Camp, Court and Siege

Camp, Court and Siege - A Narrative of Personal Adventure and Observation During Two Wars: 1861-1865; 1870-1871

MINISTER OF THE U. S. AT PARIS, THESE PAGES ARE CORDIALLY DEDICATED, IN ADMIRATION OF THE STERLING QUALITIES OF MANHOOD DISPLAYED BY HIM DURING THE DARK DAYS OF THE SIEGE AND COMMUNE, AND IN RECOLLECTION OF MANY PLEASANT HOURS PASSED TOGETHER DURING AN OFFICIAL CONNECTION OF NEARLY SIX YEARS. In February, 1862, the writer of the following pages, an officer on the staff of Brigadier-general Thomas Williams, was stationed at Hatteras. Of all forlorn stations to which the folly and wickedness of the Rebellion condemned our officers, Hatteras was the most forlorn. It blows a gale of wind half the time. The tide runs through the inlet at the rate of five miles an hour. It was impossible to unload the stores for Burnside's expedition during more than three days of the week. After an easterly blowand there are enough of themthe waters are so piled up in the shallow sounds between Hatteras and the Main, that the tide ebbs without intermission for twenty-four hours. The history of Hatteras is curious. There can be little doubt that English navigators penetrated into those waters long before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. But the colony was not a success. Of the colonists some returned to England; others died of want. The present inhabitants of the island are a sickly, puny race, the descendants of English convicts. When Great Britain broke up her penal settlement at the Bermudas, she transported the most hardened convicts to Van Diemens Land; those who had been convicted of minor offenses, she turned loose upon our coast. Here they intermarried; for the inhabitants of the Main look down upon them as an inferior race, and will have no social intercourse with them. The effect of these intermarriages is seen in the degeneracy of the race. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 51195
Author: Hoffman, Wickham
Release Date: Feb 13, 2016
Format: eBook
Language: English