Source:

Excerpts from "The Elusive Eden"

​

Page 48:

George Barnsley's younger brother, Lucien, did not have the confidence of his brother, and probably felt overshadowed by him most of his life.  Lucien served in the Civil War in the same unit as his brother and imitated George's plan to go to Brazil.

​

Page 60

(During the storm onboard the "Derby")

Lucien Barnsley was unable to sleep and ventured onto the deck during the height of the storm.  He saw that no one was manning the pumps and realized that the problems of leaking had become greater.  Moreover, he found the tied ship's wheel and realized that the captain had deserted his post.  About 1:00 or 2:00 a.m. Lucien called his brother to inform him of the situation and then went below to rouse others to assist in manning the pumps, "an exercise," said Barnesley, "which was attended with a waste of time and curses."  Two men did volunteer to help, however, and "a desultory pumping was kept up" until about 3:30 a.m. 

​

Page 69-70

(While encamped in Cuba after the shipwreck)

George Barnsley, ever the writer with a flair for news, also took pen and paper in hand and addressed a letter to the editor of the New OeleansTimes.  Seated next to Vermay's brick kiln, Barnsley entitled his epistle "Camp near Guaneyay Cuba, 15th February 1867."  He traced the misfortunes of the Derby from the time it left New Orleans until the date of the writing and then placed the account with a  letter to Godfrey Barnsley in Georgia.  Barnsley asked his father to forward it to the New Orleans Times and any other newspapers that he thought might be favorable to their cause.

​

The friends and family of the Barnsley brothers in Bartow County, Georgia, although sympathetic to the idea of immigration, did not see it as a practical solution to the problems faced by the former Confederates.  George and Lucien's sister, Julia Baltzelle, had not learned of the shipwreck by February 16 when she expressed concern for the well-being of George and Lucien.  In a letter to her father, she said that she hoped that the pair would arrive in Iguape and that she would be "very anxious until further intelligence from them."  Commenting on an expression of concern from one of Georgia's friends.  Julia noted that it would have been wrong for her brothers to have remained in the United States.  "He (George) had a hankering for Brazil," she philosophized, "and maybe it's for the best."....

​

....George Barnsley, who because of his background was very conscious of the cultural differences between himself and his fellow colonists, began to question his choice of companions.  "Many are very rough in their ways," he stated in a letter to his father, "and partake of the wildness of a former life in Texas, with all they are very pretentious toward being polished people."  The communication was forwarded to Barnsley's sister and brother-in-law, who, like George, were mindful of social considerations.  Captain J.P. Baltzelle, commenting on the situation in a note to Godfrey Barnsley, said that he would recommend that if George and Lucien were going to Brazil, "not to wait for the motley crew that they had gotten in with... By remaining on the island they will not only spend their money but most likely get sick exposed  in their kind of camp life."

​

Baltzelle believed that the decision of George and Lucien to leave the United States was a wise one.  Although he did not personally feel that it would have been dangerous for his bother-in-law to have stayed.  "I doubt if such small fry as the boys or myself would be troubled," he said.  Baltzelle welcomed the advent of a military regime in Georgia as an alternative to anarchy.  "It is the only kind of government that will keep a certain class of bush-whackers, marauders, and envious scamps in a country in order.  If we can get good commanders, I doubt if law-abiding and quiet men of the South will be molested.

​

Although Captain Baltzelle believed that the decisions of the Barnsley to go to Brazil were wise, some in Texas remained extremely dubious of the move.  The editor of the Fakes Bulletin in Galveston could not resist the temptation to comment unfavorably on the fate of the former Texans.

Page 81

(While in New York, after leaving Cuba)

In an effort to disassociate themselves from Texans such as Jesse Wright, George and Lucien chose not to stay at the Collins Hotel.  Instead, George borrowed $50 in greenbacks from a New York business associate of his father, and the two brothers moved into the European Hotel, at 163 Hudson and the corner of Laight Street.  Barnsley described the place as a "cheap house where you pay $1.50 each per diem."  George promised his father in a letter of March 27 to "try to find a cheaper place, if possible."....

​

....It is likely that George and Lucien had already decided to continue with the colonists to Brazil despite their request for advice from their father on the matter.  The principal reason, not outlined by George in his letter,, was the lack of cash either for an ocean voyage to England or for study.  As a practical matter, the brothers had the alternatives of either going to Brazil or returning to Georgia..

​

While they were in the northeastern United States, however, the Barnsley brothers had the opportunity to visit old friends and acquaintances from school days in Rhode Island before the war.  On April 17 George wrote his father that he had been able to locate a Mrs. Green, his old schoolteacher.  Both brothers saw friends in Greenwich, Connecticut, who "would accept no excuse," for their not staying a few days. 

​

​