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John Townsend Trowbridge
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Title: A Picture of the Desolated States
and the Work of Restoration. 1865-1868
Author: John Townsend Trowbridge
Release Date: July 16, 2017 [EBook #55127]
Language: English
Character set encoding: UTF-8
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A PICTURE OF THE DESOLATED STATES ***
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A
PICTURE
OF THE
DESOLATED
STATES;
and the work of
RESTORATION.
1865–1868
BY J. T. TROWBRIDGE.
AUTHOR OF “NEIGHBOR JACKWOOD,” “CUDJO’S CAVE,” ETC.
HARTFORD, CONN.
PUBLISHED BY L. STEBBINS.
1868.
Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1868,
By L. STEBBINS,
in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Connecticut.
PREFACE.
In the summer of 1865, and in the following winter, I made two visits to the South, spending four months in eight of the
principal States which had lately been in rebellion. I saw the most noted battle-fields of the war. I made acquaintance with
officers and soldiers of both sides. I followed in the track of the destroying armies. I travelled by railroad, by steamboat,
by stage-coach, and by private conveyance; meeting and conversing with all sorts of people, from high State officials to
“low-down” whites and negroes; endeavoring, at all times and in all places, to receive correct impressions of the country,
of its inhabitants, of the great contest of arms just closed, and of the still greater contest of principles not yet terminated.
This book is the result. It is a record of actual observations and conversations, free from fictitious coloring. Such stories as
were told me of the war and its depredations would have been spoiled by embellishment; pictures of existing conditions, to
be valuable, must be faithful; and what is now most desirable, is not hypothesis or declamation, but the light of plain facts
upon the momentous question of the hour, which must be settled, not according to any political or sectional bias, but upon
broad grounds of Truth and Eternal Right.
I have accordingly made my narrative as ample and as literally faithful as the limits of these pages, and of my own
opportunities, would allow. Whenever practicable, I have stepped aside and let the people I met speak for themselves.
Notes taken on the spot, and under all sorts of circumstances,—on horseback, in jolting wagons, by the firelight of a farm-
house, or negro camp, sometimes in the dark, or in the rain,—have enabled me to do this in many cases with absolute
fidelity. Conversations which could not be reported in this way, were written out as soon as possible after they took place,
and while yet fresh in my memory. Idiomatic peculiarities, which are often so expressive of character, I have reproduced
without exaggeration. To intelligent and candid men it was my habit to state frankly my intention to publish an account of
my journey, and then, with their permission, to jot down such views and facts as they saw fit to impart. Sometimes I was
requested not to report certain statements of an important nature, made in the glow of conversation; these, not without
regret, I have suppressed; and I trust that in no instance have I violated a confidence that was reposed in me.
I may add that the conversations recorded are generally of a representative character, being selected from among
hundreds of such; and that if I have given seemingly undue prominence to any subject, it has been because I found it an
absorbing and universal topic of discussion.
May, 1866.
iii
iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.—The Start.
Harrisburg.—First Indications of War.—Reminiscences of Lee’s Invasion.—On to Gettysburg.—The
Town and its Inhabitants.—The Hero of Gettysburg.
Page 15
CHAPTER II.—The Field of Gettysburg.
Cemetery Hill.—Pivot of the Battle and of the War.—Culp’s Hill.—Rock Creek.—Cemetery at Sunset.
—John Burns.—The Peach Orchard.—Devil’s Den and Little Round Top.—Round Top.—Meade’s
Head-Quarters.—Woman’s Heroism and Humanity.—A Soldier and his Benefactor.—Harvest of
Bullets.
18
CHAPTER III.—A Reminiscence of Chambersburg.
Quiet Country.—Ruins of Chambersburg.—Burning of the Town.—Flight of the Inhabitants.—Escape of
the Raiders.—Death of Three Rebels.—Homeless Inhabitants.—State Appropriation for their Relief.—
No Loss without Gain.
34
CHAPTER IV.—South Mountain.
Hagerstown.—Valley of the Antietam.—Boonsboro’.—The Rebels in Maryland.—View of the Mountain.
—The Ascent.—Scene of General Reno’s Death.—Rebels buried in a Well.—A Mountaineer’s Story.
—View of Catoctin Valley.—Strong Rebel Position.—Patriot Graves.—Antietam Valley at Sunset.
40
CHAPTER V.—The Field of Antietam.
Rebel Line of Retreat.—Keedysville.—Brick Church Hospital.—Porter and his Reserves.—Banks of the
Antietam.—Scenes at the Straw-Stacks.—Unfortunate Farmers.—Hospital Cemetery.—The Corn
Field.—The Old Ploughman.—A Lesson for Vanity.—A Soldier’s Name.—The Dunker Church.—
Sharpsburg.—Shelter from the Rain.—Southern Pronunciation.—Burnside’s Bridge.—Ancient and
Modern Heroes.—Antietam National Cemetery.—The Battle.
44
CHAPTER VI.—Down the River to Harper’s Ferry.
Search for a Vehicle.—“Mr. Bennerhalls.”—Mr. Benner without the “halls.”—Leaving Sharpsburg.—
Mountain Scenery.—Capt. Speaker’s Narrative.—Surrender of Harper’s Ferry.—Escape of Twenty-
two Hundred Cavalry.—Capture of Rebel Wagon Train.—Morning in Greencastle.—Arrival at the
Ferry.
57
CHAPTER VII.—Around Harper’s Ferry.
River and Mountain Scenery.—Maryland Heights.—John Brown’s Engine-House.—Reminiscence of
John Brown.—Political Inconsistency.—Negro from Shenandoah Valley.—Folly of Secession.
64
CHAPTER VIII.—A Trip to Charlestown.
Railroad Passengers.—A Desolated Country.—Farmers and Land.—A Dilapidated Town.—Meeting an
Acquaintance.—Boarding-House Fare.—People and the Government Policy.—Charlestown Jail and
Court-House.—John Brown’s Trial.—“His Soul Marching On.”—A One-armed Confederate.—John
Brown’s Gallows.—Scene from the Scaffold.—The Church and its Uses.
69
CHAPTER IX.—A Scene at the White House.
v
vi
Washington.—A Crowd of Pardon-Seekers.—President’s Reception.
75
CHAPTER X.—Bull Run.
From Alexandria to Manassas.—Manassas Junction.—“Overpowered,” but not Whipped.—Ambulance
Wagon.—The Driver and the Roads.—Scene of the First Bull Run.—Soldiers’ Monument.—Luncheon
in the Woods.—Scene of the Second Bull Run.—The Monument.—Groverton.—The two Battles and
their Lessons.—The Stone House.—Miscegenated Cider.—Virginia Negroes.
81
CHAPTER XI.—Visit to Mount Vernon.
Down the Potomac.—Landing at Mt. Vernon.—A Throng of Pilgrims.—Tomb of Washington.—
Character of Washington.—Mansion and Out-houses.—Girl at the Wash-tub.—Washington’s Well.—
Shade-Trees.—Within the Mansion.—Relics.—The Portico.—Washington’s Love of Home.—
Thunder-storm.
91
CHAPTER XII.—“State Pride.”
Acquia Creek.—Railroad and Stage-Coaches.—View of Fredericksburg.—Crossing the Rappahannock.
—Ruins of the Town—“A Son of Virginia.”—“State Pride” and “Self-Conceit.”—Virginia and South
Carolina.—Back in the Union.—Down at the Hotel.—Another Name for State Pride.
100
CHAPTER XIII.—The Field of Fredericksburg.
The Situation.—The Stone Wall of History.—A Rebel Eye-witness.—Stripping the Dead.—Strange
Breastworks.—Fidelity of a Dog.—Gen. Lee’s “Humanity.”—Private Cemetery.—The Marye House.
—Negro who didn’t see the Fight.—Southern Consistency.—Dissolution of the Rebel Army.—The
Buried Dead.—House of Washington’s Mother.—Mary Washington’s Monument.—The Lacy House.
—Scene from the Windows.—Storming of Fredericksburg.
106
CHAPTER XIV.—To Chancellorsville.
’Lijah and his Buggy.—A Three-Dollar Horse.—Trade in Soldiers’ Clothing.—Small Farmers.—Right
Ignorant but Right Sharp.—Sedgwick’s Retreat.—Farms and Crops.—Views of Emancipation.—Poor
Whites and Niggers.—The Man that killed Harrow.—Along the Plank-Road.—Tales of the Old Times.
—Chancellorsville Farm.—What was under the Weeds.—Bones for the Bone-Factory.—
Chancellorsville Burying-Ground.—Death of Stonewall Jackson.
114
CHAPTER XV.—The Wilderness.
Days of Anxiety.—Inflexible Spirit of the People.—Locust Grove.—The Wilderness Church.—Relics of
the Battle.—Skeletons above Ground.—Wilderness Cemetery.—A Summer Shower.—The Wounded
in the Fire.—The Rainbow.
123
CHAPTER XVI.—Spottsylvania Court-House.
Elijah “Cut.”—Richard “H.” Hicks.—Poor Whites and the War.—Dead Men’s Clothes.—A “Heavy
Coon Dog.”—Traces of the Battle.—View of the Court-House.—Grant’s Breastworks.—County
Clerk.—Whites and Blacks in the County.—Ignorance of the Lower Classes.—The Negro “Fated.”
129
CHAPTER XVII.—The Field of Spottsylvania.
The Tavern-Keeper’s Relics.—A Union Officer’s Opinions.—The Landlord’s Cornfield.—Rebel and
Yankee Troops.—Scene of the Decisive Conflict.—Graves of Spottsylvania.—Women
“Chincapinnin.”—Leaves from a Soldier’s Testament.
137
CHAPTER XVIII.—“On to Richmond.”
A Bubble Vanished.—Desolate Scenery.—Virginia and Massachusetts.—Ashton.—Suburbs.—Northern
Men in Richmond.—Appearance of the City.
143
CHAPTER XIX.—The Burnt District.
Ruins of Richmond.—Why the Rebels burnt the City.—Panic of the Inhabitants.—Origin of the Fire.—
Conflicting Opinions.—Fire of December, 1811.—Rebuilding.—Negroes at Work.—Colored
Laborer.—Hasty Reconstruction.
147
CHAPTER XX.—Libby, Castle Thunder, and Belle Isle.
Libby Prison.—Castle Thunder.—James River.—Manchester Bridge.—Negroes with Bundles.—Old
Negro’s Story.—Belle Island.—Talk with a Boatman.—Hatred of the Confederacy.—Skiff to Brown’s
Island.—Father and Daughter.
153
CHAPTER XXI.—Feeding the Destitute.
Destitute Ration Tickets.—White and Black Mendicants.—Spirit of Rapacity.—Certificates.—Spurious
Cases.—American Union Commission.
161
CHAPTER XXII.—The Union Men of Richmond.
One of the Twenty-one.—His Account of Confederate Times.—Rebel Fast Days.—Insurrection of
Women.—Mr. L——’s Story.—Colonel Dahlgren’s Body.—Night Work for Union Men.—Story of
Mr. W——.—In Salisbury Prison.—Union Women.—Minor Prisons.—“One Honest Yankee.”—
Books for the Prisoners.—White and his Mule Cart.—Scene in a Prison Yard.—The Premises by
Moonlight.—Not a “Love Affair.”—Escape of Two Prisoners.—A Halter Case.—Running the Lines to
Butler.—Partiality to Traitors.—Union League.
166
CHAPTER XXIII.—Markets and Farming.
Mixed Population of Richmond.—Market Carts.—Scene at the Stalls.—Vegetable Gardens.—
Experience of a Jersey Farmer.—Farms for Sale.
178
CHAPTER XXIV.—In and around Richmond.
St. John’s Church and Patrick Henry.—St. Paul’s and Jeff. Davis.—State and Confederate Capitol.—
Negro Auction-Rooms.—Hollywood and Oakwood Cemeteries.—General Lee’s Head-Quarters
Wagon.—Rebel Conscript Camp.—A Champion of Slavery.—A Rebel.—Secesh Song.
182
CHAPTER XXV.—People and Politics.
A Conservative Union Man.—A Confederate Soldier’s Opinions.—Female Secessionists.—Confederate
Soldiers and the Ladies.—“Bomb-proof” Situations.—Governor Pierpoint.—Advantages to Northern
Business Men.—State Debt and Finances.—Virginia Enterprise.—Coal Mines on the James.—Speech
of a Played-Out Politician.—A Rival Candidate.—Political Views.—New Men.
187
CHAPTER XXVI.—Fortifications.—Dutch Gap.—Fair Oaks.
Ride with Major K——.—Forts and Earthworks.—Winter Quarters of the Army of the James.—Affair at
Laurel Hill.—At New-Market Heights.—Gallop across the Country.—Butler’s Canal.—Origin of the
Name “Dutch Gap.”—Cox’s House.—Out on the Nine-Mile Road.—Fair Oaks Station.—Seven
Pines.—Charge of Sickles’s Brigade.—Savage’s Station.—Two Sundays.
198
CHAPTER XXVII.—In and about Petersburg.
vii
From Richmond to the “Cockade City.”—Evening with Judge ——.—Story of Two Brothers.—Shelling
of Petersburg.—Black Population.—Ride with Colonel E——.—The “Crater.”—Forts Hell and
Damnation.—Forts Morton and Stedman.—“Petersburg Express.”—A Beautiful but Silent City.—
Signal Tower.
205
CHAPTER XXVIII.—James River and Fortress Monroe.
City Point.—Landmarks of Famous Events.—Hotel under the Fortress.—Jeff. Davis’s Private Residence.
—Circuit of the Ramparts.—Pardoned Rebel.
215
CHAPTER XXIX.—About Hampton.
Burning of Hampton.—Freedmen’s Settlements.—Visits to the Freedmen.
219
CHAPTER XXX.—A General View of Virginia.
Fertility.—Natural Advantages.—Old Fields.—Hills and Valleys.—Products.—Value of Land.—
Manufactures.—Oysters.—Common Schools.—Freedmen’s Schools.—Negro Population.—Old
Prejudice.—Wages.—Negroes in Tobacco Factories.—Freedmen’s Bureau.—Secession.—Railroads.
—Finances.—Prospects.
224
CHAPTER XXXI.—The “Switzerland of America.”
East Tennessee.—Home of President Johnson.—Knoxville.—An Old Nigger-Dealer.—Table-Talk.—
East Tennesseeans and Niggers.—Neighborhood Feuds.—Persecution and Retaliation.—Story of a
Loyal Refugee.
237
CHAPTER XXXII.—East Tennessee Farmers.
Description of the People.—“Domestic.”—School-Fund and Schools.—Sects.—Farming.—Horses and
Mules.—Grazing.—Want of a Market.—Products.—Mines.
243
CHAPTER XXXIII.—In and about Chattanooga.
View from Cameron Hill.—Mixed Population.—Post School.—Freedmen’s Schools.—Freedmen.—
Contraband Village.—Parade of a Colored Regiment.
248
CHAPTER XXXIV.—Lookout Mountain.
A Bag of Grist.—Ascent of the Mountain.—The General’s Orderly.—View from Point Lookout.—“Battle
in the Clouds.”—“Old Man of the Mountain.”
255
CHAPTER XXXV.—The Soldiers’ Cemetery.
National Cemetery of Chattanooga.—The Cave.—Interring the Dead.
260
CHAPTER XXXVI.—Mission Ridge and Chickamauga.
Storming the Ridge.—Rossville Gap.—A Dreary Scene.—The “Deadenings.”—Dyer Farm.—Camp of
Colored Soldiers.—African Superstition.—Disinterring the Dead.—The Blunder of Chickamauga.—
General Thomas’s Fight.
263
CHAPTER XXXVII.—From Chattanooga to Murfreesboro’.
viii
Traces of Military Operations.—“Union Men.”—Passing the Cumberland Mountains.—The Country.—
Story of Two Brothers.—“Little Johnny Reb.”—Railroad Travel.—General Hazen’s Head-Quarters.—
Rebel Persecutions.
270
CHAPTER XXXVIII.—Stone River.
Fortress Rosecrans.—Rebel and Union Lines.—McCook Surprised.—Round Forest.—Cemetery of
Hazen’s Brigade.—New National Cemetery.
275
CHAPTER XXXIX.—The Heart of Tennessee.
Nashville.—Cotton and Cotton Seed.—Battle of Nashville.—Legislature and Politics.—Governor
Brownlow.—Major-General Thomas.—On Freedmen.—Freedmen’s Bureau.—Black and White
Industry.—Freedmen’s Schools.
279
CHAPTER XL.—By Railroad to Corinth.
Condition of Railroad.—Battle-Ground of Franklin.—Crossing the River at Decatur.—A Young South
Carolinian.—Whipping a Negro.—A Night in the Cars.—Morning in Corinth.—“Mighty Particular.”—
The Corinthian Style.—Game.—Mr. M——’s Family and Servants.—Fate of a “Respectable Citizen.”
290
CHAPTER XLI.—On Horseback from Corinth.
Winter Morning in the Woods.—Stop at a Log-House.—An Old Lady’s Misfortunes.—Old Lee’s Story.
—A Roadside Encounter.
297
CHAPTER XLII.—Zeek.
Talk by the Way.—Mistletoe.—Farm-Houses.—Route of the Armies.—Beauregard’s Bivouac.—Across
Owl Creek.—Zeek’s Home.
303
CHAPTER XLIII.—Zeek’s Family.
A Tennessee Farm-House.—The Farmer.—The Kitchen.—Too well Ventilated by Half.—The Farmyard.
—Mule-Pen and Out-Buildings.
306
CHAPTER XLIV.—A Night in a Tennessee Farm-House.
Concerning Doors.—Talk by the Firelight.—Depredations of the Two Armies.—Hunting Conscripts.—
Origin of the Name “Owl Creek.”—Reminiscences of the Battle.—Smart Son-in-law.—Zeek Retires.
—The Bridal Chamber.
312
CHAPTER XLV.—The Field of Shiloh.
Departure.—Bridal Home.—Before and After the Battle.—Hildebrand’s Picket Line.—Graves in the
Woods.—Shiloh Church.—Skeletons Rooted up by Swine.—Romance of the Widow Ray House.—
Romance of a Bale of Hay.—Members of One Family.—Sheep Pasture.—The “Long Avenue.”—
Trenches of the Dead.—Pittsburg Landing.—General Prentiss’s Disaster.
321
CHAPTER XLVI.—Waiting for the Train at Midnight.
Mrs. M—— on Slavery.—Hunting for the Railroad.—Negro Encampment.
328
CHAPTER XLVII.—From Corinth to Memphis.
West Tennessee.—Two Sides to the Picture.—Commerce of Memphis.
332
ix
CHAPTER XLVIII.—Freedmen’s Schools and the Freedmen’s Bureau.
Freedmen in Memphis.—Colored Benevolent Societies.—Schools.—Officers of the Bureau.—Old
Wrongs Righted.—Summary Justice.—Milly Wilson’s Story.—Cases from Mississippi.—Business of
the Bureau.—Suppressed Wills.
336
CHAPTER XLIX.—Down the Mississippi.
A Mississippi Steamboat.—Passengers.—Supper.—Evening Amusements.—Steamboat Race.—River
and Shores.—Landings.—Captain and Colored Gentleman.—An Awful Thought.—Helena.—A
Colored Soldier’s Return.—Condition of the Levees.—Freshets.—Best Protected Plantations.—Negro
Insurrections.
347
CHAPTER L.—In and about Vicksburg.
Sight of the Town.—Yankee Canal.—Hills of Vicksburg.—Caves.—An Under-Ground Residence.—
Bombardment.—Famine.—Ride to the Fortifications.—Grant and Pemberton Monument.—Sherman’s
Unsuccessful Assault.—Chickasaw Bayou.—Indian Mounds.—Fortifications below Vicksburg.—“Will
the Freedmen Work?”.
356
CHAPTER LI.—Free Labor in Mississippi.
Laborers defrauded of their Hire.—“Honesty” of a Planter.—Northern and Southern Master.—Freedmen
and Planters.—Furnishing Supplies.—Slave Labor on Mr. P——’s Plantation.—Overseers and
Negroes.—Change at Christmas.
362
CHAPTER LII.—A Reconstructed State.
Ignorance of the Free-Labor System.—Serf Code.—Freedmen in Civil Courts.—Convention and
Legislature.—State Militia.—White and Black Offenders.—Persecution of Union Men.—A Pardoned
Rebel.—Freedmen’s Schools.
369
CHAPTER LIII.—A few Words about Cotton.
Best Cotton Lands.—Anxiety of the Planter.—Fascination of the Culture.—Northern Planters.—Estimate
of Cost and Profits.—Prospect of Crop.
379
CHAPTER LIV.—Davis’s Bend.—Grand Gulf.—Natchez.
Home of Jeff. Davis.—Colony of Paupers.—Other Farms on the Peninsula.—Success of the Freedmen.
—Colored Courts.—Village of Grand Gulf.—The “Gulf.”—Situation of Natchez.—Cargoes of Cotton.
—Talk with an Overseer.
383
CHAPTER LV.—The Lower Mississippi.
Used-up Deck Hands.—Toilsome Work and Brutal Treatment.—French Custom.—Steamboat
Acquaintances.—Pay for Slaves.—Jim B—— and his Niggers.—“A Mountain Spout of a Woman.”—
Talk with an Arkansas Planter.—Louisiana Planters.—Deck Passengers.—Black Woman’s Story.—
French Inhabitants.—Creoles and Slaves.—Villages and Plantations.—Levees.—The River flowing on
a Ridge.—Unavailable Swamps.—River Water.—River runs Up Hill.
388
CHAPTER LVI.—The Crescent City.
x
Midwinter at New Orleans.—French Quarter.—Anomalous Third Class.—Style of Building.—Levee.—
Where the Cotton goes.—Shipment of Cotton during the War and since.—Freight of a Liverpool
Steamer.—St. Charles Rotunda.—One of the Crowd.—His Scheme for making a Fortune.—His
Opinion of the Planters.—Northern Men in Louisiana.—Planters and Niggers.—Hard Overseers.—
General Phil. Sheridan.—Military Division of the Gulf.—Troops in Texas.—The Mexican Question.—
The South to be Northernized.—Sheridan’s Personal Appearance.—Governor Wells.—Deeds and
Professions.—Mayor Kennedy.—On the Future of New Orleans and the South.—Street Railroads.—
Property owned by People of Color.—A Black and White Strike.
397
CHAPTER LVII.—Politics, Free Labor, and Sugar.
Radical Union Men.—On the President’s Policy.—On General Banks.—Gentleman who had no Vote.—
Newspapers.—General T. W. Sherman.—Rebel Militia.—Colored “Cavalry” Drilling.—Capital and
Labor.—Louisiana Serf Code.—Planters and the Bureau.—Dependence of the Negroes.—Defrauded
by Whites.—Independent Homes for the Freedmen.—Colored Schools.—Northern Men.—A Sugar
Plantation.—Abandoned Parishes.—Sugar and Cotton.—Cane Planting.—Field of Cane in June.—A
Sugar-Mill.—Sugar Crop.—White Laborer.
406
CHAPTER LVIII.—The Battle of Mobile Bay.
Lake Ponchartrain.—Capture of the “Water Witch.”—Morning in the Gulf.—Entering Mobile Bay.—
Scene of Farragut’s Fight.—A Poet in the Battle.
415
CHAPTER LIX.—Mobile.
The Merchant Fleet.—Harbors on the Gulf.—Spanish Fort.—Obstructions in the Channel.—Up Spanish
River.—The City.—The Great Explosion.—Business.
420
CHAPTER LX.—Alabama Planters.
River Steamers.—Character of Alabamians.—One of the Despairing Class.—Mr. J——’s Experience.—
Mr. G——’s Opinions.—Mr. H—— of Lowndes County.—Planters’ Justice.—One of the Hopeful
Class.—Agricultural Associations.
423
CHAPTER LXI.—Wilson’s Raid.
Shores of the Alabama.—Plantation Ploughs.—Author’s Ignorance Enlightened.—Selma.—Ruins of the
Town.—Chain-Gang.—Battle of Selma.—A Freedman’s Story.—Loyalty and Fidelity.—Negro Boy
Arthur.—Raiders in Lowndes County.—Planter’s Wife and the Wine.—Track of Wilson’s Cavalry.
433
CHAPTER LXII.—Notes on Alabama.
Montgomery.—The Capitol.—Where the Confederate Egg was Hatched.—Men of the Back Country.—
Small Farmers in the Legislature.—Original Secessionists and Union Men.—Young Man of Chambers
County.—A Prisoner at Harrisburg.—Life among the Yankees.—Return Home.—Disloyalty of the
People.—Newspapers and Churches.—Northern and Southern Alabama.—Union Men of Randolph
County.—Great Destitution.—Service of the Freedmen’s Bureau.—Negro in Civil Courts.—
Freedmen’s Schools.—Cotton Stealing.—Prospect of Cotton Crop.—How to Hire the Freedmen.—
All Sorts of Contracts.—Northern Men in Alabama.—Topography.—Tree Moss.—Best Cotton
Lands.—Disadvantages.—Artesian Wells.—Region of Small Farms.—Climate.—Common Schools.—
First Cotton Crop.—Indian War.—Railroads.
441
CHAPTER LXIII.—In and about Atlanta.
xi
Closing Battles of the War.—The Yankees at West Point.—Foggy Night at Atlanta.—City by Daylight.—
Colored Soldier’s Widow.—Property Destroyed.—Religion a Nuisance.—Rebuilding.—Rents.—
White and Black Refugees.—Accounts by Citizens.—Negro’s Horse.—Jesse Wade, the Poor White;
on Sherman’s Strategy; on Schools; on Reconstruction.—Nigger versus White Man.—Out-door
Convention of Freed People.—Georgia Railroads and Banks.
452
CHAPTER LXIV.—Down in Middle Georgia.
Last View of Atlanta.—Negro Emigration.—Indigent Negroes.—Niggers’ best Friends.—Railroad to
Macon.—The Country.—City of Refuge.—Colored Population.—Murders and Shootings.—Need of
Cavalry.—Georgia and the War.—Freedmen’s Bureau and the People.—Negro of Middle Georgia.—
Infraction of Contracts.—Control of Bureau Funds.—Macon Freedmen’s Schools.—Union Men in
Georgia.—An Old Settler’s Story.—“No Party” Cry.—Confederates and Yankees.
460
CHAPTER LXV.—Andersonville.
Yankee Prison at Macon.—“Death’s Acre.”—Trial of Captain Wirz.—His Personal Appearance.—
Scene of his Crimes.—Name of the Town.—Present Appearance.—The Stockade.—Double Walls.—
The Dead Line.—Prisoners’ Caves.—Huts and Barrack Sheds.—Out-Buildings.—Cemetery.—Death
Record.—Inscriptions.—Rebel Owner’s Claim.—Testimony of Georgians.
468
CHAPTER LXVI.—Sherman in Middle Georgia.
Tradition regarding General Sherman’s Gloves.—Confederate General’s Testimony.—Criticisms and
Anecdotes.—“The Great Robber” in Jones County.—Confederate Stockings.—Yankee Soldiers and
Rebel Dogs.—Sherman’s Field Orders.—Pillagers.—Shooting Horses and Stock.—Army and its
Stragglers.—Negro and the Trunk.—Persuasion of a Rope.—The “Great Robber” in Putnam County.
—Not a Raid.—Movement of the Army.—Panic of the People.—Flight from Milledgeville.—Masters
and Slaves.
475
CHAPTER LXVII.—Plantation Glimpses.
Worn-out Plantations.—Houses on Props.—A Northern Man’s Experience.—Men and Women
Ploughing.—Home Manufactures.—A Planter’s House.—Old Master and Young Master.—A Georgia
Woman and the Yankees.
482
CHAPTER LXVIII.—Politics and Free Labor in Georgia.
Milledgeville.—State Legislature.—Repudiation.—Complaints of Confederate Despotism.—Value of
Slave Property; to be Paid for by the Government.—Common-School System.—Freedmen’s Schools.
—Negro with the Small-Pox.—Georgia Planter and Niggers.—Kinder than the Yankees.—Poor
Whites in New York and Massachusetts.—Abuse of the Yankees; of Freedmen’s Bureau.—Mr. C
—— of Oglethorpe County; why he damned the Yankees.—Tax on Color.—Southern Methods.—
State Commissioner of the Bureau.—Planters’ Profits.—Meanness of the Georgians.—Sending
Negroes out of the State.—Ignorance of the Freed People.—Tendency to Idleness.—Bribes Offered.
—Cruelties to Freedmen.—Public Sentiment on the Subject.—Cotton Crop.
488
CHAPTER LXIX.—Sherman in Eastern Georgia.
Sherman and the Railroads.—Condition of the Tracks.—General Grant on Sherman’s “Hair Pins.”—
Machinery for Destroying Track.—Condition of the Bent Iron.—Railroad Buildings.—One Glove off.
—The “Bummers” in Burke County.—People Stripped of Everything.—Sherman and the Old Woman.
—Buried Gold and Silver.—Shrewdness of Planter’s Wife.—A “Sorry” Watch.—Experience of a
Northern Man.—Running off Goods and Stock.—Hiding Place in the Bushes.—Coming of the
Soldiers.—Stopped by Yankee Cavalry.—Why the Women screamed.—Pursuit of a Horse.—Luck of
a Poor Planter.—Reduced to Corn-Meal Bran.—By Stage to Scarborough.—By Rail to Savannah.—
Comments of the Passengers.—By the Ogeechee River.—Importation of Hay.
501
CHAPTER LXX.—A Glance at Savannah.
xii
Sherman at Savannah.—Conference with Secretary Stanton.—Issuing of General Orders No. 15.—
Aspect of the City.—Situation.—Inhabitants.—Trade.—Colored Schools.—Bonaventure Cemetery.
508
CHAPTER LXXI.—Charleston and the War.
Charleston and Savannah Railroad.—Steamboats.—Morning in Charleston Harbor.—Objects in the Mist.
—Historic Water.—Charleston and the Old Flag.—Early Walk in the City.—Turkey Buzzards.—
People and Houses.—Great Fire of 1861.—Its Origin.—Picturesque Ruins.—Damage done by Shells.
—Spite against Firemen.—Panic and Flight of the Inhabitants.—A Northern Man’s Experience.—
Nineteen Months’ Bombardment.—Not a Joyful Anniversary.—Evacuation by the Rebels.—Fire and
Explosion.—The City isolated.
511
CHAPTER LXXII.—A Visit to Fort Sumter.
Harbor Obstructions.—Destructive Water Worm.—Palmetto Wharves.—Fort Sumter from without.—A
Mass of Ruins.—Effect of Bombardment.—Section of the Old Wall.—Landing at the Fort.—Inside
View.—The Old Flag again.—Situation of the Fort.—Old Iron under the Walls.—Cost of United
States Forts.—Garrison.—Beauregard’s Bombardment.—Major Anderson’s Fame.—Fame not so
cheap since.—Military Duty and Common Sense.—Policy of the Government.—The Fort from Morris
Island.
517
CHAPTER LXXIII.—A Prison and a Prisoner.
General S——’s Visits to Charleston.—Taken Prisoner.—Jumping from the Cars.—Circular
Perambulation.—The Man with the Bag of Corn.—Pine-leaves and Tobacco.—Chased by Blood-
hounds.—What he lived on.—Visit to a lone Widow.—Night in a Canebrake.—A Man on Horseback.
—Proffer of a Canteen.—A Friend in Need.—Night in a Gin-House.—Parting in the Morning.—
Entangled among Streams.—Taken for a Spy.—Recognized.—How he got his Clothes again.—Sent to
Macon.—Tunnelling the Ground under the Stockade.—Betrayed.—Sent to Charleston.—The Work-
house.—Jail and Hospitals.—Entrance to the Work-house, Rooms, and Cells.—Prisoners’ Bunks.—
Visited by a Shell.—Watching the Shells by Night.—A Taste of the pure Air.—Negro Whippings.—
Tower of Observation.—Mountain of Offal.—“Kindness” to Prisoners.—Plans of Escape.—Exploring
the Cistern.—Tunnelling the Walls.—Betrayed again.—Grand Scheme to Capture and Fire the City.—
Exchanged.
521
CHAPTER LXXIV.—The Sea-Islands.
Negro of Cotton States and Border States.—Causes of Difference.—Slaves and Slavery in South
Carolina.—Labor Disorganized.—Negro Instincts.—Emigration to the Coast.—Settlements under
Sherman’s Order.—No more Allotments.—General Howard’s Visit.—President’s Theory.—Conflict
of Authority.—Of Claims.—Nothing Settled.—Freedmen’s Crops.—Gun and Fishing-Rod.—
Discouragement.—Difficult Question.
532
CHAPTER LXXV.—A Visit to James Island.
Stroll along the Wharves.—Negroes under Coal-Sheds.—Misery.—Boats to James Island.—Planters
and their Freedmen.—Taciturn Boatman.—Previous Visits.—Captured by Negroes.—Third Visit.—
Our Reception.—Number of Freedmen.—House of Three Orphans.—Conversation with their
Guardian.—An Unreasonable Complaint.—A Northern Man’s Fortunes.—Negro from St. John.
—“Faithful Old Family Servant.”—Colored Guard.—Women “Listing.”—Our Guard takes Notes.—
Negroes Farming.—Attachment to their Homes.—Children going to School.—Shade-Trees used for
Fences.—Extent of the Island.—Freedmen their own Driver.
537
CHAPTER LXXVI.—Sherman in South Carolina.
xiii
Destruction by the Army.—A South Side View.—In Orangeburg District.—A Lady’s Account.—
Discipline of the Army.—Fidelity of an Old Cook.—Warned by a Dream.—Behavior of the Negroes.
—Firing Houses.—Foragers.—Yankee Officers.—Soldiers’ Fun and Mischief.—Behavior.—
Destructiveness.—Three Nights in the Chimney Corner.—White Lie by a Black Boy.—White Officers
and Black Girls.—Robbed of everything.—The Negroes afterwards.—Few White Men left in the
Country.—Cut off from Charleston.
546
CHAPTER LXXVII.—The Burning of Columbia.
The Fall of Pride.—Infatuation of the People.—Scenes of Panic.—Citizen Plunderers.—General
Sherman’s Promise.—Origin of the Fires.—Accounts by Responsible Citizens.—Rocket Signals.—
Fire-Balls thrown into Houses.—Stories of Federal Guards.—Skill at finding Treasures.—“Divining
Rods.”—The Fire in the Distance.—Dismay and Terror.—Thirty Millions of Property Destroyed.—
Sacking of the Churches; of Masonic and Odd-Fellow Lodges.—Drunkenness.—Discipline.—
Robberies.—Many Guards faithful.—Curious Incidents.—Funeral of a Lapdog.—Popular Jokes in the
Army.—Mrs. Minegault’s Bracelet.—Destitution.—Doing as we would have been done by.—War and
Institutions of Learning.—Horrors left behind.—Ruins.
553
CHAPTER LXXVIII.—Notes on South Carolina.
Free Labor in the Eastern District.—West of the Wateree.—Planters and the Crop they depended on.—
Cotton and Corn.—Crops during the Confederacy.—Rice Culture.—Railroads.—Finances.—United
States Taxes.—Prevalence of Crime.—Dishonest Treasury Agents; their Modes of Operating.—
Animosity against the Government.—Progressive Class.—Governor Orr on Negro Suffrage.—Story of
a Negro Carpenter.—Freedmen’s Schools.
565
CHAPTER LXXIX.—The Ride to Winnsboro’.
By Stage from Columbia.—Destruction of the Railroad Track.—The Yankees Dissected.—A Skeleton at
the Banquet.—Stage-Coach Conversation.—Negro Suffrage and Free Labor.—Spirit of the People.—
Outrages on Negroes.—A Candid Confession.—Sherman’s “Bummers” at Winnsboro’.
571
CHAPTER LXXX.—A Glimpse of the old North State.
Change of Scene.—North Carolina Legislature.—Business at Raleigh.—Impoverishment of the State.—
Effects of Repudiation.—Stay Laws.—Rice Culture.—North Carolina Farmers.—Freedmen and
Freedmen’s Schools.—Governor Worth on Sherman’s “Bummers”.
578
CHAPTER LXXXI.—Conclusions.
Return Home.—Summing Up.—Condition of the South.—Demand for Capital and Labor.—Recovery of
Agriculture and Business.—A Hint to Emigrants.—Loyalty of the People.—Union Men at the Close of
Hostilities.—A Change for the Worse.—Talk for the Talk’s sake.—Enough of War.—Danger of
Unarmed Rebellion.—Aims of Southern Leaders.—Security needed.—How to punish Treason.—Plans
of Reconstruction.—Southern Plan.—Southern Representatives and the Test Oath.—The Rule of
Justice.—Principles of the Declaration of Independence.—Impartial Suffrage.—History of Progressive
Ideas.—Time for the Sowing of the New Seed.—Are the Blacks prepared for the Franchise?—The
Basis of Representation.—Prospects.
583
CHAPTER LXXXII.—The Work of Restoration.
A Year later.—Hopes disappointed.—Position of the Whites of the South.—Treatment of Southern
Unionists, Black and White.—Sections where the Hostility was most intense.—Honorable and Noble
Exceptions to this State of Feeling.—The most Noisy Supporters of the Lost Cause.—The Effect of
President Johnson’s Course in stimulating this Hostility.—Review of his Course so far as it relates to
Reconstruction.—Interviews with Southern Men.—Organization of Provisional Governments.—
Specimens of the Men appointed by him as Governors.—Defiance of Congress in Advance.—
Assurances to South Carolina.—Democratic Conventions indorsing the President’s Policy.—The
Message of December, 1865.—Opposition to Congress.—His “White-washing Message.”—Veto of
the First Freedmen’s Bureau Bill.—The 22d of February Speech.—Veto of the Civil Rights Bill.—Its
Passage over the Veto.—Provisions of the Bill.—The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution.—
What it was.—Veto of the Second Freedmen’s Bureau Bill.—Passage over the Veto.—Its Provisions.
—Admission of Tennessee.—Mr. Johnson signs the Resolution, but protests.—The Memphis Riot.—
The New Orleans Massacre.—Mr. Johnson responsible for them.—General Sheridan’s Account of it.
—The Philadelphia Convention.—Its Tears.—It proves a Failure.—Mr. Johnson weeps.—Mr.
Johnson’s Speeches.—Reply to the Philadelphia Committee.—“Congress hanging on the Verge of the
Government.”—“Swinging round the Circle.”—Disgraceful Conduct of Mr. Johnson.—Billingsgate in
his Speeches.—Wearisome Platitudes.—The Effect they had on the Elections of 1866.
591
CHAPTER LXXXIII.—Reconstruction.
Condition of the Republican and Democratic Parties in Congress in December, 1866.—The District of
Columbia Elective Franchise Bill passed: Its Provisions.—Mr. Johnson vetoes it, but it is passed over
the Veto.—Territorial Franchise Bill passed.—Admission of Nebraska as a State, with the Elective
Franchise Proviso.—Difficulties in Maturing satisfactorily the Reconstruction Act.—The Provisions of
the House Bill.—It is materially changed in the Senate.—Further Modification in the House Provisions
of the Bill as finally passed.—Necessity for the Tenure of Office Act: Its Provisions.—Effect of the
Passage of the District of Columbia Franchise Bill on Tennessee.—Decision of the Supreme Court of
Tennessee.—The First Supplementary Reconstruction Act of the Fortieth Congress.—It is vetoed, and
re-passed: Its Provisions.—Arrangement for the Call of a Summer Session.—Mr. Stanbery’s
Exposition of the Reconstruction Acts.—The Summer Session of 1867.—The Second Supplementary
Reconstruction Act: Its Provisions.—Appropriations for Carrying out the Reconstruction Acts.—The
President’s Communication.—The Resolution of the House in Reply.—Sharp Talk.—The Completion
of Congressional Legislation on the Subject in 1867.—Condition of the Desolated States in 1867.
605
CHAPTER LXXXIV.—The Work of Restoration.
Votes on the Fourteenth Constitutional Amendment.—The New States and Reconstructed States likely to
vote for it.—Action of the Commanders of the Military Districts.—The Fifth District.—Measures
adopted by General Sheridan.—His Reasons for them.—Further Action of General Sheridan.—
Governor Wells removed, and Governor Flanders appointed.—Incidents in Charleston: The Railroad
Cars; The Flag at the Charleston Fire Parade.—General Sickles’ Order No. 10: Its Provisions.—
Attorney-General Stanbery’s Objections to it.—Other Orders of General Sickles.—He asks to be
relieved of his Command.—Troubles in General Pope’s District.—Insubordination of Governor Jenkins:
General Pope asks that he be removed; General Grant’s Indorsement.—Riot in Mobile.—In Richmond.
—Registration, and Powers of Military Commanders.—The Interference of the Attorney-General.—His
Written Opinions.—General Grant decides that they are not Mandatory.—General Sheridan’s Opinion
of them.—Removal of Throckmorton.—Sheridan’s Complaint of Rousseau.—The Removal of
Secretary Stanton determined upon, and of General Sheridan also.—The President’s Letter to Stanton.
—Stanton’s Reply.—General Grant’s Private Letter to the President.—Stanton suspended, and Grant
appointed Secretary of War ad interim.—The Order for Sheridan’s Removal.—General Grant’s
Protest.—The President’s Reply.—Thomas appointed to the Fifth District, but declines on account of
his Health.—Hancock appointed.—General Griffin’s Death.—General Sickles’ Removal.—Generals
Canby and Mower’s Orders.—The President’s two Proclamations.—Who are to be amnestied.—The
President’s Pardons.—General Hancock’s Special Order.—The President’s delight with it.—He
proposes that Congress shall make a Public Recognition of the General’s Patriotism.—Congress “don’t
see it.”—Measures of General Hancock.—General Grant revokes his Orders.—Hancock asks to be
relieved, and is appointed by the President to the Command of the New Department of Washington.—
The New Constitutions.—Alabama: The Measures of the Rebels to prevent the adoption of the
Constitution.—The Constitutions of the other States adopted.—Vote on Convention and Constitution.
624
CHAPTER LXXXV.—Social Condition.
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