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May 16, 1863
1863, May 16
(author unknown), New Orleans, to Bishop Polk, re: informing him about the conduct of certain clergy in his diocese, the sort of services in the Church, etc. the state of affairs in general - conduct of the Negroes, their disrespect, etc. 4 typed pages - copies.
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New Orleans, May 16th, 1863?
Right Rev and dear Sir,
Having an almost sure opportunity of communicating with you I beg leave to inform you that I received your message from Mrs. G (the little lady in black you met in the cars, when travelling from Enterprise to Brandon)on her arrival here, a few months ago, she called on me and we acted in such a manner that you may be quite satisfied at the result, considering the difficulties wh. surround us. The most valuable, are dispersed here & there among sure friends - the rest may probably be saved. I must trust to your wit & memory to understand me. Reverend & dear Bishop would it please you to get some news from your old home? I like to believe so & only hope what I relate may have the merit of being new; Mr. Jessop has endeared himself to us all, by his dignified & consistent conduct in these truly trying times. He did not think it canonical to act in church matters, on military orders, so he resigned the Rectorship of Trinity. The Vestry then fearing, if they closed the church, it might be taken possession of, by the military authorities, called a certain Dr. Vassal, who has belonged to the Diocese for some years & has had a Professorship in the Military School at Alexandria for three or four years; the last two, of which was a complete sinecure for him, for the received his salary for doing nothing; yet his first act on his arrival here was to send a petition to this bogus Convention to ask to have their Seminary taken out of the hands of the founders of the institution & have it turned into a State Seminary because it has been used as a rebel military school. He, of course
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(Letter of blank signature to Rt. Rev. Leonidas Polk) -2-
received great praise from the True Delta, Era, %c., was called the patriotic Dr. Vallas, and the “learned Doctor” got his [?] of puffing & newspaper notoriety. Before this was known; the vestry, three ladies & a few negroes composed his congregation. Since then, it is rather smaller. And now for Mr. Guion! Bishop, you will scarcely credit all I can tell you of him & his family. They first commenced by attending musical soirees, given by Col. Holibard & Capt. Bostwick, the letter commanding negroes, then the order to resume the full morning service was sent to all the churches, except his - (at least, I was hold {sic} that he promised to reconcile his congregation at St. Paul’s to the change) so he gave out from the pulpit that he would preach a sermon to that effect & got a crowded church. He took the reasons expressed by the last Louisiana Convention as grounds for resuming the prayer for Lincoln - saying that if they were right at that time, they were right now, but he, he said, had even better reasons for resuming the prayer, & that was, that no Bishop, nor no single Convention had a right to take one word out of the prayer book. Of course I shall not continue to give you any portions of his flat sermon, suffice it to say that a few of his congregation would have continued to attend, had he simply said he was obliged to comply with the Order, but now the public sentiment against him is stronger than I have space to tell it - every one is indignant, every one so despises him that no southerner visits him. I believe his wife has instigated him to the course he has taken, for she pretends to think it terrible to “barter souls for money” &c. She sings in public concerts for the relief of the families of Negro soldiers and to cap the climax, Mr. Guion has gone in
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(Letter of blank signature to Rt. Rev. Leonidas Polk) -3company, with this Mr. Newman, the northern Methodist preacher, & a Mr. Basse (colored gentleman preacher) to take part in consecrating a soldier’s cemetery. This is almost beyond belief, is it not Bishop? Yet it is as true as gospel & Mr. Newman’s discourse was given in the Times (N.O.) He remarked that the name of “Traitor” was often given to rebels, but he thought the name too good, they ought to be termed, bloodhounds, scoundrels, sacrilegious villains who raised their hands against the bet government &c, &c. “The Rev. Mr. Guion then concluded the services by reading from the book of Ecclesiasies, &c.”
Mr. Hopkins, son of Bishop Hopkins, a Federal Chaplain has raised a subscription and bought Cavalry {sic} church, he called on me to ask me to attend his ministry as I will not go to Mr. Vallas - I told him I could not go to church at present, nor would not go until the churches were put in order by proper Ecclesiastical authority - He replied that his having come to Christ Church, as he did, was extra canonical - I replied that I knew it to be so & I was astonished that a Bishop’s son would act so &c. &c. I have no room to tell you his full reply of obeying military orders from a Superior Officer &c. The fact of his buying Cavalry {sic} to keep it from falling into the hands of the Roman Catholics is not the only motive. This Chubbuck who took Christ Church from Dr. Leacook, went to the north to be ordained Priest & get Gen. Banks to order Mr. Hopkins from Pensacola to fill the pulpit in his absence; the vestry do not like Chubbuckand called from Iowa a Mr. Powers, a great radical; so the radical portion of the congregation want this Powers, the others, prefer Mr. Hopkins & they are quarreling for the mastery. Mr. Hopkins thinks that when Chubbuck comes back, a certain set
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(Letter of blank signature to R. Rev. Leonidas Polk)
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will follow him to Cavalry {sic} - he is trying to get some of the old congregation to attend also but with all his Yankee ingenuity, he will not succeed, I know only of three who will go, and one of these is a Northern lady & one an Englishman; the other is a Southerner.
Dr. Goodrich has two small parishes in Maryland where he meets with much kindness & sympathy - Mr. Fulton is Principle {sic} of an Academy at Snow Hill, where his brother is Rector, only 90 miles from Mr. Good rich. That creature Bacon has fallen into complete obscurity, where he ought to be. The last time his name came before the public was when he, & Chubbuck, had a scramble over the Communion Offertory. Negro soldier can kill white or black, as they please; last week two white soldiers were fired at & one killed, but the soldier “of African dessert” was acquitted. I was going into Girod cemetery a few days ago, & was caught by the shoulders, by a negro, who held a stick with red white & blue ribbons, & told to stand back “till the ladies first passed” (colored ladies) a white man rescued me & complained; but of course there was no redress. Excuse me Bishop for trespassing so long on your precious time & be assured that if “continued prayer availeth much” you will prosper in all you undertake for you are in the hearts of your people of which I am one. Some of us pray at home; some families meet for the purpose; and others, go about here and there. But I hope we will all feel & see that persecution is the end of the Church. Dear Bishop if, in you high position, you can do anything for the bearer of this, you will confer an everlasting obligation on a devoted friend & believe me, he is in every respect a brave, noble minded young soldier, in whom you may place all confidence.