San Antonio is prettily situated on both banks of the river
of the same name. It should contain about 10,000 inhabitants, and is the
largest place in Texas, except Galveston.
The houses are well built of stone, and they are generally
only one or two storeys high. All have verandahs in front.
Before the war San Antonio was very prosperous, and rapidly
increasing in size; but trade is now almost at a complete stand-still. All the
male population under forty are in the military service, and many necessary
articles are at famine prices. Coffee costs $7 a lb.
Menger's hotel is a large and imposing edifice, but its
proprietor (a civil German) was on the point of shutting it up for the present.
During the morning I visited Colonel Bankhead, a tall,
gentlemanlike Virginian, who was commanding officer of the troops here. He told
me a great deal about the Texan history, the Jesuit missions, and the Louisiana
purchase, &c.; and he alarmed me by doubting whether I should be able to
cross the Mississippi if Banks had taken Alexandria.
I also made the acquaintance of Major Minter, another
Virginian, who told me he had served in the 2d cavalry in the old United States
army. The following officers in the Confederate army were in the same regiment—viz.,
General A. S. Johnston (killed at Shiloh), General Lee, General Van Dorn,
General Hardee, General Kirby Smith, and General Hood*
By the advice of M'Carthy, I sent my portmanteau and some of
my heavy things to be sold by auction, as I could not possibly carry them with
me.
I took my place by the stage for Alleyton (Houston): it cost
$40; in old times it was $13.
I dined with M'Carthy and young Duff at 3 P.M. The latter
would not bear of my paying my share of the expenses of the journey from
Brownsville. Mrs M'Carthy was thrown into a great state of agitation and
delight by receiving a letter from her mother, who is in Yankeedom. Texas is so
cut off that she only hears once in many months.
Colonel and Mrs Bankhead called for me in their ambulance at
5 P.M., and they drove me to see the source of the San Antonio, which is the
most beautiful clear spring I ever saw. We also saw the extensive foundations
for a tannery now being built by the Confederate Government.
The country is very pretty, and is irrigated in an ingenious
manner by ditches cut from the river in all directions. It is thus in a great
degree rendered independent of rain.
At San Antonio spring we were entertained by a Major Young,
a queer little naval officer, — why a major I couldn't discover.
Mrs Bankhead is a violent Southerner. She was twice ordered
out of Memphis by the Federals on account of her husband's principles; but she
says that she was treated with courtesy and kindness by the Federal General
Sherman, who carried out the orders of his Government with regret.
None of the Southern people with whom I have spoken
entertain any hopes of a speedy termination of the war. They say it must last
all Lincoln's presidency, and perhaps a good deal longer.
In the neighbourhood of San Antonio, one-third of the
population is German, and many of them were at first by no means loyal to the
Confederate cause. They objected much to the conscription, and some even
resisted by force of arms; but these were soon settled by Duff's regiment, and
it is said they are now reconciled to the new regime.
My portmanteau, with what was in it — for I gave away part
of my things — sold for $323. Its value in England couldn't have been more than
£8 or £9. The portmanteau itself, which was an old one, fetched $51; a very old
pair of butcher boots, $32; five shirts $42; an old overcoat $25.
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* Also the Federal Generals Thomas and Stoneman.
SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three
months in the southern states: April-June, 1863, p. 49-52
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