Excursion through the Slave States, from Washington to the frontier of Mexico, with sketches of popular manners, and geological notices

Front matter

i;ayfcjiaj?j^utu." to the ■/ : FEAT HERS TONHAUGH'S SLAVE DEALERS. See page 121 VOL. I. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1844. • EXCURSION THROUGH THE SLAVE STATES, FROM WASHINGTON ON THE POTOMAC TO THE FRONTIER OF MEXICO; WITH SKETCHES OF POPULAR MANNERS AND GEOLOGICAL NOTICES. by G. W. FEATHERSTONHAUGH, F.R.S., F.G.S. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY. ALBEMARLE STREET. 1844. London : Printed by William Clowils and Sons, Stamford Street. PAQE CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. Introduction ........ xi

Chapter I

Barnum's Hotel at Baltimore — Canvas-back Ducks — Soft Crabs ; the Process of changing their Shells — Railroad to Fredericton in Maryland — Impositions practised upon Travellers — Notices of the Geology of the Country — Harper's-ferry ; the Shenandoah Valley — Nationality of the Germanico-Americans ..... 1

Chapter II

Ascent of the first Alleghany Ridges — A dandy Rattlesnake — Magnificent View across the Alleghanies from Warm Springs Mountain — Affecting Reception at the Hotel of the Warm Springs . . . . . . .21

Chapter III

A Virginia Hotel in the Mountains — A dancing Landlord — Incomparable Beauty of the Warm Baths — Their gaseous and solid Contents — The Hot Springs — Curious Effect produced upon them by an Earthquake — Geological Structure of the Ridges — View of the Alleghanies and the Warm Springs Valley . . . . .29 VOL. I. b CONTENTS. VI PAGE 48

Chapter IV

The celebrated White Sulphur Springs— Mr. Anderson, a Character— Description of this Watering Place— Beauty of the Alleghany Mountain — Our various Adventures at a Blacksmith's Boarding-house and Alabama Row — An old Lady makes a double Somerset— Our Removal to Compulsion Row .....••

Chapter V

State of Society at Compulsion Row — Fine Flavour of the Oysters at New Orleans — Private Cabins at the Springs — A Cyclopean Kitchen — Merciful Plan of killing Bullocks with the Rifle — Extraordinary Performances at Dinner — Mr. Wright's Shanty in the Woods — Generals who have never been Soldiers — The Ferryman and the Traveller without a Title . . . . .66

Chapter VI

The System of Alleghany Ridges caused by an Upheaval from below, and the White Sulphur Springs a Consequence of the Movement — Gaseous Contents of the Waters — White Rock Mountains — Horizontal Fossiliferous Strata in place ...... 85

Chapter VII

Paying beforehand as bad as not paying at all — Journey to the Sweet Springs — Beauty of the Country — Gaseous and solid Contents of the Waters — Remarkable Dam formed of Travertine — Ancient Travertine 350 feet above the Level of the present Springs, probably derived from them before the Valley existed— Proofs of the ancient Surface being lowered ..... CONTENTS. VII 131

Chapter VIII. Page

Depart on foot across the Mountains to Fincastle — Deciduous and evergreen Trees alternating with the Soil — Fincastle, a Virginia Town — Mr. Jefferson the Confucius of the United States — Free-thinking and Universal Suffrage his grand Nostrums for good Government — A patriotic Proposition to blow Virginia " sky-high " to save its Constitution — Botetourt Springs — A Camp of Negro Slave-drivers — The Coffle of Slaves crosses New River manacled and fettered — The Negro-drivers in mourning . . . . . . . .110

Chapter IX

Cause of some Confusion in the Designation of the Alleghany Ridges explained — A Duck-shooting Landlord — Arrive at Abingdon — Account of Saltville — Geology of the Valley and surrounding Country — Visit to King's Cove, a singular basin in Clinch Mountain, the residence of an Outlaw — His account of the Panthers and Wild Cat Accoucheurs — Strata of the Clinch Mountain

Chapter X

A pleasant Party in a Stage Coach — Arrive at Blountsville in the State of Tennessee — Fists versus Dirks and Pistols — Knoxville — Meet President Jackson . . .151

Chapter XI

A Negro-driver in mourning for a great Patriot — Irreverence of a Negro to a White Man's Ghost — Bivouac of a Gang of chained Slaves — An agreeable and lively fellow-passenger — Cross the Cumberland Mountains — Arrive at Sparta — A Driver killed — Hickory Valley — Mounds and Graves of the Indians that formerly dwelt here — Imaginary Pigmy Race . . . . . .166 b2 CONTENTS. VIII PAGE 185

Chapter XII

Indian Practice of burning the Underwood to enable the Natives to pursue the Game— The Aboriginal Races to be traced by their Mounds— General Jackson's Plantation, the Hermitage— His character by a Neighbour- Arrival at Nashville ..••••

Chapter XIII

Description of Nashville— The College— Professor Troost — The Baptist Preacher and the Rattlesnakes —Affinity betwixt certain Mexican Idols and others found in Sequatchee Valley in Tennessee — Public Spirit of the leading Men of Tennessee — Mr. Ridley, one of the earliest Settlers — His adventures — Indian Attack upon a stockaded Fort — Heroic conduct of Mr. Ridley's Daughter — Murder of White Children by the Savages, and unmitigable Hatred of the Whites to them . . . 1 92

Chapter XIV

The religious Sect of the Campbellites — Order of Priesthood confined to handsome young Fellows — Geology of this part of Tennessee — Section of the Country made by the Cumberland River for 300 miles — Remarkable ancient Bed of broken Shells — Harpeth Ridge — Unios of the Western Waters . . . . . .213

Chapter XV

Leave Nashville — The Barrens of Kentucky — The Mammoth Cave — First View of the Ohio River— Arrival at Louisville — Falls of the Ohio — Henry Clay, his great Popularity — Captain Jack of the Citizen Steamer, a most catawampous Navigator — Public Indifference to the loss of Life in new Countries — Explanation of " a Sin to Crockett" •••..... CONTENTS. IX

Chapter XVI. Page

Leave Louisville, and take to the Stage -Coach again — Difference betwixt the Manners of Slave and Free States — Vincennes in the State of Illinois — Old Race of French Canadians there — Beauty of the Prairies — Horizontal Coal Seams in the Banks of the Rivers — Grouse — Ancient Bed of the Mississippi seven miles broad — The Town of St. Louis in the State of Missouri — Col. Smith of the British Army — " Running a Negro " explained — Jefferson Barracks ; admirable Management of a regimental Fund — Vuide Poche and Pain Court — A group of thirty Barrows ....... 246

Chapter XVII

A remarkable Barrow — The Monuments of the Ancient Red People analogous to those of the Old Races in Europe — Probable Cause of the Diversity in Indian Dialects — A petrified Forest — Society at St. Louis — More bolting at the Table d'H6te — Fur-trappers of the Rocky Mountains — Excellent Markets at St. Louis — Money the real Object of Life ...... 266

Chapter XVIII

Purchase a Waggon — Old French Town of St. Charles on the Missouri — Linden Grove — Origin of the Mounds — Customs of the Osage Indians ..... 283

Chapter XIX

Departure from St. Louis — The Comforts of an Indian Matrimonial Alliance — Tame Buffaloes — Herculaneum in America — Immense flocks of Cranes — History of Mrs. Gallatin— Vallees Mines 293

Chapter XX

Taplitt and Perry's Lead Mines — Geology of the Lead District — System of Galeniferous Veins — Their Structure analogous to the Trap Veins at Trotternish in Scotland — Farmington — Visit to the Iron Mountain . . . X CONTENTS.

Chapter XXI. Page

Mine la Motte — Veins of Galena disturbed by electric Matter — Earthquake at New Madrid in 1811 — Frederictown — A Judge's Encomium on the Missouri Bar — Panther Stories — Greenville — Fare at an opulent Missouri Farmer's — Life of a Squatter— How to " bring up " the Sovereign People — Bear Oil Currency — Scene in a Court of Justice ....... 322

Chapter XXII

Big Black River — First Appearance of Parroqueets — Elk and Buffalo — Little Black River — A Disaster and a Night in the Woods — Ivory-billed Woodpeckers, and one of the Sovereign People unable to hold the Reins of Government — A Forest on Fire — The Currant River . 342 LIST OF PLATES AND WOODCUTS.— VOL. I. The Alleghany Ridges seen across the Valley of the Warm Springs Frontispiece. Slave Drivers Title, Vignette. Map of the United States . . . .To face pa°-e 1 Diagrams of the Sweet Springs .... 106 Group of White men conducting Slaves in Chains . 121 Plan of Block-house. .... 903 Block-house, complete .... 205 Monk's Mound ..... 26T

Introduction

. The River Potomac, from its source to its mouth, in the great Bay of Chesapeake, divides the Atlantic frontier of the United States of America into two unequal parts ; and being, with the exception of the State of Maryland, the boundary betwixt the southern slave-holding states and the free states to the north, may be said to form a line of demarcation betwixt their industrial pursuits, their laws, and their manners. To that portion which lies to the south of this line the attention of travellers has been much less drawn than to that extensive division of the Ame rican Republic which lies to the north and west ; and it is to supply, to a certain extent, the want of information which exists respecting some portions of the southern states, that the author has drawn up the following pages. It was during an interesting tour in 1834 — 1835 from the city of Washington to the frontier of Mexico, and whilst in one of the unfrequented and wild parts of the territory of Arkansas, that he com municated some account of those remote countries, and the manners of the frontier settlers, to a distin-

INTRODUCTION.

. XII guished scientific friend in London, which not long after led to the announcement, by the late Mr. John Murray, of a work substantially the same as the present publication. But the author, who was at that time residing in the United States, had scarcely prepared it for the press, when he was induced, upon the advice of some American friends of great respect ability, to reconsider his intention of publishing. It was remarked to him, that however sincerely he might wish to avoid giving umbrage in any quarter, yet that the work contained some opinions, and the relation of some incidents, which could not at that time fail to irritate a powerful interest in the United States, and might set him at variance with many esteemed friends. As this counsel came from a friendly and judicious quarter, he determined rather to suppress the work for a season, than to expunge the passages objected to; and he was the less reluctant to make this sacrifice, because, intending to return to his native country, he could look forward to a period when he could express with perfect freedom any opinions that were on the side of humanity, of rational liberty, and the moral government of mankind.

On his return to England in the spring of 1839, his intention of devoting a portion of his time to the recording of a few of the incidents of a some what adventurous life, thirty-six years of which had been passed in various countries abroad, was again postponed. Within two months after his arrival he

INTRODUCTION.

. XIII was honoured by Her Majesty's government with the appointment of Commissioner on the then ex isting boundary dispute betwixt Great Britain and the United States of America — an appointment, the official duties of which, if they had not engrossed all his attention, would, from obvious considerations, have rendered it at that time unadvisable to act upon his first intentions. Freed, at length, from that restraint, the author has again taken up his manuscript, and having well considered the incidents and sentiments contained in it, and finding nothing there that can be deemed objectionable by those who are only desirous to have the truth placed before them, he has at length resolved upon its publication ; assuring his readers that it is a faithful and almost literal transcription from his original journals, the incidents of the tour having always been noted from day to day, and the journal having been regularly written up at least once a week.

That some of the opinions these incidents elicited at the time may not be received with the same favour by all those under whose notice they may come, is very likely to be the case ; for, in our day, the field of English literature embraces an exten sive and populous region of America, where senti ments are cherished respecting the rights of men, both black and white, that are diametrically op posed to them. The author, nevertheless, ventures to submit to the candour of those transatlantic

INTRODUCTION.

. XIV readers he may not have the good fortune to please, that in all countries where freedom of opinion is not an illusion, but is real and substantial, there are acknowledged privileges which every fair writer can claim to enjoy, amongst the plainest of which are the describing truly what he sees, and the ex pressing freely, but not presumptuously, his opinions of what he has seen. Of the enterprise and industry of the people of the United States, of the wonderful progress they have made in material civilization, of the great beauty of their country, and of the many desirable things to be there admired and enjoyed, no one is disposed to bear more favourable testimony than the author : yet, however heartily an English man may be disposed to commend these excellen cies, so national and sensitive are the inhabitants of that young country, that if he ventures upon the invidious task of pointing out those peculiarities in the laws and manners of Republican America which he cannot be brought to admire, he feels that he may not escape the imputation of intending to offend, even when he would express in the most temperate language his opinions of what neither his taste nor his judgment can approve.

This extreme sensitiveness — which is never awakened in America by the remarks of French or German writers — had its origin perhaps, with our transatlantic kinsmen, in their anxiety about an ideal perfection, of which, in virtue of their affinity to the mother-country, her

INTRODUCTION.

. XV laws, literature, and religion, they flattered them selves they had attained the enjoyment. Look ing at the delusion from that point, we can only regret that it should have deceived a people endowed with many eminent qualities, into a con firmed habit of placing an estimate upon them selves, which has yet to receive the sanction of mankind. Sensible and amiable as many of the Americans are, the favourable impression they make upon those who visit their country, is too soon overpowered by the characteristic illiberality of others who assume for it an excellence which admits of no criticism ; and so exacting is the tyranny of self-adulation, that, except in the most select society, the stranger is often compelled to be either a hypo crite or a mute. If we were to condemn the American who visits England for denying that the superior civilization he witnesses there is to be attributed to our monarchy, our distinctions in society, and the high moral examples which are the result of our social institu tions, he might with some reason consider us ill bred and illiberal.

Obvious as these truths might be to ourselves, he could not with propriety be asked to admit these consequences, since it would be to require him tacitly to condemn the country which nursed him, and where he imbibed all his cherished opinions. In the United States, how ever, it is not an uncommon thing for an English man to be told that his government is superannuated,

INTRODUCTION.

. corrupt, and profligate ; and, indeed, the same sentiments are too often expressed in a more offensive manner even in the Congress.* Greatly as these extravagancies are to be deplored, and deserving of censure as they are, yet they do not justify us in cherishing an undiscriminating dislike towards the inhabitants of the country where they are uttered, although they suggest many reflections upon the causes which have made the descendants of com mon ancestors so dissimilar to each other. It is not to be concealed, nevertheless, that this frequent expression of aversion to the mother-country, added to the late notorious violations of the most solemn engagements from the same quarter, have raised a strong and a deep-rooted prejudice on this side of the Atlantic, which, although natural, is to a certain extent unjust, because there is little or no discrimination observed in it.

The United States have not alwavs deserved the re proaches they have now drawn upon themselves; in the early part of the history of their government public decorum was highly valued and universally * Vide Mr. Archer's speech, March 18, 1844, in the Senate of the United States. " Mr. Archer repeated that he felt grieved and humiliated at the temper and the tone in which gentlemen permitted themselves to speak here of the Government of Great Britain. Mr. A. was not here to vindicate that Government but still less was he here to pour out upon it all the obloquy and vituperation which our language could express, as the vilest and most faithless Government under heaven. The name of England seemed as if it could never be uttered or referred to without some terms of obloquy or reproach." — National Intelligencer.

INTRODUCTION.

. XVII practised, and American credit only eight years ago stood as high all over the world as the credit of any other country. The change has been a great and an unhappy one both for America and for Europe, and if this were an occasion for tracing its causes step by step, the author, who has long watched its progress, would not despair of accomplishing the task. Suffice it to observe, at this time, that the sad degradation has been gradually produced through the arts of demagogues operating in the different States, rather than by the action of the federal government, which, although the con stant object of political intrigue, has generally been administered with prudence and dignity. To trace all the incidents that characterise the Americans at the present time to their remote sources, we should have to look, amongst other things, to their geographical position, and to the period when their colonies were planted ; for all communities of men are distinguished from each other by peculiarities derived, more or less, from those institutions of government which local situ ation as well as origin have imposed upon them.

The Americans, though descended from them, are very dissimilar to the English, and the descendants of our settlers in New Zealand will be far from resembling the Americans. In the early part of the seventeenth century the exclusive object of the mother-country in colonizing foreign countries, was to open sources of wealth without reference to those

INTRODUCTION.

. XVIII principles which make them permanently conducive to human happiness ; but in our own days the acquisition of that which constitutes real wealth is largely understood to depend upon just laws and good government both at home and abroad : in forming the character, therefore, of a colonial people with a view to bind them in interests and in affection to the mother-country, everything now seems to depend upon the early establishment of wise laws for the protection of the best interests of society, and upon religious education. Where these blessings prevail, true liberty and tranquil enjoyment of life are most sure to be found ; and where they do not, and human liberty is left to itself, unrestrained by religious feel ing, an insolent and bombastic nature is liable to be generated, which makes a people the tools of their own blind passions, and obliterates all reverence for the great objects which good men believe to be the true end of existence.

It is this abuse of liberty which has so greatly changed the character of a people eminently fitted for greatness by their natural qualities; has led them to trample under foot the wise precepts of the most illustrious founders of their republic, to reject many of the lessons of rational freedom which have been ever before them, to barter their invaluable privileges with a demagogical des potism, for the magniloquent, but empty, designation of " Sovereign People," and to prepare a future for their country which seems to baffle conjecture. Those in America who are so proverbially sen-

INTRODUCTION.

. XIX sitive at every expression which appears to criticise in the slightest degree the country they love, or which tends to abate the pretensions — long set up, and acquiesced in by so many — of its " never being in the wrong," are always dissatisfied with any thing short of unqualified eulogium upon themselves and their country, and are not apt to pardon the truth. This would be matter of some regret to the author, if he did not know that the good and the wise of their own country are united in the condemnation of what he has animadverted upon : amongst them are many to whom he would be very averse to give offence : painful indeed would it be to him if any of those excellent persons, whose friendship he was proud of during a thirty years' residence amongst them as an Englishman, should imagine that he is capable, now or at any time, of passing an indiscriminate censure upon their nation, and of uniting with others in the condemnation of all, for that which has been conspicuous only with a portion of their countrymen.

This too general prejudice, however, does unfor tunately exist in Europe, and has grown to a fearful height in consequence of the violation of those pecuniary engagements which have been already alluded to ; delinquencies which, either from want of information or from resentment, have created a strong prejudice against the whole frame of American society. But let us be just ! Reprehen sible as these acts are, there are exceptions to them

INTRODUCTION.

. XX which deserve the highest praise, and which in the general indignation have been almost entirely overlooked. The world, it is true, has seen the opulent free State of Pennsylvania, and the pro ductive slave State of Mississippi, two common wealths arrogating to theinselves the lofty distinction of " enlightened Sovereign States," declin ing in one instance to provide the interest of the moneys they have borrowed from their confiding creditors, and refusing in the other even to acknow ledge their responsibilities ; not from inability, but because there is no human law to compel them to be honest. Yet when the just scorn of mankind is expressed against them, it ought not to be forgotten that Massachusetts, New York, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and other indebted States, have reso lutely maintained their credit under the most diffi cult circumstances, and have placed themselves in honourable contradistinction to their unscrupulous neighbours.

These violations of the confidence which the so called securities of the fraudulent States had ac quired in Europe, in consequence of the known re sources of these last, and of the specious circumstances under which the first had been palmed upon the unsuspecting, were preceded by the plunder and waste of the whole resources of the Bank of the United States, incorporated by the legislature of Pennsylvania with a capital of thirty -five millions of dollars, a great portion of which was owned in Great

INTRODUCTION.

. XXI Britain. Then came Repudiation, or the doctrine that the acts of one legislature, and even of one generation, are not binding upon the next ; a doctrine which, though it had its origin with Mr. Jefferson, was first promulgated in Pennsylvania.* Prece dents so pernicious, coming from one of the oldest and most opulent States in the Union, unfortunately tempted other members of the Federal Union possessing fewer resources, to follow in the same dis reputable course ; and thus was compromised in the end the reputation of the whole republic. Nor is this the only penalty which republican America pays for her departure from integrity : these unexpected infringements of public faith, and the manner in which they have been defended, have called forth into greater relief the change of opinion which has been gradually taking place in Europe, in relation to the moral influence which cheap republican governments were supposed likely to ac quire with the coming generations of men in all civilised countries.

Experience, which is the only safe guide of men, has now shown that, when osten tatiously applied to great countries for the purpose of flattering and leading the many, they call into operation more corruption, and lead to a more rapid degeneracy than can be possibly exhibited under * A convention was held there a few years ago to remodel the constitution, at which a very strong party — headed by a leading member of the present Congress — appeared in favour of can celling all incorporations, and all contracts that were opposed to " first principles." VOL. I. C

INTRODUCTION.

. governments where power is confided to those who have the greatest stake in the preservation of order, and who have been trained to the responsibility of exercising it for the benefit of the many. Indeed, so complete has been this change in the public opi nion of Europe, that the example par excellence, which the admirers of a republican form of govern ment once held up to the admiration of mankind, has already become a beacon to the civilised world, to warn all future generations against those theories of government in which the public welfare is not based upon that solid and enduring foundation for the government of a State, — a constant selection of men of character and property for its administration. But here again a want of discrimination in the judgment that has been formed of the American people is equally apparent : almost all those who have not known them in their own country attribute to them, alike, a general degeneracy ; than which nothing can be more unjust, since it ex cludes from well-merited praise those patriotic men who have constantly endeavoured to give a salutary direction to the administration of the public affairs of their country — men who have long been, and who yet remain, the victims of those demagogues to whom their peculiar system of government has given a preponderating influence.

No respectable person who has travelled much in America is ignorant that in every town, and in almost every part of the country, there are individuals distinguished from the rest by education,

INTRODUCTION.

. XXIII manners, hospitality, and the possession of many of those high qualities which make men truly respect able in all countries, and render them valuable acquaintances to the stranger who has the advan tage of knowing them. But these excellent persons, with exceptions so few that they are scarcely worth enumerating, are rarely participators in the govern ment of their country ; for, where the popular party predominates, they are excluded by the possession of those very qualifications that fit them for that high purpose ; so seldom is it that a candidate placed before the " Sovereign People," without any other recommendation than his fitness, is not rejected. It would be going too far to assert that this evil condition of things is, without some qualification, to be necessarily attributed to a republican form of government ; because, even in the instance of the United States, it has not always existed.

In 1806, when the author first visited that part of America, it was a very happy country. The bright examples which had exercised so beneficent an influence at the origin of the government, were not then forgotten. The moral dignity of Washington, the wisdom of Franklin, the integrity of Jay, and the virtues of many of their contemporaries, some of whom were then living, were yet revered by the people. A breach of decorum in the Congress, if it was not unknown in those days, was at least sure to be met by public reprobation ; and in the State legislatures there was always a majority of individuals selected c2

INTRODUCTION.

. XXIV by their constituents from amongst the most re spectable members of society : at that time, indeed, in the State of New York, which has always had a preponderating influence in the Union from its population and wealth, a property qualification was re quired by the constitution both for the Senate and the House of Assembly. In treating of this important subject it is not to be forgotten that in an evil hour (1821) for that Commonwealth, and for the Union, a few expe rienced demagogues, at a period when the members of the legislature had not been delegated for that purpose, contrived the authorisation of a convention of the people, to consider some fundamental changes in its constitution. There, playing upon the hopes and fears of some of those from whom an inflexible opposition was expected, and overcoming by their arts the reluctance that was manifested to enter upon the never-ending chain of evil consequences which invariably attend improvident concessions, these wily agitators succeeded in converting the mob into a constituency, by establishing " Universal Suffrage," that fatal principle which has been the leading cause of the prevailing degeneracy.

Those who have been in a highly populous country, where universal suffrage and frequent elections — ostensibly held for the preservation of liberty — prevail, can best understand how easy it is to make the " Sovereign People " a mere Ochlocratic* ma- * From ii^Xoc, a niob.

INTRODUCTION.

. XXV chine in the hands of skilful demagogues ; or with what facility good men are made odious to the masses, and government and society disorganised for the purpose of plundering them. Armed with this irresistible power, demagogues find no diffi culty in perverting those principles in free consti tutions which are intended for the moral and civil protection of society, or in excluding talents accompanied with education, integrity, and wealth from the service of the public. It is to the fatal substitution of universal suffrage for character and property, and the general departure from the enlightened and honest intentions of Washington and the other illustrious founders of their republic, that we must attribute the introduction into Ame rica of that wild, democratic, mannerless, and tyrannical rule, both in the constituency and its leaders, which promises no repose for the present, and little hope for the future.