Hughes, Thomas, 1850-

A boy's experience
the Civil War,
1860-1865

THE LIBRARY OF THE

UNIVERSITY OF

NORTH CAROLINA

AT CHAPEL HILL

ENDOWED BY THE

DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC

SOCIETIES

•iiiil

00018134662

Digitized by the Internet Archive

in 2012 with funding from

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

http://archive.org/details/boysexperienceinOOhugh

\lOfoL,

A BOY'S EXPERIENCE

IN THE
CIVIL WAR 1860-1865

Presented to

y ^

With compliments of ■"• f < > >

Entered according to Act of CongTess in the year 1904 by Thomas Hughes, the
author, in the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington.

INIVERSTTY OF NOfTOH CAROLINA
PHLHiLL

During tbe Civil Wax.

My father, a skillful physician by profession, was by
taste and inclination a controversal writer, a contributor
to the newspapers, mixing up in the stir of the times.
Before the Civil War his energy was devoted to a large
and lucrative practice coupled with activities, social and
political. At the opening of the -struggle between the
North and South his sympathies and associations ardently
enlisted him in the fortunes of his native State, and he
furthered by writing and personal work the adoption of
the ordinance of secession which had been referred by the
State Convention at Eichmond to the Citizens of Virginia
to adopt or reject. When the State seceded his ardent
advocacy of the Southern cause and his labor in that be-
half quickly brought him to the point of either taking the
oath of allegiance as a loyal citizen of the United States
or submitting to imprisonment. He declined the oath and
was sent as a political prisoner in the spring of 1862 to
Camp Chase near Columbus, Ohio, where he remained
for nine months, when a special exchange was secured for
him. This latter event he owed to a personal circumstance,
one of those matters he usually evidenced an aptitude to
turn to account. It occurred thus: one day a number of
prisoners recently captured were brought in. and he learned
that shortly before , the command to which they had belonged
had taken a number of Union prisoners, and among them
a brother of Dr. Pancost of Philadelphia. My father who
had pursued his medical studies at Philadelphia and had
been a student under Dr. Pancost at the Jefferson Medi-
cal College wrote to his former instructor, telling him of
his brother's capture and asking him to secure a special
exchange of my father for his brother. This he accom-
plished and through friends my father was extended per-

H tlfl 54452S

mission to have his wife and three of his children accom-
pany him by flag of truce through the lines to Richmond.
Ample time was allowed him to arrange his affairs for this
and he was further permitted to take unlimited baggage.
Our route was to Baltimore, to Fortress Monroe, to City
Point, Petersburg and Richmond. Baltimore was reached
between three and four o'clock in the morning and upon
the recommendation of a fellow passenger we sought
quarters at the Eutaw House. This hotel, then as now
at the northwest corner of Eutaw and Baltimore Streets,
was found crowded and we located in the parlor until later
in the day a room was assigned us overlooking the court
on Eutaw Street. A circumstance to impress was the
crowded condition of the pavement extending from Eutaw
Street to Calvert far in excess of what now exists after the
lapse of over forty years, thus indicating the inrush here
as the border city of the Civil War. The day our trunks
were to be examined Major Constable, the provost marshall
of the city was a guest at a dinner party given by my
father at Barnmn's Hotel to which latter we had immedi-
ately removed, being told by our Baltimore friends that
the Eutaw House was a hotel patronized by officers of the
Northern army, whereas Barnum's was a Southern Hotel.
On the day succeeding the search of our baggage we left our
hotel where we had remained about two weeks preparing
for the trip South, and were driven in a carnage to the
wharf of the boat for Fortress Monroe. Some informality
attending the baggage required us to return until the suc-
ceeding day. It appears that some official undertook to
claim the baggage had not been examined, notwithstanding
the red connecting tape with the seal of the provost mar-
sh all's ring in red wax at each end and it became neces-
sary to have Major Constable straighten out the matter,
which fixed us to leave the next evening. One of those
heavy storms that occur on the Chesapeake Bay, with an
alarm of fire on the boat were incidents of the trip, and
General George H. Thomas of the Union Army who was

a passenger and my father became acquainted with the
result that the former's influence was utilized to secure
more pleasant accommodations on the flag of truce boat.
The boats composing the flag of truce were three in num-
ber with only one, that carrying our family, carrying
prisoners, all of whom were invalids, most of them suffer-
ing from wounds, some of them of a most frightful char-
acter. It seems unaccountable that those men in their
condition should have been sent on a trip to occupy two
days and two nights without either surgeon or nurses.
My father was called upon to dress the wounds of several,
one of whom markedly attracted my attention by the fact
that his entire back seemed to have been shot away.
Another, a young man about nineteen had his right arm and
hand paralyzed. There were perhaps a hundred prisoners,
all invalids. "We started from Fortress Monroe in the morn-
ing and about dark reached Harrison's Landing where we
anchored for the night, it being inexpedient to travel ex-
cept by day when our mission as a flag of truce could be
observed. The three boats being brought together the
evening was spent by the crew of the centre boat giving a
theatrical entertainment to which all were invited. The
performance simple, but amusing, consisted of a man who
was supposed to be ignorant but shrewd, being accosted
by the questionable people of the city he was visiting, in
an effort to both rob him and have fun with him . As it was
purely original and played by people who were likely por-
traying personal experiences, it was both intensely real and
intensely amusing. The next evening we reached City
Point after dark and the following morning in looking out
my state room window I was delighted and elated at seeing
away up on the bank alongside a frame house a Confed-
erate soldier with gun doing picket duty. So constantly
had I been thrown with Union soldiers and had only seen
Confederates as prisoners of war that to see a Confederate
soldier free and in arms doing duty on Confederate soil
was like a haven long sought for. The train of two pas-

senger coaches with an antiquated engine had brought
down from Petersburg a large number of people evidently
attracted by curiosity and a number collected on shore
around the gang plank and exchanged newspapers with
those on board the boats. The large quantity of baggage
we carried quickly brought us trouble, for twelve trunks
and a large chest for a family of two adults and three
children at a time when one traveling by a flag o£ .- truce
earned his baggage in his hand, excited suspicion and
upon our arrival at Petersburg we were- directed to there
discontinue our trip to Richmond and my father- was re-
quired to report daily to General Colston until his status
as a loyal Southern citizen could be established. The
Bollingbrook Hotel where we located was overflowing with
Confederate officers, and after three days spent there and
afterword being sent from my father's friends among them
his cousin Jefferson T. Marten. Confederate States Mar-
shall for Virginia and Charles W. Russell of the Confed-
erate House of Representatives that if Dr. Hughes was not
loyal no one was, we were permitted to proceed to our
destination. I was impressed with the conviction that
Gen. Colston's action was merely from abundant caution,
for the friendly spirit shown my father and the abundant
good humor indicated that there was no real belief that
all was not right, but that the circumstances required ex-
amination and explaining before we could be allowed to
pass. A short ride soon brought our train to the long high
bridge over the James River and as it crossed the bridge
we got our first view of what was then wonderfully bust-
ling Richmond with streets so crowded that Main Street
from Eighth to Thirteenth on both sides was sometimes
almost impassible, in marked contrast some years subse-
quent to the close of the war when on one business day
during the busy hour of the day I once looked over the
same stretch and counted in the entire length but three
people. A rattling, uncomfortable omnibus carried us to
the Ballard House, where we remained some weeks.

This hotel, perhaps the best in Richmond, was in curious
contrast to Barnum's in Baltimore; at the latter every
delicacy was furnished in abundance — at the Ballard House
the dessert for dinner for instance consisted usually of rice
pudding and apple pie, the balance of the menu and the
balance of the meals were on the same scale. At this
period there was only one other hotel in Richmond its
equal, the Spottswood at Main and Eighth burned about
a year after the war, and two more not so good, the
American on Main Street opposite the postoffice destroyed
by the fire when Richmond was evacuated, and the Pow-
hatan on Eleventh opposite the Capitol Square and known
after the war as Ford's Capitol Hotel. The Exchange
Hotel was then closed. At that time gold was worth about
one dollar for three of Confederate. In 1864 and 1865 it
was worth one for sixty or seventy Confederate and board
at the Spattswood was then about seventy dollars a day.
Bread was worth a dollar a loaf, a large ginger cake cost
a dollar and a pie cost a dollar, curious disproportions.

An incident illustrative of a poltical canvass among
soldiers was one of the occurrences that soon attracted my
attention. An election for Confederate congressman for
the District of Virginia, which now comprises a part of
the State of West Virginia was under way ; the candidates
were Charles W. Russell formerly of Wheeling and a Dr.
Kidwell of, I believe, Clarksburg. The district was en-
tirely in the Union lines and hence the only voters were
Confederate soldiers and refugees. Dr. Kidwell had head-
quarters at the Ballard House in a room opening immedi-
ately on the ladies' entrance on Franklin Street at the
corner of Thirteenth and it was an occasion to make one
cheerful to see the Doctor who was tall and slender smil-
ingly dispense good cheer from numerous decanters to the
many refugees and a few soldiers who sought him. Mr.
Russell also boarded at the same hotel, but he evidently
felt pretty secure, as he made no effort to entertain and
his room was on the upper floor. This canvass was

in marked contrast with another that went on near the
same time at the Powhatan. An election for the State
Legislature was near and the candidates from the legisla-
tive districts in what is now West Virginia met the same
conditions, namely, their territory was exclusively in the
Union lines and the voters were refugees and. soldiers.
Several of the candidates boarded at the Powhatan and
the meetings in the Congressional candidates room that
were more formal by reasons of the callers being from
divers sections, now in the case of the Legislative candi-
dates became more sociable and nightly refugees and sol-
diers from the same local section assembled and intensely
enjoyed the gossip that went on in a dense cloud of smoke
from tobacco pipes.

My father was a candidate for some medical position in
in the gift of the President and by appointment he was
taken accompanied by me to call upon Mr. Davis. The
President's office was on the second floor of the post office
building entering from Bank Street, the street in the rear
of Main Street, and on the right side of the hall. My
father took with him for presentation to the President a
curiously carved cane that had been constructed by one
of the prisoners at Camp Chase. Constructing articles of
this sort being the way prisoners passed then time. This
particular cane was made of pine wood, had winding ser-
pents carved along it and was varnished a dark, brown
bright color. In the entree room was only the President's
secretary and no others. When we were ushered into the
President's room we found him alone. He was standing
in the center of the room and remained standing during
the short interview which lasted about five minutes, he
did little talking, most of it being done by my father, he
had a natural, pleasant manner and gave close attention
to what was said to him and was apparently ignorant of
my presence. I was only a little boy twelve years of age.
He was a small, delicate, but active man dressed entirely
in black, and one day after the war I saw him as I believe

walking on Baltimore Street in Baltimore, looking exactly
as I had seen him that day in his office in Richmond, ex-
cept that he no longer had the air of concentration shown
at our interview. It was rather a mystery to me how my
father, a homeopathic physician, expected to obtain a
prominent medical position in the Government when allo-
pathic physicians alone held sway and homeopathy was
unknown, but as he usually managed to get what he
wanted and I never made comments I said nothing,
although my notion turned out to be correct.

Homeopathy was not very extensively known in Rich-
mond, a few years before a physician of that school who
had been located there had left and from him or some
member of his family my father obtained a list of his
former patients. He formed the acquaintance of several
and his journalistic relations formed in past years as a
cantributor to the newspapers led him to look to the Rich-
mond papers for help, so that most of the papers were of
great service to him. The Examiner had an elaborate
editorial on the subject of Homeopathy. The Enquirer,
the Dispatch and the Whig also contained nattering notices
and Mr. Ritchie of the Enquirer, Mr. Coworden and Mr.
Ellison of the Dispatch and Mr. Alexander Mosely of the
Whig became his patients, as did also Mr. Smith of the
Sentinel when that paper was subsequently established, so
that the associations he thus fo lined, together with his
being elected to the Legislature to represent Ohio county
in the Virginia House of Delegates enabled him to keep
his family in comfort. The latter office gave him many
privileges. For instance my shoes were gotten at the
Penitentiary whose superintendent Mr. Knote was a con-
stituent of my father, and most nice fitting shoes they
were. He had passes over all the railroads and his trips
were both pleasant and productive of luxuries for at a
time when coffee was made of corn meal rolled in sorghum
molasses, roasted and ground, and the only cloth was
homespun and tea was about non-existent as also loaf sugar,

indeed everything reduced to the simplest, the rations of
the soldiers for instance being nearly exclusively corn-
meal and bacon, a trip of my father to Wilmington, North
Carolina, led him to visit a blockade runner from Nassau,
the steamer Hansa, and when the captain ascertained who
he was, and through him he could obtain an introduction to
the President and others in authority at Richmond, a ship-
ment was received at our house from this ship of a bag of
coffee, a box of tea, a barrel of loaf sugar and cloth for
suits of clothes and toys for the children. It should be
added that my fathers skill as a physician quickly became
recognized and his practice had extended to the families of
those occupying the highest official positions under the
Government. Upon another occasion on one of his trips
he had obtained under some advantageous arrangement
a large amount of flour. This he determined to sell and
one evening he sold it to a baker on Broad Street and the
very large amount of money paid in bulky bills, he, out of
apprehension for the garoters that infested Richmond at
this time, concealed under my coat around my person,
knowing there was slight danger of any attempt to rob a
young boy with ostensibly nothing to take from him. The
comparative luxury which we were enabled to enjoy was
participated in by my father's constituents, for the Con-
federate soldier from our district when visiting Richmond
on furlough was welcomed and entertained so that this
period of my life is one that I look back upon more than
any other as the most pleasant and enjoyable. To what
a simple basis living had been reduced it may be noted
that instead of candles long wax tapers wound around in
pyramid shapes were used, sorghum molasses, black eye
peas and bacon and cabbage and potatoes and cornmeal
were the staples. Flour bread was rather a luxury.
There were two principal confectionery stores : Pisani on
Broad Street near 10th and Antoni on Main Street near
9th, but the scant array in each was in sad contrast to the
luxury now found in any first class confectionery, at the

former one could get a saucer of ice cream, at the last a
glass of jelly. The scarcity of food and narrowness of
range was in great contrast to the vast number of people
on the streets. On Main Street from the Spottswood
Hotel at 8th down to 13th Street near where the Examiner
and the Whig newspapers were located was a dense stream
of people on each side, mostly officers in uniform, for the
private was sure to be stopped by the provost guard that
paraded up and down the sidewalk looking for soldiers
who were away without leave.

Free newspapers were another perquisite of legislators,
except they must send for them and my mission was to
attend in 12th Street at the newspaper offices early each
morning among the crowd assembled there waiting the dis-
tribution of the papers of which four: the Dispatch, Ex-
aminer, Whig and Sentinel were in the immediate vicinity
and the fifth the Enquirer around on the other side of
Main Street. It was upon one of these occasions that I
witnessed a memorable funeral of a soldier, Lieutenant
Noah Walker, whose home was in Baltimore who had been
recently killed in an engagement, his head having been,
it was stated completely destroyed and the Maryland
friends in Richmond had been requested to assemble ear-
ly one morning at a warehouse opposite the Examiner
office at his funeral service. There were not many who
came, probably twenty. It was pathetic to observe the
concern and silent regard that each one manifested as
strangers in a strange city away from their home and
friends doing homage to the memory of one who possessed
an amiable, gentle nature that attached all who knew him.
The occasion particularly appealed to me when told who
he was, as this gentleman when we first arrived in Rich-
mond and when our straightened circumstances required
us to live all in one room had been a guest at one of our
breakfasts, which consisted of rolls and breakfast bacon
broiled by my father on the open fire of the room and
which we all deliciously enjoyed. The Mary landers and

especially Baltinioreans were particularly attentive in ob-
servance of respect for their compatriots and the funeral
of Lieutenant Walker was very much like that which took
place at St. James Church of Gen'l. Dimmock, the same
assemblage of serious visaged men, who indicated in their
appearance that they were strangers away from home and
familiar associations and with an earnest concern for the
occasion and for each other. These experiences
that appeal to Marylanders were in contrast to another
when General Pegram was married in St. Paul's Church
to Miss Hetty Carey of Baltimore. Gen'l. Pegram in full
Confederate uniform and with sword at his side was accom-
panied by Miss Carey, entering the church together. She
wore over her dress a heavy sash of red, white and red
hanging over the right shoulder and falling down below
the waist on the left side. There was no appearance of
strangeness there and no air of constraint and all was great
joyous expectancy and full of life. Miss Carey was one
of the belles of Richmond and consequently the church
was crowded. I stood in the vestibule next to the inner
door and as the two passed the scene was in marked con-
trast to the sad sequel very soon to occur when Gen'l.
Pegram lost his life in battle.

Another circumstance of my father's life as a legislator
was the opportunity afforded me of seeing and knowing
the prominent persons connected with both the Confeder-
ate and State governments and I soon formed the acquain-
tance of almost every one in the State House. I had the
free run of the entire Capitol and was very much aided in
this by being taken from the private school I was attend-
ing, Mr. Alfriend's, who afterwards was the author of the
life of President Davis, and placed under a private tutor
Mr. Burrell, a very old gentleman employed as a clerk in
the Auditor's Office in the Capitol. I do not know whether
the Capitol presents the same appearance now as then,
when the Legislature is in session, but then around the
rotunda was stretched a circle of peanut stands, eight or

ten in number and the floor was strewn with peanut shells,
tobacco juice and dirt and no one seemed to object. On
the side facing towards Broad Street on the first floor over
the basement was the House of Delegates, in the room
over this was the State Senate ; opposite the House of
Delegates across the rotunda was the Confederate House
of Representatives and in the room above was the State
Library.

Free access to the Capitol gave me the opportunity to
observe minutely the funeral arrangements for General
Thomas J. Jackson. Stonewall Jackson's remains were
brought to Richmond to lie in state in the Capitol prepara-
tory to his funeral. And they arrived late one evening
and were first deposited in a little room on the left of the
entrance to the Capitol on the side next to the Governor's
house. The burial casket was placed on a bier, uncovered,
and the custodian of the Capitol permitted a favored few
including myself to view the remains. The coffin had
evergreen heavily intertwined around it. There were no
flowers. His face was exactly as appears in his photo-
graphs, except it was thinner, the features were perfectly
placid, not evidencing that he had suffered pain, his
whiskers and mustache were of unusual thickness, his
forehead high and his hair coal black. I brought a small
portion of the evergreen on the casket away with me.
After lying in state when his funeral took place the cortege
was preceded by a brass band that played a funeral dirge ;
the horse that General Jackson rode with General Jack-
son's boots hanging down one on each side of his saddle
came next to the hearse and was led by his body servant.
The funeral was impressive as only such a one could be.

The Capitol and grounds were the center for interesting
occurrences. The second inauguration of Mr. Davis as
President of the Confederacy took place in front of "Wash-
ington's monument situated near the entrance to the
grounds from Grace Street. The ceremony was on the
side facing the Capitol and a dense concourse of people

extended from that point almost to the Capitol building.
I was on the outskirts of this crowd and could only see
the outline of the figures of the participants in the ceremony.

On another occasion Gen'l. Henry A. Wise, ex-governor
of the State, who was levantly called "fire eater" was to
make a speech in the hall of the House of Delegates.
His popularity and general interest to hear him was evi-
denced by an assemblage that became so dense that an
unusual expedient was adopted, namely, an adjournment
was had to the same point from which Mr. Davis was in-
augurated and when the speaker with the crowd assembled
reached the monument a rain came up so that he was obliged
to return, a large number of persons having quit because of
the rain, thereby leaving the room comfortablv filled. His
slender spare frame, almost haggard countenance and shrill
voice, all of themselves rendered him a spectacular speaker
and his eloquence directed immediately to you made him an
interesting speaker.

A curious occurrence took place daily in Capitol Square
in the morning before breakfast. A company of decrepit
old men, all I think without exception were thus, assem-
bled on the broad walk along the Capitol facing Capitol
Street to drill as soldiers. The only striking quality about
them was their evident inability for service from old age
and yet the cheerfulness and zeal with which they handled
their muskets and went through simple evolutions evi-
denced a spirit unconscious of non utility. This company
shortly before Richmond was evacuated was succeeded at
the same place and at the same time daily by an equally
curious assemblage and that was a company of negroes,
intended to form the embryo negro troops for the Confed-
erate army. I have heard it often declared that no negro
troops were ever enlisted on the Southern side. For a
considerable time before the war ended the enlistment of
negroes as troops was earnestly deliberated and the efforts
in this direction in the Virginia Legislature led to the for-
mation of this Company of State troops. My father as a

member of the Legislature warmly advocated the enlist-
ment of negroes, having made an elaborate argument in
the House of Delegates for that purpose.

This company of negroes comprised about fifty or sixty
men, about 25 or 30 years of age, were almost entirely
dark mulattoes, wore no uniforms, indeed few soldiers in
the Confederacy wore uniforms except the officers and most
of theirs were shabby and old. The striking peculiarity
about this negro company was one that had appeared to
possess the company of old men, namely that while evi-
dencing interest in their drill it appeared to be for only niom-
entary purposes and it all seemed to be viewed as without
any subsequent purpose. And the peculiority about the
negro company was that they appeared to regard them-
selves as isolated or out of place, as if engaged in a work
not exactly in accord with their notions of self interest, no
doubt attributable to the fact that their inclination must
have been against engaging on the Southern side. Their
reward for enlistment I believe was to be freedom from
slavery. The life of a free negro in a slave holding coun-
try was however not a very attractive one. He was
usually shunned by the slaves, who were jealous of him
and from whom he usually held aloof and the whites re-
garded him with suspicion as unreliable and indifferent.

An incident occurred in my experience at the Capitol
that may be regarded as of particular interest. I have a
portion of the Confederate flag that floated over the Capi-
tol, the Capitol of the Confederacy at the fall of Richmond.
When last in Richmond the Librarian in the State Library
upon my asking him what had become of the flag, showed me
a small bundle of bunting lying in a glass book case and
he said it was portions of the flag that people had brought
back and given to the Library. I told him I had a piece
but intended to retain it. Mine came into my hands in
this wise. As my father was a member of the House of
Delegates this gave me the run of the Capitol and I was
intimate with the pages in the House. On one of our ex-

cursions through the building we went through the Library
and through a garrett above and then through a trap door
onto the roof, in returning I was last and lying on the roof,
half inside the open trap door was the flag, at the end it
had a slit about one inch long and wide and it was so sug-
gestive that involuntarily almost I continued the slit for the
flag's entire length and tearing the strip away, rolled it up
and put it in my pocket.

At another time I ran across the Vice President Alexan-
der H. Stephens. Something attracted his attention to
me. He regarded me with curious interest, I presume
because a little boy was observing him so closely. His
lameness and delicately drawn features were sufficient to
attract, but his small stature and earnest, studious ex-
pression of countenance were equally attractive. He like
most of the persons I saw or met in a prominent govern-
ment relation in Richmond seemed to take the life of these
strenuous, stirring times most philosophically and in a
matter of fact way free from worry or excitement. When
it is remembered that the cannonading below Drurys
Bluffs on the James River below Richmond could not only
be distinctly heard but it was only necessary to secure an
elevation and see the distinct flash of the cannon it will be
seen how close we constantly lived to conditions of trouble.
Often I climbed the garrett of the Powhatan Hotel, where
many of my legislative friends boarded to see the flash of
the cannonading.

Genl. Smith, ex-governor, "extra Billy Smith" he was
called was another interesting person I met at the Capitol.
The reputation he had acquired of kissing all the babies
on his election tours was warranted by his manner. Ease
of bearing, perfect accord with you, absolute freedom from
any ostentation were patent, no effort to lead in conversa-
tion, the friendly utterances of an old friend all bespoke in
him the consummate politician rather than the soldier.

One of the most historical events that occurred in Rich-
mond I have never seen referred to in any writing. It

was after the return of the unsuccessful peace mission to
Fortress Monroe. A mass meeting was held in the African
Church in Broad Street near the Monumental Church and
the speakers were detailing to the audience the events and
results of the mission. One of the last speakers was Judah
P. Benjamin, Secretary of State of the Confederacy and
one of Mr. Benjamin's declarations was made with great
vehemence that as long as a drop of blood flowed in his
veins and until the last drop he would never surrender.
It is peculiar that Mr. Benjamin was entirely consistent
in this declaration of his, because as the Southern Confed-
eracy faded away he escaped in an open boat to one of the
near by South Atlantic islands of England, Bermuda, I
t hink , and ultimately reached London where he achieved
great eminence in his profession as a lawyer and ulti-
mately retired to Paris where he died without ever re-
turning to the United States.

General John H. Morgan I saw immediately upon his
return' as a prisoner from the North. He was warmly
greeted in Richmond and his gratified expression showed
his appreciation. His healthy complexion, well kept, full
appearance and free from care ah - indicated, that although
a prisoner he had evidently been supplied with necessaries
that were strangers to the meagerly supplied Confederate
officers in active service. Genl. Morgan was of rather
more than medium size and development and reminded
one more of the bonhomie clubman, bordering on the gen-
ial and agreeable Bohemian rather than impressing one as
the bold dashing border raider in which he had acquired
his reputation, and as which he soon after leaving Rich-
mond lost his life.

General J. B. Stewart, "Jeb Stewart, "who commanded
the Confederate cavalry was of a remarkable personality.
I saw him riding at the head of his cavalry in passing
through Richmond. His hah' was black and long, his
face was full, with large eyes and a prominent nose, his
shirt was cut low particularly in front, showing a massive

ueck. He sat ou his horse the perfection of a horseman,
holding the bridle in such a way that the horse, a well
kept one, seemed to partake of his rider's intense vitality.
Although Genl. Stewart was unlike General Pickett, yet
something applicable alike to the two reminded me the one
of the other and when I saw General Pickett at the head
of his command, as I did, pass through Richmond before
the battle of Gettysburg and then saw this same command
with its thinned out ranks on its return after the campaign
in which that battle took place, the contrast was so heart
rending that it was an exceedingly sad welcome extended
them. Troops were constantly passing through Richmond
the last two years of the war and the scantiness which ex-
isted in rations to which I have already alluded, the staple
fare being corn bread and bacon, extended to the clothes
of the soldiers. In a large command for instance a bri-
gade it was customary to see numbers of soldiers without
coats, others without hats, others without shoes, conditions
almost incredible to believe unless actually seen as I often
did. Upon one occasion while it was snowing a brigade of
infantry was marching up Main Street and when it reached
the Spottswood Hotel a hatter named Dooley who kept a hat
store under the Spottswood rolled from his store a number of
large wooden boxes, broke them open and took therefrom
a collection of shop worn straw hats which he forthwith
proceded to distribute to those of the soldiers who were
without any covering for their heads to shield them from
the falling snow. How our soldiers with all their discom-
forts, privations and sad conditions were capable of doing
any fighting instead of being the brave, enduring men they
were furnished a great tribute for the Southern spirit, and
the Southern cause.

General Ewell while he was recuperating from his ser-
ious wounds lived immediately opposite our house on
Marshall street in Richmond and would daily on his
crutches walk up and down the porch. He was tall and
slender and in his neat gray uniform and with his dark

bushy whiskers enveloping a palid face his appearance
was a reminder of the suffering he had endured.

General Jubal Early was a small, active nervous man
with a curious mixture of force of character and apparent
volatilness. His most striking characteristic was unceas-
ing restlessness. He said nothing and did nothing that
was particularly impressive, but in a large room crowded
with men with no particular deference shown to him I was
instantly attracted by the movements of one whom I soon
learned was General Early and I then understood how he
had worked out the results he had in his historical valley
campaigns.

Colonel Mosby I never saw until shortly after the war
ended, that was at the funeral of Hon. Charles W. Russell
in Baltimore, He was a man that reminded me very
much of General Early except that he was of a quiet bear-
ing, closely shaven, with keen eyes and an incisive man-
ner and one could believe how he had been successful in
the many raids that had made him famous. On one of
these raids he had captured General Benjamin F. Kelley
and General Crook, two Major Generals in the Union Army,
having ridden one night with a detachment of his cavalry
through the Union lines to the Hotel in Romani where they
were staying, required them to rise, dress and accompany
him past their own troops into the Confederate lines, the
Federal troops supposing Mosby' s men to be a detachment
of their own cavalry. The two captured generals were
brought to Libby prison in Richmond. Genl. Kelley had
married into a family with whom my own family was inti-
mate and my father when he learned of General Kelley' s
arrival arranged to visit him. We took with us a large
market basket filled with eatables, such as Maryland bis-
cuit, a boiled ham and other nice things and after passing
through the outer offices of the prison we came into the
large room where General Kelley was. I was struck with
the very small number of prisoners in so large room ;
Libby Prison had been a tobacco warehouse and this one

of the large rooms of the warehouse, on the first floor from
the entrance and second floor from the rear. There was
only one other Union officer besides General Crook in the
room and he was in the open space between that and the
next room. We talked with General Kelly near the win-
dow in the rear, there were no chairs in the room and
General Crook stood off in the middle of the room viewing
us with curiosity. He had on long boots that came above
his knees, his pants being inside and one foot was on the
floor and the other, his right, resting on a box, he was
slightly stooping over with his right hand on his knee.
General Kelley called to him and he came over where we
were and after being introduced joined in our conversa-
tion. The extreme pleasure shown by General Kelley and
the interest of General Crook at our visit was always a
pleasant experience in my life which made me follow in
watching the fortunes of these two Union officers until
each passed to the other shore, the last being General
Crook, his death affecting me markedly from the deep
impression he had made on me in that interview and from
the close observation I had kept of him.

There was another prison in Richmond not so well known
in the North as Libby Prison, but was better known in
Richmond and to many Southern soldiers and that was
"Castle Thunder." That was where deserters were kept
and the gentleman in command of the prison was Captain
Alexander from Baltimore. I once dined with him and
his wife at the house where they boarded. I was a guest
of Captain and Mrs. Alexander and they had another
guest about my age, Rosa, the little daughter of Mrs.
Greenhough of Washington, who after surviving a period
, of confinement in the Capitol Prison at Washington almost
within the shadow of the statue sculptured by her husband
had been permitted to come South to Richmond accom-
panied by her daughter.

There was still another military prison in Richmond and
that was "Belle Isle," out in the middle of James River.

As Libby Prison was exclusively for captured officers, so
Belle Isle was exclusively for privates of the Union Army,
and just as I had been deeply impressed with the few
prisoners in Libby Prison, I was markedly impressed with
the throngs of prisoners at Belle Isle. I once accompa-
nied my father and a number of our soldiers to call upon
one of the prisoners at Belle Isle. This prisoner was
sent for to come to the gate to talk with us, But when
he came he did not seem particularly glad or sorry to see
us and seemed to regard us with uninterested curiosity
rather than anything else.

General Robert E. Lee I met just after the war closed.
He had returned to his home in Richmond on Franklin
street between 7th and 8th, a house that belonged to Mr.
John Stewart, a wealthy Scotchman who resided at his
country place on the Brooke Turnpike and had his busi-
ness office in the basement of the Franklin street house.
Mr. Stewart's family and General Lee's wife were patients
of my father. Mrs. Lee had long been an invalid and
upon the occasion of meeting General Lee I accompanied
my father who went to pay a professional visit to Mrs.
Lee. I carried with me six of General Lee's photographs
intending to ask him to sign his name on each. We were
ushered into the parlor and General Lee almost imme-
diately appeared. My father introduced me and then went
upstairs to see Mrs. Lee leaving me with General Lee who
invited me over to a seat on the sofa in the corner by a
window alongside of him, he sitting next to the window.
Prior to sitting on the sofa however, I told him I had
brought my photographs to ask him to sign his name to
them and he took them to the dining room in the rear of
the parlor where he said there were pen and ink and soon
returned with his name signed to each and all of which I
subsequently gave away, except two that I still have. On
taking his seat alongside of me I was struck with the
naturalness and simplicity of his actions and conversation.
He had a full face, clear, open eyes, healthful complexion,

full beard of gray and carried himself in a quiet naturally
dignified way. In reply to his questions I told him I had
been before the war closed and up to the evacuation of
Richmond a cadet at the Virginia Military Institute, being
the youngest cadet in the corps, and no doubt had been
the youngest that ever attended there, being only fourteen
years and six months old. He told me that he had just
had a visit from and talk with General Smith, the Superin-
tendent of the Institute who told him he purposed to make
arrangements without delay to reopen the Institute at Lex-
ington its former home before it was destroyed by General
Hunter of the Union Army, and I urged General Lee to
intercede for me with my father to permit me to return to
the Institute. It was a great source of personal gratifica-
tion to me, a young boy to have had this talk with General
Lee. There is one feature with reference to General Lee
that I deem it necessary to advert to. In someway, I
know not how, it has been recognized as true that General
Lee entertained great respect and high personal regard for
General U. S. Grant. I know that General Lee had oc-
casion from time to time to write from his headquarters
around Richmond to my father in reference to Mrs. Lee's
condition and in one of these letters he gave distinct ex-
pression to the views he entertained in reference to Gen-
eral Grant. It is possible that these views were modified
at the time of his personal intercourse with General Grant
incident to the surrender of his army, but one would find
difficulty in discovering any thing in the incidant of the
surrender other than those of a negative character calcu-
lated to produce decided changes in an opinion precon-
ceived of General Grant's character: and ones opinions
in matters of this sort are not usually affected by nega-
tive influences. The views expressed by General Lee in
his letter were not those popularly accepted after the war
as expressing a high regard for General Grant, but were
the views generally entertained and expressed of General
Grant by the Southern people in the South during the war,

except that General Lee was utterly incapable of voicing
the popular Southern expression wherein General Grant
was styled in the South during the war by the Southern
press and by popular expression there, horrible as it now
sounds, a '"butcher" in consequence of the apparently
heartless way in which he subjected great bodies of his
troops to what appeared useless loss of life.

In one of my interviews with Colonel Charles Marshall
of Baltimore with whom I enjoyed many years of inti-
mate professional relation, I stated to him what I have
above referred to, mentioning the sentiments expressed
by General Lee in his letters to my father. Colonel Mar-
shall who had been General Lee's private secretary during
the war gave me to understand that he knew they were
the sentiments actually entertained.

Governor Letcher was the war governor of Virginia.
Those who called upon him were received in a room in
the State House at one end of which stood a large side
board occupied by decanters and glasses, a part of his
Creed was to extend the hospitality of this side board to
each visitor. Virginia hospitality required him to keep
company in the partaking of the refreshments with the
result that he had a phenomenally red face, perpetually
wreathed in smiles. It can be understood that delega-
tions of legislators often called upon him. He also fre-
quently held evening receptions that were exceedingly
agreeable and very popular, although never crowded and
at one of these receptions which I attended I remember
viewing with astonishment a portly man with long black
curls hanging down his back and with him an exceedingly
pretty young girl whom I learned was his daughter. This
individual was well known in Richmond and will be rec-
ognized without further discription by any one conversant
with Richmond life during the war. At the time General
Hunter burned the Military Institute at Lexington he also
burned Governor Letcher's house located there in revenge
for which it will be remembered that Harry Gilmor on his

raid into Maryland burned the house of Governor Brad-
ford on Charles Street Avenue a few miles out from Bal-
timore. This same Harry Gilmor possessed qualities of
a superior character, for I remember that after the war
when he returned to Baltimore, with the occupation for
which nature fitted him as a soldier, gone, instead of his
becoming a stipendiary on the bounty of his friends he
engaged for a while as a journeyman painter, although no
one had been raised with better rights to gentle associa-
tions and I once viewed him with intense interest painting
the front of a house on the west side of Eutaw street near
Franklin and he was doing his work earnestly and well.
With a slight natural defect in one of his eyes, his face
was entirely oblivious to the fact of anything unusual in
his occupation, a spirit of independence that soon after
led to his being elected sheriff of the City. This same
position of sheriff was also held by another returned
Southerner who had gone to Richmond from Baltimore
where he had been Marshal of Police shortly after we
had passed through on our way to Richmond. This
genial gentleman, George P. Kane, showed in every trait
and manner his racial extraction and it was no matter of
wonder that he passed from sheriff to Mayor of the City.
When the Virginia Military Institute was burned after
the battle of New Market where the cadets lost a number
who were killed and where many were wounded, the corps
was s«mt to Richmond. Every Richmond boy had a great
ambition to go to the Institute, at that time regarded as
the West Point of the South. The cadets were a part of
the Confederate army and every graduate was given an
officer's commission in the army. Incidents were con-
stantly occurring to keep alive and active this spirit to
become a cadet — boys have little fear of bullets, they
enjoy the excitement of active army life and even death
and wounds appeal to them as making heroes. After the
battle of New Market one of the cadets a son of Dr.
Cabell of Richmond who was killed in that battle was

brought to Richmond for burial and his funeral took place
from his father's home on Franklin street where he lived,
a neighbor of General Lee. I remember as the remains
after the service were borne down the front steps and
through the iron front gate the intense awe and respect in
the face of the young men assembled on the pavement
around the entrance to the open space in front of the
house. It was here I believe I first formed the determi-
nation to be a cadet and strange to say when I first en-
tered the cadet ranks, the drill master assigned to our
squad was Bob Cabell a brother of the cadet whose funeral
I had attended that day.

The Cadets of the Virginia Military Institute were in
number about five or six hundred, were from all over the
South and ranged in age from about sixteen years to about
twenty-four or five. I entered the Institute shortly before
the evacuation of Richmond and enjoyed the distinction,
as I have stated, of being the youngest cadet in the corps.
When the cadets first came to Richmond, they marched
with singularly soldier-like precision and carriage out Grace
street to the Fair grounds where they were for a time
quartered. The uniforms of the boys as also their food
began to partake of the Confederate soldier variety and it
was pathetic to see some of these boys marching in ranks
through Richmond to their quarters with pants torn or
worn out at the bottom and variegated in outfit, some with
cadet jackets and plain pants, others with cadet pants and
plain jackets. The Richmond Alms house was assigned
to the cadets for their quarters. Life there would
have been ordinarily recognized as singularly trying ; to
the young men in the corps it was a perpetual joy, alloyed
alone by the obligation to attend lectures. The rooms that
were a delight to them were simply unmentionable. In
my room about twelve feet wide and twenty-four J:eet long
were sixteen cadets who slept and studied there. In the
day time the mattresses were piled each on top of the
other in a single corner of the room — at night time they

were arranged side by side with head against the wall.
One long table occupied the center of the room. It was
supposed to be a study table and was occupied at night by
a favored one to sleep upon. In the day time it was never
occupied except by the boys lounging upon it in lieu of
chairs, smoking their pipes and gossiping. Pure atmos-
phere day or night in that room was not needed by those
young men with their wonderful vitality. In day time the
air was redolent with tobacco smoke from their pipes. At
night time the door was invariably kept closed by any who
were up playing cards or gossiping after the retiring hour
to shut out from view the officer of the guard, who when-
ever he wished to investigate for such breaches of discip-
line always discretely and considerately knocked before
entering, opening the door to find everything in perfect
order. Each room had a petty officer usually a corporal
a senior who was supposed to be responsible for the good
order and cleanliness of the room. One of the duties of
this senior was to initiate by "bucking" any new cadet in-
troduced into his room. This "bucking", peculiar to the
Institute, consisted in taking the new comer's right hand,
carrying it behind his back, twisting it around until he
was compelled thereby to bend over when he would be
struck by the senior with a bayonet scabbard on his pos-
terior once for each letter in his name and in the event he
was without a middle name he was given the right to select
one and upon failure to do so was given the name Constan-
tinople for its many letters. There upon he was dubbed
a "rat", which name he bore for one year. He was lia-
ble to have trouble for the whole first year and might have
to take another bucking or stand up to a fight, which
usually was brought about in a formal way and was a great
affair. The corporal of our room was a mild mannered
gentlemanly fellow named Bayard of Georgia, whose father
was. I believe, in the Confederate Congress from that
State. After bucking me and permitting me to chose Asa
for mv middle name he dubbed me "mouse" and stated

L'.)

to me that if any one attempted to give me any trouble
to let him know. No trouble was there though for me, it
was one constant stretch of delightful experiences. The
association with older boys and men who treated me not
simply as an equal but from my youth and boyishness
showed me every favor rendered my life one of joyous
ease. I was informed by the cadet whose name imme-
diately preceded mine in roll call of my company that any
time I wanted to get off to let him know and he would
answer twice, once for himself, once for me. I was intro-
duced by a friendly cadet to the apothecary's assistant
who turned an honest dollar in selling surreptitiously to
the boys ginger cakes and pies at a thousand per cent
profit. I was recommended to old "Judge", the negro
head cook and steward, who black as coal was with the
boys the most popular person in the corps, but for his
favors which usually comprised an extra allowance of
bread, expected a suitable remembrance. A room I have
here described could furnish no more than living quarters
for the number occupying it, and how any studying could
be done at night by two dull tallow candles, the only lights
was inexplicable. Toilets were performed in a general
wash room, adjoining a larger room where all trunks were
kept and these two rooms were on the same stoop or porch
and a little apart from the living rooms that all adjoined.
If meagre fare contributed to good health, the boys were
entitled to the extraordinary health they possessed with
such surroundings. A typical breakfast was "growley",
bread and Confederate coffee. Sometimes sorghum
molasses took the place of "growley." This latter dish
was quite watery, being a hash of beef, potatoes and
onions. A typical dinner was boiled Irish potatoes, boiled
corned beef and bread. Meals were served in the large
dining room in the basement at plain pine tables with no
covering each table seating about one dozen. At the head
of the table stood the large dish of growley or the corn-
beef and at each cadet's plate was his half loaf of bread.

It required practice and expertness to slide ones tin plate
over the table, to the "growley" dish for a helping and
some art to secure at long distance the favorable disposi-
tion of the cadet sitting at the head to whom fell the de-
lightful emolument of apportioning the "growley." The
half of loaf of bread was where old "Judge" came in,
for you always felt as if you wanted more. Ench cadet
was furnished his own two pronged fork and a good large
table knife both of the rough bone handled variety, col-
ored a dark brown. This fare with undue discipline would
have been unbearable but with the free and independent
life led there it was only a pleasing passing incident in the
daily routine of cadet life constantly filled with ever re-
curring incidents to surprise, interest and exhilarate and
no grumbling ever took place, only high spirits and the
fullest animal enjoyment in the flush of health.

A bell rang for classes or lectures and the class rooms
were a wonder. The classes were so large that many
would have to stand up grouped together, usually near
the door. Before the lecture was finished the groups would
be greatly thinned out, for from time to time while the
professor was absorbed in his work or inspecting the black
boards the door would softly open and out would slip some
member of the group who would softly close the door and
walk past the windows of the class room as naturally as
if he were on a mission, the only evidence of irregularity
being the exceedingly expert quick way with which he
vanished through the door. Another result of the large
classes was the effort to test the students by requiring
several to recite at once, as one at a time would never
have reached around. This was supposed to be accom-
plished by means of the blackboard, at each of the five
or six boards was stationed one cadet and the same test
was furnished to all at once. Out of the entire number
at work usually at least one knew his task well. The
others made a show of great industry and with much
waste of chalk and many changes and corrections and

with a sharp eye on his neighbors work he managed to
construct a passable performance. The last exhibit I saw
in the geography class was a curiously drawn map in
chalk outlining South America. It was not difficult to
identify the copies of various grades and conditions, nor
the original from which made. I suppose the professor
was charitable in not holding his students to a too strict
accountability. I wonder indeed how they could do any
studying with such conditions or surroundings, instead of
showing the general faithfulness that they did to their
work.

As I have stated a fight was a very formal affair ; while
usually originating in quite an unmentionable way it was
arranged to take place with a full regard to the proprie-
ties. One of the sixteen men in my room was a jew
named Lovenstein from Richmond. He was a new cadet
like myself and was therefore liable to have trouble. He
had declined to submit to some indignity required of him
by an older cadet and he was thereupon challenged to
fight. This latter he had no way of escaping. It was
passed around during the day that there was to be a fight
in so and so's room that night, I got there in company
with the men from our room about half after eight o'clock,
the hour these affairs usually occurred. The room was
packed to suffocation, standing around an improvised
ring. The air was filled with tobacco smoke but there
was absolutely no talking or noise. In the ring in the
center of the room the two fighters were facing each other.
My sympathies were with the jew because he came from
our room. A jew in the South or in Richmond who com-
ported himself as a gentleman was received as such, the
commercialism that attached to the race elsewhere did not
at that date affect his status as a gentleman in the South.
Lovenstein stood up manfully to his task, with the cred-
itable result that secured for him the regard of the other
inmates of our room and it soon became understood that

he was to be protected thereafter and that no further
trouble was to be put up for him.

The gala performance of the day was at dress parade.
This occurred at five in the afternoon. The large plaza
fronting the full width of the Alms House furnished a fine
parade ground, Colouel Shipp, a portly, dignified impress-
ive man who at the time of my present writing is still at
the Institution now as Superintendent was then the Com-
mandant, his adjutant was a little man named Wood-
bridge and these two with the well drilled corps as a whole
furnished the three striking incidents of the parade. The
awkward squads consisting of new cadets were put through
simple evolutions at the same hour off from the parade
ground at each end of the building. Visitors in large
numbers assembled to watch each drill of the corps. At
the close, the cadets were at liberty to stroll off in the
neighborhood for an hour recreation, and that was lib-
erally availed of. Soldierly dignity was not invariably
preserved in these strolls. Pent up youthful vitality freed
from restraint showed itself in rough play and upon one
occasion an older companion of mine in the exuberance
of his spirits lifted me to his shoulders and completed his
walk bearing me with him in this position until his return
to the restraining formalities of the Institute grounds.
Ones introduction to the Institute was in strict military
discipline; the details of name, age, residence and the
taking of the oath of allegiance to the State and to the
Confederacy were followed by a written requisition for a
blanket, mattress, knife and fork, etc., and an assignment
to a room and company. Mine was B Company. A
sedate and dignified looking cadet named Ross was cap-
tain, a good, old fashioned, friendly fellow named Roy-
ston was orderly sergeant. My introduction to the cor-
poral of my room was through an army officer, Captain
Shriver who had recently graduated and who accompa-
nied me and my father on my entrance into the Institute.

General Smith, the Superintendent, was only seen by
the cadets in his private office at the far end of the build-
ing. The only visit I made to him was quite an event in
my life. Usually visits to the Superintendent were quite
serious affairs, furnishing checks to exuberant spirits,
often grave in consequences. Therefore a notification that
your presence was desired by the Superintendent was cal-
culated to set the heart going more rapidly and to stir the
memory for some breach that must have been discovered.
The summons to me one day just as I was about to attend
my French lecture was as unattractive as attending the
lecture. But when I reached the Superintendent's room
I found there three Confederate soldiers constituents of
my fathers and friends of my family who had come out
to see me and had secured permission for me to accom-
pany them back to Richmond to spend the day. An event
of the day was the taking of a photograph in a group,
this with a good supply of peanuts and a visit to the
theatre furnished quite a full day for us four, three seedy
and friendly Confederate soldiers and a youthful cadet
just fourteen years old. Their request to Genl. Smith to
allow me to accompany them on their lark had evidently
appeared so unique that I was struck with the degree of
pleasure it seemed to afford him and my soldier friends.

The meagre fare made me yearn greatly to participate
of the food that I knew was being enjoyed at my home
and I was not slow in availing myself of any temporary
leave I could obtain. One of these occasions took place
just shortly before the evacuation of Richmond and upon
my return to the Institute I was greeted by an almost
empty building. I found the Corps had been called out
the night before to go to the front, leaving me as a younger
cadet with a number of others as a detail to guard the In-
stitute. For the short time we were in charge, there was
of course no lectures and little discipline, each one could
go and come as he chose, with the result that my visits to
my home board were more interesting and in my saunters

along the streets I began to notice on the Saturday prior
to the evacuation premonitions of coming trouble. Great
activity was suddenly manifested through the various Con-
federate Government departments. The Cadets at the In-
stitute were extended permission to remove their trunks.
This was availed of on Saturday and also on Sunday until
the Institute was practically abandoned by eveiy one there,
but was filled with the furniture and the trunks of all the
absent cadets, except of those few who had friends to take
charge of them. Besides my own trunk I was able to care
for that of another room-mate and sent it to him by ex-
press to his home some weeks later.

On Sunday morning the 2d of April, 1865, it was ap-
parent to anyone that the City was to be abandoned by
the Confederate troops. Great piles of official documents
and papers of all sorts were brought out from the depart-
ments, piled up in the centre of the streets in separate
piles at short distances apart and then set on fire to be
destroyed, some few burned entirely, others only smoul-
dered and others again failed to burn at all. The result
seemed to depend on the quality of the paper and the
density of the bundles. From one pile I took out a roll
of Confederate bonds with all coupons attached and from
another pile a bundle of official papers of various sorts.
On Monday morning the 3d of April, I saw going up Mar-
shall street about daylight two Confederate cavalrymen on
foot who were the very last of the Confederate soldiers to
leave Richmond, on the same morning about eleven o'clock
I saw the first Union soldier to enter Richmond he was
also a cavalryman, riding up Broad street and was near
Tenth street when I saw him and was surrounded and fol-
lowed by a howling, frantic mob of about five hundred
negro boys, there being no other person except myself
that I could see on the street in the vicinity. Between
these two periods, the going of the last Confederates and
the coming of the first Union soldier stirring scenes were
being elsewhere enacted. I had firstgoneout to the Insti-

tute to see how matters stood there and I found it was in
possession of a horde of men, women and children from
all the neighborhood around, who had broken open the
building and were carrying away everything movable,
furniture, cadets' trunks, books, guns and swords indeed
their vandalism spared nothing. I went to my room and
was able to secure my blankets and my knife and fork and
my books. It was intensely distressing to observe the
property of the cadets who were off in the discharge of
their duty, boldly appropriated and earned off before my
eyes by these multitudinous freebooters who preyed upon
it as if it was so much public spoils free to all who chose
to help themselves. I tarried there a very short while,
carrying away with me what I had been able to save of
my own to my home. In leaving I noticed that the brick
arsenal across the road from the Institute had been during
the night blown up with such force that the fresh dirt in
two graves alongside had been blown out. They were the
graves of two negroes who shortly before had been hung
on the hill to the east of the Institute, having been found
guilty of burglarously entering the cellar of the Rev. Dr.
Moses D. Hoge, the Presbyterian minister in Richmond,
out of which they had stolen a couple of hams. After
reaching my home I went down to the Spotswood Hotel at
the corner of 8th and Main streets just on the edge of
where the fire was raging. TVhy the Confederate troops
had set fire as was reported of them in their evacuation of
Richmond I could not understand. The fire was most
disastrous in extent and in the character of the buildings.
It was in the business section; and the post office, a
granite building on Main street between 9th and 10th in
which was President Davis' office was the only building
left standing within a wide radius. Scenes similar to
what I had seen enacted at the Military Institute were
also taking place on the edge of the fire district. Stores
were being broken into and looted by women, men and
boys. Barrels of flour were being rolled away, bolts of

cloth, boxes filled with all sorts of commodities, groceries,
tobacco, etc. In the midst of this carnival of plunder a
lot of women, a half dozen in number had concentrated
their attention on a particular bolt of unbleached coarse
cotton cloth and in the contest for it had unwound it each
one pulling her way, others around were carrying away
equally valuable goods ad libitum, but these viragos
ignored the ample opportunities elsewhere, concentrating
their energies on their fight for this particular cloth. The
temptation to myself and to another boy of my age with
me was so strong to incommode them in their sense-
less conduct that we took small bags of tobacco from two
barrels in front of a store under the Spotswood Hotel and
pelted them with the tobacco. While thus engaged the
fire gradually crept around in the rear of Main street
towards Franklin and had reached an arsenal on 8th street
for making bomb shells. Soon the shells began to burst
and pieces flew in our direction, breaking windows and
scattering the crowd, including the fighting women, who
got away with no plunder from that immediate locality.

We had spent the summer of 1863 on the James river
about twelve miles above Richmond and a visit I subse-
quently paid there gave me an opportunity of enjoying
an experience that can never be repeated, namely getting
out of Richmond on a Confederate pass and witnessing
some of the incidents of an historical raid. My father
had formed a personal friendship with the family of Gen-
eral Winder who was from Baltimore, and as all passes
had to be obtained from General Winder who was in com-
mand of Richmond and it was difficult to obtain access to
him at his office on Main street I went to his house and
got a pass from his son who was his aid. With this I
boarded the canal boat on the James River and Kanawha
Canal which boat left every evening at the foot of 7th
street for its hip up the canal. These boats were fitted
to take a long trip, uncomfortable though it might be. It
was pulled by three horses going at a rapid trot, the front

one ridden by the driver who blew a horn for the locks
and the mail and to change horses. The efforts of the
drivers on freight boats on these horns were often artistic
and as musical as an accomplished bugler, nothing of
that sort was ever attempted by the boy who rode the
horses on the passenger boat. The passengers in good
weather sat on camp stools on the top of the boat and a
man at the end steered, at frequent intervals calling out
"low bridge" at which all on deck ducked their heads to
avoid the low bridges which so frequently crossed the
canal from one portion of a farm to another. The kitchen
was at the end of the boat. In the long saloon on each
side was a seat running the whole length, which was con-
verted into beds at night. In the centre of the saloon
was a long table upon which meals were served. Just
after leaving Eichmond the sentry came around to inspect
the passes and verify the descriptions they contained of
their possessors. He usually completed his rounds seven
or eight miles out about the time the canal boat reached
the "grave yard" an open space extending out from the
canal and covered by water in which was sunk worn out
canal boats.

When ready to return to Richmond I was to do so by
the Plank Road, but the instant we struck this road we
found it blocked by heavy trees that had been cut down
and thrown across the road so as to render it impassable
for horse or man, we quickly learned that this was to in-
tercept Dahlgrens raiders who were then some distance up
the river and were supposed to be approaching by the
Plank Road. All the neighborhood had sent their horses
out into the woods in the custody of the most faithful of
the negroes to prevent their seizure by the raiders, and
silverware and other articles portable had been concealed
so that preparations were fully made for the arrival of
Dahlgren's troops. This occurred the next day. They
had crossed the river at a ford a short distance above
under the guidance of a negro of the neighborhood who

had essayed to pilot them to Eichmond and when they
reached these obstructions on the Plank Road they were
compelled to deflect their course so that they were carried
around Richmond instead of into it, and here at this point
where they left the Plank road occurred an incident that
I could not understand then and do not clearly understand
now, they hung their negro guide. They left his body
hanging and after it was taken down by residents, the
rope was cut into small pieces and passed around as me-
mentoes. I feel assured that Dahlgren's men could not
impute to the negro knowledge of the obstructions in the
road, the circumstances enforced this conclusion. The
obstructions had just been placed, their appearance made
this self evident. As a matter of fact they had been put
there during the night by parties sent from Richmond and
were entirely unknown to persons in the vicinity. The
negro guide had been picked up miles above at a time
when it was patent to any one he could not have known
of these obstructions. The slightest acquaintance with
negro character during the war should moreover have in-
formed the raiders that no negro would have volunteered
to pilot Federal troops with the intent of leading them
into trouble, or of not performing for them all he was
capable of, and I can only conclude that he was a victim
of combined ignorance of the negro and irritation at being
intercepted in their progress. If they had reached nearer
to Richmond they would have found almost every white
citizen in the City, whatever his station or occupation,
armed and in the trenches around the city awaiting their
arrival, so that getting into the City was practically im-
possible. '

The Confederate hospitals in Richmond were possibly
the most interesting places for most persons. The offi-
cers' hospital was at Richmond College at that time in the
country about a mile from the built up city, since then the
City has built out to and beyond it. The Seabrook Hos-
pital, occupied exclusively by privates, was a collection

of one stoiy long frame buildings in the neighborhood of
23d street and Franklin Street. The surgeon in chief
was Dr. Gravett with whose family we were intimate and
a feature of this hospital was the delightful biscuits made
there by the cook. The Chimborazo Hospital was another
famous one. Between this hospital and a point on the
open ground across from President Davis' residence the
signal corps men eveiy night exchanged signals in prac-
ticing, a group of men being stationed on the hill near
the hospital with their torch and another group with a
torch on the other side of the valley in the space next the
President's house. The President's house, now the Con-
federate Museum, was one of the prettiest houses in Rich-
mond. The president met with a sad loss there in the
death of his son. At the time this occurred some one
started a subscription among the children to erect a monu-
ment to the memory of the child and the names of all
who subscribed were written on paper, it being also there
written that the monument was a gift from the playmates
of the boy and the paper was placed in the monument
erected over the grave at Holywood. My name was in-
cluded, but I am sure that scarcely one in the entire
number was in fact a playmate of the boy who was so
delicate that his only companion was his nurse.

The most interesting sights were the fortifications around
Richmond. Out on the Mechanicsville turnpike about
two miles beyond the Alms House was the inner fort on
the North, this was manned by a battery composed of
Norfolk men under command of a Captain Hendren, two
deserters from the Union Army were placed in this bat-
tery. They were treated in a most friendly way by the
men, but they seemed out of place themselves and awk-
ward and strange. Why they should have deserted I
could not understand, for an exchange of the ample fare
of the Union soldier with their luxuries for the combread
and bacon of the Confederates could not have been an at-
traction. This same pike while the Battle of Cold Harbor

was in progress presented an intensely interesting appear-
ance, clear from Richmond to the narrow Chickahomini
River and beyond, it was lined with soldiers, horses and
wagons hurrying to and fro and one of the most attractive
sights was the stream of Union prisoners just captured
and being marched into Richmond. One prisoner I recall
as a common type, he was a German emigrant utterly
unable to speak a word of English, dressed in a new
Zouave uniform of guady colors and he evidently labored
under the delusion that he was going to better his condi-
tion by exchanging from a fighter in the Union army to a
prisoner in the Confederacy. I believe if he had had any
conception of the restrictive diet of the prisoner or Con-
federate soldier, for both fared about alike, he would have
been less easily captured, and the bounty and substitute
money that no doubt had been securely disposed of by
him at his enlistment were going to look less alluring in a
Confederate prison than the future these pictured to him
while he enjoyed his exceedingly brief army experience.

The most interesting fortifications were on the James
River at Drury's Bluff about seven miles below Richmond,
and a sort of an excursion steamer enabled visitors to in-
spect the fortifications. In the neighborhood of Drury's
Bluff further down the River was the Howlett House, his-
torical for being at various periods first in the Confederate
lines and then in the Union. Upon a visit I paid to it in
Company with Col. Herbert of the 17th Virginia Regi-
ment and the Rev. Mr. Perkins, the Chaplain, we ob-
tained a magnificent view of the surrounding country and
of both armies, out* own and the Union. Dutch Gap was
in the distance and Butlers Tower was in front of us and
down on the river shore below us were thousands of shells
that had been fired by the Union batteries and had failed
to explode. In returning from the Howlett House to the
station of the 17th Virginia, sharpshooters in the Union
lines began firing at us and the bullets threw up the dirt
around us in a lively fashion. I feel convinced the sharp-

shooters were trying to see how near they could come to
us without hitting us, my companions however preferred
to get down below the raise in the ground. The same
spirit of play I think must have actuated the batteries
that were continually firing shells that went clear over the
fortifications and way behind, possibly a mile or so. The
fortifications were constructed in a veiy formidable way.
The front of the raised earth was a labyrinth of brush and
sharpened stakes pointing outward. Inside of the forti-
fications were deep ravines cut in the earth, turning and
twisting with pillars of earth at intervals, so as to permit
the sentries to approach the breastworks without exposure.
The quarters of the soldiers were usually dugouts, covered
with raised wooden tops. The sleeping bunks were below
the ground and each location had a fire place, one of my
nights was spent in one of these with a corporal of one
of the companies of the 17th Virginia. His room mate
was absent. Before entering he handed me a copy of
David Copperfield and this was my first introduction to
the delights of Dickens' works. The corporal also offered
me a flour biscuit, the only one he had; as I knew the
meaning of it to him I declined. During the night we
were aroused by a night attack at the front a few hundred
yards away, which compelled my room mate to go there.
I had never heard so many bullets whistle over head before
and the sound was more intense from the stillness of the
night, the attack, however, was of short duration.

The most interesting scene in camp life was the church
service on Sunday night. The soldiers were in winter
quarters and a good sized frame tabernacle had been erected
with seats around on boards very much like a circus. The
auditorium was crowded, of course exclusively with sol-
diers and a more impressive sendee and a more deeply
interested and serious set of men I never saw. The two
opposing lines, Confederate and Union, had been so long
fixed at this point and they were respectively so securely
intrenched that matters looked quite permanent and these

conditions led to interchange of friendly relations between
the two sides leading to exchange of newspapers, tobacco,
etc. The slenderness of the Confederate soldiers equip-
ment was constantly in evidence and the contrast with
his bounteously supplied enemy made his situation often
pathetic. Upon one occasion during this visit of mine to
the 17th Virginia the quartermaster's wagon came around
to dole out a few articles and among the things given was
a cotton shirt to a middle aged member of a Norfolk Com-
pany which excited the jealousy and anger of a young
man in the same company who declared that the older was
not entitled to the shirt and did not need it and that he
had money hidden away. The scarcity of food in Rich-
mond several times led to distressing scenes, resulting in
some instances to public riots, in which women seemed to
take the leading part. Their outciy for bread gave to
these affairs the designation of "bread riots" and several
of a very serious nature took place during the closing
years of the war resulting in considerable destruction of
property in an effort on the part of the mob to break into
stores and resulting also in great suffering and excitement
before the disturbances were quelled.

It was an experience not possessed by many to have
seen from time to time pass through Richmond the Con-
federate soldiers that composed the entire army of Gen-
eral Lee. Added to this however it was my fortune after
the war to see the entire armies of General Grant and
General Sherman pass through Richmond on their march
to Washington. They all passed one point where I was
stationed, namely, at Broad and First streets ontheirway
up Broad street and out the Brook Turnpike. There were
three features that were prominent in connection with
these Union armies, one was the well dressed, well kept
appearaace of the soldiers, another the vast number of
their bands of music in marked contrast with scarcely
any in our army and another the great number of horses
the cavalrymen possessed, some had three and four horses

each, and I concluded that the South through which the
Union armies passed, must have been pretty well denuded
of its horses.

After the war the President's house was used as head
quarters for the general in command of the Union troops
in Richmond. And as my father was the only Homeo-
pathic physician in Richmond and very many Federal
officers with their families preferred homeopathy and em-
ployed him I had favorable opportunities for knowing cer-
tain things about which some confusion subsequently
existed. This knowledge enabled me to correct a state-
ment some years since that was circulated extensively
through the public press with reference to General Lee.
It had been declared by General Adam Badeau that im-
mediately upon the close of the war when General Lee
returned to Richmond he and his family were the recipients
of aid from General Grant who practically provided for
the support of General Lee's family. I knew all the cir-
cumstances which gave a plausible foundation for this
story. My father, as I have stated, was Mrs. Lee's phy-
sician; he was also the physician among other Federal
officers of General Peter Michie, the Federal quartermas-
ter general. An offer court euosly and with delicacy was
made to General Lee of any aid the temporary situation of
his family might require. General Lee however was under
no necessity of availing himself of this aid and none in
consequence was given . General Lee had devoted friends ,
able and willing to render any aid that might have been
needed to whom he would naturally have looked for aid
had such been required. He was at that time, as I have
stated, living in the house of Mr. John Stewart, a wealthy
Scotchman who had settled long before the war in Rich-
mond. Whatever may have been the arrangement for
rent I understand that Mr. Stewart declined to accept
anything in settlement, and as a Scotchman can not be
made to recede from his position no doubt no rent was
paid.

One of the incidents to the rehabilitation of Richmond
after the evacuation and the accompanying disastrous fire
was the great influx of mercantile firms from the North
with every kind of goods imaginable. Why they should
have rushed in thus with their oceans of merchandise to
sell to impoverished Confederates was to me a mystery.
As might be imagined prices fell very low and large num-
bers of the new comers failed completely. Another inci-
dent of the new order of things was the flooding of the
City with counterfeit money, particularly small notes for
fractional amounts of a dollar, some of the counterfeits
being wretched productions. Another feature was the
way in which architects and builders from the North step-
ped into help rebuild the burned district, resulting in bet-
ter buildings than before, but with in many cases no com-
mensurate profit to the builders. At that time was first
introduced into Richmond the ground rent system that
prevails so extensively in Baltimore and Philadelphia.
The first house under this system was built on a lot where
had stood the house from which salt orders had been issued
during the war. The salt mines belonged to and were
worked by the State and a system of free distribution was
inaugurated in consequence of the scarcity and the neces-
sity of salt so that each householder depending upon the
size of his family was entitled to receive gratuitously a
certain quantity weekly for which an order was issued to
him.

The most gruesome sight during the war was to see the
vast numbers of wounded Confederate soldiers brought
into Richmond in the trains. This was constantly occur-
ring and was most noticeable during the great battles in
the neighborhood of Fredericksburg. The attention given
to the wounded appeared to be scant before reaching
Richmond. And they were brought down on the Richmond
and Fredericksburg Railroad and unloaded on Broad
street to be taken to the hospitals very much as they were
taken from the field of battle. How they were able to

pass through the suffering they must have endured before
reaching the hospital was a miracle, only to be accounted
for by the life of exposure to the open air, endurance and
their strong vitality.

Blockade running was carried on as an extensive busi-
ness all through the war, but reached its highest state of
accomplishment in the closing year before the fall of Rich-
mond. It was of a two fold character; one, of ships with
Wilmington, North Carolina, as the port and the other of
individuals who crossed the Potomac at night usually land-
ing at Leonardtown, Charles County, Maryland. The
ships took out cargoes of cotton, as this was about the
only article, unless it was tobacco, left to be exported from
the Southern Confederacy and they brought in return a
miscellaneous cargo, not very extensive and not very large,
most of the cotton shipments winding up as credits abroad
in many cases for agents of the Confederate government,
in other cases for individuals, either singly or as syndi-
cates. For it became common in Richmond for a number
of gentlemen to form a combination and make a shipment
of cotton by a blockade runner for the profit it furnished.
Almost all the ships that ran the blockade in and out of
Wilmington flew the British flag and were English boats,
Blockade running on the Potomac was another considera-
tion. Its ordeal can best be illustrated by an attempt
made by my mother and a friend of hers under unusual
favorable circumstances. The trip from Richmond to the
Potomac had to be made by private conveyance of some
sort for there were no public vehicles or way of getting
them and for entertainment en route reliance would have
to be placed on such friendly housing and entertainment
as could be secured from the inhabitants of the country
through which one passed. There were no hotels or
taverns, and as the inhabitants were not over well sup-
plied, were in constant apprehension of the questionable
strangers who made a business of blockade running, it-
can be conceived what difficulties must be encountered bv

any one who adopted this method of passing through the
lines. It would have been easier perhaps to have gone by
a flag of truce. A well known Southerner who is now in
a prominent position in New York City had attention at-
tracted to him by two occurrences that took place in his
younger days. He was a general in the Confederate army
and he resigned and joined the army as a private, that
was quite sensational. Again he went out one day in front
of the outer line of breastworks near Petersburg to ex-
change newspapers or some other thing as was the custom
during the interims of fighting and two soldiers from the
Union lines came out half way to meet him. When they
reached midway between the breastworks on each side
each Union soldier took him by the arms and marched
him into their own lines. That was more sensational still
and was susceptible of several constructions. The inci-
dent subjected him to undoubtedly unjust criticism and
the time construction was that the Union soldiers had
violated the conventional arrangement under which the
beligerants exchanged small articles, but it indicated that
the Union side were not averse to "receiving" all that
came and that going by flag of trace would have been less
difficult on the Union side than on the Confederate and
that persons on a peaceful mission, particularly ladies
need not have selected the hardships of a Potomac block-
ade running to have gotten through the lines.

My two sisters had been left North to attend school on
my father's exchange as a state prisoner andmy mother's
mission was to visit them. My father's official and pro-
fessional relations secured for the trip from the Confeder-
ate government a covered ambulance, two mules and a
colored driver. They were also supplied by personal
friends with letters of introduction to persons at whose
houses they expected to stop on the route to the Potomac.
The trip was to occupy about three days and the point of
destination was as usual opposite Leonardtown, Charles
County, Maryland. The first day was spent in a tiring,

uninteresting ride over bad roads and the days journey
terminated at the hospitable house of Muscoe Garnett
near Newton in King and Queen County at whose house I
subsequently spent a delightful summer, the next days
journey similar in character terminated at the equally hos-
pitable home of the Warings on the Rapakannoek River
in Essex County, where I also some years after visited.
The third days journey, just like the two proceeding,
brought them to the Potomac in Westmorland County at
the Wirt House. The following day arrangements were
made for effecting a crossing of the river and this was
termed "running the blockade." Success required the
trip to be at night, without moon or stars, with good
weather and smooth water, a rather difficult combination
where the river was several miles wide and Union patrol
boats constantly on the lookout for blockade runners. At
the appointed time, with conditions satisfactory, their
boat cleared the shore, when suddenly the moon came out,
a patrol boat was made out in the distance and the sail
boat was compelled in consequence to return, with no
further chance of success that night. After several days
of waiting and constant unwillingness on the part of the
boatman to make the venture, in which at every attempt,
he ran the risk of losing both his boat and his liberty, they
were fain to abandon the attempt, this being a common
experience in blockade running. And they were com-
pelled to return again to Richmond. Successful blockade
running across the Potomac was usually done by two only,
the boatman and one passenger, usually a man, a woman
blockade runner added to the difficulties and lessened a
successful issue. Two women would constitute almost in-
superable difficulties and it had better been left unat-
tempted. It was easier to go by ship from Wilmington to
Nassau, the usual rendezvous of blockade runners and then
from that point by a ship to New York; for blockade run-
ning in and out of Wilmington was common and easy.

While personal travel through the lines was as shown
difficult and full of excitement and trials, communication
by letter was easy and frequent. This was by way of flag
of truce boat. Every letter however was opened, read
and stamped as inspectad and if it was free from suspic-
ion and about personal matter only it reached its destina-
tion. Any suspicious circumstances however such as
ambiguity of expression, or anything of hidden meaning
which might convey information regarded as detrimental
to the government subjected the letter to oblivion.

After the war closed the condition of the Confederate
graves in Hollywood cemetery was so deplorable that a
general call was extended to all ex-Confederate soldiers in
Richmond to volunteer to put them in condition. At the
time appointed great numbers assembled at the Cemetery
for the purpose, including very many old cadets. Each
particular division of the graves had a certain number
assigned to it and there fell to the cadets a plot in the
lower ground comprising several hundred graves. Each
one of the cadets was furnished a hoe and the task that
at once confronted us was how we were to distinguish the
precise location of each grave. None of these graves
were marked and all any of us knew was that wherever
there was any indication of the grave, there had been
placed the remains of a Confederate soldier. It seems to
me that however loving our motive, we had better left
undone our volunteer task, for all the workers in common
solved their difficulty in identifying exact outlines of graves
by raising at regular and even intervals the little mounds
that were supposed to cover the places of interment, so
that if any indications previously existed as to the precise
location of any grave whereby some one familiar with the
surroundings would have identified it, these were effect-
ually destroyed by this service in putting in decent order
the burial places of the dead. And it was utterly impos-
sible thereafter to tell the exact resting place of any whose
grave was unmarked, the condition of very nearly all.

One of the most disastrous results of the war was the
effect ou the education of the men of the South. With
few exceptions all the young men at college or school old
enough to volunteer did so, with the resulting loss of four
years of the best period of their life for studying. At
the close of the war, the necessities of some were such
that providing for themselves or their families effectually
removed from them the possibilities of further education.
Others again straggled under most adverse conditions and
with many privations to acquire the requisite means to
complete their education, working on farms and engaging
in manual labor that always theretofore had been rele-
gated exclusively to the negro slaves. In many cases the
period for accomplishing the result dragged on for years
after the close of the war and even as late as 1871, six
years after the close of the war there was in the same law
class with me at the University of Virginia a, number of
ex-Confederate soldiers and among the nineteen of us who
received the degree of B. L. were two, one of whom had
been a Captain and the other a Major in the Confederate
army.

The condition of the ex-Confederates residing in the
country was measurably better than those in the cities and
towns, for the former could at the least scrape together in
one way or another some sort of a living. In the towns
and cities however through the South the struggle to ob-
tain a footing was more intense, and among the methods
adopted to furnish employment to ex-Confederates was
one of almost national character involving what was then
regarded as a very large capital with prospects supposed
to be brilliant both in furnishing extensive employment
for competent men and seeming great financial returns
for its promoters and subscribers, and that was the estab-
lishment of the Southern Express Company. General
Joseph E. Johnson was made president of the company
and almost every officer and employee from the highest
to the lowest was an ex- Confederate soldier. These two

pleas, employment of ex- Confederates and great financial
returns, particularly the former were the basis upon which
the subscriptions to the stock were generally secured. An
additional incentive was that only a small cash payment
(usually ten pei cent of the subscription) was required
from the stockholders . The balance it was supposed would
likely be made up from profits. From the start liberal
salaries were paid and assiduously drawn. Nearly all the
transportation business was done on credit, the railroads
and transportation companies being exceedingly liberal in
this, with the rapid result from inexperience in such busi-
ness and competition against an old established company
and its skilled employees, that the Southern Express Com-
pany soon ceased to do business, owing a vast amount of
debts to its employees for unpaid salaries and to trans-
portation companies for unpaid freight. The sequel re-
sulted in an assignment by the company for the benefit of
creditors and an administration ot its assets in the Chanc-
ery Court of Eichmoud, where the stockholders were as-
sessed their unpaid subscriptions, resulting in a crop of
suits to collect them that extended through many states of
the Union, particularly Virginia, Maryland, Missouri and
New York.

The war had a very slight effect on the negro's charac-
ter as a slave in the South, so far as he was capable of
comprehending and entertaining any sympathies, most of
the slaves had a vague idea that success to the Union
Army meant freedom for the slave and hence naturally
they felt no ill toward this result, neither did they en-
tertain ill will towards those who had held them in slavery,
for contrary to the general impression of the North the
negro slaves were treated with the greatest consideration,
not harshly, but just the reverse, Any master who omit-
ted to properly clothe and feed his slaves, to assiduously
care for them in sickness and old age and to treat them
justly and humanely was not only ostracised by his neigh-
bors and acquaintances but his family suffered seriously

m social positions so that no slaveholder was to be found who
could weather the trials to which an acknowledged brutal
master was subjected. This tenderness for the slave was
so pronounced that all persons who occupied a dominant
position with reference to him, such as the overseer or
slave dealer were regarded as occupying an inferior posi-
tion and were excluded from social relations with the slave
holders, not from an imagined superiority of the latter,
as sometimes alleged, but purely from the "off en siveness"
of their occupation. And I believe it can be said with the
endorsement of all who knew that the negro as a whole
was better cared for, and healthier and happier in slavery
than in freedom.

The hotels in Richmond that remained in operation clear
up until the evacuation by the Confederate troops were
the Spotswood at the corner ot Main street andSth street,
the American on Main street opposite the Post Office, and
the Powhatan at the corner of Broad and 11th streets.
The Spottswood was the leading hotel and there the higher
Confederate officers stopped when in Richmond. It was
burned shortly after the war closed. The American was
a popular hotel, well patronized by Confederate soldiers,
officers and men, and always crowded. It was burned in
the fire at the evacuation. The Powhatan was patronized
to a certain extent by Confederate soldiers, the generality
of its patrons were members of the Legislature.

Of course society entertainments in Richmond during
the war partook of the nature that pertained to everything
else. They were exceedingly few and such as took place
were novel or unique in character. TVTien a city of the
staid and fixed character like Richmond increased its resi-
dent population in a few months from sixty thousand people
to one hundred and twenty thousand or more, the new-
comers being largely refugees from all parts of the South,
together with Confederate officials and their families, also
from all over the south and when in addition this new ele-
ment furnished very much of the life of the Confederate

capitol it may be comprehended what was the result
socially. Overhanging the city was the constant menace
and stir of the great conflict. So that while entertaining
constantly took place, it was unobtrusive and exceedingly
simple. The most elaborate receptions were those at the
Governor's Mansion, simple as they were. The more
prominent given by any private individual was by a well
known and wealthy merchant where the refreshments con-
sisted exclusively of ice cream and pound cake. The
usual and popular method of entertaining were what might
probably now be styled evening, not afternoon teas ; in
place however of the elaborate refreshments which might
now be expected to be found at such was then really served
tea, then a rare and wonderful luxury. In addition to the
tea served in cups and handed around to those sitting in
the parlor was also served buttered bread, very seldom
cake ; it being remembered that white sugar was also a
great rarity in war times. I attended a wedding of the
daughter of one of the most prominent gentlemen in Rich-
mond. There were no refreshments and there were no
presents whatsoever to the bride. I do not think there
was at the close of the war a single jewelry store in ex-
istence in the City.

One of the most remarkable features of the war was the
intense animosity engendered among neighbors with sym-
pathies on opposite sides. Those who were formerly most
intimate friends now became most bitter enemies, not only
ceasing all intercourse, but ready to inflict contumely and
injury on each other. This spirit was not so apparent in
the South because with almost unanimity the Southern
people accepted the results of secession whatever opposi-
tion they may have first offered. But in the North on the
border line where there was a numerous Southern element
within the Northern lines this bitter antagonism was pro-
nounced, the more so against all known to be in sympa-
thy with the South. No more typical place existed for
this than Baltimore. In the towns and cities of what is

now West Virginia the same conditions existed. From
Baltimore and Maryland large numbers had gone South to
engage in the service. Besides these associations with
the Confederate soldiers from Maryland very many of
whom came from some of the wealthiest and most promi-
nent families of the State were the business and social
ties that had grown up between the South and Baltimore
as the Southern metropolis, so that with few exceptions
the leading people of the city were in sympathy with the
Southern cause. In many cases confiscation of the prop-
erty of those who had gone south took place, confined of
course under the Constitution to the life of the party af-
fected. In other cases arrests were made under the small-
est pretexts, all sorts of persecutions little and great were
indulged in towards the Southern sympathizers, espionage
being one of the numerous annoyances. Eelationship
whether near or remote seemed to make slight difference,
and it seems now almost impossible to account for the bit-
terness engendered. Of course material interests were
originally responsible, and no doubt the divergent views
over whether the state should or not secede, with the re-
sults that would affect such material interests and the high
pitch to which the contentions over the matter wrought up
the advocates pro or con were the causes that led to the
bitterness that existed. The Southerners were styled
"secessionists," "rebels", "traitors", "copperheads",
with the soldiers however a Southern soldier was always
"Kebel" or a "Johnny Eeb". The favorite popular bal-
lad commenced something like "Wll hang Jeff Davis on
a sour apple tree." In the South on the other hand there
was but one name for the Northerner and whether soldier
or civilian he was invariably called "yankee". Deep
down in the Southern heart however there was no recog-
nition of a social relation with neighbors of Northern
sympathies and for some years after the war ended I knew
of instances of Southern women, who in marrying Union
army officers were regarded not only as having impaired

their social status but as having done an act to reflect
upon their own family standing. And at the close of the
war, in Maryland, particularly in Baltimore, there was a
distinct spirit manifested to seduously ostracise socially
those who had been active in espousing the Union cause
during the war. And as equally a generous welcome was
extended to all who came from the South. It seems almost
inconceivable to those of the present day not aware of
the bitter antagonism existing during the war that such
could ever indeed have exited. To illustrate what would
occur on a slightest pretext : In some way it was sug-
gested that a Confederate flag was harbored in our house.
The provost marshal sent a company of soldiers who sur-
rounded the house, while the Captain and a guard accom-
panied by my father searched every portion of the prem-
ises from the top to the cellar with a perfectly fruitless
result. Again three paroled Confederate prisoners called
upon my father to be extended some assistance pecuniarily.
This he unhesitatingly extended to all needy Confederate
prisoners who called upon him, and while talking with
these three word was conveyed to the provost marshal
that a seditious meeting was taking place in his house,
resulting in a provost guard being sent who placed my
father and his visitors under arrest, to be quickly released,
however, as soon as the matter was investigated. The
smallest pretext and barest suspicion of disloyal senti-
ment or act led to invasion of the sanctity of ones house
and an interference with ones business or professional
duties.

But with all the sectional antagonism, the women of
Southern sympathies in Northern communities wrought
out results that showed their disregard of militaryism;
for they were unsparing in their work to help the South-
ern prisoners. No prisoners with an acquaintance of a
friend among the women was allowed to suffer for clothes
or luxuries and to help the large bodies of Southern pris-
oners in Northern prisons, sewing societies were formed

that met regularly at the members' houses where all kinds
of clothes needed by the prisoners were made up. These
meetings which I often attended were a delightful exper-
ience. A vast number of pretty girls and young married
women all actively engaged in sewing and cutting out,
exchanging experiences and information and each occasion
to be wound up with light refreshments.

A topic of constant discussion is the effect of the war
so far as the negro is concerned. I have seen the negro
in slavery before and during the war and now a freedman
for forty years since the war closed and I feel that I am
capable of expressing an opinion upon the subject. As
a slave he was generally well treated, and was generally
contented and happy. He was usually free from care or
responsibility, all his wants being provided for by his mas-
ter. He had a task to perform and the performance of it
was exacted of him, sometimes this task was exceedingly
light, it was scarcely ever severe. It was natural he
should wish to be able to essay or not to essay this task
as his humor suggested to him and the wish for this I
believe was the principal incentive for freedom to most of
the slaves. Very many I believe gave the matter of free-
dom no consideration and cared nothing about it. When
the close of the war brought freedom to the vast body of
those who were slaves their reasoning suggested to them
as it did to very many of the less informed whites that
the war had been fought purely to free the negro. The
corollary to this in the mind of the negro was that they
were the equal of the whites, and immediately upon the
close of the war the teaching inculcated among themselves
with greatest assiduity was the matter of equality. Dur-
ing the lapse of forty years however the question of
equality has in a measure worked itself out as it always
does dependent upon personal and material factors.
When persons occupy grades of servants, labor-
ers, mechanics, storekeepers, merchants and pro-
fessional men the question of color in that all

are black will notpnt thein on au equality one
with the other and the question of equality is not
helped by trying to extend the equalizing so as to put the
colored man whatever his condition in life on a level with
the white man whatever his condition. This was a strug-
gle so patent in the case of the freedmen immediately af-
ter the close of the war that was bound in the course of
years to disappear from the hopelessness of it. The re-
sult is that from my observation the negro has measurably
been battered after the many years that have elapsed since
the war, so that now his deportment and manners are bet-
ter, he is more honest and he has not deteriorated as a
worker and he is getting nearer to the deportment he pos-
sessed before his character was disrupted by the harmful
teachings of those idealists in the New England States who
professed before and during the war to be his only true
friends.

There was one restriction upon the negro in slavery that
was a great source of trouble to him and that was the ex-
istence of the law which forbade absence from home after
dark except upon a written pass furnished by the master
or his agent, any member of the family as a quasi agent,
even the children could give these passes, and I have often
given such. Absence without such pass subjected the
slave to arrest and detention until morning when a trial
took place in the Mayor's court, the penalty being the
public whipping post. This was about the only occasion
a slave in any well ordered family was likely to be visited
with a whipping, which was then a legal penalty inflicted
by public authority for a violation of the law. And such
whipping was very apt to arouse indignation on the part
of the master and certainly his family between whom and
the slaves there always exited a bond of affection as well
as material interest. So far from whipping slaves by the
master's authority not only did self interest forbid this,
but as before indicated this was recognized as one of the
acts of maltreatment which resulted in loss of social

status to any family that was known to so deal with their
slaves. A tender regard for slaves was so assiduously
exacted by public sentiment in the South that it was ac-
cepted as a serious reflection to sell one. I have frequently
read accounts of the awful slave pens and jails where
slaves being sold were detained until a purchaser and new
master was found all of which accounts are purely mythi-
cal written by dreamers with vivid imaginations and no
actual experience. I have been again and again in these
houses of slave dealers where slaves remained pending a
sale. The last one I visited was in accompanying my
father for the purpose of purchasing a cook. All of those
present, some twenty-five women, were called to the large
front room and they ranged themselves in line. Every
one was neatly dressed and showed in their appearance
and demeanor unmistakable signs of kind treatment and
being well cared for. Thinking people reading such ac-
counts must see instantly that outside of any sentiment of
humanity good business policy required the best treatment
at such places. The slaves were sent there to be sold
and the best price was wanted and that price was to be
obtained only when a good impression was made on the
purchaser and it was made alone by the appearance of the
slave. To secure a healthful appearance and indications
of a good disposition and temperament required good
treatment, and the disposition and temperament was so
carefully looked after by a purchaser as health and ability
to work, for it was recognized that most slaves came to
slave dealers' hands because the previous master had
found some trouble on this score of disposition or tem-
perament this being the single exception outside of failure
in business when an owner felt justified by public opinion
to make sale of his slaves.

The life on a large plantation for a negro slave was an
almost ideal life. Each plantation of from about five
hundred to several thousand acres with its several hundred
slaves was a perfect community in itself. Every trade

and occupation necessary to the effective running of the
plantation was represented. One of the slaves was a
skilled blacksmith and wheelwright, another a competent
carpenter, still another a shoemaker and so on through-
out the list of utilities. In the order of dignity and pref-
erment the house servants came first. There were plenty
of them in every household and the work assigned to each
was exceedingly light, they were dressed well, ate the
same food used by the family, were well trained both men-
tally and morally, participated from the ties of interest
that bound them to the family in its pleasure to a greater
extent than could have been experienced by hired servants
and in sickness or trouble were cared for with a tender-
ness no less than would be shown to a favorite child.
Next in the order of regard came the coachman, thegard-
ner, the assistant overseer, who was always a slave; in-
deed all whose duties brought them more especially in
frequent contact with the whites on the plantation. Then
came the field hands, both men and women, and no hap-
pier lot of human beings in their work could be found
than were ordinarily these same people whatever might
be the task to which they were assigned. I have been
with them in hoeing corn, in cutting wheat, in threshing
grain, in curing tobacco, indeed in every work which went
on and I speak from my own personal experience in stat-
ing as I do the spirit with which they worked. Every
provision was made for their well being, self interest of
the master, independent of dictates of humanity, and
pressure of public opinion required this. The negro quart-
ers were sufficiently far from the house to permit of the
pleasures that appealed to the negro heart without the
noise disturbing the white folks. Each negro family
usually had a cabin, ample and comfortable, with a gar-
den attached in which was raised vegetables and the hours
of field labor were such as to leave ample time to culti-
vate this garden. Rations of staple food were served with
the same regularity and provisions for health and comfort

as in araiy life. They were supplied with ample clothing.
Whether in health or sickness and from birth to death
the care of his slaves was the first regard of the slave
owner, and an exception to such was not tolerated in the
community. The family bible of the master's family first
contained the births, deaths and marriages of the mem-
bers of his family, then in the same bible followed exactly
similar entries with reference to his slaves. The members
of his family became the instructors of the negro chil-
dren in Sunday school work. The adult negroes were
given ample opportunity and encouraged to attend relig-
ious meetings. The negro slave was indeed without a
care or anxiety for his comfort or welfare from the time
of his birth to the period when he was tenderly laid away
in the plot set aside on every plantation for the negro
burial ground.

<6 %7

4& y

T„ is b oe* * due a, me WAUTER ^DAV^BRAW en
the last date stamped under Date Due.
be renewed by bringing it to the l.brary.

DATE RETURf
DUE

"~~

Form No 513. 1
flev. 1/84 i

DATE
DUE

RETURNED

■:'■..'■.. ; '■■''■■■■.'■ •■■■•. ■■'■'■ ■":■'"■'

$^?^