William H. Dupree, a native of Petersburg, Va., was brought up and educated at Chillicothe, O. He enlisted in the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Regiment, on its formation, as a private, was soon made orderly-sergeant, and afterwards promoted to a lieutenancy for bravery on the field of battle.
Charles L. Mitchel, promoted to a lieutenancy in the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Regiment for gallantry at the battle of Honey Hill, where he was severely wounded (losing a limb), is a native of Hartford, Conn., and son of Mr. William A. Mitchel of that city. Lieut. Mitchel served an apprenticeship to William II. Burleigh, in the office of the old “Charter Oak,” in Hartford, where he became an excellent printer. For five or six years previous to entering the army, he was employed in different printing-offices in Boston, the last of which was “The Liberator,” edited by William Lloyd Garrison, who never speaks of Lieut. Mitchel but in words of the highest commendation. Gen. A. S. Hartwell, late colonel of the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Regiment, makes honorable mention of Lieut. Mitchel.
The citizens of Boston in Ward Six, where he has so long resided, and who know him well, have shown then-appreciation of Lieut. Mitchel’s worth by electing him to represent them in the Massachusetts Legislature,—an office which he is every way qualified to fill.
CHAPTER XXXVIII—FOURTH-OF-JULY CELEBRATION AT THE HOME OF JEFF. DAVIS.
Fourth-of-July Celebration at the Home of Jeff. Davis in Mississippi.—The Trip.—Joe Davis’s Place.—Jeff.‘s Place.—The Dinner.—Speeches and Songs.—Lively Times.—Return to Vicksburg.
By invitation of the Committee of Arrangements, a party of teachers and their escorts, and other friends of the freedmen, embarked on board “The Diligent,” on the morning of the 4th inst. “The Diligent” left the levee at Vicksburg soon after seven o’clock, a.m., and made a pleasant trip in about three hours, down the river, stopping at the landing at Davis’s Bend; whence the party were conveyed in ambulances, wagons, buggies, and other vehicles, to the late residence of Jefferson Davis, about two miles from said landing.
DAVIS’S BEND.
This is one of the most extraordinary bends of the wonderful Mississippi River, and has received its name from the fact of the settlement, on the peninsula formed by the bend, of two members of the Davis Family, known as “Jeff.” and “Joe.” This peninsula is some twelve miles in length; and, at the point where it is attached to the main land of the State of Mississippi, it is so narrow, that the enterprising planters have dug a canal across, not unlike the celebrated Butler Canal of Petersburg fame, although not near so long. This canal is called the “cut-off;” and, in high water, the peninsula becomes, in fact, an island. This tract of land is of great fertility, being entirely a deposit of the rich soil washed from the prairies of the Great West. On this tract are some six plantations, of from eight hundred to twelve hundred acres each. Two of the largest and best of these were owned by Jeff, and Joe Davis, and are known now as “The Jeff, and Joe places.” The form of this peninsula is such that a few companies of soldiers, with one or two stockades, can keep out an army of rebels; and the inhabitants, although frequently surrounded by the hordes of Southern murderers and thieves on the opposite banks of the river and canal, dwell in peace and comparative security. In fact, this site, from being the home of traitors and oppressors of the poor, has become a sort of earthly paradise for colored refugees. There they flock in large numbers, and, like Lazarus of old, are permitted as it were, to repose in “Father Abraham’s bosom.” The rich men of the Southern Confederacy, now homeless wanderers, occasionally cry across for the Lazarus whom they have oppressed and despised; but he is not sent unto them, because, between the two parties, there is a great gulf fixed; so that they which would pass from hence cannot. On this freedman’s paradise, parties for cultivating the soil are organized under the superintendence of missionaries; each party cultivating from ten to one hundred acres, with a fair prospect of realizing handsomely. These efforts are aided by the Government; rations, teams, &c., being-supplied and charged to each party, to be deducted from the proceeds of their crops. Cotton is chiefly cultivated, and some very handsome stands appear.