University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XLVI.

July 8th.—I hired a horse at a livery stable, and rode out
to Arlington Heights, at the other side of the Potomac, where
the Federal army is encamped, if not on the sacred soil of
Virginia, certainly on the soil of the District of Columbia,
ceded by that State to Congress for the purposes of the Federal
Government. The Long Bridge which spans the river,
here more than a mile broad, is an ancient wooden and brick
structure, partly of causeway, and partly of platform, laid on
piles and uprights, with drawbridges for vessels to pass. The
Potomac, which in peaceful times is covered with small craft,
now glides in a gentle current over the shallows unbroken by
a solitary sail. The "rebels" have established batteries below
Mount Vernon, which partially command the river, and
place the city in a state of blockade.

As a consequence of the magnificent conceptions which
were entertained by the founders regarding the future dimensions
of their future city, Washington is all suburb and no
city. The only difference between the denser streets and the
remoter village-like environs, is that the houses are better and
more frequent, and the roads not quite so bad in the former.
The road to the Long Bridge passes by a four-sided shaft of
blocks of white marble, contributed, with appropriate mottoes,
by the various States, as a fitting monument to Washington.
It is not yet completed, and the materials lie in the field
around, just as the Capitol and the Treasury are surrounded
by the materials for their future and final development.
Further on is the red, and rather fantastic, pile of the Smithsonian
Institute, and then the road makes a dip to the bridge,
past some squalid little cottages, and the eye reposes on the

shore of Virginia, rising in successive folds, and richly wooded,
up to a moderate height from the water. Through the green
forest leaves gleams the white canvas of the tents, and on the
highest ridge westward rises an imposing structure, with a
portico and colonnade in front, facing the river, which is called
Arlington House, and belongs, by descent, through Mr. Custis,
from the wife of George Washington, to General Lee, Commander-in-Chief
of the Confederate army. It is now occupied
by General McDowell as his head-quarters, and a large
United States flag floats from the roof, which shames even
the ample proportions of the many stars and stripes rising up
from the camps in the trees.

At the bridge there was a post of volunteer soldiers. The
sentry on duty was sitting on a stump, with his firelock across
his knees, reading a newspaper. He held out his hand for
my pass, which was in the form of a letter, written by General
Scott, and ordering all officers and soldiers of the army of the
Potomac to permit me to pass freely without let or hindrance,
and recommending me to the attention of Brigadier-General
McDowell and all officers under his orders. "That'll do; you
may go," said the sentry. "What pass is that, Abe?" inquired
a non-commissioned officer. "It's from General Scott,
and says he's to go wherever he likes." "I hope you'll go
right away to Richmond, then, and get Jeff Davis's scalp for
us," said the patriotic sergeant.

At the other end of the bridge a weak tête de pont, commanded
by a road-work farther on, covered the approach, and
turning to the right I passed through a maze of camps, in
front of which the various regiments, much better than I expected
to find them, broken up into small detachments, were
learning elementary drill. A considerable number of the men
were Germans, and the officers were for the most part in a
state of profound ignorance of company drill, as might be seen
by their confusion and inability to take their places when the
companies faced about, or moved from one flank to the other.
They were by no means equal in size or age, and, with some
splendid exceptions, were inferior to the Southern soldiers. The
camps were dirty, no latrines—the tents of various patterns
—but on the whole they were well castrametated.

The road to Arlington House passed through some of the
finest woods I have yet seen in America, but the axe was
already busy amongst them, and the trunks of giant oaks were
prostrate on the ground. The tents of the General and his

small staff were pitched on the little plateau in which stood
the house, and from it a very striking and picturesque view
of the city, with the White House, the Treasury, the Post-Office,
Patent-Office, and Capitol, was visible, and a wide
spread of country, studded with tents also as far as the eye
could reach, towards Maryland. There were only four small
tents for the whole of the head-quarters of the grand army of
the Potomac, and in front of one we found General McDowell,
seated in a chair, examining some plans and maps. His personal
staff, as far as I could judge, consisted of Mr. Clarence
Brown, who came over with me, and three other officers, but
there were a few connected with the departments at work in the
rooms of Arlington House. I made some remark on the subject
to the General, who replied that there was great jealousy on
the part of the civilians respecting the least appearance of display,
and that as he was only a brigadier, though he was in
command of such a large army, he was obliged to be content
with a brigadier's staff. Two untidy-looking orderlies, with
ill-groomed horses, near the house, were poor substitutes for
the force of troopers one would see in attendance on a General
in Europe, but the use of the telegraph obviates the necessity
of employing couriers. I went over some of the camps with
the General. The artillery is the most efficient-looking arm
of the service, but the horses are too light, and the number of
the different calibres quite destructive to continuous efficiency
in action. Altogether I was not favorably impressed with
what I saw, for I had been led by reiterated statements to
believe to some extent the extravagant stories of the papers,
and expected to find upwards of 100,000 men in the highest
state of efficiency, whereas there were not more than a third
of the number, and those in a very incomplete, ill-disciplined
state. Some of these regiments were called out under the
President's proclamation for three months only, and will soon
have served their full time, and as it is very likely they will
go home, now the bubbles of national enthusiasm have all
escaped, General Scott is urged not to lose their services, but
to get into Richmond before they are disbanded.

It would scarcely be credited, were I not told it by General
McDowell, that there is no such thing procurable as a decent
map of Virginia. He knows little or nothing of the country
before him, more than the general direction of the main roads,
which are bad at the best; and he can obtain no information,
inasmuch as the enemy are in full force all along his front,

and he has not a cavalry officer capable of conducting a reconnoissance,
which would be difficult enough in the best hands,
owing to the dense woods which rise up in front of his lines,
screening the enemy completely. The Confederates have
thrown up very heavy batteries at Manassas, about thirty
miles away, where the railway from the West crosses the line
to Richmond, and I do not think General McDowell much
likes the look of them, but the cry for action is so strong the
President cannot resist it.

On my way back I rode through the woods of Arlington, and
came out on a quadrangular earthwork, called Fort Corcoran,
which is garrisoned by the Sixty-ninth Irish, and commands
the road leading to an aqueduct and horse-bridge over the
Potomac. The regiment is encamped inside the fort, which
would be a slaughter-pen if exposed to shell-fire. The streets
were neat, the tents protected from the sun by shades of evergreens
and pine boughs. One little door, like that of an icehouse,
half buried in the ground, was opened by one of the
soldiers, who was showing it to a friend, when my attention
was more particularly attracted by a sergeant, who ran forward
in great dudgeon, exclaiming "Dempsey! Is that you
going into the 'magazine,' wid yer pipe lighted?" I rode
away with alacrity.

In the course of my ride I heard occasional dropping shots
in camp. To my looks of inquiry, an engineer officer said
quietly, "They are volunteers shooting themselves." The
number of accidents from the carelessness of the men is astonishing;
in every day's paper there is an account of deaths and
wounds caused by the discharge of firearms in the tents.

Whilst I was at Arlington House, walking through the camp
attached to head-quarters, I observed a tall, red-bearded officer
seated on a chair in front of one of the tents, who bowed as I
passed him, and as I turned to salute him, my eye was caught
by the apparition of a row of Palmetto buttons down his coat.
One of the officers standing by said, "Let me introduce you to
Captain Taylor, from the other side." It appears that he came
in with a flag of truce, bearing a despatch from Jefferson Davis
to President Lincoln, countersigned by General Beauregard at
Manassas. Just as I left Arlington, a telegraph was sent from
General Scott to send Captain Taylor, who rejoices in the
name of Tom, over to his quarters.

The most absurd rumors were flying about the staff, one of
whom declared very positively that there was going to be a

compromise, and that Jeff Davis had made an overture for
peace. The papers are filled with accounts of an action in
Missouri, at a place called Carthage, between the Federals
commanded by Colonel Sigel, consisting for the most part of
Germans, and the Confederates under General Parsons, in
which the former were obliged to retreat, although it is admitted
the State troops were miserably armed, and had most ineffective
artillery, whilst their opponents had every advantage
in both respects, and were commanded by officers of European
experience. Captain Taylor had alluded to the news in a
jocular way to me, and said, "I hope you will tell the people
in England we intend to whip the Lincolnites in the same
fashion wherever we meet them," a remark which did not lead
me to believe there was any intention on the part of the Confederates
to surrender so easily.

July 9th.—Late last night the President told General Scott
to send Captain Taylor back to the Confederate lines, and he
was accordingly escorted to Arlington in a carriage, and thence
returned without any answer to Mr. Davis's letter, the nature
of which has not transpired.

A swarm of newspaper correspondents has settled down
upon Washington, and great are the glorifications of the high-toned
paymasters, gallant doctors, and subalterns accomplished
in the art of war, who furnish minute items to my American
brethren, and provide the yeast which overflows in many columns;
but the Government experience the inconvenience of
the smallest movements being chronicled for the use of the
enemy, who, by putting one thing and another together, are no
doubt enabled to collect much valuable information. Every
preparation is being made to put the army on a war footing,
to provide them with shoes, ammunition wagons, and
horses.

I had the honor of dining with General Scott, who has
moved to new quarters, near the War Department, and met
General Frémont, who is designated, according to rumor, to
take command of an important district in the West, and to
clear the right bank of the Mississippi and the course of the
Missouri. "The Pathfinder" is a strong Republican and Abolitionist,
whom the Germans delight to honor,—a man with a
dreamy, deep blue eye, a gentlemanly address, pleasant features,
and an active frame, but without the smallest external indication
of extraordinary vigor, intelligence, or ability; if he has
military genius, it must come by intuition, for assuredly he has

no professional acquirements or experience. Two or three
members of Congress, and the General's staff, and Mr. Bigelow,
completed the company. The General has become visibly
weaker since I first saw him. He walks down to his
office, close at hand, with difficulty; returns a short time before
dinner, and reposes; and when he has dismissed his
guests at an early hour, or even before he does so, stretches
himself on his bed, and then before midnight rouses himself
to look at despatches or to transact any necessary business.
In case of an action it is his intention to proceed to the field
in a light carriage, which is always ready for the purpose, with
horses and driver; nor is he unprepared with precedents of
great military commanders who have successfully conducted
engagements under similar circumstances.

Although the discussion of military questions and of politics
was eschewed, incidental allusions were made to matters
going on around us, and I thought I could perceive that the
General regarded the situation with much more apprehension
than the politicians, and that his influence extended itself to
the views of his staff. General Frémont's tone was much
more confident. Nothing has become known respecting the
nature of Mr. Davis's communication to President Lincoln,
but the fact of his sending it at all is looked upon as a piece
of monstrous impertinence. The General is annoyed and distressed
by the plundering propensities of the Federal troops,
who have been committing terrible depredations on the people
of Virginia. It is not to be supposed, however, that the Germans,
who have entered upon this campaign as mercenaries,
will desist from so profitable and interesting a pursuit as the
detection of Secesh sentiments, chickens, watches, horses, and
dollars. I mentioned that I had seen some farm-houses completely
sacked close to the aqueduct. The General merely
said, "It is deplorable!" and raised up his hands as if in disgust.
General Frémont, however, said, "I suppose you are
familiar with similar scenes in Europe. I hear the allies were
not very particular with respect to private property in Russia"
—a remark which unfortunately could not be gainsaid. As I
was leaving the General's quarters, Mr. Blair, accompanied
by the President, who was looking more anxious than I had
yet seen him, drove up, and passed through a crowd of soldiers,
who had evidently been enjoying themselves. One of
them called out, "Three cheers for General Scott!" and I am
not quite sure the President did not join him.

July 10th.—To-day was spent in a lengthy excursion along
the front of the camp in Virginia, round by the chain bridge
which crosses the Potomac about four miles from Washington.

The Government have been coerced, as they say, by the
safety of the Republic, to destroy the liberty of the press,
which is guaranteed by the Constitution, and this is not the
first instance in which the Constitution of the United States
will be made nominis umbra. The telegraph, according to
General Scott's order, confirmed by the Minister of War,
Simon Cameron, is to convey no dispatches respecting military
movements not permitted by the General; and to-day the
newspaper correspondents have agreed to yield obedience to
the order, reserving to themselves a certain freedom of detail
in writing their despatches, and relying on the Government to
publish the official accounts of all battles very speedily.
They will break this agreement if they can, and the Government
will not observe their part of the bargain. The freedom
of the press, as I take it, does not include the right to publish
news hostile to the cause of the country in which it is published;
neither can it involve any obligation on the part of
Government to publish despatches which may be injurious to
the party they represent. There is a wide distinction between
the publication of news which is known to the enemy
as soon as to the friends of the transmitters, and the utmost
freedom of expression concerning the acts of the Government
or the conduct of past events; but it will be difficult to establish
any rule to limit or extend the boundaries to which discussion
can go without mischief, and in effect the only solution of
the difficulty in a free country seems to be to grant the press
free license, in consideration of the enormous aid it affords in
warning the people of their danger, in animating them with
the news of their successes, and in sustaining the Government
in their efforts to conduct the war.

The most important event to-day is the passage of the Loan
Bill, which authorizes Mr. Chase to borrow, in the next year,
a sum of £50,000,000, on coupons, with interest at seven per
cent., and irredeemable for twenty years—the interest being
guaranteed on a pledge of the Customs duties. I just got
into the House in time to hear Mr. Vallandigham, who is an ultra
Democrat, and very nearly a Secessionist, conclude a well-delivered
argumentative address. He is a tall, slight man, of
a bilious temperament, with light flashing eyes, dark hair and

complexion, and considerable oratorical power. "Deem me
ef I wouldn't just ride that Vallandiggaim on a reay-al," quoth
a citizen to his friend, as the speaker sat down, amid a few feeble
expressions of assent. Mr. Chase has also obtained the
consent of the Lower House to his bill for closing the Southern
ports by the decree of the President, but I hear some more
substantial measures are in contemplation for that purpose.
Whilst the House is finding the money the Government are
preparing to spend it, and they have obtained the approval of
the Senate to the enrolment of half a million of men, and the
expenditure of one hundred millions of dollars to carry on the
war.

I called on Mr. Cameron, the Secretary of War. The
small brick house of two stories, with long passages, in which
the American Mars prepares his bolts, was, no doubt, large
enough for the 20,000 men who constituted the armed force on
land of the great Republic, but it is not sufficient to contain a
tithe of the contractors who haunt its precincts, fill all the
lobbies, and crowd into every room. With some risk to coattails,
I squeezed through iron-masters, gun-makers, clothiers,
shoemakers, inventors, bakers, and all that genus which fattens
on the desolation caused by an army in the field, and was introduced
to Mr. Cameron's room, where he was seated at a
desk surrounded by people, who were also grouped round two
gentlemen as clerks in the same small room. "I tell you,
General Cameron, that the way in which the loyal men of
Missouri have been treated is a disgrace to this Government,"
shouted out a big, black, burly man—"I tell you so, sir."
"Well, General," responded Mr. Cameron, quietly, "so you
have several times. Will you, once for all, condescend to particulars?"
"Yes, sir; you and the Government have disregarded
our appeals. You have left us to fight our own battles.
You have not sent us a cent—" "There, General, I interrupt
you. You say we have sent you no money," said Mr.
Cameron, very quietly. "Mr. Jones will be good enough to
ask Mr. Smith to step in here." Before Mr. Smith came in,
however, the General, possibly thinking some member of the
press was present, rolled his eyes in a Nicotian frenzy, and
perorated: "The people of the State of Missouri, sir, will
power-out every drop of the blood which only flows to warm
patriotic hearts in defence of the great Union, which offers
freedom to the enslaved of mankind, and a home to persecuted
progress, and a few-ture to civil-zation. We demand, General

Cameron, in the neame of the great Western State—"
Here Mr. Smith came in, and Mr. Cameron said, "I want
you to tell me what disbursements, if any, have been sent
by this department to the State of Missouri." Mr. Smith was
quick at figures, and up in his accounts, for he drew out a
little memorandum book, and replied (of course, I can't tell
the exact sum), "General, there has been sent, as by vouchers,
to Missouri, since the beginning of the levies, six hundred
and seventy thousand dollars and twenty-three cents." "The
General looked crestfallen, but he was equal to the occasion,
"These sums may have been sent, sir, but they have not been
received. I declare in the face of—" "Mr. Smith will
show you the vouchers, General, and you can then take any
steps needful against the parties who have misappropriated
them."

"That is only a small specimen of what we have to go
through with our people," said the Minister, as the General
went off with a lofty toss of his head, and then gave me a
pleasant sketch of the nature of the applications and interviews
which take up the time and clog the movements of an
American statesman. "These State organizations give us a
great deal of trouble." I could fully understand that they did
so. The immediate business that I had with Mr. Cameron—
he is rarely called General now that he is Minister of War—
was to ask him to give me authority to draw rations at cost
price, in case the army took the field before I could make
arrangements, and he seemed very well disposed to accede;
"but I must think about it, for I shall have all our papers
down upon me if I grant you any facility which they do not
get themselves." After I left the War Department, I took a
walk to Mr. Seward's, who was out. In passing by President's
Square, I saw a respectably-dressed man up in one of
the trees, cutting off pieces of the bark, which his friends beneath
caught up eagerly. I could not help stopping to ask
what was the object of the proceeding. "Why, sir, this is
the tree Dan Sickles shot Mr.—under. I think it's quite
a remarkable spot."

July 11th.—The diplomatic circle is so totus teres atque
rotundus, that few particles of dirt stick on its periphery from
the road over which it travels. The radii are worked from
different centres, often far apart, and the tires and naves often
fly out in wide divergence; but for all social purposes is a
circle, and a very pleasant one. When one sees M. de

Stoeckle speaking to M. Mercier, or joining in with Baron
Gerolt and M. de Lisboa, it is safer to infer that a little social
reunion is at hand for a pleasant civilized discussion of ordinary
topics, some music, a rubber, and a dinner, than to resolve
with the New York Correspondent, "that there is reason
to believe that a diplomatic movement of no ordinary significance
is on foot, and that the Ministers of Russia, France, and
Prussia have concerted a plan of action with the representative
of Brazil, which must lead to extraordinary complications,
in view of the temporary embarrassments which distract our
beloved country. The Minister of England has held aloof
from these reunions for a sinister purpose no doubt, and we
have not failed to discover that the emissary of Austria, and
the representative of Guatemala have abstained from taking
part in these significant demonstrations. We tell the haughty
nobleman who represents Queen Victoria, on whose son we so
lately lavished the most liberal manifestations of our good
will, to beware. The motives of the Court of Vienna, and
of the Republic of Guatemala, in ordering their representatives
not to join in the reunion which we observed at three
o'clock to-day, at the corner of Seventeenth Street and One,
are perfectly transparent; but we call on Mr. Seward instantly
to demand of Lord Lyons a full and ample explanation
of his conduct on the occasion, or the transmission of his
papers. There is no harm in adding, that we have every
reason to think our good ally of Russia, and the minister of
the astute monarch, who is only watching an opportunity of
leading a Franco-American army to the Tower of London
and Dublin Castle, have already moved their respective Governments
to act in the premises."

That paragraph, with a good heading, would sell several
thousands of the "New York Stabber" to-morrow.

July 12th.—There are rumors that the Federals, under
Brigadier McClellan, who have advanced into Western Virginia,
have gained some successes; but so far it seems to have
no larger dimensions than the onward raid of one clan against
another in the Highlands. And whence do rumors come?
From Government departments, which, like so many Danaes
in the clerks' rooms, receive the visits of the auriferous
Jupiters of the press, who condense themselves into purveyors
of smashes, slings, baskets of champagne, and dinners.
McClellan is, however, considered a very steady and respectable
professional soldier. A friend of his told me to-day one

of the most serious complaints the Central Illinois Company
had against him was that, during the Italian war, he seemed
to forget their business; and that he was busied with maps
stretched out on the floor, whereupon he, superincumbent,
penned out the points of battle and strategy, when he ought
to have been attending to passenger trains and traffic. That
which was flat blasphemy in a railway office, may be amazingly
approved in the field.

July 13th.—I have had a long day's ride through the
camps of the various regiments across the Potomac, and at
this side of it, which the weather did not render very agreeable
to myself, or the poor hack that I had hired for the day,
till my American Quartermaine gets me a decent mount. I
wished to see with my own eyes what is the real condition
of the army which the North have sent down to the Potomac,
to undertake such a vast task as the conquest of the South.
The Northern papers describe it as a magnificent force, complete
in all respects, well-disciplined, well-clad, provided with
fine artillery, and with every requirement to make it effective
for all military operations in the field.

In one word, then, they are grossly and utterly ignorant of
what an army is or should be. In the first place, there are not, I
should think, 30,000 men of all sorts available for the campaign.
The papers estimate it at any number from 50,000 to 100,000,
giving the preference to 75,000. In the next place their artillery
is miserably deficient; they have not, I should think,
more than five complete batteries, or six batteries, including
scratch guns, and these are of different calibres, badly horsed,
miserably equipped, and provided with the worst set of gunners
and drivers which I, who have seen the Turkish field-guns,
ever beheld. They have no cavalry, only a few scarecrow
men, who would dissolve partnership with their steeds at the
first serious combined movement, mounted in high saddles, on
wretched mouthless screws, and some few regulars from the
frontiers, who may be good for Indians, but who would go
over like ninepins at a charge from Punjaubee irregulars.
Their transport is tolerably good, but inadequate; they have
no carriage for reserve ammunition; the commissariat drivers
are civilians, under little or no control; the officers are unsoldierly-looking
men; the camps are dirty to excess; the
men are dressed in all sorts of uniforms; and from what I
hear, I doubt if any of these regiments have ever performed
a brigade evolution together, or if any of the officers know

what it is to deploy a brigade from column into line. They
are mostly three months' men, whose time is nearly up.
They were rejoicing to-day over the fact that it was so, and
that they had kept the enemy from Washington "without a
fight." And it is with this rabblement, that the North proposes
not only to subdue the South, but according to some of
their papers, to humiliate Great Britain, and conquer Canada
afterwards.

I am opposed to national boasting, but I do firmly believe
that 10,000 British regulars, or 12,000 French, with a proper
establishment of artillery and cavalry, would not only entirely
repulse this army with the greatest ease, under competent
commanders, but that they could attack them and march into
Washington, over them or with them, whenever they pleased.
Not that Frenchman or Englishman is perfection, but that the
American of this army knows nothing of discipline, and what
is more, cares less for it.

Major-General McClellan—I beg his pardon for styling him
Brigadier—has really been successful. By a very well-conducted
and rather rapid march, he was enabled to bring
superior forces to bear on some raw levies under General
Garnett (who came over with me in the steamer), which fled
after a few shots, and were utterly routed, when their gallant
commander fell, in an abortive attempt to rally them by the
banks of the Cheat River. In this "great battle" McClellan's
loss is less than thirty killed and wounded, and the Confederate
loss is less than one hundred. But the dispersion of such
guerrilla bands has the most useful effect among the people of
the district; and McClellan has done good service, especially
as his little victory will lead to the discomfiture of all the
Secessionists in the valley of the Kanawha, and in the valley
of Western Virginia. I left Washington this afternoon,
with the Sanitary Commissioners, for Baltimore, in order to
visit the Federal camps at Fortress Monroe, to which we proceeded
down the Chesapeake the same night.