Chapter I: Front Matter

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Transcriber's note:

Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).

A detailed transcriber's note can be found at the end of
the book.

CAMP COURT AND SIEGE

A Narrative of Personal Adventure and Observation During Two Wars 1861-1865 1870-1871

by

WICKHAM HOFFMAN

Assistant Adj.-Gen. U. S. Vols. and Secretary U. S. Legation at Paris

London Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, & Rivington Crown Buildings, 188 Fleet Street. 1877

Dedication.

TO

THE HON. E. B. WASHBURNE,

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.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

Hatteras.--"Black Drink."--Fortress Monroe.--General Butler.
--Small-pox.--"L'Isle des Chats."--Lightning.--Farragut.--Troops
land.--Surrender of Forts Page 11

CHAPTER II.

New Orleans.--Custom-house.--Union Prisoners.--The Calaboose.
--"Them Lincolnites."--The St. Charles.--"Grape-vine Telegraph."
--New Orleans Shop-keepers.--Butler and Soulé.--The Fourth
Wisconsin.--A New Orleans Mob.--Yellow Fever 23

CHAPTER III.

Vicksburg.--River on Fire.--Baton Rouge.--Start again for Vicksburg.
--The _Hartford_.--The Canal.--Farragut.--Captain Craven.--The
_Arkansas_.--Major Boardman.--The _Arkansas_ runs the
Gauntlet--Malaria 35

CHAPTER IV.

Sickness.--Battle of Baton Rouge.--Death of Williams.--"Fix
Bayonets!"--Thomas Williams.--His Body.--General T. W. Sherman.
--Butler relieved.--General Orders, No. 10.--Mr. Adams and Lord
Palmerston.--Butler's Style 47

CHAPTER V.

T. W. Sherman.--Contrabands.--Defenses of New Orleans.--Exchange
of Prisoners.--Amenities in War.--Port Hudson.--Reconnoissance
in Force.--The Fleet.--Our Left.--Assault of May 27th.--Sherman
wounded.--Port Hudson surrenders 59

CHAPTER VI.

Major-general Franklin.--Sabine Pass.--Collision at Sea.--March
through Louisiana.--Rebel Correspondence.--"The Gypsy's Wassail."
--Rebel Women.--Rebel Poetry.--A Skirmish.--Salt Island.--Winter
Climate.--Banks's Capua.--Major Joseph Bailey 74

CHAPTER VII.

Mistakes.--Affair at Mansfield.--Peach Hill.--Freaks of the
Imagination.--After Peach Hill.--General William Dwight.--Retreat to
Pleasant Hill.--Pleasant Hill.--General Dick Taylor.--Taylor and
the King of Denmark.--An Incident 87

CHAPTER VIII.

Low Water.--The Fleet in Danger.--We fall back upon Alexandria.
--Things look Gloomy.--Bailey builds a Dam in ten Days.--Saves
the Fleet.--A Skirmish.--Smith defeats Polignac.--Unpopularity
of Foreign Officers.--A Novel Bridge.--Leave of Absence.--A
Year in Virginia.--Am ordered again to New Orleans 98

CHAPTER IX.

Visit to Grant's Head-quarters.--His Anecdotes of Army Life.--Banks
relieved.--Canby in Command.--Bailey at Mobile.--Death of
Bailey.--Canby as a Civil Governor.--Confiscated Property.--Proposes
to rebuild Levees.--Is stopped by Sheridan.--Canby appeals.--Is
sustained, but too late.--Levees destroyed by Floods.--Conflict
of Jurisdiction.--Action of President Johnson.--Sheridan abolishes
Canby's Provost Marshal's Department.--Canby asks to be recalled.--Is
ordered to Washington.--To Galveston.--To Richmond.--To
Charleston.--Is murdered by the Modocs.--His Character 105

CHAPTER X.

The Writer appointed Assistant Secretary of Legation to Paris.
--Presented to the Emperor.--Court Balls.--Diplomatic Dress.--Opening
of Corps Législatif.--Opening of Parliament.--King of the Belgians.
--Emperor of Austria.--King of Prussia.--Queen Augusta.--Emperor
Alexander.--Attempt to assassinate him.--Ball at Russian
Embassy.--Resignation of General Dix 119

CHAPTER XI.

Washburne appointed Minister.--Declaration of War.--Thiers opposes
it.--The United States asked to protect Germans in France.--Fish's
Instructions.--Assent of French Government given.--Paris
in War-paint.--The Emperor opposed to War.--Not a Free
Agent.--His _Entourage_.--Marshal Le Bœuf 134

CHAPTER XII.

Germans forbidden to leave Paris.--Afterward expelled.--Large
Number in Paris.--Americans in Europe.--Emperor's Staff an Incumbrance.
--French Generals.--Their Rivalries.--False News from the Front.
--Effect in Paris.--Reaction.--Expulsion of Germans.--Sad
Scenes.--Washburne's Action.--Diplomatic Service.--Battle of
Sedan.--Sheridan at Sedan 145

CHAPTER XIII.

Revolution of September 4th, 1870.--Paris _en Fête_.--Flight of the
Empress.--Saved by Foreigners.--Escapes in an English Yacht.
--Government of National Defense.--Trochu at its Head.--Jules Simon.
--United States recognizes Republic.--Washburne's Address.--Favre's
Answer.--Efforts for Peace.--John L. O'Sullivan 159

CHAPTER XIV.

Belleville Demonstrates.--Radical Clubs.--Their Blasphemy and Violence.
--Unreasonable Suspicion.--Outrages.--Diplomatic Corps.--Some of them
leave Paris.--Meeting of the Corps.--Votes not to Leave.--Embassadors
and Ministers.--Right of Correspondence in a Besieged Place.
--Commencement of Siege, September 19th.--Besiegers and Besieged.
--Advantages of Besieged 170

CHAPTER XV.

Balloons.--Large Number dispatched.--Small Number lost.--Worth.
--Carrier-pigeons.--Their Failure.--Their Instincts.--_Times_
"Agony Column."--Correspondence.--Letters to Besieged.--Count Solms.
--Our Dispatch-bag.--Moltke complains that it is abused.--Washburne's
Answer.--Bismarck's Reply 182

CHAPTER XVI.

Burnside's Peace Mission.--Sent in by Bismarck.--Interview with
Trochu.--The Sympathetic Tear.--Question of Revictualment.--Failure
of Negotiations.--Point of Vanity.--Flags of Truce.--French
accused of Violation of Parole.--Question of the Francs-Tireurs.
--Foreigners refused Permission to leave Paris.--Washburne
insists.--Permission granted.--Departure of Americans.--Scenes
at Créteil 196

CHAPTER XVII.

Mob seize Hôtel de Ville.--"Thanksgiving" in Paris.--Prices of
Food.--Paris Rats.--Menagerie Meat.--Horse-meat.--Eatable only
as Mince.--Government Interference.--Sorties.--Are Failures.--Le
Bourget taken by French.--Retaken by Prussians.--French
Naval Officers.--Belleville National Guard.--Their Poetry.
--Blundering.--Sheridan's Opinion of German Army 207

CHAPTER XVIII.

The National Guard.--Its Composition.--The American Ambulance.--Its
Organization.--Its Success.--Dr. Swinburne, Chief Surgeon.--The
Tent System.--Small Mortality.--Poor Germans in Paris.--Bombardment
by Germans.--Wantonness of Artillery-men.--Bad News from the Loire.
--"Le Plan Trochu."--St. Genevieve to appear.--Vinoy takes Command.
--Paris surrenders.--Bourbaki defeated.--Attempts Suicide 221

CHAPTER XIX.

Election in France.--Terms of Peace.--Germans enter Paris.--Their
Martial Appearance.--American Apartments occupied.--Washburne
remonstrates.--Attitude of Parisians.--The Germans evacuate
Paris.--Victualing the City.--Aid from England and the
United States.--Its Distribution.--Sisters of Charity 234

CHAPTER XX.

The Commune.--Murder of French Generals.--The National Guard of
Order.--It disbands.--The Reasons.--Flight of the Government to
Versailles.--Thiers.--Attempts to reorganize National Guard.--An
American arrested by Commune.--Legation intervenes.--His Discharge.
--His Treatment.--Reign of King Mob.--"_Démonstrations Pacifiques._"
--Absurd Decrees of the Commune.--Destruction of the Vendôme
Column 243

CHAPTER XXI.

Diplomatic Corps moves to Versailles.--Journey there and back.--Life
at Versailles.--German Princes.--Battle at Clamart.--Unburied
Insurgents.--Bitterness of Class Hatred.--Its Probable Causes.--United
States Post-office at Versailles.--The Archbishop of Paris.--Attempts
to save his Life.--Washburne's Kindness to him.--Blanqui.--Archbishop
murdered.--Ultramontanism.--Bombardment by Government.--My Apartment
struck.--Capricious Effects of Shells.--Injury to Arch of Triumph.
--Bas-reliefs of Peace and War 256

CHAPTER XXII.

Reign of Terror.--Family Quarrels.--The Alsacians, etc., claim
German Nationality.--They leave Paris on our Passes.--Prisoners of
Commune.--Priests and Nuns.--Fragments of Shells.--"Articles
de Paris."--Fearful Bombardment of "Point du Jour."--Arrest of
Cluseret.--Commune Proclamations.--Capture of Paris.--Troops
enter by Undefended Gate.--Their Slow Advance.--Fight at the
Tuileries Gardens.--Communist Women.--Capture of Barricades.
--Cruelties of the Troops.--"Pétroleuses."--Absurd Stories about
them.--Public Buildings fired.--Destruction of Tuileries, etc., etc.
--Narrow Escape of Louvre.--Treatment of Communist Prisoners.
--Presents from Emperor of Germany 271

CAMP, COURT, AND SIEGE.