123
PAPERS OF MIRABEAU BUONAPARTE LAMAR
final rest by the largest concourse which had for years attended the funeral of the great. No similar occasion had ever call 'd forth a greater multitude; and never were the last sad obsequies of departed worth conducted with a more impressive & affecting solemnity. Sorrow was depicted on every countenance; a tear was seen in almost every eye, and the chivalry of the disceased was the theme of every tongue. It is true that he was not buried as became a soldier, with the honors of war, because he was not of that bigoted religion which denies all honors and all mercy to those who do not sacrifise upon its altar and bend to the divinity of its earthly priests. But if it be any test of the merits of the living man, that his bier should be followed to the tomb by a long train of aflicted mourners, succeeded by a line of carriages filled with the beauty of the city, and a vast gathering of the populace around the "narrow mansion,'' all lamenting his too early doom and anxious to render some tribute of respect to his memory, then may we form some just con. ception of the high and honorable station which our hero occupied in the opinions and affections of the people of Mexico-for such was the funeral of General Long; the Bayardo of the age, a man without fear and without reproach, who perished in the 29th year of his age, a victim to Empirial vengeance, and was buried at Chapultepeque amidst a nations tears. 82 Let us now return to l\'llrs. Long at Bolivar. When [Long] departed for Labihia taking 75 men with him, he left behind 50 soldiers to garrison the fort. They behaved well; every thing went on properly at Bolivar; but not hearing anything from their com- mander Genl. Long, they after awhile became restless, not knowing what to do. Lieutenants Walter C. White and James Knight, went up the Trinity, taking a boat with them, a steel mill & tools of the fort, to settle and trade with the indians. Their example .was soon followed by others; the soldiers daily left the fort, scattering at various directions, some returning to N. 0. by way of Oppaloosa, some remaining in the country with indians &c &c. l\Irs. Long was finally lett alone at Bolivar, not a soldier, officer or any living being with her except a negro girl 12 or 13 years old and her young daugh- ter Ann. The soldiers staid in the fort as long as there :was a morsal of provisions but when everything to eat was exhausted, they all departed, taking with them a barrel of flour the last and only article of food left; leaving for l\irs. Long not one solitary mouthful of anything whatever. They persuaded & plead with her to depart with them; but she said no•; her huband had left her there and would expect on his return to find her there. They told her that he would in all probability never return; for not a word had been heard from him since his departure; but she still persisted in remaining even if she perished. In this situation she was left. There was more amuni- tion in the fort than they could carry off; and several muskets were also left; this was her main reliance for subsistence. She spot birds, caught oysters. fish &c and they kept from starving. He last hook and line was finally lost & she had then to live on oysters mainly. In this situation she had a daughter born, not a living soul to help he1· to food or any other assistence not even the negro girl above s2The remainder of the narrative is in no. 501, p. 20 et seq.
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