James Burrill Angell

“ The view from the Capitol to the north extended over an interminable forest, clothed in the delicate green of early spring. The city lies in a semi-circle of hills, and appeared to be fairly prosperous. As we were passing some negroes, one asked, "How's de peoples up de country?" "Oh, dey's all extant," replied another. We gathered from conversation that the sentiment in Montgomery and the adjacent country was by no means unanimous for secession, though the subject was under discussion.
We proceeded by steamer to Mobile, a sail of a day and a half, through rather tame and monotonous scenery. ”

“ As we entered Hamburg, opposite Augusta, we saw twenty negroes marching round a piazza singing merrily. They were for sale. Not even this fact depressed their spirits.
We found Augusta the most attractive southern city we had seen. It had about twelve thousand inhabitants. The two principal streets were lined with fine dwellings. One of them, a mile or more in length, had two rows of trees in the middle, and one row on each side. There were two large cotton mills under the charge of a man brought from Lowell, Massachusetts. They were as well equipped as any we had seen at home. ”

“ The road to the capitol lay through forests and swamps. At one point near Ocklocknee Channel, posts were set up to guide the stage driver in swimming his horses where water overflowed the road. Tallahassee was made attractive by its beautiful gardens. On coming south we were impressed by the fact that the farther south we came the more intensely Calvinistic and severe was the theology which inspired the preaching. In Tallahassee we heard by far the sternest and most sulphurous discourse we listened to.
A dilapidated railway, on which a car was drawn by horses, connected the city with Newport. ”

“ But no one could make the journey we did without being impressed with the great natural resources of the State, with the attractiveness of the scenery on both sides of the Blue Ridge, and with the shrewdness, intelligence, and activity of the inhabitants of the Shenandoah Valley.
Passing from Danville into North Carolina, we travelled on a level ridge for twenty-seven miles without crossing a stream. We came also on the first camp we had seen of a slave trader, buying up negroes to take to the gulf states. That was a prosperous business both in Virginia and in the Carolinas. ”

“ While waiting for a delayed train at the station, we met a hotel keeper from Quincy, Florida, whose commendations of his town decided us to go there for the winter. Mr. Hazard stopped at Aiken, where we were to remain a few days, and I went on to Augusta to bring the horses down. The people at the hotel hardly recognized me, as I no longer wore the riding costume in which they had seen me. The horses having been in the stable three weeks I had a lively time, riding one and leading the other. It rained heavily all day. ”

“ We were very hospitably received by the citizens, many of whom were persons of intelligence and excellent character. That part of Florida had been mainly settled from the Carolinas. Not a few of the men, after unsuccessful business ventures elsewhere, had come there to make a fresh start in life, and were as devoted to money-getting as they supposed the Yankees to be. Land was cheap and well adapted to the growth of cotton, which was the chief crop. As no railways had reached that section, marketing the cotton was difficult and costly. ”

“ We were told that the white man was his owner and was a citizen of New Jersey, of a family so distinguished that if I should mention his name most readers of these lines would recall it as familiar. It is needless to say that we did not care for any more breakfast.
We walked out soon after to the front of the courthouse, where a crowd was gathered. We found they were selling at auction the slaves of a citizen who had recently died. The negro families that were to be separated were evincing much feeling. A fine looking girl, about eighteen years old, was mounting the block as we arrived. ”

“ The plantation called "Lang Syne" had about three thousand acres and produced from one hundred and eighty to two hundred bales of cotton. We were hospitably entertained by dinner parties and hunting parties on the plantations in the neighbourhood. Partridges, rabbits, and squirrels were the game sought. The negroes running and shouting rivalled the dogs in securing the game shot.
Our visit corrected our impression that the life of the planter and his wife was one free from care. They did have more leisure than the northern farmer. But careful management was required to secure good profits. ”

“ The water is so clear that one can see a button dropped to the bottom. At certain angles one sees beautiful prismatic hues. The shadow of your boat is plainly perceptible on the bottom. You seem to be floating in the air. ”

“ She had given much attention to the economics of plantation life. She told us that she would prefer to have $25,000 in good bank stock rather than $100,000 in negroes and plantations. The negroes of "Lang Syne" seemed cheerful and merry, especially when they came on Christmas day to the house to draw their extra Christmas rations. But we were much impressed by an incident which occurred while, on our departure, we were on the way to the railway station. The negro driver was a grave elderly man, a Baptist preacher, in fact, for his people. ”

“ We drove to Chattahoochee over a dreadful road, and in the evening took the steamer Palmetto for Columbus, where we arrived the next day at 1 P.M. The river with its precipitous banks largely covered with cypresses was of more interest than we had expected. Columbus was a prosperous city of six thousand inhabitants. Several cotton mills were in process of construction.
The next morning at 2 A.M., the usual hour in the South for stages to start, we set out for Opelika. ”

“ Hazard held up the coach to keep it from capsizing again. After awhile we remounted, but had not gone far before the coach fell plump into a mud hole so as to pitch off a clergyman from the driver's seat and to pitch the driver off headlong after him. It proved we were near a camp of negro teamsters who had a lightwood fire and some loads of furniture. We cut down chairs and sat by the fire and waited until nearly daylight, when a larger and better coach came to our relief. ”

“ Philadelphia had many objects of interest to me, Independence Hall, the Mint, the Schuylkill, Fairmount, etc.
We got our outfit of saddles and bridles and went via Baltimore to Harper's Ferry and Winchester. When we had planned to set out on horseback for a journey through the South, we had clothed ourselves in suits of heavy gray cloth, and steeple-crowned, brick-coloured hats, known as California hats. We had india-rubber ponchos for use in rainy weather. Our effects were packed in saddle bags. We purchased two excellent horses here.
We had letters to some intelligent men in Winchester. ”

“ The people had fled from their houses in boats. We stopped at Baton Rouge long enough to visit the capitol, not quite completed, and the state prison, whose inmates were employed in a cotton mill established within the walls. We continued on the steamer we took at Baton Rouge until we reached Paducah. There we heard a Judge charging the jury in a very original manner. He always referred to the Court as "She," and inveighed against demagogues "honeyfogling the people." ”

“ Under Monsieur Crozet, a French engineer, the men were driving the tunnel for the railway. Our immediate destination was Charlottesville. We wished to visit Monticello, the home of Jefferson, and the University of Virginia.
We reached Turpin's Hotel in the afternoon. Our costume was hardly calculated to impress strangers with the idea that we were entitled to special civilities at their hands. In fact we had generally been taken by the men' we had met on the road for drovers, who were seeking cattle, or for bill collectors, sent out by northern firms to dun their debtors. ”

“ The operatives were all white. We made a vain attempt to sell our horses, as we learned that owing to the sparseness of the population in southwestern Georgia we should find it very uncomfortable travelling on horseback to middle Florida, where we had decided to go for the remainder of the winter. We left the horses in Augusta, while we went by rail to Charleston, South Carolina.
We had to leave at five A.M., without breakfast. We stopped for breakfast near Aiken. Mr. Hazard paid for our meals. ”

“ He had one hundred and thirty-seven negroes, and was building new and comfortable tenements for them. He had a house in which all the negro children were kept during the day in charge of attendants, and a hospital provided with nurses. Every negro had his particular task and drew his ration of food. ”

“ They employed only four men in their work. We crossed the State line into South Carolina, and traversed Lancaster County, passing over the scene of Sumter's and of Gates' military operations in the Revolution. The soil was light and sandy. Lofty pines were here first encountered. In this region we met the first advocates of secession. Some of them warned us that it would be dangerous for us to approach Columbia. We replied that we would continue our journey until we saw signs of danger.
Camden we found an attractive town of between two and three thousand inhabitants. ”

“ We left Cincinnati by coach at 4 o'clock A.M. for Dublin, Indiana, to visit the Vanuxems, Quaker relatives of Mr. Hazard. This drive took us through a most fertile country, inhabited by an industrious and thrifty people. ”