University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER LII.

July 27th.—So ill to-day from heat, bad smells in the
house, and fatigue, that I sent for Dr. Miller, a great, fine
Virginian practitioner, who ordered me powders to be taken
in "mint-juleps." Now mint-juleps are made of whiskey,
sugar, ice, very little water, and sprigs of fresh mint, to be
sucked up after the manner of sherry-cobblers, if so it be
pleased, with a straw.

"A powder every two hours, with a mint-julep. Why,
that's six a day, Doctor. Won't that be—eh?—won't that
be rather intoxicating?"

"Well, sir, that depends on the constitution. You'll find
they will do you no harm, even if the worst takes place."

Day after day, till the month was over and August had
come, I passed in a state of powder and julep, which the Virginian
doctor declared saved my life. The first time I stirred
out the change which had taken place in the streets was at
once apparent: no drunken rabblement of armed men, no begging
soldiers—instead of these were patrols in the streets,
guards at the corners, and a rigid system of passes. The
North begin to perceive their magnificent armies are mythical,
but knowing they have the elements of making one, they
are setting about the manufacture. Numbers of tapsters and
serving men, and canaille from the cities, who now disgrace
swords and shoulder-straps, are to be dismissed. Round the
corner, with a kind of staff at his heels and an escort, comes
Major-General George B. McClellan, the young Napoleon
(of Western Virginia), the conqueror of Garnett, the captoi
of Peagrim, the commander-in-chief, under the President, of
the army of the United States. He is a very squarely-built,

thick-throated, broad-chested man, under the middle height,
with slightly bowed legs, a tendency to embonpoint. His head,
covered with a closely cut crop of dark auburn hair, is well
set on his shoulders. His features are regular and prepossessing
—the brow small, contracted, and furrowed; the eyes
deep and anxious-looking. A short, thick, reddish mustache
conceals his mouth; the rest of his face is clean shaven. He
has made his father-in-law, Major Marcy, chief of his staff,
and is a good deal influenced by his opinions, which are entitled
to some weight, as Major Marcy is a soldier, and has seen
frontier wars, and is a great traveller. The task of licking
this army into shape is of Herculean magnitude. Every one,
however, is willing to do as he bids: the President confides
in him, and "Georges" him; the press fawn upon him, the
people trust him; he is "the little corporal" of unfought fields
—omnis ignotus pro mirifico, here. He looks like a stout
little captain of dragoons, but for his American seat and saddle.
The latter is adapted to a man who cannot ride: if a
squadron so mounted were to attempt a fence or ditch half of
them would be ruptured or spilled. The seat is a marvel to
any European. But McClellan is nevertheless "the man on
horseback" just now, and the Americans must ride in his
saddle, or in anything he likes.

In the evening of my first day's release from juleps the
President held a reception or levee, and I went to the White
House about nine o'clock, when the rooms were at their fullest.
The company were arriving on foot, or crammed in hackney
coaches, and did not affect any neatness of attire or evening
dress. The doors were open: any one could walk in who
chose. Private soldiers, in hodden gray and hobnailed shoes,
stood timorously chewing on the threshold of the state apartments,
alarmed at the lights and gilding, or, haply, by the
marabout feathers and finery of a few ladies who were in ball
costume, till, assured by fellow-citizens there was nothing to
fear, they plunged into the dreadful revelry. Faces familiar to
me in the magazines of the town were visible in the crowd
which filled the reception rooms and the ball-room, in a small
room off which a military band was stationed.

The President, in a suit of black, stood near the door of one
of the rooms near the hall, and shook hands with every one of
the crowd, who was then "passed" on by his secretary, if the
President didn't wish to speak to him. Mr. Lincoln has recovered
his spirits, and seemed in good humor. Mrs. Lincoln,

who did the honors in another room, surrounded by a few ladies,
did not appear to be quite so contented. All the Ministers
are present except Mr. Seward, who has gone to his own State
to ascertain the frame of mind of the people, and to judge for
himself of the sentiments they entertain respecting the war.
After walking up and down the hot and crowded rooms for an
hour, and seeing and speaking to all the celebrities, I withdrew.
Colonel Richardson in his official report states Colonel Miles
lost the battle of Bull Run by being drunk and disorderly at a
critical moment. Colonel Miles, who commanded a division of
three brigades, writes to say he was not in any such state, and
has demanded a court of inquiry. In a Philadelphia paper it
is stated McDowell was helplessly drunk during the action, and
sat up all the night before drinking, smoking, and playing
cards. McDowell never drinks, and never has drunk, wine,
spirits, malt, tea, or coffee, or smoked or used tobacco in any
form, nor does he play cards; and that remark does not apply
to many other Federal officers.

Drunkenness is only too common among the American volunteers,
and General Butler has put it officially in orders, that
"the use of intoxicating liquors prevails to an alarming extent
among the officers of his command," and has ordered the seizure
of their grog, which will only be allowed on medical certificate.
He announces, too, that he will not use wine or spirits,
or give any to his friends, or allow any in his own quarters in
future—a quaint, vigorous creature, this Massachusetts lawyer.

The outcry against Patterson has not yet subsided, though
he states that, out of twenty-three regiments composing his
force, nineteen refused to stay an hour over their time, which
would have been up in a week, so that he would have been left
in an enemy's country with four regiments. He wisely led his
patriot band back, and let them disband themselves in their
own borders. Verily, these are not the men to conquer the
South.

Fresh volunteers are pouring in by tens of thousands to
take their places from all parts of the Union, and in three days
after the battle, 80,000 men were accepted. Strange people!
The regiments which have returned to New York after disgraceful
conduct at Bull Run, with the stigmata of cowardice
impressed by their commanding officers on the colors and souls
of their corps, are actually welcomed with the utmost enthusiasm,
and receive popular ovations! It becomes obvious

every day that McClellan does not intend to advance till he has
got some semblance of an army: that will be a long time to
come; but he can get a good deal of fighting out of them in a
few months. Meantime the whole of the Northern States are
waiting anxiously for the advance which is to take place at
once, according to promises from New York. As Washington
is the principal scene of interest, the South being tabooed to
me, I have resolved to stay here till the army is fit to move,
making little excursions to points of interest. The details in
my diary are not very interesting, and I shall make but brief
extracts.

August 2d.—Mr. Olmsted visited me, in company with a
young gentleman named Ritchie, son-in-law of James Wadsworth,
who has been serving as honorary aide-de-camp on
McDowell's staff, but is now called to higher functions. They
dined at my lodgings, and we talked over Bull Run again.
Mr. Ritchie did not leave Centreville till late in the evening,
and slept at Fairfax Court House, where he remained till 8.30,
a.m., on the morning of July 22d, Wadsworth not stirring for
two hours later. He said the panic was "horrible, disgusting,
sickening,," and spoke in the harshest terms of the officers, to
whom he applied a variety of epithets. Prince Napoleon has
arrived.

August 3d.—McClellan orders regular parades and drills
in every regiment, and insists on all orders being given by
bugle note. I had a long ride through the camps, and saw
some improvement in the look of the men. Coming home by
Georgetown, met the Prince driving with M. Mercier, to pay
a visit to the President. I am sure that the politicians are
not quite well pleased with this arrival, because they do not
understand it, and cannot imagine a man would come so far
without a purpose. The drunken soldiers now resort to quiet
lanes and courts in the suburbs. Georgetown was full of them.
It is a much more respectable and old-world looking place
than its vulgar, empty, overgrown, mushroom neighbor, Washington.
An officer who had fallen in his men to go on duty
was walking down the line this evening when his eye rested
on the neck of a bottle sticking out of a man's coat. "Thunder,"
quoth he, "James, what have you got there?" "Well,
I guess, Captain, it's a drop of real good Bourbon." "Then
let us have a drink," said the captain; and thereupon proceeded
to take a long pull and a strong pull, till the man cried
out, "That is not fair, Captain. You won't leave me a drop"

—a remonstrance which had a proper effect, and the captain
marched down his company to the bridge.

It was extremely hot when I returned, late in the evening.
I asked the boy for a glass of iced water. "Dere is no ice
Massa," he said. "No ice? What's the reason of that?"
"De Sechessers, Massa, block up de river, and touch off deir
guns at de ice-boats." The Confederates on the right bank of
the Potomac have now established a close blockade of the river.
Lieutenant Wise, of the Navy Department, admitted the fact,
but said that the United States gunboats would soon sweep the
rebels from the shore.

August 4th.—I had no idea that the sun could be powerful
in Washington; even in India the heat is not much more oppressive
than it was here to-day. There is this extenuating
circumstance, however, that after some hours of such very high
temperature, thunder-storms and tornadoes cool the air. I received
a message from General McClellan, that he was about
to ride along the lines of the army across the river, and would
be happy if I accompanied him; but as I had many letters to
write for the next mail, I was unwillingly obliged to abandon
the chance of seeing the army under such favorable circumstances.
There are daily arrivals at Washington of military
adventurers from all parts of the world, some of them with
many extraordinary certificates and qualifications; but, as Mr.
Seward says, "It is best to detain them with the hope of employment
on the Northern side, lest some legally good man
should get among the rebels." Garibaldians, Hungarians,
Poles, officers of Turkish and other contingents, the executory
devises and remainders of European revolutions and wars, surround
the State Department, and Infest unsuspecting politicians
with illegible testimonials in unknown tongues.

August 5th.—The roads from the station are crowded with
troops, coming from the North as fast as the railway can carry
them. It is evident, as the war fever spreads, that such
politicians, as Mr. Crittenden, who resist the extreme violence
of the Republican party, will be stricken down. The Confiscation
Bill, for the emancipation of slaves and the absorption
of property belonging to rebels, has, indeed, been boldly resisted
in the House of Representatives; but it passed with
some trifling amendments. The journals are still busy with
the affair of Bull Run, and each seems anxious to eclipse the
other in the absurdity of its statements. A Philadelphia journal,
for instance, states to-day that the real cause of the disaster

was not a desire to retreat, but a mania to advance. In
its own words, "the only drawback was the impetuous feeling
to go ahead and fight. Because one officer is accused of
drunkenness a great movement is on foot to prevent the army
getting any drink at all.

General McClellan invited the newspaper correspondents in
Washington to meet him to-day, and with their assent drew up
a treaty of peace and amity, which is a curiosity in its way.
In the first place, the editors are to abstain from printing anything
which can give aid or comfort to the enemy, and their
correspondents are to observe equal caution; in return for
which complaisance, Government is to be asked to give the
press opportunities for obtaining and transmitting intelligence
suitable for publication, particularly touching engagements
with the enemy. The Confederate privateer Sumter has
forced the blockade at New Orleans, and has already been
heard of destroying a number of Union vessels.

August 6th.—Prince Napoleon, anxious to visit the battlefield
at Bull Run, has, to Mr. Seward's discomfiture, applied
for passes, and arrangements are being made to escort him as
far as the Confederate lines. This is a recognition of the
Confederates, as a belligerent power, which is by no means
agreeable to the authorities. I drove down to the Senate,
where the proceedings were very uninteresting, although Congress
was on the eve of adjournment, and returning visited
Mr. Seward, Mr. Bates, Mr. Cameron, Mr. Blair, and left
cards for Mr. Breckinridge. The old woman who opened the
door at the house where the latter lodged said, "Massa Breckinridge
pack up all his boxes; I s'pose he not cum back here
again."

August 7th.—In the evening I went to Mr. Seward's, who
gave a reception in honor of Prince Napoleon. The Minister's
rooms were crowded and intensely hot. Lord Lyons
and most of the diplomatic circle were present. The Prince
wore his Order of the Bath, and bore the onslaughts of politicians,
male and female, with much good-humor. The contrast
between the uniforms of the officers of the United States
army and navy and those of the French in the Prince's suit,
by no means redounded to the credit of the military tailoring
of the Americans. The Prince, to whom I was presented by
Mr. Seward, asked me particularly about the roads from Alexandria
to Fairfax Court House, and from there to Centreville
and Manassas. I told him I had not got quite as far as the

latter place, at which he laughed. He inquired with much
interest about General Beauregard, whether he spoke good
French, if he seemed a man of capacity, or was the creation
of an accident and of circumstances. He has been to Mount
Vernon, and is struck with the air of neglect around the
place. Two of his horses dropped dead from the heat on the
journey, and the Prince, who was perspiring profusely in the
crowded room, asked me whether the climate was not as bad
as midsummer in India. His manner was perfectly easy, but
he gave no encouragement to bores, nor did he court popularity
by unusual affability, and he moved off long before the
guests were tired of looking at him. On returning to my
rooms a German gentleman named Bing—who went out
with the Federal army from Washington, was taken prisoner
at Bull Run, and carried to Richmond—came to visit me,
but his account of what he saw in the dark and mysterious
South was not lucid or interesting.

August 8th.—I had arranged to go with Mr. Olmsted and
Mr. Ritchie to visit the hospitals, but the heat was so intolerable,
we abandoned the idea till afternoon, when we drove
across the Long Bridge and proceeded to Alexandria. The
town, which is now fully occupied by military, and is abandoned
by the respectable inhabitants, has an air, owing to the
absence of women and children, which tells the tale of a hostile
occupation. In a large building, which had once been a
school, the wounded of Bull Run were lying, not uncomfortably
packed, nor unskilfully cared for, and the arrangements
were, taken altogether, creditable to the skill and humanity of
the surgeons. Close at hand was the church in which George
Washington was wont in latter days to pray, when he drove
over from Mount Vernon—further on, Marshall House, where
Ellsworth was shot by the Virginian landlord, and was so
speedily avenged. A strange strain of thought was suggested,
by the rapid grouping of incongruous ideas, arising out of the
proximity of these scenes. As one of my friends said, "I
wonder what Washington would do if he were here now—
and how he would act if he were summoned from that church
to Marshall House or to this hospital?" The man who uttered
these words was not either of my companions, but wore
the shoulder-straps of a Union officer. "Stranger still," said
I, "would it be to speculate on the thoughts and actions of'
Napoleon in this crisis, if he were to wake up and see a Prince
of his blood escorted by Federal soldiers to the spot where

the troops of the Southern States had inflicted on them a signal
defeat, in a land where the nephew who now sits on the
throne of France has been an exile." It is not quite certain
that many Americans understand who Prince Napoleon is, for
one of the troopers belonging to the escort which took him
out from Alexandria declared positively he had ridden with
the Emperor. The excursion is swallowed, but not well-digested.
In Washington the only news to-night is, that a small
privateer from Charleston, mistaking the St. Lawrence for a
merchant vessel, fired into her, and was at once sent to Mr.
Davy Jones by a rattling broadside. Congress having adjourned,
there is but little to render Washington less uninteresting
than it must be in its normal state.

The truculent and overbearing spirit which arises from the
uncontroverted action of democratic majorities develops itself
in the North, where they have taken to burning newspaper
offices and destroying all the property belonging to the proprietors
and editors. These actions are a strange commentary
on Mr. Seward's declaration "that no volunteers are to
be refused because they do not speak English, inasmuch as
the contest for the Union is a battle of the freemen of the
world for the institutions of self-government."

August llth.—On the old Indian principle, I rode out this
morning very early, and was rewarded by a breath of cold,
fresh air, and by the sight of some very disorderly regiments
just turning out to parade in the camps; but I was not particularly
gratified by being mistaken for Prince Napoleon by
some Irish recruits, who shouted out, "Bonaparte forever,"
and gradually subsided into requests for "something to drink
your Royal Highness's health with." As I returned I saw
on the steps of General Mansfield's quarters, a tall, soldierly-looking
young man, whose breast was covered with Crimean
ribbons and medals, and I recognized him as one who had
called upon me a few days before, renewing our slight acquaintance
before Sebastopol, where his courage was conspicuous,
to ask me for information respecting the mode of
obtaining a commission in the Federal army.

Towards mid-day an ebony sheet of clouds swept over the
city. I went out, regardless of the threatening storm, to avail
myself of the coolness to make a few visits; but soon a violent
wind arose bearing clouds like those of an Indian dust storm
down the streets. The black sheet overhead became
agitated like the sea, and tossed about gray clouds, which

careered against each other and burst into lightning; then
suddenly, without other warning, down came the rain—a
perfect tornado; sheets of water flooding the streets in a moment,
turning the bed into watercourses and the channels into
deep rivers. I waded up the centre of Pennsylvania Avenue,
past the President's house, in a current which would have
made a respectable trout-stream; and on getting opposite my
own door, made a rush for the porch, but forgetting the deep
channel at the side, stepped into a rivulet which was literally
above my hips, and I was carried off my legs, till I succeeded
in catching the curbstone, and escaped into the hall as if I
had just swam across the Potomac.

On returning from my ride next morning, I took up the Baltimore
paper, and saw a paragraph announcing the death of
an English officer at the station; it was the poor fellow whom
I saw sitting at General Mansfield's steps yesterday. The
consul was absent on a short tour rendered necessary by the
failure of his health consequent on the discharge of his duties.
Finding the Legation were anxious to see due care taken of
the poor fellow's remains, I left for Baltimore at a quarter to
three o'clock, and proceeded to inquire into the circumstances
connected with his death. He had been struck down at the
station by some cerebral attack, brought on by the heat and
excitement; had been carried to the police station and placed
upon a bench, from which he had fallen with his head downwards,
and was found in that position, with life quite extinct,
by a casual visitor. My astonishment may be conceived when
I learned that not only had the Coroner's inquest sat and returned
its verdict, but that the man had absolutely been buried
the same morning, and so my mission was over, and I could
only report what had occurred to Washington. Little value
indeed has human life in this new world, to which the old
gives vital power so lavishly, that it is regarded as almost
worthless. I have seen more "fuss" made over an old woman
killed by a cab in London than there is over half a dozen
deaths with suspicion of murder attached in New Orleans or
New York.

I remained in Baltimore a few days, and had an opportunity
of knowing the feelings of some of the leading men in
the place. It may be described in one word—intense hatred
of New England and Black Republicans, which has been increased
to mania by the stringent measures of the military
dictator of the American Warsaw, the searches of private

houses, domiciliary visits, arbitrary arrests, the suppression of
adverse journals, the overthrow of the corporate body—all
the acts, in fact, which constitute the machinery and the grievances
of a tyranny. When I spoke of the brutal indifference
of the police to the poor officer previously mentioned, the Baltimoreans
told me the constables appointed by the Federal
general were scoundrels who led the Plug Uglies in former
days,—the worst characters in a city not sweet or savory in
repute,—but that the old police were men of very different
description. The Maryland Club, where I had spent some
pleasant hours, was now like a secret tribunal or the haunt of
conspirators. The police entered it a few days ago, searched
every room, took up the flooring, and even turned up the coals
in the kitchen and the wine in the cellar. Such indignities
fired the blood of the members, who are, with one exception,
opposed to the attempt to coerce the South by the sword.
Not one of them but could tell of some outrage perpetrated
on himself or on some members of his family by the police
and Federal authority. Many a delator amici was suspected
but not convicted. Men sat moodily reading the papers with
knitted brows, or whispering in corners, taking each other
apart, and glancing suspiciously at their fellows.

There is a peculiar stamp about the Baltimore men which
distinguishes them from most Americans—a style of dress,
frankness of manner, and a general appearance assimilating
them closely to the upper classes of Englishman. They are
fond of sport and travel, exclusive and high-spirited, and the
iron rule of the Yankee is the more intolerable because they
dare not resent it, and are unable to shake it off.

I returned to Washington on 15th August. Nothing
changed; skirmishes along the front; McClellan reviewing.
The loss of General Lyon, who was killed in an action with
the Confederates under Ben McCullough, at Wilson's Creek,
Springfield, Missouri, in which the Unionists were with difficulty
extricated by General Sigel from a very dangerous position,
after the death of their leader, is severely felt. He was
one of the very few officers who combined military skill and
personal bravery with political sagacity and moral firmness.
The President has issued his proclamation for a day of fast
and prayer, which, say the Baltimoreans, is a sign that the
Yankees are in a bad way, as they would never think of praying
or fasting if their cause was prospering. The stories
which have been so sedulously spread, and which never will

be quite discredited, of the barbarity and cruelty of the Confederates
to all the wounded, ought to be set at rest by the
printed statement of the eleven Union surgeons just released,
who have come back from Richmond, where they were sent
after their capture on the field of Bull Bun, with the most
distinct testimony that the Confederates treated their prisoners
with humanity. Who are the miscreants who tried to make
the evil feeling, quite strong enough as it is, perfectly fiendish,
by asserting the rebels burned the wounded in hospitals, and
bayoneted them as they lay helpless on the field?

The pecuniary difficulties of the Government have been
alleviated by the bankers of New York, Philadelphia, and
Boston, who have agreed to lend them fifty millions of dollars,
on condition that they receive the Treasury notes which Mr.
Chase is about to issue. As we read the papers and hear the
news, it is difficult to believe that the foundations of society
are not melting away in the heat of this conflict. Thus, a
Federal judge, named Garrison, who has issued his writ of
habeas corpus for certain prisoners in Fort Lafayette, being
quietly snuffed out by the commandant, Colonel Burke, desires
to lead an army against the fort, and have a little civil war of
his own in New York. He applies to the commander of the
county militia, who informs Garrison he can't get into the fort
as there was no artillery strong enough to breach the walls,
and that it would require 10,000 men to invest it, whereas
only 1400 militiamen were available. What a farceur Judge
Garrison must be! In addition to the gutting and burning of
newspaper offices, and the exercitation of the editors on rails,
the Republican grand juries have taken to indicting the Democratic
journals, and Frémont's provost marshal in St. Louis
has, proprio motu suppressed those which he considers disaffected.
A mutiny which broke out in the Scotch Regiment,
Seventy-Ninth N. Y., has been followed by another in the
Second Maine Regiment, and a display of cannon and of cavalry
was required to induce them to allow the ringleaders to
he arrested. The President was greatly alarmed, but McClellan
acted with some vigor, and the refractory volunteers are to
be sent off to a pleasant station called the "Dry Tortugas" to
work on the fortifications.

Mr. Seward, with whom I dined and spent the evening on
the 16th August, has been much reassured and comforted
by the demonstrations of readiness on the part of the people
to continue the contest, and of confidence in the cause among

the moneyed men of the great cities. "All we want is time to
develop our strength. We have been blamed for not making
greater use of our navy and extending it at once. It was
our first duty to provide for the safety of our capital. Besides,
a man will generally pay little attention to agencies he
does not understand. None of us knew anything about a
navy. I doubt if the President ever saw anything more
formidable than a river steamboat, and I don't think Mr.
Welles, the Secretary of the Navy, knew the stem from the
stern of a ship. Of the whole Cabinet, I am the only member
who ever was fairly at sea, or crossed the Atlantic.
Some of us never even saw it. No wonder we did not understand
the necessity for creating a navy at once. Soon,
however, our Government will be able to dispose of a respectable
marine, and when our army is ready to move,
coöperating with the fleet, the days of the rebellion are numbered."

"When will that be, Mr. Secretary?

"Soon; very soon, I hope. We can, however, bear delays.
The rebels will be ruined by it."