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BY
CORA MITCHEL
Providence
Snow & Farnham Co., Printers
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My father, Thomas Leeds Mitchel, of Groton, Connecticut, was a cottonmerchant in Apalachicola, Florida, a small but important city at themouth of the Chattahoochie River. As there were few railroads, allthe cotton raised in the interior was shipped down the river to becompressed and taken down the bay, where steamers and sailing vesselswere waiting to carry it to England or the Northern States.
Father was one of the earliest settlers, and held important positionsof trust in city and church. His wife, Sophia Brownell, of Providence,Rhode Island, a woman of strong character, was well fitted to stand byhis side[Pg 4] and help him establish a home in an almost new country.
The society of Apalachicola was unusually good. A number of Northernfamilies who had been drawn there as my father had, and families fromVirginia and other Southern States, brought together elements ofculture and refinement unusual in so small and primitive a town.
Father, being a Northerner by birth and training, was essentiallyNorthern in his sentiments. He did not believe in slavery. While heemployed many negroes, he owned only three, and they had come to himimploring him to buy them, as otherwise they would be sold in the openmarket. They were faithful, valuable servants, and became real membersof our family. One of them, “Uncle Young,” as we always called him, wassent as a representative to the State Legislature after the war. Buthe never[Pg 5] forgot the old times, and not long before father died, hereceived a letter from him which began, “Dear Mast’ Tom.”
I well remember the excitement when war seemed imminent. Though onlya very young girl, I was allowed to go to a mass meeting. I felt thethrill of it all, and though too young to enter into the merits of thequestion, was carried along by the general excitement and influence.
Father was a good deal of a philosopher, and, always looking on thebright side, was convinced that the war could not be long, and peacewould soon be restored. As he had large properties in the South aswell as his business, he decided not to go North, for he well kneweverything would be confiscated if he did.
Our little city felt the shock of the first gun, fired on Fort Sumter,and almost immediately warlike preparations were started.
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Being on the coast, the town was supposed to be in danger. Companieswere formed and drilled. Batteries of sandbags, armed with cannon,lined that part of the town exposed to invasion from the bay, and therewas much coming and going. Ladies met to embroider banners, and theceremonies of presentation seemed to me most glorious and excitingevents. Companies of young soldiers came down from t