Travels Through North America, During the Years 1825 and 1826. v. 1-2

As a stranger in my situation should see every thing, to acquire a knowledge of the habits, customs, opinions and prejudices of the people he is among, therefore I accepted the offer of some gentlemen who proposed to carry me to this quadroon ball. And I must avow I found it much more decent than the masked ball. The coloured ladies were under the eyes of their mothers, they were well and gracefully dressed, and conducted themselves with much propriety and modesty. Cotillions and waltzes were danced, and several of the ladies performed elegantly. I did not remain long there that I might not utterly destroy my standing in New Orleans, but returned to the masked ball and took great care not to disclose to the white ladies where I had been. I could not however refrain from making comparisons, which in no wise redounded to the advantage of the white assembly. As soon as I entered I found a state of formality.44

At the end of January, a contagious disorder prevailed, called the varioloid. It was said to be a species of small-pox, and was described as malignant in the highest degree. Even persons who had undergone vaccination, and those who had passed through the natural small-pox, were attacked by this disorder. The garrison lost six men, of whom two were severely marked. The garrison were placed in the barracks to preserve them from this malady. It was thought that it was imported by some negro slaves from the north. Many owners of slaves in the states of Maryland and Virginia have real – (pardon the loathsome expression, I know not how otherwise to designate the beastly idea,) stud nurseries for slaves, whence the planters of Louisiana, Mississippi, and the other southern states draw their supplies, which increase every day in price. Such a disease as the varioloid is a fit present, in return for slaves thus obtained!45

We paid the late governor of the state, Mr. Robinson, a visit. It gave me much pleasure to cultivate his acquaintance. Mr. Robinson is regarded with universal respect, and I met in him a highly interesting and well informed man, who converses with wit and spirit. At a dinner, given by the acting governor, I became acquainted with the former governor and militia general Villaret, as well as with Dr. Herman, from Cassel, who was employed in the navy of the United States as surgeon-general. From this dinner we went to the child’s ball, which was given in the customary ball room of the French theatre, for the benefit of the dancing master. Most of the children were quite charming, and danced very prettily: only the little girls from ten to eleven years of age, were dressed and tricked off like full grown ladies. About eight o’clock the little children left off dancing and were mostly sent home, and in their place the larger girls resumed the dance. The costume of the ladies was very elegant. To my discomfiture, however, a pair of tobacco-chewing gentlemen engaged me in conversation, from which I received such a sensation of disgust, that I was nearly in the situation of one sea-sick.

On the 1st of February, to my great sorrow, the brave Colonel Wool, who had become exceedingly dear and valuable to me, took leave. I accompanied him to his steam-boat, which departed at eleven o’clock, and gazed after him for a long time.

I paid a visit to the bishop of Louisiana, Mr. Dubourg, and was very politely received. He is a Jesuit, a native of St. Domingo, and appears to be about sixty years old. He delivers himself very well, and conversed with me concerning the disturbances in the diocese of Ghent, in the time of the Prince Broglio, in which he, as friend and counsellor of that prince, whom he accompanied in his progress through his diocese, took an active part. In his chamber, I saw a very fine portrait of Pope Pius VII. a copy of one painted by Camuccini, and given by the pope to the deceased duke of Saxe-Gotha. The bishop inhabited a quondam nunnery, the greater part of which he had assigned for, and established as a school for boys. The bishop returned my visit on the next day.

At a dinner, which Mr. Grymes gave with the greatest display of magnificence, after the second course, large folding doors opened and we beheld another dining room, in which stood a table with the dessert. We withdrew from the first table, and seated ourselves at the second, in the same order in which we had partaken of the first. As the variety of wines began to set the tongues of the guests at liberty, the ladies rose, retired to another apartment, and resorted to music for amusement. Some of the gentlemen remained with the bottle, while others, among whom I was one, followed the ladies, and regaled ourselves with harmony. We had waltzing until ten o’clock, when we went to the masquerade in the theatre of St. Phillip’s street, a small building, in which, at other times, Spanish dramas were exhibited. The female company consisted of quadroons, who, however, were masked. Several of them addressed me, and coquetted with me some time, in the most subtle and amusing manner.

A young lawyer from Paris, of the name of Souliez, paid me a visit. He was involved in unpleasant circumstances in his native country, on account of some liberal publications which he had made against the Jesuits in the newspapers. On this account, he, full of liberal ideas, had left his home, and gone to Hayti, with recommendatory letters from bishop Gregoire to President Boyer. There, however, he found the state of things widely different from what he had fancied them at home. The consequence was, he had come to the United States, and he now candidly confessed that he was completely cured of his fine dreams of liberty.

Dr. Herman gave a dinner, at which were more than twenty guests. Among them were the governor, Colonel Croghan, and several of the public characters here. Mr. Bowdoin, who was slowly recovering from his gout, and Count Vidua, were also there. Except our hostess there was no lady present. Mrs. Herman, a very beautiful young woman, was very unwell, and obliged to leave the table soon. The dinner was very splendid.

We crossed the Mississippi in a boat, like a small chest, such a boat is styled a “ferry-boat.” This was the only stated means of communication supported between the city and the right bank. Formerly there was a steam ferry-boat, and afterwards a horse-boat, but neither the one nor the other could be supported by the business. The stream is nearly three-fourths of a mile broad. Arrived on the right bank, we found a little inconsiderable place called Macdonaldville, that did not appear very thriving. Along the bank runs a levée, to protect the land from inundation. Several vessels are laid up here. The country is exceedingly level, and is composed of swampy meadows, and in the back ground, of forest, partly of live oaks, which is much concealed, however, by long ugly moss. Farther inward is a sugar plantation belonging to Baron Marigny. The river makes a remarkable bend opposite New Orleans, and the city, with its white spires, and crowds of vessels lying in the stream, looks uncommonly well from the right bank.

General Villaret invited us to dinner at his country-house, which is eight miles distant from New Orleans, and had the politeness to bring us in his carriage. At half past eleven o’clock, I went out with Count Vidua, and Mr. Huygens. The habitation, as the mansion-houses lying in a sugar plantation are termed, is upon the left bank of the Mississippi, about a short mile from the river. In December, 1814, it served the English army for head quarters. The road to it led along the levée, past country houses, which succeeded each other rapidly for five miles. Several display the comfort and good taste of their owners. The mansion-house, commonly, is situated about one hundred paces from the entrance, and an avenue of laurel trees, which are cut in a pyramidical form, and pride of China trees, leads to the door. The most of these houses are two stories high, and are surrounded with piazzas and covered galleries. Back of the elegant mansion-house stand the negro cabins, like a camp, and behind the sugar-cane fields, which extend to the marshy cypress woods about a mile back, called the cypress swamp. Among these country-houses is a nunnery of Ursulines, the inhabitants of which are employed in the education of female youth.

Five miles from the city we reached the former plantation of M‘Carthy, now belonging to Mr. Montgomery, in which General Jackson had his head quarters. About one hundred paces farther, commences the right of the line, to the defence of which this general owes his great renown. I left the carriage here, and went along the remainder of the line, at most a mile in length, with the right wing on the river, and the left resting on the cypress swamp.

The English landed in Lake Borgne, which is about three miles distant from General Villaret’s dwelling. On the 23d of December, a company of soldiers attacked this house, and took two of the general’s sons prisoners. The third of his sons escaped, and brought to General Jackson, whose head quarters were at that time in the city, the intelligence of the landing and progress of the British. Immediately the alarm guns were fired, and the general marched with the few troops and militia under his command, not two thousand in number, against the habitation of Villaret. The English had established themselves here, with the intent to attack the city directly, which was without the least protection. The general advanced along the line of the woods, and nearly surprised the English. He would probably have captured them, if he had had time to despatch a few riflemen through the generally passable cypress swamp to the right wing: and had not the night come on, and a sudden fog also prevented it. He judged it more prudent to fall back, and stationed his troops at the narrowest point between the river and the cypress swamp, while he took up his head quarters in the habitation of M‘Carthy.

There was a small ditch in front of his line, and on the next day some young men of the militia commenced, on their own motion, to throw up a little breast-work, with the spades and shovels they found in the habitation. This suggested to the general the idea of forming a line here. This line was, however, the very feeblest an engineer could have devised, that is, a strait one. There was not sufficient earth to make the breast work of the requisite height and strength, since, if the ground here was dug two feet, water flowed out. To remedy this evil in some measure, a number of cotton bales were brought from the warehouses of the city, and the breast-work was strengthened by them. Behind these bales artillery was placed, mostly ship’s cannon, and they endeavoured, by a redoubt erected on the right wing at the levée, to render it more susceptible of defence; especially as no time was to be lost, and the offensive operations of the British were daily perceptible; still the defensive preparations which General Jackson could effect were very imperfect. The English force strengthened itself constantly, they threw up batteries, widened the canal leading from Villaret’s to Lake Borgne, so as to admit their boats into the Mississippi, and covered this canal by several detached entrenchments.

A cannonade was maintained by their batteries for several days on the American line, but they could not reach it, and had several of their own pieces dismounted by the well-directed fire of the American artillery. Finally, on the 8th of January, after General Jackson had time to procure reinforcements, of which the best were the volunteer riflemen of Tennessee, who were distributed along the line, well covered by the cotton bales, and each of which had one or two men behind him, to load the rifles, the English commenced storming the line, under Sir Edward Packenham’s personal direction. The soil in front of the line consisted of perfectly level cane fields, which had been cut down, not a single tree or bush was to be found. The unfortunate Englishmen, whose force in the field was reckoned at from eight to ten thousand men, were obliged to advance without any shelter, and remain a long time, first under the fire of the well-directed cannon, afterwards under the fire of the rifles and small arms of the Americans, without being able to effect any thing in return against them. The first attack was made upon the left wing of the line. The British did not reach the ditch, but began soon to give way. Sir Edward attempted to lead them on again; a cannon-shot, however, killed his horse and wounded him in both legs. The soldiers carried him off, but he unluckily received some rifle-shots, that put an end to his life, having five balls in his body. The Major-generals Gibbs and Keane were struck at the same time, the first killed and the latter mortally wounded. By this the troops, who had continually supported a most murderous fire, were at length obliged completely to give way. Major-general Lambert, who commanded the reserve, and upon whom also at this period the whole command of the army devolved, made a last attempt to force the line. He led his troops in a run upon the batture, between the levée and the river, (which at that time was very low,) against the right wing of the line, where the small redoubt was placed, stormed, and took possession of it, but was forced, by the well-supported fire of the riflemen behind the line, to evacuate it again. The English colonel of engineers, Rennee, met with a glorious death, upon the breast-work, in this affair. After this unsuccessful attempt, the English retreated to their entrenchments at Villaret’s, and in a few days re-embarked.

During the failure of this principal attack, the English had conveyed eight hundred men to the right shore of the river, who gained some advantages there against insignificant entrenchments. These advantages, when they heard of the bad results of the main attack, they were obliged to abandon, and to return to the left bank. Had the storm of the right wing, and the feigned assault on the left been successful, in all probability General Jackson would have been obliged to evacuate not only his lines, but the city itself. Providence surely took the city under its protection; for the English were promised the plunder of New Orleans in case of success, as was asserted in that city: General Jackson moreover had given orders, in case of his retreat, not only to blow up the powder magazine of the city on the right bank, but to destroy the public buildings, and set the city on fire at the four corners. The general himself so fully recognized the hand of Providence in the event, that on the day after his victory, he expressed himself to Bishop Dubourg thus: that he knew the city owed its preservation to a merciful Providence alone, and that his first step should be on his return to the city, to thank God in his temple for the victory so wonderfully obtained. The bishop immediately gave directions for a thanksgiving, and it was unanimously celebrated with a sincere feeling of gratitude.

From the battle ground to General Villaret’s dwelling, we had three miles still to go over. For some days back, we had dry weather, and the road, which after a hard rain, must be bottomless, was on that account, hard and good. The Mississippi has the peculiarity possessed by several streams in Holland, of changing its bed. The house of General Villaret, was once much nearer the river; for some years, however, it has inclined so much to the right, that it constantly wears away the soil there, while it forms new deposits to the left. The general’s possessions are therefrom increased, and that with very good soil. The visit of the English nearly ruined the general. Their landing on this side was so entirely unexpected, that he, being employed in collecting the militia in the districts above the city, had not been able to remove the least of his property. The English took all the cattle away, as well as above sixty negroes. There has not been any intelligence of what was the fate of these negroes, probably they were sold in the West Indies. All the fences, bridges, and negro cabins were destroyed. The mansion-house was only spared, as it was occupied as head-quarters. The youngest son of the general, between thirteen and fourteen years old, was obliged to remain in the house the whole time it was retained, and was very well treated by the English generals and officers. As the English were on the point of re-embarking, General Lambert gave young Villaret four hundred dollars in silver to carry to his father, as indemnification for the cattle carried off. The young man went to the city, and delivered the money to his father. General Villaret requested General Jackson to send a flag of truce on board the English fleet, to carry the money back to General Lambert, with a letter from General Villaret. This was done, but the general never received an answer.

The removal of the negroes was a severe stroke for the General, from which, as he told me himself, it cost him much trouble gradually to recover. The canal or bayou, which ran from his plantation to Lake Borgne, was shut up by order of General Jackson after the retreat of the English, and there were not labourers sufficient left with General Villaret to reinstate it; it was of great importance to him for the conveyance of wood and other necessaries.

We found at the general’s, his sons, his son-in-law, Mr. Lavoisne, and several gentlemen from the city, among them Governor Johnson. We took some walks in the adjacent grounds. The house was not very large, and was not very much ornamented, for reasons already mentioned. Behind it was a brick sugar-boiling house, and another one for the sugar mill. Near that was a large yard, with stables and neat negro cabins for the house-servants. The huts of the field slaves were removed farther off. The whole is surrounded by cane fields, of which some were then brought in, and others all cut down. A field of this description must rest fallow for five years, and be manured, before being again set out in plants. For manure, a large species of bean is sown, which is left to rot in the field, and answers the purpose very well. The cane is commonly cut in December, and brought to the mill. These mills consists of three iron cylinders, which stand upright, the centre one of which is put in motion by a horse-mill underneath, so as to turn the other by crown-wheels. The cane is shoved in between these, and must pass twice through to be thoroughly squeezed out. The fresh juice thus pressed out, runs through a groove into a reservoir. From this it is drawn off into the kettles, in which it is boiled, to expel the watery part by evaporation. There are three of these kettles close together, so as to pour the juice when it boils from one to the other, and thus facilitate the evaporation of the water. The boiling in these kettles lasts one hour; one set gives half a hogshead of brown sugar. In several of the plantations there is a steam-engine employed in place of the horse-power: the general’s misfortunes have not yet permitted him to incur this expense.

After dinner we walked in the yard, where we remarked several Guinea fowls, which are common here, a pair of Mexican pheasants, and a tame fawn. Before the house stood a number of lofty nut-trees, called peccan trees. At the foot of one, Sir Edward Packenham’s bowels are interred; his body was embalmed and sent to England. In the fields there are numbers of English buried, and a place was shown to me where forty officers alone were laid. We took leave of our friendly host at sundown, and returned to the city.

On Shrove Tuesday, all the ball-rooms in the city were opened. I went to the great masked ball in the French theatre. The price of admission was raised to two dollars for a gentleman, and one dollar for a lady. There was dancing, not only in the ball-room, but also in the theatre itself, and on this occasion, the parterre was raised to a level with the stage. The illumination of the house was very good, and presented a handsome view. Many of the ladies were in masks, and intrigued as well as they were able. I could not restrain my curiosity, and visited the quadroon ball in the theatre of St. Philippe. It however was too late when I arrived there, many of the ladies had left the ball, and the gentlemen, a motly society, were for the most part drunk. This being the case, I returned after a quarter of an hour to the principal ball. But here too, some gentlemen had dipped too deep in the glass, and several quarrels with fists and canes took place. The police is not strict enough here to prevent gentlemen from bringing canes with them to balls. The balls continue through lent, when they are but little frequented.

On the 12th of February the intelligence of the death of the Emperor Alexander was spread abroad, which had been received by the ship Mogul, yesterday arrived from Liverpool, and by London gazettes of the 24th of December. I could not believe this to be a fact, and betook myself to the office of one of the public papers. I was here given the English gazette to read, and I found, to my no small terror, the detailed account of this sorrowful event. Consternation entered into my mind, on reflecting what effect this must have produced in Weimar, and increased my troubled state of feeling!

The volunteer battalion of artillery of this place is a handsome corps, uniformed as the artillery of the old French guard. It is above one hundred men strong, and presents a very military front. This corps manœuvred about half an hour in the square before the cathedral, and then marched to the City Hall, to receive a standard. Upon the right wing of the battalion, a detachment of flying artillery was placed. The corps had done essential service on the 8th of January, 1815, in the defence of the line, and stands here in high respect.

About four miles below the city Mr. Grymes has a country-seat, or habitation. The house is entirely new, and situated on a piece of ground formerly employed as a sugar-cane field. The new plantings made in the garden, consisted of young orange-trees and magnolias. Behind the house is an artificial hill, with a temple upon it, and within the hill itself, a grotto, arranged artificially with shells. At the entrance stands a banana tree, and this, with several creeping plants, will conceal it very well in summer. I observed in the garden several singular heaps of earth, which are hollow within, and stand over a hole in the ground. They are said to be formed by a species of land-crab, for their residence. If a stone be thrown into the hole, you hear that it immediately falls into water. Generally, in this country, you cannot dig more than a foot deep in the earth, without meeting water.

It was pure curiosity that carried me a third time to the masquerade, in St. Philippe’s theatre. It was, however, no more agreeable than the one eight days previous. There were but few masks; and among the tobacco-chewing gentry, several Spanish visages slipped about, who carried sword-canes, and seemed to have no good design in carrying them. Some of these visiters were intoxicated, and there appeared a willing disposition for disturbance. The whole aspect was that of a den of ruffians. I did not remain here a half hour, and learned next day that I was judicious in going home early, as later, battles with canes and dirks had taken place. Twenty persons were more or less dangerously wounded!

It rained very frequently during the first half of the month of February; in the middle it was warm, and for a time, about the 20th, an oppressive heat prevailed, which made me quite lethargic, and operated equally unpleasantly on every one. Indeed a real sirocco blew at this time. It surprised me very much, that with such extraordinary weather, not at all uncommon here, that there should be so many handsome, healthy, and robust children. This climate, so unhealthy, and almost mortal to strangers, seems to produce no injurious effect upon the children born here.

In the vacant space, where the walls of New Orleans formerly stood, are at present the Esplanade rue des Remparts, and rue du canal. The city proper forms a parallelogram, and was once surrounded by a palisade and a ditch. At each of the four corners stood a redoubt. The last of these redoubts, which stood at the entrance of the Fauxbourg Marigny, was demolished only since the last war. It would be important for the security of the present inhabitants, to have a fortress on the bank of the river, so that in case of an insurrection of the negroes, not only the trifling garrison, but the white women and children should possess a place of refuge, which is now totally wanting. The ditch is filled up, and planted with trees; there are no buildings newly erected here, and these open spaces are the worst parts of the city.