Page:Republican Court by Rufus Griswold.djvu/160

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132

THE REPUBLICAN COURT.

appearance indeed, dressed in all their pomp of attire. The Spanish ship of war, the Galveston, in a moment,^[1] on a signal given, discovered twenty-seven or twenty-eight different colors, of all nations, on every part of the rigging, and paid us the compliment of thirteen guns, with her yards all manned, as did also another vessel in the harbor, the North Carolina, displaying colors in the same manner. We had a like compliment from the battery, of eighteen pounders. We soon arrived at the ferry stairs, where there were many thousands of the citizens, waiting with all the eagerness of expectation, to welcome our excellent patriot to that shore which he regained from a powerful enemy by his valor and good conduct. We found the stairs covered with carpeting and the rails hung with crimson. The President, being preceded by the committee, was received by the governor and the citizens in the most brilliant manner. He was met on the wharf by many of his old and faithful officers and fellow patriots, who had borne the heat and burthen of the day with him, who like him had experienced every reverse of fortune with fortitude and patience, and who now joined the universal chorus of welcoming their great deliverer (under Providence) from all their fears. It was with difficulty a passage could be made by the troops through the pressing crowds, who seemed incapable of being satisfied with gazing at this man of the people. You will see the particulars of the procession from the wharf to the house appointed for his residence, in the newspapers.^[2] The streets were lined with the inhabitants as thick as they could stand, and

↑ "Every ship in the harbor," says Colonel Stone, "was gayly dressed for the occasion except the Galveston, a Spanish man-of-war, which lay at anchor displaying only her own proper colors. The contrast which she presented, when compared with the splendid flags and streamers floating from every other vessel in the bay, especially the government ship, the North Carolina, was universally observed, and the neglect was beginning to occasion unpleasant remarks, when, as the barge of the General came abreast, in an instant, as if by magic, the Spaniard exhibited every flag and signal known among nations."
↑ On Washington's arrival at the stairs, prepared and ornamented, at Murray's Wharf, for

[1] "Every ship in the harbor," says Colonel Stone, "was gayly dressed for the occasion except the Galveston, a Spanish man-of-war, which lay at anchor displaying only her own proper colors. The contrast which she presented, when compared with the splendid flags and streamers floating from every other vessel in the bay, especially the government ship, the North Carolina, was universally observed, and the neglect was beginning to occasion unpleasant remarks, when, as the barge of the General came abreast, in an instant, as if by magic, the Spaniard exhibited every flag and signal known among nations."

[p132-2-2] On Washington's arrival at the stairs, prepared and ornamented, at Murray's Wharf, for

[1]

[2]