Mark Twain's Civil War

Absalom C. Grimes, "Campaigning with Mark Twain" (1926)

"Campaigning with Mark Twain" Absalom C. Grimes Mark Twain mentions Ab Grimes once in "The Private History of a Campaign That Failed." Twain writes that, as he and the Marion Rangers were retreating from camp to camp, they once ran into "Ab Grimes, an Upper Mississippi pilot, who afterwards became famous as a dare-devil rebel spy." But Grimes claims that he and Twain were both members of the Ralls County (not Marion) Rangers. Was Twain's memory faulty or was Grimes exploiting his passing acquaintance with a worldfamous writer? Albert Bigelow Paine, Twain's literary executor and official biographer, obviously believed Grimes, as he relied on Grimes as a source of information for his Mark Twain: A Biography (1912). Grimes wrote his memoirs in 191O-191l. They were edited by M. M. Quaife and published by Yale University Press in 1926 as Absalom Grimes: Confederate Mail Runner. "Campaigning with Mark Twain" is the book's first chapter. I was born near Anchorage, Jefferson County, Kentucky, fourteen miles from Louisville, on August 22, 1834. Soon after this event my parents moved to St. Louis. My father, William Leander Grimes, was a pilot on the upper Mississippi River from St. Louis to Dubuque. He was employed on the William Wallace, one of the first steamboats that navigated the upper Mississippi. This vesIII MARK TWAIN'S CIVIL WAR sel belonged to Captain Absalom Carlisle, my mother's uncle, for whom I was named. In the year 1850 I was employed as a messenger boy for the Morse Telegraph Company, whose only competitor in the St. Louis field was the O'Reilly Telegraph Company. Esrom Pickering , a grandson of St. Louis' first coroner, was messenger for the O'Reilly Company, and he and I were the first telegraph messenger boys of St. Louis. During my employment by the Morse Company I had occasion to deliver a telegram to Jenny Lind, the famous "Swedish Nightingale," who gave a concert under the direction of P. T. Barnum at the old Wyman Hall. When I handed the message to her in her room at the Planter's House she asked me ifthe people at the telegraph office had received passes to her concert. I told her I had not and she took a visiting card from her case and wrote on the reverse side: "Pass bearer to my concert and charge same to my account." That pass made me the proudest boy in St. Louis. I attended the concert and sat on the steps leading to the platform on which Miss Lind stood while she sang. The seats had been sold at auction to the highest bidder and brought fabulous prices. John McNeil, who subsequently became notorious for his part in the butchery of Confederate prisoners at Palmyra , Missouri, bought the first seat, paying the sum of twelve hundred dollars for it. In the fall of 1850 I went on the steamer Uncle Toby with my father to learn the river as a pilot, and in the spring of 1852 obtained my first license. This was the first year government licenses were required of pilots and captains. I served as pilot between St. Louis and St. Paul from 1852 to 1861. Atthe latter date I was serving on the steamer Sunshine, ofwhich Captain Willard was owner and master. A pilot's license was issued for the term of one year and on applying for a renewal pilots were required 112 Absalom C. Crimes (reprinted hypermission of Yale University Press) MARK TWAIN'S CIVIL WAR to take an oath to abide by the regulations governing pilots, engineers , mates, and captains, but such a thing as compelling a man who had been born and reared in the United States to take the oath of allegiance to the government was unknown. In May, 1861, my license expired and I went to the office of the United States inspector for the purpose of having it renewed. A diminutive , beer-soaked German, who had gained his place through the exercise of political pull, was occupying the responsible position of inspector. To him I stated the purpose ofmy call. He drew from the drawer of his desk a document headed, "Oath ofAllegiance," and, handing it to me, told me to fill out the blanks. When I had filled out the blanks on the license side he directed me to hold up my hand and take the oath. I inquired the...