Part 8
“Cousin J., this is a wicked world, and there are many strange people and funny things in it. Your recent letter might be classed among the latter, if it were possible for a thing to be curious, without possessing some interest. And now, for yourself, you might be a strange man if you were not precisely like all the rest of the cowards, “Full of sound and fury, and doing nothing.” Why are you not in the army battling for that glorious country which you charge your rebel cousin with attempting to destroy. Your President wants men, and just such laggards as yourself will compel a draft upon the whole people before your army is complete. ’Tis nice talk and little labor to say pretty things about the cause in which you pretend to be heartily enlisted with your _pen_; but before all the rebels are destroyed, you may discover that many such windy patriots as yourself will be required to lay aside the pen, and buckle on the sword. The draft which will soon be resorted to in your State may bring you into the field, and the fates of war may place you in the hands of my government. Then, if you will let me hear from you, I will teach you a Christian’s duty; and while you have scoffed at my calamity, I will endeavor to alleviate your suffering, not because you happen to be my cousin, but for the sake of humanity. Before you write to me again, I would have you leave off such vulgar notions as you now entertain of me and my brother rebels. After nine days, even, a puppy’s eyes are opened. May not cousin Josiah hope for light?”
_Sunday, July 20th._ It is said that the small pox has broken out in the barracks. There is certainly a case of small pox at the upper part of the island, whither he has been taken from the barracks.
The most insidious schemes are constantly resorted to by the Yankees to lead men to take the oath of allegiance. Their present condition is placed before them in colors as dark as they are; and in contrast a most captivating picture of happy freedom, in flowers of rhetoric, is presented to them, provided they throw Secession to the winds, and assume the garb of “the Union, the Constitution and the laws.” Gold is also offered them as an inducement to become traitors. Very few, comparatively, have been thus seduced to treason, and those few have been mostly of Northern birth, or else outcasts from society at home, who joined the army not from principle but from necessity. On the contrary, to the large majority of the prisoners these seductive devices are as the storm to the oak, which, though it may scatter the leaves, and snap the smaller branches, serves but to rivet the roots, and to harden and condense the fibres of the tree.
Last night there was great excitement in the garrison on account of the attempt of prisoners to escape. Several companies were called out, and great noise prevailed, while getting the men into line of battle. Cannon was turned on the barracks. Several prisoners, I understand, escaped.
_July 21st._ Anniversary of the battle of Manassas! The disturbance last night has been denominated the “Pea Patch battle.” Mysterious as it may seem, Captain S. succeeded to-day in getting a bottle of whiskey, to the astonishment no less than the delight of our mess. A quart of whiskey! How charming to chase away dull care! The Captain brought it into the room, with a commingled air of joy and self congratulation, as he exhibited the evidence of his prowess, while he repeated the lines:
“How sad and short were this life’s dull day, Were it not brightened with pleasure, I then, for my part, will sport it away In friendship, love, and of folly a measure.”
Lieutenant D. said if he meant by folly the whiskey, he heartily endorsed the sentiment, and with a general exchange of wit, the bottle was soon discussed among so many.
A Baltimore paper states that “no little excitement was created in Baltimore yesterday by the public display of a “Secesh rag” by Miss Mattie Gilpin, daughter of John Gilpin, of Elkton, Cecil county. Miss Gilpin was first observed passing from the President street depot in company with her sister, and in addition to the flag, which is about twenty inches in length, she wore a large Secesh rosette on the bosom of her dress. Two policemen followed them some distance, and finally took both in custody, conducting them to Marshal Van Nastrand’s office. A warrant was issued by Justice Hess, and after a long conversation with the Marshal, in which Miss Gilpin manifested no regret at the part she was playing, she was released on security to await the action of the grand jury on the charge of violating the treason act of the recent General Assembly of this State by displaying a Secession flag with the view of exciting seditious feelings.” The most important news to-day is, that Major General Halleck has been called to Washington, and put in chief command of all the armies of the Union. The tone of the papers, however, indicate that this does not affect Generals McClellan and Pope, who retain their present position.
The Tribune says: “General Pope’s advance, upon reaching Gordonsville, destroyed all the railway material at hand. As a great portion of the rebel supplies come by this route, the blow to them will be a serious one.” The same paper says: “The Richmond papers are much disturbed at the consolidation of the army of Virginia. Pope is reckoned a fighting General—hence their trouble.” General Pope has ordered his troops to subsist on the enemy, but adds that any man who is loyal from the date of the seizure of his property shall be paid. Dates from Fortress Monroe, to Wednesday last, give no news from McClellan’s army. “Cynthana, Kentucky, has been captured by the rebels under Morgan.” The difficulty about the exchange of prisoners seems to be about settled, if it be true, as reported in the papers, that General Dix had a satisfactory interview with General Hill, and then went up the James River to have an interview with General Lee to that end. The trouble all along has been that the Yankees have been _fools_ enough to suppose that they might capture some of the leaders of our cause, and have the pleasure of hanging them, or exercising their malice in some other way, and they know that the Confederate Government will not exchange, except in prospective or upon a cartel, that will occasion no trouble hereafter, by adopting the principle of the war of 1812. It is all a humbug about General Buckner standing in the way of exchange, for he has been treated as a _prisoner of war_; and what objection, in a civilized warfare, can they have to exchange him with the other prisoners of war?
_July 22d._ A Pennsylvania soldier Writes from Tuscumbia, Alabama, to the Philadelphia “Evening Bulletin:” “The people are, of course, very extensive slaveholders, few of them owning less than eighty slaves. Of course they are, without exception, the rankest kind of Secessionists, and bestow upon us looks anything but affectionate as we pass along. One old rebel, in whose clover meadow we encamped on our last day’s march, perfectly raved at the damned Yankees. His slaves were out in the cornfield when we came, and he ordered them in, and told them he would whip them within an inch of their lives if they attempted to escape.”
The noise and bombast of the Yankee editors over victories, large or small, or oftener over defeats, (for they always have some excuse other than cowardice,) is most remarkable and illaudable. For instance, General Jackson’s army advanced upon Front Royal, and the first Maryland and Wheat’s battalion on our side took prisoners, all but fifteen of the first Maryland and the Vermont cavalry, on the Yankee side. This the Yankee papers most plausibly distorted into a Confederate defeat, as it “placed Jackson in a position from which he cannot escape.” The sequel has proved that Jackson not only escaped, but whipped Banks most completely at Winchester, Fremont at Port Republic, and McDowell and Shields at Cross Keyes. The Yankees are ever bragging about their grand army—the number of their men. While boasting what they are going to do in one breath with this “grand army,” with the next, they call for volunteers.
The Wheeling Intelligencer says: “All the merchants in the city, except one, have taken the oath of allegiance. One physician, enjoying a large practice, gave it up, rather than take the oath.” Nearly all the Virginia merchants had left before the Yankees had the power to offer the insult. The physician, who would not take the oath of allegiance, is Dr. Hughes. The merchants, who did take it, had the alternative of taking the oath or being imprisoned, and lose all their property. It is hard for a man to work all his life, and then to give up all and go to prison, leaving his family destitute. The merchants took the oath _under protest_. The abolition editor does not state this however, for the object of the Yankees is to deceive, and such a mark of magnanimity would not be in accordance with their character. Nearly all the regiments, which the bogus Pierpont government call Virginia regiments, are filled with Ohio Abolitionists.
_July 24th._ A lady, in Washington city, sent me the following by the “Underground mail carrier,” saying she “heartily endorsed the words:”
REBELS.
BY A. P. T.
Rebels! ‘tis a holy name! The name our fathers bore When batting in the cause of right, In the dark days of yore.
Rebels! ’tis our family name! Our father—Washington— Was the arch-Rebel in the fight, And gives the name to us, a right Of father unto son.
Rebels! ’tis our given name! Our mother—Liberty— Received the title with her fame In days of grief, and fear and shame, When at her breast were we.
Rebels! ’tis our sealed name! A baptism of blood. The war-cry and the dire of strife, The fearful contest, life for life, The mingled crimson blood.
Rebels! ’tis a patriot name! In struggles it was given; We bore it then, when tyrants raved, And thro’ their curses ’twas engraved On the Dooms-day Book of Heaven.
Rebels! ’tis our fighting name! For peace rolls o’er the land, Until they speak of craven woe, Until our rights receive a blow From foe’s or brother’s hand.
Rebels! ’tis our dying name! For although life is dear, Yet freemen born, and freemen bred, We’d rather lie as freemen dead, Then live in slavish fear.
Then call us Rebels if you will, We’ll glory in the name; For bending under unjust laws, And swearing faith to an unjust cause, We count a greater shame.
“A perfect love of a man” is Parson Brownlow. The Louisville Journal says: “He has repeatedly assured us that he never swore an oath, never played a card, never took a drink of liquor, never went to the theatre, never attended a horse-race, never told a lie, never broke the Sabbath, never voted the Democratic ticket, never wore whiskers, and never kissed any woman but his wife.” He is a black-hearted traitor, besides being an unprincipled liar.
A Western editor says his paper is located immediately over a _recruiting_ office, and that the fifing and drumming “drives everything out of his head.” What a scampering there must be over his shirt collar!
All the Yankees talk about is “the Union and its laws.” Of all injustice, that is the greatest which goes under the name of law; and of all sorts of tyranny, the forcing of the letter of the law against the equity is the most insupportable.
Many Yankee soldiers have assured me that they entered the army while intoxicated with drink, being victims of the wiles of those who do not scruple to do anything in their mad efforts to conquer the South. Wrong being at the root of their great armies, has caused them so often to bite the dust before inferior numbers:
“Although the ear be deaf, and will not hear, There is a voice in conscience which appeals Unto the heart of guilt. A still, small voice, Which, like the mountain streamlet, wears its way Over the hardest rock.”
The small armies of the Confederates have the advantage of _right_ on their side, and
“How weak an army can strike a giant’s blow, When Providence directs it.” * *
_July 25th._ Gold to-day is a peg higher, closing at 120⅛, with a sharp demand for export. Flour, wheat and corn, following the law of attraction, are “up” too. Inflation is the order of the day, and under the exhilarating influence of plenty of paper money, nobody appears to dream of the possibility that the bubble is ever going to burst. I glean the following from Northern papers: The news from Louisville, Kentucky, concerning Morgan’s movements is, that between Crab Orchard and London he destroyed several wagons of a Federal train destined for General Morgan’s command at Cumberland Gap. Of course the wagons, whose number is indefinitely stated, were not empty ones, but whether they contained commissary stores, or material of war, is not mentioned. The “Courier” and “Eugene,” whilst ascending Green River, Kentucky, with troops, were fired into by a party of cavalry. At McAllister’s landing, two miles beyond Newburg, Indiana, the steamer Commercial was also attacked in a similar manner; whilst at Randolph, Missouri, the Belle, on her way from Memphis to St. Louis, was likewise fired upon. “The result,” we are told, “was unknown.” At Hudson, Missouri, Porter’s guerrillas were attacked and routed by a detachment of Federal cavalry under Colonel McNeill. The Federal loss is set down at fifteen killed and thirty wounded. The guerrilla loss is said to be much heavier. There was renewed excitement at Nashville, Tennessee, on Monday evening last—the Federal pickets on the Lebanon having been captured by the guerrillas under Colonel Forrest, who was reported to be in force within five miles of the city. The Confederates have also broken up the railway communication between Corinth and Tuscumbia. As the Tennessee river is no longer navigable, in consequence of the low stage of water, great difficulty, it is said, will be experienced in providing with adequate supplies those portions of Buell’s army which are at or near Tuscumbia.
We know but little concerning the present condition of the army now encamped under cover of the gunboats on the James river, beyond what is furnished by the correspondents of Northern journals. From these sources, however, we learn that the furlough fever has somewhat abated, that many of those who contemplated asking for leave of absence have concluded to remain, but that many other officers, surfeited with war and its horrors, have sent in their resignations, and “want to go home.” The Confederates are reported to be in considerable force on both sides of the James river, from four to eight miles below the mouth of the Chickahominy, whilst above, at Turkey Island Bend, Curl’s Neck, and at Dutch Gap, they are constructing large and massive batteries. On several occasions the gun boats have driven them from their work, but it was resumed again as soon as the boats retired, and the batteries are now supposed to be “fully prepared, equipped, and ready for future action.” It is not surprising, then, that it should be rumored “that the troops would receive orders, in the course of a few days, to evacuate their present position,” where they suffer terribly for want of pure and wholesome water, and are weakened down with diarrhœa and dysentery. It seems scarcely probable, however, that McClellan will abandon the “secure” position he has already sacrificed so much to attain. The report to that effect is, nevertheless, gravely announced by the correspondent of the Philadelphia Enquirer, and is reproduced, without comment, in the New York papers. The War Department has issued an order authorizing the military commanders within the States of Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas, to seize any real or personal property which may be necessary or convenient for their respective commands, and also to destroy property for military purposes. It is further ordered that the negroes within and from the above States shall be employed as laborers for military purposes, giving them reasonable compensation for their services, and that a record shall be kept, showing from whom the property and persons are taken, as a basis upon which compensation can be made in proper cases.
_Saturday, July 26th._ The papers say that McClellan remains quiet, while his officers are resigning as fast as they can. He may fly from our brave soldiers, and seek shelter under his gunboats, but he cannot flee from the retributive justice of heaven, let him go where he may:
“In vain he flies—the furies still pursue. Avenging justice on the murderer’s track Follows to claim her due.”
It is with a loathing, sickening sensation, similar to that with which men regard the bloated toad or slimy reptile, that I view the Yankee officials who come round daily, often with no other object but to tantalize the prisoners. The idea that their treasonable invasion of the just rights of the South has placed me in my present position, sends the warm blood rushing to my heart and brain—my shattered nerves resume their elasticity, and feel as if they were suddenly transformed to steel. More than once I have clenched my hands with nervous impatience, till the nails almost cut the flesh, for the Yankees, from their very nature, seem to feel an almost inhuman joy in contemplating our imprisonment; and what is more calculated to vex? We were allowed to go a swimming this evening. Saw two young ladies—nearer than I have seen a lady for two months, for they passed directly by us. They were, indeed, fair and good-looking, but as they did not condescend to notice me:
“Why should I, wasting in despair, Die because a woman’s fair; What care I how fair she be, If she be not fair to me.”
It was told us on Friday that we would certainly be sent to Dixie to-day, but to-day they say we are not to go until Monday. I believe the sole delight of the Yankee authorities here is to tantalize us as much as they can. I read somewhere that the word tantalize thus originated—a man named Tantalus had been found guilty of a crime in Germany, and as a punishment for the same he was denied water for a certain length of time, although water, by machinery, passed nearer every moment to his parched lips—every moment the cooling draught suddenly swept by him in pipes, and became more and more close to his mouth, but yet never near enough for him to quench his thirst. Afterwards whenever a man had expectations of a flattering nature held out to him and was frustrated, he was said to be tantalized. Truly, the Yankees are fond of tantalizing—they like to deceive and tyrannize over those in their power. All cowards are prone to do the same.
On the 15th of July, Sergeant J. J. Cox, first battalion Louisiana volunteers, and John A. Toole, 9th Virginia cavalry, made their escape from Fort Delaware under the following circumstances: At 8 o’clock, P.M., when the sergeants were calling the roll in the enclosure, they a squeezed out of the apertures left for the passage of air throughout the quarters, and concealed themselves in the long grass outside the barracks. They now had about ten paces to crawl in order to reach the path on which the sentry walked, and they passed this point in safety and unobserved by the sentinel, with their knives between their teeth, ready to use at any moment. They then crossed the moat and embankment in safety. It was now seventy-five yards to the river. On the way there they discovered a board on which they tied their clothes. As they were about to get into the water, they saw a boat full (as they supposed) of soldiers rowing towards the shore, and in about ten minutes another came. This delayed them an hour, when they leaped into the water, and swam half way across the river. Here a government transport passed so close to them that they could discern every rope on board. Having eluded this boat they had no further trouble, and reached the shore between Delaware City and New Castle on the marsh, after being five or six hours in the water, and having swam a distance of three and a half miles on a board! They remained on the marsh until the night of the 16th, when they started on their journey South—paused the town of St. George, Delaware, the same night. They went to Baltimore and Washington to look round, and from the latter they made their way to Dixie, easy enough, in the character of stock buyers.
_July 28th._ This day has been spent in reading the “life of Washington,” loaned me by a fellow-prisoner. The war for independence has always been considered the heroic age in American history, and while many despaired of peace ever again smiling upon the land, Washington placed his confidence in God, and overcame all difficulties. In September, 1775, Washington wrote in relation to a proposed attack upon the enemy at Boston and Roxbury: “The success of such an enterprise, I well know, _depends on the All-wise disposer of events_, and it is not within the reach of human wisdom to foretell the result, &c.” In January, 1776, he wrote: “For more than two months I have scarcely emerged from one difficulty before I have plunged into another. How it will end God in his great goodness will direct.” Those who fight the battles of a country may derive their loftiest inspirations from trust in providence. In July, 1775, Washington said in an order to the troops: “The fate of unborn millions will now depend, under God, on the courage and conduct of this army. Let us rely upon the goodness of the cause, and the aid of the Supreme Being, in whose hands victory is.”
_July 29th, 30th and 31st._ Nothing of interest enough to record has transpired during the past three days, unless it be the arrival of transport boats to convey us to “Dixie,” which latter is the only evidence to our minds that we are really to be exchanged, for we have ceased to believe the Yankees any longer. And I might add, the general happiness manifested by the prisoners in anticipation of once more realizing that freedom which allows one to move about at pleasure, and untrammelled by a sentinel at every step. No one can entertain an adequate idea of what liberty is, until he has been confined in a Yankee prison, and then he will understand both liberty and tyranny.
_August 1st._ About three thousand Confederates were put on board boats to-day, and started for the South—landed at “Aiken’s Landing,” August 5th.
My prison experience has taught me that the Yankees are one grand bundle of lies and inconsistencies. The newspapers, particularly, have begun, and kept up, a wholsale system of lying, under the military censorship and direction of the Secretary of War. In spite of their disclaimers to the contrary, their own acts and words betray their purpose to steal all the negroes they can. It is true that some have pleaded, and are now pleading for peace under the old government, offering the South all she ever had, and claiming nothing that is not common to all. But this is simply because they have seen the folly of their undertaking, and would like now to slip out of the difficulty, especially since they believe they have about as many slaves as they will probably get. But those who are now causing all the bloodshed around us, will, if they persist, find the bounds of slavery yet spread beyond limits heretofore held. The Confederate Government, however, is fighting for _Constitutional Liberty_—the liberty of our forefathers against all things, and nothing but annihilation can prevent them from upholding it; and to the Yankees it may be said:
“The purpose you undertake is dangerous; The friends you have named uncertain; The time itself unsorted; And your whole plot too light for the counterpoise of so great an opposition.”