A World on Fire_ Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War - Amanda Foreman [380]
—
Rose Greenhow’s death was a brutal reminder to Wilmington’s inhabitants that the Federals were tightening their grip. Francis Lawley had become worried for the city’s safety after his visit in mid-September. “There is abundant cause for thinking that Wilmington is the great thorn in the flesh of the Federals at this moment,” he wrote on September 24. “We shall witness a desperate attack upon this place within the next seven weeks.”20 This was also the view of General Beauregard, who was growing exasperated by the lack of defensive preparations in both Wilmington and Charleston and had written to Captain Henry Feilden urging him to try his utmost to shake “the authorities of Charleston” out of their complacency.21
Beauregard’s letter had been waiting for Feilden when he returned to Charleston from his secondment to General John K. Jackson. Though it was arduous and uncomfortable, the worst that had happened to him during his mission to bring back Confederate deserters from Florida was the loss of a ring given to him by Julia.33.3 She had been talking about a grand wedding after the war, but Sherman’s capture of Atlanta had convinced Feilden that it would be foolish to delay any longer. Charleston’s defenses were holding for the moment, but seventy days of continuous shelling had left parts of the city in utter ruin—Feilden was not sure where they would live after the wedding. Lieutenant James Morgan of the defunct Georgia was dismayed when he visited Charleston during Feilden’s absence and found many of the streets covered over with grasses and vines. “I felt ashamed of my new uniform,” he wrote, after seeing the ragged state of the troops guarding Wilmington and Charleston.22 Morgan had never imagined that conditions aboard his ship would compare favorably with those in the local barracks.
Feilden was so accustomed to keeping up a positive front for Julia that a general vagueness was creeping into all his letters. He gave his family every pertinent detail about his fiancée except her surname, and Lady Feilden was obliged to send an engagement present of gloves and a parasol addressed simply to Miss Julia. Feilden laughingly reassured Julia that the omission had not been for want of love. His feelings for her would never alter, he promised, nor would he ever give her a moment’s distress by flirting or looking at another woman: “My wife will never be afraid of my misbehaving in that manner,” he wrote firmly.23
Feilden’s steadfast nature was one of the qualities that endeared him to his superiors. He had never complained about the state of headquarters even though his commanding officer, General Roswell S. Ripley, was a drunk and his staff not much better. It was nevertheless a great relief to him when Ripley was replaced at the beginning of October. “General Beauregard has recommended that Col. Harris be promoted to the rank of Major General, and that the defence of Charleston be handed over to him,” Feilden wrote excitedly to Julia. The change in command almost certainly guaranteed his promotion:
Col. [D. B.] Harris told me that he had told General Beauregard that he would only accept the command under certain conditions, and one of them was that he should select his own staff, and not have Ripley’s crowd palmed off on him. In that case he will apply for me as his AA General. It will be a capital thing for me if all this happens; it will give me my promotion to a Majority and put me in a position where I shall not be ranked by every ignoramus who has got influence enough to be placed on the staff of the Department of SC., Ga., & Fla. Colonel Harris is a splendid officer and just the man I should like to serve under. Charleston, with him in command, would make a splendid fight.24
Feilden’s belief in the South was unshaken by the recent downturn in her fortunes. “I was intended to live in the midst of all these troubles,” he wrote, “for I can