XIII. AFFAIRS IN WESTERN NORTH CAROLINA. GREENSBORO, September 30, 1865. T HERE were three of us in the stage from Columbia to a North Carolina planter, and an ex-Rebel colonel, beside myself. The planter was a coarse, vulgar fellow, whose whole thought seemed to be given to an effort to outwit the officers of the Freedmen's Bureau, and "git shet" of some sixty negroes on his tobacco plantation. The colonel was a man of much travel, liberal culture, and good heart, — glad the war is over, anxious to hereafter live in peace with everybody, and fearful that the negroes of the State will see very sore times before spring. We made the thirty-two miles in eight hours, at an expense of nine dollars apiece. The trip hither from Winnsboro is made by railway, one hundred and sixty-four miles, in sixteen hours, at a cost of twelve dollars, exclusive of meals. On that section of the road from Winnsboro to the Catawba River the rolling stock is passably good, and our train consisted of a baggage car, a negro car, a passenger car, and two freight cars. Our passengers were about a dozen negroes, twenty soldiers, three ladies, and ten citizens. Stoneman burned the long bridge over the Catawba, and it is not likely to be rebuilt before next summer. Half a mile below the river we left our train, and were brought to this bank in a comfortable covered wagon, crossing the wide stream on an insecurely fastened pontoon bridge. It so happened that when the railroad bridge was destroyed most of the cars were below the river; and our new train consisted of an old freight car, into which negroes and baggage loaded, and a miserable second-class passenger car, with a plain wood bench on each side in place of the ordinary seats. There were neither curtains nor blinds for the windows, and the mercury stood at about ninety. On the section of railway from Charlotte to Greensboro the rolling stock is comparatively good, many of the cars just having been thoroughly repaired and repainted. The road-bed is also in much better condition than that of any South Carolina road, though the iron is badly worn, and must soon be in great part replaced. The line runs two passenger trains per day each way, with an express freight car attached to the morning train. Sleeping cars are apparently an unknown thing on Southern railways, and bid fair to be so for some time to come. One can't help wondering frequently how it is possible for any one to be so stupidly opposed to comfort as are large numbers of Southern persons. If sun and compass were both at fault, general observation would give ample assurance that I had moved northward. Much of the country through which one travels in Western North Carolina is suggestive of Pennsylvania, though occasionally there are oak openings like those of Minnesota and high plains like those of Iowa. Moreover, it abounds in small farms rather than in large plantations; and corn, not cotton, is the principal product. There are apple orchards and many peach-trees, some fences, and occasionally a comfortable and pleasantly situated farm-house. The ability of cooks for ruining eatables whilst preparing them for the table is also something less up here than in the low country, though they apparently labor to their utmost even in this State. Salvation for any one from the North lies in the fact that the average white of North Carolina is less intelligent than the average white of the other State, and therefore the effort to ruin the negro cook has not been as successful here as there. Winnsboro and Chester in South Carolina, and Char lotte and Salisbury and Greensboro in North Carolina, are five towns after one pattern. Each is a county town of three or four thousand inhabitants, and each has two hotels of such character that the chance traveller stopping at either wishes he had gone to the other. Each town is noticeable for extreme length and an extreme absence of width. There is a main street, broad and dirty, about a mile in length, with a deep well and great pump in the middle of the carriage-way toward each end, and another about half-way between; one narrow and dirty street on each side the broad avenue; about a dozen narrow and dirty cross-streets. In each town the business is mainly done on the principal street, and in each town the best private residences are at either end of this principal street. Inquiry and observation have satisfied me that the ten hotels in these five towns are not unlike one another in many features. Give whatever directions you may in the evening, you are sure to be roused up half an hour after daylight. The servant wants your boots; leave your boots outside on retiring, and he wants to bring in fresh water; leave your boots and pitcher outside, and he wants to come in to brush your clothes; leave your boots and pitcher and clothes outside, and he insists on waking you to see if you don't want something; call him to your room five minutes before retiring, assure him that you wear cloth shoes, don't use water, can shake out your own coat, and will not want anything in the morning but sleep, and just as surely as next morning comes, so will that negro boy, who straightway pounds at your door till you are wide awake, and then asks if you are going in the early train! At each of the hotels where I stopped there was plenty of coffee at supper, but neither request nor direction of mine could bring tea; while at one place a boarder told me he had made diligent effort daily for a week to get it, and then had given up in despair. I begin to meet avowed Rebels. It is a mistake to sup pose that this class of creatures is confined to South Carolina, even a mistake to suppose that it resides in that State in any considerable numbers. There are half a dozen here to one down there. Sherman visited that State; his army swept through it like a demon of devastation and destruction. No pen could tell how the pride and beauty thereof are laid in ruins. Yet that treatment was what the haughty little State needed. Let no man ever extenuate or apologize for his Less fire would have spared more property, but also more rebellion. More fire would have made more healthy spirit in this State. The people in the western part scarcely know, so far as their material interests are concerned, that there has been a war. course. In South Carolina every man was ready to take the oath ; he made no professions of Unionism, but he owned that he had been fairly beaten, wanted peace and privilege of trade, and would sincerely obey the government hereafter. Here there is a great deal of talk about "our rights," a great deal of complaint at the action of the government, and a great deal of that spirit which still refuses either to acquiesce or to be comforted. The manner of speech there in regard to the "Yankees"-meaning thereby all the people of the North- was respectfully appreciative even when indicative of bitter personal hatred. With the Rebel population of this section a "Yank" is spoken of in terms not only of dislike, but of contempt. I was somewhat curious to see the Unionism of Western North Carolina of which we heard so much during the war. Considerable of it, I am convinced, was less a love for the Union than a personal hatred of those who went into the Rebellion. It was not so much an uprising for the government as against a certain ruling class. This is, of course, a general remark; for I find many intelligent men, whose Unionism is of the judgment and affection, and whose speech on almost every phase of the question at issue would do no discredit even to the radicalism of Massachusetts. Yet a rebellion against the little tyranny of local politicians was unquestionably at the foundation of much of the opposition to the Davis government. For a man who wholly and passionately hates a Rebel, — hates him without the least allowance for any extenuating circumstance, give me, however, one of these North Carolina Unionists. At Charlotte I found one of them. He was something like sixty years of age, but seemed vigorous as most men at forty. "There's six or seven creeturs up in my deestric' as can't live there a gret while, now I tell ye," said he to me when I asked him how the Union men and the late Rebels got along together; our deestric' 'll git shet of 'em putty Ef they's fellers as can't taken a wink, we'll jest haf ter giv' 'em a nod." And he brought his arms and head into position for sighting a gun. soon. 66 "You don't mean that there'll be any shooting done," said I. "Don't I, though?" he answered. "But the military will look after such things, and the county militia will very soon arrest any man who is lawless." "Jes' so; but thar's jest six G―d d―n infernal sneakin' Rebels up in my deestric' as can't no how at all live thar six weeks longer. That thing's settled, Mister, and thar ain't no use talkin'!" "But is there such feeling against the Confederate soldiers all through your county? Can't you let bygones be bygones, and all live in peace, and all turn in to improve the country and work on the farms?" "It's jest here, Mister: I don't speak fur nothin' but my deestric', an' what I tell ye is what me an' my neighbors 'll stand to." State the question to him as I would, he had only the one He had nothing to say for any other part of the answer. |