|
Main
- books.jibble.org
My Books
- IRC Hacks
Misc. Articles
- Meaning of Jibble
- M4 Su Doku
- Computer Scrapbooking
- Setting up Java
- Bootable Java
- Cookies in Java
- Dynamic Graphs
- Social Shakespeare
External Links
- Paul Mutton
- Jibble Photo Gallery
- Jibble Forums
- Google Landmarks
- Jibble Shop
- Free Books
- Intershot Ltd
|
books.jibble.org
Previous Page
| Next Page
Page 12
_Mrs. B._ Now, Colonel, I want to tell ye a thing or two. Gineral
Washington, nor the Duke of Willington, nor Napoleon niver put a
woman under guard, nor ye haven't any right to do it; and I'll have
ye court-martialed, accordin' to the Articles of War. So I will.
_Colonel._ Mrs. Brown, if you do not be quiet I will gag you.
_Mrs. B._ Ye'll gag me, will ye? Well, I'd like to see ye about it.
Ye would make a nice reputation to yerself, gaggin' a woman!
_Colonel._ Very well, Mrs. Brown, I will show you that I am in
earnest. Sergeant, place a gag in that woman's mouth.
_Mrs. B._ Och, Colonel dear, ye wouldn't be so bad as that, would
ye? Shure, Colonel, I'll be jist as quiet as a lamb. So I will.
_Colonel._ Well, Mrs. Brown, if you will promise to behave yourself
I will not gag you; but you must not make any more noise.
Mrs. Brown promised obedience and was soon after released, and went
to her tent to search for the precious jug and drown her sorrows in
another dram; but while the _m�l�e_ had been going on I had smashed
the jug, and she came back again to bewail her sorrows with Brown,
who was still under guard. He was soon after released, and they
returned to their quarters a wiser if not a happier pair. That night
Mrs. Brown was heard to say:
"Sergeant Brown, ye made a fool ov yerself to-day."
"Yis, Missus Brown, I think we both made a fool of ourself. So I
do."
About the first of July we were ordered to Fort Pillow, which is by
land fourteen miles above, on the same side of the river. When we
reached that place, they were daily expecting an attack from the
gunboats, of which we had heard so much, but had not yet seen or
feared. Here the commanders wanted to exact the same amount of toil
as at Fort Wright; but the men drew up petitions, requesting that
the planters, who were at home doing nothing, should send their
slaves to work on the fortifications. General Pillow approved of
this plan, and published a call for laborers. In less than a month,
7000 able-bodied negro men were at work, and there would have been
twice as many, if needed. The planters were, and are yet, in bloody
earnest in this rebellion; and my impression, since coming North,
is, that the mass of Union-loving people here are asleep, because
they do not fully understand the resources and earnestness of the
South. There is no such universal and intense earnestness here, as
prevails all over the Rebel States. Refined and Christian women,
feeling that the Northern armies are invading their homes, cutting
off their husbands and brothers, and sweeping away their property,
are compelled to take a deeper interest in the struggle than the
masses of the North are able to do, removed as they are from the
horrors of the battle-scenes, and scarcely yet feeling the first
hardship from the war. Indeed, I do not doubt that regiments of
women could be raised, if there was any thing they could do in the
cause of the South. That they are all wrong, and deeply blinded in
warring against rightful authority, makes them none the less,
perhaps the more, violent.
The employment of slaves to do the hard work was of great advantage
in several respects. It allowed the men to drill and take care of
their health, as the planters sent overseers who superintended the
negroes. It kept the men in better spirits, and made them more
cheerful to endure whatever legitimately belongs to a soldier's
life, when they had slaves to do the toilsome work. These slaves
were not armed, or relied upon to do any fighting. I have no means
of judging how they would have fought, as I never saw them tried.
The natural situation of Fort Pillow is the best I saw on the
Mississippi river. It is built on what is called the First Chickasaw
Bluff. Fort Wright is on the second, and Memphis on the third bluff
of the same name. The river makes a long horseshoe bend here, and
the fort is built opposite the lower end of this bend, so that boats
are in range for several miles.
The first battery built here was just above high-water mark, and
nearly half a mile long. Bomb-proof magazines were placed in the
side of the hill; and more than twenty guns of heavy calibre, 32 and
64-pounders, were mounted on double casemate carriages; and it was
intended to mount many more. A formidable defence was this expected
to be against the gunboats.
Previous Page
| Next Page
|
|