Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1866-08-16
RICHMOND AND ITS BATTLE-FIELDs.
BY REV. THEo. L. CUYLER.

| JcrSDurgy are SLlll Il DdCIle-IelQ. Inc SHOS
Of the late war still haunts those historic
regions. In no part of the defunct Confed
eracy does the spirit of the rebellion lingel
with such inveterate vigor as on the james
and the Appomattox. The country-foll
tell us that if you kill snake, his tail will
writhe and wriggle "till sundown." The
armed loyalty of the nation--with the SWORD
in one hand and the edict of emancipation
in the other-slew the serpent of secession
but there is a vigorous vitality yet squirm
ing in the caudal extremity of the copper
head
visitor to Richmond soon discovers
that the beautiful city-with it's tasteful
streets and fower-surrounded mansions on
Shoccoe Hills still the headquarters Of
that freedomhating oligarchy which made
Richmond its fortified stronghold for fouI
bloody years. The town is quiet and or
derly. A few scattered blue-coats of the
regular army are seen in the streets. A
sentinel in blue PAGES before the doors OF
Gen. Terry's residence that same door
whence jeff Davis fled in hot haste on the
afternoon Of Sunday, the I'd Of April, 1865.
The stars and stripes float from the quar-
ters of the troops But we did not see them
visit to Richmond. The only portrait of
Uncle abraham that we discovered was in
a negsoe's candy-shop. On the other hand,
! the windows of the print-stores and book
stores, and the halls of the hotels, are
abundantly garnished with pictures of Lee,
jeff Davis and Stonewall jackson Hand
bills were posted announcing lecture on
Stonewall Jackson" and a newly-published
'biography of the immortal hero" for sale
at the book stores The volume was thrust
at us the moment we entered the princip al
store and is eagerly read, with tears and
heavy hearts, in many stately mansion,
| by widows and mothers, clad in deep mourn
ing for fallen sons. To-day the dead hand
of jackson rules the white population Of
Richmond, as the dead hand of the martyr
ed Lincoln rules the black.
The morning papers which we opened at
the breakfast-table of the Ballard House
were profuse of eulogy Of President John
son as once they were of President Davis J.,
and equally profuse of maledictions on the
"nigger bureau" and ''the radicals" 1t is
reported that there are about one hundred
and fifty thoroughly loyal white Unonists in
the city. The old aristocracy do not mean
that their number shall be increased by
Yankee merchants and manufacturers from
| the North, If they can help it. so they
march straight by the store-doors of the
Yankees, and carry their custom those who
worship the sacred bones of the dead Con-
feneracy. Few Yankees have yet "struck
lie" in Richmond Polite society locks its
doors in their faces.
zone Of my secesh neigebors," said a
Northern merchant, "came in to our house
for water, when theirs gave out but when
my children went in to play with theirs,
they were sent home in a hurry" No ad
mittance here for Yankees is practically
written over the great majority of Rich
mond's drawing rooms and dinner-tables.
Northern people are not often insulted in
Richmond they are simply let alone, and
that most severely
The aristocracy Of the city-excepting
those who hold large rural estates-are
generally impoverished. An old Peters
burgh resident said, 81 have a barrelful of
Confederate money at home" -Four years
of dealing in such trash does not leave
community with much portable property"
to fill their flour, barrels and meat casks
with Just now. But the soil remains, and
kindly nature is already hiding the wounds
of war under her green robes of grass and
corn. Many of the large planters are en-
ploying their former slaves, at decent wa
ges and thousands lof negroes are hard at
work with the hoe for themselves al
through the interior of the State. The
most active industry of Old Virginia to-day
wears black skin. The dainty white
hands of treason hold the ballot the hon
est black hands of loyalty hold the hoe Is
that the reconstruction that was purchased
at Five Forks and Appomattox Court
House?
In Richmond there is surplus of ne
groes, and no SIN Il antipathy toward them
on the part of the most viruIent rebels.
The intelligent freedman who showed me
the deserted capitol building, and Aleck
Stephenss empty chair, remarked, "My
old master at Bottoms Bridge would kick
me off his premises, if went there He
told me that tue great majority of the
blacks in Richmond are, at present, worse
off in material comforts than before the
wal That is easily accounted for. Busi.
ness is dull the whites are poor and city
servants are not skillful feld-hands. In the
rural regions, the negroes know how to
work, are glad to work, and are bettering
their condition every day. The crops along
the Fredericksburgh Railway generally
look well The road Itself is in good order.
Richmond contains some very suggestive
scenes. Among them are jeff Davis "Ex-
ecutive Room" lin the custom house, now
occupied by the clerk of the [. S. Court ::
the eXecrable Libby prison, now guarded
by blue-coats, once imprisoned there and
the blackened ruins of the Rev. Charles
Reads pro-slavery church. There must
have been pitch enough in that. pulpit to
have made it burn briskly. 1t is a sorrow
full fact that the soldiers of the disbandon-
ed Southern armies are at this moment
more Loyalty disposed than the ministers of
the dismantled Southern churches. Freed
mems Bureaus and Civil Rights bills are
valuable expedients for the hour but the
vital wants of the South are new plough,
a new pulpit, and new school-house.
The Notifications around Richmond are
| of little interest, except in the direction Of
Drury's Bluff, But those who wish to see
! the most remarkable field-works in the
world must hasten to Petersburg before
| the storms have washed down those inter
minable entertainments of sand and filled
up the rifle pits. We spent memorable
day there: our Yankee friend Bdwell, of