Sandhillers—Dirt-eating—Dipping—Their Mode of Living—Patois—Rain-book—Wife-trade—Coming in to see the Cars—Superstition—Marriage of Kinsfolks—Hardshell Sermon—Causes which lead to the Degradation of this Class—Efforts to Reconcile the Poor Whites to the Peculiar Institution—The Slaveholding Class—The Middle Class—Northern Isms—Incident at a Methodist Minister’s House—Question asked a Candidate for Licensure—Reason of Southern Hatred toward the North—Letter to Mr. Jackman—Barbarities and Cruelties of Slavery—Mulattoes—Old Cole—Child Born at Whipping-post—Advertisement of a Keeper of Bloodhounds—Getting Rid of Free Blacks—The Doom of Slavery—Methodist Church South.
Sandhillers—Dirt-eating—Dipping—Their Mode of Living—Patois—Rain-book—Wife-trade—Coming in to see the Cars—Superstition—Marriage of Kinsfolks—Hardshell Sermon—Causes which lead to the Degradation of this Class—Efforts to Reconcile the Poor Whites to the Peculiar Institution—The Slaveholding Class—The Middle Class—Northern Isms—Incident at a Methodist Minister’s House—Question asked a Candidate for Licensure—Reason of Southern Hatred toward the North—Letter to Mr. Jackman—Barbarities and Cruelties of Slavery—Mulattoes—Old Cole—Child Born at Whipping-post—Advertisement of a Keeper of Bloodhounds—Getting Rid of Free Blacks—The Doom of Slavery—Methodist Church South.
The sojourner in the Slave States is struck with the wretched and degraded appearance of a class of people called by the slaveholders, “poor white folks,” and “the tallow-faced gentry,” from their pallid complexion. They live in wretched hovels, dress slatternly, and are exceedingly filthy in their habits. Many of them are clay or dirt-eaters, which is said to cause their peculiar complexion. Theirchildren, at a very early age, form this filthy and disgusting habit; and mere infants may be found with their mouths filled with dirt. The mud with which they daub the interstices between the logs of their rude domicils, must be frequently renewed, as the occupants pick it all out in a very short time, and eat it. This pernicious practice induces disease. The complexion becomes pale, similar to that occasioned by chronic ague and fever.
Akin to this is the practice of snuff-dipping, which is not confined exclusively to females of the poor white caste, though scarcely one in fifty of this class is exempt from the disgusting habit. The method is this: The female snuff-dipper takes a short stick, and wetting it with her saliva, dips it into her snuff-box, and then rubs the gathered dust all about her mouth, and into the interstices of her teeth, where she allows it to remain until its strength has been fully absorbed. Others hold the stick thus loaded with snuff in the cheek,a la quidof tobacco, and suck it with a decided relish, while engaged in their ordinary avocations;while others simply fill the mouth with the snuff, and imitate, to all intents and purposes, the chewing propensities of the men. In the absence of snuff, tobacco in the plug or leaf is invariably resorted to as a substitute. Oriental betel-chewing, and the Japanese fashion of blacking the teeth of married ladies, are the height of elegance compared with snuff-dipping. The habit leads to a speedy decay of the teeth, and to nervous disorders of every kind. Those who indulge in it become haggard at a very early age.
ThePetersburg(Va.)Expressestimates the number of women in that State as one hundred and twenty-five thousand, one hundred thousand of whom are snuff-dippers. Every five of these will use a two-ounce paper of snuff per day; that is, to the hundred thousand dippers, two thousand five hundred pounds a day, amounting, in one year, to the enormous quantity of nine hundred and twelve thousand pounds. This practice prevails generally, it says, among the poor whites, though some females of the higher classes are guilty of it.
The poor whites obtain their subsistence, as far as practicable, in the primitive aboriginal mode, viz., by hunting and fishing. When these methods fail to afford a supply, they cultivate a truck-patch, and some of them raise a bale or two of cotton, with the proceeds of the sale of which they buy whiskey, tobacco, and a few necessary articles. When all other methods fail, they resort to stealing, to which many of them are addicted from choice, as well as from necessity. They are exceeding slovenly in their habits, cleanliness being a rare virtue. Indolence is a prevailing vice, and its lamentable effects are everywhere visible. They fully obey the scriptural injunction, take no thought for the morrow. A present supply, sufficient to satisfy nature’s most urgent demands, being obtained, their care ceases, and they relapse into listless inactivity. They herd together upon the poor sand-hills, the refuse land of the country, which the rich slaveholder will not purchase, for which reason, they are sometimes called sand-hillers, and here they live, and their children, and their children’s children, throughsuccessive generations, in the same deplorable condition of wretchedness and degradation.
They are exceedingly ignorant; not one adult in fifty can write; not one in twenty can read. They can scarcely be said to speak the English language, using a patois which is scarcely intelligible. An old lady thus related an incident of which her daughter “Sal” was the heroine. “My darter Sal yisterday sot the lather to the damsel tree, and clim up, and knocked some of the nicest saftest damsels I ever seed in my born days.” I once called to make some inquiry about the road, at a small log tenement, inhabited by a sand-hiller and family. A sheet was hanging upon the wall, containing the portraits of the Presidents of the United States. I remarked to the lady of the house that those were, I believed, the pictures of the Presidents.
“Yes!” she replied; “they is, and I’ve hearn tell of ’em a long time. They must be gittin’ mighty old, ef some of ’em aint dead. That top one,” she continued, “is Gineral Washington. I’ve hearn of him ever sence I was a gal.He must be gittin’ up in years, ef he aint dead. Him and Gineral Jackson fit the British and Tories at New Orleans, and whipped ’em, too.”
She seemed to pride herself greatly on her historical knowledge.
One of these geniuses once informed me of a peculiar kind of book “he’d hearn tell on,” that the Yankees had. He had forgotten its name, but thus described it: “It told the day of the week the month come in on. It told when we was a gwine to have rain, and what kind of wether we was gwine to have in gineral. May-be they call it a rain-book.”
I replied that I had heard of the book, and I believed that it was called an Almanac.
“You’ve said it now,” remarked the man. “It’s a alminick, and I’d give half I’s wuth to have one. I’d no when to take a umberell, and if I haddent nary one, I’d no when I could go a huntin’ without gittin’ wet.”
Two of these semi-savages had resolved to remove to the West, in hope of bettering their condition. One wished to remove to Arkansas, the other to Texas. The wife of the formerwished to go to Texas, the latter to Arkansas. The husbands were desirous of gratifying their spouses, but could devise no plan that seemed likely to prove satisfactory, till one day when hunting, finding game scarce, they sat down upon a log, when the following dialogue took place:
“Kit, I’m sort o’ pestered about Dilsie. She swars to Rackensack she’ll go, and no whar else. I allers had a hankerin’ arter Texas. Plague take Rackensack, I say! Ef a man war thar, the ager and the airthquakes ed shake him out on it quicker en nothin’.”
“When a woman’s set on a gwine anywhar, they’re a gwine. It’s jest no use to talk. I’ve coaxed Minnie more’n a little to go long with me to Arkansas, and the more I coax, the more she wont go.”
“Well, Kit, ’sposen we swap women.”
“Well, Sam, what trade’ll ye gin?”
“Oh! a gentleman’s trade, of course!”
“Shucks, Sam! ’sposen I had a young filly, and you a old mar, ye wouldn’t ax an even trade, would ye?”
“No; it ’ud be too hard. I tell you what I’ll do, Kit. Here’s a shot-gun that’s wuth ten dollars, ef it’s wuth a red. I’ll give it and that ar b’ar-skin hangin’ on the side of my shanty, to boot, and say it’s a trade.”
“Nuff sed, ef the women’s agreed.”
Home they went, and stated the case to the women, who,after due deliberation, acceded to the proposition, having also made a satisfactory arrangement about the children, and they all soon went on their way rejoicing to their respective destinations in that
“American’s haven of eternal rest,Found a little farther West.”
On the Sabbath after the completion of the Memphis and Charleston railroad, a large number of the sand-hillers came to Iuka Springs, to witness the passing of the cars. Arriving too early, they visited a church where divine service was progressing. Whilst the minister was in the midst of his sermon, the locomotive whistle sounded, when a stampede took place to the railroad. The exodus left the parsonalmost alone in his glory. The passing train caused the most extravagant expressions and gestures of wonder and astonishment by these rude observers. It was an era in their life.
Once while standing on the railroad-track, I observed a crowd of these people coming to see the “elephant.” They came so near, that I overheard their conversation. One young lass, of sweet sixteen, with slattern dress and dishevelled hair, looking up the road, which was visible for a great distance, thus expressed her astonishment at what she saw: “O, dad! what a long piece of iron!” Soon the whistle sounded; this they had never heard before, and came to the conclusion that it was a dinner-horn. As soon as the cars came in sight, they scattered like frightened sheep, some on one side of the road, and some on the other. Nor did they halt till they had placed fifty yards at least between them and the track.
Superstition prevails amongst them to a fearful extent. Almost every hut has a horse-shoe nailed above the door, or on the threshold, to keep out witches. In sickness, charms andincantations are used to drive away disease. Their physicians are chiefly what are termed faith-doctors, who are said to work miraculous cures. They are strong believers in luck. If a rabbit cross their path, they will turn round to change their luck. If, on setting out on a journey, an owl hoot on the left hand, they will return and set out anew. If the new moon is seen through brush, or on the left hand, it is a bad omen. They will have trouble during the lunar month. When the whippoorwill is first heard in the spring, they turn head over heels thrice, to prevent back-ache during the year. Dreams are harbingers of joy or wo. To dream of snakes, is ominous. To dream of seeing a coffin, or conversing with the dead, is a sign of approaching dissolution, and many have no doubt perished through terror, occasioned by such dreams. Fortune-tellers are rife amongst them—those sages whose comprehensive view knows the past, the present, and the future. They seek unto familiar spirits, that peep and mutter, for the living to the dead.
They have many deformed, and blind, and deaf among them, in consequence of the intermarriage of relatives. Cousins often marry, and occasionally they marry within the degrees of consanguinity prohibited by the law of God. Perhaps this divine law forbids the marriage of cousins when it declares, “Thou shalt not marry any that is near of kin.” The sad effects on posterity, both mentally and physically, lead to the conviction that if the law of God does not condemn it, physiological law does.
These sand-hillers do not (when no serious preventive occurs) fail to attend the elections, where the highest bidder obtains their vote. Sometimes their vote will command cash, and sometimes only whiskey. It is sad to witness the elective franchise, that highest and most glorious badge of a freeman, thus prostituted.
The proverb holds good—Like people, like priest. Their ministers are ignorant, ranting fanatics. They despise literature, and every Sabbath fulminate censures upon an educated ministry. The following is a specimen of theirpreaching. Mr. V—— is a Hard-shell Baptist, or, as they term themselves, “Primitive Baptists.” Entering the pulpit on a warm morning in July, he will take off his coat and vest, roll up his sleeves, and then begin:
My Brethering and Sistern—I air a ignorant man, follered the plough all my life, and never rubbed agin nary college. As I said afore, I’m ignorant, and I thank God for it. (Brother Jones responds, “Passon, yer ort to be very thankful, fur yer very ignorant.”) Well, I’m agin all high larnt fellers what preaches grammar and Greek fur a thousand dollars a year. They preaches fur the money, and they gits it, and that’s all they’ll git. They’ve got so high larnt they contradicts Scripter, what plainly tells us that the sun rises and sets. They seys it don’t, but that the yerth whirls round, like clay to the seal. What ud cum of the water in the wells ef it did. Wodent it all spill out, and leave ’em dry, and whar ed we be? I may say to them, as thesarpent said unto David, much learning hath made thee mad.When I preaches, I never takes a tex till I goes inter the pulpit; then I preaches a plain sarment, what even women can understand. I never premedertates, but what is given to me in that same hour, that I sez. Now I’m a gwine ter open the Bible, and the first verse I sees, I’m a gwine to take it for a tex. (Suiting the action to the word, he opened the Bible, and commenced reading and spelling together.) Man is f-e-a-r-f-u-l-l-y—fearfully—and w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l-l-y—wonderfully—m-a-d-e—mad.—“Man is fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Pronouncedmad.) Well, it’s a quar tex, but I said I’s a gwine to preach from it, and I’m a gwine to do it. In the fust place, I’ll divide my sarment into three heads. Fust and foremost, I show you that a man will git mad. 2d. That sometimes he’ll git fearfully mad; and thirdly and lastly, when thar’s lots of things to vex and pester him, he’ll git fearfully and wonderfully mad. And in the application I’ll show you that good men sometimes gits mad,for the Posle David hisself, who rote the tex, got mad, and called all men liars, and cussed his enemies, wishen’ ’em to go down quick into hell; and Noah, he got tite, and cussed his nigger boy Ham, just like some drunken masters now cusses their niggers. But Noah and David repented; and all on us what gits mad must repent, or the devil’ll git us.
My Brethering and Sistern—I air a ignorant man, follered the plough all my life, and never rubbed agin nary college. As I said afore, I’m ignorant, and I thank God for it. (Brother Jones responds, “Passon, yer ort to be very thankful, fur yer very ignorant.”) Well, I’m agin all high larnt fellers what preaches grammar and Greek fur a thousand dollars a year. They preaches fur the money, and they gits it, and that’s all they’ll git. They’ve got so high larnt they contradicts Scripter, what plainly tells us that the sun rises and sets. They seys it don’t, but that the yerth whirls round, like clay to the seal. What ud cum of the water in the wells ef it did. Wodent it all spill out, and leave ’em dry, and whar ed we be? I may say to them, as thesarpent said unto David, much learning hath made thee mad.
When I preaches, I never takes a tex till I goes inter the pulpit; then I preaches a plain sarment, what even women can understand. I never premedertates, but what is given to me in that same hour, that I sez. Now I’m a gwine ter open the Bible, and the first verse I sees, I’m a gwine to take it for a tex. (Suiting the action to the word, he opened the Bible, and commenced reading and spelling together.) Man is f-e-a-r-f-u-l-l-y—fearfully—and w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l-l-y—wonderfully—m-a-d-e—mad.—“Man is fearfully and wonderfully made.” (Pronouncedmad.) Well, it’s a quar tex, but I said I’s a gwine to preach from it, and I’m a gwine to do it. In the fust place, I’ll divide my sarment into three heads. Fust and foremost, I show you that a man will git mad. 2d. That sometimes he’ll git fearfully mad; and thirdly and lastly, when thar’s lots of things to vex and pester him, he’ll git fearfully and wonderfully mad. And in the application I’ll show you that good men sometimes gits mad,for the Posle David hisself, who rote the tex, got mad, and called all men liars, and cussed his enemies, wishen’ ’em to go down quick into hell; and Noah, he got tite, and cussed his nigger boy Ham, just like some drunken masters now cusses their niggers. But Noah and David repented; and all on us what gits mad must repent, or the devil’ll git us.
Thus he ranted, to the great edification of his hearers, who regard him as a perfect Boanerges, to which title his stentorian voice would truly entitle him. This exordium will serve as a specimen of the “sarment,” as it continued in the same strain to the end of the peroration.
Where there is no vision, the people perish. Such blind leaders of the blind are liable, with their infatuated followers, to fall into a ditch worse than Bunyan’s Slough of Despond. This minister had undoubtedly run when he was not sent, though he “had hearn a call; a audible voice had, while he was a shucken corn, said unto him, Preach.” Though God does not need men’s learning, yet he has as little use fortheir ignorance. Learning is the handmaid of religion, but must not be substituted in its stead.
The causes which induce this “wilderness of mind” are patent to all who make even a cursory examination. There is a tendency in the poor to ape the manners of the rich. Those having slaves to labour in their stead, toil not physically; hence labour falls into disrepute, and the poorer classes, having no slaves to work for them, and not choosing to submit to the degradation of labour, incur all the evils resulting from idleness and poverty. Ignorance and vice of every kind soon ensue, and a general apathy prevails, which destroys in a great measure all mental and physical vigour.
The slaveholders buy up all the fertile lands to be cultivated by their slaves; hence the poor are crowded out, and if they remain in the vicinity of the place of their nativity, they must occupy the poor tracts whose sterility does not excite the cupidity of their rich neighbours. The slaveholders’ motto is, “Let us buy more negroes to raise more cotton, to buy morenegroes, and so onad infinitum.” To raise more cotton they must also buy more land. Small farmers are induced to sell out to them, and move further west. For this reason, the white population of the fertile sections of the older slave States is constantly on the decrease, while the slave population is as constantly increasing. Thus the slaveholder often acquires many square miles of land, and hundreds of human chattels. He is, as it were, set alone in the earth. Priding himself upon his wealth, he will not send his princely sons to the same school with the poor white trash; he either sends them to some distant college or seminary, or employs a private teacher exclusively for his children. The poor whites in the neighbourhood, even should they desire to educate their children, have no means to pay for their tuition. Compelled to live on poor or worn-out lands, honest toil considered degrading, and forced to submit to many inconveniences and disabilities (all the offices of honour and profit being monopolized by the slaveholders,) through the workings of the “peculiar institution,” they find it utterlyimpossible to educate their offspring, even in the rudiments of their mother tongue. As the power of slavery increases, their condition waxes worse and worse.
The slaveocracy becomes more exacting. Laws are passed by the legislature compelling non-slaveholders to patrol the country nightly, to prevent insurrections by the negroes. They denounce the law, but coercion is resorted to, and the poor whites are forced to obey. When their masters call for them, they must leave their labour, by day or by night, patrol the country, follow the bloodhounds, arrest the fugitive slave, and do all other dirty work which their tyrants demand. If they refuse to obey, they are denounced as abolitionists, and are in danger of death at the hands of Judge Lynch, the mildest punishment they can hope for being a coat of tar and feathers.
The house-negroes feel themselves several degrees above the poor whites, as they, from their opportunities for observation amongst the higher classes, are possessed of greater information and less rusticity than this less favouredclass. The poor whites have no love for the institution of slavery. They regard it as the instrument of inflicting upon them many wrongs, and depriving them of many rights. They dare not express their sentiments to the slaveholders, who hold them completely under their power. A. G. Brown, United States Senator from Mississippi, to reconcile the poor whites to the peculiar institution, used the following arguments in a speech at Iuka Springs, Mississippi. He stated, that if the slaves were liberated, and suffered to remain in the country, the rich would have money to enable them to go to some other clime, and that the poor whites would be compelled to remain amongst the negroes, who would steal their property, and destroy their lives; and if slavery were abolished, and the negroes removed and colonized, the rich would take the poor whites for slaves, in their stead, and reduce them to the condition of the Irish and Dutch in the North, whose condition he represented to be one of cruel bondage. These statements had some effect upon his auditors, who believed,from sad experience, that the rich could oppress the poor as they chose, and might, in the contingency specified, reduce them to slavery. Labour is considered so degrading, that any argument, based upon making labour compulsory on their part, has its weight. Even the beggar despises work. A sturdy beggar asked alms at a house at which I was lodging. As he appeared to be a man of great physical strength, he was advised to go to work, and thus provide for his wants. “Work!” said he, in disgust; “niggers do the work in this country”—and retired highly insulted.
This people form a distinct class, distinguished by as many characteristics from the middle and higher classes of Southern society, as the Jews are from the nations amongst whom they sojourn. The causes which brought about their reduction to their present state of semi-barbarism, must be removed, ere they can rise to the condition whence they have fallen. They must rise upon the ruins of slavery. When the peculiar institution is abolished, then, and not till then, will their disabilities beremoved, and they be in reality what they are nominally—freemen.
Slaveholders and their families form a distinct class, characterized by idleness, vanity, licentiousness, profanity, dissipation, and tyranny. There are glorious exceptions, it is true, but those are the distinguishing traits of the class. The middle class is the virtuous class of the South. They are industrious, frugal, hospitable, simple in their habits, plain and unostentatious in their manners. Some of this class are small slaveholders, but the great majority own none. The gross vices of the higher class are not found among them. They labour regardless of the sneers of their aristocratic neighbours. Senator Hammond, of South Carolina, may call them mudsills; they regard it not, but pursue the even tenor of their way. The slow, unmoving finger of scorn may be pointed at them by the sons of pride, yet they refuse to eat the bread of idleness, and labour with theirown hands, that they may provide things honest in the sight of all men. Equidistant from poverty and riches, they enjoy thegolden mean, and immunity from the temptations incident to the extremes of abject poverty and great riches.
In the slave States all those born north of the “nigger line,” are denominated Yankees. This is applied as a term of reproach. When a southerner is angry with a man of northern nativity, he does not fail to stigmatize him as a Yankee. The slaveholders manifest considerable antipathy against the Yankees, which has been increasing during the last ten years. In 1858, the Legislature of Mississippi passed resolutions recommending non-intercourse with the “Abolition States,” and requesting the people not to patronize natives of those States residing amongst them, and especially to discountenance Yankee ministers and teachers. In the educational notice of Memphis Synodical College, at La Grange, Tennessee, it is expressly stated that the Faculty are of southern birth and education. The principals of the Female Seminaries at Corinth and Iuka, Mississippi, give notice that no Yankee teachers will be employed in those institutions. While on avisit at the house of a Methodist clergyman, quite a number of ministers, returning from Conference, called to tarry for the night. During the evening, one of them, learning that I was “Yankee born,” thus interrogated me: “Why is it, sir, that all kinds of delusions originate in the North, such as Millerism, Mormonism, Spirit-rappings, and Abolitionism?” To which I replied: “The North originates everything. All the text-books used in southern schools, all the books on law, physic, and divinity, are written and published north of Mason & Dixon’s line. The South does not even print Bibles. The magnetic telegraph, the locomotive, Lucifer matches, and even the cotton-gin, are all northern inventions. The South, sir, has not sense enough to invent a decent humbug. These humbugs once originated, the South is always well represented by believers in them. I have known more men to go from this county (Shelby county, Tennessee) to the Mormons, than I have known to go from the whole State of Ohio.”
When I had thus spoken, my inquisitor was nonplussed, and the laugh went against him.
When a candidate before the Presbytery of Chickasaw, in Mississippi, for licensure, one of the members of Presbytery, learning that I was a “Yankee,” asked me the following questions, and received the following answers:
“Mr. Aughey, when will the day of judgment take place?”
“The Millerites have stated that the 30th of June next will be the judgment-day. As for myself, I have had no revelation on the subject, and expect none.”
“Do you believe that any one can call the spirits?”
“I do, sir.”
“What! believe that the spirits can be called?”
“I do, sir.”
“I will vote, then, against your licensure, if you have fallen into this heresy of the land of your nativity.”
Another then said:
“Brother Aughey, please explain yourself.I know you do not believe in spirit-rapping.”
“I do not, sir, though I believe, as I stated, that any one may call the spirits; but I do not believe that they will come in answer to the call.”
A lady once remarked to me that she did not believe that a northern man would ever become fully reconciled to the institution of slavery, and that his influence and sentiments, whatever might be his profession of attachment to the peculiar institution, would be against it. The cause of the general opposition to northern men is their opposition to slavery. Their testimony is against its abominations and barbarities, and hence the wish to impair the credibility of the witnesses.
An illustration of the working of the institution may be found in the following letter:
Kosciusko, Attala County, Mississippi,December 25, 1861.Mr. William Jackman:Dear Sir—Your last kind and truly welcome letter came to hand in due course of mail. Iowe you an apology for delaying an answer so long. My apparent neglect was occasioned by no want of respect for you; but in consequence of the disturbed state of the country, and difficulty of communication with the North, I feared my reply would never reach you. Now, however, by directing “viaNorfolk and flag of truce,” letters are sent across the lines to the North. In your letter you desired me, from this stand-point, to give you my observations of the workings of the peculiar institution, and an expression of my views as to its consistency with the eternal principles of rectitude and justice. In reply, I will give you a plain narrative of facts.On my advent to the South, I was at first struck with the fact that the busy hum of labour had in some measure ceased. What labour I did observe progressing, was done with little skill, and mainly by negroes. I called upon the Rev. Dr. R. J. Breckinridge, to whom I had a letter of introduction, who treated me with the greatest kindness, inviting me to make his house my home when I visitedthat section of country. On leaving his house, he gave me some directions as to the road I must travel to reach a certain point. “You will pass,” said he, “a blacksmith’s shop, where a one-eyed man is at work—my property.” The phrase, “my property,” I had never before heard applied to a human being, and though I had never been taught to regard the relation of master and slave as a sinful relation, yet it grated harshly upon my ears to hear a human being, a tradesman, called a chattel; but it grated much more harshly, a week after this, to hear the groans of two such chattels, as they underwent a severe flagellation, while chained to the whipping-post, because they had, by half an hour, overstayed their time with their families on an adjoining plantation.The next peculiar abomination of the peculiar institution which I observed, was the licentiousness engendered by it. Mr. D. T——, of Madison county, Kentucky, had a white family of children, and a black, or rather mulatto family. As his white daughters married, he gave each a mulatto half-sister, as a waiting-girl, orbody-servant. Mr. K.——, of Winchester, Kentucky, had a mulatto daughter, and he was also the father of her child, thus re-enacting Lot’s sin. Dr. C——, of Tishomingo county, Mississippi, has a negro concubine, and a white servant to wait on her. Mr. B.——, of Marshall county, Mississippi, lived with his white wife till he had grandchildren, some of whom came to school to me, when he repudiated his white wife, and attached himself to a very homely old African, who superintends his household, and rules his other slaves with rigour. Mr. S——, of Tishomingo county, Mississippi, has a negro concubine, and a large family of mulatto children. He once brought this woman to church in Rienzi, to the great indignation of the white ladies, who removed to a respectable distance from her.I preached recently to a large congregation of slaves, the third of whom were as white as myself. Some of them had red hair and blue eyes. If there are any marked characteristics of their masters’ families, the mulatto slaves are possessed of these characteristics. Irefer to physical peculiarities, such as large mouths, humped shoulders, and peculiar expressions of countenance. I asked a gentleman how it happened that some of his slaves had red hair. He replied that he had a red-headed overseer for several years.I never knew a pious overseer—never! There may be many, but I never saw one. Overseers, as a class, are worse than slaveholders themselves. They are cruel, brutal, licentious, dissipated, and profane. They always carry a loaded whip, a revolver, and a Bowie-knife. These men have the control of women, whom they often whip to death. Mr. P——, who resided near Holly Springs, had a negro woman whipped to death while I was at his house during a session of Presbytery. Mr. C——, of Waterford, Mississippi, had a woman whipped to death by his overseer. But such cruel scourgings are of daily occurrence. Colonel H——, a member of my church, told me yesterday that he ordered a boy, who he supposed wasfeigningsickness, to the whipping-post, but that he had not advanced ten stepstoward it, when he fell dead!—and the servant was free from his master. During our conversation, a girl passed. “There is a girl,” said he, “who does not look very white in the face, owing to exposure; but when I strip her to whip her, I find that she has a skin as fair as my wife.” Mrs. F—— recently whipped a boy to death within half a mile of my residence. A jury of inquest returned a verdict that he came to his death by cruelty; but nothing more was done. Mrs. M—— and her daughter, of Holly Springs, abused a girl repeatedly. She showed her bruises to some of my acquaintances, and they believed them fatal. She soon after died. Mr. S——, a member of my church, has several maimed negroes from abuse on the part of the overseer.I am residing on the banks of the Yock-a-nookany, which means “meandering,” when translated from the Indian tongue. In this vicinity there are large plantations, cultivated by hundreds of negroes. The white population is sparse. Every night the negroes are brought to a judgment-seat. The overseer presides.If they have not laboured to suit him, or if their task is unfulfilled, they are chained to a post, and severely whipped. The victims are invariably stripped; to what extent, is at the option of the overseer. In Louisiana, women, preparatory to whipping, are often stripped to a state of perfect nudity. Old Mr. C——, of Waterford, Mississippi, punished his negroesby slitting the soles of their feet with his Bowie-knife! One man he put into a cotton-press, and turned the screw till life was extinct. He stated that he only intended to alarm the man, but carried the joke too far. I have heard women thus plead, in piteous accents, when chained to the whipping-post, and stripped: “O, my God, master! don’t whip me! I was sick! indeed I was sick! I had a chill, and the fever is on me now! I haven’t tasted a morsel to-day! You know I works when I is well! O for God’s sake don’t whip a poor sick nigger! My poor chile’s sick too! Missis thinks it’s a dyin’! O master, for the love of God, don’t cut a poor distressed woman wid your whip! I’ll try to do better,ef you’ll only let me off this once!” These piteous plaints only rouse the ire of their cruel task-masters, who sometimes knock them down in the midst of their pleadings. I have known an instance of a woman giving birth to a child at the whipping-post. The fright and pain brought on premature labour.One beautiful Sabbath morning I stood on the levee at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and counted twenty-seven sugar-houses in full blast. I found that the negroes were compelled to labour eighteen hours per day, and were not permitted to rest on the Sabbath during the rolling season. The negroes on most plantations have a truck-patch, which they cultivate on the Sabbath. I have pointed out the sin of thus labouring on the Sabbath, but they plead necessity; their children, they state, must suffer from hunger if they did not cultivate their truck-patch, and their masters would not give them time on any other day.Negroes, by law, are prohibited from learning to read. This law was not strictly enforced in Tennessee and some other States till withina few years past. I had charge of a Sabbath-school for the instruction of blacks in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1853. This school was put down by the strong arm of the law in a short time after my connection with it ceased. In Mississippi, a man who taught slaves to read or write would be sent to the penitentiary instanter. The popular plea for this wickedness is, that if they were taught to read, they would read abolition documents; and if they were taught to write, they would write themselves passes, and pass northward to Canada.Such advertisements as the following often greet the eye.“Kansas War.—The undersind taks this method of makkin it noan that he has got a pack of the best nigger hounds in the South. My hounds is well trand, and I has had much experience a huntin niggers, having follered it for the last fiften year. I will go anywhar that I’m sent for, and will ketch niggers at the follerin raits.“My raits fur ketchin runaway niggers $10 per hed, ef they’s found in the beat whar tharmaster lives; $15 if they’s found in the county, and $50 if they’s tuck out on the county.“N. B.—Pay is due when the nigger is tuck. Planters ort to send fur me as soon as thar niggers runs away, while thar trak is fresh.”Every night the woods resound with the deep-mouthed baying of the bloodhounds. The slaves are said by some to love their masters; but it requires the terrors of bloodhounds and the fugitive slave law to keep them in bondage. You in the North are compelled to act the part of the bloodhounds here, and catch the fugitives for the planters of the South. Free negroes are sold into bondage for the most trivial offences. Slaveholders declare that the presence of free persons of colour exerts a pernicious influence upon their slaves, rendering them discontented with their condition, and inspiring a desire for freedom. They therefore are very desirous of getting rid of these persons, either by banishing them from the State or enslaving them. The legislature of Mississippi has passed a law for their expulsion, and other States have followed in thewake. The Governor of Missouri has vetoed the law for the expulsion of free persons of colour, passed by the legislature of that State because of its unconstitutionality.Were I to recount all the abominations of the peculiar institution, and the wrongs inflicted upon the African race, that have come under my observation, they would fill a large volume. Slavery is guilty of six abominations; yea, seven may justly be charged upon it. It is said that the negro is lazy, and will not work except by compulsion. I have known negroes who have purchased their freedom by the payment of a large sum, and afterward made not only a good living, but a fortune beside. It is said Judge W—— of South Carolina gave his servants the use of his plantation, upon condition that they would support his family; and that in three years he was compelled to take the management himself, as they did not make a comfortable living for themselves and the Judge’s family. In reply, it might be said that the negroes had not a fair trial, as no one had any property he could call his own, and theywere thrown into a sort of Fourierite society, having all things in common. In this state of things, while some would work, others would be idle. White men do not succeed in such communities, and for this reason it was no fair test of the industrial energies of Judge W——’s slaves.The question is often asked, is slavery sinful in itself? My observation has been extensive, embracing eight slave States, and I have never yet seen any example of slavery that I did not deem sinful. If slavery is not sinful in itself, I must have always seen it out of itself. I have observed its workings during eleven years, amongst a professedly Christian people, and cannot do otherwise than pronounce it an unmitigated curse. It is a curse to the white man, it is a curse to the black man. That God will curse it, and blot it out of existence ere long, is my firm conviction. The elements of its abolition exist; God speed the time when they will be fully developed, and this mother of abominations driven from the land of the free! The development of theeternal principles of justice and rectitude will abolish this hoary monster of fraud and oppression. Slavery subverts all the rights of man. It divests him of citizenship, of liberty, of the pursuit of happiness, of his children, of his wife, of his property, of intellectual culture, reserving to him only the rights of the horse and ass, and reducing him to the same chattel condition with them. Not a single right does the State law grant him above that of the mule—no, not one. The chastity of the slave has no legal protection. The Methodist Church South is expunging from the discipline everything inimical to the peculiar institution, whilst I observe that the Church North is adding to her testimony and deliverances against the sin of slaveholding. The Church South refused to abide by the rules of the Church, and hence the guilt of the schism lies with her, and you are henceforth free from any guilt in conniving at the sin which the founder of your church, the illustrious Wesley, regarded as the “sum of all villany.”Remember me kindly to Mrs. Jackman andfamily. Hoping to hear from you soon, I beg leave to subscribe myself,Yours fraternally,John H. Aughey.To Mr. William Jackman,Amsterdam, Jefferson Co., Ohio.
Kosciusko, Attala County, Mississippi,December 25, 1861.
Mr. William Jackman:
Dear Sir—Your last kind and truly welcome letter came to hand in due course of mail. Iowe you an apology for delaying an answer so long. My apparent neglect was occasioned by no want of respect for you; but in consequence of the disturbed state of the country, and difficulty of communication with the North, I feared my reply would never reach you. Now, however, by directing “viaNorfolk and flag of truce,” letters are sent across the lines to the North. In your letter you desired me, from this stand-point, to give you my observations of the workings of the peculiar institution, and an expression of my views as to its consistency with the eternal principles of rectitude and justice. In reply, I will give you a plain narrative of facts.
On my advent to the South, I was at first struck with the fact that the busy hum of labour had in some measure ceased. What labour I did observe progressing, was done with little skill, and mainly by negroes. I called upon the Rev. Dr. R. J. Breckinridge, to whom I had a letter of introduction, who treated me with the greatest kindness, inviting me to make his house my home when I visitedthat section of country. On leaving his house, he gave me some directions as to the road I must travel to reach a certain point. “You will pass,” said he, “a blacksmith’s shop, where a one-eyed man is at work—my property.” The phrase, “my property,” I had never before heard applied to a human being, and though I had never been taught to regard the relation of master and slave as a sinful relation, yet it grated harshly upon my ears to hear a human being, a tradesman, called a chattel; but it grated much more harshly, a week after this, to hear the groans of two such chattels, as they underwent a severe flagellation, while chained to the whipping-post, because they had, by half an hour, overstayed their time with their families on an adjoining plantation.
The next peculiar abomination of the peculiar institution which I observed, was the licentiousness engendered by it. Mr. D. T——, of Madison county, Kentucky, had a white family of children, and a black, or rather mulatto family. As his white daughters married, he gave each a mulatto half-sister, as a waiting-girl, orbody-servant. Mr. K.——, of Winchester, Kentucky, had a mulatto daughter, and he was also the father of her child, thus re-enacting Lot’s sin. Dr. C——, of Tishomingo county, Mississippi, has a negro concubine, and a white servant to wait on her. Mr. B.——, of Marshall county, Mississippi, lived with his white wife till he had grandchildren, some of whom came to school to me, when he repudiated his white wife, and attached himself to a very homely old African, who superintends his household, and rules his other slaves with rigour. Mr. S——, of Tishomingo county, Mississippi, has a negro concubine, and a large family of mulatto children. He once brought this woman to church in Rienzi, to the great indignation of the white ladies, who removed to a respectable distance from her.
I preached recently to a large congregation of slaves, the third of whom were as white as myself. Some of them had red hair and blue eyes. If there are any marked characteristics of their masters’ families, the mulatto slaves are possessed of these characteristics. Irefer to physical peculiarities, such as large mouths, humped shoulders, and peculiar expressions of countenance. I asked a gentleman how it happened that some of his slaves had red hair. He replied that he had a red-headed overseer for several years.
I never knew a pious overseer—never! There may be many, but I never saw one. Overseers, as a class, are worse than slaveholders themselves. They are cruel, brutal, licentious, dissipated, and profane. They always carry a loaded whip, a revolver, and a Bowie-knife. These men have the control of women, whom they often whip to death. Mr. P——, who resided near Holly Springs, had a negro woman whipped to death while I was at his house during a session of Presbytery. Mr. C——, of Waterford, Mississippi, had a woman whipped to death by his overseer. But such cruel scourgings are of daily occurrence. Colonel H——, a member of my church, told me yesterday that he ordered a boy, who he supposed wasfeigningsickness, to the whipping-post, but that he had not advanced ten stepstoward it, when he fell dead!—and the servant was free from his master. During our conversation, a girl passed. “There is a girl,” said he, “who does not look very white in the face, owing to exposure; but when I strip her to whip her, I find that she has a skin as fair as my wife.” Mrs. F—— recently whipped a boy to death within half a mile of my residence. A jury of inquest returned a verdict that he came to his death by cruelty; but nothing more was done. Mrs. M—— and her daughter, of Holly Springs, abused a girl repeatedly. She showed her bruises to some of my acquaintances, and they believed them fatal. She soon after died. Mr. S——, a member of my church, has several maimed negroes from abuse on the part of the overseer.
I am residing on the banks of the Yock-a-nookany, which means “meandering,” when translated from the Indian tongue. In this vicinity there are large plantations, cultivated by hundreds of negroes. The white population is sparse. Every night the negroes are brought to a judgment-seat. The overseer presides.If they have not laboured to suit him, or if their task is unfulfilled, they are chained to a post, and severely whipped. The victims are invariably stripped; to what extent, is at the option of the overseer. In Louisiana, women, preparatory to whipping, are often stripped to a state of perfect nudity. Old Mr. C——, of Waterford, Mississippi, punished his negroesby slitting the soles of their feet with his Bowie-knife! One man he put into a cotton-press, and turned the screw till life was extinct. He stated that he only intended to alarm the man, but carried the joke too far. I have heard women thus plead, in piteous accents, when chained to the whipping-post, and stripped: “O, my God, master! don’t whip me! I was sick! indeed I was sick! I had a chill, and the fever is on me now! I haven’t tasted a morsel to-day! You know I works when I is well! O for God’s sake don’t whip a poor sick nigger! My poor chile’s sick too! Missis thinks it’s a dyin’! O master, for the love of God, don’t cut a poor distressed woman wid your whip! I’ll try to do better,ef you’ll only let me off this once!” These piteous plaints only rouse the ire of their cruel task-masters, who sometimes knock them down in the midst of their pleadings. I have known an instance of a woman giving birth to a child at the whipping-post. The fright and pain brought on premature labour.
One beautiful Sabbath morning I stood on the levee at Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and counted twenty-seven sugar-houses in full blast. I found that the negroes were compelled to labour eighteen hours per day, and were not permitted to rest on the Sabbath during the rolling season. The negroes on most plantations have a truck-patch, which they cultivate on the Sabbath. I have pointed out the sin of thus labouring on the Sabbath, but they plead necessity; their children, they state, must suffer from hunger if they did not cultivate their truck-patch, and their masters would not give them time on any other day.
Negroes, by law, are prohibited from learning to read. This law was not strictly enforced in Tennessee and some other States till withina few years past. I had charge of a Sabbath-school for the instruction of blacks in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1853. This school was put down by the strong arm of the law in a short time after my connection with it ceased. In Mississippi, a man who taught slaves to read or write would be sent to the penitentiary instanter. The popular plea for this wickedness is, that if they were taught to read, they would read abolition documents; and if they were taught to write, they would write themselves passes, and pass northward to Canada.
Such advertisements as the following often greet the eye.
“Kansas War.—The undersind taks this method of makkin it noan that he has got a pack of the best nigger hounds in the South. My hounds is well trand, and I has had much experience a huntin niggers, having follered it for the last fiften year. I will go anywhar that I’m sent for, and will ketch niggers at the follerin raits.
“My raits fur ketchin runaway niggers $10 per hed, ef they’s found in the beat whar tharmaster lives; $15 if they’s found in the county, and $50 if they’s tuck out on the county.
“N. B.—Pay is due when the nigger is tuck. Planters ort to send fur me as soon as thar niggers runs away, while thar trak is fresh.”
Every night the woods resound with the deep-mouthed baying of the bloodhounds. The slaves are said by some to love their masters; but it requires the terrors of bloodhounds and the fugitive slave law to keep them in bondage. You in the North are compelled to act the part of the bloodhounds here, and catch the fugitives for the planters of the South. Free negroes are sold into bondage for the most trivial offences. Slaveholders declare that the presence of free persons of colour exerts a pernicious influence upon their slaves, rendering them discontented with their condition, and inspiring a desire for freedom. They therefore are very desirous of getting rid of these persons, either by banishing them from the State or enslaving them. The legislature of Mississippi has passed a law for their expulsion, and other States have followed in thewake. The Governor of Missouri has vetoed the law for the expulsion of free persons of colour, passed by the legislature of that State because of its unconstitutionality.
Were I to recount all the abominations of the peculiar institution, and the wrongs inflicted upon the African race, that have come under my observation, they would fill a large volume. Slavery is guilty of six abominations; yea, seven may justly be charged upon it. It is said that the negro is lazy, and will not work except by compulsion. I have known negroes who have purchased their freedom by the payment of a large sum, and afterward made not only a good living, but a fortune beside. It is said Judge W—— of South Carolina gave his servants the use of his plantation, upon condition that they would support his family; and that in three years he was compelled to take the management himself, as they did not make a comfortable living for themselves and the Judge’s family. In reply, it might be said that the negroes had not a fair trial, as no one had any property he could call his own, and theywere thrown into a sort of Fourierite society, having all things in common. In this state of things, while some would work, others would be idle. White men do not succeed in such communities, and for this reason it was no fair test of the industrial energies of Judge W——’s slaves.
The question is often asked, is slavery sinful in itself? My observation has been extensive, embracing eight slave States, and I have never yet seen any example of slavery that I did not deem sinful. If slavery is not sinful in itself, I must have always seen it out of itself. I have observed its workings during eleven years, amongst a professedly Christian people, and cannot do otherwise than pronounce it an unmitigated curse. It is a curse to the white man, it is a curse to the black man. That God will curse it, and blot it out of existence ere long, is my firm conviction. The elements of its abolition exist; God speed the time when they will be fully developed, and this mother of abominations driven from the land of the free! The development of theeternal principles of justice and rectitude will abolish this hoary monster of fraud and oppression. Slavery subverts all the rights of man. It divests him of citizenship, of liberty, of the pursuit of happiness, of his children, of his wife, of his property, of intellectual culture, reserving to him only the rights of the horse and ass, and reducing him to the same chattel condition with them. Not a single right does the State law grant him above that of the mule—no, not one. The chastity of the slave has no legal protection. The Methodist Church South is expunging from the discipline everything inimical to the peculiar institution, whilst I observe that the Church North is adding to her testimony and deliverances against the sin of slaveholding. The Church South refused to abide by the rules of the Church, and hence the guilt of the schism lies with her, and you are henceforth free from any guilt in conniving at the sin which the founder of your church, the illustrious Wesley, regarded as the “sum of all villany.”
Remember me kindly to Mrs. Jackman andfamily. Hoping to hear from you soon, I beg leave to subscribe myself,
Yours fraternally,John H. Aughey.
To Mr. William Jackman,Amsterdam, Jefferson Co., Ohio.
NOTORIOUS REBELS.—UNION OFFICERS.
Colonel Jefferson Davis—His Speech at Holly Springs, Mississippi—His Opposition to Yankee Teachers and Ministers—A bid for the Presidency—His Ambition—Burr, Arnold, Davis—General Beauregard—Headquarters at Rienzi—Colonel Elliott’s Raid—Beauregard’s Consternation—Personal description—His illness—Popularity waning—Rev. Dr. Palmer of New Orleans—His influence—The Cincinnati Letter—His Personal Appearance—His Denunciations of General Butler—His Radicalism—Rev. Dr. Waddell of La Grange, Tennessee—His Prejudices against the North—President of Memphis Synodical College—His Talents prostituted—Union Officers—General Nelson—General Sherman.
Colonel Jefferson Davis—His Speech at Holly Springs, Mississippi—His Opposition to Yankee Teachers and Ministers—A bid for the Presidency—His Ambition—Burr, Arnold, Davis—General Beauregard—Headquarters at Rienzi—Colonel Elliott’s Raid—Beauregard’s Consternation—Personal description—His illness—Popularity waning—Rev. Dr. Palmer of New Orleans—His influence—The Cincinnati Letter—His Personal Appearance—His Denunciations of General Butler—His Radicalism—Rev. Dr. Waddell of La Grange, Tennessee—His Prejudices against the North—President of Memphis Synodical College—His Talents prostituted—Union Officers—General Nelson—General Sherman.
COLONEL JEFFERSON DAVIS.
In 1856 I heard Colonel Jefferson Davis deliver an address at Holly Springs, Mississippi. The Colonel is about a medium height, of slender frame, his nose aquiline, his hair dark, his manners polite. He is no orator. His speech was principally a tirade of abuse against the North, bitterly inveighing against theemigrant aid societies which had well-nigh put Kansas upon the list of free States. He advised the people to employ no more Yankee teachers. He had been educated in the North, and he regarded it as the greatest misfortune of his life. Soon after Colonel Davis visited New England, where he eulogized that section in an extravagant manner. He was pleased with everything he saw; even “Noah Webster’s Yankee spelling-book” received a share of the Colonel’s fulsome flattery. On his return to the South, “a change came o’er the spirit of his dream,” and his bile and bitterness against Yankee-land returned in all its pristine vigour. The Colonel was making a bid for the Presidency; but New England was not so easily gulled; his flimsy professions of friendship were too transparent to hide the hate which lay beneath, and his aspirations were doomed to disappointment.
Though Colonel Davis is often called Mississippi’s pet, yet he is not regarded as a truthful man, and his reports and messages are receivedwith considerable abatement by “the chivalry.” His ambition knows no bounds. He would rather “reign in hell than serve in heaven.”
Had Jefferson Davis been elected President of the United States, he would have been among the last instead of the first to favour secession. Had he been slain on the bloody fields of Mexico, his memory would have been cherished. History will assign him a place among the infamous. Burr, Arnold, and Davis will be names for ever execrated by true patriots. The two former died a natural death, though the united voice of their countrymen would have approved of their execution on the gallows. The fate of the latter lies still in the womb of futurity, though his loyal countrymen, without a dissenting voice, declare that he deserves a felon’s doom. An announcement of his death would suffuse no patriot’s eye with tears. What loyalist would weep while he read the news-item—the arch traitor Jeff. Davis is dead.
GENERAL G. T. BEAUREGARD.
I met General Beauregard under very peculiar circumstances. I had gone to Rienzi for the purpose of escaping to the Federal lines for protection from the rigorous and sweeping conscript law. When I arrived, I found the rebels evacuating Corinth, and their sick and wounded passing down the Mobile and Ohio railroad to the hospitals below. General Beauregard had just arrived in Rienzi, and had his headquarters at the house of Mr. Sutherland. A rumour had spread through Rienzi that General Beauregard had ordered the women and children to leave the town. Many of them, believing that the order had been issued, were hastening into the country. In order to confirm or refute the statement, I called upon General Beauregard, and asked him whether he had issued such an order. He replied, “I have issued no such order, sir.” Just at that moment a courier arrived with the information that the Yankees had attacked the advance of their retreating army at Boonville,that they had destroyed the depot, and taken many prisoners. The General told the courier that he must be mistaken; that it was impossible for the Yankees to pass around his army. While he was yet speaking a citizen arrived from Boonville, confirming the statement of the courier. Beauregard was still incredulous, replying that they must have mistaken the Confederates for the Yankees. In a few minutes the explosion of shells shook the building. The General then thought that it might be true that the Yankees had passed around the army; but on hearing the shells, he stated that General Green (of Missouri) was driving them away with his cannon. The truth was soon ascertained by the arrival of several couriers. Col. Elliott, of the Federal army, had made a raid upon Boonville, had fired the depot, and destroyed a large train of cars filled with ammunition. The explosions of the shells which we heard was occasioned by the fire reaching the ears in which these shells were stored. The Colonel also destroyed therailroad to such an extent that it required several days to repair the track.
General Beauregard is below the medium height, and has a decidedly French expression of countenance. His hair is quite gray, though a glance at his face will convince the observer that it is prematurely so. The General is regarded as taciturn. His countenance is careworn and haggard. During the winter of 1861-2, he was attacked with bronchitis and typhoid pneumonia, and came near dying; and had not, at my interview, by any means recovered his pristine health and vigour. His prestige as an able commander is rapidly waning. For some time his military talents were considered of the first order; now a third-rate position is assigned him. He is still regarded as a first-class engineer. When General Sterling Price arrived at Corinth, General Beauregard conducted him around all the fortifications, explaining their nature and unfolding their strength; but no word of approval could he elicit from the Missouri General. At length he ventured to ask what he thought of theircapacity for resisting an attack. General Price replied, “They may prove effective in resisting an attack. These are the second fortifications I ever saw; the first I captured.” He had reference to Colonel Mulligan’s, at Lexington, Missouri. Sumter and Manassas gave Beauregard fame. Since the latter battle his star has declined steadily; and if the Federal generals prove themselves competent, it will soon go out in total darkness, and the world’s verdict will be, it was a misfortune that Beauregard lived.
REV. DR. B. M. PALMER.
Dr. Palmer has done more than any non-combatant in the South to promote the rebellion. He was accessory both before and after the fact. His sermons are nearly all abusive of the North. The mudsills of Yankeedom and the scum of Europe are phrases of frequent use in his public addresses, and they are meant to include all living north of what is more familiarly than elegantly termed in the South the “nigger line,” although the North is the land of his parental nativity.
A few years ago, Dr. Palmer wrote to a friend in Cincinnati respecting a vacant church, in which he gave as one reason, among others, for desiring to come North, that he wished to remove his family from the baleful influences of slavery. That letter still exists, and ought to be published.
Dr. Palmer’s personal appearance is by no means prepossessing. He is small of stature, of very dark complexion, dish-faced. His nose is said to have been broken when a child; at all events, it is a deformity. He is fluent in speech, has a vivid imagination, and has a great influence over a promiscuous congregation.
After the reduction of Forts Jackson and St. Philip, and the capture of New Orleans, Dr. Palmer came to Corinth, where he preached to the rebel army. His text was invariably General Butler’s “women-of-the-town order,” which we fully believe he intentionally misconstrued. The conservation and extension of slavery is a matter which lies near the Doctor’s heart. He urged secession for the purpose of extendingand perpetuating for ever the peculiar institution. His views, however, must have undergone a radical change since the writing of the Cincinnati letter, as he then regarded slavery with little favour. Love of public favour may have much to do with his recently expressed views, for no true Christian and patriot can wish to perpetuate and extend an institution founded on the total subversion of the rights of man.
REV. DR. JOHN N. WADDELL.
Dr. Waddell is a man of considerable talent, but his prejudices are very strong against the North. He cordially hates a Yankee, and his poor distressed wife, who was a native of New England, was compelled to return to her home, where she mourns in virtual widowhood her unfortunate connection with a man who detests her land and people. Dr. Waddell’s sermons are very abusive. The North is the theme of animadversion in all the published sermons and addresses I have seen from his prolific pen. He has prostituted his fine talents, andhis writings are full of cursing and bitterness. As President of La Grange College, Tennessee, he might wield a great influence for good—an influence which would tend to calm the storm aroused by demagogues, rather than increase its power. His memory will rot, for the evil which he has done will live after him.
MAJOR-GENERAL WILLIAM NELSON.
I met General Nelson frequently at his head-quarters at Iuka Springs, Mississippi. Though the General was quite brusque in his manners, yet he always treated me with kindness and marked attention. Once while seated at the table with him, several guests being present, the following colloquy ensued.
“Parson Aughey, I suppose you are well versed in the Scriptures, and in order to test your knowledge, permit me to ask a question, which doubtless you are able to answer.”
“Certainly, General, you have permission to ask the question you propose. I am not so sure, however, about my ability to answer it.”
“The question I desire to propose is this—How many preceded Noah in leaving the ark?”
“I am unable to answer, sir.”
“That is strange, as the Bible so plainly and explicitly informs us. We are told that Noah wentforthout of the ark; thereforethreemust have preceded him.”
The General’s wit “set the table in a roar.” As soon as the mirth had subsided, I addressed the General:
“It is my turn to ask a question. Do you know, sir, where the witch of Endor lived?”
“I did know, but really I have forgotten.”
“Well, sir, she lived at Endor.”
The laugh was now against him, but he joined in it heartily himself.
Knowing that General Nelson had visited every quarter of the globe, I asked him whether he had ever seen any of the modern Greeks.
“I never saw any of the ancient Greeks,” was his curt reply.
General Nelson was regarded as a brave and skilful officer. He has done good service inhis country’s cause. At Shiloh his promptness and efficiency contributed greatly to retrieve the disaster which befell General Grant on the first day of the battle. His rencontre with General Davis, which resulted in his own death, is greatly to be regretted, though his own ungovernable temper and inexcusable conduct caused his tragic end.
I once visited his headquarters late in the afternoon. On my arrival, he informed me that I would confer a great favour upon him by guiding a company of cavalry on an expedition to the south-eastern part of the county, to which I consented. I rode in front with the officer in command. When we had reached a point beyond the pickets, my companion informed me that we would meet no more Federals; if we met any soldiers while outward bound, we might take it for granted that they were rebels. After riding about an hour longer, we encountered a company of cavalry, and were ordered to halt by the officer in command. My companion, stating that they must be rebels, rode up and gave the countersign. Ifelt somewhat uneasy at the head of that company at this time, not knowing the moment that bullets would be whistling around us. They proved however to be Federals, returning from an extended scouting expedition. I conducted our company to the house of a Union man, whom we aroused from his bed; and learning that we were Federals, he took my place, and I returned to General Nelson. The General now desired me to go as a spy, to obtain information as to the number of troops stationed at Norman’s Bridge, which spanned Big Bear Creek. I replied that I had ridden sixty miles without sleep, but that I would send two Union men of my acquaintance in my stead. This was satisfactory, and my Union friends returned with accurate information as to the number of rebel troops stationed at the bridge, and the best points of attack. The attack was made on the next day after receiving the information, and the rebels were surprised and totally defeated; but few escaped death or capture.
GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN.
On the day that General Sherman reached Rienzi, I supped with him at the house of a friend. At table the following dialogue took place between us.
“Are you the person from whom Sherman’s battery took its name?”
“I am, sir.”
“Many gentlemen in this county,” said I, “and among them my father-in-law, have pipes made of the fragments of the gun-carriages of Sherman’s battery, which was captured at Manassas by the Confederates.”
“Sherman’s battery was not captured at Manassas,” replied the General.
“The honour of capturing Sherman’s battery is generally accorded to the second regiment of Mississippi volunteers, which went from this county and the adjoining county of Tippah, though several regiments claim it, and many of my friends declare that they have seen Sherman’s battery since its capture.”
“I assure you, sir, Sherman’s battery was notcaptured—so far from this, it came out of the battle of Manassas Plains with two pieces captured from the enemy, having itself lost none.”
At this moment Colonel Fry, who killed Zollikoffer, rode up for orders. While receiving them, the horses attached to a battery halted in front of us. “There,” said the General, “is every piece of Sherman’s battery. I ought to know that battery, and I assure you there is not a gun missing.”
The pipes, canes, and trinkets supposed to be made of the wood of Sherman’s battery, if collected, would form a vast pile; and were you to inform the owners of those relics that they were spurious, you would be politely informed that you might “tell that tale to the marines,” as their sons and their neighbours’ sons were the honoured captors of that battery; a fact, concerning the truth of which they entertained not even the shadow of a doubt.
CONDITION OF THE SOUTH.