Chapter IV: Part 4

The atmosphere never seemed to me more salubrious than at this time; the grass never appeared greener, the flowers never seemed to exhale more fragrance, and the people never seemed kinder. It seemed a perfect Paradise compared with the swamps of North Carolina.

During the time of my "leave of absence," I met with the following men of note, all of whom are now dead: Hon. Thaddeus Stevens I met in the reading-room of the United States Hotel at Harrisburg, Pa., seated on a chair with his feet resting on a table, reading the newspapers, a number of files of which he had lying all around him. He would first glance at one file and then at another, till he had examined all. I have heard of two anecdotes told about him. One was, whilst meeting an enemy face to face on the street in Lancaster, Pa., his enemy said to Mr. Stevens, "I never turn out of the road of a fool." The latter said sharply, "I do," and passed around the former. The other incident occurred whilst Mr. Stevens was very ill in Washington, D.C. A friend visited him and complimented him on his appearance. Mr. Stevens very jocularly replied that it was not his appearance that interested him (Mr. Stevens) so much as his disappearance. I have since visited his grave in Lancaster, Pa., which has the following inscription upon the tombstone:

Thaddeus Stevens,
Born at Danville, Caledonia County, Vermont,
April 4, 1792.
Died at Washington, D.C.,
August 11, 1868.

STEVENS.

I repose in this quiet and secluded spot,
Not from any preference for solitude,
But finding other cemeteries limited as to race
by charter rules,
I have chosen this, that I might illustrate
in my death
the principle which I advocated
through a long life,
Equality of man before his Creator.
1792-1868.

I also met in Lancaster, Pa., about the same time, ex-President James Buchanan. But in the month of June, 1862, I had the curiosity to call on that gentleman at his home near Lancaster, called Wheatland. I found an affable, friendly, heavy-set and gray-haired old gentleman, seated in a chair in his library. After entering into conversation with him upon general topics, he touched upon his early life, his struggles as a young man in the profession of law, his nomination and election to the Presidency of the United States, and also upon his occupancy of that office. There was anticipation at that time of Richmond being captured on or before the coming Fourth of July. I asked Mr. Buchanan if he thought Richmond would be captured by that time. He replied that he did not, but he hoped that the war for the preservation of the Union would be successfully terminated by the following July a year. I then asked him if he thought Napoleon would give his aid to the Confederacy, as it was rumored at that time that he would do so. He answered that Napoleon was a man who kept his own counsel. During my stay there, there was a gentleman called upon him for the purpose of soliciting aid in defraying the expenses of celebrating the coming Fourth of July at Lancaster, Pa. He contributed liberally, and told the solicitor if the amount he had already given him was not sufficient, to call again, and he would contribute more.

I have since visited his grave at Lancaster, Pa., which has the following inscription upon the tombstone:

Here rest the remains of
James Buchanan,
Fifteenth President of the United States,
Born in Franklin county, Pa., April 23d, 1781.
Died at Wheatland, January 1, 1868.

(Second side.)
1781-1868.

(Third side.)
BUCHANAN.

I also called on Dr. Samuel Jackson, who, during a long and extended practice in his profession, had been at one time Henry Clay's physician. I attended a course of his lectures at the Medical Department of the University of Pennsylvania. He had lost the use of his lower extremities, and was seated in a chair, at his home in Philadelphia, Pa. He stated he had from early life to the present been a hard student; and as he was about to pass through the portal of this life into another, he expected still to be a student there. He stated that it had at different times of his life been a matter of serious consideration as to how much inflammable matter in a given time the sun used in warming the space included in the solar system. He said he expected to be able to make this calculation in another life.

I also met with General James L. Kiernan, in New York city. I was called to attend him whilst visiting in that city, in an attack of congestive chills, which he had contracted whilst on duty in the State of Louisiana. He had stumped several of the northern States for President Lincoln's second election, and had been appointed United States Consul to China after that election. He filled this office till the close of President Johnson's administration. He was a man about forty-five years of age, an excellent conversationalist, a good companion, and a fine orator.

On September 23, 1865, I was ordered to Cairo, Ill., for duty aboard the U.S. monitors Oneota and Catawba, as a relief to Acting Assistant Surgeon Geo. C. Osgood. I reported to Commodore J. W. Livingston for duty October 6, 1865, having arrived in Cairo on the previous evening. I stopped at the St. Charles Hotel all night. The weather was very hot and dry, the river was low, and for a distance along shore an unhealthy green foam had gathered along the edge of the river. Congestive chills were quite prevalent there that fall.

Cairo is a large and thriving town, situated at the extreme southern point of the state of Illinois. Many of the houses then were built on stilts or posts. The sidewalks were also resting on stilts or posts, so that in crossing a street a person would have to walk down a pair of stairs, then across the street, and mount another pair of stairs. During the time of a rise in the Mississippi or Ohio river, the place was flooded, and then the citizens would use boats for the purpose of navigating from place to place. The town was somewhat protected from overflows by levees.

The monitors were very nicely finished and furnished inside. The deck was about six inches above water. There were four monitors anchored in line in the middle of the Ohio river off Cairo. The names of them were as follows: Oneota, Catawba, Manyyunk and Tippecanoe. The officers of all these vessels messed aboard the U.S. monitor Oneota. Acting Lieutenant Commander Wells was the captain of the Oneota. He was afterwards relieved by Acting Master H. E. Bartlett. Thomas Cook was her chief engineer, and Don Carlos Hasseltino was chief engineer of the monitor Catawba. One of the officers of the Oneota was a persistent story-teller, and the only way to get him to stop telling his story was to suggest to him to make a chalk mark and finish the remainder of it the following day. One day, early in the morning, he and I went ashore in Kentucky, hunting; and hunted all day without any dinner. I got very tired and left him, and returned to the boat, which was made fast ashore opposite to the junction of the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, where I lay down on a brush-heap and fell asleep; but when my companion started to row to the Oneota, the rattling of the oars awakened me, otherwise I would have been left. One time, during a freshet in the Ohio river, I think in January, I had occasion to go to one of the monitors anchored in the rear of the Oneota. After arriving on that monitor, in our attempt to return, I found that the boat could make no headway against the current. We struck over along the Kentucky bank of the river, and did what the sailor calls "cheating the current;" that is, we rowed up along the bank of the river. After rowing above the Oneota, we crossed the bows of the Oneota and threw out the end of a painter, which was instantly tied around the stanchion of the Oneota. The painter broke, and down the river the boat was carried by the current; but somebody aboard the Oneota threw the end of a rope overboard, which we caught, and we were pulled back aboard. Another time during the freshet, Mr. Thomas Cook and I went ashore, and were nearly carried by the swift current between two packet boats, but we fortunately saved ourselves.

A pilot wishing to cross with a packet-boat before or in front of the Oneota's bows, from a landing on the Cairo side of the river to the Kentucky side, ran the boat into the Oneota, and the packet was sunk. The packet-boat was laden with passengers, who were all saved.

Don Carlos Hasseltino was chief engineer of the U.S. monitor Catawba, but spent most of his time on board the U.S. monitor Oneota, and was one of the mess-mates of that vessel. I associated with him constantly from October 6, 1865, to January 16, 1866. He was a jolly, kind, sympathetic, and intelligent associate. In height he was about six feet, and had a large, wiry frame. His hair and eyes were black; he wore a black moustache. He never gave offence to any one, but would not suffer himself to be insulted. He carried two Derringers in leather pockets buttoned to his pantaloons above the hips. He was very polite and chivalrous; woe to the person that gave offense or offered insult. I insert here a sketch of his life.

[From the Cincinnati Enquirer of 1880.]

"A LIFE OF ADVENTURE.

"GENERAL DON CARLOS HASSELTINO'S STORY OF HIS STARTLING
CAREER--REBEL SPY AND UNION OFFICER--HIS ADVENTURE IN THE ARMY IN
PERU AS A CUBAN REFUGEE.

"General Don Carlos Hasseltino was met by an _Enquirer_ reporter on
a Wabash train the other day. His life has been one of adventure.
Previous to the war he graduated at Oxford, in Butler county, in
the same class with the gallant Joe Battle, who, with his brother,
fell beside their father at Shiloh, while fighting under the flag
of the Lost Cause. After graduating he went to Hamilton and read
law with Judge Clark, who acquired some notoriety at Hamilton by
his advocacy of the right of secession in 1860-61. When the war
begun, Hasseltino determined to risk his fortunes with the
Confederacy. He started South under the pretext of escorting to her
husband in Tennessee Mrs. Dallie, the wife of Adjutant Joe Battle,
of the Sixth Tennessee. They passed south from Louisville on the
last train which left that city before the war, and arrived at
Nashville. From there, young Hasseltino went to Montgomery, Ala.,
then the Confederate capital, where he was appointed Major, and a
little later Lieutenant-Colonel; and was ordered to Pensacola, Fla.
When that place fell into the hands of the National troops, he was
captured; but within a day or two he made his escape. His next
point of duty was at Fort McHenry, from whence he went to
Louisville and bought for the Confederate troops a quantity of
supplies, and succeeded in getting them safely within the
Confederate lines. When General Grant was advancing upon Fort
Donaldson, he went out as a spy, and spent most of three days with
the Federals. Being recognized, he was ordered to be shot at nine
o'clock in the evening, but in the rain and darkness made his
escape, and reached the fort at daylight the next morning, drenched
and almost frozen. Upon his report being heard, it was decided to
evacuate the fort with most of the forces. From Island No. 10 he
fell back to Memphis; and, believing that nothing would stay the
victorious march of the Union arms, sent in his resignation, which
was accepted.

"SECURING A PASS NORTH.

"When the Federals occupied Memphis he remained here, trusting to
nerve and luck to get away. To his horror he learned the next day
that Colonel Alexander, of the Forty-eighth Indiana, with whom he
was at college, was made Provost Marshal of the post, and that no
one could leave the city except on a pass issued by him. He had
some knowledge of French, and had grown quite a beard since leaving
school, and he determined to take the risk. Walking into the
Colonel's room, with many shrugs and gesticulations he asked for a
'Permissio San Louie,' and urged it with such vehemence that the
Colonel finally said to his assistant, 'Give the d--d Frenchman a
pass to St. Louis.' While going up the river he was in constant
dread of recognition, but fortunately did not meet a soul whom he
knew. Hardly had he landed when he met a former school-mate and
intimate friend from Hamilton, who was then Assistant Engineer in
the Navy. His friend knew that he had gone south, and accused him
of being in St. Louis as a spy. This he denied, and then told him
all the details of his adventures, and finally appealed to his
friend for advice as to what he should do or where he should go,
for he began to feel unsafe there. His friend advised him not to
return to Hamilton, where he would be in certain danger; and
finally suggested that he apply for an appointment as an assistant
engineer in the navy. 'Why, I don't know a steam-engine from a
horse-power,' was his answer. But his friend proposed to help him
out, and provided him with a lot of books, which would teach him
all the theory; and at them he went; and in six weeks he went
before the Examining Board and passed as a first assistant
engineer, and was ordered to duty on the gunboat Essex, the
flag-ship of Commodore Porter, who was in command of the
Mississippi river flotilla. This was jumping out of the frying-pan
into the fire. He knew nothing practically of the engine, thinking
then, as he told his friend, that 'the pumping engine must be for
the purpose of moving the vessel sidewise.' But luck was on his
side. While lying in port, or before going to duty, he got a few
talks with Commodore Porter, and succeeded in getting to the rank
of Chief Engineer in the navy, and assigned to duty on the staff of
the Commodore. If those who read this will take the trouble to read
the report of the Secretary of the Navy to Congress in 1864, they
will find that that official transmitted to Congress that part of
Commodore Porter's report which embraces a report of Chief Engineer
Hasseltino on the construction of iron-clad gunboats, and
recommended the adoption of the report.

"INSPECTING GOVERNMENT IRON-CLADS.

"After the close of the ill-fated Red river campaign, Hasseltino
was ordered to St. Louis to inspect and superintend the
construction of the iron-clads which were being built by McCord &
Co. But just before leaving his vessel he had a quarrel with a
fellow-officer, whom he challenged; but when the challenge was
declined he opened on the other party with a battery of Derringers,
fortunately missing the object of his aim.

"In 1865, he went to some European port and brought a blockade
runner, the name of which I have forgotten. In the early part of
1866, he was mustered out of service and went to New Orleans,
intending to go into business. In the July riots he was shot
through the shoulder; and, thinking the climate unhealthy, went to
St. Louis. Here he fell in with a representative of the government
of Chili, and went to South America.

"In an attack on Callao--for Peru and Chili were at war--he fell
into the hands of the Peruvians, and with his usual luck was
sentenced to be shot. By bribing the guards, he succeeded in
escaping and making his way on board of an English vessel, and was
landed at Panama. Crossing the Isthmus to Aspinwall, he found a
vessel ready to leave for New Orleans; and, though without money,
managed to secure a passage to that place.

"Without money he was naturally open for any adventure, and a
representative of the Cuban rebellion was the first to offer him a
chance. He sailed directly to Nuevitas, and before he had been in
that port a week had fallen in love with a young Cuban widow, who,
though childless, was possessed of an immense plantation. After the
briefest possible courtship, they were married in the latter part
of 1867 or early in 1868; within three months of the wedding she
died from yellow fever; and before the end of the year her estate,
which he had inherited, was confiscated, and he barely escaped with
his life, landing in Florida in an open boat and in a half-starved
condition, without friends or money. He managed to reach
Indianapolis in July, 1869, when a naval acquaintance and friend,
James Noble, gave him an outfit of clothes and money sufficient to
take him to Chicago. Here he determined to locate, and went to work
to find business. He got an agency for the sale of coal, and soon
had quite a start in the coal business. When the Chicago fire broke
out, on that dreadful Sunday night, he was out on the lake boating
with a party of friends. When he got back, the conflagration had
swept his little coal pile, his office and sleeping room, and he
was again left in the world without a change of clothes, and with
less than five dollars in money. The third day of the fire he was
found by Otto Hasselman, of the Indianapolis _Journal_, who was
on the ground with a corps of reporters; and by him sent to
Indianapolis, where he was again furnished with an outfit and a
ticket to St. Louis. Shortly after reaching that place he entered
the service of the wholesale house of R. L. Billingsley & Co., and
remained with them until a year ago, when he purchased a farm in
Illinois."

January 16, 1866, I received a two month's "leave of absence," at the expiration of which I received the following discharge:

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
NAVY DEPARTMENT.

The war for the preservation of the Union having, under the
beneficent guidance of Almighty God, been brought to a successful
termination, a reduction of the naval force becomes necessary.

Having served with fidelity in the United States Navy from the 22d
day of March, 1864, to the present date, you are hereby honorably
discharged with the thanks of the Department.

Given under my hand and seal, at the city of Washington, this 23d
day of March, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.

GIDEON WELLES,
Secretary of the Navy.

Acting Assistant Surgeon,
John M. Batten,
U.S. Navy.

_Guthrieville, Pa._

THE END.