Joe offered him an
interest in his business; but the negro-trader had too long led a roving
life to be content with the dull routine of regular business. Young
Preston, and Cragin, Mandell & Co., stipulating for a half of his
profits, furnished him a capital of fifty thousand dollars; and with
that he embarked largely in 'cattle driving.' He bought in Texas, and
sold in New Orleans, and did a profitable business until the breaking
out of the rebellion. Since that event he has been an officer in the
confederate army.
Frank remained at my house for a fortnight after his return from the
South, and then, apparently restored, went to Boston. Business had grown
distasteful to him, and he sought a dissolution with Cragin; but the
latter prevailed on him to remain in the firm, and go to Europe. He
continued there until news reached Liverpool of the fall of Fort Sumter.
Then he took the first steamer for home. Arriving in Boston, he at once
effected a dissolution with Cragin, and then came on to New York to make
his 'mother' a short visit prior to entering the army. He expressed the
intention of enlisting as a private, and I tried to dissuade him from
it, by representing how easily he could raise a company in Boston, and
go as an officer. 'No,' he replied; 'I know nothing of tactics. I am
unfit to lead; I can only fire a musket. With one on my shoulder, I will
go and sell my life as dearly as I can.'
On the 18th of May, 1861, he left New York, a private in Duryee's
Zouaves (5th Regiment N.
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