But another precious day had been lost, and subsequent unfavorable weather still further retarding our progress, we did not reach the coast near Charleston Bar till the fifth night after our departure from Nassau. The blockading fleet had been reinforced by all the light cruisers from the approaches to the Cape Fear River; and as we drew in to the land, we were so frequently compelled to alter the course of the Chameleon, in order to evade the blockaders, that we did not reach the bar till long after midnight, and after the tide had commenced to fall. I was tempted to force the pilot to make the attempt, but finally yielded to his assurances that access was impossible under the circumstances. As this was the last night during that moon, when the bar could be crossed during the dark hours, the course of the Chameleon was again, and for the last time, shaped for Nassau. As we turned away from the land, our hearts sank within us, while the conviction forced itself upon us, that the cause for which so much blood had been shed, so many miseries bravely endured, and so many sacrifices cheerfully made, was about to perish at last!



CHAPTER XV.

Sad News via New York.—Consternation among Speculators in Nassau.—Departure from Nassau via Bermuda.—Arrival at Liverpool.—The End.

Arriving at Nassau on the 8th, we found many blockade-runners in port, waiting for news from Charleston; and on the 10th, the Owl returned, after an unsuccessful attempt to enter Charleston, during which she received a shot through her bows; and intelligence came also of the capture of the "Stag" and "Charlotte." On the 23d, the "Chicora," which had succeeded in getting into Charleston, arrived with the fatal news of its evacuation, and the progress of General Sherman through Georgia and South Carolina. This sad intelligence put an end to all our hopes, and we were now cut off from all communication with the Confederate Government authorities.

In this dilemma, Maffitt and I consulted with Mr. Heyliger, the Confederate agent at Nassau; and it was decided that the Chameleon should be taken over to England. Whatever might be the course of events, our duty appeared to be to turn our vessels over, either to the agent of the Navy Department in Liverpool, or to the firm of Messrs. Fraser, Trenholm & Co. there. We learned afterwards, indeed, that Captain Pembroke Jones, of the Confederate Navy, was at that time on his way to us via Galveston or Mexico, with orders from the Navy Department. All of us were directed to take in cargoes of provisions to a specified point on the Rappahannock River, under the protection of Confederate artillery to be stationed there in readiness. The steamers were to be burned after landing their cargoes, but Jones could not reach us in time.

The bottom of the Chameleon being quite foul, divers were employed to scrub it preparatory to her long sea voyage. These people are wonderfully expert, remaining under the surface nearly two minutes; and the water in the harbor of Nassau is so clear that they can be distinctly seen even at the keel of a vessel. Our cargo of provisions was landed, and an extra supply of coal taken on board. The vessel being under Confederate colors and liable to capture wherever found, except in neutral waters, it behooved us to be prepared at all times to show our heels to a stranger Some of our crew who wished their discharge, for the purpose of rejoining their families at the South, were paid off; the rest of them shipped for the voyage to Liverpool via Bermuda. We still lingered for later intelligence which was brought by the mail steamer Corsica from New York. Charleston was evacuated on the 17th of February, and Fort Anderson, the last of the defences at Wilmington, fell on the 19th. General Johnston had assumed command of the broken remnant of the army of the Tennessee in North Carolina, and subsequently offered some resistance to the hitherto unimpeded march of General Sherman; but the latter was now about to effect a junction with General Schofield, who commanded a large force which had landed at Wilmington. It was too evident that the end was near. The speculators in Nassau saw that "the bottom had fallen out," and all of them were in the depths of despair. Some of them, it is true, had risen from the desperately hazardous game with large gains, but the majority had staked their all and lost it; and even the fortunate ones had contracted a thirst for rash ventures, which eventually led to the pecuniary and social ruin of some of them. Even the negro stevedores and laborers bewailed our misfortunes, for they knew that the glory of Nassau had departed forever. My old friend Captain Dick Watkins probably more unselfishly regretted the disasters to our arms than the speculators or even the refugees in Nassau, who had succeeded in evading service in the army by skulking abroad. A recruiting officer might have "conscripted" nearly a brigade of the swaggering blusterers. Captain Dick and I parted with mutual regret; and I sincerely hope, if Providence has been pleased to remove the old fellow's helpmeet to a better sphere, that he has found consolation in a virtuous union with one of those "mighty pretty yaller gals" he so much admired; and that Napoleon Bonaparte may rise to the highest dignities in that particolored community of spongers and "wrackers."

We sailed from Nassau on the 22d of March and arrived at St. George's, Bermuda on the 26th. The harbor was deserted, and the town, in its listless inactivity, presented a striking contrast with its late stir and bustle. "'Twas Greece, but living Greece no more." After coaling, we took our departure for Liverpool on the 26th of March, and arrived there on the 9th of April. It was Palm Sunday, and the chimes were ringing sweetly from the church bells, as we came to anchor.

The contrast between this happy, peaceful, prosperous country and our own desolated, war-distracted land, struck a chill to our saddened hearts. The last act in the bloody drama was about to close on that very day at Appomattox Court House, and before that sun had set, the Confederate Government had become a thing of the past. We, who were abroad, were not unprepared for the final catastrophe; for we had learned on our arrival at Liverpool of General Early's defeat in the valley of the Shenandoah, and the accession to General Grant's already overwhelmingly large forces of General Sheridan's cavalry; and of the junction of General Sherman with General Schofield. To oppose these mighty armies, there were 33,000 half starved, ragged heroes in the trenches around Petersburg, and about 25,000 under General Johnston in North Carolina.

This may not be a proper place to allude to the fearful penalties inflicted upon a people who fought and suffered for what they deemed a holy cause. But it should be proclaimed, in the interest of truth and justice, that the South since the close of the war, has been preyed upon by unprincipled adventurers and renegades who are determined to rule or ruin. But a brighter day will come. Calumny and injustice cannot triumph forever. That distinguished officer Colonel C. C. Chesney of the British army in a volume of "Military Biography" lately published by him, in allusion to General Lee, writes thus: "But though America has learned to pardon, she has yet to attain the full reconciliation for which the dead hero would have sacrificed a hundred lives. Time can only bring this to a land, which in her agony, bled at every pore. Time, the healer of all wounds will bring it yet. The day will come, when the evil passions of the great civil strife will sleep in oblivion, and North and South do justice to each other's motives, and forget each other's wrongs. Then History will speak with clear voice of the deeds done on either side, and the citizens of the whole Union do justice to the memories of the dead." Surely all honest men and true patriots will rejoice to see that day.

The firm of Fraser, Trenholm & Co. was represented in Liverpool by a Mr. Prioleau who was by no means anxious for the consignment of the Chameleon in ballast; with a cargo on board the case would have been different. He evidently considered her a very big and unsalable elephant, and repudiated the part of showman. The vessel was therefore turned over to Captain Bullock, who acted with his usual tact and discretion in the subsequent transactions connected with her. There was a sharp struggle between rival claimants for the possession of the ship, but the Gordian knot was cut by the British Government which placed the "broad arrow" upon her. The public funds were also transferred to Captain Bullock and his receipt taken for them. Here I beg leave to affirm that I neither appropriated nor desired to appropriate any of the spoils of the perishing ship of state.[16] But as memory recalls the many opportunities placed in my way of making a fortune during the war, without detriment to the cause, and consistent with every obligation due to the Confederate Government, there are times when I cannot decide whether I acted the part of a fool, or that of a patriot. We are told that when Lord Clive was arraigned before the British Parliament for profiting by his high position in India to enrich himself, he exclaimed at the close of his defence against the charge, "By G——d, Mr. Chairman, at this moment I stand astonished at my own moderation!" His idea of "moderation" was L300,000. A "dead broke" Confederate would have considered himself fortunate to possess 300,000 cents! Some of the crew of the Chameleon, who had served for years in the Confederate Navy, brought a claim against me for pay due them while in the public service, and it was with some difficulty that their counsel, a pettifogging lawyer, could be induced to consent to arbitration; but the matter was finally settled through Bullock's agency, although it appeared probable at one time that I would be obliged to take a hasty departure from England.

The end was close at hand. News of the capture of Richmond arrived on the 15th, and a few days afterwards, intelligence of the surrender of General Lee's army. The Chameleon was soon afterwards given up to the United States Government which claimed the assets, but repudiated the liabilities of the Confederate Government. Her officers and crew were turned adrift with "the wide world before them where to choose."

FOOTNOTE:

[16] The proofs, which I hold in my possession, of this affirmation can have no interest for the general reader. Shortly after the close of the war, I learned through a friend in Washington that I was charged with appropriating many thousands of dollars belonging to the late Confederate Government. Although I was then living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and beyond the jurisdiction of the United States Government, I forwarded to the Hon. Secretary of the United States Navy, copies of the receipts taken by me from Captain Bullock, in Liverpool, for all Confederate property in my possession. I may be permitted indeed, to claim eminent disinterestedness, for I might have accumulated a fortune; and at the end, my faithful and efficient paymaster, E. Courtenay Jenkins, a gentleman of the purest integrity, made the transfer by my direction; both of us washing our hands of the "filthy lucre," and retaining a clear conscience.