A Tour of Reconstruction by J. Matthew Gallman

Author:J. Matthew Gallman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky
Published: 2021-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE

4.30.1875

Dearest Marmee,—I left thee getting into Charleston, at midnight.—A bright moonlight night, through which the light stone & brick of which the place is largely built, shone cheerfully,—but as for us we were in anything but a cheerful mood when we reached the hotel,—for it was literally crammed,—& scores of people could not be furnished with even cots, but had to sit up all night.—The rush of people home from Florida, was & still is, so tremendous, as to overrun all the hotels.—At last, however, by dint of an awful row— ing on Bernard & Harmont’s part (H. is the Albany gentleman) they succeeded in having one of the clerks dragged out of his room, & the place given up to me for the rest of the night.

What filthy beasts men—the most of them—are!—of course the bed was made up first for me, but I could not sleep in the place.—There was such a menagerie of hair oil, & grease, & blacking bottles,—& smell of dirty clothes hanging on the walls,—& such a generally nasty atmosphere as to keep me awake.—Early in the morning, the train being gone northward I was transferred to a very nice room on the parlor floor, looking out on the quadrangle.—Nearly all the Southern hotels of size are built about a large square court yard, filled with turf, & lovely flowers, & sweet scented trees, & singing birds.—A great comfort,—for the hotels themselves,—even the best of them are beastly,—stuffy beds, curtains, carpets, dust & dirt under them,—a sickening smell of rats & mice dead & alive in every room that has not its windows wide open.

After breakfast—(the 15 of April—I had been at Richmond 1, 2, 3, 4.—Petersburg 5. Norfolk 6.—Wilmington 7.— Raleigh 8, 9, 10. Salisbury 11. Charlotte 12. Columbia 13.— Charleston night of 14.—15.—Went to Savannah 16 & staid till morning of 21.—back to Charleston sleeping there that night.—Columbia 22, 23. Went to Macon aft. & night of 24.—Andersonville 25.—slept at Macon same night.—Atlanta 26. Chattanooga & Lookout Mountains 27 & 28, Nashville 29 & 30—where I now am,—at about the end of my Southern meanderings)—

Well, to return, after breakfast—the middle of April,—for which I feasted upon great store of delicious strawberries,—Mr. H & I sallied forth,—B. being too busy about his lecture business to go along, & Harmont proving almost as indefatigable a sight seer & class questioner as John himself.—We ran all over the place, losing ourselves, & finding ourselves, in fine streets & narrow streets,—into churches & graveyards, & theaters, & halls, & markets, & jails, & police headquarters, & warehouses & shops.—We interviewed citizens on the streets, & at the doors,—& were probably regarded as a couple of harmless lunatics, but really found out more & saw more than we could have done in a carriage & by ordinary means in a week.—The streets are reasonably wide, & fairly paved tho’ broken in many places,—the side walks good,—a great many pleasant shade trees, & among these a good many of the green, spiked palmettoes.

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