A Subaltern's Furlough: descriptive of the scenes in various parts of the United States, Upper and Lower Canada during ... 1832 ... With illustrations

Front matter

A SUBALTERN'S FURLOUGH DESCRIPTIVE OF SCENES IN VARIOUS PARTS OF THE UNITED STATES, UPPER AND LOWER CANADA, NEW-BRUNSWICK, AND NOVA SCOTIA, DORIWG THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 183'2. BY E. T. COKE, LIEUTENANT OF THE 45TH BEGIMENT. Wand 'ring from clime to clime observant stray'd, Their manners noted, and their states survey'd. Pon IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. NEW- YORK: PUBLISHED BY J. & J. HARPER, NO. 82, CLIFF-STKEET. AND SOU) BY THE PRINCIPAL BOOKSELLERS THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES. M BCCC H. Ludwig, Printer. te HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF RUTLAND, K G., &c. &c, Œfn's Uolttme IS BY PERMISSION DEDICATED, WITH SINCERE RESPECT, BY HIS GRACE'S YERT OBEDIENT AKD MUCH OBLIGED SERVANT, THE AUTHOR.

Preface

Feeling dissatisfied with the various statements which have issued from the press in such rapid succession within the last two or three years, respecting the United States, and being convinced that much yet remained to be learned relative to that part of the vast Western Continent, I came to the determination of availing myself of a short leave of absence from my military duties to cross the Atlantic, and inform my self more fully upon the subject. After travelling over 2000 miles of the most interesting districts, and visiting the principal Atlantic cities in the United States, I extended my tour through an equal distance in the British provinces. As my only object in publishing the following narrative is to contribute, in however small a degree, to the knowledge already possessed of those countries which are so fast rising into importance, I hope that I shall not lay myself open to a charge of presumption.

In the following unpretending pages, I profess only to give an unbiassed and impartial statement of what came under my own observation. My remarks are confined to those things which require but a short re sidence in a country ; and, merely pointing out some X

PREFACE.

. of the most interesting objects and places of greatest historical note, I leave the full definition of Republican, National Republican, Federalist, Nullifier, Democrat, and all the other various shades and sects of the political world, to those who have made state affairs their study. I much regretted that circumstances would not per mit a longer stay in so attractive a portion of the globe, and do not hesitate to recommend those who are at a loss how to kill time during the summer months to make a similar trip. If their expectations are not too sanguine, they will be amply repaid for the slight inconvenience of rough seas and rough roads, by not only becoming acquainted with an inte resting people, but by the opportunity which will be afforded them of viewing some of the most stupendous natural curiosities as well as some of the finest speci mens of art in the world, May 2, 1833.

CONTENTS. CHAP. I. PAGE Set sail from Liverpool — Emigrants on board — Man stowed away — Dr.Emmons'sFredoniad — Make land — Pilot — Enter the Delaware — Run aground— The Pee Patch Fort — Delaware City — Quarantine Station — Mud Fort — Visit Philadelphia — Dearborn — Republican Tavernkeeper 13—29 CHAP. II. Philadelpliia — Hotels — Temperance Societies — Theatre — Newspapers 30—37 CHAP. III. Charitable Institutions — Pennsylvania Hospital — West's Painting — Alms' House — Museum — Mammoth — Major Andre — Arcade — State House — Academy of Fine Arts — Line-of-battle-ship — Water-works — Bridges — Fire and Hose companies — United States' Bank . . . 38 — 52 CHAP. IV. Volunteers and Militia — Sale of Stock — Railway — German Town — The Fire King — Penn's Elm-tree — Stephen Girard — Churches — Markets— Streets — Penitentiary a . . 53—67 CHAP. V. Departure from Philadelphia — Steamers — Chesapeaike — Baltimore — -Monuments — Theatre — Cathedral — Merchants' Hall — Beauty of the Females — Notice at the Hotel — General Ross — Battle of North Point — Leave Baltimore — Coaches — Bladensburgh, Battle of — Arrive at Washington 68—82 CHAP. VI.

The Capitol — Mr. Adams's Speech — Destruction of Public Buildings — Tripoli Monument — Member of Congress drowned — Attempt at Assassination — Mr. Law —Plan of the City 83— 9b* CHAP. VII. Alexandria — Museum — Mount Vernon — Washington's Tomb — General Jackson — State and War Departments — Captured Colours — Portraits of Indian Chiefs— CONTENTS. Arsenal — Navy Yard — Georgetown — Ohio Canal — Falls of the Potomac 97—110 CHAP. VIII. Leave Washington — Musical German — Miserable Night — Blue Ridge — Winchester — Harper's Ferry — Manufactories of Arms — Descend the Potomac — Point of Rocks — Restless Night — Mississippi Captain — Railway — Cholera — Arrive at New-York Ill — 127 CHAP. IX. Day of Festivities — Description of City — Academy of Fine Arts — Niblo's Gardens — Witty Auctioneer — Churches — Negro Dandies — Yankee Story — Justice of the Peace — Sam Patch's Leap — Deserted City . . . 128 — 147 CHAP. X. Mrs. Trollope — Captain Hall — Brother Jonathan's anger —Correct English * 148—155 CAAP.

XI. Leave New-York — Hell-gate — New-Haven — Indignant Lady — Regicide Judges — Yankee Nonchalance — Definition of " Yankee " — Hartford — Archers — Fire — Churches 156—164 CHAP. XII. Leave Hartford — Providence — College — King Philip — Not permitted to enter Newport — Stage-coach Conversation — Yankee Wit — Arrive at Boston 165 — 179 CHAP. XIII. Description of Boston — -Washington's Statue — Museum — Faneuil Hixll — Navy Yard — Bunker's Hill — Harvard College — Mill-dam — Franklin — Leave Boston — Colonel Goffe — Beautiful town — Ascend Mount Holyoke Well-trained Horse — upset in the Coach 180 — 194 CHAP. XIV. Lebanon Springs — Shakers — Lecture — Mother. Ann — Black Fiddlers — Troy — Schenectady College- — Erie Canal — Driver thrown into the Canal — Falls of thc Mohawk — In search of the Sublime 195 — 209 CHAP. XV.

Inquisitive Pot-house Keeper — Falls of Trem on — Shaking in a Dearborn — Whitesborough Institution — Clergyman's Salary — Sunday Schools — Tuscarora Indians — Mail Bags — Names of Towns 210 —

Chapter I

Adieu, adieu ! my native shore, Fades o'er the waters blue. Byron. Hail Columbia 1 Song. As nothing can be more uninteresting to unprofes sional readers, than a recapitulation of all the various changes of weather, the heavy squalls and gales, the more tedious long rolling calms, the dense fogs and dangerous icebergs (on the banks of Newfoundland), the passing sails, and, in short, the usual contents of a ship's lot. : aa- • ■ • a I shall only briefly take notice of a few incidents con nected with the voyage. After a detention of three days at Liverpool, owing to contrary winds with rough and boisterous weather, the packet ship, in which I had en gaged a passage, hauled out of Prince's dock at daylight on the morning of the 23d of April, and stood down channel ; but it was not until the fifth day from that time that we were clear ofthe southernmost cape of Ireland: a foul wind possessed, however, one redeeming quality, by successively displaying the fine bold coast of the Emerald Isle, and the picturesque mountains of Wales.

I had selected the Philadelphia in preference to the New-York line of packets, and made some small sacri fice to accommodation and society, from a supposition that but few emigrants would be bound so far to the southward ; knowing full well, from previous experience, the vol. i. — B. great inconvenienceof a crowded steerage. I was therefore much surprised to find that although a vessel of only 370 tons, she was carrying out 146 passengers in that part ofthe ship. I had.however, no cause to regret the choice I had made, as I found myself in an excellent seaboat with an active and experienced commander, who had already crossed the Atlantic seventy -six times; no trifling re commodation to a pleasure-seeking passenger. The weather, for the season of the year, was unusually boisterous, and the wind variable ; blowing scarcely for twen ty-four hours in succession from any one point of the compass : but having a good stock of provisions and pleasant society on board, it mattered little to the cabin passengers (who were, with one exception, old sailors) which way the ship's head was ; but to the emigrants, an increasing gale was a source of great tribulation and alarm ; the deck resounding with their groans and prayers until it moderated.

The captain and myself were walking upon deck one squally day, when seeing several of the steerage passengers sitting on the fore hatchway, exposed to every sea which came aboard, yet at the same time apparently regardless of it, we had the curiosity to ask them, what they were doing there, and why not below in their berths? "Why sure now, Captain," said the spokesman, an Irishman, "and isn't it that we are waiting here, so that we will be ready to get into the boats, if the ship goes down ; for we know you wouldn't wait to call us." The weather itself was not more variable than their conduct: in a calm, the Welch and Irish kept the whole vessel in a uproar with their broils and righting, which ever arose from national reflections ; and each man having brought a store of liquor on board with him, as part of his sea-stock, the combatants were generally more than half intoxicated ; while in rough weather, the self-same parties would be leagued together singing psalms, in which they were assisted by the English and Scotch, who kept aloof dur ing the storm of words and war of fists.

Amongst the emigrants, however, were many respectable farmers, who, with their families, were about to seek their fortunes in the New World ; but the majority were artificers, and some few were men, who, if they could not make their fortunes, judging from outward appearances, could scarce ly mar them. They were well equipped for the early commencement of operations in America, being burthen ed with no such heavy baggage as bedding, trunks, wives, children, or even a change of apparel; and it was a matter of conjecture to many of us, how they could have procured sufficient money for the payment of their passage. A man obtained a free one in the following, by no means uncommon manner : — The crew in overhauling the stores in the sail-room, a fe w days after we had put to sea, discovered him snugly stowed away with in the coil ofa cable, and bringing him upon deck, he proved to be a great, broad-shouldered, ruddy-faced son of Erin, "a poor orphan," as he described himself, who hav ing taken a drop too much of the cratur had found his way into the sail-room by accident, and fallen asleep, when the ship lay alongside the quay, and that his pro visions were in his coat-pocket, which, upon due examination, proved to contain only a solitary copper, and a dry crust of mouldy bread.

Our worthy skipper put him in great bodily fear, by threatening to tie him up to the gangway, and after giving him a round dozen, to put him on board the first fishing-smack we met off the coast of Wales ; but it was merely a threat in terrorem, as the following day he was duly initiated into all the rites and mysteries of Jemmy Ducks; and after being in vested with full power and command over that very requisite department, he became a most important and useful personage. Some scoundrel, however, relieved him of part of his charge, by administering a quantity of oxalic acid, which carried off all our stock of grunters at " one fell swoop." A woman, also, with the tact of her own sex, avoided detection until we had been a month at sea, and was only then discovered through the im peachment of one of her follow-passengers.

She had gone quite on the opposite tack to the "poor orphan :" so far from courting concealment, she had ever been observed to be cooking or loitering about the caboose, was the most noisy of all the females on board, and had once or twice even ventured upon the sacred limits of the quarter-deck. So proud a bearing blinded every person on board ; nor could any one have imagined, even when challenged with the fraud, but that she had paid her passage, so menacing and formidable an appearance she assumed, with her arms a-kimbo, and a contemptuous toss of thehead. Although the captain keeps a sharp look out (there being a fine imposed upon ships carrying a greater number of passengers than the law admits, according to the tonnage), yet few vessels sail from Liver pool without carrying more than their complement.

Some times an affectionate wife introduces her lord and mas ter on board in the guise ofa trunk filled with old clothes, or in a crate, as her stock of crockery, in which he is half smothered, and tossed about most unceremoniously, during the confusion attendant upon weighing anchor. Having anticipated a three weeks' passage, the few books I had brought on board were exhausted by the time we were half-way across the Atlantic ; and as a last resource, almost amounting to a fit of desperation, I obtained the loan of Dr. Emmons's " Fredoniad ; or, In dependence Preserved," from a fellow-pessenger, and toiled in a most persevering manner through at least ten of the almost interminable number of cantos (forty, I be lieve) which compose the work ; but a series of gross li bels upon the English nation, did not even possess sufficient interest to make amends for the rest of such a dry, prosing composition ; and after a few days I flung it down in despair, preferring to pass my time in watching the fleeting clouds by day, and the moon by night, to volunteering again upon such a forlorn hope.

If the work was equally unprofitable to the author in a pecuniary line, as it was to me, in point of information, he must have derived very little satisfaction from his lucu brations. I never had the good fortune to meet with any of his countrymen who had thoroughly perused the work, so could not ascertain their opinion of its full value as an historical one. Of its impartiality, any one may judge from the following extract (one out ofa hundred), descriptive of an interview between the British General Procter, and Indian Chief Tecumseh, in which the for mer says, " Brother ! our king-chief hath for you prepared, For every scalp an ample rich reward — Batter of those who b'eed, their skulls in sport, For we with them shall decorate our court At York, Q.uebec, at Kingston." The gold is yours, what sort soe'er you bring, — Such is the liberal promise ofthe king!

There's no distinction of the price for kind — Sires, infants, mothers, virgins, lame or blind. Now, now's the offer'd time to crush the brood. To broil their hearts, and eat their flesh for food." Thrice happy indeed was I, when the green water once again making its appearance, showed that we were in soundings. The unusual length ofthe voyage had not only been rendered extremely unpleasant by the num ber, but also by the want of cleanliness in the steerage passengers, some of whom would not even breathe the fresh air upon deck, in moderate weather. On a fine, mild afternoon — the first we had been favour ed with since the shores of England had sunk into the waves — there was a cry of "Land a-head '" from the fore-top gallant yard. Every one in an instant was upon de«k, some for the first time during the voyage, and the rigging was covered with those who previously had not courage to mount the ladder of the hatchway.

Every eye was in vain strained to gain a glimpse of the long wished-for coast of America, and three cheers greeted the captain as he descended upon deck; the women crowd ing round him, dancing and singing, as though he had rescued them from some imminent danger. Many had certainly suffered much from that worst of all miseries, sea-sickness ; and those who had seen better days, from the company they were obliged to keep in the steerage ; where the small-pox and inflammatory fever had broken out a few days after we had sailed from Liverpool, at tacking many, and three or four persons fatally. The wind, however, which had been dying away for hours, now totally failed us, and it became a dead calm. So our sole employment consisted in watching the move ments of the innumerable sloops and small craft which where rolling about at the distance of some miles; and B* which, whenever a slight air or cat's paw crossed them, appeared as if concentrating to one point, their heads tending to some great emporium of commerce.

Two ex ceptions to the above afforded much amusement. These proved to be rival pilot schooners, taking every possible advantage of flaws of wind and wet sails, but still making little progress towards the ship which each was striv ing to gain ; at last, however, our attention was attracted by a small black object, which appearing at intervals on the swell of a sea, was at first taken for a portion of the drift-wood which so thickly covers the Atlantic off the American coast ; but, upon examining it through a glass was found to be a small cutter, pulled by two men, and in the course of an our the victorious pilot stepped on board, having fairly outmanœuvred his opponent. Every one pressed close round, asking him ten thousand sense less questions ; but he was a man of few words, and all the information we could reap from him amounted to — " that they had frost and snow in April ;" and that "there was a war in Congress."

Having delivered thus much in a gruff, tone of voice, he threw a bag of clothes from under his arm alongside the helm ; and after passing a few minutes in looking up and scanning the rigging with a seaman's eye, lay down upon a hencoop, and, over powered by his exertions to reach the vessel, was soon fast asleep. His appearance as a pilot was by means prepossessing; far different indeed from that ofthe hardy looking race of the English Channel. He was a tall, gaunt old man, with shoulders bent by the storms of some seventy years, and a face bronzed by the sun until it resembled that of a copper-coloured Indian. I really pitied him, as he tottered along the deck with one of his hands, which had been jammed between the cutter and ship's side, to his mouth, and thought it high time that he was placed upon the retired list.

The day being warm, he was attired in a thick white waistcoat, nankeen trowsers, originally blue, and a yellow painted canvass hat. I should judge that the captain was as little pleased, with the appearance of the man who had taken charge ofthe ship, as any one else; for after asking in a significant and drytoneofvoice,"if there were any more pilots | on board the schooner," he descended into the cabin. A light breeze springing up at midnight, the follow ing morning showed us the tops of the trees and head lands of the low coast of Maryland, suspended as it were in mid-air. After standing a few miles to the northward, by sun-set we made the capes of the Dela ware. It was now the 25th of May, and the day, like the preceding one, was fine and clear, with a warm sun, the thermometer standing 90° in the shade : such a sud den change in the atmosphere, together with the low, flat shore, forcibly reminded me of scenes in the East — the entrance to the Bay of Delaware resembling the mouth of the Hoogly or Iriwaddi rivers.

The distance between Cape Henlopen, in Delaware, and May, in New Jersey state, is about fifteen miles. The coast near the latter Cape abounds with dangerous shoals and over falls, and the navigation of the river is rendered very in tricate throughout by numerous sand-banks. After passing between the two Capes, the river expands into a noble bay about thirty miles long, and thirty wide, when it again contracts to a width of two miles, and continues so with lit tle variation up to Philadelphia. On the Henlopen side ofthe bay a large breakwater was commenced a few years since ; but instead of the foundation being laid upon the " Shears," a shoal running parallel with the land, it was placed in four fathom water between the two : thus, not only rendering the work more troublesome and expensive, but also contracting the harbour considerably, which has been formed into a receptacle for sand and mud, brought in by an eddy caused by this ill-judged plan.

The pilot assured us that there was already less water by some feet than when the foundation was commenced. An officer of the American navy had recommended that it should be built upon the shoal, but his plan was rejected, and the present one, that of a civil engineer, adopted ; by which, one of the finest harbour in the world appears in danger of being seriously damaged. The breakwater against the fury of the sea is to be a mile in length, with the upper end of the harbour protected by an ice-breaker, so that vessels may ride in safety during the winter months : the latter was highly requisite, many ships having been lost through exposure to the river ice. Seven planks in the bows of the packet in which I was at this time, had been cut through in less than two hours, three months previously, by the drift-ice being kept in motion by the strength of the tide, and acting like a saw against them ; the vessel being only saved by running it ashore.

The expense of this great undertaking will be enormous, much of the stone required in its construction being brought by sea from the Hudson River quarries 120 miles distant. Evening had set in before we fairly passed between the Capes, and at the distance of five miles the surf could be distinctly heard roaring against Henlopen. During the day, while our anxious pilot was asleep upon the booms, a boat was lowered to catch a turtle floating on the surface of the water, in as happy a state of forgetfulness as the old man himself; but the ship having too much headway upon her, the boat could not again reach her, and we were under the necessity of awakening the piLot, to heave the ship to, which he most reluctantly ordered, venting his displeasure at the same time in a low inward grumbling. Not feeling very confident as to the safety of the ship under such a man's charge, I took the precaution of retiring to my berth at night without divesting myself of my clothes, thinking it more than probable that I should find it convenient to be on deck ere morning without much loss of time.

My suppositions proved correct ; for about half-past two o'clock I was awakened by a slight motion of the ship, and although it did not equal in force that of a heavy sea striking it, yet the gratin? of a vessel with all sail set upon a hard sand, produces a sensation which, when once experienced, will never be forgotten. All hands rushed upon deck in an instant ; when, lo ! and, behold ! our worthy Argus was snugly stowed away in a corner, fast in the arms of Morpheus, while the vessel striking heavily for some minutes, finally fell over a little on its side, and remained immoveable. At this time there were no fewer than three lights in sight, two a-stern on the Capes, and a floating one di rectly a-head. I never heard how the old man accounted for Tunning us a-ground — this, however, was no time for explanations ; but the boats being lowered as quickly as. possible, and soundings being taken, it was found that we were on the windward side of the "Browns," a dangerous shoal about twelve miles from land ; and that so long as the wind continued from the present quarter, there would be no hopes ofthe ship floating; and, if the sea rose, she would inevitably go to pieces.

As day dawned, the ominous prospect of the head and bowsprit of a ship showed themselves above water, a few hundred yards distant, being all the visible remains of the " Can ning " packet, lost two months previously. It was now for the first time, I heard a genuine Yankeeism : " the ship's lost to all eternity," said the captain ; " it a'int, I guess," drawled out the old pilot, giving the sentence at the same time a most inimitable twang, which even Mathews himself would have failed in producing. It was in vain that all efforts were used for three hours to get the ship off ; it remained firm as a rock, excepting during the turn of tide, when it again struck heavily. Seeing no prospect of its being moved until lightened, the " star-spangled banner," reversed, was hoisted at the mast-head, while the passengers awaited the arrival of boats from the shore to carry them away.

The first craft we saw was a sloop, which, laden with shingles, and steered by a negro, run close alongside of us. The fellow hailed us very coolly, with, " Have you a pilot on board ?" and being answered in the affirmative, he continued on his course without tendering any assistance: fortunately, however, we needed none ; for the wind veering a point or two, and freshening with the flood-tide, we. once more floated, and standing our course up the river, soon over took our black friend and his shingle sloop, at whom, en passant, a volley of abuse was fired. As we gained the head of the bay, and entered the contracted part ofthe river, we caught occasional glimpses of small villages and neat white cottages, scattered at intervals along the banks, which were covered with walnut, oak, and patches of pine.

I was leaning over the side of the vessel, admiring the scene, but regretting that the clearings were so " few, and far between," when seeing a carpenter, a countryman of my own, similarly em ployed, I asked him what he thought ofthe New World at which we had arrived. "Oh, sir ! it is a fine country ; only look at the timber." I smiled, as the old story of " nothing like leather" occurred to my recollection ; and the worthy planer of wood continued to enlarge upon his opinion in a strain of encomium. He came up to me a few hours after landing, quite delighted with having been hired at a dollar per diem on the Ohio rail-road. The scene was, indeed, a most pleasing one. The clear bright atmosphere, which is unknown to England, dif fusing a cheerfulness over every object, with not even a passing cloud to hide the brilliant rays of the sun, as they fell upon the thousands of white sails which covered the surface of the broad and noble Delaware ; while, ever and anon, one of those huge leviathans of the deep, an American steamer, darted past, leaving a long train of white smoke from its timber-fed furnaces.

The whole presented a scene striking and novel to an Englishman. If there was any thing to detract from the beauty of the landscape, it was the perfect flatness of the face of the country, there not being a rising knoll, or single ridge to break the back-ground ; nor could much be seen be yond the smiling verdure of the forest-crowned banks: it was a scene, indeed, at this moment, of life and sun shine ; but, probably, if viewed on a squally, wet day, would be thought tame and uninteresting enough. We hove to again towards evening to be boarded by an officer from a revenue cutter, moored in the centre of the stream ; and at dusk came to an anchor near a small island, where, at five o'clock the following morning, we buried a child which had died of the small-pox during the night ; and then getting under weigh, arrived a-breast of Fort Dela ware^ the " Pee Patch," built upon a low reedy island, which divides the river into two channels, and is an ad mirable position for defending the passage.

The works are of masonry and very extensive ; but the whole of the interior, including the barracks and light-house, was consumed by fire two years since, through the negligence. as was stated, of an officer reading in bed. No steps have yet been taken towards repairing it, great sums having been expended upon its construction only a few years previous to the above accident. The channel between it and the main land is so narrow that with a head wind and heavy squalls there was not room to work ship, and we were once more compelled to let go the anchor. Opposite to, and about a mile distant from the fort, is Delaware city, at the junction of the Chesapeake Canal with the Delaware. I went ashore for an hour at mid-day, and walked through the city, which is but a miserable straggling hamlet, with an inn at the landing place, and one or two stores ; at which a friend, who accompanied me, managed to obtain a few cigars, and some Lundyfoot snuff, though the storekeeper would not vouch for its being the true Irish — " it might be Yankee, and made at Boston, but he guessed not."