When General Thomas rode over the field, after the battle of Nashville, and saw the bodies of colored men side by side with the foremost of white men, and upon the very ramparts and works of the Confederates, he turned to his staff and said:
"Gentlemen, the question is settled; Negroes will fight!"
And thus I might go on, adding incident to incident, and that without end. Where a war was being carried on all the way from the Potomac to the Rio Grande, it must needs have been that thousands of such incidents were taking place every day.
[CHAPTER X.]
Mrs. Beulah Lincoln and the Girls Leave Buffalo for New Orleans—The Journey to Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Ohio—Voyage Down the Ohio to the Mississippi—Arrival at New Orleans—Met by Old Friends at the Landing—Meeting With Tom at the Hospital—The Newspaper Reports.
Weeks and months had passed away, during which my gallant Tom had written incessantly from the hospital at New Orleans, and the two girls and myself had answered him. It was now the winter of 1864, and Tom was not yet well enough to get his discharge from the hospital, much less to take the field. I was beginning to tire of writing letters, and things called for a change of scene and fresh air. Besides, another stern winter was setting in, and I thought I might get along better in another climate. So I got the girls ready, and we boarded the train for Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati, Ohio. It was wonderful to see and feel how warmer the weather became as we got further South. The icy fetters of winter relaxed their hold as we advanced, and we were quite delighted with the hills and forests of the beautiful State of Ohio all the way to Cincinnati. Here we travelled over a great part of the city, and called at the parsonage of the A. M. E. Church, and visited the A. M. E. Church itself, where Tom and I were so happily married upon the evening the self-same day when we took our departure from Riverside Hall, near Louisville, Kentucky.
Having seen a few of our dear friends here—friends whose acquaintance we had made at the time of our marriage—the girls and I, escorted by some of those beloved acquaintances, moved down to the "Public Landing," where we boarded the "Natchez" for New Orleans. We took a fond leave of those dear souls, and got on board, and soon felt quite happy in our nice and cosy stateroom, which the girls thought the most delightful little home they had ever been in. At 4 P. M., whilst the bright and dazzling sun was still some distance above the horizon, and after all the loud racket and wild confusion of the embarkation were over, the last whistle was blown, they drew in the gang-planks, and we pushed out into the river Ohio.
Our hearts felt as light as feathers as the "Natchez" ploughed out into mid-stream, a thousand branches up above, swollen with the recent rains, having filled up the mighty and splendid Ohio from bank to bank, so that we seemed to be floating down a grand, heaving, fresh-water sea! Now, indeed, did we enjoy new life with a vim. I told the girls how the first French owners and explorers named the Ohio "La Belle Rivière," that is, "The Beautiful River," and it is the beautiful river, still. Our eyes were quite enchanted with the endless hills on both sides, all clothed with primeval forests up to their summits, and coming down to the water's edge. The girls were quite transported with the beautiful, endless turns and windings, and seemed to get no rest for the thousands of boats and barges, and floating things of every shape and size, rushing up and down the river day and night, whistling and screaming, and that without end. It was a perfect delight for me to be once more on this river, for nature is always fresh, fair and enchanting, but for my two daughters the whole scene was nothing but a succession of unending delights. Their feet and eyes had no rest, and their tongues were never still. It was more than I could do to answer all their questions. I was quite delighted to see how the girls and several other nice children on the boat became acquainted, and learned to love one another. And this acquaintanceship and love seemed to grow upon them all from day to day as we advanced farther south. Indeed, children are great people, and they will have ways of their own. And on, on, still flew "The Natchez," whilst our glorious river increased with innumerable branches from the right and left, till we reached the lower end of Kentucky, where the lands were more flat and uninteresting. We made a call here or there, and rushed down the stream again, until at last our glorious Ohio was swallowed up in the Mississippi, "The Father of Waters."
