If it was any consolation to me that the very noisy and very
turbulent warriors of last night were exceedingly sick, dejected, and
crestfallen this morning, I had it to the full. Their cries for water were
incessant to allay the internal fires caused by “forty-rod” and “sixty-rod,” as
whiskey is called, which is supposed to kill people at those distances. Their
officers had no control over them — and the only authority they seemed to
respect was that of the " gentlemanly" conductor, whom they were
accustomed to fear individually, as he is a great man in America and has much
authority and power to make himself disagreeable if he likes.
The victory at Big or Little Bethel has greatly elated these
men, and they think they can walk all over the Northern States. It was a relief
to get out of the train for a few minutes at a station called Holly Springs,
where the passengers breakfasted at a dirty table on most execrable coffee,
corn bread, rancid butter, and very dubious meats, and the wild soldiers
outside made the most of their time, as they had recovered from their temporary
depression by this time, and got out on the tops of the carriages, over which
they performed tumultuous dances to the music of their band, and the great
admiration of the surrounding negrodom. Their demeanor is very unlike that of
the unexcitable staid people of the North.
There were in the train some Texans who were going to
Richmond to offer their services to Mr. Davis. They denounced Sam Houston as a
traitor, but admitted there were some Unionists, or, as they termed them,
Lincolnite skunks, in the State. The real object of their journey was, in my
mind, to get assistance from the Southern Confederacy, to put down their
enemies in Texas.
In order to conceal from the minds of the people that the
government at Washington claims to be that of the United States, the press
politicians and speakers divert their attention to the names of Lincoln,
Seward, and other black republicans, and class the whole of the North together
as the Abolitionists. They call the Federal levies “Lincoln's mercenaries” and “abolition
hordes,” though their own troops are paid at the same rate as those of the
United States, This is a common mode of procedure in revolutions and
rebellions, and is not unfrequent in wars.
The enthusiasm for the Southern cause among all the people
is most remarkable, — the sight of the flag waving from the carriage windows
drew all the population of the hamlets and the workers in the field, black and
white, to the side of the carriages to cheer for Jeff Davis and the Southern
Confederacy, and to wave whatever they could lay hold of in the air. The
country seems very poorly cultivated, the fields full of stumps of trees, and
the plantation houses very indifferent. At every station more “soldiers,” as
they are called, got in, till the smell and heat were suffocating.
These men were as fanciful in their names and dress as could
be. In the train which preceded us there was a band of volunteers armed with
rifled pistols and enormous bowie-knifes, who called themselves “The Toothpick
Company.” They carried along with them a coffin, with a plate inscribed, “Abe
Lincoln, died ——,” and declared they were “bound” to bring his body back in it,
and that they did not intend to use muskets or rifles, but just go in with
knife and six-shooter, and whip the Yankees straight away. How astonished they
will be when the first round shot flies into them, or a cap-full of grape
rattles about their bowie-knives.
At the station of Grand Junction, north of Holly Springs,
which latter is 210 miles north of Jackson, several hundreds of our warrior
friends were turned out in order to take the train north-westward for Richmond,
Virginia. The 1st Company, seventy rank and file, consisted of Irishmen, armed
with sporting rifles without bayonets. Five sixths of the 2d Company, who were
armed with muskets, were of the same nationality. The 3d Company were all
Americans. The 4th Company were almost all Irish. Some were in green, others
were in gray, — the Americans who were in blue had not yet received their arms.
When the word fix bayonets was given by the officer, a smart keen-looking man,
there was an astonishishing hurry and tumult in the ranks.
“Now then, Sweeny, whar are yes dhriven me too? Is it out of
the redjmint amongst the officers yer shovin' me?”
“Sullivan, don't ye hear we're to fix beenits?”
“Sarjent, jewel, wud yes ayse the shtrap of me baynit?”
“If ye prod me wid that agin, I'll let dayloite into ye.”
The officer, reading, “No. 23. James Phelan.”
No reply.
Officer again, “No. 23. James Phelan.”
Voice from the rank, “Shure, captain, and faix Phelan's
gone; he wint at the last depôt.”
“No. 40. Miles Corrigan.”
Voice further on, “He's the worse for dhrink in the cars,
yer honor, and says he'll shoot us if we touch him;” and so on.
But these fellows were, nevertheless, the material for
fighting and for marching after proper drill and with good officers, even
though there was too large a proportion of old men and young lads in the ranks.
To judge from their dress these recruits came from the laboring and poorest
classes of whites. The officers affected a French cut and bearing with
indifferent success, and in the luggage vans there were three foolish young
women with slop-dress imitation clothes of the Vivandière type, who, with dishevelled hair, dirty faces,
and dusty hats and jackets, looked sad, sorry, and absurd. Their notions of
propriety did not justify them in adopting straps, boots, and trousers, and the
rest of the tawdry ill-made costume looked very bad indeed.
The train which still bore a large number of soldiers for
the camp of Corinth, proceeded through dreary swamps, stunted forests, and
clearings of the rudest kind at very long intervals. We had got out of the
cotton district and were entering poorer soil, or land which, when cleared, was
devoted to wheat and corn, and I was told that the crops ran from forty to
sixty bushels to the acre. A more uninteresting country than this portion of
the State of Mississippi I have never witnessed. There was some variety of
scenery about Holly Springs where undulating ground covered with wood,
diversified the aspect of the flat, but since that we have been travelling
through mile after mile of insignificantly grown timber and swamps.
On approaching Memphis the line ascends towards the bluff of
the Mississippi, and farms of a better appearance come in sight on the side of
the rail; but after all I do not envy the fate of the man who, surrounded by
slaves and shut out from the world, has to pass his life in this dismal region,
be the crops never so good.
At a station where a stone pillar marks the limit between
the sovereign State of Mississippi and that of Tennessee, there was a house two
stories high, from the windows of which a number of negro girls and young men
were staring on the passengers. Some of them smiled, laughed, and chatted, but
the majority of them looked gloomy and sad enough. They were packed as close as
they could, and I observed that at the door a very ruffianly looking fellow in
a straw hat, long straight hair, flannel shirt, and slippers, was standing with
his legs across and a heavy whip in his hand. One of the passengers walked over
and chatted to him. They looked in and up at the negroes and laughed, and when
the man came near the carriage in which I sat, a friend called out, “Whose are
they, Sam?” “He's a dealer at Jackson, Mr. Smith. They're a prime lot of fine
Virginny niggers as I've seen this long time, and he wants to realize, for the
news looks so bad.”
It was 1:40 P. M. when the train arrived at Memphis. I was
speedily on my way to the Gayoso House, so called after an old Spanish ruler of
the district, which is situated in the street on the bluff, which runs parallel
with the course of the Mississippi. This resuscitated Egyptian city is a place
of importance, and extends for several miles along the high bank of the river,
though it does not run very far back. The streets are at right angles to the
principal thoroughfares, which are parallel to the stream; and I by no means
expected to see the lofty stores, warehouses, rows of shops, and handsome
buildings on the broad esplanade along the river, and the extent and size of
the edifices public and private in this city, which is one of the developments
of trade and commerce created by the Mississippi. Memphis contains nearly
30,000 inhabitants, but many of them are foreigners, and there is a nomad draft
into and out of the place, which abounds in haunts for Bohemians, drinking and
dancing-saloons, and gaming-rooms. And this strange kaleidoscope of negroes and
whites of the extremes of civilization in its American development, and of the
semi-savage degraded by his contact with the white; of enormous steamers on the
river, which bears equally the dug-out or canoe of the black fisherman; the
rail, penetrating the inmost recesses of swamps, which on either side of it
remain no doubt in the same state as they were centuries ago; the roll of
heavily-laden wagons through the streets; the rattle of omnibuses and all the
phenomena of active commercial life before our eyes, included in the same scope
of vision which takes in at the other side of the Mississippi lands scarcely
yet settled, though the march of empire has gone thousands of miles beyond
them, amuses but perplexes the traveller in this new land.
The evening was so exceedingly warm that I was glad to
remain within the walls of my darkened bedroom. All the six hundred and odd
guests whom the Gayoso House is said to accommodate were apparently in the
passage at one time. At present it is the head-quarters of General Gideon J.
Pillow, who is charged with the defences of the Tennessee side of the river,
and commands a considerable body of troops around the city and in the works
above. The house is consequently filled with men in uniform, belonging to the
General's staff or the various regiments of Tennessee troops.
The Governors and the Legislatures of the States view with
dislike every action on the part of Mr. Davis which tends to form the State
troops into a national army. At first, indeed, the doctrine prevailed that
troops could not be sent beyond the limits of the State in which they were
raised — then it was argued that they ought not to be called upon to move
outside their borders; and I have heard people in the South inveighing against
the sloth and want of spirit of the Virginians, who allowed their State to be
invaded without resisting the enemy. Such complaints were met by the remark
that all the Northern States had combined to pour their troops into Virginia,
and that her sister States ought in honor to protect her. Finally, the martial
enthusiasm of the Southern regiments impelled them to press forward to the
frontier, and by delicate management, and the perfect knowledge of his
countrymen which Mr. Jefferson Davis possesses, he is now enabled to amalgamate
in some sort the diverse individualities of his regiments into something like a
national army.
On hearing of my arrival, General Pillow sent his
aide-decamp to inform me that he was about starting in a steamer up the river,
to make an inspection of the works and garrison at Fort Randolph and at other
points where batteries had been erected to command the stream, supported by
large levies of Tennesseans. The aide-de-camp conducted me to the General, whom
I found in his bedroom, fitted up as an office, littered with plans and papers.
Before the Mexican War General Pillow was a flourishing solicitor, connected in
business with President Polk, and commanding so much influence that when the
expedition was formed he received the nomination of brigadier-general of
volunteers. He served with distinction and was severely wounded at the battle
of Chapultepec and at the conclusion of the campaign he retired into civil
life, and was engaged directing the work of his plantation till this great
rebellion summoned him once more to the field.
Of course there is, and must be, always an inclination to
deride these volunteer officers on the part of regular soldiers; and I was
informed by one of the officers in attendance on the General that he had made
himself ludicrously celebrated in Mexico for having undertaken to throw up a
battery which, when completed, was found to face the wrong way, so that the
guns were exposed to the enemy. General Pillow is a small, compact,
clear-complexioned man, with short gray whiskers, cut in the English fashion, a
quick eye, and a pompous manner of speech; and I had not been long in his
company before I heard of Chapultepec and his wound, which causes him to limp a
little in his walk, and gives him inconvenience in the saddle. He wore a round
black hat, plain blue frock-coat, dark trousers, and brass spurs on his boots;
but no sign of military rank. The General ordered carriages to the door, and we
went to see the batteries on the bluff or front of the esplanade, which are
intended to check any ship attempting to pass down the river from Cairo, where
the Federals under General Prentiss have entrenched themselves, and are
understood to meditate an expedition against the city. A parapet of cotton
bales, covered with tarpaulin, has been erected close to the edge of the bank
of earth, which rises to heights varying from 60 to 150 feet almost
perpendicularly from the waters of the Mississippi, with zigzag roads running
down through it to the landing-places. This parapet could offer no cover
against vertical fire, and is so placed that well-directed shell into the bank
below it would tumble it all into the water. The zigzag roads are barricaded
with weak planks, which would be shivered to pieces by boat-guns; and the
assaulting parties could easily mount through these covered ways to the rear of
the parapet, and up to the very centre of the esplanade.
The blockade of the river at this point is complete; not a
boat is permitted to pass either up or down. At the extremity of the esplanade,
on an angle of the bank, an earthen battery, mounted with six heavy guns, has
been thrown up, which has a fine command of the river; and the General informed
me he intends to mount sixteen guns in addition, on a prolongation of the face
of the same work.
The inspection over, we drove down a steep road to the water
beneath, where the Ingomar, a large river steamer, now chartered for the
service of the State of Tennessee, was lying to receive us. The vessel was
crowded with troops — all volunteers, of course — about to join those in camp.
Great as were their numbers, the proportion of the officers was inordinately
large, and the rank of the greater number preposterously high. It seemed to me
as if I was introduced to a battalion of colonels, and that I was not permitted
to pierce to any lower strata of military rank. I counted seventeen colonels,
and believe the number was not then exhausted.
General Clarke, of Mississippi, who had come over from the
camp at Corinth, was on board, and I had the pleasure of making his
acquaintance. He spoke with sense and firmness of the present troubles, and
dealt with the political difficulties in a tone of moderation which bespoke a
gentleman and a man of education and thought. He also had served in the Mexican
war, and had the air and manner of a soldier. With all his quietness of tone,
there was not the smallest disposition to be traced in his words to retire from
the present contest, or to consent to a reunion with the United States under
any circumstances whatever. Another general, of a very different type, was
among our passengers, — a .dirty-faced, frightened-looking young man, of some
twenty-three or twenty-four years of age, redolent of tobacco, his chin and
shirt slavered by its foul juices, dressed in a green cutaway coat, white jean
trousers, strapped under a pair of prunella slippers, in which he promenaded
the deck in an Agag-like manner, which gave rise to a suspicion of bunions or
corns. This strange figure was topped by a tremendous black felt sombrero,
looped up at one side by a gilt eagle, in which was stuck a plume of ostrich
feathers, and from the other side dangled a heavy gold tassel. This decrepit
young warrior's name was Ruggles or Struggles, who came from Arkansas, where he
passed, I was informed, for “quite a leading citizen.”
Our voyage as we steamed up the river afforded no novelty,
nor any physical difference worthy of remark, to contrast it with the lower
portions of the stream, except that upon our right-hand side, which is, in
effect, the left bank, there are ranges of exceedingly high bluffs, some
parallel with and others at right angles to the course of the stream. The river
is of the same pea-soup color with the same masses of leaves, decaying
vegetation, stumps of trees, forming small floating islands, or giant
cotton-tree, pines, and balks of timber whirling down the current. Our progress
was slow; nor did I regret the captain's caution, as there must have been fully
nine hundred persons on board; and although there is but little danger of being
snagged in the present condition of the river, we encountered now and then a
trunk of a tree, which struck against the bows with force enough to make the
vessel quiver from stem to stern. I was furnished with a small berth, to which
I retired at midnight, just as the Ingomar was brought to at the Chickasaw
Bluffs, above which lies Camp Randolph.
SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and
South, p. 302-8
