Title: The Boys of '61
Author: Charles Carleton Coffin
Release date: January 3, 2011 [eBook #34843]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by D Alexander, Christine P. Travers and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
(This file was produced from images generously made
available by The Internet Archive)
PERSONAL OBSERVATION WITH THE ARMY AND NAVY,
FROM THE FIRST BATTLE OF BULL RUN TO THE FALL OF RICHMOND
BY
CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN,
AUTHOR OF "THE BOYS OF '76," "THE STORY OF LIBERTY," "WINNING HIS WAY." "MY DAYS AND NIGHTS ON THE BATTLEFIELD," "FOLLOWING THE FLAG," "OUR NEW WAY ROUND THE WORLD," ETC.
ILLUSTRATED.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY ESTES AND LAURIAT,
301-305 Washington Street.
1886.
Copyright, 1881 by
ESTES AND LAURIAT.
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866, by
CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.
Charge through an abattis.
This volume, though historic, is not a history of the Rebellion, but a record of personal observations and experiences during the war, with an occasional look at affairs in general to give clearness to the narrative. The time has not arrived for the writing of an impartial history of the conflict between Slavery and Freedom in the United States. Reports of military operations are incomplete; documents in the archives at Washington are inaccessible; much material remains to be gathered before the patient historian can sift the wheat from the chaff. More than this, the war of ideas is not yet ended. Defeated Rebels in some parts of the South are bent on exterminating the African race. Few of those lately in rebellion plead guilty of having committed a crime; taking up arms against the government they consider to have been a blunder only. We are, therefore, too near the great events to render proper judgment upon questions in which our principles and sympathies have been enlisted.
The chapter concerning the Confederate Cotton Loan may seem to be out of place in a volume of which so large a portion is given to narrative, but I trust that it will be acceptable to the general reader, inasmuch as it reveals the efforts of the Rebels to array all Europe against the United States in the late struggle. The correspondence in my possession was picked up in the streets of Richmond, and will be of value to the future historian. The chapter in question is but an outline of the operations of the Confederates abroad.
In looking over the sheets as they came from the press, several errors relative to the organization and formation of troops in battle have been detected, which, however, will appear in but a few copies. Undoubtedly there are others, and the writer will esteem it a favor to be put right wherever he is in the wrong. Few official reports of regimental and brigade officers have been published, while the reports of division and corps commanders are only general in their statements. The true history of battles cannot be given till the history of regiments is written.
My stand-point as an observer is that of one whose instincts from early childhood have been on the side of Freedom. I have ever believed that Civil Liberty is the birthright of all men, and from the firing upon Sumter to the close of the contest had full faith that the people, under God, would subdue the Rebellion, and give freedom to the slave.
The four years have been worth a century of ordinary life; for in the mighty contest Right has triumphed over Wrong, and the human race, with a clearer perception of Truth and Justice as the sure foundation of government, is moving on to a higher civilization.
C. C. C.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
BEGINNING OF THE CONFLICT.
PAGE
Ideas and Principles.— Battles witnessed. — The Leaders. — State of
Affairs. — Baltimore. — Dulness in the Streets. — Baltimore Women. — Raw
Troops. — Visit to Fort McHenry. — Washington. — Material of
the Army. — Generals in Command. — General Scott. — His Position. — Newspaper
Reports. — Troops organized. — The Gathering of the Rebels
1
CHAPTER I.
AROUND WASHINGTON.
Alexandria. — The Massachusetts Fifth. — A Song for Bunker Hill — The Review. — The Distant Gun. — The Affair at Vienna. — A Dinner in the Field. — Vallandigham and the Ohio Boys. — Patriotism of the Soldiers. — The Rogues' March. — Mutiny of the Garibaldi Guard. — An Adventure. — Broken English. — Unpleasant Position. — General Mansfield's Wrath. — The Lager-Beer Business. — A Faded Aristocracy. — Living on a Name. — The Sirens of Virginia. — A South Carolina Chattel. — His Search for Chickens. — How he found Freedom. 8
CHAPTER II.
BULL RUN.
The March. — The Second Maine. — The Pageant. — The Bivouac. — The Beehives. — Beauregard's Proclamation. — McDowell's Order. — The Contrast. — Virginia Unionism. — The First Shot. — The Artillery. — Retreat of the Rebels. — The Negro's Story — Centreville. — Snuff Dippers. — Affairs at Blackburn's Ford. — The Morning — Progress of the Battle. — The Rebel Prisoner. — The Turning of the Tide — At the Spring — The Panic — The Teamsters. — The Rebels on the Point of Retreating. — Richmond Dispatch. — Wonderful Stories of the Rebels. — Change of Sentiment. — General Butler. — Union Men of Virginia. — Bitterness of the Rebels. — Seductive Influences of Slavery. 17
CHAPTER III.
THE FALL OF 1861.
Position of Affairs. — Disaster at Ball's Bluff. — The News in Washington. — How President Lincoln received it. — His tenderness of Heart. — Mr. Lincoln in his Springfield Home. — His Temperance Principles. — Poolsville. — Colonel Baker's Body. — Slavery in Western Maryland. — Visit to Eastern Maryland. — The "White Horse." — Character of the Country. — Our Host at Pamunkey. — His Family. — Visit to Annapolis. — Aristocratic Pride. — Secession in Washington. — The Spirit of Slavery in the Army. — The Hutchinson Family and General McClellan. — Whittier's "Eine feste Burg ist unser Gott." — Major Gould and his Scout. — A Rebel Minister. — Washington Jail and its Inmates. — Close of the Year. 30
CHAPTER IV.
AFFAIRS IN THE WEST.
Louisville. — Position of Kentucky. — The Opinions of a Loyal Tennesseean. — General Buell and His Policy. — Events in Missouri. — General Halleck. — Order No. 3. — General Schofield and the Guerillas. — Negro Testimony. — Fremont's Army. — Visit to Rolla. — General Sigel. — Radical Sentiments of the Army. — Cairo. — Union Generals. — Introduction to General Grant. — Commodore Foote. — The Mississippi Flotilla. — Captain Porter and the Essex. — His Challenge to Captain Montgomery. — Major-General Bishop Polk. — Reconnoissance towards Columbus. — A Kentucky Farm-house. — Return to Cairo. 47
CHAPTER V.
CENTRAL KENTUCKY.
Battle of Mill Springs. — A genuine Kentuckian. — Discussion of the Negro Question. — Kentucky Farmers. — Lexington. — Scenes at the Phenix Hotel. — Secession Ladies. — Anthony Trollope. — Tomb of Henry Clay. — Clay's Opinion of Abolitionists. — How a Presbyterian Minister would conduct the War. — Buell's Right Wing. — Trip down the Ohio. — Passengers on Board the Grey Eagle. — The People of Owensborough. — Up Green River. — Kentucky Unionists. — Visit to Calhoun. — A "first-class" Hotel. — Scenes on the Steamer. 59
CHAPTER VI.
THE OPENING OF THE CAMPAIGN IN TENNESSEE.
Capture of Fort Henry. — Commodore Foote's Account of the Fight. — His Care for the Wounded. — His Preaching on Sunday. — Affairs in Mississippi. — Capture of Fort Donelson. — Movement of the Troops. — The Surrender. — The Appearance of the Rebels. — The Town of Dover. — Scenes in the Rebel Lines. — The formal Surrender of the Fort. — Appearance of Buckner and Grant. — Rebel Officers on the Rampage. — Commodore Foote's Intentions. — His Plans frustrated by Halleck. — Nullification of Order No. 3. — Occupation of Columbus. — The Southern Muse. — Bombardment of Island No. 10. — Colonel Bissell's Canal. — Passage of Transports to New Madrid. — Running past the Batteries. — General Pope's Operations. — Capture of Rebels. — Surrender of Island No. 10. 76
CHAPTER VII.
PITTSBURG LANDING, FORT PILLOW, AND MEMPHIS.
The Opposing Forces. — The Battle-Field. — The Poor Whites of the South. — General Sherman. — Beauregard's Despatch. — Retreat of the Rebels. — Halleck's Advance upon Corinth. — The Mississippi Fleet. — Admiral Davis. — Captain Maynadier. — A Trap for the Rebels. — Movement of the Rams. — Fire of the Rebel Batteries. — Evacuation of Fort Pillow. — Gunboat Fight at Memphis. — Surrender of the City. — Commodore Ellet. 93
CHAPTER VIII.
INVASION OF MARYLAND.
Battle of Manassas. — Colonel Broadhead. — Confidence of the Rebels. — Uprising in Pennsylvania. — Surrender of Harper's Ferry. — Escape of the Union Cavalry. — Negro Teamsters. — Excitement of the Citizens. — Hagerstown. — Antietam. — Visit to the Right Wing. — Poffenberg's House. — Sumner's Movement. — The Corn-Field. — Burnside's Attack. — The Fight at the Bridge. 110
CHAPTER IX.
INVASION OF KENTUCKY.
The Opposing Forces. — Bragg's Advance. — Capture of Frankfort. — The Rebels in Lexington. — Inauguration of Governor Harris. — Bragg's Retreat from Frankfort. — Battle of Perryville. — President's Proclamation. — The Kentucky Policy. — General Gillmore's Order No. 5. — Twenty-Second Wisconsin and Colonel Utley. — Judge Robertson and his Boy Jo. — The Kentucky Policy reversed. — An Evening in Louisville. 122
CHAPTER X.
FROM HARPER'S FERRY TO FREDERICKSBURG.
Soldiers' Pets. — Removal of McClellan. — Burnside's Plans. — Army Correspondence. — Gold Speculators. — Expectations of the People. 137
CHAPTER XI.
BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG.
The Signal Guns. — Laying the Pontoons. — Bombardment of the City. — Hall's Brigade. — Rebel Sharpshooters. — Crossing the River. — Seventh Michigan. — Yankees in Fredericksburg. — Night Scene. — The Drummer-Boy. — Rev. Arthur B. Fuller. — His Funeral Obsequies. — Lee's Army. — Positions of the Troops. — Burnside's Orders to Franklin. — The Morning. — Movement of the Army. — Attack on the Left. — Franklin's Despatches. — Meade's Attack. — Jackson's Line broken. — Franklin's Account. — Wounded Soldiers. — Attack on the Right. — Eleventh New Hampshire. — Sturgis's Division. — The Last Attack. — Recrossing the River. 142
CHAPTER XII.
THE WINTER AT FALMOUTH.
Employment of the Men. — American Tract Society. — General Howard and the Secessionists. — Sanitary and Christian Commissions. — Religion in the Army. — Chapels. 174
CHAPTER XIII.
CHANCELLORSVILLE.
General Hooker in Command. — Reorganization of the Army. — Hooker's Plan. — Movement of the Troops. — First and Sixth Corps. — Lee puzzled. — Hooker in Position. — Lee's Movement. — Jackson's March. — Howard's Position. — Sickles's Advance. — Jackson's Attack. — The Eleventh Corps. — Sickles's Return. — Death of Jackson. — The Battle of Sunday. — Best's Artillery. — Stewart's Attack. — The Second Corps. — Hooker's last Position. — Second Battle of Fredericksburg. — Sedgwick's Attack. — Maryee's Hill. — Barksdale's Retreat. — Battle of Salem Church. — Lost Opportunity. 179
CHAPTER XIV.
CAVALRY OPERATIONS.
Stoneman's Preparations. — Crossing the Rapidan. — Raid through Virginia. — Kilpatrick's Audacity. — Shelling Richmond. — His Escape. — Stoneman's Return. 212
CHAPTER XV.
THE ATLANTIC COAST.
Port Royal. — Sunday Services. — Rev. Mr. Murchison. — Visit to the Plantations. — Sancho's Address. — Negro Music. — Mitchelville. — Sojourner Truth. — Enlistment of Negro Troops. — Colonel Higginson. — Antipathy of White Soldiers. — First South Carolina Regiment. — Smith's Plantation. 224
CHAPTER XVI.
THE IRONCLADS IN ACTION.
Destruction of the Nashville. — Captain Worden. — Attack on Fort McAllister. — First Bombardment of Sumter. — Visit to the Fleet. — Captain Rodgers. — Damage to the Fort. 248
CHAPTER XVII.
THE INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA.
General Lee's Movements. — Hooker on the Watch. — Bedlam in Pennsylvania. — Harrisburg. — Baltimore. — Colored Population. — Resignation of General Hooker. — General Meade. — Feelings of the Soldiers. — Advance to Gettysburg. — Organization of the Army. — Patriotism of the People. — Bread for the Soldiers. — Ride to Gettysburg. — Geographical Features of the Place. 258
CHAPTER XVIII.
THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.
General Reynolds's Position. — Beginning of the Fight. — General Howard's Account. — Weiderick's Battery. — General Slocum at Two Taverns. — Howard's Messages. — General Hancock's Arrival. — Color-Bearers of the Nineteenth Indiana. — Arrival of the Third Corps. — Second Day. — General Meade on the Field. — The Cemetery. — Major Howard. — Ride along the Lines. — Stannard's Brigade. — Meade's Head-Quarters. — Position of the Second Corps. — The Third Corps. — Sickles's Position at Noon. — Lee's Intentions. — Confidence of the Rebels. — Longstreet's Command. — His Plan. — Half past Three. — The Attack. — Resistance of the Third Corps. — McGilvery's Batteries. — The Ninth Massachusetts Battery. — Barnes's Division. — The Regulars. — Resistance of the Pennsylvania Reserves. — Hood's Advance. — Colonel Chamberlain's Position. — Slocum's Movement. — Doubleday and Williams. — Men of Vermont. — Fourteenth Maine. — Louisiana Tigers. — Third Day. — The Morning Cannonade. — Rebel Prisoners. — Fight on Culp's Hill. — Cavalry Operations. — Lee's Preparations for the last Attack. — Position of the Troops. — Scene at Meade's Head-Quarters. — The Cannonade. — Howard's Batteries. — Hancock wounded. — The Vermont Regiments. — Repulse of the Rebels. — Scenes along the Lines. — In the Rebel Lines. — Midnight. — After the Battle. — Lee's Retreat. — Meade's Movements. — Lee at Williamsport. — Crossing the Potomac. — Battle at Falling Waters. 269
CHAPTER XIX.
FROM THE RAPIDAN TO COLD HARBOR.
Opening of the Campaign. — Organization of the Army. — Grant's Plan. — The Ninth Corps. — President Lincoln reviewing the Colored Troops. — The Army in Motion. — Across the Rapidan. — Grant and Meade in Council. — The Wilderness. — Position of the Army. — First Day's Fight. — Arrival of the Ninth Corps. — Second Day. — Movement to Spottsylvania. — Sheridan's Fight. — Todd's Tavern. — Warren engaged. — Battle of Spottsylvania. — Song of the Wounded. — The Vermont Brigade. — Death of General Rice. — Attack of the Second Corps. — A Day in Fredericksburg. — Sanitary and Christian Commissions. — Getting Straw for the Hospitals. — Movement to the North Anna. — Battle of Jericho Bridge. — A Night in a Cabin. — Movement to Hanover. — Battle of Bethesda Church. — General Smith's Advance to Cold Harbor. — Sheridan's Movement. — Position of the two Armies. — First Battle of Cold Harbor. — Hospital Scene. — Second Battle. — McClellan at Cold Harbor and the Campaign of '62. — Grant's Operations. — Caroline County. — The Planters and their Property. — The Day of Jubilee. — Breaking up of Society. 306
CHAPTER XX.
TO PETERSBURG.
Comments of the Rebel Newspapers. — Opinions of the Soldiers. — Discussion of Plans. — General Hunter's Advance to Lynchburg. — Sheridan's Raid. — Butler and Gillmore. — Movement to James River. — Gillmore's Failure. — Grant's Instructions to Smith. — Lee surprised. — General Hinks's Division of Colored Troops. — Their First Engagement. — Smith's Advance. — First Battle in Front of Petersburg. — Capture of Rebel Intrenchments. — General Terry's Movement. — Lost Opportunities. — Sentiments of the People. — President Lincoln. — Heroism of the Colored Soldiers. — Arrival of the Ninth Corps. — Second Battle in Front of Petersburg. — General Potter's Division. — Fifty-Seventh Massachusetts. — Edward M. Schneider. — Third Battle in Front of Petersburg. — Barbarism of Slavery. — Prejudice against Colored Troops. — The Christian Commission. — Hardships of the Campaign. — Religion in the Army. 351
CHAPTER XXI.
SIEGE OPERATIONS.
Lieutenant-Colonel Pleasants. — His Plan for a Mine to destroy the Works before Petersburg. — Difficulties he encountered in constructing it. — Battle at Deep Bottom. — Completion of the Mine. — Preparations for springing it. — Fuse goes out. — Delay. — Relighted. — The Explosion. — Consternation of the Rebels. — Confusion of Union Troops. — Rebels return to their Guns. — Terrible Slaughter in the Crater. — Reasons for the Failure. — The Rebel Press. — The Fortunes of the Confederacy. 376
CHAPTER XXII.
THIRD INVASION OF MARYLAND.
General Situation of Affairs. — Early's Movement down the Valley. — Breckenridge sent to reinforce him. — The Sixth Corps. — Excitement in Washington. — Early's Force. — Massachusetts Sixteenth Regiment. — Arrival of Nineteenth Corps. — Enthusiastic Reception. — Confidence restored. — Battle of Monocacy. — Alarming Reports. — Advance of Rebels upon Washington. — Their hasty Retreat. 384
CHAPTER XXIII.
SHERMAN'S ARMY.
Review of Sherman's Campaign. — Jeff Davis's dislike of Johnston. — Appointment of Hood. — Davis's Speech to Hood's Army. — Sherman contemplates a Movement to Savannah. — Grant authorizes it. — Organization of Sherman's Army. — Comments of Rebel Press on his March to the Sea. — Complaints of Sherman's Inhumanity. — He is compared to Attila. — His Vindication of Himself. — The Bummers. — Their Humanity to Union Refugees. 391
CHAPTER XXIV.
CHRISTIANITY AND BARBARISM.
Sherman in Savannah. — Destitution of the People. — Humanity of the People of the North. — Steamer Greyhound. — Belle Boyd. — Voyage of the Greyhound. — Thunderbolt Battery. — Fifty-Fifth Massachusetts. — Distribution of Supplies. — Rebel Prisons. — Responsibility of Rebel Officials. — Amiability of General Lee. — Andersonville. 402
CHAPTER XXV.
SCENES IN SAVANNAH.
Aunt Nellie and her Sister. — Inhumanity of Slavery. — Whittier's Lines. — Burning of the Arsenal. — General Sherman's Order No. 15. — Abandoned Lands. — General Saxton. — Meeting of Freedmen. — Address of Rev. Mr. French. — Appearance of the Congregation. — Rev. Mr. Houston. — The Slave Market. — Commencing a Colony. — Plans of the Freedmen. — The Sexton. — The Dead from Manassas. — The Gospel of Slavery. — Breaking up of Society. — Ladies of Savannah. — Poor Whites of Georgia. — Negro Dialect. — Freedmen in Council in the Slave Market. — Their Battle-Hymn. — Civilization. — Christianity at Work. 414
CHAPTER XXVI.
SHERMAN IN SOUTH CAROLINA.
Instructions of General Grant. — Sherman's Plan. — Expectation of the Rebels. — Grover's Division. — His Army in Motion. — Howard's Advance to the Salkehatchie. — Crossing the River. — Hardee retires to Branchville. — Kilpatrick's Movement towards Augusta. — Consternation of the Rebels. — Sherman moves to Orangeburg. — General Potter's Division. — Hampton's and Wheeler's Cavalry. — Hampton's Home. — Columbia. — Burning of the City. — Sherman charges Hampton with kindling the Fire. — Bitterness of South-Carolinians against General Sherman. — Responsibility of the Rebel Government for Outrages. 436
CHAPTER XXVII.
SOUTH CAROLINA BEFORE THE WAR.
The Part taken by the State in the Political Affairs of the Nation. — Basis of Representation. — Classes of People. — Lowlanders and Uplanders. — Climate. — Cotton. — Parish System. — Assembling of the Legislature in 1860. — Remarks of W. D. Porter. — Secession Principles. — Adjournment to Charleston. — Hibernia Hall. — Rev. Dr. Thornwell's Preaching. — The Teachings of the Bible. — The Province of History. — Negroes for Sale. — Women of South Carolina in Favor of Secession. — The Charleston Mercury. — The "Patriarchal Institution". 444
CHAPTER XXVIII.
SUMTER.
Governor Pickens's Letter to President Buchanan. — Major Anderson In Sumter. — Construction of Rebel Batteries. — Negotiations for the Surrender of the Fort. — The Bombardment. — Scenes in Charleston after the Surrender. — Visit to the Fort. — Captured Blockade-Runners. — Condition of the Fort. — Scenes of the Morning. 454
CHAPTER XXIX.
CHARLESTON.
A City of Ruins. — Our Welcome. — Charleston before the War. — The Seducer of States. — Siege of the City. — Removal of the People. — Assertion of the Charleston Courier. — The Evacuation. — Blowing up of the Ironclads. — Firing the City. — Bursting the Guns. — Twenty-First Colored Regiment. — Colonel Bennett occupies the City. — Fifty-Fourth Massachusetts extinguishing the Flames. — "Gillmore's Town." — The "Swamp Angel." — The Courier Office. — The Banks. — South Carolina Troops in Confederate Service. — The Mills House. — The Churches. — The great Fire of 1861. — Devastation. — Slave Merchants. — The Bell of St. Michael's. — The Guard-House. — The Slave-Mart. — Letters of the Slave-Traders. — Colonel Woodford in the Office of the Courier. — Sermon of Rev. Dr. Porter. — A Yankee in his Bed. — Joy of the Colored People. — "Rosa's" Mother. — Washington's Birthday. — John Brown in Charleston. — Humiliation of the Rebels. — Union Men. — The Old Flag. — How the People were cheated. 462
CHAPTER XXX.
THE LAST CAMPAIGN.
Position of Affairs. — Grant's Letter to Sheridan. — Cavalry Raids. — Sheridan's Movement to Waynesboro'. — Attack upon Early. — Advance to James River. — Moves to White House. — Joins Grant. — Alarm in Richmond. — Lee's last Offensive Movement. — Attack on Fort Steadman. — Repulse of Gordon. — Grant's Order to "finish up" the Rebellion. — Sherman's Visit to Grant. — Great Men in Council. — Grant's Line. — Sheridan on the Move. — Lee's Diversion against the Ninth Corps. — Night Attack. — A Rebel Prisoner. — A Look at the Opposing Forces. — Hatcher's Run. — Lee's Line of Fortifications. — Grant feels like ending the Matter. — Battle of Dinwiddie Court-House. — Advance of the Fifth Corps. — Battle of Five Forks. — Charge of the Fifth Corps. — Merritt's Attack. — Rout of the Rebels. 485
CHAPTER XXXI.
RICHMOND.
Jeff Davis a Fugitive. — Blowing up of the Rebel Ironclads. — Grant in Petersburg. — President Lincoln and the Soldiers. — Ride to Richmond. — Lee's Message to Davis. — Consternation in Richmond. — Rev. Messrs. Hoge and Duncan. — The last Slave Coffle. — Confederate Promises to Pay. — Scenes of Sunday Night. — Pillaging the City. — Flight of the Legislature. — General Ewell and the Mayor in regard to burning the City. — The Massacre at the Almshouse. — Firing the City. — Departure of the Rebel Troops. — Breckenridge taking a last Look of the City. — Sunrise. — Major Stevens and the Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry. — Surrender of the City. — Raising Flags on the Capitol. — The Yankees putting out the Flames. — Entrance of General Weitzel. — Taking a room at the Spottswood Hotel. — Scenes in the City on Monday. — General Devens's Orders. — Visit to the Capitol. — Admiral Farragut. — President Lincoln's Arrival. — Joy of the Colored People. — Walk to Jeff Davis's Mansion. — Judge Campbell. — Admiral Porter. — The President's Visit to Libby Prison. — Opinions of the People. — Colored Soldiers in the Service of the Rebels. — Lee's Opinions. — An Abolitionist in Richmond. — A Newspaper Correspondent and a Rebel Officer. — At the Capitol. — Scenes of the Past. — Christian Charity. 499
CHAPTER XXXII.
THE CONFEDERATE LOAN.
Attitude of Great Britain. — Sympathies of Palmerston and Russell. — The English Press. — Operatives of Lancashire. — The London Times. — Opinions of Mr. Spence. — His Appointment as Financial Agent. — Address of the London Confederate Aid Association. — Whittier's Lines to Englishmen. — Mr. Mason at St. James. — His Griefs. — Benjamin's Letter to Mason. — Mr. De Leon appointed Agent to subsidize the Press of Europe. — Englishmen engaged in Blockade-Running. — English Ship-builders at work for the Slaveholders. — Funds needed. — Benjamin's Letter to Spence. — Rebel Coin shipped in British Vessels of War. — Slidell's Proposition for a Loan based on Cotton. — French intrigue to sever Texas from the Confederacy. — Mr. Slidell recommends D'Erlanger as a suitable Agent to negotiate the Loan. — D'Erlanger offers it to the Bankers of London. — Mr. De Leon secures the Support of the Press. — Opening of the Correspondence. — D'Erlanger's Opinion of Mr. Spence. — Mr. Spence's Proposal. — Rush for Subscriptions. — Mr. Spence's Letter to D'Erlanger. — Compliments of the Emperor to D'Erlanger on the Success of the Loan. — Jeff Davis a Repudiator. — Rancor of the London Times in 1849. — Eats its Words in 1863. — Whitewashes Davis. — Opinions of Mr. Sampson. — Opinions of Mr. Delaine. — The Times in the Pay of Jeff Davis. — How the Support of the Newspapers was secured. — Mr. Spence receives £6,500 as Correspondent of the Times. — Meeting of Rebels in Paris. — How the Loan was sustained. — D'Erlanger's good Game. — Wishes for a Second Loan. — D'Erlanger takes the Part of Shylock. — Trouble with McRae. — D'Erlanger helping Himself to Principal and Interest. — Schroeder & Co. in the "Ring." — Payments of Money. — Who was benefited. — The present Bondholders. 523
CHAPTER XXXIII.
SURRENDER OF LEE.
The Retreat of Lee from Petersburg. — Dejection of Rebel Soldiers. — Grant's Intentions. — Lee's Line of Retreat. — Grant ahead of him. — Panic among the Rebel Troops. — Meade's Movements. — Battle at Sailor's Creek. — Custar's Charge. — Skirmish at Farmville. — The Race toward Lynchburg. — Sheridan's Movement. — Lee's last Council of War. — Correspondence between Lee and Grant. — The Meeting. — The Surrender. — Announcement to the Armies. — Pickett's Treason. — Rest and Peace. 543
CHAPTER XXXIV.
CONCLUSION.
General Grant at City Point. — The End of the Rebellion. 556