The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1862-10-18
~, p,c,ure. Of the Rebel Capital.


p.1,,ond in Prosperous Times Of Secession and
''"'' under Martial Law.
The last of Mr.. Hurlbort's letters from the
eoutb. published IN the New York Times, is very
:-..,esting. As he WIS in the rebel capital for
.,,ut eight months, he had abundant opportu-
-, Cor observation. We make the following
extracts:
When / was first released, in January, the
General appearance in Richmond was that Of ex-
ssherant hustle and prosperity. Main street Was
crowded from morning till night with thronas of
I'll dressed people. The hotels swarmed with
sssoers in the glittering Confederate uniform OF
orsv and gold Ladies from all parts of the
ssonth rustled in gay dresses brought from New
Orleans. Mobile and Charleston, or struggled by
.he nsckage across the Potomac. The shops
.sre full Of goods and full of customers. The
.oldiers, Of whom the lax discipline which then
S;.oraced the Confederate army allowed hund-
ODDS to straggle about the town, added more to
.be animation than to the charm of the scene,
for although they we're always, az a rule, CON-
tortably dressed their costumes exhibited ali the
stiAness of the soldier without being neat. and
III the sIovenlness of the bandit without being
a;c.nresoue. The notion which find almost
universal at the North, that the Southern armies
are clo,heless and shoeless. let me here observe,
Icsnnot but regard as dangerous delusion.-
That prisoners taken by Our armies. after forced
marches and hard fighting. should come into
camp ragged ard bsrefooted is very natural;
certainly never saw in the city of Richmond any
Confederate troops so utterly tattered and for
lop as many of our own captives brought in
,Ner the battles Of the seven days. Soldiers in
action can scarcely be prevented from throwing
.vsy their garments, and army shoe leather is
rarely of quality, even in the best regulated
countries, to Withstand successfully the tremen
dous wear and tear Of such marching as Stone
wsl Jackson for example, imposes upon his col.
umn. That the South has been hard at work
making and importing both cloth and shoe leath
er, ever since the Spring Of the current year,
know to be fact. When the census tells US
that from 1850 to 1860, in the face Of the COM
petition Of peace, the manufacture of boots and
shoes increased in Louisiana, Tennessee, Vir-
ginis and Georgia, at 4 rate Of sos per cent
against a corresponding increase in New Eng
land during the same decade of 80 8 per cent !;
that during the same decade Kentucky led, far
IN the van, the increase Of American wooden
manufactures; and that during the same decade,
Alabama stands fourth on the list of States in
-
Massachusetts, falling behind Mississippi in de-
yeopment, it certainly will not be unwise for US,
standing as we now do at the odtset of new and
underlined possibilities of conflict, to calculate
upon finding our Southern enemies very much
more formidsbly equipped with substantials of
warfare than it has suited the purpose of noisy
politicians to represent them to be.
To return to Richmond in March, 1851, new
restaurants, boldly assuming to be French, we're
opened and handsomely patronized. Blind
Tom," pianoforted unscientifc audiences into
easy raptures, and filed his owners pockets with
Confederate scrip, in spite of his smear relation
ship" with the gorilla and the chimpanzee.-
Three or four Photographic saloons blazed upon
Main street. and were thronged precisely as the
rooms of Quincy and Brady and Fredericks are
in New York, by 6uttering companies of idlers
and idleness. l found that such things as the
blockade might have been expected to cut off
altogether from the market, gloves, cravats,
small articles for the toilette, champagnes and
clarets, could be procured without difficulty, and
at rates little exceeding their average price at
other times. In perambulating the city on the
evening of my release, in search of friend who
then lived on Broad street, stumbled upon a
German ball in full blast-the music whirling,
the lager flowing, the turner's turning, and the
world were ALA feast and men snd..women mere.
ly walters. These gaieties were kept up regu.
larlv until the advent of Winder, who accom-.
plshed in week more than the war had done in
year.
INAUGURATION OF MARTIAL LAW.
Let me do the Richmond people the iurisdic
ton to admit that they have never been quite
easy under the suspension of all their civil ad
ministration. The step was taken in the begin
ming of March, when darkness and disaster low
cred over the Confederacy, and men acquiescet
in it as a "war measure" but practical expe
rieuce OF the military regime soon begat remon
strsnts and opposers On one vital point these
remonstrants and opposers triumphed over tn,
Government and they have never lost the groun,
they then kept. Gen. Winder, named by Presi
dent Davis to the command of the Department
of Henrico, which includes the City of Richmond
is Marylander, son of that celebrated Gen
eral who "took no interest in the battle o
Bladensburgh. He is man well advanced il
years, and his naturally somewhat irascible TEN
per was not materially improved by the inces
SAINT and vexatious duties of his most repulsiv
Office. He surrounded himself with refugee
from Maryland, established corps of detectives
almost exclusively made of Baltimoriaus, ant
fell bravely to work after the manner of Proves
udTSudiS hll WOllu OVcI, u regulate all UT
affairs of the community committed to hi
charge. Nothing withstood his onslaught bu
the press His first attempt to coerce the Rich
mond Whig, q paper which, having stood GU
for the Union till Secession had become "an &C
compshed fact" has since made itself almos
equally conspicuous for its bitterness against tn,
North and its hostility to Mr.. Davis. The Viii.
flung back the Generals threats into his teeth
and be WAS content, no doubt under instruction
to make the best meal he could upon his swelln!
words.
With this single exception, however, all tn,
institutions Of Virginia deferred to the Confe
crate sword. This was not case in othe
States less under the direct control of Mr.. Davis
Government, either because less severely men
aced bv the National forces, or less plant in TIL
temper of their people. The citizens of Raleigh
n. c, for instance, peremptorily refused to al
low President Davis to declare martial law il
that city-and marshal law was never proclaim
ed in Charleston, S C, until during the pas
spring, when Governor Pickens considered it hi
duty to make proclamation to that effect, indie
pendently of Mr.. Davis and all Confederate
authorities.
Tho - eof 81