Down in Tennessee, and Back by Way of Richmond

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Carleton, 1864 - Tennessee - 282 pages

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Page 231 - I was re-reading the letter when the General again said : " What do you think of it?" "It would end the rebellion. It taps the great negro organization, of which I speak in ' Among the Pines,' and co-operated with by our forces would certainly succeed, but — the South would run with blood.
Page 279 - But Amnesty, Sir, applies to criminals. We have committed no crime. Confiscation is of no account, unless you can enforce it. And Emancipation ! You have already emancipated nearly two millions of our slaves, — and if you will take care of them, you may emancipate the rest. I had a few when the war began. I was of some use to them ; they never were of any to me. Against their will you ' emancipated ' them ; and you may ' emancipate ' every negro in the Confederacy, but ice will be free ! We will...
Page 269 - ... companion and myself. Contrasting his manner with the quiet dignity of the Colonel, I almost fancied our positions reversed — that, instead of our being in his power, the Secretary was in ours, and momently expecting to hear some unwelcome sentence from our lips. There is something, after all, in moral power. Mr. Benjamin does not possess it, nor is he a great man. He has a keen, shrewd, ready intellect, but not the stamina to originate, or even to execute, any great good or great wickedness.
Page 266 - Northern people relative to an adjustment of the differences existing between the North and the South, and earnestly hope that a free interchange of views between President Davis and themselves may open the way to such official negotiations as will result in restoring PEACE to the two sections of our distracted country. They, therefore, ask an interview with the President, and awaiting your reply, are Truly and respectfully yours.
Page 269 - Benjamin occupied his previous seat at the table, and at his right sat a spare, thin-featured man, with iron-gray hair and beard, and a clear, gray eye, full of life and vigor. He had a broad, massive forehead, and a mouth and chin denoting great energy and strength of will. His face was emaciated, and much wrinkled...
Page 269 - He had a broad, massive forehead, and a mouth and chin denoting great energy and strength of wilL His face was emaciated, and much wrinkled, but his features were good, especially his eyes — though one of them bore a scar, apparently made by some sharp instrument. He wore a suit of grayish-brown, evidently of foreign manufacture, and, as he rose, I saw that he was about five feet ten inches high, with a slight stoop in the shoulders. His manners were simple, easy, and quite fascinating ; and he...
Page 273 - Grant executed what your people call a ' brilliant flank movement,' and fought Lee again. Lee drove him a second time, and then Grant made another ' flank movement ; ' and so they kept on, — Lee whipping, and Grant flanking, — until Grant got where he is now. And what is the net result ? Grant has lost seventy-five or eighty thousand men — more than Lee had at the...
Page 90 - ... inspection, but the customs officials merely chalked it, without examination, and I hurried back to my compartment amid the shouting of guards and the clanging of station bells. Again I found that I was alone in the compartment, so I smoked a cigarette, thanked Heaven, and fell into a dreamless sleep. "How long I slept I do not know, but when I awoke the train was roaring through a tunnel. When again it flashed out into the open country I peered through the grimy, rain-stained window and saw...
Page 271 - I know. You would deny to us what you exact for yourselves — the right of self-government." an imaginary line, live at peace with each other ? 'Would not disputes constantly arise, and cause almost constant war between them ?" " Undoubtedly, — with this generation. You have sown such bitterness at the South ; you have put such an ocean of blood between the two sections, that I despair of seeing any harmony in my time. Our children may forget this war, but we cannot.
Page 271 - I can look up to my God and say this. I tried all in my power to avert this war. I saw it coming, and for twelve years I worked night and day to prevent it, but I could not. • The North was mad and blind ; it would not let us govern ourselves, and so the war came, and now it must go on till...

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