Poor Don Pablo was “taken ill” at breakfast, and was obliged
to go to bed. We were all much distressed at his illness, which was brought on
by over-anxiety connected with his official duties; and the way he is bothered
by English and “Blue-nose”1 skippers is enough to try any one.
Mr Behnsen and Mr Colville returned from Bagdad this
afternoon, much disgusted with the attractions of that city.
General Bee's orderly was assaulted in Matamoros yesterday
by a renegado with a six-shooter. This circumstance prevented the General from
coming to Matamoros as he had intended.
At 5 P.M. Captain Hancock and I crossed over to Brownsville,
and were conducted in a very smart ambulance to General Bee's quarters, and
afterwards to see a dress parade of the 3d Texas infantry.
Lieutenant-Colonel Buchel is the working man of the
corps, as he is a professional soldier. The men were well clothed, though great
variety existed in their uniforms. Some companies wore blue, some grey, some
had French kepis, others wideawakes and Mexican hats. They were a fine
body of men, and really drilled uncommonly well. They went through a sort of
guard-mounting parade in a most creditable manner. About a hundred out of a
thousand were conscripts.2
After the parade, we adjourned to Colonel Luckett's to drink
prosperity to the 3d Regiment.
We afterwards had a very agreeable dinner with General Bee;
Colonels Luckett and Buchel dined also. The latter is a regular soldier of
fortune. He served in the French and Turkish armies, as also in the Carlist and
the Mexican wars, and I was told he had been a principal in many affairs of
honour; but he is a quiet and unassuming little man, and although a sincere
Southerner, is not nearly so violent against the Yankees as Luckett.
At 10 P.M. Captain Hancock and myself went to a ball given
by the authorities of the “Heroica y invicta ciudad de Matamoros” (as they
choose to call it), in honour of the French defeat. General Bee and Colonel
Luckett also went to this fete, the invitation being the first civility they
had received since the violation of the Mexican soil in the Davis-Mongomery
affair. They were dressed in plain clothes, and carried pistols concealed in
case of accidents.
We all drove together from Brownsville to the Consulate, and
entered the ball-room en masse.
The outside of the municipal hall was lit up with some
splendour, and it was graced by a big placard, on which was written the amiable
sentiment, “Muera Napoleon—viva Mejico!” Semi-successful squibs and crackers were let off at
intervals. In the square also was a triumphal arch, with an inscription to the
effect that “the effete nations of Europe might tremble.” I made great friends
with the gobernador and administrador, who endeavoured to entice me into
dancing, but I excused myself by saying that Europeans were unable to dance in
the graceful Mexican fashion. Captain Hancock was much horrified when this
greasy-faced gobernador (who keeps a small shop) stated his intention of
visiting the Immortality with six of his friends, and sleeping on board for a
night or two.
The dances were a sort of slow valse, and between the dances
the girls were planted up against the wall, and not allowed to be spoken to by
any one. They were mostly a plain-headed, badly-painted lot, and ridiculously
dressed.
_______________
1 Nova-Scotian.
2 During all my travels in the South I never saw
a regiment so well clothed or so well drilled as this one, which has never been
in action, or been exposed to much hardship.
SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three
months in the southern states: April-June, 1863, p. 15-18
