I crossed over to Brownsville at 11.30, and dined with
Colonels Luckett, Buchel, and Duff, at about one o'clock. As we were all
colonels, and as every one called the other colonel tout court, it was
difficult to make out which was meant. They were obliged to confess that
Brownsville was about the rowdiest town of Texas, which was the most lawless
state in the Confederacy; but they declared they had never seen an inoffensive
man subjected to insult or annoyance, although the shooting-down and
stringing-up systems are much in vogue, being almost a necessity in a
thinly-populated state, much frequented by desperadoes driven away from more
civilised countries.
Colonel Luckett gave me a letter to General Van Dorn, whom
they consider the beau ideal of a cavalry soldier. They said from time
immemorial the Yankees had been despised by the Southerners, as a race inferior
to themselves in courage and in honourable sentiments.
At 3 P.M. Colonel Buchel and I rode to Colonel Duffs camp,
distant about thirteen miles. I was given a Mexican saddle, in which one is
forced to sit almost in a standing position. The stirrups are very long, and
right underneath you, which throws back the feet.
Duff's regiment is called the Partisan Eangers. Although a
fine lot of men, they don't look well at a foot parade, on account of the small
amount of drill they have undergone, and the extreme disorder of their
clothing. They are armed with carbines and six-shooters.
I saw some men come in from a scouting expedition against
the Indians, 300 miles off. They told me they were usually in the habit of
scalping an Indian when they caught him, and that they never spared one, as
they were such an untamable and ferocious race. Another habit which they have
learned from the Indians is, to squat on their heels in a most peculiar manner.
It has an absurd and extraordinary effect to see a quantity of them so
squatting in a row or in a circle.
The regiment had been employed in quelling a counter
revolution of Unionists in Texas. Nothing could exceed the rancour with which
they spoke of these renegadoes, as they called them, who were principally
Germans.
.
When I suggested to some of the Texans that they might as
well bury the body of Mongomery a little better, they did not at all agree with
me, but said it ought not to have been buried at all, but left hanging as a
warning to other evil-doers.
With regard to the contentment of their slaves, Colonel Duff
pointed out a good number they had with them, who had only to cross the river
for freedom if they wished it.
Colonel Buchel and I slept in Colonel Duffs tent, and at
night we were serenaded. The officers and men really sang uncommonly
well, and they finished with "God save the Queen!"
Colonel Duff comes from Perth. He was one of the leading
characters in the secession of Texas; and he said his brother was a banker in
Dunkeld.
SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three
months in the southern states: April-June, 1863, p. 18-20
No comments:
Post a Comment