“I wished to know whether by remaining I would be required to abandon the express and its obligations. It was a great satisfaction to me to learn from my counsel that the Cabinet were unanimous in this decision expressed by the President, that I should remain and continue to conduct the business of my company, he having full confidence in whatever I might do.”
The substance of this interesting episode has been published before with some slight variations, but the above is from the most authoritative source, and may therefore be received as correct.
While living at Augusta, Georgia, a curious incident occurred which resulted in the purchase of a slave by Mr. Plant. When the express office was opened at this place, help was needed, a sort of man-of-all-work for the many requirements of the office. Dennis Dorsey, a colored man, was hired from his owner to act as porter, and in whatever capacity he might be required. One summer when Mr. Plant was about to go north, Dennis came to him and said that his master was going to sell him, and that he wanted Mr. Plant to buy him. “What does your master want for you?” asked Mr. Plant. “Fifteen hundred dollars,” Dennis replied, “but it is too much, I am not worth so much. You can buy me when you come back, as there is little danger of my being sold at that price.” But Dennis was sold in Mr. Plant’s absence. When Mr. Plant returned, Dennis besought him to buy him from the trader at Mobile who then owned him. Mr. Plant bought him for eighteen hundred dollars, and brought him back to Augusta. In a short time after this Mr. Plant was stricken down with gastric fever, and Dennis proved a good and faithful nurse to him. Mrs. Plant was in her grave, and Mr. Plant lived alone at the hotel, so Dennis was gratified by the opportunity to return the kindness rendered to him by his generous purchaser.
Early in August, 1863, Mr. Plant returned from the mountains, whither he had gone during his convalescence. His health had been improved by the change, but he was still far from strong. Mr. Thomas H. Watts, attorney-general for the Southern Confederacy, had seen Mr. Plant’s physician, who had advised a change of climate. Mr. Watts sent Mr. Plant a passport, with an order from President Davis authorizing him to pass through the Confederate lines at any point. In about a month after this he went to Wilmington, North Carolina, and embarked on the steamer Hansa, for the Bermudas. He remained there about a month, when he went by the steamer Alpha to Halifax, Nova Scotia, and thence to Montreal. There some friends from New York came to see him, and brought his son Morton from school to him. Mr. Plant then went to New Haven, Connecticut, to visit his mother, and in the fall took passage on the steamship City of Edinburgh for Liverpool.
He was now a stranger in a strange land; the weather was cold, and with impaired health his experience was rather depressing.
However, Mr. Plant has never been the man to despond, still less to despair, but to make the best even of discouraging circumstances. So he went to Paris, whose mercurial people seldom cry, and always laugh when they can. Here he heard of some friends who were staying in Rome, and whom he would like to meet, so he determined to go there. By the French Commissioner of Passports he was informed that his passport from the Confederacy could not be recognized, and he was summoned to appear at the commissioner’s office. He at once presented himself to this official, answered many questions, and was informed that there was no way by which his passport could be accepted at present, but as he wished to visit Rome, then occupied by French troops, his case would be considered.
A few days afterwards he had the satisfaction of receiving a document which served as a passport, given in the name of the Empire of France, and in which he was described as a citizen of the United States of America, resident at Augusta, Georgia, and all officers, civil, military, and naval, were commanded to protect this stranger. He went to Rome via the Mediterranean Sea, and was received everywhere with great respect. He was about two weeks in France, several weeks in Rome, and from thence he went to Naples, Leghorn, Genoa, Milan, and Venice, which latter place was occupied by an Austrian army.
From Venice he went to Switzerland, visiting many places in that picturesque land, and returned to Paris by way of the Rhine. He then passed his time between London and Paris until the autumn, when he returned to America by way of Canada. He afterwards went to New York, where he was staying when President Lincoln was assassinated. By the end of April he was back in Augusta, Georgia.
Mr. Plant’s second tour in Europe was in 1873, on the occasion of his second marriage. He was then accompanied by his mother and his son, Morton Freeman, and on this occasion he made quite an extensive tour of the continent.
His third visit was in the year 1889, when he went to the Paris Exposition with an exhibit of Southern products. Soon after his arrival in Paris he was asked by General Franklin, representative and Commissioner-General of the United States, to accept the position of juror in Class Six, representing the United States. To this responsible position he was duly appointed by the proper authorities, and served with entire satisfaction to all concerned. He was the only English-speaking juror in that class, as Sir Douglas Galton was absent until near the close of the Exposition. From this Exposition the “Plant System” was awarded a large number of medals, which may be seen framed in that palace of art, wrongly named an hotel, at Tampa Bay. A diploma was given to Mr. Plant, in addition, and many other marks of esteem and courteous attention were freely tendered him.