Mr. Forsyth had been good enough to invite me to an
excursion down the Bay of Mobile, to the forts built by Uncle Sam and his
French engineers to sink his Britishers — now turned by “C. S. A.” against the
hated Stars and Stripes. The mayor and the principal merchants and many
politicians — and are not all men politicians in America ? — formed the party.
If any judgment of men's acts can be formed from their words, the Mobilites,
who are the representatives of the third greatest part of the United States,
will perish ere they submit to the Yankees and people of New York. I have now
been in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, and in none of these
great States have I found the least indication of the Union sentiment, or of
the attachment for the Union which Mr. Seward always assumes to exist in the
South. If there were any considerable amount of it, I was in a position as a
neutral to have been aware of its existence.
Those who might have at one time opposed secession, have now
bowed their heads to the majesty of the majority; and with the cowardice, which
is the result of the irresponsible and cruel tyranny of the multitude, hasten
to swell the cry of revolution. But the multitude are the law in the United
States. “There's a divinity doth hedge” the mob here, which is omnipotent and
all good. The majority in each State determines its political status according
to Southern views. The Northerners are endeavoring to maintain that the
majority of the people in the mass of the States generally shall regulate the
point for each State individually and collectively. If there be any party in
the Southern States which thinks such an attempt justifiable, it sits silent
and fearful and hopeless in darkness and sorrow hid from the light of day.
General Scott, who was a short time ago written of in the usual inflated style,
to which respectable military mediocrity and success are entitled in the
States, is now reviled by the Southern papers as an infamous hoary traitor and
the like. If an officer prefers his allegiance to the United States flag, and
remains in the Federal service after his State has gone out, his property is
liable to confiscation by the State authorities, and his family and kindred are
exposed to the gravest suspicion, and must prove their loyalty by extra zeal in
the cause of Secession.
Our merry company comprised naval and military officers in
the service of the Confederate States, journalists, politicians, professional
men, merchants, and not one of them had a word but of hate and execration for
the North. The British and German settlers are quite as vehement as the natives
in upholding States’ rights, and among the most ardent upholders of slavery are
the Irish proprietors and mercantile classes.
The Bay of Mobile, which is about thirty miles long, with a
breadth varying from three to seven miles, is formed by the outfall of the
Alabama and of the Tombigbee Rivers, and is shallow and dangerous, full of
banks and trees, embedded in the sands; but all large vessels lie at the
entrance between Fort Morgan and Fort Gaines, to the satisfaction of the
masters, who are thus spared the trouble with their crews which occurs in the
low haunts of a maritime town. The cotton is sent down in lighters, which employ
many hands at high wages. The shores are low wooded, and are dotted here and
there with pretty villas; but present no attractive scenery.
The sea-breeze somewhat alleviated the fierceness of the
sun, which was however too hot to be quite agreeable. Our steamer, crowded to
the sponsons, made little way against the tide; but at length, after nearly
four hours' sail, we hauled up along-side a jetty at Fort Gaines, which is on
the right hand or western exit of the harbor, and would command, were it
finished, the light-draft channel; it is now merely a shell of masonry, but
Colonel Hardee, who has charge of the defences of Mobile, told me that they
would finish it speedily.
The Colonel is an agreeable, delicate-looking man, scarcely of
middle age, and is well known in the States as the author of “The Tactics,”
which is, however, merely a translation of the French manual of arms. He does
not appear to be possessed of any great energy or capacity, but is, no doubt, a
respectable officer.
Upon landing we found a small body of men on guard in the
fort. A few cannon of moderate calibre were mounted on the sand-hills and on
the beach. We entered the unfinished work, and were received with a salute. The
men felt difficulty in combining discipline with citizenship. They were “bored”
with their sand-hill, and one of them asked me when I “thought them damned
Yankees were coming. He wanted to touch off a few pills he knew would be good
for their complaint.” I must say I could sympathize with the feelings of the
young officer who said he would sooner have a day with the Lincolnites, than a
week with the mosquitoes for which this locality is famous.
From Fort Gaines the steamer ran across to Fort Morgan,
about three miles distant, passing in its way seven vessels, mostly British, at
anchor, where hundreds may be seen, I am told, during the cotton season. This
work has a formidable sea face, and may give great trouble to Uncle Sam, when
he wants to visit his loving subjects in Mobile in his gunboats. It is the work
of Bernard, I presume, and like most of his designs has a weak long base
towards the land; but it is provided with a wet ditch and drawbridge, with demi
lunes covering the curtains, and has a regular bastioned trace. It has one row
of casemates, armed with thirty-two and forty-two pounders. The barbette guns
are eight-inch and ten-inch guns; the external works at the salients, are armed
with howitzers and field-pieces, and as we crossed the drawbridge, a salute was
fired from a field battery, on a flanking bastion, in our honor.
Inside the work was crammed with men, some of whom slept in
the casemates — others in tents in the parade grounds and enceinte of
the fort. They were Alabama Volunteers, and as sturdy a lot of fellows as ever
shouldered musket; dressed in homespun coarse gray suits, with blue and yellow
worsted facings and stripes — to European eyes not very respectful to their
officers, but very obedient, I am told, and very peremptorily ordered about, as
I heard.
There were 700 or 800 men in the work, and an undue proportion
of officers, all of whom were introduced to the strangers in turn. The officers
were a very gentlemanly, nice-looking set of young fellows, and several of them
had just come over from Europe to take up arms for their State. I forget the name
of the officer in command, though I cannot forget his courtesy, nor an
excellent lunch he gave us in his casemate after a hot walk round the parapets,
and some practice with solid shot from the barbette guns, which did not tend to
make me think much of the greatly-be-praised Columbiads.
One of the officers named Maury, a relative of “deep-sea
Maury,” struck me as an ingenious and clever officer; the utmost harmony,
kindliness, and devotion to the cause prevailed among the garrison, from the
chief down to the youngest ensign. In its present state the Fort would suffer
exceedingly from a heavy bombardment — the magazines would be in danger, and
the traverses are inadequate. All the barracks and wooden buildings should be
destroyed if they wish to avoid the fate of Sumter.
On our cruise homewards, in the enjoyment of a cold dinner,
we had the inevitable discussion of the Northern and Southern contest. Mr.
Forsyth, the editor and proprietor of the “Mobile Register,” is impassioned for
the cause, though he was not at one time considered a pure Southerner. There is
difference of opinion relative to an attack on Washington. General St. George
Cooke, commanding the army of Virginia on the Potomac, declares there is no
intention of attacking it, or any place outside the limits of that free and
sovereign State. But then the conduct of the Federal Government in Maryland is
considered by the more fiery Southerners to justify the expulsion of “Lincoln
and his Myrmidons,” “the Border Ruffians and Cassius M. Clay,” from the
capital. Butler has seized on the Relay House, on the junction of the Baltimore
and Ohio Railroad, with the rail from Washington, and has displayed a good deal
of vigor since his arrival at Annapolis. He is a Democrat, and a celebrated
criminal lawyer in Massachusetts. Troops are pouring into New York, and are
preparing to attack Alexandria, on the Virginia side, below Washington and the
Navy Yard, where a large Confederate flag is flying, which can be seen from the
President's windows in the White House.
There is a secret soreness even here at the small effect
produced in England compared with what they anticipated by the attack on
Sumter; but hopes are excited that Mr. Gregory, who was travelling through the
States some time ago, will have a strong party to support his forthcoming
motion for a recognition of the South. The next conflict which takes place will
be more bloody than that at Sumter. The gladiators are approaching —
Washington, Annapolis, Pennsylvania are military departments, each with a chief
and Staff, to which is now added that of Ohio, under Major G. B. McClellan,
Major-General of Ohio Volunteers at Cincinnati. The authorities on each side
are busy administering oaths of allegiance.
The harbor of Charleston is reported to be under blockade by
the Niagara steam frigate; and a force of United States troops at St. Louis,
Missouri, under Captain Lyon, has attacked and dispersed a body of State
Militia under one Brigadier-General Frost, to the intense indignation of all
Mobile. The argument is, that Missouri gave up the St. Louis Arsenal to the
United States Government, and could take it back if she pleased, and was
certainly competent to prevent the United States troops stirring beyond the
Arsenal.
SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and
South, p. 192-6
