Part 3 (1/2)
Old Colonel Beaufort Watts told me this story and many more of the jeunesse dore under fire They took the fire easily, as they dobomb-proofs at Fort Moultrie, and when Anderson's shot knocked the” Then doent the kitchen chimney, loaves of
43 bread flew out, and they cheered gaily, shouting, ”Breadstuffs are rising”
Willie Preston fired the shot which broke Anderson's flag-staff Mrs Haraphed hirandmother, the wife, or , of General Haentlest of old ladies This sho the war spirit is waking us all up
Colonel Miles (on his spurs in a boat, so Williaave us this characteristic anecdote Theytoward the city with some plantation supplies, etc ”Are you not afraid of Colonel Anderson's cannon?” he was asked ”No, sar, Mars Anderson ain't daresn't hit me; he know Marster wouldn't 'low it”
I have been sitting idly to-day looking out upon this beautiful laondering if this can be the sao After the smoke and the din of the battle, a calm
April 22d - Arranging oes a sketch of his life; roentleers; chivalry incarnate He was placed in charge of a large aed to the State and he was to deposit it in the bank On the way he was obliged to stay over one night He put the roll on a table at his bedside, locked hihteous Lo, next day when he awaked, the one Well! all who knew him believed hih and low, but to no purpose Thestory, 1 William Gilmore Simms, the Southern novelist, was born in Charleston in 1806 He was the author of a greatwith Southern life, and at one time they idely read
44 in spite of his previous character, and a cloud rested on him
Years afterward the house in which he had taken that disastrous sleep was pulled down In the wall, behind the wainscot, was found his pile of h so narrow a crack it seemed hard to realize Like the hole mentioned by Mercutio, it was not as deep as a well nor as wide as a church door, but it did for Beaufort Watts until the money was found Suppose that house had been burned or the rats had gnawed up the bills past recognition?
People in power understood how this proud man suffered those many years in silence Many men looked askance at hi the ation to Russia, and was afterward our Consul at Santa Fe de Bogota When he was too old to wander far afield, they made hiular succession
I knew hio as Secretary to the Governor He was a made-up old battered dandy, the soul of honor His eccentricities were all humored Misfortune had made him sacred He stood hat in hand before ladies and bowed as I suppose Sir Charles Grandison reen shades of his overblack hair He came at one time to showthe only Indian as killed in the Se of truce - that is, they were snared, not shot on the wing
To go back to ht-errant: he knelt, handed me the sword, and then kissed my hand I was barely sixteen and did not kno to behave under the circu on the sword, ”My dear child, learn that it is a reater liberty to shake hands with a lady than to kiss her hand I have kissed the Empress of Russia's hand
45 and she did not make faces at me” He looks now just as he did then He is in unifor in the sun, and with his plumed hat reins up his war-steed and bo as ever
Noill bid farewell for a while as Othello did to all the ”polorious war,” and come down to my domestic strifes and troubles I have a sort of volunteer hter of my husband's nurse, dear old Betsy She waits on s to my father-in-laho has too many slaves to care very much about their way of life So Maria Whitaker cahtfully, and as she stood at lass ”Maria, are you crying because all this war talk scares you?” said I ”No,more than common” ”Now listen Let the war end either way and you will be free We will have to free you before we get out of this thing Won't you be glad?” ”Everybody knows Mars Jeems wants us free, and it is only old Marster holds hard He ain't going to free anybody any way, you see”
And then came the story of her troubles ”Now, Miss Mary, you see ood and faithful wife to hi He had no cause of complaint, but he has left me” ”For heaven's sake! Why?” ”Because I had twins He says they are not his because nobody named Whitaker ever had twins”
Maria is proud in her way, and the behavior of this bad husband has nearly mortified her to death She has had three children in two years No wonder the htened But then Maria does not depend on hi better to say than, ”Come, now, Maria! Never ood to you Now let us
46 look up so for the twins” The twins are named ”John and Jeems,” the latter for her false loon of a husband Maria is one of the good colored women She deserved a better fate in her honesttemper Jeems was tried, and he failed to stand the trial
April 23d - Note the glaring inconsistencies of life Our chatelaine locked up Eugene Sue, and returned even Washi+ngton Allston's novel with thanks and a decided hint that it should be burned; at least it should not remain in her house Bad books are not allowed house room, except in the library under lock and key, the key in the Master's pocket; but bad women, if they are not white, or serve in a aarded as a dangerous contingent than canary birds would be
If you show by a chance remark that you see some particular creature, more sha of a husband, you are frowned down; you are talking on improper subjects There are certain subjects pure-hts It does not do to be so hard and cruel It is best to let the sinners alone, poor things If they are good servants otherwise, do not disrow older, and it does! They are frantic, one and all, to be members of the church The Methodist Church is not so pure-minded as to shut its eyes; it takes theoing astray as to any of the ten commandments
47
V MONTGOMERY, ALA
April 27, 1861 - May 20, 1861 MONTGOMERY, Ala, April 27, 1861 - Here we are once more Hon Robert Barnwell caive hioodness above all things Everywhere, when the car stopped, the people wanted a speech, and we had one strea with aher to Georgia as the safest place
The Alaba Fort Pickens as ere of taking Fort Suer is in coer General Robert E Lee, son of Light Horse Harry Lee, has been inia With such men to the fore, we have hope The New York Herald says, ”Slaveryin our shoes at their great s We are jolly as larks, all the saone with Wade Haion Wade wants to get up
1 Wade Hampton was a son of another Wade Hampton, as an aide to General Jackson at the battle of New Orleans, and a grandson of still another Wade Haeneral in the Revolution He was not in favor of secession, but when the war began he enlisted as a private and then raised a command of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, which as ”Haion” won distinction in the war After the war, he was elected Governor of South Carolina and was then elected to the United States Senate
48 The President came across the aisle to speak to me at church to-day He was very cordial, and I appreciated the honor
Wigfall is black with rage at Colonel Anderson's account of the fall of Sunaniht ”Catch ht have been h to tell the truth to those New Yorkers, however unpalatable to theht have been We did behave well to him The only men of his killed, he killed hi a salute to their old striped rag”
Mr Chesnut was delighted with the way Anderson spoke to him when he went to demand the surrender They parted quite tenderly Anderson said: ”If we do not fall laughed at Anderson ”giving Chesnut a howdy in the other world!”
What a kind welcoave me! One, more affectionate and homely than the others, slapped ht me, and I put theave me some violets, which I put in my breastpin
”Oh,” said my ”Gutta Percha” Hemphill,1 ”if I had kno those bouquets were to be honored I would have been up by daylight seeking the sweetest flowers!” Governor Moore came in, and of course seats were offered him ”This is a most comfortable chair,” cried an overly polite person ”The most comfortable chair is beside Mrs Chesnut,” said the Governor, facing the racefully Well done, old fogies!
1 John Hemphill was a native of South Carolina, who had removed to Texas, where he became Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the State, and in 1858 was elected United States Senator
49 Browne said: ”These SouthernWay omen” ”Oh, so many are descendants of Irishmen, and so the blarney reray hairs!” For it was a group of silver-gray flatterers Yes, blarney as well as bravery came in with the Irish
At Mrs Davis's reception dismal news, for civil war seems certain At Mrs Toombs's reception Mr Stephens came by me Twice before we have had it out on the subject of this Confederacy, once on the cars, coia here, once at a supper, where he sat next to me To-day he was not cheerful in his views I called hi back Man after man came and interrupted the conversation with so, and he gave erous situation Fears for the future and not exultation at our successes pervade his discourse
Dined at the President's and never had a pleasanter day He is as witty as he is wise He was very agreeable; he tookof our present difficulties
A General Anderson from Alexandria, D C, was in doleful dumps He says the North are so anized, or will be, by General Scott We are in wild confusion Their army is the best in the world We are wretchedly armed, etc, etc They have shi+ps and arms that were ours and theirs
Mrs Walker, resplendently dressed, one of those gorgeously arrayed persons who fairly shi+ne in the sun, tells me she mistook the inevitable Morrow for Mr Chesnut, and added, ”Pass over the affront to my powers of selection” I told her it was ”an insult to the Pal” Think of a South Carolina Senator like that!
Men co, ”Danger, danger!” It is very tireso on this: ”The enemy's troops are the finest body of men we ever saw” ”Why did you not make friends of them,” I feel disposed to say We would have war, and noe seeolden opportunity pass; we are not preparing for war There is talk, talk, talk in that Congress - lazy legislators, and rash, reckless, headlong, devil-may-care, proud, passionate, unruly, raw iment of spies, men and women, sent here by the wily Seward Why? Our newspapers tell every word there is to be told, by friend or foe
A two-hours' call froht if we had taken Fort Suo He et why it ought to have been attacked before At another reception, Mrs Davis was in fine spirits Captain Dacier was here Came over in his own yacht Russell, of The London Tihly when all the Northern papers said ere to be exterinia Commissioners here Mr Staples and Mr Edrievance; she comes out on a point of honor; could she stand by and see her sovereign sister States invaded?”
Suiainst us? In Kentucky, our sister State?