University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XLVII.

July 14th.—At six o'clock this morning the steamer arrived
at the wharf under the walls of Fortress Monroe, which presented
a very different appearance from the quiet of its aspect
when first I saw it, some months ago. Camps spread around
it, the parapets lined with sentries, guns looking out towards
the land, lighters and steamers alongside the wharf, a strong
guard at the end of the pier, passes to be scrutinized and permits
to be given. I landed with the members of the Sanitary
Commission, and repaired to a very large pile of buildings,
called "The Hygeia Hotel," for once on a time Fortress Monroe
was looked upon as the resort of the sickly, who required
bracing air and an abundance of oysters; it is now occupied
by the wounded in the several actions and skirmishes which
have taken place, particularly at Bethel; and it is so densely
crowded that we had difficulty in procuring the use of some
small dirty rooms to dress in. As the business of the Commission
was principally directed to ascertain the state of the
hospitals, they considered it necessary in the first instance to
visit General Butler, the commander of the post, who has been
recommending himself to the Federal Government by his activity
ever since he came down to Baltimore, and the whole
body marched to the fort, crossing the drawbridge after some
parley with the guard, and received permission, on the production
of passes, to enter the court.

The interior of the work covers a space of about seven or
eight acres, as far as I could judge, and is laid out with some
degree of taste: rows of fine trees border the walks through
the grass plots; the officers' quarters, neat and snug, are surrounded

with little patches of flowers, and covered with creepers.
All order and neatness, however, were fast disappearing
beneath the tramp of mailed feet, for at least 1200 men had
pitched their tents inside the place. We sent in our names to
the General, who lives in a detached house close to the sea
face of the fort, and sat down on a bench under the shade of
some trees, to avoid the excessive heat of the sun until the
commander of the place could receive the Commissioners.
He was evidently in no great hurry to do so. In about half
an hour an aide-de-camp came out to say that the General
was getting up, and that he would see us after breakfast.
Some of the Commissioners, from purely sanitary considerations,
would have been much better pleased to have seen him
at breakfast, as they had only partaken of a very light meal
on board the steamer at five o'clock in the morning; but we
were interested meantime by the morning parade of a portion
of the garrison, consisting of 300 regulars, a Massachusetts
volunteer battalion, and the 2d New York Regiment.

It was quite refreshing to the eye to see the cleanliness of
the regulars—their white gloves and belts, and polished buttons,
contrasted with the slovenly aspect of the volunteers;
but, as far as the material went, the volunteers had by far the
best of the comparison. The civilians who were with me did
not pay much attention to the regulars, and evidently preferred
the volunteers, although they could not be insensible to
the magnificent drum-major who led the band of the regulars.
Presently General Butler came out of his quarters, and walked
down the lines, followed by a few officers. He is a stout,
middle-aged man, strongly built, with coarse limbs, his features
indicative of great shrewdness and craft, his forehead
high, the elevation being in some degree due perhaps to the
want of hair; with a strong obliquity of vision, which may
perhaps have been caused by an injury, as the eyelid hangs
with a peculiar droop over the organ.

The General, whose manner is quick, decided, and abrupt,
but not at all rude or unpleasant, at once acceded to the
wishes of the Sanitary Commissioners, and expressed his desire
to make my stay at the fort as agreeable and useful as
he could. "You can first visit the hospitals in company with
these gentlemen, and then come over with me to our camp,
where I will show you everything that is to be seen. I have
ordered a steamer to be in readiness to take you to Newport
News." He speaks rapidly, and either affects or possesses

great decision. The Commissioners accordingly proceeded to
make the most of their time in visiting the Hygeia Hotel,
being accompanied by the medical officers of the garrison.

The rooms, but a short time ago occupied by the fair ladies
of Virginia, when they came down to enjoy the sea-breezes,
were now crowded with Federal soldiers, many of them suffering
from the loss of limb or serious wounds, others from the
worst form of camp disease. I enjoyed a small national
triumph over Dr. Bellows, the chief of the Commissioners,
who is of the "sangre azul" of Yankeeism, by which
I mean that he is a believer, not in the perfectibility, but
in the absolute perfection, of New England nature which
is the only human nature that is not utterly lost and abandoned
—Old England nature, perhaps, being the worst of
all. We had been speaking to the wounded men in several
rooms, and found most of them either in the listless condition
consequent, upon exhaustion, or with that anxious air which is
often observable on the faces of the wounded when strangers
approach. At last we came into a room in which two soldiers
were sitting up, the first we had seen, reading the newspapers.
Dr. Bellows asked where they came from; one was from Concord,
the other from New Haven. "You see, Mr. Russell,"
said Dr. Bellows, "how our Yankee soldiers spend their time.
I knew at once they were Americans when I saw them reading
newspapers." One of them had his hand shattered by a
bullet, the other was suffering from a gun-shot wound through
the body. "Where were you hit?" I inquired of the first.
"Well," he said, "I guess my rifle went off when I was
cleaning it in camp." "Were you wounded at Bethel?" I
asked of the second. "No, sir," he replied; "I got this
wound from a comrade, who discharged his piece by accident
in one of the tents as I was standing outside." "So," said I,
to Dr. Bellows, "whilst the Britishers and Germans are engaged
with the enemy, you Americans employ your time
shooting each other!"

These men were true mercenaries, for they were fighting
for money—I mean the strangers. One poor fellow from
Devonshire said, as he pointed to his stump, "I wish I had
lost it for the sake of the old island, sir," paraphrasing Sarsfield's
exclamation as he lay dying on the field. The Americans
were fighting for the combined excellences and strength
of the States of New England, and of the rest of the Federal
power over the Confederates, for they could not in their

heart of hearts believe the Old Union could be restored by
force of arms. Lovers may quarrel and may reunite, but if
a blow is struck there is no redintegratio amoris possible again.
The newspapers and illustrated periodicals which they read
were the pabulum that fed the flames of patriotism incessantly.
Such capacity for enormous lying, both in creation and absorption,
the world never heard. Sufficient for the hour is,
the falsehood.

There were lady nurses in attendance on the patients; who
followed—let us believe, as I do, out of some higher motive
than the mere desire of human praise—the example of Miss
Nightingale. I loitered behind in the rooms, asking many
questions respecting the nationality of the men, in which the
members of the Sanitary Commission took no interest, and I
was just turning into one near the corner of the passage when
I was stopped by a loud smack. A young Scotchman was
dividing his attention between a basin of soup and a demure
young lady from Philadelphia, who was feeding him with a
spoon, his only arm being engaged in holding her round the
waist, in order to prevent her being tired, I presume. Miss
Rachel, or Deborah, had a pair of very pretty blue eyes, but
they flashed very angrily from under her trim little cap at the
unwitting intruder, and then she said, in severest tones, "Will
you take your medicine, or not?" Sandy smiled, and pretended
to be very penitent.

When we returned with the doctors from our inspection we
walked around the parapets of the fortress, why so called I
know not, because it is merely a fort. The guns and mortars
are old-fashioned and heavy, with the exception of some new-fashioned
and very heavy Columbiads, which are cast-iron
eight, ten, and twelve-inch guns, in which I have no faith whatever.
The armament is not sufficiently powerful to prevent its
interior being searched out by the long-range fire of ships with
rifle guns, or mortar boats; but it would require closer and
harder work to breach the masses of brick and masonry which
constitute the parapets and casemates. The guns, carriages,
rammers, shot, were dirty, rusty, and neglected; but General
Butler told me he was busy polishing up things about the
fortress as fast as he could.

Whilst we were parading these hot walls in the sunshine,
my companions were discussing the question of ancestry. It
appears your New Englander is very proud of his English descent
from good blood, and it is one of their is msin the Yankee

States that they are the salt of the British people and the
true aristocracy of blood and family, whereas we in the isles
retain but a paltry share of the blue blood defiled by incessant
infiltrations of the muddy fluid of the outer world. This may
be new to us Britishers, but is a Q. E. D. If a gentleman
left Europe 200 years ago, and settled with his kin and kith,
intermarrying his children with their equals, and thus perpetuating
an ancient family, it is evident he may be regarded
as the founder of a much more honorable dynasty than the
relative who remained behind him, and lost the old family
place, and sunk into obscurity. A singular illustration of the
tendency to make much of themselves may be found in the
fact, that New England swarms with genealogical societies and
bodies of antiquaries, who delight in reading papers about
each other's ancestors, and tracing their descent from Norman
or Saxon barons and earls. The Virginians opposite, who
are flouting us with their Confederate flag from Sewall's Point,
are equally given to the "genus et proavos."

At the end of our promenade round the ramparts, Lieutenant
Butler, the General's nephew and aide-de-camp, came to
tell us the boat was ready, and we met His Excellency in the
court-yard, whence we walked down to the wharf. On our
way, General Butler called my attention to an enormous heap
of hollow iron lying on the sand, which was the Union gun
that is intended to throw a shot of some 350 lbs. weight or
more, to astonish the Confederates at Sewall's Point opposite,
when it is mounted. This gun, if I mistake not, was made
after the designs of Captain Rodman, of the United States
artillery, who in a series of remarkable papers, the publication
of which has cost the country a large sum of money, has
given us the results of long-continued investigations and experiments
on the best method of cooling masses of iron for
ordnance purposes, and of making powder for heavy shot.
The piece must weigh about 20 tons, but a similar gun, mounted
on an artificial island called the Rip Raps, in the channel
opposite the fortress, is said to be worked with facility. The
Confederates have raised some of the vessels sunk by the
United States officers when the Navy Yard at Gosport was
destroyed, and as some of these are to be converted into rams,
the Federals are preparing their heaviest ordnance, to try the
effect of crushing weights at low velocities against their sides,
should they attempt to play any pranks among the transport
vessels. The General said: "It is not by these great masses

of iron this contest is to be decided; we must bring sharp
points of steel, directed by superior intelligence." Hitherto
General Butler's attempts at Big Bethel have not been crowned
with success in employing such means, but it must be admitted
that, according to his own statement, his lieutenants
were guilty of carelessness and neglect of ordinary military
precautions in the conduct of the expedition he ordered. The
march of different columns of troops by night concentrating
on a given point is always liable to serious interruptions, and
frequently gives rise to hostile encounters between friends, in
more disciplined armies than the raw levies of United States
volunteers.

When the General, Commissioners, and Staff had embarked,
the steamer moved across the broad estuary to Newport News.
Among our passengers were several medical officers in attendance
on the Sanitary Commissioners, some belonging to the army,
others who had volunteered from civil life. Their discussion
of professional questions and of relative rank assumed such a
personal character, that General Butler had to interfere to
quiet the disputants, but the exertion of his authority was
not altogether successful, and one of the angry gentlemen
said, in my hearing, "I'm d—d if I submit to such treatment if
all the lawyers in Massachusetts with stars on their colors
were to order me to-morrow."

On arriving at the low shore of Newport News we landed
at a wooded jetty, and proceeded to visit the camp of the
Federals, which was surrounded by a strong entrenchment,
mounted with guns on the water face; and on the angles
inland, a broad tract of cultivated country, bounded by a belt
of trees, extended from the river away from the encampment;
but the Confederates are so close at hand that frequent
skirmishes have occurred between the foraging parties of the
garrison and the enemy, who have on more than one occasion
pursued the Federals to the very verge of the woods.

Whilst the Sanitary Commissioners were groaning over
the heaps of filth which abound in all camps where discipline
is not most strictly observed, I walked round amongst the
tents, which, taken altogether, were in good order. The day
was excessively hot, and many of the soldiers were lying
down in the shade of arbors formed of branches from the
neighboring pine wood, but most of them got up when they
heard the General was coming round. A sentry walked up
and down at the end of the street, and as the General came

up to him he called out "Halt." The man stood still. "I
just want to show you, sir, what scoundrels our Government
has to deal with. This man belongs to a regiment which has
had new clothing recently served out to it. Look what it is
made of." So saying the General stuck his fore-finger into
the breast of the man's coat, and with a rapid scratch of his
nail tore open the cloth as if it was of blotting paper.
"Shoddy sir. Nothing but shoddy. I wish I had these contractors
in the trenches here, and if hard work would not
make honest men of them, they'd have enough of it to be
examples for the rest of their fellows."

A vivacious prying man, this Butler, full of bustling life,
self-esteem, revelling in the exercise of power. In the course
of our rounds we were joined by Colonel Phelps, who was formerly
in the United States army, and saw service in Mexico,
but retired because he did not approve of the manner in
which promotions were made, and who only took command of
a Massachusetts regiment because he believed he might be instrumental
in striking a shrewd blow or two in this great battle
of Armageddon—a tall, saturnine, gloomy, angry-eyed sallow
man, soldier-like, too, and one who places old John Brown on
a level with the great martyrs of the Christian world. Indeed
one, not so fierce as he, is blasphemous enough to place images
of our Saviour and the hero of Harper's Ferry on the mantelpiece,
as the two greatest beings the world has ever seen.
"Yes, I know them well. I've seen them in the field. I've
sat with them at meals. I've travelled through their country.
These Southern slave-holders are a false, licentious, godless
people. Either we who obey the laws and fear God, or they
who know no God except their own will and pleasure, and
know no law except their passions, must rule on this continent,
and I believe that Heaven will help its own in the conflict they
have provoked. I grant you they are brave, enough, and desperate
too, but surely justice, truth, and religion, will strengthen
a man's arm to strike down those who have only brute force
and a bad cause to support them." But Colonel Phelps was
not quite indifferent to material aid, and he made a pressing
appeal to General Butler to send him some more guns and
harness for the field-pieces he had in position, because, said
he, "in case of attack, please God I'll follow them up sharp,
and cover these fields with their bones." The General had a
difficulty about the harness, which made Colonel Phelps very
grim, but General Butler had reason in saying he could not

make harness, and so the Colonel must be content with the
results of a good rattling fire of round, shell, grape and canister,
if the Confederates are foolish enough to attack his batteries.

There was nothing to complain of in the camp, except the
swarms of flies, the very bad smells, and perhaps the shabby
clothing of the men. The tents were good enough. The rations
were ample, but nevertheless, there was a want of order,
discipline, and quiet in the lines which did not augur well for
the internal economy of the regiments. When we returned
to the river face, General Butler ordered some practice to be
made with a Sawyer rifle gun, which appeared to be an ordinary
cast-iron piece, bored with grooves on the shunt
principle, the shot being covered with a composition of a metallic
amalgam like zinc and tin, and provided with flanges of the
same material to fit the grooves. The practice was irregular
and unsatisfactory. At an elevation of 24 degrees, the first
shot struck the water at a point about 2000 yards distant.
The piece was then further elevated, and the shot struck quite
out of land, close to the opposite bank, at a distance of nearly
three miles. The third shot rushed with a peculiar hurtling
noise out of the piece, and flew up in the air, falling
with a splash into the water about 1500 yards away. The
next shot may have gone half across the continent, for assuredly
it never struck the water, and most probably ploughed
its way into the soft ground at the other side of the river.
The shell practice was still worse, and on the whole I wish
our enemies may always fight us with Sawyer guns, particularly
as the shells cost between £6 and £7 apiece.

From the fort the General proceeded to the house of one of
the officers, near the jetty, formerly the residence of a Virginian
farmer, who has now gone to Secessia, where we were
most hospitably treated at an excellent lunch, served by the
slaves of the former proprietor. Although we boast with
some reason of the easy level of our mess-rooms, the Americans
certainly excel us in the art of annihilating all military
distinctions on such occasions as these; and I am not sure the
General would not have liked to place a young doctor in close
arrest, who suddenly made a dash at the liver wing of a fowl
on which the General was bent with eye and fork, and carried
it off to his plate. But on the whole there was a good deal of
friendly feeling amongst all ranks of the volunteers, the regulars
being a little stiff and adherent to etiquette.

In the afternoon the boat returned to Fortress Monroe, and
the General invited me to dinner, where I had the pleasure of
meeting Mrs. Butler, his staff, and a couple of regimental officers
from the neighboring camp. As it was still early, General
Butler proposed a ride to visit the interesting village of
Hampton, which lies some six or seven miles outside the fort,
and forms his advance post. A powerful charger, with a tremendous
Mexican saddle, fine housings, blue and gold embroidered
saddle-cloth, was brought to the door for your humble
servant, and the General mounted another, which did
equal credit to his taste in horseflesh; but I own I felt rather
uneasy on seeing that he wore a pair of large brass spurs,
strapped over white jean brodequins. He took with him his
aide-de-camp and a couple of orderlies. In the precincts of
the fort outside, a population of contraband negroes has been
collected, whom the General employs in various works about
the place, military and civil; but I failed to ascertain that the
original scheme of a debit and credit account between the
value of their labor and the cost of their maintenance had
been successfully carried out. The General was proud of
them, and they seemed proud of themselves, saluting him
with a ludicrous mixture of awe and familiarity as he rode
past. "How do, Massa Butler? How do, General?" accompanied
by absurd bows and scrapes. "Just to think,"
said the General, "that every one of these fellows represents
some one thousand dollars at least out of the pockets of the
chivalry yonder." "Nasty, idle, dirty beasts," says one of the
staff, sotto voce; "I wish to Heaven they were all at the bottom
of the Chesapeake. The General insists on it that they
do work, but they are far more trouble than they are worth."

The road towards Hampton traverses a sandy spit, which,
however, is more fertile than would be supposed from the soil
under the horses' hoofs, though it is not in the least degree interesting.
A broad creek or river interposed between us and
the town, the bridge over which had been destroyed. Workmen
were busy repairing it, but all the planks had not yet
been laid down or nailed, and in some places the open space
between the upright rafters allowed us to see the dark waters
flowing beneath. The Aide said, "I don't think, General, it
is safe to cross;" but the chief did not mind him until his
horse very nearly crashed through a plank, and only regained
its footing with unbroken legs by marvellous dexterity; whereupon
we dismounted, and, leaving the horses to be carried over

in the ferry-boat, completed the rest of the transit, not without
difficulty. At the other end of the bridge a street lined
with comfortable houses, and bordered with trees, led us into
the pleasant town or village of Hampton—pleasant once, but
now deserted by all the inhabitants except some pauperized
whites and a colony of negroes. It was in full occupation of
the Federal soldiers, and I observed that most of the men
were Germans, the garrison at Newport News being principally
composed of Americans. The old red brick houses,
with cornices of white stone; the narrow windows and high
gables; gave an aspect of antiquity and European comfort to
the place, the like of which I have not yet seen in the States.
Most of the shops were closed; in some the shutters were still
down, and the goods remained displayed in the windows. "I
have allowed no plundering," said the General; "and if I find
a fellow trying to do it, I will hang him as sure as my name
is Butler. See here," and as he spoke he walked into a large
woollen-draper's shop, where bales of cloth were still lying on
the shelves, and many articles such as are found in a large
general store in a country town were disposed on the floor or
counters; "they shall not accuse the men under my command
of being robbers." The boast, however, was not so well justified
in a visit to another house occupied by some soldiers.
"Well," said the General, with a smile, "I dare say you know
enough of camps to have found out that chairs and tables are
irresistible; the men will take them off to their tents, though
they may have to leave them next morning."

The principal object of our visit was the fortified trench
which has been raised outside the town towards the Confederate
lines. The path lay through a church-yard filled with
most interesting monuments. The sacred edifice of red brick,
with a square clock-tower rent by lightning, is rendered interesting
by the fact that it is almost the first church built by the
English colonists of Virginia. On the tombstones are recorded
the names of many subjects of His Majesty George III., and
familiar names of persons born in the early part of last century
in English villages, who passed to their rest before the
great rebellion of the Colonies had disturbed their notions of
loyalty and respect to the crown. Many a British subject,
too, lies there, whose latter days must have been troubled by
the strange scenes of the war of independence. With what
doubt and distrust must that one at whose tomb I stand have
heard that George Washington was making head against the

troops of His Majesty King George III.! How the hearts
of the old men who had passed the best years of their existence,
as these stones tell us, fighting for His Majesty against
the French, must have beaten when once more they heard the
roar of Frenchman's ordnance uniting with the voices of the
rebellious guns of the colonists from the plains of Yorktown
against the entrenchments in which Cornwallis and his deserted
band stood at hopeless bay! But could these old eyes
open again, and see General Butler standing on the eastern
rampart which bounds their resting-place, and pointing to the
spot whence the rebel cavalry of Virginia issue night and day
to charge the loyal pickets of His Majesty The Union, they
might take some comfort in the fulfilment of the vaticinations
which no doubt they uttered, "It cannot, and it will not, come,
to good."

Having inspected the works—as far as I could judge, too
extended, and badly traced—which I say with all deference
to the able young engineer who accompanied us to point out
the various objects of interest—the General returned to the
bridge, where we remounted, and made a tour of the camps
of the force intended to defend Hampton, falling back on
Fortress Monroe in case of necessity. Whilst he was riding
ventre á terre, which seems to be his favorite pace, his horse
stumbled in the dusty road, and in his effort to keep his seat
the General broke his stirrup leather, and the ponderous brass
stirrup fell to the ground; but, albeit a lawyer, he neither lost
his seat nor his sang froid, and calling out to his orderly "to
pick up his toe plate," the jean slippers were closely pressed,
spurs and all, to the sides of his steed, and away we went once
more through dust and heat so great I was by no means sorry
when he pulled up outside a pretty villa, standing in a garden,
which was occupied by Colonel Max Weber, of the German
Turner Regiment, once the property of General Tyler. The
camp of the Turners, who are members of various gymnastic
societies, was situated close at hand; but I had no opportunity
of seeing them at work, as the Colonel insisted on our partaking
of the hospitalities of his little mess, and produced some
bottles of sparkling hock and a block of ice, by no means unwelcome
after our fatiguing ride. His Major, whose name I
have unfortunately forgotten, and who spoke English better
than his chief, had served in some capacity or other in the
Crimea, and made many inquiries after the officers of the
Guards whom he had known there. I took an opportunity of

asking him in what state the troops were. "The whole thing
is a robbery," he exclaimed; "this war is for the contractors;
the men do not get a third of what the Government pay for
them; as for discipline, my God! it exists not. We Germans
are well enough, of course; we know our affair; but as for
the Americans, what would you? They make colonels out of
doctors and lawyers, and captains out of fellows who are not
fit to brush a soldier's shoe." "But the men get their pay?"
"Yes that is so. At the end of two months, they get it, and
by that time it is due to sutlers, who charge them 100 per
cent."

It is easy to believe these old soldiers do not put much confidence
in General Butler, though they admit his energy.
"Look you; one good officer with 5,000 steady troops, such
as we have in Europe, shall come down any night and walk
over us all into Fortress Monroe whenever he pleased, if he
knew how these troops were placed."

On leaving the German Turners, the General visited the
camp of Duryea's New York Zouaves, who were turned out
at evening parade, or more properly speaking, drill. But for
the ridiculous effect of their costume the regiment would have
looked well enough; but riding down on the rear of the ranks
the discolored napkins tied round their heads, without any fez
cap beneath, so that the hair sometimes stuck up through the
folds, the ill-made jackets, the loose bags of red calico hanging
from their loins, the long gaiters of white cotton—instead of
the real Zouave yellow and black greave, and smart white
gaiter—made them appear such military scarecrows, I could
scarcely refrain from laughing outright. Nevertheless the
men were respectably drilled, marched steadily in columns of
company, wheeled into line, and went past at quarter distance
at the double much better than could be expected from the
short time they had been in the field, and I could with all
sincerity say to Colonel Duryea, a smart and not unpretentious
gentleman, who asked my opinion so pointedly that I could
not refuse to give it, that I considered the appearance of the
regiment very creditable. The shades of evening were now
falling, and as I had been up before 5 o'clock in the morning,
I was not sorry when General Butler said, "Now we will go
home to tea, or you will detain the steamer." He had arranged
before I started that the vessel, which in ordinary course
would have returned to Baltimore at eight o'clock, should remain
till he sent down word to the Captain to go.

We scampered back to the fort, and judging from the challenges
and vigilance of the sentries, and inlying pickets, I am
not quite so satisfied as the Major that the enemy could have
surprised the place. At the tea-table there were no additions
to the General's family; he therefore spoke without any reserve.
Going over the map, he explained his views in reference
to future operations, and showed cause, with more military
acumen than I could have expected from a gentleman of
the long robe, why he believed Fortress Monroe was the true
base of operations against Richmond.

I have been convinced for some time, that if a sufficient
force could be left to cover Washington, the Federals should
move against Richmond from the Peninsula, where they could
form their depôts at leisure, and advance, protected by their
gunboats, on a very short line which offers far greater facilities
and advantages than the inland route from Alexandria to Richmond,
which, difficult in itself from the nature of the country,
is exposed to the action of a hostile population, and, above all,
to the danger of constant attacks by the enemies' cavalry,
tending more or less to destroy all communication with the
base of the Federal operations.

The threat of seizing Washington led to a concentration of
the Union troops in front of it, which caused in turn the collection
of the Confederates on the lines below to defend Richmond.
It is plain that if the Federals can cover Washington,
and at the same time assemble a force at Monroe strong
enough to march on Richmond, as they desire, the Confederates
will be placed in an exceedingly hazardous position,
scarcely possible to escape from; and there is no reason why
the North, with their overwhelming preponderance, should not
do so, unless they be carried away by the fatal spirit of brag
and bluster which comes from their press to overrate their
own strength and to despise their enemy's. The occupation of
Suffolk will be seen, by any one who studies the map, to afford
a most powerful leverage to the Federal forces from Monroe
in their attempts to turn the enemy out of their camps of communication,
and to enable them to menace Richmond as well
as the Southern States most seriously.

But whilst the General and I are engaged over our maps
and mint juleps, time flies, and at last I perceive by the clock
it is time to go. An aide is sent to stop the boat, but he returns
ere I leave with the news that "She is gone." Whereupon
the General sends for the Quartermaster Talmadge, who

is out in the camps, and only arrives in time to receive a severe
"wigging." It so happened that I had important papers
to send off by the next mail from New York, and the only
chance of being able to do so depended on my being in Baltimore
next day. General Butler acted with kindness and
promptitude in the matter. "I promised you should go by the
steamer, but the captain has gone off without orders or leave,
for which he shall answer when I see him. Meantime it is
my business to keep my promise. Captain Talmadge, you
will at once go down and give orders to the most suitable transport
steamer or chartered vessel available, to get up steam at
once and come up to the wharf for Mr. Russell."

Whilst I was sitting in the parlor which served as the General's
office, there came in a pale, bright-eyed, slim young man
in a subaltern's uniform, who sought a private audience, and
unfolded a plan he had formed, on certain data gained by nocturnal
expeditions, to surprise a body of the enemy's cavalry
which was in the habit of coming down every night and disturbing
the pickets at Hampton. His manner was so eager,
his information so precise, that the General could not refuse
his sanction, but he gave it in a characteristic manner. "Well,
sir, I understand your proposition. You intend to go out as a
volunteer to effect this service. You ask my permission to
get men for it. I cannot grant you an order to any of the
officers in command of regiments to provide you with these;
but if the Colonel of your regiment wishes to give leave to his
men to volunteer, and they like to go with you, I give you
leave to take them. I wash my hands of all responsibility in
the affair." The officer bowed and retired, saying, "That is
quite enough, General."[1]

At ten o'clock the Quartermaster came back to say that a
screw steamer called The Elizabeth was getting up steam for
my reception, and I bade good-by to the General, and walked
down with his aide and nephew, Lieutenant Butler, to the
Hygeia Hotel to get my light knapsack. It was a lovely
moonlight night, and as I was passing down an avenue of
trees an officer stopped me, and exclaimed, "General Butler,
I hear you have given leave to Lieutenant Blank to take a

party of my regiment and go off scouting to-night after the
enemy. It is too hard that—" What more he was going to
say I know not, for I corrected the mistake, and the officer
walked hastily on towards the General's quarters. On reaching
the Hygeia Hotel I was met by the correspondent of a
New York paper, who as commissary-general, or, as they are
styled in the States, officer of subsistence, had been charged to
get the boat ready, and who explained to me it would be at
least an hour before the steam was up; and whilst I was waiting
in the porch I heard many Virginian, and old-world stories
as well, the general upshot of which was that all the rest of the
world could be "done" at cards, in love, in drink, in horseflesh,
and in fighting, by the true-born American. General
Butler came down after a time, and joined our little society, nor
was he by any means the least shrewd and humorous raconteur
of the party. At eleven o'clock The Elizabeth uttered
some piercing cries, which indicated she had her steam up;
and so I walked down to the jetty, accompanied by my host
and his friends, and wishing them good-by, stepped on board
the little vessel, and with the aid of the negro cook, steward,
butler, boots, and servant, roused out the captain from a small
wooden trench which he claimed as his berth, turned into it,
and fell asleep just as the first difficult convulsions of the screw
aroused the steamer from her coma, and forced her languidly
against the tide in the direction of Baltimore.

July 15th.—I need not speak much of the events of last
night, which were not unimportant, perhaps to some of the insects
which played a leading part in them. The heat was
literally overpowering; for in addition to the hot night there
was the full power of most irritable boilers close at hand to
aggravate the natural désagrémens of the situation. About an
hour after dawn, when I turned out on deck, there was nothing
visible but a warm gray mist; but a knotty old pilot on deck
told me we were only going six knots an hour against tide and
wind, and that we were likely to make less way as the day
wore on. In fact, instead of being near Baltimore, we were
much nearer Fortress Monroe. Need I repeat the horrors of
this day? Stewed, boiled, baked, and grilled on board this
miserable Elizabeth, I wished M. Montalembert could have
experienced with me what such an impassive nature could inflict
in misery on those around it. The captain was a shy,
silent man, much given to short naps in my temporary berth,
and the mate was so wild, he might have swam off with perfect

propriety to the woods on either side of us, and taken to a
tree as an aborigine or chimpanzee. Two men of most retiring
habits, the negro, a black boy, and a very fat negress who
officiated as cook, filled up the "balance" of the crew.

I could not write, for the vibration of the deck of the little
craft gave a St. Vitus dance to pen and pencil; reading was
out of the question from the heat and flies; and below stairs
the fat cook banished repose by vapors from her dreadful
caldrons, where, Medea-like, she was boiling some death broth.
Our breakfast was of the simplest and—may I add?—the least
enticing; and if the dinner could have been worse it was so;
though it was rendered attractive by hunger, and by the kindness
of the sailors who shared it with me. The old pilot had a
most wholesome hatred of the Britishers, and not having the
least idea till late in the day that I belonged to the old country,
favored me with some very remarkable views respecting their
general mischievousness and inutility. As soon as he found
out my secret he became more reserved, and explained to me
that he had some reason for not liking us, because all he had in
the world, as pretty a schooner as ever floated and a fine cargo,
had been taken and burnt by the English when they sailed up
the Potomac at Washington. He served against us at Bladensburg.
I did not ask him how fast he ran; but he had a
good rejoinder ready if I had done so, inasmuch as he was
up West under Commodore Perry on the lakes when we suffered
our most serious reverses. Six knots an hour! hour
after hour! And nothing to do but to listen to the pilot.

On both sides a line of forest just visible above the low
shores. Small coasting craft, schooners, pungies, boats laden
with wood creeping along in the shallow water, or plying
down empty before wind and tide.

"I doubt if we'll be able to catch up them forts afore night,"
said the skipper. The pilot grunted, "I rather think yu'll
not." "H—and thunder! Then we'll have to lie off till
daylight?" "They may let you pass, Captain Squires, as
you've this Europe-an on board, but anyhow we can't fetch
Baltimore till late at night or early in the morning."

I heard the dialogue, and decided very quickly that as Annapolis
lay somewhere ahead on our left, and was much nearer
than Baltimore, it would be best to run for it while there was
daylight. The captain demurred. He had been ordered to
take his vessel to Baltimore, and General Butler might come
down on him for not doing so; but I proposed to sign a letter

stating he had gone to Annapolis at my request, and the
steamer was put a point or two to westward, much to the
pleasure of the Palinurus, whose "old woman" lived in the
town. I had an affection for this weather-beaten, watery-eyed,
honest old fellow, who hated us as cordially as Jack
detested his Frenchman in the old days before ententes cordiales
were known to the world. He was thoroughly English
in his belief that he belonged to the only sailor race in the
world, and that they could beat all mankind in seamanship;
and he spoke in the most unaffected way of the Britishers as a
survivor of the old war might do of Johnny Crapaud—"They
were brave enough no doubt, but, Lord bless you, see them
in a gale of wind! or look at them sending down top-gallant
masts, or anything sailor-like in a breeze. You'd soon see
the differ. And, besides, they never can stand again us at
close quarters." By and by the houses of a considerable
town, crowned by steeples, and a large Corinthian-looking
building, came in view. "That's the State House. That's
where George Washington—first in peace, first in war, and
first in the hearts of his countrymen—laid down his victorious
sword without any one asking him, and retired amid the
applause of the civilized world." This flight I am sure was
the old man's treasured relic of school-boy days, and I'm not
sure he did not give it to me three times over. Annapolis
looks very well from the river side. The approach is guarded
by some very poor earthworks and one small fort. A dismantled
sloop of war lay off a sea wall, banking up a green
lawn covered with trees, in front of an old-fashioned pile of
buildings, which formerly, I think, and very recently indeed,
was occupied by the cadets of the United States Naval School.
"There was a lot of them Seceders. Lord bless you! these
young ones is all took by these States Rights' doctrines—
just as the ladies is caught by a new fashion."

About seven o'clock the steamer hove along-side a wooden
pier which was quite deserted. Only some ten or twelve sailing
boats, yachts, and schooners lay at anchor in the placid
waters of the port which was once the capital of Maryland,
and for which the early Republicans prophesied a great
future. But Baltimore has eclipsed Annapolis into utter ob
scurity. I walked to the only hotel in the place, and found
that the train for the junction with Washington had started,
and that the next train left at some impossible hour in the
morning. It is an odd Rip Van Winkle sort of a place.

Quaint-looking boarders came down to the tea-table and talked
Secession, and when I was detected, as must ever soon be the
case, owing to the hotel-book, I was treated to some ill-favored
glances, as my recent letters have been denounced in the
strongest way for their supposed hostility to States Rights and
the Domestic Institution. The spirit of the people has, however,
been broken by the Federal occupation, and by the decision
with which Butler acted when he came down here with
the troops to open communications with Washington after the
Baltimoreans had attacked the soldiery on their way through
the city from the north.