• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
 
 Bullhead River (Excerpts)
 
(c) 1998, 2008 by Clete Goffard
 
Marcel : 1863-64
 I. 
The boy's mother, a handsome woman with the erect carriage and dignity of her forebears, had belonged to a choleric Mississippi planter named Redmond, whose suddenintestate death had triggered a long lasting battle between his contentious children andtheir lawyers. The woman, and the other slaves of the plantation, being withoutusefulness to the claimants of Redmond's fortune, were put on the auction block in NewOrleans.
 
She and the boy were purchased by Etienne LaFrise, a Crescent City shipper. Lafriseimagined that her poise signified a natural intelligence that would simplify the running of his household. He was a lifelong bachelor who had no patience with stupid and petulantwomen of any race. Immediately upon entering his domicile, the woman was decreed to be Mimette, and the boy, Marcel.
 
The shipper's attitude toward slavery was more classical than that of the SouthernGentry of English extraction that he knew. He was sometimes curious about the mysticalrites and protocols by which they bound themselves to the institution. They feared their slaves, perhaps, because they knew that slavery was an intolerable condition theythemselves could not endure, so when they imposed it on others, they attributed to theslave the outrage they would have felt under a similar bondage (had they not rebelledagainst their King in the name of freedom?). Their own desire to be free was transmutedinto cruelty and repression of those they did not permit to be free.
 Eh bien!
What foolsthese mortals are.Lafrise was more pragmatic.
Alors
--who can like enslavement? But it was an ancienttradition that in a contest of war, the victors took the subdued as slaves. Is it better to die by the sword than to serve a master? One may talk of freedom, but if the point of thesword is against one's throat, who would choose death,
n'est-ce pas
?As for race, LaFrise's grandmother had been daubed by the tarbrush, as they say, andwhile he would have denied this to the point of duel to maintain his precarious place inthe society of Southern gentlemen, privately he did not care. He sometimes doubted thatthe capacity, to care with a passion about anything, was in him.The boy, Marcel, he placed in a program of tutored education when he was old enoughto benefit from it. To have personal slaves to do one's bidding was one thing, but tooperate a commercial business with slave labor was another. Who was to oversee? A freeemployee could only be directed so far, and, if having any capability, was expensive tomaintain.They were also prone to give notice, and one could never quite trust them not tocarry information to their new employer, no doubt a competitor.The owner of slaves did time for such a trivial matter as the loading of a ship. Onemust have slaves supervising slaves in the way that a sergeant directs the men under him,and the officer directs the sergeant. To direct his fellows, the slave must be quick wittedand have more on his mind than coupling with his latest
amour 
 
 
Furthermore, such a trained slave brought a higher price at sale. Etienne knew of certain slaves that had been sold, in New Orleans, for as much as twenty-five thousanddollars.So Marcel was taught to calculate, to read the English language, and to write anacceptable script. He learned to manage a ledger, compose a bill of lading, and to read a bill of lading so he did not ignorantly accept a consignment of goods if it did not conformto the documents accompanying it; in short, so he would not be at the mercy of thieves.The he was sent to labor with the other laborers so he would know how the lash felt onhis bare back, so he would become strong, so he would learn what was being done. Andwhen he had attained his size, and a man's manner, and was capable of enforcing hisword, only then was he acceptable as an overseer.When the training had been completed, Etienne summoned him into his study onemorning , handed him a translation of Tacitus with a few marked passages he was askedto read aloud. He was then asked by LaFrise to join him in a glass of wine served by his proud mother, and they discussed the meaning of what had been read; this test served noother purpose than to give the shipper some idea of what he had wrought.In time, Marcel was appointed to manage LaFrise's warehouses so the shipper could be assured that a trustworthy subordinate knew how many bales of cotten and jute wereon hand, where they were stored, and that the goods were protected from fire, theft, andleaking roofs.For each promotion, Marcel was granted some additional privilege or favor. He hadhis own small apartment in a corner of one of Lafrise's warehouses so he could conducthis personal life in private. But Marcel was never allowed to believe he had free rein or that he was immune from retaliation for insubordination or carelessness.Etienne was outraged by the war which daily edged closer to the Crescent City. Hiswarehouses were bulging with cotton. A pity, because there was so much he could buycheaply. The hated Yankee fleet patrolled the gulf, watching for any ship that left thedelta, and the gray-clad gentry had installed a floating boom down river to keep theYankees out, they said. But the boom had to be moved aside to let ships out, as well, andcould one imagine they would not take note of who was leaving, and their cargo? Therewas the sloop hidden in a bayou a few miles from the city that could proceed directly intothe gulf, but that was not for carrying bales of cotton.The Confederate gentlemen did not care so much for cotton as they did gunpowder.Did they not dress their troops from the closet of the Yankee dead? When they boughtcotton they paid with paper they said would be valuable when they had won the war. Butwhat madness led them to believe they could win such a war? They had not given sober thought to the consequences, nor had they made plans. They had not acted withdetermination or cunning. They had allowed their boisterous talk among themselves leadthem to the verge of sedition. When Carolina had bolted, they had let their temper andenthusiasm get the better of them and had done likewise.Now the fools were reduced to leaching ground from smokehouses to get the saltpeter for their gunpowder, while the Yankees brought it in by the shipload. Had it not occuredto them that those who own the mills that spin cotton can make more guns than thosewho own the bare earth upon which the cotton is grown?It would soon be over, but what a disaster for business! Europe was crying for cotton.LaFrise sulked in his library, spectacles perched on his thin gallic nose, drank liquers, and
 
complained to Mimette about the shortage of fresh lobster. 
II.
Marcel was standing outside the warhouses on April 24th, when a rider on anexhausted horse galloped into the city with the news: "The godamn Yankee navy is istrying to run past Fort Jackson and Fort Phillip, and are getting the goddamn hell blownout of them!"There were cheers, but also a sense of foreboding. The city waited for the news thatFarragut and the damned Yankee navyhad been sent to the bottom of the river, but it didn't come.Sometime later in the day,however, the news turned ominous: "The Yankees are coming up the river!"The Crescent City of New Orleans felt the bile rise in its throat and yielded to panic.General Lovell withdrew his troops from the city, perhaps feeling that if Farragut couldn't be stopped, it made little sense to give him an excuse to use his cannon. Those with assetswithdrew them from the banks and galloped off to safer havens.In the city itself, the doors of warehouses and barns were thrown open and manythousands of bales of cotton were piled on the docks and set afire. Barrels of molassesand bags of rice were torn open and dumped into the Mississippi to keep them out of Yankee hands.When the fleet was sighted next day, small boats, uncompleted ships, and what ever else would float was pushed into the river and set ablaze. Lafrise took Marcel aside andtold him to lock the warehouses and to lay low.By the time the gunboats had anchored, a noisy, belligerent, and largely ineffectivemob had gathered at the riverfront. When the Admiral and and his officers had steppedfrom the ship's boats, they were treated to an assortment of catcalls, curses and jeers. Thecrowd thought better of obstructing the armed sailors, however, as they ran the hatedcandy-striped flag up on public buildings. Farragut's men had to put up with the unrulyresidents of Crescent City for almost a week until General Benjamin Butler showed up totake command.Butler did not intend to stand for any civil disobedience, even if it was vocal andnominally guaranteed by the Constitution; the Federal government did not recognize theConfederacy as a legitimate entity, so the residents of New Orleans were still Americancitizens. But they were American citizens under martial law. Butler had a man hanged for destroying an American flag, and he issued his infamous Order Number Twenty-Eight,which said in so many words, that any woman showing disrespect for his troops would betreated as a prostitute. He quickly was given the sobriquet, 'Beast" Butler, and becameone of the most hated figures of the war. Grant had to replace him; it was intended thatLouisiana was to be the model for rehabilitation as a state of the Union.During these days, Marcel was largely free to wander the streets of the city. He was ata loss to know what he was, and what his future might be. He was no longer a slave--butwhat did that mean? He knew enough abouit business to know that working for Etienneas a free man would not be a great deal different except that he would draw a salary, payhis own way, and be free to quit if he chose. But if that was all there was to it, where wasthe great sense of being free that he wanted to feel?Perhaps he should leave the city for a while to get his bearings. He was unsure whathe really wanted to do, having been largely content to do as he was instructed for most of 
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...