August 8. [Mobile] —Rev. Dr. Pierce, Mrs. S., and myself paid a visit to the Garner Hospital, which is near the depot. Every thing in it is in perfect order, and much credit is due to the surgeon in charge. It was a perfect treat to go through the dining-room and kitchen; they were so clean and neat; in fact, the whole place was the same. There was quite a number of ladies attending the patients, as I believe there is in all hospitals in the place. We took some books with us, which the men seem glad to receive. Dr. P. visits this hospital three days in the week.
Wednesday, August 8, 2012
August 8th.—Mr. Daniel Blake drove down to my sister’s in his heavy, substantial English phaeton, with stout and strong horses to match. I went back with him and spent two delightful days at his hospitable mansion. I met there, as a sort of chaplain, the Rev. Mr. ____. He dealt unfairly by me. We had a long argument, and when we knelt down for evening prayers, he introduced an extemporaneous prayer and prayed for me most palpably. There was I down on my knees, red-hot with rage and fury. David W. said it was a clear case of hitting a fellow when he was down. Afterward the fun of it all struck me, and I found it difficult to keep from shaking with laughter. It was not an edifying religious exercise, to say the least, as far as I was concerned.
Before Chancellorsville, was fatal Sharpsburg.¹ My friend, Colonel Means, killed on the battle-field; his only son, Stark, wounded and a prisoner. His wife had not recovered from the death of her other child, Emma, who had died of consumption early in the war. She was lying on a bed when they told her of her husband’s death, and then they tried to keep Stark’s condition from her. They think now that she misunderstood and believed him dead, too. She threw something over her face. She did not utter one word. She remained quiet so long, some one removed the light shawl which she had thrown over her head and found he was dead. Miss Mary Stark, her sister, said afterward, “No wonder! How was she to face life without her husband and children? That was all she had ever lived for.” These are sad, unfortunate memories. Let us run away from them.
What has not my husband been doing this year, 1862, when all our South Carolina troops are in Virginia? Here we were without soldiers or arms. He raised an army, so to speak, and imported arms, through the Trenholm firm. He had arms to sell to the Confederacy. He laid the foundation of a niter-bed; and the Confederacy sent to Columbia to learn of Professor Le Conte how to begin theirs. He bought up all the old arms and had them altered and repaired. He built ships. He imported clothes and shoes for our soldiers, for which things they had long stood sorely in need. He imported cotton cards and set all idle hands carding and weaving. All the world was set to spinning cotton. He tried to stop the sale of whisky, and alas, he called for reserves—that is, men over age, and he committed the unforgivable offense of sending the sacred negro property to work on fortifications away from their owners’ plantations.
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¹ During the summer of 1862, after the battle of Malvern Hill and before Sharpsburg, or Antietam, the following important battles had taken place: Harrison’s Landing, July 3d and 4th; Harrison’s Landing again, July 31st; Cedar Mountain, August 9th; Bull Run (second battle), August 29th and 30th, and South Mountain, September 14th.
August 8.—At Huntsville, Ala., Gen. Rousseau issued the following special order:
“Almost every day murders are committed by lawless bands of robbers and murderers firing into the railroad trains.
“To prevent this, or to let the guilty suffer with the innocent, it is ordered that the preachers and leading men of the churches, (not exceeding twelve in number,) in and about Huntsville, who have been active secessionists, be arrested and kept in custody, and that one of them be detailed each day and placed on board the train on the road running by way of Athens, and taken to Elk River and back, and that a like detail be made and taken to Stevenson and back. Each detail shall be in charge of a trusty soldier, who shall be armed, and not allow him to communicate with any person.
“When not on duty these gentlemen shall be comfortably quartered in Huntsville, but not allowed to communicate with any one without leave from these headquarters. The soldiers detailed for guard of this character will report to these headquarters for further instructions upon the day preceding their tour of duty at three o’clock P.M.”—Special Order No. 54.
— “Certain Non-conscripts” of Richmond, Va., through their counsel, John H. Gilmer, respectfully presented to the confederate States Congress a remonstrance against the conscription law of the rebel government.
— At a banquet given by the Mayor of Sheffield, England, to the corporation of that town, several distinguished guests were present, and among them were Lord Palmerston and Mr. Roebuck, M.P. for the borough.
Lord Palmerston, in his after-dinner speech, took occasion to refer to the American war. He said: The Government had thought it their duty to advise their Sovereign to preserve a strict and rigid neutrality in that most unhappy conflict now raging in North-America. It was painful to witness the loss of life, the wasting of treasure, and other sad concomitants of the unfortunate contest; but, greatly as they might lament to see their brethren on the other side of the Atlantic suffering such wretchedness, greatly as they might themselves feel the evils consequent upon it, he was convinced that the course which the British government had pursued was the only course which became that country, and that it had received, and would continue to receive, the approval and sanction of the British people.
Mr. Roebuck afterward addressed the assembly, and, after referring to the distress in Lancashire, he touched upon the civil war in America, and said he had at first looked at the disruption of the Union with grief, but his present feeling was one of rejoicing. An irresponsible people, possessed of irresponsible and almost omnipotent power, was a people that could not be trusted; and he regarded the attempt of the North in endeavoring to restore the Union by force as an immoral proceeding totally incapable of success. Slavery was a mere pretence. In the North the feeling against the black man was stronger than in the South, and if North and South were reunited to-morrow, slavery would be more firmly fixed than ever. He looked to Lancashire, and would entreat Lord Palmerston to weigh well the consequences of what he called “perfect neutrality.” There had not yet been perfect neutrality. Great Britain was at that moment supporting the North with every means of offence and injury to the South. He, therefore, begged the noble lord deeply to consider whether the time had not come for him to be the first in Europe to ask the Great Powers to recognize the Southern Confederacy. Six months would not pass over before that was done. The Northerners would never be our friends. Of the Southerners we could make friends. They were not the scum and refuse of Europe, but Englishmen. A hand held out from Europe would stop the effusion of blood, and would make the homes of our workingmen happy again. He had not made these remarks lightly or in haste, and he submitted them to his fellow-countrymen, believing that, if acted upon, they would redound to their prosperity and their honor.
— Orders were issued from the War Department at Washington, to prevent the evasion of military duty, and for the suppression of disloyal practices; also authorizing the arrest of persons discouraging enlistments.—(Doc. 175.)
—At Baltimore, Md., several persons were arrested while endeavoring to escape from that city, in order to evade the draft ordered by the Secretary of War. —Portland, Calloway County, Mo., was captured by a party of rebel guerrillas under the command of Capt Cobb. After robbing the stores and residences, the guerrillas left the place. —General Blunt and staff left Leavenworth, Kansas, to take the field in command of the Indian expedition.—Leavenworth Conservative.
