Page images
PDF
EPUB

marched into the city, hauled down the Confederate flag from the Mint and Custom-House, and hoisted in its stead the flag of the United States. Captain Bell locked the Custom-House and took the keys to his ship. These flags remained, though the marines were withdrawn before evening.

The work of the European Brigade was approaching a conclusion. The portion of it called the British Guard, composed of unnaturalized Englishmen-unnatural Englishmen, rather-voted at. their armory, a day or two after, to send their weapons, accouter ments and uniforms to General Beauregard's army, as a slight token of their affection for the Confederate States. Some of these "neutral" gentlemen had occasion to regret this step before the month of May was ended.

There was a general coming up the river, who had the peculiar ity of feeling toward the rebellion that the rebel leaders felt toward the government they had betrayed. He hated it. He meant to do his part toward putting it down by the strong hand, not conciliating it by insincere palaver. The reader is requested to bear in mind this peculiarity, for it is the key to the understanding of General Butler's administration. Consider always that his attachment to the Union and the flag was of the same intense and uncompromising nature, as the devotion of South Carolinians to the cause of the Confederacy. His was indeed a nobler devotion, but in mere warmth and entireness, it resembled the zeal of secessionists. He meant well to the people of Louisiana; he did well by them; but it was his immovable resolve that the ruling power in Louisiana henceforth should be the UNITED STATES, which had bought, de fended, protected, and enriched it. Think what secessionists would have done in New Orleans, if it had remained true to the Union, and fallen into their hands in the second year of the war. That General Butler did; only, with exactest justice, with ideal purity; employing all right methods of conciliation; rigorous only to secure the main object-the absolute, the unquestioned supremacy of the United States.

CHAPTER XVI.

LANDING IN NEW ORLEANS.

THE troops had a joyful trip up the river among the verdant sugar-fields, welcomed, as the fleet had been, by capering negroes. The transport Mississippi, with her old complement of fourteen hundred men, and Mrs. Butler on the quarter-deck, hove in sight of the forts at sunset on the last day of April. The forts were covered all over with blue-coated soldiers, who paused in their investitures to cheer the arriving vessels, and, especially, the Lady who had borne them company in so many perils. It was an animated and glorious scene, illumined by the setting sun; one of those intoxicating moments which repay soldiers for months of fatigue and waiting. The general came on board, and, at midnight, the transport steamers started for the city. At noon on the 1st of May, the Mississippi lay alongside the levee at New Orleans.

A crowd rapidly gathered; but it was by no means as turbulent or noisy as that which had howled at Captain Bailey five days before. There were women among them, many of whom appeared to be nurses carrying children. Mulatto women with baskets of cakes and oranges were also seen. Voices were frequently heard calling for "Picayune Butler," who was requested to "show himself," and "come ashore." The general, who is fond of a joke, requested Major Strong to ascertain if any of the bands could play the lively melody to which the mob had called his attention. Unluckily, none of the bandmasters possessed the music; so the general was obliged to forego his joke, and fall back upon Yankee Doodle and the Star Spangled Banner. Others of the crowd cried: "You'll never see home again." "Yellow Jack will have you before long." "Halloo, epaulets, lend us a picayune." With divers other remarks of a chafing nature, alternating with maledictions.

General Butler waited upon Captain Farragut, and heard a narrative of recent events. The general announced his determination to land forthwith, and Captain Farragut notified the mayor of this resolve; adding that he should hold no farther correspondence with

the authorities of New Orleans, but gladly yielded the situation to the commander of the army. Returning to the Mississippi, General Butler directed the immediate disembarkation of the troops,* and the operation began about four o'clock in the afternoon. A company of the Thirty-first Massachusetts landed on the extensive platform raised above the levee for the convenient loading of cotton, and, forming a line, slowly pressed back the crowd, at the point of the bayonet, until space enough was obtained for the regiments to form. When the Thirty-first had all landed, they marched down the cotton platform to the levee, and along the levee to De Lord street, where they halted. The Fourth Wisconsin was then disembarked, after which the procession was formed in the order fol lowing:

First, as pioneer and guide, marched Lieutenant Henry Weigel, of Baltimore, aid to the general, who was familiar with the streets of the city, and now rose from a sick bed to claim the fulfillment of General Butler's promise that he, and he only, should guide the troops to the Custom-House.

Next, the drum-corps of the Thirty-first Massachusetts. Behind these, General Butler and his staff on foot, no horses having yet been landed, a file of the Thirty-first marching on each side of them. Then Captain Everett's battery of artillery, with whom marched Captain Kensel, chief of artillery to the expedition. The Thirty-first followed, under Colonel O. P. Gooding. Next, General Williams and his staff, preceded by the fine band of the Fourth Wisconsin, and followed by that regiment under Colonel Paine. The same orders were given as on the march into Baltimore: silence; no notice to be taken of mere words; if a shot were fired from a house, halt, arrest inmates, destroy house; if fired upon from the crowd, arrest the man if possible, but not fire into the crowd

"GENERAL ORDER NO. 15.

"HEAD-QUARTERS DEPARTMENT OF THE GULF, "NEW ORLEANS, May 1, 1862.

"L. In anticipation of the immediate disembarkation of the troops of this command amid the temptations and inducements of a large city, all plundering of public or private property, by any person or persons, is hereby forbidden, under the severest penalties.

"IL No officer or soldier will absent himself from his station without arms or alone, under anv pretext whatever.

"III. The commanders of regiments and companies will be held responsible for the strict execution of these orders, and that the offenders are brought to punishment.

"By command of

"GEO. C. STRONG. A. A. General"

MAJOR-GENERAL BUTLER

unless absolutely necessary for self-defense, and then not without orders.

At five the procession moved, to the music of the Star Spangled Banner. The crowd surged along the pavements on each side of the troops, struggling chiefly to get a sight of the general; crying out: "Where is the d-d rascal ?" "There he goes, G―d d-n him!" "I see the d-d old villain!" To which were added such outeries, as "Shiloh," "Bull Run," "Hurrah for Beauregard ;" "Go home, you d-d Yankees." From some windows, a mild hiss was bestowed upon the troops, who marched steadily on, looking neither to the right hand nor to the left. The general, not having a musical ear, was observed to be chiefly anxious upon the point of keeping step to the music-a feat that had never become easy to him, often as he had attempted it in the streets of Lowell. And so they marched; along the levee to Poydras street; Poydras street to St. Charles street; past the famous hotel, closed and deserted now, though alive with five hundred inmates three days before; along St. Charles street to Canal street and the CustomHouse that vast, unfinished, roofless structure, upon which the United States had expended so many millions, one Beauregard being engineer.

The troops surrounded the edifice; Captain Kensel posted his artillery, so as to command the adjacent streets; and the general ordered the Thirty-first to enter and occupy the building. But Captain Bell had locked the door and put the key into his pocket. The door was forced, therefore, and by six o'clock, the Thirty-first was lodged in the second story, making preparations for the evening meal. Strong guards were posted at all needful points. The general and his staff then returned to the levee, and went on board the Mississippi for the night. The Twelfth Connecticut, Colonel Deming, bivouacked upon the levee near the ship, happy to lie down once more under the stars, after being so long huddled in a transport ship. The evening was warm and serene, and the city was again as still as a country hamlet. General Phelps came on shore at twilight, and walked about the city unattended and unmolested. Nay, he reported that the people whom he had spoken to, answered his inquiries with politeness, despite his uniform. "You didn't mention your name; did you, General ?" asked an officer. "No," replied he, laughing; "no one asked it."

That evening, General Butler having put the finishing touches to his proclamation, sent two officers of his staff to the office of the True Delta, to get it printed as a hand-bill. He forbore to demand its insertion in the paper, unwilling to bring upon any one establishment the odium that its insertion could not but excite. In all ways, he was for trying the suaviter in modo, before resort11g to the fortiter in re. The officers reached the office at ten, after the proprietor and editors had gone home. The foreman in charge replied, that in the absence of the proprietor, the document could not be printed. The officers returned to the ship, reported, and received farther orders. At eight the next morning, the same officers were again at the office of the True Delta, where they found the chief proprietor, and repeated their request.

No; the True Delta office could not think of printing General Butler's proclamation."

The officers quietly intimated that, in that case, they would be under the painful necessity of seizing the office, and using the materials therein for the purpose of printing it. The proprietor objected. He said that the selection of his establishment for the printing of such a manuscript, was invidious and unjust; it looked as if the design was to make him and his colleagues obnoxious and loathsome to their fellow-citizens. "I can not resist," said he," the seizure of the office, but, under no circumstances, shall it be used for the purpose designated, with my approval or consent."

The officers bowed and retired. After two hours' absence, they returned with a file of soldiers, armed and equipped, who drew up before the building. Half a dozen of them entered the printingoffice, where they laid aside their weapons of war, and took up the peaceful implements of their trade. The proclamation was soon in type, and a few copies printed; enough for the general's immediate purpose. The proprietor himself testified, in the paper of the next day, that the troops effected their purpose and retired, “without offering any offense in language or behavior, or manifesting the least desire to interfere with the regular business of the office, or to injure or derange its property." It would have been better if he could have refrained from other comment. But he did not. He added: "As this first step of the commander of the federal troops in possession of this city is indicative of a determination, on his part, to subject us to a supervision utterly subversive of the character of

« PreviousContinue »