of the Atlantic Hotel, where I was
doomed to take up my quarters. It is a dilapidated, uncleanly place, with
tobacco-stained floor, full of flies and strong odors. The waiters were all
slaves: untidy, slipshod, and careless creatures. I was shut up in a small
room, with the usual notice on the door, that the proprietor would not be
responsible for anything, and that you were to lock your doors for fear of
robbers, and that you must take your meals at certain hours, and other matters
of the kind. My umbra went over to Gosport to take some sketches, he said;
and after a poor meal, in a long room filled with “citizens,” all of them
discussing Sumter, I went out into the street.
The people, I observe, are of a new and marked type, — very
tall, loosely yet powerfully made, with dark complexions, strongly-marked
features, prominent noses, large angular mouths in square jaws, deep-seated
bright eyes, low, narrow foreheads, — and are all of them much given to
ruminate tobacco. The bells of the churches were tolling, and I turned into
one; but the heat, great enough outside, soon became nearly intolerable; nor
was it rendered more bearable by my proximity to some blacks, who were, I
presume, servants or slaves of the great people in the forward pews. The
clergyman or minister had got to the Psalms, when a bustle arose near the door
which attracted his attention, and caused all to turn round. Several persons
were standing up and whispering, whilst others were stealing on tiptoe out of
the church. The influence extended itself gradually and all the men near the door
were leaving rapidly. The minister, obviously interested, continued to read,
raising his eyes towards the door. At last the persons near him rose up and
walked boldly forth, and I at length followed the example, and getting into the
street, saw men running towards the hotel. “What is it?” exclaimed I to one. “Come
along, the telegraph's in at the ‘Day Book.’ The Yankees are whipped!” and so
continued. I came at last to a crowd of men, struggling, with their faces
toward the wall of a shabby house, increased by fresh arrivals, and diminished
by those who, having satisfied their curiosity, came elbowing forth in a state
of much excitement, exultation, and perspiration. “It's all right enough!” “Didn't
I tell you so?” “Bully for Beauregard and the Palmetto State!” I shoved on, and
read at last the programme of the cannonade and bombardment, and of the effects
upon the fort, on a dirty piece of yellowish paper on the wall. It was a
terrible writing. At all the street corners men were discussing the news with
every symptom of joy and gratification. Now I confess I could not share in the
excitement at all. The act seemed to me the prelude to certain war.
I walked up the main street, and turned up some of the
alleys to have a look at the town, coming out on patches of water and bridges
over the creeks, or sandy lanes shaded by trees, and lined here and there by
pretty wooden villas, painted in bright colors. Everywhere negroes, male and
female, gaudily dressed or in rags; the door-steps of the narrow lanes swarming
with infant niggerdom — big-stomached, curve-legged, rugged-headed, and happy —
tumbling about dim-eyed toothless hags, or thick-lipped mothers. Not a word were
they talking about Sumter. “Any news to-day?” said I to a respectable-looking
negro in a blue coat and brass buttons, wonderful hat, and vest of amber silk,
check trousers, and very broken-down shoes. “Well, sare, I tink nothin' much
occur. Der hem afire at Squire Nichol's house last night; leastway so I hear,
sare.” Squire, let me say parenthetically, is used to designate justices of the
peace. Was it a very stupid poco-curante, or a very cunning, subtle
Sambo?
In my walk I arrived at a small pier, covered with oyster
shells, which projected into the sea. Around it, on both sides, were hosts of
schooners and pungys, smaller half-decked boats, waiting for their load of the
much-loved fish for Washington, Baltimore, and Richmond. Some brigs and large
vessels lay along-side the wharves and large warehouses higher up the creek.
Observing a small group at the end of the pier, I walked on, and found that
they consisted of fifteen or twenty well-dressed mechanical kind of men, busily
engaged in “chaffing,” as Cockneys would call it, the crew of the man-of-war boat
I had seen in the morning. The sailors were stretched on the thwarts, some
rather amused, others sullen at the ordeal. “You better just pull down that
cussed old rag of yours, and bring your old ship over to the Southern Confederacy.
I guess we can take your ‘Cumberland’ whenever we like! Why don't you go, and
touch off your guns at Charleston?” Presently the coxswain came down with a
parcel under his arm, and stepped into the boat. “Give way, my lads;” and the
oars dipped in the water. When the boat had gone a few yards from the shore,
the crowd cried out: “Down with the Yankees! Hurrah for the Southern
Confederacy!” and some among them threw oyster shells at the boat, one of which
struck the coxswain on the head. “Backwater! Back water all. Hard!” he shouted;
and as the boat's stern neared the land, he stood up and made a leap in among
the crowd like a tiger. “You cowardly d----d set. Who threw the shells?” No one
answered at first, but a little wizened man at last squeaked out: “I guess
you'll have shells of another kind if you remain here much longer.” The sailor
howled with rage: “Why, you poor devils, I'd whip any half-dozen of you, —
teeth, knives, and all — in five minutes; and my boys there in the boat would
clear your whole town. What do you mean by barking at the Stars and Stripes? Do
you see that ship?” he shouted, pointing towards the “Cumberland.” “Why the
lads aboard of her would knock every darned seceder in your State into a cocked
hat in a brace of shakes! And now who's coming on?” The invitation was not
accepted, and the sailor withdrew, with his angry eyes fixed on the people, who
gave him a kind of groan; but there were no oyster shells this time. “In spite
of his blowing, I tell yer,” said one of them, “there's some good men from old
Virginny abo'rd o' that ship that will never fire a shot agin us.” “Oh, we'll
fix her right enough,” remarked another, “when the time comes.” I returned to
my room, sat down, and wrote for some hours. The dinner in the Atlantic Hotel
was of a description to make one wish the desire for food had never been invented.
My neighbor said he was not “quite content about this Sumter business. There's
nary one killed nor wownded.”
Sunday is a very dull day in Norfolk, — no mails, no post,
no steamers; and, at the best, Norfolk must be dull exceedingly. The
superintendent of the Seaboard and Roanoke Railway, having heard that I was
about proceeding to Charleston, called upon me to offer every facility in his
power. Sent Moses with letters to post-office. At night the mosquitoes were
very aggressive and successful. This is the first place in which the bedrooms
are unprovided with gas. A mutton dip almost made me regret the fact.
SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and
South, p. 80-6
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