104 A SAGA OF THE SEAS 
scribing to the stock.” ‘This was a very creditable performance 
when it is recalled that in the prosperous year of 1856 before 
any failure of the cable had spoiled the initial enthusiasm, he 
had been able to dispose of less than a tenth of the original 
capital of the Atlantic Telegraph Company in America; in 
fact, of the eighty-eight shares of a thousand pounds each 
which he brought from London at that time, he was able to 
sell only twenty-seven shares, and had to pay for the remain- 
der from his own funds. American capitalists were not dis- 
posed to speculate in foreign companies and were engrossed 
in home affairs. 
When Field sailed for England at the end of May, 1863, he 
was so worn by his campaigns that he slept almost contin- 
uously for the first few days out of New York, only getting 
up for an occasional meal. He had become a familiar figure 
on Atlantic steamers, having made over two dozen crossings 
of the Atlantic. Later in his career he said that he had made 
over sixty crossings, on most of which he was seasick. He 
needed this rest that the ocean interlude gave him, for when 
again in London he was out early and late, working for the 
new cable and enlightening the British about conditions in 
America. 
Reports from New York were disturbing as the crisis of the 
war approached. His firm advised him that when Lee’s army 
advanced into Pennsylvania, business was almost suspended. 
The English felt that the South was about to win the struggle, 
and many of them were exultant. The Northern cities were 
threatened by Confederate audacity, and their people were 
fearful of the future until the battle of Gettysburg early in 
July. Field was full of apprehension and very nervous while 
awaiting news from America, which was delayed in coming. 
Shortly after the crisis of Gettysburg, letters from New York 
told of the disorderly draft riots that disgraced the North- 
ern conduct of the War. These riots raged for four days in 
the streets of New York, endangering seriously the lives and 
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