I rejoined General Johnston at 9 A.M., and was received into
his mess. Major Eustis and Lieutenant Washington, officers of his Staff, are
thorough gentlemen, and did all in their power to make me comfortable. The
first is a Louisianian of wealth (formerly); his negro always speaks French. He
is brother to the secretary of Mr Slidell in Paris, and has learnt to become an
excellent Staff officer.
I was presented to Captain Henderson, who commanded a corps
of about fifty “scouts.” These are employed on the hazardous duty of hanging
about the enemy's camps, collecting information, and communicating with
Pemberton in Vicksburg. They are a fine-looking lot of men, wild, and very
picturesque in appearance.
At 12 noon a Yankee military surgeon came to camp. He had been
left behind by Grant to look after the Yankee wounded at Jackson, and he was
now anxious to rejoin his general by flag of truce, but General Johnston very
prudently refused to allow this, and desired that he should be sent to the
North via Richmond. By a very sensible arrangement, both sides have
agreed to treat doctors as non-combatants, and not to make prisoners of war of
them.
The chief surgeon in Johnston's army is a very clever and
amusing Kentuckian, named Dr Yandell. He told me he had been educated in
England, and might have had a large practice there.
My friend “Major” very kindly took me to dine with a
neighbouring planter, named Harrold, at whose house I met General Gregg, a
Texan, who, with his brigade, fought the Yankees at Raymond a few days ago.
After dinner, I asked Mr Harrold to take me over the
quarters of his slaves, which he did immediately. The huts were comfortable and
very clean; the negroes seemed fond of their master, but he told me they were
suffering dreadfully from the effects of the war — he had so much difficulty in
providing them with clothes and shoes. I saw an old woman in one of the huts,
who had been suffering from an incurable disease for thirteen years, and was
utterly useless. She was evidently well cared for, and was treated with
affection and care. At all events, she must have benefited largely by the “peculiar
institution.”
I have often told these planters that I thought the word “slave”
was the most repulsive part of the institution, and I have always observed they
invariably shirk using it themselves. They speak of their servant, their boy,
or their negroes, but never of their slaves. They address a negro as boy or
girl, or uncle or aunty.
In the evening I asked General Johnston what prospect he
thought there was of early operations, and he told me that at present he was
too weak to do any good, and he was unable to give me any definite idea as to
when he might be strong enough to attack Grant. I therefore made up my mind to
be off in a day or two, unless something turned up, as I could not afford to
wait for events, I have still so much to see.
General Johnston is a very well-read man, and agreeable to
converse with. He told me that he considered Marlborough a greater general than
Wellington. All Americans have an intense admiration for Napoleon; they seldom
scruple to express their regret that he was beaten at Waterloo.
Remarking upon the extreme prevalence of military titles,
General Johnston said, “You must be astonished to find how fond all Americans
are of titles, though they are republicans; and as they can't get any other
sort, they all take military ones.”
Whilst seated round the camp fire in the evening, one of the
officers remarked to me, “I can assure you, colonel, that nine men out of ten
in the South would sooner become subjects of Queen Victoria than return to the
Union.” “Nine men out of ten!” said General Johnston — “ninety-nine out of a
hundred; I consider that few people in the world can be more fortunate in their
government than the British colonies of North America.” But the effect of these
compliments was rather spoilt when some one else said they would prefer to
serve under the Emperor of the French or the Emperor of Japan to returning to
the dominion of Uncle Abe; and it was still more damaged when another officer
alluded in an undertone to the infernal regions as a more agreeable alternative
than reunion with the Yankees.
SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three
Months in the Southern States: April-June, 1863, p. 118
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