Three Months in the Southern States, April-June 1863 | Page 9

his edicts to the judge as to the treatment of the mules.
At 2.30 the M.P. hitched in again, and at 2.45 we reached a salt-water
arm of the sea called the "Aroyo del Colorado," about eighty yards
broad, which we crossed in a ferry-boat. Half an hour later we "struck
water" again, which, being superior to Leatham's, we filled up.
We are continually passing cotton trains going to Brownsville, also
government waggons with stores for the interior. Near every well is a
small farm or ranch, a miserable little wooden edifice surrounded by a
little cultivation. The natives all speak Spanish, and wear the Mexican
dress.
M'Carthy is very proud of his knowledge of the country, in spite of
which he is often out in his calculations. The different tracks are so
similar to one another, they are easily mistaken.
At 4.45 P.M. we halted at a much better place than yesterday. We are
obliged to halt where a little grass can be found for our mules.
Soon after we had unpacked for the night, six Texan Rangers, of
"Wood's" regiment, rode up to us. They were very picturesque fellows;
tall, thin, and ragged, but quite gentlemanlike in their manners.
We are always to sleep in the open until we arrive at San Antonio, and I
find my Turkish lantern most useful at night.[7]
[7] A lantern for a candle, made of white linen and wire, which

collapses when not in use. They are always used in the streets of
Constantinople. The Texans admired it immensely.
* * * * *
15th April (Wednesday).--I slept well last night in spite of the tics and
fleas, and we started at 5.30 P.M. After passing a dead rattlesnake eight
feet long, we reached water at 7 A.M.
At 9 A.M. we espied the cavalcade of General Magruder passing us by
a parallel track about half a mile distant. M'Carthy and I jumped out of
the carriage, and I ran across the prairie to cut him off, which I just
succeeded in doing by borrowing the spare horse of the last man in the
train.
I galloped up to the front, and found the General riding with a lady who
was introduced to me as Mrs ----, an undeniably pretty woman, wife to
an officer on Magruder's staff, and she is naturally the object of intense
attention to all the good-looking officers who accompany the General
through this desert.
General Magruder, who commands in Texas, is a fine soldierlike man,
of about fifty-five, with broad shoulders, a florid complexion, and
bright eyes. He wears his whiskers and mustaches in the English
fashion, and he was dressed in the Confederate grey uniform. He was
kind enough to beg that I would turn back and accompany him in his
tour through Texas. He had heard of my arrival, and was fully
determined I should do this. He asked after several officers of my
regiment whom he had known when he was on the Canadian frontier.
He is a Virginian, a great talker, and has always been a great ally of
English officers.
He insisted that M'Carthy and I should turn and dine with him,
promising to provide us with horses to catch up Mr Sargent.
After we had agreed to do this, I had a long and agreeable conversation
with the General, who spoke of the Puritans with intense disgust, and of
the first importation of them as "that pestiferous crew of the

Mayflower;" but he is by no means rancorous against individual
Yankees. He spoke very favourably of M'Clellan, whom he knew to be
a gentleman, clever, and personally brave, though he might lack moral
courage to face responsibility. Magruder had commanded the
Confederate troops at Yorktown which opposed M'Clellan's advance.
He told me the different dodges he had resorted to, to blind and deceive
the latter as to his (Magruder's) strength; and he spoke of the intense
relief and amusement with which he had at length seen M'Clellan with
his magnified army begin to break ground before miserable earthworks,
defended only by 8000 men. Hooker was in his regiment, and was
"essentially a mean man and a liar." Of Lee and Longstreet he spoke in
terms of the highest admiration.
Magruder was an artilleryman, and has been a good deal in Europe; and
having been much stationed on the Canadian frontier, he became
acquainted with many British officers, particularly those in the 7th
Hussars and Guards.
He had gained much credit from his recent successes at Galveston and
Sabine Pass, in which he had the temerity to attack heavily-armed
vessels of war with wretched river steamers manned by Texan
cavalrymen.
His principal reason for visiting Brownsville was to settle about the
cotton trade. He had issued an edict that half the value of cotton