The Portland daily press., 1888-02-17
RICHMOND TO DAY.
Relics Of Southern Pride and vaIor
and Reminders of Southern Poverty
The Old Hatreds Not Quite Cold.
Correspondence Of the PREss.l


Correspondence Of the PREss.l
ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA,
Feb. 6, 1888.
After three weeks OF leisurely strolling
through the sunny south wei have come to rest
for season in st. Augustine, and are pleas
antly located at the Magnolia Hotel, one Of
the cosiest and most homelike and delightful
houses that ever gladdened the heart Of the
tourist. Our stay in Washington was OF the
most pleasant nature and with regret we left
this the finest city in the land. After our
train crossed the Potomac and from thence
onward we were on historic ground, historic
through the Colonial and Revolutionary
periods, and most of all historic now
through the great struggle of the Civil War.
After short run on the railroad the train
men call out Fredericksburg Away to the
right on the high hills can be seen the Ma
tional Cemetery, where many thousands OF
the gallant boys in blue are quietly sleeping
within the slow green tents whose curtains
never outward swing" and above and over
\ them floats the starry flag they loved 50 well:
One who passes through this section OF
| country now, seeing how quiet and peaceful
! is its aspect, can with difficulty conceive of
| the stupendOus tragedies enacted on this
| VerN SOIL. we UdQ lulCuuNu otOPpAhS- 0k
Fredericksburg to look over the battlefield
and cemetery, but the day was so inclement
| that we decided Ito move on to Richmond"
without delay. Soon after leaving this 10
cality and just before reaching the little
station Of Guinea, we passed, on the left OF
the railroad and near to it, the two stored
white house in which died Gen. "Stonewall'
Jackson, Lees right arm" as he was called,
| fOrnOt far from this vicinity was iought !ne
/ desperate battle of Chancellorsyille In which
| Ger. Jackson received the wounds that caused
| his'death Every inch OF the ground from
this point to Richmond was fought over with
the tenacy of which only the Anglo-Saxon
race is capable. .yI..
for the most part through fiat uninterestlng
country, we arrived at Richmond wnlcn we
proceeded to look over with some degree OF
thOroughness. Richmond has a nne locatlon
on the James River, on hills or pluffs Oh con-
siderable height and from which are some
views of surpas sing beauty, notably tnat
from ChimbraraZo Park which during the
war was occupied as hospital for the con-
federate sick and wounded. we visited the
official residence of Jefferson DAVIS ana a.
III. Stephens The Davis house is large
pretentious mansion facing the east, and
now showing marks of neglect. 1t at present
is occupied by school for girls nearly ful-
filling the prophecy 81 oeaslng spears SSsa anio 70
but short distance from the Davis residence
and is white house of fair exterior ana
medium size, and is still used as residence.
Next we entered the church in which, ON
that fateful April Sabbath morning, the mes
SAGE was brought to the Confederate presi-
dent from Gen. Lee, telling him that Rich
mond must be evacuated without delay, as
he was being forced from his works at
Petersburg by Gen. Grant. Then we went
to the building which more than any other
in Richmond possesses interest to the north
ern visitor, Libby Prison. As we paused In
front Of the low three storied brick building
and looked it over carefully, It was dllhcult
for us to comprehend that within lts gloomy
walls for four years, seventeen hundred Un-
ion prisoners were confined, crowded TO It's
utmost capacity. Deplorable indeed must
have been the condition OF Its wretcned III
mates. The iron bars that the windows
were guarded by, are still in their places
leaving mute testimony of the business re-
quired Of them. The building now Is used
as a mandatory of super-phospnate. we
next called at the house Of Mrs. van Lew
whose love for the Union called down on ner
head the wrath of the Confederate govern
ment She shielded and cared for the escaped
Union prisoners in the city, and for this
suffered Imprisonment. When Gen. Grant
became president he rewarded the peerless
and noble-hearted woman by making her
postmistress of Richmond, but to
SUCH POINT OF osTRACIsM
is the feeling against her carried by the lovers
of .'the Lost Cause" that when, after her re-
REMOVAL lIOln OluOC NY thO RANoNAe
tration, she placed her house on the market
for sale, not purchaser could be found, nor
has yet been found though three years have
elapsed. The house is a pleasant one and
located in desirable part of the city. Por-
tions of earthworks to the south and east of
theeity are still 70 be seen in fair state OF
preservation.
Last and most interesting Of all to us we en-
tered Hollywood Cemetery. This is place
dear to the feart Of every native of the city,
and on it they lavish their time and means.
1t is close to the southwestern part of the
town and is really beautiful city Of the dead
A deep ravine runs through the middle OF lt
which is crossed againsand again by rustic
and artistic paths and bridges. Large,
splendid, old trees are very plentiful all
through il and Towering shrubs and orna-
mental plants are tastefully trimmed ana ar
ranged in attractive forms. In 1t are the re-
mains Of ex-Presdents Monroe and Tyler,
| the former with an odd and striking m0nu-
ment the latter without any monument,
stone or anything of the KIND to tell the
| stranger that the one beneath the turf at his
| feet had been the chief of this mighty repub-
lie The thoughts that occur to any Ameri-
| can as he looks at the resting place OF the
| dead President, are not very complimentary
| to his country to say the least. Here also on
| the western side of the ravine and just across
! the driveway from this point, rests all that
| is mortal of Lieut.. Gen. A. L, Hill, one of
| the hardest hitters of Lees able lieutenants.
| The only thing TO indicate the fact is his
| name engraved on the coping that surrounds
| the lot. A little further to the east is the
| monument erected to the dashing and ideal
| leader of the southern cavalry, Gen. j. Il. b.
| Stuart. AS one pauses in front OF II and
reads the inscriptions upon it, he is struck
with the youth Of the gallant southron, bare
| ly passed thirty years Of age, And again
| are we impressed with the fact that the great
| conflict was fought by young men. As we
cross the bridge that spans the ravlne and
~ 81 he
| we pass lying side by side, Major and Lieut..
| Wheat, father and son. A little way along
/ the same drive and we come TO the Confeder
| ate soldiers monument, q pyramid ninety
| three feet high aud forty-three feet square at
| the base, built Of a sort OF common gray
stone without any sort of mortar or cement
| in its composition. Planted all about 1t are
| English ivy and Virginia creeper, and near
| to its western base thirty-tye hundred Con-
| federatr soldiers are buried with merely a
| wooden stake at the head of each silent
| sleeper and a copper number on each stake.
| Many ghoulsh relic hunters unfeelingly ap-
| propriate these copper figures and so even
| that mark of identity is gone. On the monu-
| ment is no record or inscription OF any sort,
| and as the traveller gazes on II, surrounded
| as it is by those whose deeds 1t endeavors to
| commemorate, he feels inv0luntarily a sort
| of pity for the simple and touching efforts as
expressed before him For the south is poor
| and though they are nobly setting themselves
| to face and take hold Of tbe vast work that
is needed to be done, the fact remains that
| they are terribly poor.
The part of the town that was burnt at the
| close Of the war is about all rebuilt The
newer and better part of the city is on the
| western side. Franklin street is nearly all
| new since the war and has many elegant
residences upon it; nearly all of the noted
| tobacco manufactures reside on this street
and their homes are models Of taste and
| beauty. The street is finely shaded by that
| beautiful tree of the South, the Magnolia.
| We intended to stop at Petersburg but the
| weather still continued so wretchedly cold
| that we decided to forego that pleasure till
another and more genial time. When we
left Washington we supposed that we had
/ said Lood bye to cold weather and ice and
snow, and it looked odd to see the boys slid
| ing down hill in Richmond, and on such sleds
| too. 1t would have made a New England
| boy laugh till he cried to have seen them.
But the boys were all at 1t, white and black,
and those that had no sleds and couldn't stop
| to make them, were sliding on shoyels and
old doors and shutters. And those that
were not sliding were skating, and there
We're chances enough for them, as every
pond, creek and brook was thoroughly frozen
As for the cold don't remember of being so
cold myself for years as / was in Richmond
The temperature was low with a piercing
wind to force it through all the clothing you
| could M an a mt Of the snow