Continental Monthly Volume 1 Issue 3 by Various

V >> Various >> Continental Monthly Volume 1 Issue 3

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20

We have now reached the eastern extremity of the Witchita chain
of mountains, and shall to-morrow strike our course for Fort
Asbuekl.

The more we have seen of the country about these mountains, the
more pleased we have been with it. Bounteous nature seems here to
have strewed her favors with a lavish hand, and to have held out
every inducement for civilized man to occupy it. The numerous
tributaries of Cache Creek, flowing from granite fountains, and
winding like net-work through the valleys, with the advantages of
good timber, soil and grass, the pure, elastic and delicious
climate, with a bracing atmosphere, all unite in presenting rare
inducements to the husbandman.--_Marcy's Red River Exploration_.

This section of country is in latitude 34 deg., longitude 99 deg.; the latitude
the same as the central part of South Carolina and the southern part of
Arkansas.

We will now give statements from the _Texas Almanac_.

The south winds are the source of comfort and positive luxury to
the inhabitants of Texas during the hot weather of summer. The
nearer the sea-coast, the cooler and more brisk the current; but
the entire area of prairie, and a large portion of the timbered
country, feel it as a pleasant, healthful breeze, rendering our
highest temperature tolerable.--_Prof. Forshey, of the Texas
Military Institute_.

TRINITY RIVER AND ITS VALLEY.

So far as I have described the river, the climate is pleasant and
salubrious, and favorable for planting. The forests and
cane-brakes mitigate the cold of the northers in winter, and the
south breezes temper the heat of summer. Contrary to the usual
opinion, plantations, when once cleared of decaying timber, are
found to be remarkably healthy. In fact, there are no causes of
sickness. The river in summer is only a deep, sandy ravine, with a
clear and rapid stream of water running at its bottom, and in the
rear of the plantations, instead of swamps, are high rolling
cane-brakes.

The paradox, that there is more good land on the Trinity than on
the Mississippi, is one which will be readily sustained by those
who are acquainted with the subject.--_Texas Almanac, 1861_.

TRAVIS COUNTY, TEXAS.

The soil is exceedingly rich, from two to ten feet deep, and when
the seasons are favorable it produces from sixty to one hundred
bushels of corn, and from one and a half to two bales of cotton,
per acre. From twenty-five to thirty acres of corn, or twelve to
fifteen acres of cotton to the hand, are usually cultivated.

Our country upon the whole is fertile and well watered, has timber
enough to supply its demands, and an everlasting amount of stone
for building; it has an eternal range of mesquit grass, on which
horses and cattle that never smell corn keep perfectly fat all
winter. The climate is delightful, the nights pleasant, a fine
south breeze in summer continually playing over the face of our
broad prairies, and the atmosphere so pure and invigorating, that
it is more conducive to good health to sleep out in the open air
than to sleep in-doors. There is something so attractive in this
section of country, that those who live here a short time are
seldom satisfied to live anywhere else.

Our citizens are generally intelligent, enterprising, industrious,
religious, sober, and, _laying politics aside_, honest.--_Texas
Almanac_.

COMAL COUNTY.

BY THE ASSESSOR.

Mostly settled by Germans. In this county there are in cultivation
600 acres in cotton, 15,000 acres in corn, 500 acres in wheat. The
acre yields 500 pounds of clean cotton, 40 bushels of corn, 20
bushels of wheat. From 3,500 to 4,000 white inhabitants; 188
slaves; 396 farms. Improved lands $30, unimproved $3 an acre.
_Most of the farms are cultivatd by white labor_; a white hand
cultivates thirty acres of corn. Peaches yield abundantly; apples
and quinces have been tried successfully. The wild grape, plum,
cherry, _mulberry_, and blackberry grow luxuriantly. Wine of good
quality has been made here.

New Braunfels is the county seat. It has 2,000 inhabitants, and
boasts of having the only free school in the State, supported by
aid from the State school fund, and by direct taxation on the
property of the school district. Four teachers are employed, and
there are 250 pupils.

The letters of my Texas friend give the following description of the
climate of Texas:--

The climate of Texas is very peculiar. This is owing to the body
of water to the eastward of it, and to the dry and elevated plain
of the Llano Estacado, and the lofty mountains which lie to the
westward. To these two causes are due the moisture and the cool
temperature, and at times and in certain localities the excessive
dryness of Texas.

The Gulf stream, in its course along the coast of Florida and in
the Gulf of Mexico, has beneath it, running to the south, a cold
stream, nearly down to the freezing point. The great equatorial
current which strikes north of Cape St. Roque and through the
Caribbean Sea is suddenly narrowed between Cape San Antonio and
Cape Catoche; here the upper and warmer current, being condensed,
strikes deeper, and forces to the surface the cold water from the
under current, sometimes occasioning a roaring and very peculiar
noise. By this means the Gulf stream is divided, part turning to
the eastward around Cuba and between that island and Florida, and
part turning to the westward, north of the banks of Campeachy, and
striking Padre Island, an island upon the coast of Texas, about
one hundred and forty miles this current strikes, there are very
deep soundings, almost up with the land. South of this point, upon
the beach, are found mahogany and other tropical drift-wood,
brought there from the tropics; while north of it the drift wood
is oak, ash, and cotton-wood, brought from the north by a current
running counter to the Gulf stream, which I will hereafter
describe. From Padre Island the Gulf stream strikes off to the
north-east to the mouth of the Mississippi, thence around the
coast of Florida and through her keys, until it joins the other
branch. Inside the Gulf stream, along the coast of Texas, is the
counter-current before referred to, making down the coast at the
rate of two to three miles per hour, and bringing down the silt
and mud of the Mississippi, Sabine, etc. I have seen the water off
the Island of Galveston the color of chocolate, after a long
norther.

Above the centre of Padre Island the coast of Texas deepens at the
rate of about a fathom to the mile, until at twenty fathoms there
is a coral reef, and on the easterly side of this reef the water
deepens, as by the side of a perpendicular wall, to a very great
depth. This reef marks the boundary of the Gulf stream, and also
the boundary of the terrible tornado. The tornado of the Gulf of
Mexico never passes this barrier, never strikes the land, nor has
it been known within memory of man upon the coast.

It seems to confine itself to the course of the warm water of the
stream, and the great 'Father of the Waters' spreads his
counter-current down the coast of Texas, like a long flowing
garment, fending off the storm and the whirlwind, and thus still
better fitting Texas for the white man and the white man's labor.

With this freedom from violent storms comes the delicious
southerly wind in the summer, which gives health and moisture to
the larger part of Texas. This wind varies in the point from which
it flows. From Sabine to Matagorda its course is from south-east
to south-south-east, growing more and more to the south as the
coast tends to the south, until at the Rio Grande it blows from
due south with perhaps a little westing in it. The course of this
wind will explain the three belts of Texas, the rainy, that of
less rain, and that of great drought.

This wind from the south-east corner from across the ocean and
gulf (being a continuation of the south-east trades) laden with
moisture and of a delightful temperature, when it is met by the
cool air from the mountains, and condensed, giving the rains of
Eastern and Central Texas. The more southing they have in them,
the less moisture, until the extreme south-eastern portion of
Texas, or the country near the mouth of the Rio Grande, is one of
almost constant drought. There are thus three belts of moisture:
first, from the Sabine to the mouth of the Brazos, may be called
the belt of greatest rain,--from the Brazos to Lavaca or Victoria,
that of moderate rain,--and from Lavaca to the Rio Grande, the dry
belt. But even in the dry belt there is moisture enough to give
fine grasses, and make the country a fine one for grazing, and the
streams taking their rise in great springs, which probably have
their source in the melting snows of the Rocky Mountains, flowing
under the Llano Estacado and breaking out in great numbers in a
line almost north and south, never dry up, even in the dryest
seasons.

In the winter months, Texas has winds from the north, which come
on very suddenly, and produce great variation in the temperature.
They are disagreeable, but wholesome, and clear the atmosphere.
They do not extend north of the Red River, nor very far west, but
increase in intensity as they go south.

No country in the world can be healthier than Texas, and
consumption and pectoral complaints never originate in the area of
the northers.

Eastern Texas is generally well wooded; Middle and Western Texas
have wood on the banks of the streams, and frequent spots of
timber on the prairies.

Most of the country is covered with nutritious grass, affording
good pasture throughout the year, capable of supporting an endless
number of cattle and sheep, and almost all the soil is suited to
the growth of cotton. There are more than five thousand square
miles of bituminous coal in Texas, presenting seams five feet
thick, and hills of pure gypsum seven hundred feet high. These are
all covered by a generous sky and climate beneath which the white
man can live and work without fear of malaria or sickness, and
where he can enjoy all the blessings of the tropics without their
attendant disadvantages.

It is this superb country which we trust General Lane and his forces may
soon redeem from the curse of slavery.

The woolen manufacturer has an equal interest with the cotton-spinner in
demanding that this shall be done, for with this unequaled country for
the production of wool remaining under the curse of slavery, we import
annually nearly thirty million pounds of wool,--about one-third of our
whole consumption. With Texas free, and emigration from abroad--for a
long time reduced almost to nothing--freely encouraged, we should become
exporters of wool, not importers.

But I am warned that I have exceeded the space allotted me. The absurd
assertion that the emancipated negro lapses into barbarism and will not
work, can only be met by the question, 'If he will not work except by
compulsion, why does he work extra after his compulsory labor is over?'
Evidence that he does so work can be presented _ad infinitum_, upon
Southern testimony; witness that De Bow's _Review_ makes only a _few_
selections.

The _peculium_ of Southern servants, even on the plantation, is
sometimes not trifling. We make a _few_ selections, showing--

THE NEGROES' CROP.--A friend has reported to us a sale, on
Tuesday, of a crop of cotton belonging to Elijah Cook, of Harris
Co., Ga., amounting to $1424 96-100.--_Columbus_ (Ga.) _Sun_, Dec.
29, 1858.

Mr. J.S. Byington informs us that he made two cotton purchases
lately. One was the cotton crop of the negroes of Dr. Lucas, of
this vicinity, for which he paid $1,800 in cash, every dollar of
which goes to the negroes.--_Montgomery (Ala.) Mail_, Jan. 21,
1859.

Speaking of negroes' crops, the sales of which our contemporaries
are chronicling in various amounts,--the largest which has come to
our knowledge is one made in Macon, for the negroes of Allen
McWalker. It amounted to $1969.65.--_Macon (Ga.) Telegraph_, Feb.
3, 1859.

Upon Louisiana sugar plantations, the exhausting work of the grinding
season can only be maintained by a system of premiums and rewards
equivalent to the payment of wages. Under that system the negroes of the
sugar plantations are among the most healthy and contented in the South;
while the same labor performed in Cuba, under the most severe
compulsion, causes an annual decrease of the slave population, and the
product of the island is only maintained by fresh importations of slaves
from Africa.

With the following Southern testimony as to the intelligence of the
negro, I leave this subject:--

Without book learning the Southern slave will partake more and
more of the life-giving civilization of the master. As it is, his
intimate relations with the superior race, and the unsystematic
instruction he receives in the family, have placed him in point of
intelligence above a large portion of the white laborers of
Europe.--_Plantation Life, by Rev. Dr. McTeyire_.

We claim emancipation for the white man; it can only be secured by the
freedom of the negro. The infinite justice of the Almighty demands both.

If we now fail to accomplish it, to bear in the future the name of
'American Citizen' will be a badge of shame and dishonor.

* * * * *

GENERAL PATTERSON'S CAMPAIGN IN VIRGINIA.

It seldom happens that the history of any series of events can be
written soon after they have transpired. The idea of history implies
correctness, impartiality and completeness; and it is of rare occurrence
that all these requisites can be obtained in their fullness within a
brief period after the time of which the history is required. The
historians of this day write of the past; and the historian of our
present civil war is not yet born, who shall emulate the completeness
and conciseness of Irving's Columbus, or Prescott's Ferdinand and
Isabella, or Motley's Dutch Republic. Nor can we expect an early
solution to the 'Fremont question,' which shall be full and
satisfactory, though the length of time involved be but one hundred
days. But it is different with Gen. Patterson. It is true that his
loyalty is disputed, and in this question may be involved many
complicated issues; but the question of the general result of his three
months' campaign in Virginia admits but one answer;--it was a failure.
And it is an exception to the general rule that we can, within a few
months after his campaign closed, see and understand exactly why and how
he failed.

It is not proposed in this article to discuss the loyalty of Gen.
Patterson, or to take sides with either those who claim for him a
patriot's laurels or those who would have him suffer a traitor's fate.
We shall ignore this question entirely, simply examining the acts of his
last campaign, with reference to his capability and efficiency, the
nature and effects of his policy, and the reasons of his failure. We
propose to try him in the same manner and by the same standard as we
would if his loyalty had never been questioned.

The early morning of the 12th day of June, 1861, found the writer a
volunteer soldier of less than two months' experience in camp, just
arrived with his regiment, from the distant Badger State, at
Chambersburg, in Pennsylvania, where it was to join Patterson's division
of the Federal army. For the next two months ensuing, the writer
possessed all the facilities attainable to a private in the ranks for
observing the progress of events in that division of the army, judging
as to the propriety or necessity of the various movements, and forming
opinions as to whether Patterson was using to the best advantage the
military means within his control. These facilities were not many, it is
true; but the public opinion of the North demanded certain actions from
the general, and the writer, though but a private, could judge as to
whether those demands of the loyal North were reasonable, and as to
whether Patterson could accomplish what was required, if he chose. He
was expected to _do something_; it did not matter in what particular
manner; but it was deemed essential that he should in some way hold
Johnston in check, and prevent his junction with the main rebel force at
Manassas. And this was precisely what Patterson did not do. Bull Run was
fought and lost, and the very result attained which Patterson was
expected to prevent. Could it have been prevented?

It is fashionable in these days to set up the cry of inefficiency when a
general does not do everything that public opinion requires. The
Americans are proverbially a fault-finding people; and it will of course
be as easy to make out an _ex parte_ case against Gen. Patterson as
against our other generals. We propose, nevertheless, at the risk of
being unfashionable, to discuss candidly these expectations of the
American people which were not realized, together with the actual doings
of the unsuccessful general. We deem it susceptible of logical proof
that Patterson might and should have prevented Johnston's junction with
Beauregard.

Tents pitched, and the dust of travel from a journey of a thousand miles
washed off, the 'boys' of the 1st Wisconsin regiment stretched their
weary limbs on the fragrant clover of Pennsylvania, and, like American
soldiers everywhere, discussed with earnestness and warmth the causes,
progress, and prospects of the war. Our own position was not a little
interesting. The strength of Patterson's division was not precisely
known, but troops were arriving daily, and it was supposed to consist of
about twenty thousand men. As was well understood, it was intended to
menace Harper's Ferry, a strong natural, military and strategic
position, then held by the rebels. A severe struggle was anticipated if
the Ferry were attacked, and many were the pictures drawn of bloody
scenes and terrible carnage. But the writer, doubting the assumed
strength of the rebels at that point, freely expressed the opinion that
there would be no fight there, but that the rebels would evacuate the
post. And before his regiment left Chambersburg, this prediction was
verified. The rebels, alarmed at the prospect which loomed up before
them of a strong column of Federal troops, burned the Armory and
Arsenal, and fled. And here we may find a key to the whole of the rebel
manoeuvring--they were weak, and unable to cope with Patterson, _and
they knew it_. Upon no other hypothesis can we account for their
evacuating so strong and so important a point as Harper's Ferry.

Up to this time it had been a foregone conclusion with the army, as well
as with the American people, that Patterson was to occupy Harper's
Ferry. No other course of action was for a moment thought of. Even so
late as the 30th of June, when the different brigades were called
together, preparatory to crossing the Potomac, very many were sanguine
that Harper's Ferry was to be made the base of operations, and did not
give up that opinion till they found themselves _en route_ for
Williamsport. But the strong strategic position was neglected for more
than a month; and finally, on the very day when Johnston poured his
fresh legions upon the bloody field of Bull Run, and forced the Federals
to fall back, Patterson, with his back to the foe, entered Harper's
Ferry, with his three months' men, whose term of enlistment was
expiring, by the very road by which Johnston had left it in June.

This neglect of Patterson to occupy the strongest point in his field of
operations puts the stamp of imbecility upon him at the commencement of
his campaign. The rebels expected him to occupy that point, as, even so
late as the time of his crossing the Potomac, the force which disputed
his onward march into the valley of Virginia was not so great as that
held at Charleston to dispute his march from Harper's Ferry in case he
entered the valley there. Patterson himself confessed his mistake, by
retiring to the Ferry in July, for the avowed reason that his three
months' men must soon go home, and he must be in such a position as not
to tempt an attack from the rebels while his column was thus weakened
and disorganized, and before he could be reinforced by three years' men.
Why did not this necessity, and the propriety of holding Harper's Ferry
as a base of operations for this reason alone, if for no other, occur to
the cautious general before, as it did to so many of less military
experience than himself? Patterson, at the last day, thus confesses his
error. It was the first great mistake of his campaign. The second was
one of a different nature.

On the 2d day of July, the army crossed the Potomac at Williamsport, by
means of the ford. The crossing was commenced at daylight, and consumed
the whole of the day. Just before daylight, a little passage at arms
occurred on the Virginia side of the stream, the companies who had been
thrown over the night before as pickets having been fired on by a
detachment of the 'Berkeley Border Guard,' and returning the fire
promptly. But this served only to stimulate the already keen energies of
the Federal forces, who waded knee-deep through the clear Potomac, and
trudged along over the 'sacred soil' with a willingness unchecked by the
cold nor'wester that raged on that July morning. That portion of
Berkeley County, Virginia, which lies opposite to Willlamsport, is
called 'the Neck,' being in the shape of a horse-shoe, and nearly
surrounded by the detour of the Potomac. The turnpike leading from
Williamsport to Martinsburg and Winchester traverses the whole length of
'the Neck;' and it was on this road that the advance guard of the
division, Abercrombie's Brigade, took its line of march, a brush with
the rebels being momentarily expected. The first view of their pickets,
after leaving Williamsport, was obtained at Falling Waters, by which
sonorous appellation the Virginians designate a small and pretty
mill-pond, which loses itself over the dam of a solitary grist-mill,
within a stone's throw of the Potomac. Here was a strong natural
position, and an excellent place for waging a defensive war, if the
rebels had been so disposed. But they did not make a stand till a point
was reached a mile south from Falling Waters, and about five miles from
Williamsport, where their skirmishers opened fire at 9.15, A.M. The
skirmish which ensued, and which has since been styled the Battle of
Falling Waters, was sustained on the part of the Federals by
Abercrombie's Brigade, consisting of the 1st Wisconsin and the 11th
Pennsylvania regiments, McMullen's Philadelphia company of Independent
Rangers, the Philadelphia City Troop of cavalry, and Perkins' Field
Battery of six guns. This force speedily dislodged a superior force of
the enemy, and pursued them for two miles, as far as the hamlet of
Hainesville, where orders from Gen. Patterson to cease the pursuit
allowed the rear-guard of the rebels to elude their grasp. The contest
and the chase lasted but two hours, and at noon the advance guard
encamped at Hainesville. The remainder of the day was consumed by the
army in selecting grounds and pitching tents; and by night, Gen.
Patterson, with twenty thousand men, had succeeded in marching seven
miles, routing Col. Jackson's rebel brigade, and occupying Camp Jackson,
distant about two and one-half miles from the Maryland shore of the
Potomac. On Tuesday, the 3d of July, the indomitable general advanced
five and one-half miles farther, to Martinsburg, the county seat of
Berkeley County, and occupied the town with his whole force, without
firing a gun; the rebel rear-guard leaving Martinsburg for the south as
the Federal advance entered it from the north.

It would seem that at such a moment a skillful general would take
advantage of such a little success, and follow it up, especially when he
had spent as much time in preparation as had Patterson, by a series of
crushing blows, if anything could be found to crush. And in view of the
facts that Gen. Johnston had thus far made almost no opposition to the
advance of the Unionists, and that Patterson's soldiers were without
exception eager and anxious to push on, the policy of holding back seems
almost unaccountable. But Patterson tarried at Martinsburg for nearly
two weeks, and telegraphed for more troops; and on the 15th of July,
when he commenced his forward march toward Winchester, he suddenly
discovered that Johnston had so fortified that place that it would be
unsafe to attack it! It may be that he could get no accurate information
as to the strength of the rebel force, and that he supposed them to be
superior to himself. Still, there were many signs which a capable
general could have read plainly. It was well known that there were in
Johnston's advance force no really good troops, except the 'Berkeley
Border Guard,' a company of cavalry, composed of citizens of Berkeley
County, who, from their complete and minute knowledge of the country,
their skill in the saddle, and their zeal in the rebel cause, were as
formidable, though not so notorious, as the Black Horse Cavalry of
Fairfax and Prince William. The rout of the rebels at Hainesville, or
Falling Waters, partook of the nature of a panic, as was evidenced by
the profuse scattering of knapsacks, clothing, canteens and provisions
along the 'pike.' Indeed, the conduct of the Virginia militia scarcely
sustained the loud professions of desire to 'fight and die in defending
the sacred soil of Virginia from the invader,' as announced by the
letters and papers found in their knapsacks. And the whole course of
these events convinced the private soldiers, if not the commanding
general, that Johnston's highest ambition at that time was to gain time.
Did he not know as well as any one that the time of enlistment of many
of Patterson's men had nearly expired? And what more natural than for
him to keep the latter at bay till such a time as the withdrawal of very
many of his best troops would force him to retire? There were many true
Unionists, too, in the ranks of the rebels, who would have been glad of
opportunities to escape; this was well known. It seems impossible to
resist the conclusion that Patterson should have acceded to the
unanimous wish of his rank and file, and followed up his success at
Hainesville, by occupying Martinsburg on the 2d, advancing to 'Bunker
Hill' on the 3d, and dispersing the small rebel force known to be there,
and celebrating the 4th of July by marching on Winchester, and attacking
and reducing that post, as it seems he might easily have done at that
time. This would of course prevent the apprehended junction of Johnston
with Beauregard. The history of the war in the Old Dominion would then
have been differently written; Bull Run and its panic would not be a
stain upon our national honor, and--but who can not read the rest? It is
true, Patterson should bear none of the blame of the Bull Run disaster,
if he could have done nothing to avoid it; but we have shown that he
could have done what was necessary, and that there were reasons existing
at the time for taking such a course, of which he should have been
cognizant.

Pages:
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20