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You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: A Rebel's Recollections - -Author: George Cary Eggleston - -Release Date: February 14, 2016 [EBook #51211] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A REBEL'S RECOLLECTIONS *** - - - - -Produced by John Campbell and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - - - - - - - - - TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE - - Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. - - Bold text is denoted by =equal signs=. - - Obvious typographical errors and punctuation errors have been - corrected after careful comparison with other occurrences within - the text and consultation of external sources. - - All misspellings in the text, and inconsistent or archaic usage, - have been retained. For example, indorsement; demarkation; clew; - land owners, landowners. - - - - -WORKS BY GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON - - - =THE AMERICAN IMMORTALS.= The Record of Men who by their - Achievements in Statecraft, War, Science, Literature, Art, Law, - and Commerce, have created the American Republic, and whose names - are inscribed in the Hall of Fame. - - New and cheaper edition, 8vo, fully illustrated _net_ $ 3.50 - Cloth, royal 8vo, with 29 full-page photogravures " 6.00 - Full leather " 10.00 - - =THE BIG BROTHER.= 12mo, cloth $1.25 - - "The thinking powers, as well as those of observation, will be - strengthened in any boy who reads this book."--_Churchman._ - - =CAPTAIN SAM.= 12mo, cloth $1.25 - - "This is a juvenile historical story which will please boys and - even people of larger growth."--_New Orleans Times._ - - =THE SIGNAL BOYS; or, Captain Sam's Company.= A - Tale of the War of 1812. Illustrated. Octavo, cloth $1.25 - - "A story for boys of the right kind, personal experience and - stirring adventures."--_Philadelphia Times._ - - =THE WRECK OF THE RED BIRD.= A Story of the - Carolina Coast. Illustrated. Octavo $1.25 - - "A wholesome, readable story."--_Chicago Times._ - - =A REBEL'S RECOLLECTIONS= $1.00 - - "The author deserves the thanks of all true Americans.... His - sketches are models of characterization."--_Phila. Bulletin._ - - =HOW TO EDUCATE YOURSELF.= A Complete Guide to - Student's showing how to study, what to study, and how and - what to read. It is in short, a "Pocket School-Master." 12mo; - 151 pages, boards 50 cts. - - "We write with unqualified enthusiasm about this book, which is - untellably good, and for good."--_N. Y. Evening Mail._ - - =HOW TO MAKE A LIVING.= 12mo, boards 50 cts. - - "Shrewd, sound, and entertaining."--_N. Y. Tribune._ - - - G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS - 27 AND 29 WEST TWENTY-THIRD STREET, NEW YORK - - - - - A - Rebel's Recollections - - - By - George Cary Eggleston - - Author of "Dorothy South," "A Captain in the Ranks," - "Running the River," etc. - - - Fourth Edition, with an additional chapter on the - Old Régime in the Old Dominion - - - G. P. Putnam's Sons - New York and London - The Knickerbocker Press - 1905 - - - - - Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874, by - GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON - In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington - - Copyright, 1905 - by - GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON - - - - - DEDICATION. - - - I wish to dedicate this book to my brother, EDWARD EGGLESTON; and - even if there were no motives of affection impelling me thereto, - I should still feel bound to inscribe his name upon this page, as - an act of justice, in order that those critics who confounded me - with him, when I put forth a little novel a year ago, may have no - chance to hold him responsible for my political as they did for - my literary sins. - - - - -PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION. - - -"A Rebel's Recollections" was published in 1874. It has ever since -enjoyed a degree of public favor that is perhaps beyond its merits. - -However that may be, my friends among the historians and the -critical students of history have persuaded me that, for the sake of -historical completeness, I should include in this new edition of the -book the prefatory essay on "The Old Régime in the Old Dominion," -which first appeared in the Atlantic Monthly for November, 1875. - -I am doing so with the generous permission of Messrs. Houghton, -Mifflin, & Co., publishers of the Atlantic Monthly. - -The scholars have said to me and to my publishers that during its -thirty years of life the book has become a part of that body of -literature to which historians must look as the sources of history. -They have urged that the introductory chapter, now for the first time -included in the volume, is an essential part of that material of -history. - -The story of the book and of this introductory chapter may, perhaps, -have some interest for the reader. In that belief I tell it here. - -In the year, 1873, I was editing the weekly periodical, Hearth and -Home. I went to Boston to secure certain contributions of literary -matter. There, for the first time, I met Mr. William Dean Howells, -then editor of the Atlantic Monthly,--now recognized as the foremost -creative and critical writer of America. - -In the course of our conversation, Mr. Howells asked me why I should -not write my reminiscences of life as a Southern soldier. At that -time war passions had only just begun to cool, and so I answered that -it would be hardly fair to the publishers of Hearth and Home for me -in that way to thrust upon the readers of that periodical the fact -that its editor had been a Rebel soldier. - -"Oh, I didn't mean," answered Mr. Howells, "that you should write -your reminiscences for Hearth and Home. I want you to write them for -the Atlantic." - -I put the matter aside for a time. I wanted to think of it, and I -wanted to consult my friends concerning the propriety of doing what -Mr. Howells had suggested. Then it was that I talked with Oliver -Johnson, and received from him the advice reported in the preface to -the first edition of this book, which is printed on another page. - -An arrangement was at once made with Mr. Howells that I should write -seven of the nine papers composing the book, for publication in the -Atlantic, the two other papers being reserved in order to "give -freshness" to the volume when it should appear. - -After the first paper was published, Mr. Howells wrote me that it had -brought a hornets' nest about his ears, but that he was determined to -go on with the series. - -After the second paper appeared, he wrote me a delightful letter, -saying that the hornets had "begun to sing psalms in his ears," in -view of the spirit and temper of my work. - -After all the papers were published, and on the day on which the -book, with its two additional chapters, appeared, there was held at -the Parker House in Boston a banquet in celebration of the fifteenth -anniversary of the founding of the Atlantic. At that dinner, and -without warning, I was toasted as the author of the latest book of -Civil War reminiscences. I made a feeble little speech in reply, -but I found that the spirit in which I had written "A Rebel's -Recollections" had met with cordial response from the New England -audience. A company of "original abolitionists" had even planned -to give me a dinner, all my own, with nobody present but original -abolitionists and my Rebel self. - -In the same way the book was received by the press, especially in New -England, until I was satisfied that my work had really ministered -somewhat to that reconciliation between North and South which I had -hoped to help forward. - -Some months later, in 1875, I wrote the article on the old Virginian -life, and sent it to Mr. Howells. Mindful of his editorial injunction -to confine articles to six magazine pages in length, I condensed -what I had to say into that space. Then for the first time in my life -I had an experience which has never since been repeated. Mr. Howells -sent the article back to me with a request that I should _double its -length._ - -Some years later, the Authors Club gave a reception to Mr. Howells -as our foremost living novelist, and it fell to me, as the presiding -officer of the club's Executive Council, to escort the guest of the -evening to the club. The war papers of the Century Magazine were at -that time attracting a country-wide attention. As we drove to the -club, Mr. Howells said to me: - -"It was you and I who first conceived the idea of 'War Papers' as -a magazine's chief feature. We were a trifle ahead of our time, -I suppose, but our thought was the same as that which has since -achieved so great a success." - -In view of all these things, I inscribe this new and expanded -edition of "A Rebel's Recollections" to the true godfather of the -book,--to - - WILLIAM DEAN HOWELLS, - -with admiration for his genius, with a grateful recollection of his -helpfulness, and with personal affection. - - GEORGE CARY EGGLESTON. - - THE AUTHORS CLUB, - _January, 1905_. - - - - -PREFACE. - - -Lunching one day with Oliver Johnson the best "original abolitionist" -I ever knew, I submitted to him the question I was debating with -myself, namely, whether I might write this little volume of -reminiscences without fear of offending excellent people, or, still -worse, reanimating prejudices that happily were dying. His reply -was, "Write, by all means. Prejudice is the first-born of ignorance, -and it never outlives its father. The only thing necessary now to -the final burial of the animosity existing between the sections is -that the North and the South shall learn to know and understand each -other. Anything which contributes to this hastens the day of peace -and harmony and brotherly love which every good man longs for." - -Upon this hint I have written, and if the reading of these pages -shall serve, in never so small a degree, to strengthen the kindly -feelings which have grown up of late between the foemen of ten years -ago, I shall think my labor well expended. - -I have written chiefly of the things I saw for myself, and yet this -is in no sense the story of my personal adventures. I never wore a -star on my collar, and every reader of military novels knows that -adventures worth writing about never befall a soldier below the rank -of major. - - G. C. E. - - _October, 1874._ - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - PAGE - - I. THE MUSTERING 1 - - II. THE MEN WHO MADE THE ARMY 29 - - III. THE TEMPER OF THE WOMEN 56 - - IV. OF THE TIME WHEN MONEY WAS "EASY" 77 - - V. THE CHEVALIER OF THE LOST CAUSE 108 - - VI. LEE, JACKSON, AND SOME LESSER WORTHIES 138 - - VII. SOME QUEER PEOPLE 169 - - VIII. RED TAPE 193 - - IX. THE END, AND AFTER 229 - - - - -THE OLD RÉGIME IN THE OLD DOMINION. - - -It was a very beautiful and enjoyable life that the Virginians led -in that ancient time, for it certainly seems ages ago, before the -war came to turn ideas upside down and convert the picturesque -commonwealth into a commonplace, modern state. It was a soft, dreamy, -deliciously quiet life, a life of repose, an old life, with all its -sharp corners and rough surfaces long ago worn round and smooth. -Everything fitted everything else, and every point in it was so well -settled as to leave no work of improvement for anybody to do. The -Virginians were satisfied with things as they were, and if there -were reformers born among them, they went elsewhere to work changes. -Society in the Old Dominion was like a well rolled and closely -packed gravel walk, in which each pebble has found precisely the -place it fits best. There was no giving way under one's feet, no -uncomfortable grinding of loose materials as one walked about over -the firm and long-used ways of the Virginian social life. - -Let me hasten to say that I do not altogether approve of that life -by any means. That would be flat blasphemy against the god Progress, -and I have no stomach for martyrdom, even of our modern, fireless -sort. I frankly admit in the outset, therefore, that the Virginians -of that old time, between which and the present there is so great a -gulf fixed, were idle people. I am aware that they were, when I lived -among them, extravagant for the most part, and in debt altogether. -It were useless to deny that they habitually violated all the wise -precepts laid down in the published writings of Poor Richard, and set -at naught the whole gospel of thrift. But their way of living was -nevertheless a very agreeable one to share or to contemplate, the -more because there was nothing else like it anywhere in the land. - -A whole community, with as nearly as possible nothing to do, is apt -to develop a considerable genius for enjoyment, and the Virginians, -during somewhat more than two centuries of earnest and united effort -in that direction, had partly discovered and partly created both a -science and an art of pleasant living. Add to idleness and freedom -from business cares a climate so perfect that existence itself is a -luxury within their borders, and we shall find no room for wonder -that these people learned how to enjoy themselves. What they learned, -in this regard, they remembered too. Habits and customs once found -good were retained, I will not say carefully,--for that would imply -effort, and the Virginians avoided effort always,--but tenaciously. -The Virginians were born conservatives, constitutionally opposed to -change. They loved the old because it was old, and disliked the new, -if for no better reason, because it was new; for newness and rawness -were well-nigh the same in their eyes. - -This constitutional conservatism, without which their mode of life -could never have been what it was, was nourished by both habit and -circumstance. The Virginians were not much given to travelling beyond -their own borders, and when they did go into the outer world it was -only to find a manifestation of barbarism in every departure from -their own prescriptive standards and models. Not that they were more -bigoted than other people, for in truth I think they were not, but -their bigotry took a different direction. They thought well of the -old and the moss-grown, just as some people admire all that is new -and garish and fashionable. - -But chief among the causes of that conservatism which gave tone -and color to the life we are considering was the fact that ancient -estates were carefully kept in ancient families, generation after -generation. If a Virginian lived in a particular mansion, it was -strong presumptive proof that his father, his grandfather, and his -great-grandfather had lived there before him. There was no law of -primogeniture to be sure by which this was brought about, but there -were well-established customs which amounted to the same thing. -Family pride was a ruling passion, and not many Virginians of the -better class hesitated to secure the maintenance of their family -place in the ranks of the untitled peerage by the sacrifice of their -own personal prosperity, if that were necessary, as it sometimes -was. To the first-born son went the estate usually, by the will of -the father and with the hearty concurrence of the younger sons, when -there happened to be any such. The eldest brother succeeded the -father as the head of the house, and took upon himself the father's -duties and the father's burdens. Upon him fell the management of -the estate; the maintenance of the mansion, which, under the laws -of hospitality obtaining there, was no light task; the education of -the younger sons and daughters; and last, though commonly not by -any means least, the management of the hereditary debt. The younger -children always had a home in the old mansion, secured to them by the -will of their father sometimes, but secure enough in any case by a -custom more binding than any law; and there were various other ways -of providing for them. If the testator were rich, he divided among -them his bonds, stocks, and other personal property not necessary to -the prosperity of the estate, or charged the head of the house with -the payment of certain legacies to each. The mother's property, if -she had brought a dower with her, was usually portioned out among -them, and the law, medicine, army, navy, and church offered them -genteel employment if they chose to set up for themselves. But these -arrangements were subsidiary to the main purpose of keeping the -estate in the family, and maintaining the mansion-house as a seat of -elegant hospitality. So great was the importance attached to this -last point, and so strictly was its observance enjoined upon the new -lord of the soil, that he was frequently the least to be envied of -all. - -I remember a case in which a neighbor of my own, a very wealthy -gentleman, whose house was always open and always full of guests, -dying, left each of his children a plantation. To the eldest son, -however, he gave the home estate, worth three or four times as much -as any of the other plantations, and with it he gave the young -man also a large sum of money. But he charged him with the duty -of keeping open house there, at all times, and directed that the -household affairs should be conducted always precisely as they had -been during his own lifetime. The charge well-nigh outweighed the -inheritance. The new master of the place lived in Richmond, where he -was engaged in manufacturing, and after the death of the father the -old house stood tenantless, but open as before. Its troops of softly -shod servants swept and dusted and polished as of old. Breakfast, -dinner, and supper were laid out every day at the accustomed hours, -under the old butler's supervision, and as the viands grew cold -his silent subordinates waited, trays in hand, at the back of the -empty chairs during the full time appointed for each meal. I have -stopped there for dinner, tea, or to spend the night many a time, in -company with one of the younger sons who lived elsewhere, or with -some relative of the family, or alone, as the case might be, and I -have sometimes met others there. But our coming or not was a matter -of indifference. Guests knew themselves always welcome, but whether -guests came or not the household affairs suffered no change. The -destruction of the house by fire finally lifted this burden from its -master's shoulders, as the will did not require him to rebuild. But -while it stood, its master's large inheritance was of very small -worth to him. And in many other cases the preference given to the -eldest son in the distribution of property was in reality only a -selection of his shoulders to bear the family's burdens. - -In these and other ways, old estates of greater or less extent were -kept together, and old families remained lords of the soil. It is not -easy to overestimate the effect of this upon the people. A man to -whom a great estate, with an historic house upon it and an old family -name attached to it, has descended through several generations, -could hardly be other than a conservative in feeling and influence. -These people were the inheritors of the old and the established. -Upon them had devolved the sacred duty of maintaining the reputation -of a family name. They were no longer mere individuals, whose acts -affected only themselves, but were chiefs and representatives -of honorable houses, and as such bound to maintain a reputation -of vastly more worth than their own. Their fathers before them -were their exemplars, and in a close adherence to family customs -and traditions lay their safety from unseemly lapses. The old -furniture, the old wainscot on the walls, the old pictures, the old -house itself, perpetually warned them against change as in itself -unbecoming and dangerous to the dignity of their race. - -And so changes were unknown in their social system. As their fathers -lived, so lived they, and there was no feature of their life -pleasanter than its fixity. One always knew what to expect and what -to do; there were no perplexing uncertainties to breed awkwardness -and vexation. There was no room for shams and no temptation to vulgar -display, and so shams and display had no chance to become fashionable. - -Aside from the fact that the old and the substantial were the -respectable, the social status of every person was so fixed and -so well known that display was unnecessary on the part of the -good families, and useless on the part of others. The old ladies -constituted a college of heralds and could give you at a moment's -notice any pedigree you might choose to ask for. The "goodness" of -a good family was a fixed fact and needed no demonstration, and -no _parvenu_ could work his way into the charmed circle by vulgar -ostentation or by any other means whatever. As one of the old dames -used to phrase it, ostentatious people were thought to be "rich -before they were ready." - -As the good families gave law to the society of the land, so their -chiefs ruled the State in a more positive and direct sense. The -plantation owners, as a matter of course, constituted only a minority -of the voting population, at least after the constitution of 1850 -swept away the rule making the ownership of real estate a necessary -qualification for suffrage; but they governed the State nevertheless -as completely as if they had been in the majority. Families naturally -followed the lead of their chiefs, voting together as a matter of -clan pride, when no principle was involved, and so the plantation -owners controlled directly a large part of the population. But a more -important point was that the ballot was wholly unknown in Virginia -until after the war, and as the large landowners were deservedly -men of influence in the community, they had little difficulty, under -a system of _viva-voce_ voting, in carrying things their own way -on all matters on which they were at all agreed among themselves. -It often happened that a Whig would continue year after year to -represent a Democratic district, or _vice versa_, in the Legislature -or in Congress, merely by force of his large family connection and -influence. - -All this was an evil, if we choose to think it so. It was -undemocratic certainly, but it worked wonderfully well, and the -system was good in this at least, that it laid the foundations of -politics among the wisest and best men the State had; for as a rule -the planters were the educated men of the community, the reading -men, the scholars, the thinkers, and well-nigh every one of them was -familiar with the whole history of parties and of statesmanship. -Politics was deemed a necessary part of every gentleman's education, -and the youth of eighteen who could not recapitulate the doctrines -set forth in the resolutions of 1798, or tell you the history of the -Missouri Compromise or the Wilmot Proviso, was thought lamentably -deficient in the very rudiments of culture. They had little to do, -and they thought it the bounden duty of every free American citizen -to prepare himself for the intelligent performance of his functions -in the body politic. As a result, if Virginia did not always send -wise men to the councils of the State and nation, she sent no -politically ignorant ones at any rate. - -It was a point of honor among Virginians never to shrink from any of -the duties of a citizen. To serve as road-overseer or juryman was -often disagreeable to men who loved ease and comfort as they did, but -every Virginian felt himself in honor bound to serve whenever called -upon, and that without pay, too, as it was deemed in the last degree -disreputable to accept remuneration for doing the plain duty of a -citizen. - -It was the same with regard to the magistracy. Magistrates were -appointed until 1850, and after that chosen by election, but under -neither system was any man free to seek or to decline the office. -Appointed or elected, one must serve, if he would not be thought to -shirk his duties as a good man and citizen; and though the duties -of the office were sometimes very onerous, there was practically no -return of any sort made. Magistrates received no salary, and it was -not customary for them to accept the small perquisites allowed them -by law. Under the old constitution, the senior justice of each county -was _ex-officio_ high sheriff, and the farming of the shrievalty--for -the high sheriff always farmed the office--yielded some pecuniary -profit; but any one magistrate's chance of becoming the senior -was too small to be reckoned in the account; and under the new -constitution of 1850 even this was taken away, and the sheriffs -were elected by the people. But to be a magistrate was deemed an -honor, and very properly so, considering the nature of a Virginian -magistrate's functions. - -The magistrates were something more than justices of the peace. -A bench of three or more of them constituted the County Court, a -body having a wide civil and criminal jurisdiction of its own, and -concurrent jurisdiction with the Circuit Court over a still larger -field. This County Court sat monthly, and in addition to its judicial -functions was charged with considerable legislative duties for the -county, under a system which gave large recognition to the principle -of local self-government. Four times a year it held grand-jury -terms--an anomaly in magistrate's courts, I believe, but an excellent -one as experience proved. In a large class of criminal cases a bench -of five justices, sitting in regular term, was a court of oyer and -terminer. - -The concurrent jurisdiction of this County Court, as I have said, -was very large, and as its sessions were monthly, while those of -the circuit judges were held but twice a year, very many important -civil suits involving considerable interests were brought there -rather than before the higher tribunal. And here we encounter a -very singular fact. The magistrates were usually planters, never -lawyers, and yet, as the records show, the proportion of County-Court -decisions reversed on appeal for error was always smaller than that -of decisions made by the higher tribunals, in which regular judges -sat. At the first glance this seems almost incredible, and yet it -is a fact, and its cause is not far to seek. The magistrates, being -unpaid functionaries, were chosen for their fitness only. Their -election was a sort of choosing of arbitrators, and the men elected -were precisely the kind of men commonly selected by honest disputants -as umpires--men of integrity, probity, and intelligence. They came -into court conscious of their own ignorance of legal technicalities, -and disposed to decide questions upon principles of "right between -man and man" rather than upon the letter of the law; and as the law -is, in the main, founded upon precisely these principles of abstract -justice, their decision usually proved sound in law as well as right -in fact. - -But the magistrates were not wholly without instruction even -in technical matters of law. They learned a good deal by long -service,--their experience often running over a period of thirty -or forty years on the bench,--and, in addition to the skill which -intelligent men must have gained in this way, they had still another -resource. When the bench thought it necessary to inform itself on -a legal point, the presiding magistrate asked in open court for the -advice of counsel, and in such an event every lawyer not engaged in -the case at bar, or in another involving a like principle, was under -obligation to give a candid expression of his opinion. - -The system was a very peculiar and interesting one, and in Virginia -it was about the best also that could have been hit upon, though it -is more than doubtful whether it would work equally well anywhere -else. All the conditions surrounding it were necessary to its -success, and those conditions were of a kind that cannot be produced -at will; they must grow. In the first place, the intelligence and -culture of a community must not be concentrated in certain centres, -as is usually the case, especially in commercial and manufacturing -States, but must be distributed pretty evenly over the country, else -the material out of which such a magistracy can be created will not -be where it is needed; and in the very nature of the case it cannot -be imported for the purpose. There must also be a public sentiment -to compel the best men to serve when chosen, and the best men must -be men of wealth and leisure, else they cannot afford to serve, -for such a magistracy must of necessity be unpaid. In short, the -system can work well only under the conditions which gave it birth -in Virginia, and those conditions will probably never again exist in -any of these States. It is a matter of small moment to the citizen -of Massachusetts or New York that Virginia once had a very peculiar -judiciary; but it is not a matter of light importance that our scheme -of government leaves every State free to devise for itself a system -of local institutions adapted to its needs and the character and -situation of its people; that it is not uniformity we have sought and -secured in our attempt to establish a government by the people, but -a wise diversity rather; that experience and not theory is our guide; -that our institutions are cut to fit our needs, and not to match a -fixed pattern; and that the necessities of one part of the country do -not prescribe a rule for another part. - -But this is not a philosophical treatise. Return we therefore to -the region of small facts. It is a little curious that with their -reputed fondness for honorary titles of all kinds, the Virginians -never addressed a magistrate as "judge," even in that old time when -the functions of the justice fairly entitled him to the name. And -it is stranger still, perhaps, that in Virginia the members of the -Legislature were never called "honorable," that distinction being -held strictly in reserve for members of Congress and of the national -cabinet. This fact seems all the more singular when we remember that -in the view of Virginians the States were nations, while the general -government was little more than their accredited agent, charged with -the performance of certain duties and holding certain delegated -powers which were subject to recall at any time. - -I have said that every educated Virginian was acquainted with -politics, but this is only half the truth. They knew the details -quite as well as the general facts, and there were very many of them -not politicians and never candidates for office of any kind who could -give from memory an array of dates and other figures of which the -Tribune Almanac would have no occasion to be ashamed. Not to know -the details of the vote in Connecticut in any given year was to lay -oneself open to a suspicion of incompetence; to confess forgetfulness -of the "ayes and noes" on any important division in Congress was -to rule oneself out of the debate as an ignoramus. I say debate -advisedly, for there was always a debate on political matters when -two Virginia gentlemen met anywhere except in church during sermon -time. They argued earnestly, excitedly, sometimes even violently, -but ordinarily without personal ill-feeling. In private houses they -could not quarrel, being gentlemen and guests of a common host, or -standing in the relation of guest and host to each other; in more -public places--for they discussed politics in all places and at all -times--they refrained from quarrelling because to quarrel would -not have been proper. But they never lost an opportunity to make -political speeches to each other; alternately, sometimes, but quite -as often both, or all, at once. - -It would sometimes happen, of course, that two or more gentlemen -meeting would find themselves agreed in their views, but the pleasure -of indulging in a heated political discussion was never foregone for -any such paltry reason as that. Finding no point on which they could -disagree, they would straightway join forces and do valiant battle -against the common enemy. That the enemy was not present to answer -made no difference. They knew all his positions and all the arguments -by which his views could be sustained quite as well as he did, and -they combated these. It was funny, of course, but the participants in -these one-sided debates never seemed to see the ludicrous points of -the picture. - -A story is told of one of the fiercest of these social political -debaters--a story too well vouched for among his friends to be -doubted--which will serve, perhaps, to show how unnecessary the -presence of an antagonist was to the successful conduct of a debate. -It was "at a dining-day," to speak in the native idiom, and it so -happened that all the guests were Whigs, except Mr. E----, who was -the staunchest of Jeffersonian Democrats. The discussion began, of -course, as soon as the women left the table, and it speedily waxed -hot. Mr. E----, getting the ear of the company at the outset, laid on -right and left with his customary vigor, rasping the Whigs on their -sorest points, arguing, asserting, denouncing, demonstrating--to his -own entire satisfaction--for perhaps half an hour; silencing every -attempt at interruption by saying: - -"Now wait, please, till I get through; I'm one against seven, and you -must let me make my points. Then you can reply." - -He finished at last, leaving every Whig nerve quivering, every Whig -face burning with suppressed indignation, and every Whig breast full, -almost to bursting, with a speech in reply. The strongest debater -of them all managed to begin first, but just as he pronounced the -opening words, Mr. E---- interrupted him. - -"Pardon me," he said, "I know all your little arguments, so I'll go -and talk with the girls for half an hour while you run them over; -when you get through send for me, and I'll come and SWEEP YOU CLEAR -OUT OF THE ARENA." - -And with that the exasperating man bowed himself out of the -dining-room. - -But with all its ludicrousness, this universal habit of "talking -politics" had its uses. In the first place, politics with these -men was a matter of principle, and not at all a question of shrewd -management. They knew what they had and what they wanted. Better -still they knew every officeholder's record, and held each to a -strict account of his stewardship. - -Under the influence of this habit in social life, every man was -constantly on his metal, of course, and every young man was bound -to fortify himself for contests to come by a diligent study of -history and politics. He must know as a necessary preparation for -ordinary social converse all those things that are commonly left to -the professional politicians. As well might he go into society in -ignorance of yesterday's weather or last week's news, as without full -knowledge of Benton's Thirty Years' View, and a familiar acquaintance -with the papers in the Federalist. In short, this odd habit compelled -thorough political education, and enforced upon every man old enough -to vote an active, earnest participation in politics. Perhaps a -country in which universal suffrage exists would be the better if -both were more general than they are. - -But politics did not furnish the only subjects of debate among these -people. They talked politics, it is true, whenever they met at all, -but when they had mutually annihilated each other, when each had -said all there was to say on the subject, they frequently turned to -other themes. Of these, the ones most commonly and most vigorously -discussed were points of doctrinal theology. The great battle-ground -was baptism. Half the people were, perhaps, Baptists, and when -Baptist and pedo-Baptist met they sniffed the battle at once,--that -is to say, as soon as they had finished the inevitable discussion of -politics. - -On this question of Baptism each had been over the ground many -hundreds of times, and each must have known when he put forth an -argument what the answer would be. But this made no manner of -difference. They were always ready to go over the matter again. I -amused myself once by preparing a "part" debate on the subject. I -arranged the remarks of each disputant in outline, providing each -speech with its proper "cue," after the manner of stage copies of a -play, and, taking a friend into my confidence, I used sometimes to -follow the discussion, with my copy of it in hand, and, except in -the case of a very poorly informed or wholly unpractised debater, my -"cues" and speeches were found to be amusingly accurate. - -The Virginians were a very religious as well as a very polemical -people, however, and I do not remember that I ever knew them, even -in the heat of their fiercest discussions upon doctrine, to forget -the brotherly kindness which lay as a broad foundation under their -card-houses of creed. They believed with all their souls in the -doctrines set down by their several denominations, and maintained -them stoutly on all occasions; but they loved each other, attended -each other's services, and joined hands right heartily in every good -work. - -There was one other peculiarity in their church relations worthy of -notice. The Episcopal Church was once an establishment in Virginia, -as every reader knows, but every reader does not know, perhaps, that -even up to the outbreak of the war it remained in some sense an -establishment in some parts of the State. - -There were little old churches in many neighborhoods which had stood -for a century or two, and the ancestors of the present generation -had all belonged to them in their time. One of these churches I -remember lovingly for its old traditions, for its picturesqueness, -and for the warmth of the greeting its congregation gave me--not -as a congregation but as individuals--when I, a lad half grown, -returned to the land of my fathers. Every man and woman in that -congregation had known my father and loved him, and nearly every -one was my cousin, at least in the Virginian acceptation of that -word. The church was Episcopal, of course, while the great majority, -perhaps seven eighths of the people who attended it and supported -it were members of other denominations--Baptists, Presbyterians, and -Methodists. But they all felt themselves at home here. This was the -old family church where their forefathers had worshiped, and under -the shadow of which they were buried. They all belonged here no -matter what other church might claim them as members. They paid the -old clergyman's salary, served in the vestry, attended the services, -kept church, organ, and churchyard in repair, and in all respects -regarded themselves, and were held by others, as members here of -right and by inheritance. It was church and family, instead of Church -and State, and the sternest Baptist or Presbyterian among them would -have thought himself wronged if left out of the count of this little -church's membership. This was their heritage, their home, and the -fact that they had also united themselves with churches of other -denominations made no difference whatever in their feeling toward -the old mother church, there in the woods, guarding and cherishing -the dust of their dead. - -All the people, young and old, went to church; it was both pleasant -and proper to do so, though not all of them went for the sake of -the sermon or the service. The churches were usually built in the -midst of a grove of century oaks, and their surroundings were nearly -always pleasantly picturesque. The gentlemen came on horseback, the -ladies in their great lumbering, old-fashioned carriages, with an -ebony driver in front and a more or less ebony footman or two behind. -Beside the driver sat ordinarily the old "mammy" of the family, or -some other equally respectable and respected African woman, whose -crimson or scarlet turban and orange neckerchief gave a dash of color -to the picture, a trifle barbaric, perhaps, in combination, but -none the less pleasant in its effect for that. The young men came -first, mounted on their superb riding horses, wearing great buckskin -gauntlets and clad in full evening dress--that being _en règle_ -always in Virginia,--with the skirts of the coat drawn forward, over -the thighs, and pinned in front, as a precaution against possible -contact with the reeking sides of the hard-ridden steeds. - -The young men came first to church, as I have said, and they did so -for a purpose. The carriages were elegant and costly, many of them, -but nearly all were extremely old-fashioned; perched high in air, -they were not easy of entrance or exit by young women in full dress -without assistance, and it was accounted the prescriptive privilege -of the young men to render the needed service at the church door. -When this preliminary duty was fully done, some of the youths took -seats inside the church, but if the weather were fine many preferred -to stroll through the woods, or to sit in little groups under the -trees, awaiting the exit of the womankind, who must, of course, be -chatted with and helped into their carriages again. - -Invitations to dinner or to a more extended visit were in order -the moment the service was over. Every gentleman went to dine with -a friend, or took a number of friends to dine with him. But the -arrangements depended largely upon the young women, who had a very -pretty habit of visiting each other and staying a week or more, -and these visits nearly always originated at church. Each young -woman invited all the rest to go home with her, and after a deal of -confused consultation, out of whose chaos only the feminine mind -could possibly have extracted anything like a conclusion, two or -three would win all the others to themselves, each taking half a -dozen or more with her, and promising to send early the next morning -for their trunks. With so many of the fairest damsels secured for -a visit of a week or a fortnight, the young hostess was sure of -cavaliers in plenty to do her guests honor. And upon my word it was -all very pleasant! I have idled away many a week in these old country -houses, and for my life I cannot manage to regret the fact, or to -remember it with a single pang of remorse for the wasted hours. -Perhaps after all they were not wholly wasted. Who shall say? Other -things than gold are golden. - -As a guest in those houses one was not welcome only, but free. There -was a servant to take your horse, a servant to brush your clothes, a -servant to attend you whenever you had a want to supply or a wish to -gratify. But you were never oppressed with attentions, or under any -kind of restraint. If you liked to sit in the parlor, the women there -would entertain you very agreeably, or set you to entertaining them -by reading aloud, or by anything else which might suggest itself. If -you preferred the piazza, there were sure to be others like-minded -with yourself. If you smoked, there were always pipes and tobacco on -the sideboard, and a man-servant to bring them to you if you were not -inclined to go after them. In short, each guest might do precisely as -he pleased, sure that in doing so he should best please his host and -hostess. - -My own favorite amusement--I am the father of a family now, and may -freely confess the fancies and foibles of a departed youth--was to -accompany the young mistress of the mansion on her rounds of domestic -duty, carrying her key-basket for her, and assisting her in various -ways, unlocking doors and--really I cannot remember that I was of any -very great use to her after all; but willingness counts for a good -deal in this world, and I was always very willing at any rate. As a -rule, the young daughter of the mansion was housekeeper, and this may -perhaps account for the fact that the habit of carrying housekeeper's -key-baskets for them was very general among the young gentlemen in -houses where they were upon terms of intimate friendship. - -Life in Virginia was the pursuit of happiness and its attainment. -Money was a means only, and was usually spent very lavishly whenever -its expenditure could add in any way to comfort, but as there was -never any occasion to spend it for mere display, most of the planters -were abundantly able to use it freely for better purposes. That is -to say, most of them were able to owe their debts and to renew their -notes when necessary. Their houses were built for comfort, and most -of them had grown gray with age long before the present generation -was born. A great passage-way ran through the middle, commonly, and -here stood furniture which would have delighted the heart of the -mediævalist: great, heavy oaken chairs, black with age and polished -with long usage--chairs whose joints were naked and not ashamed; -sofas of ponderous build, made by carpenters who were skeptical as -to the strength of woods, and thought it necessary to employ solid -pieces of oak, four inches in diameter, for legs, and to shoe each -with a solid brass lion's paw as a precaution against abrasion. A -great porch in front was shut out at night by the ponderous double -doors of the hallway, but during the day the way was wide open -through the house. - -The floors were of white ash, and in summer no carpets or rugs -were anywhere to be seen. Every morning the floors were polished -by diligent scouring with dry pine needles, and the furniture -similarly brightened by rubbing with wax and cork. In the parlors -the furniture was usually very rich as to woods and very antique -in workmanship. The curtains were of crimson damask with lace -underneath, and the contrast between these and the bare, white, -polished floor was singularly pleasing. - -The first white person astir in the house every morning was the -woman who carried the keys, mother or daughter, as the case might -be. Her morning work was no light affair, and its accomplishment -consumed several hours daily. To begin with she must knead the light -bread with her own hands and send it to the kitchen to be baked and -served hot at breakfast. She must prepare a skillet full of light -rolls for the same meal, and "give out" the materials for the rest -of the breakfast. Then she must see to the sweeping and garnishing -of the lower rooms, passages, and porches, lest the maids engaged in -that task should entertain less extreme views than her own on the -subject of that purity and cleanliness which constituted the house's -charm and the housekeeper's crown of honor. She must write two or -three notes, to be dispatched by the hands of a small negro to her -acquaintances in the neighborhood,--a kind of correspondence much -affected in that society. In the midst of all these duties, the young -housekeeper--for somehow it is only the youthful ones whom I remember -vividly--must meet and talk with such of the guests as might happen -to be early risers, and must not forget to send a messenger to the -kitchen once every ten minutes to "hurry up breakfast!" not that -breakfast could be hurried under any conceivable circumstances, but -merely because it was the custom to send such messages, and the young -woman was a duty-loving maid who did her part in the world without -inquiring why. She knew very well that breakfast would be ready at -the traditional hour, the hour at which it always had been served -in that house, and that there was no power on the plantation great -enough to hasten it by a single minute. But she sent out to "hurry" -it nevertheless. - -When breakfast is ready the guests are ready for it. It is a merit of -fixed habits that one can conform to them easily, and when one knows -that breakfast has been ready in the house in which he is staying -precisely at nine o'clock every morning for one or two centuries -past, and that the immovable conservatism of an old Virginian cook -stands guard over the sanctity of that custom, he has no difficulty -in determining when to begin dressing. - -The breakfast is sure to be a good one, consisting of everything -obtainable at the season. If it be in summer, the host will have a -dish of broiled roe herrings before him, a plate of hot rolls at -his right hand, and a cylindrical loaf of hot white bread--which -it is his duty to cut and serve--on his left. On the flanks will -be one or two plates of beaten biscuit and a loaf of batter bread, -_i. e._, corn-bread made rich with milk and eggs. A dish of plain corn -"pones" sits on the dresser, and the servants bring griddle-cakes or -waffles hot from the kitchen; so much for breads. A knuckle of cold, -boiled ham is always present, on either the table or the dresser, as -convenience may dictate. A dish of sliced tomatoes and another of -broiled ditto are the invariable vegetables, supplemented on occasion -with lettuce, radishes, and other like things. These are the staples -of breakfast, and additions are made as the season serves. - -Breakfast over, the young housekeeper scalds and dries the dishes -and glassware with her own hands. Then she goes to the garden, -smoke-house, and store-room, to "give out" for dinner. Morning rides, -backgammon, music, reading, etc., furnish amusement until one -o'clock, or a little later. The gentlemen go shooting or fishing, -if they choose, or join the host in his rides over the plantation, -inspecting his corn, tobacco, wheat, and live stock. About one the -house grows quiet. The women retire to their chambers, the gentlemen -make themselves comfortable in various ways. About two it is the duty -of the master of the mansion to offer toddy or juleps to his guests, -and to ask one of the dining-room servants if "dinner is 'most -ready." Half an hour later he must send the cook word to "hurry it -up." It is to be served at four, of course, but as the representative -of an ancient house, it is his bounden duty to ask the two-o'clock -question and send the half-past-two message. - -Supper is served at eight, and the women usually retire for the night -at ten or eleven. - -If hospitality was deemed the chief of virtues among the Virginians, -the duty of accepting hospitality was quite as strongly insisted -upon. One must visit his friends, whatever the circumstances, if he -would not be thought churlish. Especially were young men required -to show a proper respect and affection for elderly female relatives -by dining with them as frequently as at any other house. I shall -not soon forget some experiences of my own in this regard. The most -stately and elegant country-house I have ever seen stood in our -neighborhood. Its master had lived in great state there, and after -his death his two maiden sisters, left alone in the great mansion, -scrupulously maintained every custom he had established or inherited. -They were my cousins in the Virginian sense of the word, and I had -not been long a resident of the State when my guardian reminded me -of my duty toward them. I must ride over and dine there without a -special invitation, and I must do this six or eight times a year -at the least. As a mere boy, half-grown, I made ready for my visit -with a good deal of awe and trepidation. I had already met the two -stately dames and was disposed to distrust my manners in their -presence. I went, however, and was received with warm, though rather -stiff and formal, cordiality. My horse was taken to the stable. I -was shown to my room by a thoroughly drilled servant, whose tongue -had been trained to as persistent a silence as if his functions had -been those of a mute at a funeral. His name I discovered was Henry, -but beyond this I could make no progress in his acquaintance. He -prided himself upon knowing his place, and the profound respect with -which he treated me made it impossible that I should ask him for the -information on which my happiness, perhaps my reputation, just then -depended. I wanted to know for what purpose I had been shown to my -room, what I was expected to do there, and at what hour I ought to -descend to the parlor or library. - -It was manifestly out of the question to seek such information at -the hands of so well-regulated a being as Henry. He had ushered me -into my room and now stood bolt upright, gazing fixedly at nothing -and waiting for my orders in profound and immovable silence. He -had done his part well, and it was not for him to assume that I -was unprepared to do mine. His attitude indicated, or perhaps I -should say aggressively asserted, the necessity he was under of -assuming my entire familiarity with the usages of good society and -the ancient customs of this ancient house. The worst of it was I -fancied that the solemn rogue guessed my ignorance and delighted in -exposing my fraudulent pretensions to good breeding. But in this -I did him an injustice, as future knowledge of him taught me. He -was well drilled, and delighted in doing his duty, that was all. No -_gaucherie_ on my part would have moved him to smile. He knew his -place and his business too well for that. Whatever I might have done -he would have held to be perfectly proper. It was for him to stand -there like a statue, until I should bid him do otherwise, and if I -had kept him there for a week I think he would have given no sign -of weariness or impatience. As it was, his presence appalled and -oppressed me, and in despair of discovering the proper thing to do, I -determined to put a bold face upon the matter. - -"I am tired and warm," I said, "and will rest awhile upon the bed. I -will join the ladies in half an hour. You may go now." - -At dinner, Henry stood at the sideboard and silently directed the -servants. When the cloth was removed, he brought a wine tub with -perhaps a dozen bottles of antique Madeira in it and silently -awaited my signal before decanting one of them. When I had drunk a -glass with the ladies, they rose and retired according to the custom, -leaving me alone with the wine and the cigars,--and Henry, whose -erect solemnity converted the great silent dining-room into something -very like a funeral chamber. He stood there like a guardsman on duty, -immovable, speechless, patient, while I sat at the board, a decanter -of wine before me and the tub of unopened bottles on the floor by my -side--enough for a regiment. - -I did not want any wine or anything else except a sound of some sort -to break the horrible stillness. I tried to think of some device by -which to make Henry go out of the room or move one of his hands or -turn his eyes a little or even wink; but I failed utterly. There was -nothing whatever to be done. There was no order to give him. Every -want was supplied and everything was at my hand. The cigars were -under my nose, the ash pan by them, and a lighted wax candle stood -within reach. I toyed with the decanter in the hope of breaking the -stillness, but its stand was too well cushioned above and below to -make a sound. I ventured at last to move one of my feet, but a strip -of velvet carpet lay between it and the floor. - -I could stand it no longer. Filling a glass of wine I drank it off, -lighted a fresh cigar, and boldly strode out of the house to walk on -the lawn in front. - -On the occasion of subsequent visits I got on well enough, knowing -precisely what to expect and what to do, and in time I came to regard -this as one of the very pleasantest houses in which I visited at all, -if on no other account than because I found myself perfectly free -there to do as I pleased; but until I learned that I was expected -to consult only my own comfort while a guest in the house the -atmosphere of the place oppressed me. - -Not in every house were the servants so well trained as Henry, -but what they lacked in skill they fully made up in numbers, and -in hardly anything else was the extravagance of the Virginians -so manifest as in their wastefulness of labor. On nearly every -plantation there were ten or twelve able-bodied men and women -employed about the house, doing the work which two or three ought to -have done, and might have done; and in addition to this there were -usually a dozen or a score of others with merely nominal duties or no -duties at all. But it was useless to urge their master to send any of -them to the field, and idle to show him that the addition which might -thus be made to the force of productive laborers would so increase -his revenue as to acquit him of debt within a few years. He did not -much care to be free of debt for one thing, and he liked to have -plenty of servants always within call. As his dinner table bore every -day food enough for a battalion, so his nature demanded the presence -of half a dozen servitors whenever one was wanted. Indeed, these -people usually summoned servants in squads, calling three or four -to take one guest's horse to the stable or to bring one pitcher of -ice-water. - -And yet I should do the Virginians great injustice were I to leave -the impression that they were lazy. With abundant possessions, -superabundant household help and slave labor, they had a good deal of -leisure, but they were nevertheless very industrious people in their -way. It was no light undertaking to manage a great plantation and -at the same time fulfil the large measure of duties to friends and -neighbors which custom imposed. One must visit and receive visitors, -and must go to court every month, and to all planters' meetings. -Besides this there was a certain amount of fox hunting and squirrel -and bird and turkey shooting and fishing to be done, from which it -was really very difficult to escape with any credit to oneself. -On the whole, the time of the planters was pretty fully occupied. -The women had household duties, and these included the cutting and -making of clothes for all the negroes on the plantation, a heavy task -which might as well have been done by the negro seamstresses, except -that such was not the custom. Fair women who kept dressmakers for -themselves worked day after day on coarse cloths, manufacturing coats -and trousers for the field hands. They did a great deal of embroidery -and worsted work too, and personally instructed negro girls in the -use of the needle and scissors. All this, with their necessary -visiting and entertaining, and their daily attendance upon the sick -negroes, whom they always visited and cared for in person, served to -make the Virginian women about the busiest women I have ever known. -Even Sunday brought them little rest, for, in addition to other -duties on that day, each of them spent some hours at the "quarters" -holding a Sunday-school. - -Nevertheless the Virginians had a good deal of leisure on their -hands, and their command of time was a very important agent, I should -say, in the formation of their characters as individuals, and as a -people. It bred habits of outdoor exercise, which gave the young -men stalwart frames and robust constitutions. It gave form to their -social life. Above all, it made reading men and students of many, -though their reading and their study were of a somewhat peculiar -kind. They were all Latinists, inasmuch as Latin formed the staple -of their ordinary school course. It was begun early and continued -to the end, and even in after life very many planters were in the -habit of reading their Virgil and their Horace and their Ovid as -an amusement, so that it came to be assumed, quite as a matter of -course, that every gentleman with any pretension to culture could -read Latin easily, and quote Horace and Juvenal from memory. - -But they read English literature still more largely, and in no -part of the country, except in distinctly literary centres like -Cambridge or Concord, are really rich household libraries so common a -possession, I think, as they were among the best classes of Virginian -planters. Let us open the old glass doors and see what books the -Virginians read. The libraries in the old houses were the growth of -many generations, begun perhaps by the English cadet who founded the -family on this side of the water in the middle of the seventeenth -century, and added to little by little from that day to this. They -were especially rich in the English classics, in early editions with -long _s's_ and looped _ct's_, but sadly deficient in the literature -of the present. In one of them, I remember, I found nearly everything -from Chaucer to Byron, and comparatively little that was later. From -Pope to Southey it furnished a pretty complete geologic section of -English literature, and from internal evidence I conclude that when -the founder of the family and the library first took up his residence -in the Old Dominion, Swift was still a contributor to the Gentleman's -Magazine, and Pope was a poet not many years dead. - -There was a copy of "Tom Jones," and another of "Joseph Andrews," -printed in Fielding's own time. The "Spectator" was there, not in the -shape of a reprint, but the original papers, rudely bound, a treasure -brought from England, doubtless, by the immigrant. Richardson, -Smollett, Swift, and the rest were present in contemporary editions; -the poets and essayists, pretty much all of them, in quaint old -volumes; Johnson's "Lives of the Poets;" Sheridan's plays, stitched; -Burke's works; Scott's novels in force, just as they came, one after -another, from the press of the Edinburgh publishers; Miss Edgeworth's -moralities elbowing Mrs. Aphra Behn's strongly tainted romances; Miss -Burney's "Evelina," which was so "proper" that all the young ladies -used to read it, but so dull that nobody ever opens it nowadays; and -scores of other old "new books," which I have no room to catalogue -here, even if I could remember them all. - -Byron appeared, not as a whole, but in separate volumes, bought as -each was published. Even the poor little "Hours of Idleness" was -there, ordered from across the sea, doubtless, in consequence of the -savage treatment it received at the hands of the Edinburgh Review, -bound volumes of which were on the shelves below. There was no copy -of "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers," but as nearly all the rest -of Byron's poems were there in original editions, it seems probable -that the satire also had once held a place in the library. It had -been read to pieces, perhaps, or borrowed and never returned. - -There were histories of all kinds, and collected editions of standard -works in plenty, covering a wide field of law, politics, theology, -and what not. - -Of strictly modern books the assortment was comparatively meagre. -Macaulay's "Miscellanies," Motley's "Dutch Republic," Prescott's -"Mexico," "Peru," etc.; stray volumes of Dickens, Thackeray, Bulwer, -and Lever; Kennedy's "Swallow Barn," Cooke's "Virginia Comedians," -half a dozen volumes of Irving, and a few others made up the list. - -Of modern poetry there was not a line, and in this, as in other -respects, the old library--burned during the war--fairly represented -the literary tastes and reading habits of the Virginians in general. -They read little or no recent poetry and not much recent prose. I -think this was not so much the result of prejudice as of education. -The schools in Virginia were excellent ones of their kind, but their -system was that of a century ago. They gave attention chiefly to "the -humanities" and logic, and the education of a Virginian gentleman -resembled that of an Englishman of the last century far more closely -than that of any modern American. The writers of the present -naturally address themselves to men of to-day, and this is precisely -what the Virginians were not, wherefore modern literature was not at -all a thing to their taste. - -To all this there were of course exceptions. I have known some -Virginians who appreciated Tennyson, enjoyed Longfellow and Lowell, -and understood Browning; just as I have known a few who affected a -modern pronunciation of the letter "a" in such words as "master," -"basket," "glass," and "grass." - - - - -A REBEL'S RECOLLECTIONS - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -THE MUSTERING. - - -That was an admirable idea of De Quincey's, formally to postulate -any startling theory upon which he desired to build an argument or -a story, and to insist that his readers should regard the postulate -as proved, on pain of losing altogether what he had to say. The -plan is a very convenient one, saving a deal of argument, and -establishing in the outset a very desirable relation of mastery and -subordination between writer and reader. Indeed, but for some such -device I should never be able to get on at all with these sketches, -fully to understand which, the reader must make of himself, for the -time at least, a Confederate. He must put himself in the place of -the Southerners and look at some things through their eyes, if he -would understand those things and their results at all; and as it is -no part of my purpose to write a defense of the Southern view of any -question, it will save a good deal of explanation on my part, and -weariness on the part of the reader, if I follow De Quincey's example -and do a little postulating to begin with. I shall make no attempt -whatever to prove my postulates, but any one interested in these -pages will find it to his advantage to accept them, one and all, as -proved, pending the reading of what is to follow. After that he may -relapse as speedily as he pleases into his own opinions. Here are the -postulates:-- - -1. The Southerners honestly believed in the right of secession, not -merely as a revolutionary, but as a constitutional right. They not -only held that whenever any people finds the government under which -it is living oppressive and subversive of the ends for which it -was instituted, it is both the right and the duty of that people to -throw off the government and establish a new one in its stead; but -they believed also that every State in the Union held the reserved -right, under the constitution, to withdraw peaceably from the Union -at pleasure. - -2. They believed that every man's allegiance was due to his State -only, and that it was only by virtue of the State's continuance in -the Union that any allegiance was due to the general government -at all; wherefore the withdrawal of a State from the Union would -of itself absolve all the citizens of that State from whatever -obligations they were under to maintain and respect the Federal -constitution. In other words, patriotism, as the South understood it, -meant devotion to one's State, and only a secondary and consequential -devotion to the Union, existing as a result of the State's action in -making itself a part of the Union, and terminable at any time by the -State's withdrawal. - -3. They were as truly and purely patriotic in their secession and in -the fighting which followed, as were the people of the North in their -adherence to the Union itself. The difference was one of opinion as -to what the duties of a patriot were, and not at all a difference in -the degree of patriotism existing in the two sections. - -4. You, reader, who shouldered your musket and fought like the hero -you are, for the Union and the old flag, if you had been bred at the -South, and had understood your duty as the Southerners did theirs, -would have fought quite as bravely for secession as you did against -it; and you would have been quite as truly a hero in the one case as -in the other, because in either you would have risked your life for -the sake of that which you held to be the right. If the reader will -bear all this in mind we shall get on much better than we otherwise -could, in our effort to catch a glimpse of the war from a Southern -point of view. - -With all its horrors and in spite of the wretchedness it has wrought, -this war of ours, in some of its aspects at least, begins to look -like a very ridiculous affair, now that we are getting too far away -from it to hear the rattle of the musketry; and I have a mind, in -this chapter, to review one of its most ridiculous phases, to wit, -its beginning. We all remember Mr. Webster's pithy putting of the -case with regard to our forefathers of a hundred years ago: "They -went to war against a preamble. They fought seven years against -a declaration. They poured out their treasures and their blood -like water, in a contest in opposition to an assertion." Now it -seems to me that something very much like this might be said of -the Southerners, and particularly of the Virginians, without whose -pluck and pith there could have been no war at all worth writing -or talking about. They made war upon a catch-word, and fought until -they were hopelessly ruined for the sake of an abstraction. And -certainly history will not find it to the discredit of those people -that they freely offered themselves upon the altar of an abstract -principle of right, in a war which they knew must work hopeless ruin -to themselves, whatever its other results might be. Virginia did not -want to secede, and her decision to this effect was given in the -election of a convention composed for the most part of men strongly -opposed to secession. The Virginians believed they had both a moral -and a constitutional right to withdraw voluntarily from a Union into -which they had voluntarily gone, but the majority of them preferred -to remain as they were. They did not feel themselves particularly -aggrieved or threatened by the election of Mr. Lincoln, and so, -while they never doubted that they had an unquestionable right to -secede at will, they decided by their votes not to do anything of -the kind. This decision was given in the most unmistakable way, -by heavy majorities, in an election which involved no other issue -whatever. But without Virginia the States which had already passed -ordinances of secession would have been wholly unable to sustain -themselves. Virginia's strength in men, material, and geographical -position was very necessary, for one thing, and her moral influence -on North Carolina, Arkansas, and other hesitating States, was even -more essential to the success of the movement. Accordingly every -possible effort was made to "fire the heart" of the conservative -old commonwealth. Delegations, with ponderous stump speeches in -their mouths and parchment appeals in their hands, were sent from -the seceding States to Richmond, while every Virginian who actively -favored secession was constituted a committee of one to cultivate a -public sentiment in favor of the movement. - -Then came such a deluge of stump speeches as would have been -impossible in any other state or country in the civilized world, for -there never yet was a Virginian who could not, on occasion, acquit -himself very well on the hustings. The process of getting up the -requisite amount of enthusiasm, in the country districts especially, -was in many cases a very laughable one. In one county, I remember, -the principal speakers were three lawyers of no very great weight -except in a time of excitement. One of them was colonel of the county -militia, another lieutenant-colonel, and the third captain of a troop -of volunteer cavalry, a fine body of men, who spent three or four -days of each month partly in practicing a system of drill which, I -am persuaded, is as yet wholly undreamed of by any of the writers -upon tactics, and partly in cultivating the social virtues over that -peculiar species of feast known as a barbecue. When it became evident -that the people of Virginia were not duly impressed with the wrong -done them in the election of Mr. Lincoln, these were unquestionably -the right men in the right places. They were especially fond of -fervid speech-making, and not one of them had ever been known to -neglect an opportunity to practice it; each could make a speech on -any subject at a moment's warning. They spoke quite as well on a -poor theme as on a good one, and it was even claimed for one of them -that his eloquence waxed hottest when he had no subject at all to -talk about. Here, then, was their opportunity. The ever-full vials -of their eloquence waited only for the uncorking. It was the rule of -their lives to make a speech wherever and whenever they could get an -audience, and under the militia law they could, at will, compel the -attendance of a body of listeners consisting of pretty nearly all the -voters of the county, plus the small boys. When they were big with -speech they had only to order a drill. If a new gush of words or a -felicitous illustration occurred to them overnight, they called a -general muster for the next day. Two of them were candidates, against -a quiet and sensible planter, for the one seat allowed the county in -the convention, and the only difference of opinion there was between -them was involved in the question whether the ordinance of secession -should be adopted _before or after_ breakfast on the morning of the -first day of the convention's existence. One wanted coffee first and -the other did not. On the day of election, a drunken fellow, without -a thought of saying a good thing, apologized to one of them for not -having voted for him, saying, "I promised you, Sam,--but I couldn't -do it. You're a good fellow, Sam, and smart at a speech, but you see, -Sam, you _haven't the weight o' head_." The people, as the result of -the election showed, entertained a like view of the matter, and the -lawyers were both beaten by the old planter. - -It was not until after the convention assembled, however, that -the eloquence of the triad came into full play. They then labored -unceasingly to find words with which to express their humiliation in -view of the degeneracy and cowardice of the ancient commonwealth. - -They rejoiced in the thought that sooner or later the People--which -they always pronounced with an uncommonly big P--would "hurl those -degenerate sons of illustrious sires," meaning thereby the gentlemen -who had been elected to the convention, "from the seats which they -were now polluting," and a good deal more of a similar sort, the -point of which was that these orators longed for war of the bloodiest -kind, and were happy in the belief that it would come, in spite of -the fact that the convention was overwhelmingly against secession. - -Now, in view of the subsequent history of these belligerent orators, -it would be a very interesting thing to know just what they thought -a war between the sections promised. One of them, as I have said, -was colonel of the two or three hundred militia-men mustered in -the county. Another was lieutenant-colonel, and the third was -captain of a volunteer troop, organized under the militia law for -purposes of amusement, chiefly. This last one could, of course, -retain his rank, should his company be mustered into service, and -the other two firmly believed that they would be called into camp -as full-fledged field-officers. In view of this, the colonel, in -one of his speeches, urged upon his men the necessity of a rigid -self-examination, touching the matter of personal courage, before -going, in his regiment, to the battle-field; "For," said he, "where -G. leads, brave men must follow," a bit of rhetoric which brought -down the house as a matter of course. The others were equally valiant -in anticipation of war and equally eager for its coming; and yet -when the war did come, so sorely taxing the resources of the South -as to make a levy _en masse_ necessary, not one of the three ever -managed to hear the whistle of a bullet. The colonel did indeed -go as far as Richmond, during the spring of 1861, but discovering -there that he was physically unfit for service, went no farther. The -lieutenant-colonel ran away from the field while the battle was yet -afar off, and the captain, suffering from "nervous prostration," sent -in his resignation, which was unanimously accepted by his men, on the -field during the first battle of Bull Run. - -I sketch these three men and their military careers not without a -purpose. They serve to correct an error. They were types of a class -which brought upon the South a deal of odium. Noisy speech-makers, -they were too often believed by strangers to be, as they pretended, -representative men, and their bragging, their intolerance, their -contempt for the North, their arrogance,--all these were commonly -laid to the charge of the Southern people as a whole. As a matter -of fact, these were not representative men at all. They assumed the -_rôle_ of leadership on the court-house greens, but were repudiated -by the people at the polls first, and afterwards when the volunteers -were choosing officers to command them in actual warfare. These men -were clamorous demagogues and nothing else. They had no influence -whatever upon the real people. Their vaporings were applauded and -laughed at. The applause was ridicule, and the laughter was closely -akin to jeering. - -Meantime a terrible dread was brooding over the minds of the -Virginian people. They were brave men and patriots, who would -maintain their honor at any cost. They were ready to sacrifice -their lives and their treasures in a hopeless struggle about an -abstraction, should the time come when their sense of right and honor -required the sacrifice at their hands. There was no cowardice and no -hesitation to be expected of them when the call should come. But -they dreaded war, and most of them prayed that it might never be. -They saw only desolation in its face. They knew it would lay waste -their fields and bring want upon their families, however it might -result in regard to the great political questions involved in it. -And so they refused to go headlong into a war which meant for them -destruction. Some of them, believing that there was no possibility of -avoiding the struggle, thought it the part of wisdom to accept the -inevitable and begin hostilities at once, while the North was still -but poorly prepared for aggressive measures. But the majority of the -Virginians were disposed to wait and to avoid war altogether, if that -should prove possible. These said, "We should remain quiet until -some overt act of hostility shall make resistance necessary." And -these were called cowards and fogies by the brave men of the hustings -already alluded to. - -There was still another class of men who were opposed to secession -in any case. Of these, William C. Wickham, of Hanover, and Jubal -Early will serve as examples. They thought secession unnecessary and -imprudent in any conceivable event. They believed that it offered no -remedy for existing or possible ills, and that it could result only -in the prostration of the South. They opposed it, therefore, with -all their might; not only as not yet called for, but as suicidal in -any event, and not to be thought of at all. And yet these men, when -the war came, believed it to be their duty to side with their State, -and fought so manfully in behalf of the South as to make themselves -famous military leaders. - -Why, then, the reader doubtless asks, if this was the temper of -the Virginians, did Virginia secede after all? I answer, because -circumstances ultimately so placed the Virginians that they could -not, without cowardice and dishonor, do otherwise; and the -Virginians are brave men and honorable ones. They believed, as I have -said, in the abstract right of any State to secede at will. Indeed, -this right was to them as wholly unquestioned and unquestionable as -is the right of the States to establish free schools, or to do any -other thing pertaining to local self-government. The question of -the correctness or incorrectness of the doctrine is not now to the -purpose. The Virginians, almost without an exception, believed and -had always believed it absolutely, and believing it, they held of -necessity that the general government had no right, legal or moral, -to coerce a seceding State; and so, when the President called upon -Virginia for her quota of troops with which to compel the return of -the seceding States, she could not possibly obey without doing that -which her people believed to be an outrage upon the rights of sister -commonwealths, for which, as they held, there was no warrant in law -or equity. - -She heartily condemned the secession of South Carolina and the rest -as unnecessary, ill-advised, and dangerous; but their secession did -not concern her except as a looker-on, and she had not only refused -to be a partaker in it, but had also felt a good deal of indignation -against the men who were thus endangering the peace of the land. When -she was called upon to assist in reducing these States to submission, -however, she could no longer remain a spectator. She must furnish the -troops, and so assist in doing that which she believed to be utterly -wrong, or she must herself withdraw from the Union. The question was -thus narrowed down to this: Should Virginia seek safety in dishonor, -or should she meet destruction in doing that which she believed to be -right? Such a question was not long to be debated. Two days after the -proclamation was published Virginia seceded, not because she wanted -to secede,--not because she believed it wise,--but because, as she -understood the matter, the only other course open to her would have -been cowardly and dishonorable. - -Now, unless I am sadly mistaken, the Virginians understood what -secession implied much more perfectly than did the rest of the -Southern people. They anticipated no child's play, and having cast in -their lot with the South, they began at once to get ready for war. -From one end of the State to the other, every county seat became -a drill field. The courts suspended their sessions, on the ground -that it was not a proper time for the enforced collection of debts. -Volunteer companies soon drained the militia organization of its -men. Public opinion said that every man who did not embrace the very -surest and earliest opportunity of getting himself mustered into -actual service was a coward; and so, to withdraw from the militia and -join a volunteer company, and make a formal tender of services to -the State, became absolutely essential to the maintenance of one's -reputation as a gentleman. - -The drilling, of which there was literally no end, was simply funny. -Maneuvers of the most utterly impossible sort were carefully taught -to the men. Every amateur officer had his own pet system of tactics, -and the effect of the incongruous teachings, when brought out in -battalion drill, closely resembled that of the music at Mr. Bob -Sawyer's party, where each guest sang the chorus to the tune he knew -best. - -The militia colonels, having assumed a sort of general authority over -the volunteer companies which had been formed out of the old militia -material, were not satisfied with daily musterings of the men under -their captains,--musterings which left the field-officers nothing to -do,--and so in a good many of the counties they ordered all the men -into camp at the county seat, and drew upon the people for provisions -with which to feed them. The camps were irregular, disorderly -affairs, over which no rod of discipline could very well be held, as -the men were not legally soldiers, and the only punishment possible -for disobedience or neglect of duty was a small fine, which the -willful men, with true Virginian contempt for money in small sums, -paid cheerfully as a tax upon jollity. - -The camping, however, was enjoyable in itself, and as most of the men -had nothing else to do, the attendance upon roll-call was a pretty -full one. Every man brought a servant or two with him, of course. How -else were his boots and his accouterments to be kept clean, his horse -to be groomed, and his meals cooked? Most of the ladies came, too, in -their carriages every morning, returning to their homes only as night -came on; and so the camps were very picturesque and very delightful -places to be in. All the men wore epaulets of a gorgeousness rarely -equaled except in portraits of field-marshals, and every man was a -hero in immediate prospect. - -One day an alarming report came, to the effect that a little -transport steamer, well known in James River, was on her way up to -Richmond with ten thousand troops on board, and instantly the camps -at the court-houses along the railroads were astir. It entered into -nobody's head to inquire where so many troops could have come from -at a time when the entire active force of the United States army -from Maine to Oregon was hardly greater than that; nor did anybody -seem surprised that the whole ten thousand had managed to bestow -themselves on board a steamer the carrying capacity of which had -hitherto been about four or five hundred men. The report was accepted -as true, and everybody believed that the ten thousand men would be -poured into Richmond's defenseless streets within an hour or two. In -the particular county to which I have alluded in the beginning of -this chapter, the cavalry captain sent for half a dozen grindstones, -and set his men to grinding their sabres,--a process which utterly -ruined the blades, of course. The militia colonel telegraphed a stump -speech or two to Richmond, which did no particular harm, as the old -station agent who officiated as operator could not for his life send -a message of more than three words so that it could be read at the -other end of the line. A little telegraphic swearing came back over -the wires, but beyond that the colonel's glowing messages resulted -in nothing. Turning his attention to matters more immediately within -his control, therefore, he ordered the drums to beat, and assembling -the men he marched them boldly down to the railroad station, where -mounting a goods box he told them that the time for speech-making was -now past; that the enemy (I am not sure that he did not say "vandal," -and make some parenthetical remarks about "Attila flags" and things -of that sort which were favorites with him) was now at our very -thresholds; that he (the colonel) had marched his command to the -depot in answer to the call of his country; that they would proceed -thence by rail to Richmond and at once encounter the enemy, etc., -etc., etc. He had already telegraphed, he said, to General Lee and to -Governor Letcher, requesting them to dispatch a train (the colonel -would have scorned to say "send cars" even in a telegram), and the -iron horse was doubtless already on its way. - -No train came, however, and after nightfall the men were marched back -to their quarters in the court-house. - -A few days later some genuine orders came from Richmond, accepting -the proffered services of all the companies organized in the -county, and ordering all, except the one cavalry troop, into camp -at Richmond. These orders, by some strange oversight, the colonel -explained, were addressed, not to him as colonel, but to the several -captains individually. He was not disposed to stand on ceremony, -however, he said; and so, without waiting for the clerical error -to be rectified, he would comply with the spirit of the order, and -take the troops to Richmond as soon as the necessary transportation -should arrive. Transportation was a good, mouth-filling word, which -suited the colonel exactly. In order that there should be no delay or -miscarriage, he marched the men a hundred yards down the hill to the -station, ten hours in advance of the time at which the cars were to -be there; and as there was nothing else to do, he and his lieutenant -thought the occasion a good one for the making of a speech apiece. -The colonel expressed his hearty sympathy with the woes of the -cavalry, who were to be left at home, while the infantry was winning -renown. And yet, he said, he had expected this from the first. The -time had been, he explained, when the cavalry was the quick-moving -arm of the service, but now that the iron horse-- The reader -must imagine the rest of that grandiloquent sentence. I value my -reputation for veracity too much to risk it by following the colonel -in this, his supreme burst of impassioned oratory. He was sorry for -the cavalry, but they should console themselves with the thought -that, as preservers of order in the community and protectors of their -homes, they would not be wholly useless in their own humble way; and -should any of them visit the army, they would always meet a hearty -welcome in his camp. For the present his head-quarters would be in -the Spottswood Hotel, and he would be glad, whenever military duty -did not too greatly absorb his attention, to grasp the hand of any -member of the troop who, wishing to catch a glimpse of real warfare, -should seek him there. - -The train came, after a while, and the unappreciative railroad -men obstinately insisted that the State paid for the passage of -certain designated companies only, and that these distinguished -field-officers, if they traveled by that train at all, must pay -their way at regular passenger rates. The colonel and his lieutenant -pocketed the insult and paid their fare; but when, upon the arrival -of the troops at Richmond, nobody seemed to know anything about -these field-officers, and the companies were sent, without them, -into camps of instruction, the gallant leaders returned by passenger -train to their homes. The colonel came back, he said in a speech at -the station, still further to stir the patriotism of the people. -He had been in consultation with the authorities in Richmond; and -while it would not be proper for him to reveal even to these, his -patriotic countrymen, the full plan of campaign confided to him as -a field-officer, he might at least say to them that the government, -within ten days, would have fifteen thousand men in line on the -Potomac, and then, with perchance a bloody but very brief struggle, -this overwhelming force would dictate terms to the tyrants at -Washington. - -This time the colonel got himself unmistakably laughed at, and, so -far as I have heard, he made no more speeches. - -Meantime it had become evident to everybody that a very real and -a very terrible war was in prospect, and there was no longer any -disposition to tolerate nonsense of the sort I have been describing. -As fast as arrangements could be made for their accommodation, the -volunteers from every part of the State were ordered into camps of -instruction at Richmond and Ashland. As soon as any company was -deemed fit for service, it was sent to the front and assigned to -a regiment. Troops from other States were constantly pouring into -Richmond, and marching thence to the armies which were forming in the -field. The speech-making was over forever, and the work of the war -had begun. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE MEN WHO MADE THE ARMY. - - -A newspaper correspondent has told us that the great leader of the -German armies, Count Von Moltke, has never read anything--even a -history--of our war, and that when questioned on the subject, he has -said he could not afford to spend time over "the wrangling of two -armed mobs." If he ever said anything of the kind, which is doubtful, -his characterization of the two armies had reference, probably, to -their condition during the first year or two of the struggle, when -they could lay very little claim indeed to any more distinctively -military title. The Southern army, at any rate, was simply a vast mob -of rather ill-armed young gentlemen from the country.[1] As I have -said in a previous chapter, every gentleman in Virginia, not wholly -incapable of rendering service, enlisted at the beginning of the war, -and the companies, unarmed, untrained, and hardly even organized, -were sent at once to camps of instruction. Here they were in theory -drilled and disciplined and made into soldiers, by the little handful -of available West-Pointers and the lads from the Military Institute -at Lexington. In point of fact, they were only organized and taught -the rudiments of the drill before being sent to the front as -full-fledged soldiers; and it was only after a year or more of active -service in the field that they began to suspect what the real work -and the real character of the modern soldier is. - -Our ideas of the life and business of a soldier were drawn chiefly -from the adventures of Ivanhoe and Charles O'Malley, two worthies -with whose personal history almost every man in the army was -familiar. The men who volunteered went to war of their own accord, -and were wholly unaccustomed to acting on any other than their -own motion. They were hardy lovers of field sports, accustomed to -out-door life, and in all physical respects excellent material -of which to make an army. But they were not used to control of -any sort, and were not disposed to obey anybody except for good -and sufficient reason given. While actually on drill they obeyed -the word of command, not so much by reason of its being proper to -obey a command, as because obedience was in that case necessary to -the successful issue of a pretty performance in which they were -interested. Off drill they did as they pleased, holding themselves -gentlemen, and as such bound to consult only their own wills. Their -officers were of themselves, chosen by election, and subject, by -custom, to enforced resignation upon petition of the men. Only -corporals cared sufficiently little for their position to risk any -magnifying of their office by the enforcement of discipline. I make -of them an honorable exception, out of regard for the sturdy corporal -who, at Ashland, marched six of us (a guard detail) through the very -middle of a puddle, assigning as his reason for doing so the fact -that "It's plagued little authority they give us corporals, and -I mean to use that little, any how." Even corporals were elected, -however, and until December, 1861, I never knew a single instance in -which a captain dared offend his men by breaking a non-commissioned -officer, or appointing one, without submitting the matter to a vote -of the company. In that first instance the captain had to bolster -himself up with written authority from head-quarters, and even then -it required three weeks of mingled diplomacy and discipline to quell -the mutiny which resulted. - -With troops of this kind, the reader will readily understand, a -feeling of very democratic equality prevailed, so far at least as -military rank had anything to do with it. Officers were no better -than men, and so officers and men messed and slept together on terms -of entire equality, quarreling and even fighting now and then, in a -gentlemanly way, but without a thought of allowing differences of -military rank to have any influence in the matter. The theory was -that the officers were the creatures of the men, chosen by election -to represent their constituency in the performance of certain duties, -and that only during good behavior. And to this theory the officers -themselves gave in their adhesion in a hundred ways. Indeed, they -could do nothing else, inasmuch as they knew no way of quelling a -mutiny. - -There was one sort of rank, however, which was both maintained and -respected from the first, namely, that of social life. The line of -demarkation between gentry and common people is not more sharply -drawn anywhere than in Virginia. It rests there upon an indeterminate -something or other, known as family. To come of a good family is -a patent of nobility, and there is no other way whatever by which -any man or any woman can find a passage into the charmed circle of -Virginia's peerage. There is no college of heralds, to be sure, to -which doubtful cases may be referred, and there is no law governing -the matter; but every Virginian knows what families are, and what are -not good ones, and so mistakes are impossible. The social position of -every man is sharply defined, and every man carried it with him into -the army. The man of good family felt himself superior, as in most -cases he unquestionably was, to his fellow-soldier of less excellent -birth; and this distinction was sufficient, during the early years of -the war, to override everything like military rank. In one instance -which I remember, a young private asserted his superiority of social -standing so effectually as to extort from the lieutenant commanding -his company a public apology for an insult offered in the subjection -of the private to double duty, as a punishment for absence from -roll-call. The lieutenant was brave enough to have taken a flogging -at the hands of the insulted private, perhaps, but he could not face -the declared sentiment of the entire company, and so he apologized. -I have known numberless cases in which privates have declined dinner -and other invitations from officers who had presumed upon their -shoulder-straps in asking the company of their social superiors. - -In the camp of instruction at Ashland, where the various cavalry -companies existing in Virginia were sent to be made into soldiers, it -was a very common thing indeed for men who grew tired of camp fare to -take their meals at the hotel, and one or two of them rented cottages -and brought their families there, excusing themselves from attendance -upon unreasonably early roll-calls, by pleading the distance from -their cottages to the parade-ground. Whenever a detail was made for -the purpose of cleaning the camp-ground, the men detailed regarded -themselves as responsible for the proper performance of the task by -their servants, and uncomplainingly took upon themselves the duty -of sitting on the fence and superintending the work. The two or -three men of the overseer class who were to be found in nearly every -company turned some nimble quarters by standing other men's turns -of guard-duty at twenty-five cents an hour; and one young gentleman -of my own company, finding himself assigned to a picket rope post, -where his only duty was to guard the horses and prevent them, in -their untrained exuberance of spirit, from becoming entangled in -each other's heels and halters, coolly called his servant and turned -the matter over to him, with a rather informal but decidedly pointed -injunction not to let those horses get themselves into trouble if he -valued his hide. This case coming to the ears of Colonel (afterwards -General) Ewell, who was commanding the camp, that officer reorganized -the guard service upon principles as novel as they were objectionable -to the men. He required the men to stand their own turns, and, worse -than that, introduced the system, in vogue among regular troops, of -keeping the entire guard detail at the guard-house when not on post, -an encroachment upon personal liberty which sorely tried the patience -of the young cavaliers. - -It was in this undisciplined state that the men who afterwards made -up the army under Lee were sent to the field to meet the enemy at -Bull Run and elsewhere, and the only wonder is that they were ever -able to fight at all. They were certainly not soldiers. They were -as ignorant of the alphabet of obedience as their officers were of -the art of commanding. And yet they acquitted themselves reasonably -well, a fact which can be explained only by reference to the causes -of their insubordination in camp. These men were the people of the -South, and the war was their own; wherefore they fought to win it of -their own accord, and not at all because their officers commanded -them to do so. Their personal spirit and their intelligence were -their sole elements of strength. Death has few terrors for such men, -as compared with dishonor, and so they needed no officers at all, and -no discipline, to insure their personal good conduct on the field -of battle. The same elements of character, too, made them accept -hardship with the utmost cheerfulness, as soon as hardship became a -necessary condition to the successful prosecution of a war that every -man of them regarded as his own. In camp, at Richmond or Ashland, -they had shunned all unnecessary privation and all distasteful duty, -because they then saw no occasion to endure avoidable discomfort. But -in the field they showed themselves great, stalwart men in spirit -as well as in bodily frame, and endured cheerfully the hardships of -campaigning precisely as they would have borne the fatigues of a -hunt, as incidents encountered in the prosecution of their purposes. - -During the spring and early summer of 1861, the men did not dream -that they were to be paid anything for their services, or even -that the government was to clothe them. They had bought their own -uniforms, and whenever these wore out they ordered new ones to be -sent, by the first opportunity, from home. I remember the very first -time the thought of getting clothing from the government ever entered -my own mind. I was serving in Stuart's cavalry, and the summer of -1861 was nearly over. My boots had worn out, and as there happened -at the time to be a strict embargo upon all visiting on the part of -non-military people, I could not get a new pair from home. The spurs -of my comrades had made uncomfortable impressions upon my bare feet -every day for a week, when some one suggested that I might possibly -buy a pair of boots from the quartermaster, who was for the first -time in possession of some government property of that description. -When I returned with the boots and reported that the official had -refused my proffered cash, contenting himself with charging the -amount against me as a debit to be deducted from the amount of my -_pay and clothing allowance_, there was great merriment in the camp. -The idea that there was anybody back of us in this war--anybody -who could, by any ingenuity of legal quibbling, be supposed to be -indebted to us for our voluntary services in our own cause--was too -ridiculous to be treated seriously. "Pay money" became the standing -subject for jests. The card-playing with which the men amused -themselves suffered a revolution at once; euchre gave place to poker, -played for "pay money," the winnings to fall due when pay-day should -come,--a huge joke which was heartily enjoyed. - -From this the reader will see how little was done in the beginning -of the war toward the organization of an efficient quartermaster's -department, and how completely this ill-organized and undisciplined -mob of plucky gentlemen was left to prosecute the war as best it -could, trusting to luck for clothing and even for food. Of these -things I shall have occasion to speak more fully in a future chapter, -wherein I shall have something to say of the management of affairs at -Richmond. At present, I merely refer to the matter for the purpose -of correcting an error (if I may hope to do that) which seems -likely to creep into history. We have been told over and over again -that the Confederate army could not possibly have given effectual -pursuit to General McDowell's flying forces after the battle of -Bull Run. It is urged, in defense of the inaction which made of -that day's work a waste effort, that we could not move forward -for want of transportation and supplies. Now, without discussing -the question whether or not a prompt movement on Washington would -have resulted favorably to the Confederates, I am certain, as -every man who was there is, that this want of transportation and -supplies had nothing whatever to do with it. We had no supplies -of any importance, it is true, but none were coming to us there, -and we were no whit better off in this regard at Manassas than we -would have been before Washington. And having nothing to transport, -we needed no transportation. Had the inefficiency of the supply -department stopped short at its failure to furnish wagon trains, it -might have stood in the way of a forward movement. But that was no -ordinary incompetence which governed this department of our service -in all its ramifications. The breadth and comprehensiveness of that -incompetence were its distinguishing characteristics. In failing -to furnish anything to transport, it neutralized its failure to -furnish transportation, and the army that fought at Bull Run would -have been as well off anywhere else as there, during the next ten -days. Indeed, two days after the battle we were literally starved out -at Manassas, and were forced to advance to Fairfax Court House in -order to get the supplies which the Union army had left in abundance -wherever there was a storing-place for them. The next morning after -the battle, many of the starving men went off on their own account -to get provisions, and they knew very well where to find them. There -were none at Manassas, but by crossing Bull Run and following the -line of the Federal retreat, we soon gathered a store sufficient to -last us, while the authorities of the quartermaster's department were -finding out how to transport the few sheet-iron frying-pans which, -with an unnecessary tent here and there, were literally the only -things there were to be transported at all. Food, which was the only -really necessary thing just then, lay ahead of us and nowhere else. -All the ammunition we had we could and did move with the wagons at -hand. - -To return to the temper of the troops and people. Did the Southerners -really think themselves a match for ten times their own numbers? I -know the reader wants to ask this question, because almost everybody -I talk to on the subject asks it in one shape or another. In answer -let me say, I think a few of the more enthusiastic women, cherishing -a blind faith in the righteousness of their cause, and believing, -in spite of historical precedent, that wars always end with strict -regard to the laws of poetic justice, did think something of the -sort; and I am certain that all the stump speakers of the kind I -have hitherto described held a like faith most devoutly. But with -these exceptions I never saw any Southerner who hoped for any but -well-fought-for success. It was not a question of success or defeat -with them at all. They thought they saw their duty plainly, and they -did it without regard to the consequences. Their whole hearts were -in the cause, and as they were human beings they naturally learned -to expect the result for which they were laboring and fighting and -suffering; but they based no hopes upon any such fancy as that the -Virginian soldier was the military equivalent of ten or of two -Pennsylvanians armed as well as he. On the contrary, they busily -counted the chances and weighed the probabilities on both sides from -the first. They claimed an advantage in the fact that their young -men were more universally accustomed to field sports and the use of -arms than were those of the North. They thought too, that, fighting -on their own soil, in an essentially defensive struggle, they would -have some advantage, as they certainly did. They thought they might -in the end tire their enemy out, and they hoped from the first for -relief through foreign intervention in some shape. These were the -grounds of their hopes; but had there been no hope for them at all, I -verily believe they would have fought all the same. Certainly they -had small reason to hope for success after the campaign of 1863, but -they fought on nevertheless, until they could fight no more. Let the -reader remember that as the Southerners understood the case, they -could not, without a complete sacrifice of honor, do anything else -than fight on until utterly crushed, and he will then be prepared to -understand how small a figure the question of success or failure cut -in determining their course. - -The unanimity of the people was simply marvelous. So long as the -question of secession was under discussion, opinions were both -various and violent. The moment secession was finally determined -upon, a revolution was wrought. There was no longer anything to -discuss, and so discussion ceased. Men got ready for war, and -delicate women with equal spirit sent them off with smiling faces. -The man who tarried at home for never so brief a time, after -the call to arms had been given, found it necessary to explain -himself to every woman of his acquaintance, and no explanation was -sufficient to shield him from the social ostracism consequent upon -any long-tarrying. Throughout the war it was the same, and when the -war ended the men who lived to return were greeted with sad faces by -those who had cheerfully and even joyously sent them forth to the -battle. - -Under these circumstances, the reader will readily understand, the -first call for troops took nearly all the men of Virginia away from -their homes. Even the boys in the colleges and schools enlisted, and -these establishments were forced to suspend for want of students. In -one college the president organized the students, and making himself -their commander, led them directly from the class-room to the field. -So strong and all-embracing was the thought that every man owed it -to the community to become a soldier, that even clergymen went into -the army by the score, and large districts of country were left too -without a physician, until the people could secure, by means of a -memorial, the unanimous vote of the company to which some favorite -physician belonged, declaring it to be his patriotic duty to remain -at home. Without such an instruction from his comrades no physician -would consent to withdraw, and even with it very many of them -preferred to serve in the ranks. - -These were the men of whom the Confederate army was for the first -year or two chiefly composed. After that the conscription brought -in a good deal of material which was worse than useless. There were -some excellent soldiers who came into the army as conscripts, but -they were exceptions to the rule. For the most part the men whose -bodies were thus lugged in by force had no spirits to bring with -them. They had already lived a long time under all the contumely -which a reputation for confessed cowardice could bring upon them. -The verdict of their neighbors was already pronounced, and they could -not possibly change it now by good conduct. They brought discontent -with them into the camp, and were sullenly worthless as soldiers -throughout. They were a leaven of demoralization which the army would -have been better without. But they were comparatively few in number, -and as the character of the army was crystallized long before these -men came into it at all, they had little influence in determining the -conduct of the whole. If they added nothing to our strength, they -could do little to weaken us, and in any estimate of the character -of the Confederate army they hardly count at all. The men who early -in the war struggled for a place in the front rank, whenever there -was chance of a fight, and thought themselves unlucky if they -failed to get it, are the men who gave character afterwards to the -well-organized and well-disciplined army which so long contested the -ground before Richmond. They did become soldiers after a while, well -regulated and thoroughly effective. The process of disciplining them -took away none of their personal spirit or their personal interest -in the war, but it taught them the value of unquestioning obedience, -and the virtue there was in yielding it. I remember very well the -extreme coolness with which, in one of the valley skirmishes, a few -days before the first battle of Bull Run, a gentleman private in my -own company rode out of the ranks for the purpose of suggesting to -J. E. B. Stuart the propriety of charging a gun which was shelling -us, and which seemed nearer to us than to its supporting infantry. I -heard another gentleman without rank, who had brought a dispatch to -Stonewall Jackson, request that officer to "cut the answer short," -on the ground that his horse was a little lame and he feared his -inability to deliver it as promptly as was desirable. These men and -their comrades lost none of this personal solicitude for the proper -conduct of the war, in process of becoming soldiers, but they learned -not to question or advise, when their duty was to listen and obey. -Their very errors, as General Stuart once said in my hearing, proved -them the best of material out of which to make soldiers. "They are -pretty good officers now," he said, "and after a while they will make -excellent soldiers too. They only need _reducing to the ranks_." - -This personal interest in the war, which in their undisciplined -beginning led them into indiscreet meddling with details of policy -belonging to their superiors, served to sustain them when as -disciplined soldiers they were called upon to bear a degree of -hardship of which they had never dreamed. They learned to trust -the management of affairs to the officers, asking no questions, -but finding their own greatest usefulness in cheerful and ready -obedience. The wish to help, which made them unsoldierly at first, -served to make them especially good soldiers when it was duly -tempered with discipline and directed by experience. The result was -that even in the darkest days of the struggle, when these soldiers -knew they were losing everything but their honor, when desperation -led them to think of a thousand expedients and to see every blunder -that was made, they waited patiently for the word of command, and -obeyed it with alacrity and cheerfulness when it came, however absurd -it might seem. I remember an incident which will serve to illustrate -this. The Federal forces one day captured an important fort on the -north side of James River, which had been left almost unguarded, -through the blundering of the officer charged with its defense. It -must be retaken, or the entire line in that place must be abandoned, -and a new one built, at great risk of losing Richmond. Two bodies of -infantry were ordered to charge it on different sides, while the -command to which I was then attached should shell it vigorously with -mortars. In order that the attack might be simultaneously made on the -two sides, a specific time was set for it, but for some unexplained -reason there was a misunderstanding between the two commanders. The -one on the farther side began the attack twenty minutes too soon. -Every man of the other body, which lay there by our still silent -mortars, knew perfectly well that the attack had begun, and that they -ought to strike then if at all. They knew that, without their aid and -that of the mortars, their friends would be repulsed, and that a like -result would follow their own assault when it should be made, twenty -minutes later. They remained as they were, however, hearing the -rattle of the musketry and listening with calm faces to the exulting -cheers of the victorious enemy. Then came their own time, and knowing -perfectly well that their assault was now a useless waste of life, -they obeyed the order as it had been delivered to them, and knocked -at the very gates of that fortress for an hour. These men, in -1861, would have clamored for immediate attack as the only hope of -accomplishing anything, and had their commander insisted, in such a -case, upon obeying orders, they would in all probability have charged -without him. In 1864, having become soldiers, they obeyed orders even -at cost of failure. They had reduced themselves to the ranks--that -was all. - - -FOOTNOTE: - -[1] In order that no reader may misconceive the spirit in which this -chapter is written, I wish to say, at the outset, that in commenting -upon the material of which the Southern army was made up, nothing has -been further from my thought than to reflect, even by implication, -upon the character of the Union army or of the men who composed it, -for indeed I honor both as highly as anybody can. I think I have -outlived whatever war prejudices I may have brought with me out of -the struggle, and in writing of some of the better characteristics of -the early Virginian volunteers, I certainly have not meant to deny -equal or like excellence to their foemen. I happen, however, to know -a great deal about the one army and very little about the other,--a -state of things consequent upon the peculiar warmth with which we -were always greeted whenever we undertook to visit the camps of our -friends on the other side. Will the reader please bear in mind, -then, that my estimate of the character of the Southern troops is a -positive and not a comparative one, and that nothing said in praise -of the one army is meant to be a reflection upon the other? Between -Bull Run and Appomattox I had ample opportunity to learn respect for -the courage and manliness of the men who overcame us, and since the -close of the war I have learned to know many of them as tried and -true friends, and gentlemen of noblest mold. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -THE TEMPER OF THE WOMEN. - - -During the latter part of the year in which the war between the -States came to an end, a Southern comic writer, in a letter addressed -to Artemus Ward, summed up the political outlook in one sentence, -reading somewhat as follows: "You may reconstruct the men, with your -laws and things, but how are you going to reconstruct the women? -_Whoop-ee!_" Now this unauthorized but certainly very expressive -interjection had a deal of truth at its back, and I am very sure -that I have never yet known a thoroughly "reconstructed" woman. The -reason, of course, is not far to seek. The women of the South could -hardly have been more desperately in earnest than their husbands and -brothers and sons were, in the prosecution of the war, but with -their woman-natures they gave themselves wholly to the cause, and -having loved it heartily when it gave promise of a sturdy life, they -almost worship it now that they have strewn its bier with funeral -flowers. To doubt its righteousness, or to falter in their loyalty to -it while it lived, would have been treason and infidelity; to do the -like now that it is dead would be to them little less than sacrilege. - -I wish I could adequately tell my reader of the part those women -played in the war. If I could make these pages show the half of their -nobleness; if I could describe the sufferings they endured, and tell -of their cheerfulness under it all; if the reader might guess the -utter unselfishness with which they laid themselves and the things -they held nearest their hearts upon the altar of the only country -they knew as their own, the rare heroism with which they played their -sorrowful part in a drama which was to them a long tragedy; if my -pages could be made to show the half of these things, all womankind, -I am sure, would tenderly cherish the record, and nobody would wonder -again at the tenacity with which the women of the South still hold -their allegiance to the lost cause. - -Theirs was a peculiarly hard lot. The real sorrows of war, like those -of drunkenness, always fall most heavily upon women. They may not -bear arms. They may not even share the triumphs which compensate -their brethren for toil and suffering and danger. They must sit still -and endure. The poverty which war brings to them wears no cheerful -face, but sits down with them to empty tables and pinches them sorely -in solitude. - -After the victory, the men who have won it throw up their hats in a -glad huzza, while their wives and daughters await in sorest agony -of suspense the news which may bring hopeless desolation to their -hearts. To them the victory may mean the loss of those for whom they -lived and in whom they hoped, while to those who have fought the -battle it brings only gladness. And all this was true of Southern -women almost without exception. The fact that all the men capable -of bearing arms went into the army, and stayed there, gave to every -woman in the South a personal interest not only in the general -result of each battle, but in the list of killed and wounded as -well. Poverty, too, and privation of the sorest kind, was the common -lot, while the absence of the men laid many heavy burdens of work -and responsibility upon shoulders unused to either. But they bore -it all, not cheerfully only, but gladly. They believed it to be the -duty of every able-bodied man to serve in the army, and they eagerly -sent the men of their own homes to the field, frowning undisguisedly -upon every laggard until there were no laggards left. And their -spirit knew no change as the war went on. Their idea of men's duty -comprehended nothing less than persistence as long as a shot could be -fired. When they saw that the end was not to be victory, but defeat, -that fact made no change whatever in their view of the duty to be -done. Still less did their own privations and labors and sufferings -tend to dampen their ardor. On the contrary, the more heavily the war -bore upon themselves, the more persistently did they demand that it -should be fought out to the end. When they lost a husband, a son, or -a brother, they held the loss only an additional reason for faithful -adherence to the cause. Having made such a sacrifice to that which -was almost a religion to them, they had, if possible, less thought -than ever of proving unfaithful to it. - -I put these general statements first, so that the reader who shall -be interested in such anecdotes as I shall have to tell may not be -misled thereby into the thought that these good women were implacable -or vindictive, when they were only devoted to a cause which in their -eyes represented the sum of all righteousness. - -I remember a conversation between two of them,--one a young wife -whose husband was in the army, and the other an elderly lady, with no -husband or son, but with many friends and near relatives in marching -regiments. The younger lady remarked,-- - -"I'm sure I do not hate our enemies. I earnestly hope their souls may -go to heaven, but I would like to blow all their mortal bodies away, -as fast as they come upon our soil." - -"Why, you shock me, my dear," replied the other; "I don't see why you -want the Yankees to go to heaven! I hope to get there myself some -day, and I'm sure I shouldn't want to go if I thought I should find -any of them there." - -This old lady was convinced from the first that the South would -fail, and she based this belief upon the fact that we had permitted -Yankees to build railroads through the Southern States. "I tell you," -she would say, "that's what they built the railroads for. They knew -the war was coming, and they got ready for it. The railroads will -whip us, you may depend. What else were they made for? We got on well -enough without them, and we oughtn't to have let anybody build them." -And no amount of reasoning would serve to shake her conviction that -the people of the North had built all our railroads with treacherous -intent, though the stock of the only road she had ever seen was held -very largely by the people along its line, many of whom were her own -friends. - -She always insisted, too, that the Northern troops came South and -made war for the sole purpose of taking possession of our lands and -negroes, and she was astonished almost out of her wits when she -learned that the negroes were free. She had supposed that they were -simply to change masters, and even then she lived for months in -daily anticipation of the coming of "the new land owners," who were -waiting, she supposed, for assignments of plantations to be made to -them by military authority. - -"They'll quarrel about the division, maybe," she said one day, -"and then there'll be a chance for us to whip them again, I hope." -The last time I saw her, she had not yet become convinced that -title-deeds were still to be respected. - -A young girl, ordinarily of a very gentle disposition, astonished -a Federal colonel one day by an outburst of temper which served at -least to show the earnestness of her purpose to uphold her side of -the argument. She lived in a part of the country then for the first -time held by the Federal army, and a colonel, with some members of -his staff, made her family the unwilling recipients of a call one -morning. Seeing the piano open, the colonel asked the young lady -to play, but she declined. He then went to the instrument himself, -but he had hardly begun to play when the damsel, raising the piano -top, severed nearly all the strings with a hatchet, saying to the -astonished performer, as she did so,-- - -"That's my piano, and it shall not give you a minute's pleasure." The -colonel bowed, apologized, and replied,-- - -"If all your people are as ready as you to make costly sacrifices, we -might as well go home." - -And most of them were ready and willing to make similar sacrifices. -One lady of my acquaintance knocked in the heads of a dozen casks -of choice wine rather than allow some Federal officers to sip as -many glasses of it. Another destroyed her own library, which was -very precious to her, when that seemed the only way in which she -could prevent the staff of a general officer, camped near her, from -enjoying a few hours' reading in her parlor every morning. - -In New Orleans, soon after the war, I saw in a drawing-room, one day, -an elaborately framed letter, of which, the curtains being drawn, I -could read only the signature, which to my astonishment was that of -General Butler. - -"What is that?" I asked of the young gentlewoman I was visiting. - -"Oh, that's my diploma, my certificate of good behavior, from -General Butler;" and taking it down from the wall, she permitted me -to read it, telling me at the same time its history. It seems that -the young lady had been very active in aiding captured Confederates -to escape from New Orleans, and for this and other similar offenses -she was arrested several times. A gentleman who knew General Butler -personally had interested himself in behalf of her and some of her -friends, and upon making an appeal for their discharge received this -personal note from the commanding general, in which he declared his -willingness to discharge all the others, "But that black-eyed Miss -B.," he wrote, "seems to me an incorrigible little devil whom even -prison fare won't tame." The young lady had framed the note, and she -cherishes it yet, doubtless. - -There is a story told of General Forrest, which will serve to show -his opinion of the pluck and devotion of the Southern women. He was -drawing his men up in line of battle one day, and it was evident that -a sharp encounter was about to take place. Some ladies ran from a -house, which happened to stand just in front of his line, and asked -him anxiously,-- - -"What shall we do, general, what shall we do?" - -Strong in his faith that they only wished to help in some way, he -replied,-- - -"I really don't see that you can do much, except to stand on stumps, -wave your bonnets, and shout 'Hurrah, boys!'" - -In Richmond, when the hospitals were filled with wounded men brought -in from the seven days' fighting with McClellan, and the surgeons -found it impossible to dress half the wounds, a band was formed, -consisting of nearly all the married women of the city, who took -upon themselves the duty of going to the hospitals and dressing -wounds from morning till night; and they persisted in their painful -duty until every man was cared for, saving hundreds of lives, as the -surgeons unanimously testified. When nitre was found to be growing -scarce, and the supply of gunpowder was consequently about to give -out, women all over the land dug up the earth in their smoke-houses -and tobacco barns, and with their own hands faithfully extracted the -desired salt, for use in the government laboratories. - -Many of them denied themselves not only delicacies, but substantial -food also, when by enduring semi-starvation they could add to the -stock of food at the command of the subsistence officers. I myself -knew more than one houseful of women, who, from the moment that food -began to grow scarce, refused to eat meat or drink coffee, living -thenceforth only upon vegetables of a speedily perishable sort, in -order that they might leave the more for the soldiers in the field. -When a friend remonstrated with one of them, on the ground that her -health, already frail, was breaking down utterly for want of proper -diet, she replied, in a quiet, determined way, "I know that very -well; but it is little that I can do, and I must do that little at -any cost. My health and my life are worth less than those of my -brothers, and if they give theirs to the cause, why should not I do -the same? I would starve to death cheerfully if I could feed one -soldier more by doing so, but the things I eat can't be sent to camp. -I think it a sin to eat anything that can be used for rations." And -she meant what she said, too, as a little mound in the church-yard -testifies. - -Every Confederate remembers gratefully the reception given him when -he went into any house where these women were. Whoever he might be, -and whatever his plight, if he wore the gray, he was received, not -as a beggar or tramp, not even as a stranger, but as a son of the -house, for whom it held nothing too good, and whose comfort was the -one care of all its inmates, even though their own must be sacrificed -in securing it. When the hospitals were crowded, the people earnestly -besought permission to take the men to their houses and to care for -them there, and for many months almost every house within a hundred -miles of Richmond held one or more wounded men as especially honored -guests. - -"God bless these Virginia women!" said a general officer from one of -the cotton States, one day, "they're worth a regiment apiece;" and he -spoke the thought of the army, except that their blessing covered the -whole country as well as Virginia. - -The ingenuity with which these good ladies discovered or manufactured -onerous duties for themselves was surprising, and having discovered -or imagined some new duty they straightway proceeded to do it at any -cost. An excellent Richmond dame was talking with a soldier friend, -when he carelessly remarked that there was nothing which so greatly -helped to keep up a contented and cheerful spirit among the men as -the receipt of letters from their woman friends. Catching at the -suggestion as a revelation of duty, she asked, "And cheerfulness -makes better soldiers of the men, does it not?" Receiving yes for an -answer, the frail little woman, already overburdened with cares of -an unusual sort, sat down and made out a list of all the men with -whom she was acquainted even in the smallest possible way, and from -that day until the end of the war she wrote one letter a week to -each, a task which, as her acquaintance was large, taxed her time -and strength very severely. Not content with this, she wrote on -the subject in the newspapers, earnestly urging a like course upon -her sisters, many of whom adopted the suggestion at once, much to -the delight of the soldiers, who little dreamed that the kindly, -cheerful, friendly letters which every mail brought into camp, were -a part of woman's self-appointed work for the success of the common -cause. From the beginning to the end of the war it was the same. No -cry of pain escaped woman's lips at the parting which sent the men -into camp; no word of despondency was spoken when hope seemed most -surely dead; no complaint from the women ever reminded their soldier -husbands and sons and brothers that there was hardship and privation -and terror at home. They bore all with brave hearts and cheerful -faces, and even when they mourned the death of their most tenderly -loved ones, they comforted themselves with the thought that they -buried only heroic dust. - -"It is the death I would have chosen for him," wrote the widow of -a friend whose loss I had announced to her. "I loved him for his -manliness, and now that he has shown that manliness by dying as a -hero dies, I mourn, but am not heart-broken. I know that a brave man -awaits me whither I am going." - -They carried their efforts to cheer and help the troops into every -act of their lives. When they could, they visited camp. Along the -lines of march they came out with water or coffee or tea,--the best -they had, whatever it might be,--with flowers, or garlands of green -when their flowers were gone. A bevy of girls stood under a sharp -fire from the enemy's lines at Petersburg one day, while they sang -Bayard Taylor's Song of the Camp, responding to an encore with the -stanza:-- - - "Ah! soldiers, to your honored rest, - Your truth and valor bearing, - The bravest are the tenderest, - The loving are the daring!" - -Indeed, the coolness of women under fire was always a matter of -surprise to me. A young girl, not more than sixteen years of age, -acted as guide to a scouting party during the early years of the -war, and when we urged her to go back after the enemy had opened a -vigorous fire upon us, she declined, on the plea that she believed -we were "going to charge those fellows," and she "wanted to see the -fun." At Petersburg women did their shopping and went about their -duties under a most uncomfortable bombardment, without evincing the -slightest fear or showing any nervousness whatever. - -But if the cheerfulness of the women during the war was remarkable, -what shall we say of the way in which they met its final failure and -the poverty that came with it? The end of the war completed the ruin -which its progress had wrought. Women who had always lived in luxury, -and whose labors and sufferings during the war were lightened by the -consciousness that in suffering and laboring they were doing their -part toward the accomplishment of the end upon which all hearts were -set, were now compelled to face not temporary but permanent poverty, -and to endure, without a motive or a sustaining purpose, still sorer -privations than any they had known in the past. The country was -exhausted, and nobody could foresee any future but one of abject -wretchedness. It was seed-time, but the suddenly freed negroes had -not yet learned that freedom meant aught else than idleness, and the -spring was gone before anything like a reorganization of the labor -system could be effected. The men might emigrate when they should get -home, but the case of the women was a very sorry one indeed. They -kept their spirits up through it all, however, and improvised a new -social system in which absolute poverty, cheerfully borne, was the -badge of respectability. Everybody was poor except the speculators -who had fattened upon the necessities of the women and children, and -so poverty was essential to anything like good repute. The return -of the soldiers made some sort of social festivity necessary, and -"starvation parties" were given, at which it was understood that the -givers were wholly unable to set out refreshments of any kind. In -the matter of dress, too, the general poverty was recognized, and -every one went clad in whatever he or she happened to have. The want -of means became a jest, and nobody mourned over it; while all were -laboring to repair their wasted fortunes as they best could. And all -this was due solely to the unconquerable cheerfulness of the Southern -women. The men came home moody, worn out, discouraged, and but for -the influence of woman's cheerfulness, the Southern States might have -fallen into a lethargy from which they could not have recovered for -generations. - -Such prosperity as they have since achieved is largely due to the -courage and spirit of their noble women. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -OF THE TIME WHEN MONEY WAS "EASY." - - -It seems a remarkable fact that during the late Congressional -travail with the currency question, no one of the people in or out -of Congress, who were concerned lest there should not be enough -money in the country to "move the crops," ever took upon himself the -pleasing task of rehearsing the late Confederacy's financial story, -for the purpose of showing by example how simple and easy a thing -it is to create wealth out of nothing by magic revolutions of the -printing-press, and to make rich, by act of Congress, everybody not -too lazy to gather free dollars into a pile. The story has all the -flavor of the Princess Scheherezade's romances, with the additional -merit of being historically true. For once a whole people was rich. -Money was "easy" enough to satisfy everybody, and everybody had it -in unstinted measure. This money was not, it is true, of a quality -to please the believers in a gold or other arbitrary standard of -value, but that is a matter of little consequence, now that senators -and representatives of high repute have shown that the best currency -possible is that which exists only by the will of the government, and -the volume of which is regulated by the cravings of the people alone. -That so apt an illustration of the financial views of the majority in -Congress should have been wholly neglected, during the discussions, -seems therefore unaccountable. - -The financial system adopted by the Confederate government was -singularly simple and free from technicalities. It consisted chiefly -in the issue of treasury notes enough to meet all the expenses of -the government, and in the present advanced state of the art of -printing there was but one difficulty incident to this process; -namely, the impossibility of having the notes signed in the Treasury -Department, as fast as they were needed. There happened, however, to -be several thousand young ladies in Richmond willing to accept light -and remunerative employment at their homes, and as it was really a -matter of small moment whose name the notes bore, they were given out -in sheets to these young ladies, who signed and returned them for a -consideration. I shall not undertake to guess how many Confederate -treasury notes were issued. Indeed, I am credibly informed by a -gentleman who was high in office in the Treasury Department, that -even the secretary himself did not certainly know. The acts of -Congress authorizing issues of currency were the hastily formulated -thought of a not very wise body of men, and my informant tells me -they were frequently susceptible of widely different construction by -different officials. However that may be, it was clearly out of the -power of the government ever to redeem the notes, and whatever may -have been the state of affairs within the treasury, nobody outside -its precincts ever cared to muddle his head in an attempt to get at -exact figures. - -We knew only that money was astonishingly abundant. Provisions -fell short sometimes, and the supply of clothing was not always as -large as we should have liked, but nobody found it difficult to get -money enough. It was to be had almost for the asking. And to some -extent the abundance of the currency really seemed to atone for its -extreme badness. Going the rounds of the pickets on the coast of -South Carolina, one day, in 1863, I heard a conversation between a -Confederate and a Union soldier, stationed on opposite sides of a -little inlet, in the course of which this point was brought out. - -_Union Soldier._ Aren't times rather hard over there, Johnny? - -_Confederate Soldier._ Not at all. We've all the necessaries of life. - -_U. S._ Yes; but how about luxuries? You never see any coffee -nowadays, do you? - -_C. S._ Plenty of it. - -_U. S._ Isn't it pretty high? - -_C. S._ Forty dollars a pound, that's all. - -_U. S._ Whew! Don't you call that high? - -_C. S._ (after reflecting). Well, perhaps it is a trifle uppish, but -then you never saw money so plentiful as it is with us. We hardly -know what to do with it, and don't mind paying high prices for things -we want. - -And that was the universal feeling. Money was so easily got, and its -value was so utterly uncertain, that we were never able to determine -what was a fair price for anything. We fell into the habit of paying -whatever was asked, knowing that to-morrow we should have to pay -more. Speculation became the easiest and surest thing imaginable. -The speculator saw no risks of loss. Every article of merchandise -rose in value every day, and to buy anything this week and sell it -next was to make an enormous profit quite as a matter of course. So -uncertain were prices, or rather so constantly did they tend upward, -that when a cargo of cadet gray cloths was brought into Charleston -once, an officer in my battery, attending the sale, was able to -secure enough of the cloth to make two suits of clothes, without any -expense whatever, merely by speculating upon an immediate advance. He -became the purchaser, at auction, of a case of the goods, and had no -difficulty, as soon as the sale was over, in finding a merchant who -was glad to take his bargain off his hands, giving him the cloth he -wanted as a premium. The officer could not possibly have paid for the -case of goods, but there was nothing surer than that he could sell -again at an advance the moment the auctioneer's hammer fell on the -last lot of cloths. - -Naturally enough, speculation soon fell into very bad repute, and -the epithet "speculator" came to be considered the most opprobrious -in the whole vocabulary of invective. The feeling was universal that -the speculators were fattening upon the necessities of the country -and the sufferings of the people. Nearly all mercantile business was -regarded at least with suspicion, and much of it fell into the hands -of people with no reputations to lose, a fact which certainly did not -tend to relieve the community in the matter of high prices. - -The prices which obtained were almost fabulous, and singularly enough -there seemed to be no sort of ratio existing between the values of -different articles. I bought coffee at forty dollars and tea at -thirty dollars a pound on the same day. - -My dinner at a hotel cost me twenty dollars, while five dollars -gained me a seat in the dress circle of the theatre. I paid one -dollar the next morning for a copy of the Examiner, but I might have -got the Whig, Dispatch, Enquirer, or Sentinel, for half that sum. For -some wretched tallow candles I paid ten dollars a pound. The utter -absence of proportion between these several prices is apparent, and -I know of no way of explaining it except upon the theory that the -unstable character of the money had superinduced a reckless disregard -of all value on the part of both buyers and sellers. A facetious -friend used to say prices were so high that nobody could see them, -and that they "got mixed for want of supervision." He held, however, -that the difference between the old and the new order of things was -a trifling one. "Before the war," he said, "I went to market with -the money in my pocket, and brought back my purchases in a basket; -now I take the money in the basket, and bring the things home in my -pocket." - -As I was returning to my home after the surrender at Appomattox -Court House, a party of us stopped at the residence of a planter for -supper, and as the country was full of marauders and horse thieves, -deserters from both armies, bent upon indiscriminate plunder, our -host set a little black boy to watch our horses while we ate, with -instructions to give the alarm if anybody should approach. After -supper we dealt liberally with little Sam. Silver and gold we had -none, of course, but Confederate money was ours in great abundance, -and we bestowed the crisp notes upon the guardian of our horses, -to the extent of several hundreds of dollars. A richer person than -that little negro I have never seen. Money, even at par, never -carried more of happiness with it than did those promises of a dead -government to pay. We frankly told Sam that he could buy nothing -with the notes, but the information brought no sadness to his simple -heart. - -"I don' want to buy nothin', master," he replied. "I's gwine to keep -dis al_ways_." - -I fancy his regard for the worthless paper, merely because it was -called money, was closely akin to the feeling which had made it -circulate among better-informed people than he. Everybody knew, long -before the surrender, that these notes never could be redeemed. There -was little reason to hope, during the last two years of the war, that -the "ratification of a treaty of peace between the Confederate States -and the United States," on which the payment was conditioned, would -ever come. We knew the paper was worthless, and yet it continued to -circulate. It professed to be money, and on the strength of that -profession people continued to take it in payment for goods. The -amount of it for which the owner of any article would part with his -possession was always uncertain. Prices were regulated largely by -accident, and were therefore wholly incongruous. - -But the disproportion between the prices of different articles -was not greater than that between the cost of goods imported -through the blockade and their selling price. The usual custom of -blockade-running firms was to build or buy a steamer in Europe, bring -it to Nassau in ballast, and load it there with assorted merchandise. -Selling this cargo in Charleston or Wilmington for Confederate money, -they would buy cotton with which to reload the ship for her outward -voyage. The owner of many of these ships once told me that if a -vessel which had brought in one cargo were lost with a load of cotton -on her outward voyage, the owner would lose nothing, the profits -on the merchandise being fully equal to the entire value of ship -and cotton. If he could get one cargo of merchandise in, and one of -cotton out, the loss of the ship with a second cargo of merchandise -would still leave him a clear profit of more than a hundred per cent. -upon his investment. And this was due solely to the abnormal state -of prices in the country, and not at all to the management of the -blockade-runners. They sold their cargoes at auction, and bought -cotton in the open market. - -Their merchandise brought fabulous prices, while cotton, for want of -a market, remained disproportionately low. That the merchants engaged -in this trade were in no way the authors of the state of prices may -be seen from two facts. First, if I am correctly informed, they -uniformly gave the government an opportunity to take such articles as -it had need of, and especially all the quinine imported, at the price -fixed in Richmond, without regard to the fact that speculators would -pay greatly more for the goods. In one case within my own knowledge -a heavy invoice of quinine was sold to the government for eleven -hundred dollars an ounce, when a speculator stood ready to take it -at double that price. Secondly, the cargo sales were peremptory, -and speculators sometimes combined and bought a cargo considerably -below the market price, by appearing at the sale in such numbers as -to exclude all other bidders. In one case, I remember, the general -commanding at Charleston annulled a cargo sale on this account, and -sent some of the speculators to jail for the purpose of giving other -people an opportunity to purchase needed goods at prices very much -higher than those forced upon the sellers by the combination at the -first sale. - -In the winter of 1863-64 Congress became aware of the fact that -prices were higher than they should be under a sound currency. If -Congress suspected this at any earlier date, there is nothing in the -proceedings of that body to indicate it. Now, however, the newspapers -were calling attention to an uncommonly ugly phase of the matter, and -reminding Congress that what the government bought with a currency -depreciated to less than one per cent. of its face, the government -must some day pay for in gold at par. The lawgivers took the alarm -and sat themselves down to devise a remedy for the evil condition -of affairs. With that infantile simplicity which characterized -nearly all the doings and quite all the financial legislation of the -Richmond Congress, it was decided that the very best way to enhance -the value of the currency was to depreciate it still further by -a declaratory statute, and then to issue a good deal more of it. -The act set a day, after which the currency already in circulation -should be worth only two thirds of its face, at which rate it was -made convertible into notes of the new issue, which some, at least, -of the members of Congress were innocent enough to believe would be -worth very nearly their par value. This measure was intended, of -course, to compel the funding of the currency, and it had that effect -to some extent, without doubt. Much of the old currency remained in -circulation, however, even after the new notes were issued. For a -time people calculated the discount, in passing and receiving the -old paper, but as the new notes showed an undiminished tendency to -still further depreciation, there were people, not a few, who spared -themselves the trouble of making the distinction. - -I am sometimes asked at what time prices attained their highest -point in the Confederacy, and I find that memory fails to answer the -question satisfactorily. They were about as high as they could be -in the fall of 1863, and I should be disposed to fix upon that as -the time when the climax was reached, but for my consciousness that -the law of constant appreciation was a fixed one throughout the war. -The financial condition got steadily worse to the end. I believe the -highest price, relatively, I ever saw paid, was for a pair of boots. -A cavalry officer, entering a little country store, found there one -pair of boots which fitted him. He inquired the price. "Two hundred -dollars," said the merchant. A five hundred dollar bill was offered, -but the merchant, having no smaller bills, could not change it. -"Never mind," said the cavalier, "I'll take the boots anyhow. Keep -the change; I never let a little matter of three hundred dollars -stand in the way of a trade." - -That was on the day before Lee's surrender, but it would not have -been an impossible occurrence at any time during the preceding year. -The money was of so little value that we parted with it gladly -whenever it would purchase anything at all desirable. I cheerfully -paid five dollars for a little salt, at Petersburg, in August, 1864, -and being thirsty drank my last two dollars in a half-pint of cider. - -The government's course in levying a tax in kind, as the only -possible way of making the taxation amount to anything, led speedily -to the adoption of a similar plan, as far as possible, by the -people. A physician would order from his planter friend ten or -twenty visits' worth of corn, and the transaction was a perfectly -intelligible one to both. The visits would be counted at ante-war -rates, and the corn estimated by the same standard. In the early -spring of 1865 I wanted a horse, and a friend having one to spare, I -sent for the animal, offering to pay whatever the owner should ask -for it. He could not fix a price, having literally no standard of -value to which he could appeal, but he sent me the horse, writing, in -reply to my note,-- - -"Take the horse, and when the war shall be over, if we are both alive -and you are able, give me as good a one in return. Don't send any -note or due-bill. It might complicate matters if either should die." - -A few months later, I paid my debt by returning the very horse I -had bought. I give this incident merely to show how utterly without -financial compass or rudder we were. - -How did people manage to live during such a time? I am often asked; -and as I look back at the history of those years, I can hardly -persuade myself that the problem was solved at all. A large part -of the people, however, was in the army, and drew rations from -the government. During the early years of the war, officers were -not given rations, but were allowed to buy provisions from the -commissaries at government prices. Subsequently, however, when -provisions became so scarce that it was necessary to limit the amount -consumed by officers as well as that eaten by the men, the purchase -system was abolished, and the whole army was fed upon daily rations. -The country people raised upon their plantations all the necessaries -of life, and were generally allowed to keep enough of them to live -on, the remainder being taken by the subsistence officers for army -use. The problem of a salt supply, on which depended the production -of meat, was solved in part by the establishment of small salt -factories along the coast, and in part by Governor Letcher's vigorous -management of the works in southwestern Virginia, and his wise -distribution of the product along the various lines of railroad. - -In the cities, living was not by any means so easy as in the country. -Business was paralyzed, and abundant as money was, it seems almost -incredible that city people got enough of it to live on. Very many of -them were employed, however, in various capacities, in the arsenals, -departments, bureaus, etc., and these were allowed to buy rations at -fixed rates, after the post-office clerks in Richmond had brought -matters to a crisis by resigning their clerkships to go into the -army, because they could not support life on their salaries of nine -thousand dollars a year. For the rest, if people had anything to -sell, they got enormous prices for it, and could live a while on -the proceeds. Above all, a kindly, helpful spirit was developed by -the common suffering and this, without doubt, kept many thousands -of people from starvation. Those who had anything shared it freely -with those who had nothing. There was no selfish looking forward, -and no hoarding for the time to come. During those terrible last -years, the future had nothing of pleasantness in its face, and -people learned not to think of it at all. To get through to-day was -the only care. Nobody formed any plans or laid by any money for -to-morrow or next week or next year, and indeed to most of us there -really seemed to be no future. I remember the start it gave me when -a clergyman, visiting camp, asked a number of us whether our long -stay in defensive works did not afford us an excellent opportunity -to study with a view to our professional life after the war. We were -not used to think of ourselves as possible survivors of a struggle -which was every day perceptibly thinning our ranks. The coming of -ultimate failure we saw clearly enough, but the future beyond was a -blank. The subject was naturally not a pleasant one, and by common -consent it was always avoided in conversation, until at last we -learned to avoid it in thought as well. We waited gloomily for the -end, but did not care particularly to speculate upon the question -when and how the end was to come. There was a vague longing for rest, -which found vent now and then in wild newspaper stories of signs and -omens portending the close of the war, but beyond this the matter was -hardly ever discussed. We had early forbidden ourselves to think of -any end to the struggle except a successful one, and that being now -an impossibility, we avoided the subject altogether. The newspaper -stories to which reference is made above were of the wildest and -absurdest sort. One Richmond paper issued an extra, in which it was -gravely stated that there was a spring near Fredericksburg which had -ceased to flow thirty days before the surrender of the British at -Yorktown, thirty days before the termination of the war of 1812, and -thirty days before the Mexican war ended; and that "this singularly -prophetic fountain has now again ceased to pour forth its waters." At -another time a hen near Lynchburg laid an egg, the newspapers said, -on which were traced, in occult letters, the words, "peace in ninety -days." - -Will the reader believe that with gold at a hundred and twenty-five -for one, or twelve thousand four hundred per cent. premium; when -every day made the hopelessness of the struggle more apparent; when -our last man was in the field; when the resources of the country -were visibly at an end, there were financial theorists who honestly -believed that by a mere trick of legislation the currency could be -brought back to par? I heard some of these people explain their -plan during a two days' stay in Richmond. Gold, they said, is an -inconvenient currency always, and nobody wants it, except as a -basis. The government has some gold,--several millions in fact,--and -if Congress will only be bold enough to declare the treasury notes -redeemable at par in coin, we shall have no further difficulty with -our finances. So long as notes are redeemable in gold at the option -of the holder, nobody wants them redeemed. Let the government say to -the people, We will redeem the currency whenever you wish, and nobody -except a few timid and unpatriotic people will care to change their -convenient for an inconvenient money. The gold which the government -holds will suffice to satisfy these timid ones, and there will be -an end of high prices and depreciated currency. The government can -then issue as much more currency as circumstances may make necessary, -and strong in our confidence in ourselves we shall be the richest -people on earth; we shall have _created_ the untold wealth which our -currency represents. - -I am not jesting. This is, as nearly as I can repeat it, the -utterance of a member of the Confederate Congress made in my presence -in a private parlor. If the reader thinks the man was insane, I beg -him to look over the reports of the debates on financial matters -which have been held in Washington. - -The effects of the extreme depreciation of the currency were -sometimes almost ludicrous. One of my friends, a Richmond lady, -narrowly escaped very serious trouble in an effort to practice a wise -economy. Anything for which the dealers did not ask an outrageously -high price seemed wonderfully cheap always, and she, at least, lacked -the self-control necessary to abstain from buying largely whenever -she found anything the price of which was lower than she had supposed -it would be. Going into market one morning with "stimulated ideas of -prices," as she phrased it, the consequence of having paid a thousand -dollars for a barrel of flour, she was surprised to find nearly -everything selling for considerably less than she had expected. -Thinking that for some unexplained cause there was a temporary -depression in prices, she purchased pretty largely in a good many -directions, buying, indeed, several things for which she had almost -no use at all, and buying considerably more than she needed of other -articles. As she was quitting the market on foot,--for it had become -disreputable in Richmond to ride in a carriage, and the ladies would -not do it on any account,--she was tapped on the shoulder by an -officer who told her she was under arrest, for buying in market to -sell again. As the lady was well known to prominent people she was -speedily released, but she thereafter curbed her propensity to buy -freely of cheap things. Buying to sell again had been forbidden under -severe penalties,--an absolutely necessary measure for the protection -of the people against the rapacity of the hucksters, who, going -early into the markets, would buy literally everything there, and by -agreement among themselves double or quadruple the already exorbitant -rates. It became necessary also to suppress the gambling-houses in -the interest of the half-starved people. At such a time, of course, -gambling was a very common vice, and the gamblers made Richmond -their head-quarters. It was the custom of the proprietors of these -establishments to set costly suppers in their parlors every night, -for the purpose of attracting visitors likely to become victims. -For these suppers they must have the best of everything without -stint, and their lavish rivalry in the poorly stocked markets had -the effect of advancing prices to a dangerous point. To suppress the -gambling-houses was the sole remedy, and it was only by uncommonly -severe measures that the suppression could be accomplished. It -was therefore enacted that any one found guilty of keeping a -gambling-house should be publicly whipped upon the bare back, and as -the infliction of the penalty in one or two instances effectually -and permanently broke up the business of gambling, even in the -disorganized and demoralized state in which society then was, it may -be said with confidence that whipping is the one certain remedy for -this evil. Whether it be not, in ordinary cases, worse than the evil -which it cures, it is not our business just now to inquire. - -The one thing which we were left almost wholly without, during the -war, was literature. Nobody thought of importing books through the -blockade, to any adequate extent, and the facilities for publishing -them, even if we had had authors to write them, were very poor -indeed. A Mobile firm reprinted a few of the more popular books of -the time, Les Misérables, Great Expectations, etc, and I have a -pamphlet edition of Owen Meredith's Tannhäuser, bound in coarse -wall-paper, for which I paid seven dollars, in Charleston. Singularly -enough, I bought at the same time a set of Dickens's works, of -English make, well printed and bound in black cloth, for four dollars -a volume, a discrepancy which I am wholly unable to explain. In -looking through a file of the Richmond Examiner extending over most -of the year 1864, I find but one book of any sort advertised, and the -price of that, a duodecimo volume of only 72 pages, was five dollars, -the publishers promising to send it by mail, post-paid, on receipt of -the price. - -Towards the last, as I have already said, resort was had frequently -to first principles, and bartering, or "payment in kind," as it was -called, became common, especially in those cases in which it was -necessary to announce prices in advance. To fix a price for the -future in Confederate money when it was daily becoming more and -more exaggeratedly worthless, would have been sheer folly; and so -educational institutions, country boarding-houses, etc., advertised -for patronage at certain prices, payment to be made in provisions -at the rates prevailing in September, 1860. In the advertisement of -Hampden Sidney College, in the Examiner for October 4, 1864, I find -it stated that students may get board in private families at about -eight dollars a month, payable in this way. The strong contrast -between the prices of 1860 and those of 1864 is shown by a statement, -in the same advertisement, that the students who may get board at -eight dollars a month in provisions, can buy wood at twenty-five -dollars a cord and get their washing done for seven dollars and fifty -cents a dozen pieces. - -This matter of prices was frequently made a subject for jesting -in private, but for the most part it was carefully avoided in the -newspapers. It was too ominous of evil to be a fit topic of editorial -discussion on ordinary occasions. As with the accounts of battles -in which our arms were not successful, necessary references to the -condition of the finances were crowded into a corner, as far out of -sight as possible. The Examiner, being a sort of newspaper Ishmael, -did now and then bring the subject up, however, and on one occasion -it denounced with some fierceness the charges prevailing in the -schools; and I quote a passage from Prof. Sidney H. Owens's reply, -which is interesting as a summary of the condition of things in the -South at that time:-- - -"The charges made for tuition are about five or six times as high as -in 1860. Now, sir, your shoemaker, carpenter, butcher, market man, -etc., demand from twenty, to thirty, to forty times as much as in -1860. Will you show me a civilian who is charging only six times the -prices charged in 1860, except the teacher only? As to the amassing -of fortunes by teachers, spoken of in your article, make your -calculations, sir, and you will find that to be almost an absurdity, -since they pay from twenty to forty prices for everything used, and -are denounced exorbitant and unreasonable in demanding five or six -prices for their own labor and skill." - -There were compensations, however. When gold was at twelve thousand -per cent. premium with us, we had the consolation of knowing that it -was in the neighborhood of one hundred above par in New York, and a -Richmond paper of September 22, 1864, now before me, fairly chuckles -over the high prices prevailing at the North, in a two-line paragraph -which says, "Tar is selling in New York at two dollars a pound. It -used to cost eighty cents a barrel." That paragraph doubtless made -many a five-dollar beefsteak palatable. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -THE CHEVALIER OF THE LOST CAUSE. - - -The queer people who devote their energies to the collection of -autographs have a habit, as everybody whose name has been three times -in print must have discovered, of soliciting from their victim "an -autograph _with_ a sentiment," and the unfortunate one is expected, -in such cases, to say something worthy of himself, something -especially which shall be eminently characteristic, revealing, in -a single sentence, the whole man, or woman, as the case may be. -How large a proportion of the efforts to do this are measurably -successful, nobody but a collector of the sort referred to can -say; but it seems probable that the most characteristic autograph -"sentiments" are those which are written of the writer's own -motion and not of malice aforethought. I remember seeing a curious -collection of these once, many of which were certainly not unworthy -the men who wrote them. One read, "I. O. U. fifty pounds lost at -play,--CHARLES JAMES FOX;" and another was a memorandum of sundry -wagers laid, signed by the Right Honorable Richard Brinsley Sheridan. -These, I thought, bore the impress of their authors' character, and -it is at the least doubtful whether either of the distinguished -gentlemen would have done half so well in answer to a modest request -for a sentiment and a signature. - -In the great dining-hall of the Briars, an old-time mansion in the -Shenandoah Valley, the residence of Mr. John Esten Cooke, there hangs -a portrait of a broad-shouldered cavalier, and beneath is written, in -the hand of the cavalier himself, - - "_Yours to count on_, - J. E. B. STUART," - -an autograph sentiment which seems to me a very perfect one in its -way. There was no point in Stuart's character more strongly marked -than the one here hinted at. He was "yours to count on" always: your -friend if possible, your enemy if you would have it so, but your -friend or your enemy "to count on," in any case. A franker, more -transparent nature, it is impossible to conceive. What he was he -professed to be. That which he thought, he said, and his habit of -thinking as much good as he could of those about him served to make -his frankness of speech a great friend-winner. - -I saw him for the first time when he was a colonel, in command of -the little squadron of horsemen known as the first regiment of -Virginia cavalry. The company to which I belonged was assigned to -this regiment immediately after the evacuation of Harper's Ferry by -the Confederates. General Johnston's army was at Winchester, and -the Federal force under General Patterson lay around Martinsburg. -Stuart, with his three or four hundred men, was encamped at Bunker -Hill, about midway between the two, and thirteen miles from support -of any kind. He had chosen this position as a convenient one from -which to observe the movements of the enemy, and the tireless -activity which marked his subsequent career so strongly had already -begun. As he afterwards explained, it was his purpose to train and -school his men, quite as much as anything else, that prompted the -greater part of his madcap expeditions at this time, and if there -be virtue in practice as a means of perfection, he was certainly an -excellent school-master. - -My company arrived at the camp about noon, after a march of three -or four days, having traveled twenty miles that morning. Stuart, -whom we encountered as we entered the camp, assigned us our -position, and ordered our tents pitched. Our captain, who was even -worse disciplined than we were, seeing a much more comfortable -camping-place than the muddy one assigned to us, and being a -comfort-loving gentleman, proceeded to lay out a model camp at a -distance of fifty yards from the spot indicated. It was not long -before the colonel particularly wished to consult with that captain, -and after the consultation the volunteer officer was firmly convinced -that all West Point graduates were martinets, with no knowledge -whatever of the courtesies due from one gentleman to another. - -We were weary after our long journey, and disposed to welcome the -prospect of rest which our arrival in the camp held out. But resting, -as we soon learned, had small place in our colonel's tactics. We -had been in camp perhaps an hour, when an order came directing that -the company be divided into three parts, each under command of a -lieutenant, and that these report immediately for duty. Reporting, we -were directed to scout through the country around Martinsburg, going -as near the town as possible, and to give battle to any cavalry force -we might meet. Here was a pretty lookout, certainly! Our officers -knew not one inch of the country, and might fall into all sorts of -traps and ambuscades; and what if we should meet a cavalry force -greatly superior to our own? This West Point colonel was rapidly -forfeiting our good opinion. Our lieutenants were brave fellows, -however, and they led us boldly if ignorantly, almost up to the very -gates of the town occupied by the enemy. We saw some cavalry but met -none, their orders not being so peremptorily belligerent, perhaps, as -ours were; wherefore they gave us no chance to fight them. The next -morning our unreasonable colonel again ordered us to mount, in spite -of the fact that there were companies in the camp which had done -nothing at all the day before. This time he led us himself, taking -pains to get us as nearly as possible surrounded by infantry, and -then laughingly telling us that our chance for getting out of the -difficulty, except by cutting our way through, was an exceedingly -small one. I think we began about this time to suspect that we were -learning something, and that this reckless colonel was trying to -teach us. But that he was a hare-brained fellow, lacking the caution -belonging to a commander, we were unanimously agreed. He led us out -of the place at a rapid gait, before the one gap in the enemy's lines -could be closed, and then jauntily led us into one or two other -traps, before taking us back to camp. - -But it was not until General Patterson began his feint against -Winchester that our colonel had full opportunity to give us his field -lectures. When the advance began, and our pickets were driven in, -the most natural thing to do, in our view of the situation, was to -fall back upon our infantry supports at Winchester, and I remember -hearing various expressions of doubt as to the colonel's sanity -when, instead of falling back, he marched his handful of men right -up to the advancing lines, and ordered us to dismount. The Federal -skirmish line was coming toward us at a double-quick, and we were -set going toward it at a like rate of speed, leaving our horses -hundreds of yards to the rear. We could see that the skirmishers -alone outnumbered us three or four times, and it really seemed that -our colonel meant to sacrifice his command deliberately. He waited -until the infantry was within about two hundred yards of us, we being -in the edge of a little grove, and they on the other side of an open -field. Then Stuart cried out, "Backwards--march! steady, men,--keep -your faces to the enemy!" and we marched in that way through the -timber, delivering our shot-gun fire slowly as we fell back toward -our horses. Then mounting, with the skirmishers almost upon us, we -retreated, not hurriedly, but at a slow trot, which the colonel -would on no account permit us to change into a gallop. Taking us out -into the main road he halted us in column, with our backs to the -enemy. - -"Attention!" he cried. "Now I want to talk to you, men. You are brave -fellows, and patriotic ones too, but you are ignorant of this kind of -work, and I am teaching you. I want you to observe that a good man on -a good horse can never be caught. Another thing: cavalry can _trot_ -away from anything, and a gallop is a gait unbecoming a soldier, -unless he is going toward the enemy. Remember that. We gallop toward -the enemy, and trot away, always. Steady now! don't break ranks!" - -And as the words left his lips a shell from a battery half a mile to -the rear hissed over our heads. - -"There," he resumed. "I've been waiting for that, and watching those -fellows. I knew they'd shoot too high, and I wanted you to learn how -shells sound." - -We spent the next day or two literally within the Federal lines. We -were shelled, skirmished with, charged, and surrounded scores of -times, until we learned to hold in high regard our colonel's masterly -skill in getting into and out of perilous positions. He seemed to -blunder into them in sheer recklessness, but in getting out he -showed us the quality of his genius; and before we reached Manassas, -we had learned, among other things, to entertain a feeling closely -akin to worship for our brilliant and daring leader. We had begun -to understand, too, how much force he meant to give to his favorite -dictum that the cavalry is the eye of the army. - -His restless activity was one, at least, of the qualities which -enabled him to win the reputation he achieved so rapidly. He could -never be still. He was rarely ever in camp at all, and he never -showed a sign of fatigue. He led almost everything. Even after he -became a general officer, with well-nigh an army of horsemen under -his command, I frequently followed him as my leader in a little party -of half a dozen troopers, who might as well have gone with a sergeant -on the duty assigned them; and once I was his only follower on a -scouting expedition, of which he, a brigadier-general at the time, -was the commander. I had been detailed to do some clerical work at -his head-quarters, and, having finished the task assigned me, was -waiting in the piazza of the house he occupied, for somebody to give -me further orders, when Stuart came out. - -"Is that your horse?" he asked, going up to the animal and examining -him minutely. - -I replied that he was, and upon being questioned further informed -him that I did not wish to sell my steed. Turning to me suddenly, he -said,-- - -"Let's slip off on a scout, then; I'll ride your horse and you can -ride mine. I want to try your beast's paces;" and mounting, we -galloped away. Where or how far he intended to go I did not know. -He was enamored of my horse, and rode, I suppose, for the pleasure -of riding an animal which pleased him. We passed outside our picket -line, and then, keeping in the woods, rode within that of the Union -army. Wandering about in a purposeless way, we got a near view of -some of the Federal camps, and finally finding ourselves objects of -attention on the part of some well-mounted cavalry in blue uniforms, -we rode rapidly down a road toward our own lines, our pursuers riding -quite as rapidly immediately behind us. - -"General," I cried presently, "there is a Federal picket post on the -road just ahead of us. Had we not better oblique into the woods?" - -"Oh no. They won't expect us from this direction, and we can ride -over them before they make up their minds who we are." - -Three minutes later we rode at full speed through the corporal's -guard on picket, and were a hundred yards or more away before they -could level a gun at us. Then half a dozen bullets whistled about our -ears, but the cavalier paid no attention to them. - -"Did you ever time this horse for a half-mile?" was all he had to say. - -Expeditions of this singular sort were by no means uncommon -occurrences with him. I am told by a friend who served on his staff, -that he would frequently take one of his aids and ride away otherwise -unattended into the enemy's lines; and oddly enough this was one of -his ways of making friends with any officer to whom his rough, boyish -ways had given offense. He would take the officer with him, and when -they were alone would throw his arms around his companion, and say,-- - -"My dear fellow, you mustn't be angry with me,--you know I love you." - -His boyishness was always apparent, and the affectionate nature of -the man was hardly less so, even in public. He was especially fond -of children, and I remember seeing him in the crowded waiting-room -of the railroad station at Gordonsville with a babe on each arm; a -great, bearded warrior, with his plumed hat, and with golden spurs -clanking at his heels, engaged in a mad frolic with all the little -people in the room, charging them right and left with the pair of -babies which he had captured from their unknown mothers. - -It was on the day of my ride with him that I heard him express his -views of the war and his singular aspiration for himself. It was -almost immediately after General McClellan assumed command of the -army of the Potomac, and while we were rather eagerly expecting him -to attack our strongly fortified position at Centreville. Stuart -was talking with some members of his staff, with whom he had been -wrestling a minute before. He said something about what they could -do by way of amusement when they should go into winter-quarters. - -"That is to say," he continued, "if George B. McClellan ever allows -us to go into winter-quarters at all." - -"Why, general? Do you think he will advance before spring?" asked one -of the officers. - -"Not against Centreville," replied the general. "He has too much -sense for that, and I think he knows the shortest road to Richmond, -too. If I am not greatly mistaken, we shall hear of him presently on -his way up the James River." - -In this prediction, as the reader knows, he was right. The -conversation then passed to the question of results. - -"I regard it as a foregone conclusion," said Stuart, "that we shall -ultimately whip the Yankees. We are bound to believe that, anyhow; -but the war is going to be a long and terrible one, first. We've only -just begun it, and very few of us will see the end. _All I ask of -fate is that I may be killed leading a cavalry charge._" - -The remark was not a boastful or seemingly insincere one. It was -made quietly, cheerfully, almost eagerly, and it impressed me at the -time with the feeling that the man's idea of happiness was what the -French call glory, and that in his eyes there was no glory like that -of dying in one of the tremendous onsets which he knew so well how to -make. His wish was granted, as we know. He received his death-wound -at the head of his troopers. - -With those about him he was as affectionate as a woman, and his -little boyish ways are remembered lovingly by those of his military -household whom I have met since the war came to an end. On one -occasion, just after a battle, he handed his coat to a member of his -staff, saying,-- - -"Try that on, captain, and see how it fits you." - -The garment fitted reasonably well, and the general continued,-- - -"Pull off two of the stars, and wear the coat to the war department, -and tell the people there to make you a major." - -The officer did as his chief bade him. Removing two of the three -stars he made the coat a major's uniform, and the captain was -promptly promoted in compliance with Stuart's request. - -General Stuart was, without doubt, capable of handling an infantry -command successfully, as he demonstrated at Chancellorsville, -where he took Stonewall Jackson's place and led an army corps in -a very severe engagement; but his special fitness was for cavalry -service. His tastes were those of a horseman. Perpetual activity -was a necessity of his existence, and he enjoyed nothing so much as -danger. Audacity, his greatest virtue as a cavalry commander, would -have been his besetting sin in any other position. Inasmuch as it -is the business of the cavalry to live as constantly as possible -within gunshot of the enemy, his recklessness stood him in excellent -stead as a general of horse, but it is at least questionable whether -his want of caution would not have led to disaster if his command -had been of a less mobile sort. His critics say he was vain, and he -was so, as a boy is. He liked to win the applause of his friends, -and he liked still better to astonish the enemy, glorying in the -thought that his foemen must admire his "impudence," as he called -it, while they dreaded its manifestation. He was continually doing -things of an extravagantly audacious sort, with no other purpose, -seemingly, than that of making people stretch their eyes in wonder. -He enjoyed the admiration of the enemy far more, I think, than he -did that of his friends. This fact was evident in the care he took -to make himself a conspicuous personage in every time of danger. -He would ride at some distance from his men in a skirmish, and in -every possible way attract a dangerous attention to himself. His -slouch hat and long plume marked him in every battle, and made him -a target for the riflemen to shoot at. In all this there was some -vanity, if we choose to call it so, but it was an excellent sort of -vanity for a cavalry chief to cultivate. I cannot learn that he ever -boasted of any achievement, or that his vanity was ever satisfied -with the things already done. His audacity was due, I think, to his -sense of humor, not less than to his love of applause. He would laugh -uproariously over the astonishment he imagined the Federal officers -must feel after one of his peculiarly daring or sublimely impudent -performances. When, after capturing a large number of horses and -mules on one of his raids, he seized a telegraph station and sent a -dispatch to General Meigs, then Quartermaster-General of the United -States army, complaining that he could not afford to come after -animals of so poor a quality, and urging that officer to provide -better ones for capture in future, he enjoyed the joke quite as -heartily as he did the success which made it possible. - -The boyishness to which I have referred ran through every part -of his character and every act of his life. His impetuosity in -action, his love of military glory and of the military life, his -occasional waywardness with his friends and his generous affection -for them,--all these were the traits of a great boy, full, to running -over, of impulsive animal life. His audacity, too, which impressed -strangers as the most marked feature of his character, was closely -akin to that disposition which Dickens assures us is common to all -boy-kind, to feel an insane delight in anything which specially -imperils their necks. But the peculiarity showed itself most strongly -in his love of uproarious fun. Almost at the beginning of the war -he managed to surround himself with a number of persons whose -principal qualification for membership of his military household -was their ability to make fun. One of these was a noted banjo-player -and ex-negro minstrel. He played the banjo and sang comic songs to -perfection, and _therefore_ Stuart wanted him. I have known him to -ride with his banjo, playing and singing, even on a march which -might be changed at any moment into a battle; and Stuart's laughter -on such occasions was sure to be heard as an accompaniment as far -as the minstrel's voice could reach. He had another queer character -about him, whose chief recommendation was his grotesque fierceness -of appearance. This was Corporal Hagan, a very giant in frame, with -an abnormal tendency to develop hair. His face was heavily bearded -almost to his eyes, and his voice was as hoarse as distant thunder, -which indeed it closely resembled. Stuart, seeing him in the ranks, -fell in love with his peculiarities of person at once, and had him -detailed for duty at head-quarters, where he made him a corporal, -and gave him charge of the stables. Hagan, whose greatness was -bodily only, was much elated by the attention shown him, and his -person seemed to swell and his voice to grow deeper than ever under -the influence of the newly acquired dignity of chevrons. All this -was amusing, of course, and Stuart's delight was unbounded. The man -remained with him till the time of his death, though not always as a -corporal. In a mad freak of fun one day, the chief recommended his -corporal for promotion, to see, he said, if the giant was capable of -further swelling, and so the corporal became a lieutenant upon the -staff. - -With all his other boyish traits, Stuart had an almost child-like -simplicity of character, and the combination of sturdy manhood -with juvenile frankness and womanly tenderness of feeling made him -a study to those who knew him best. His religious feeling was of -that unquestioning, serene sort which rarely exists apart from the -inexperience and the purity of women or children. - -While I was serving in South Carolina, I met one evening the general -commanding the military district, and he, upon learning that I had -served with Stuart, spent the entire evening talking of his friend, -for they two had been together in the old army before the war. He -told me many anecdotes of the cavalier, nearly all of which turned -in some way upon the generous boyishness of his character in some -one or other of its phases. He said, among other things, that at -one time, in winter-quarters on the plains of the West I think, he, -Stuart, and another officer (one of those still living who commanded -the army of the Potomac during the war) slept together in one bed, -for several months. Stuart and his brother lieutenant, the general -said, had a quarrel every night about some trifling thing or other, -just as boys will, but when he had made all the petulant speeches -he could, Stuart would lie still a while, and then, passing his arm -around the neck of his comrade, would draw his head to his own breast -and say some affectionate thing which healed all soreness of feeling -and effectually restored the peace. During the evening's conversation -this general formulated his opinion of Stuart's military character in -very striking phrase. - -"He is," he said, "the greatest cavalry officer that ever lived. He -has all the dash, daring, and audacity of Murat, and a great deal -more sense." It was his opinion, however, that there were men in -both armies who would come to be known as greater cavalry men than -Stuart, for the reason that Stuart used his men strictly as cavalry, -while others would make dragoons of them. He believed that the nature -of our country was much better adapted to dragoon than to cavalry -service, and hence, while he thought Stuart the best of cavalry -officers, he doubted his ability to stand against such men as -General Sheridan, whose conception of the proper place of the horse -in our war was a more correct one, he thought, than Stuart's. "To the -popular mind," he went on to say, "every soldier who rides a horse -is a cavalry man, and so Stuart will be measured by an incorrect -standard. He will be classed with General Sheridan and measured by -his success or the want of it. General Sheridan is without doubt -the greatest of dragoon commanders, as Stuart is the greatest of -cavalry men; but in this country dragoons are worth a good deal more -than cavalry, and so General Sheridan will probably win the greater -reputation. He will deserve it, too, because behind it is the sound -judgment which tells him what use to make of his horsemen." - -It is worthy of remark that all this was said before General Sheridan -had made his reputation as an officer, and I remember that at the -time his name was almost new to me. - -From my personal experience and observation of General Stuart, as -well as from the testimony of others, I am disposed to think that -he attributed to every other man qualities and tastes like his own. -Insensible to fatigue himself, he seemed never to understand how a -well man could want rest; and as for hardship, there was nothing, -in his view, which a man ought to enjoy quite so heartily, except -danger. For a period of ten days, beginning before and ending after -the first battle of Bull Run, we were not allowed once to take our -saddles off. Night and day we were in the immediate presence of the -enemy, catching naps when there happened for the moment to be nothing -else to do, standing by our horses while they ate from our hands, -so that we might slip their bridles on again in an instant in the -event of a surprise, and eating such things as chance threw in our -way, there being no rations anywhere within reach. After the battle, -we were kept scouting almost continually for two days. We then -marched to Fairfax Court House, and my company was again sent out in -detachments on scouting expeditions in the neighborhood of Vienna -and Falls Church. We returned to camp at sunset and were immediately -ordered on picket. In the regular course of events we should have -been relieved the next morning, but no relief came, and we were -wholly without food. Another twenty-four hours passed, and still -nobody came to take our place on the picket line. Stuart passed some -of our men, however, and one of them asked him if he knew we had been -on duty ten days, and on picket thirty-six hours without food. - -"Oh nonsense!" he replied. "You don't look starved. There's a -cornfield over there; jump the fence and get a good breakfast. You -don't want to go back to camp, I know; it's stupid there, and all the -fun is out here. I never go to camp if I can help it. Besides, I've -kept your company on duty all this time as a compliment. You boys -have acquitted yourselves too well to be neglected now, and I mean to -give you a chance." - -We thought this a jest at the time, but we learned afterwards that -Stuart's idea of a supreme compliment to a company was its assignment -to extra hazardous or extra fatiguing duty. If he observed specially -good conduct on the part of a company, squad, or individual, he was -sure to reward it by an immediate order to accompany him upon some -unnecessarily perilous expedition. - -His men believed in him heartily, and it was a common saying among -them that "Jeb never says 'Go, boys,' but always 'Come, boys.'" We -felt sure, too, that there was little prospect of excitement on any -expedition of which he was not leader. If the scouting was to be -merely a matter of form, promising nothing in the way of adventure, -he would let us go by ourselves; but if there were prospect of "a -fight or a race," as he expressed it, we were sure to see his long -plume at the head of the column before we had passed outside our own -line of pickets. While we lay in advance of Fairfax Court House, -after Bull Run, Stuart spent more than a month around the extreme -outposts on Mason's and Munson's hills without once coming to the -camp of his command. When he wanted a greater force than he could -safely detail from the companies on picket for the day, he would send -after it, and with details of this kind he lived nearly all the time -between the picket lines of the two armies. The outposts were very -far in advance of the place at which we should have met and fought -the enemy if an advance had been made, and so there was literally -no use whatever in his perpetual scouting, which was kept up merely -because the man could not rest. But aside from the fact that the -cavalry was made up almost exclusively of the young men whose tastes -and habits specially fitted them to enjoy this sort of service, -Stuart's was one of those magnetic natures which always impress their -own likeness upon others, and so it came to be thought a piece of -good luck to be detailed for duty under his personal leadership. The -men liked him and his ways, one of which was the pleasant habit he -had of remembering our names and faces. I heard him say once that he -knew by name not only every man in his old regiment, but every one -also in the first brigade, and as I never knew him to hesitate for a -name, I am disposed to believe that he did not exaggerate his ability -to remember men. This and other like things served to make the men -love him personally, and there can be no doubt that his skill in -winning the affection of his troopers was one of the elements of his -success. Certainly no other man could have got so much hard service -out of men of their sort, without breeding discontent among them. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - -LEE, JACKSON, AND SOME LESSER WORTHIES. - - -The story goes that when Napoleon thanked a private one day for some -small service, giving him the complimentary title of "captain," -the soldier replied with the question, "In what regiment, sire?" -confident that this kind of recognition from the Little Corporal -meant nothing less than a promotion, in any case; and while -commanders are not ordinarily invested with Napoleon's plenary powers -in such matters, military men are accustomed to value few things -more than the favorable comments of their superiors upon their -achievements or their capacity. And yet a compliment of the very -highest sort, which General Scott paid Robert E. Lee, very nearly -prevented the great Confederate from achieving a reputation at all. -Up to the time of Virginia's secession, Lee was serving at Scott's -head-quarters, and when he resigned and accepted a commission from -the governor of his native State, General Scott, who had already -called him "the flower of the American army," pronounced him the best -organizer in the country, and congratulated himself upon the fact -that the Federal organization was already well under way before Lee -began that of the Southern forces. This opinion, coming from the man -who was recognized as best able to form a judgment on such a subject, -greatly strengthened Lee's hand in the work he was then doing, and -saved him the annoyance of dictation from people less skilled than -he. But it nearly worked his ruin, for all that. The administration -at Richmond was of too narrow a mold to understand that a man could -be a master of more than one thing, and so, recognizing Lee's supreme -ability as an organizer, the government seems to have assumed that -he was good for very little else, and until the summer of 1862 he -was carefully kept out of the way of all great military operations. -When the two centres of strategic interest were at Winchester and -Manassas, General Lee was kept in Western Virginia with a handful of -raw troops, where he could not possibly accomplish anything for the -cause, or even exercise the small share of fighting and strategic -ability which the government was willing to believe he possessed. -When there was no longer any excuse for keeping him there, he was -disinterred, as it were, and reburied in the swamps of the South -Carolina coast. - -I saw him for the first time, in Richmond, at the very beginning -of the war, dining with him at the house of a friend. He was then -in the midst of his first popularity. He had begun the work of -organization, and was everywhere recognized as the leader who was -to create an army for us out of the volunteer material. I do not -remember, with any degree of certainty, whether or not we expected -him also to distinguish himself in the field, but as Mr. Davis and -his personal followers were still in Montgomery, it is probable -that the narrowness of their estimate of the chieftain was not yet -shared by anybody in Richmond. Lee was at this time a young-looking, -middle-aged man, with dark hair, dark moustache, and an otherwise -smooth face, and a portrait taken then would hardly be recognized -at all by those who knew him only after the cares and toils of war -had furrowed his face and bleached his hair and beard. He was a -model of manly beauty; large, well made, and graceful. His head was -a noble one, and his countenance told, at a glance, of his high -character and of that perfect balance of faculties, mental, moral, -and physical, which constituted the chief element of his greatness. -There was nothing about him which impressed one more than his eminent -_robustness_, a quality no less marked in his intellect and his -character than in his physical constitution. If his shapely person -suggested a remarkable capacity for endurance, his manner, his -countenance, and his voice quite as strongly hinted at the great -soul which prompted him to take upon himself the responsibility -for the Gettysburg campaign, when the people were loudest in their -denunciations of the government as the author of that ill-timed -undertaking. - -I saw him next in South Carolina during the winter of 1861-62. He -was living quietly at a little place called Coosawhatchie, on the -Charleston and Savannah Railroad. He had hardly any staff with him, -and was surrounded with none of the pomp and circumstance of war. -His dress bore no marks of his rank, and hardly indicated even that -he was a military man. He was much given to solitary afternoon -rambles, and came almost every day to the camp of our battery, where -he wandered alone and in total silence around the stables and through -the gun park, much as a farmer curious as to cannon might have done. -Hardly any of the men knew who he was, and one evening a sergeant, -riding in company with a partially deaf teamster, met him in the road -and saluted. The teamster called out to his companion, in a loud -voice, after the manner of deaf people: - -"I say, sergeant, who _is_ that durned old fool? He's always a-pokin' -round my hosses just as if he meant to steal one of 'em." - -Certainly the honest fellow was not to blame for his failure to -recognize, in the farmer-looking pedestrian, the chieftain who was -shortly to win the greenest laurels the South had to give. During the -following summer General Johnston's "bad habit of getting himself -wounded" served to bring Lee to the front, and from that time till -the end of the war he was the idol of army and people. The faith he -inspired was simply marvelous. We knew very well that he was only a -man, and very few of us would have disputed the abstract proposition -that he was liable to err; but practically we believed nothing of -the kind. Our confidence in his skill and his invincibility was -absolutely unbounded. Our faith in his wisdom and his patriotism was -equally perfect, and from the day on which he escorted McClellan to -his gun-boats till the hour of his surrender at Appomattox, there -was never a time when he might not have usurped all the powers of -government without exciting a murmur. Whatever rank as a commander -history may assign him, it is certain that no military chieftain was -ever more perfect master than he of the hearts of his followers. -When he appeared in the presence of troops he was sometimes cheered -vociferously, but far more frequently his coming was greeted with -a profound silence, which expressed much more truly than cheers -could have done the well-nigh religious reverence with which the men -regarded his person. - -General Lee had a sententious way of saying things which made all -his utterances peculiarly forceful. His language was always happily -chosen, and a single sentence from his lips often left nothing -more to be said. As good an example of this as any, perhaps, was -his comment upon the military genius of General Meade. Not very -long after that officer took command of the army of the Potomac, a -skirmish occurred, and none of General Lee's staff officers being -present, an acquaintance of mine was detailed as his personal aid for -the day, and I am indebted to him for the anecdote. Some one asked -our chief what he thought of the new leader on the other side, and in -reply Lee said, "General Meade will commit no blunder in my front, -and if I commit one he will make haste to take advantage of it." It -is difficult to see what more he could have said on the subject. - -I saw him for the last time during the war, at Amelia Court House, -in the midst of the final retreat, and I shall never forget the -heart-broken expression his face wore, or the still sadder tones -of his voice as he gave me the instructions I had come to ask. The -army was in utter confusion. It was already evident that we were -being beaten back upon James River and could never hope to reach the -Roanoke, on which stream alone there might be a possibility of making -a stand. General Sheridan was harassing our broken columns at every -step, and destroying us piecemeal. Worse than all, General Lee had -been deserted by the terrified government in the very moment of his -supreme need, and the food had been snatched from the mouths of the -famished troops (as is more fully explained in another chapter) that -the flight of the president and his followers might be hastened. -The load put thus upon Lee's shoulders was a very heavy one for so -conscientious a man as he to bear; and knowing, as every Southerner -does, his habit of taking upon himself all blame for whatever went -awry, we cannot wonder that he was sinking under the burden. His face -was still calm, as it always was, but his carriage was no longer -erect, as his soldiers had been used to see it. The troubles of those -last days had already plowed great furrows in his forehead. His eyes -were red as if with weeping; his cheeks sunken and haggard; his face -colorless. No one who looked upon him then, as he stood there in -full view of the disastrous end, can ever forget the intense agony -written upon his features. And yet he was calm, self-possessed, and -deliberate. Failure and the sufferings of his men grieved him sorely, -but they could not daunt him, and his moral greatness was never -more manifest than during those last terrible days. Even in the -final correspondence with General Grant, Lee's manliness and courage -and ability to endure lie on the surface, and it is not the least -honorable thing in General Grant's history that he showed himself -capable of appreciating the character of this manly foeman, as he did -when he returned Lee's surrendered sword with the remark that he knew -of no one so worthy as its owner to wear it. - -After the war the man who had commanded the Southern armies remained -master of all Southern hearts, and there can be no doubt that the -wise advice he gave in reply to the hundreds of letters sent him -prevented many mistakes and much suffering. The young men of the -South were naturally disheartened, and a general exodus to Mexico, -Brazil, and the Argentine Republic was seriously contemplated. -General Lee's advice, "Stay at home, go to work, and hold your land," -effectually prevented this saddest of all blunders; and his example -was no less efficacious than his words, in recommending a diligent -attention to business as the best possible cure for the evils wrought -by the war. - -From the chieftain who commanded our armies to his son and successor -in the presidency of Washington-Lee University, the transition is a -natural one; and, while it is my purpose, in these reminiscences, -to say as little as possible of men still living, I may at least -refer to General G. W. Custis Lee as the only man I ever heard of -who tried to decline a promotion from brigadier to major general, -for the reason that he thought there were others better entitled -than he to the honor. I have it from good authority that President -Davis went in person to young Lee's head-quarters to entreat a -reconsideration of that officer's determination to refuse the honor, -and that he succeeded with difficulty in pressing the promotion -upon the singularly modest gentleman. Whether or not this younger -Lee has inherited his father's military genius we have no means of -knowing, but we are left in no uncertainty as to his possession of -his father's manliness and modesty, and personal worth. - -Jackson was always a surprise. Nobody ever understood him, and nobody -has ever been quite able to account for him. The members of his own -staff, of whom I happen to have known one or two intimately, seem -to have failed, quite as completely as the rest of the world, to -penetrate his singular and contradictory character. His biographer, -Mr. John Esten Cooke, read him more perfectly perhaps than any one -else, but even he, in writing of the hero, evidently views him from -the outside. Dr. Dabney, another of Jackson's historians, gives us a -glimpse of the man, in one single aspect of his character, which may -be a clew to the whole. He says there are three kinds of courage, -of which two only are bravery. These three varieties of courage are, -first, that of the man who is simply insensible of danger; second, -that of men who, understanding, appreciating, and fearing danger, -meet it boldly nevertheless, from motives of pride; and third, the -courage of men keenly alive to danger, who face it simply from a high -sense of duty.[2] Of this latter kind, the biographer tells us, was -Jackson's courage, and certainly there can be no better clew to his -character than this. Whatever other mysteries there may have been -about the man, it is clear that his well-nigh morbid devotion to duty -was his ruling characteristic. - -But nobody ever understood him fully, and he was a perpetual surprise -to friend and foe alike. The cadets and the graduates of the Virginia -Military Institute, who had known him as a professor there, held him -in small esteem at the outset. I talked with many of them, and found -no dissent whatever from the opinion that General Gilham and General -Smith were the great men of the institute, and that Jackson, whom -they irreverently nicknamed Tom Fool Jackson, could never be anything -more than a martinet colonel, half soldier and half preacher. They -were unanimous in prophesying his greatness after the fact, but of -the two or three score with whom I talked on the subject at the -beginning of the war, not one even suspected its possibility until -after he had won his _sobriquet_ "Stonewall" at Manassas. - -It is natural enough that such a man should be credited in the end -with qualities which he did not possess, and that much of the praise -awarded him should be improperly placed; and in his case this seems -to have been the fact. He is much more frequently spoken of as the -great marcher than as the great fighter of the Confederate armies, -and it is commonly said that he had an especial genius for being -always on time. And yet General Lee himself said in the presence of -a distinguished officer from whose lips I heard it, that Jackson was -by no means so rapid a marcher as Longstreet, and that he had an -unfortunate habit of _never being on time_. Without doubt he was, -next to Lee, the greatest military genius we had, and his system of -grand tactics was more Napoleonic than was that of any other officer -on either side; but it would appear from this that while he has not -been praised beyond his deserving, he has at least been commended -mistakenly. - -The affection his soldiers bore him has always been an enigma. -He was stern and hard as a disciplinarian, cold in his manner, -unprepossessing in appearance, and utterly lacking in the apparent -enthusiasm which excites enthusiasm in others. He had never been -able to win the affection of the cadets at Lexington, and had hardly -won even their respect. And yet his soldiers almost worshiped him. -Perhaps it was because he was so terribly in earnest, or it may have -been because he was so generally successful,--for there are few -things men admire more than success,--but whatever the cause was, no -fact could be more evident than that Stonewall Jackson was the most -enthusiastically loved man, except Lee, in the Confederate service, -and that he shared with Lee the generous admiration even of his foes. -His strong religious bent, his devotion to a form of religion the -most gloomy,--for his Calvinism amounted to very little less than -fatalism, and his men called him "old blue-light,"--his strictness -of life, and his utter lack of vivacity and humor, would have been -an impassable barrier between any other man and such troops as he -commanded. He was Cromwell at the head of an army composed of men -of the world, and there would seem to have been nothing in common -between him and them; and yet Cromwell's psalm-singing followers -never held their chief in higher regard or heartier affection than -that with which these rollicking young planters cherished their -sad-eyed and sober-faced leader. They even rejoiced in his extreme -religiosity, and held it in some sort a work of supererogation, -sufficient to atone for their own worldly-mindedness. They were never -more devoted to him than when transgressing the very principles upon -which his life was ordered; and when any of his men indulged in -dram-drinking, a practice from which he always rigidly abstained, -his health was sure to be the first toast given. On one occasion, -a soldier who had imbibed enthusiasm with his whisky, feeling the -inadequacy of the devotion shown by drinking to an absent chief, -marched, canteen in hand, to Jackson's tent, and gaining admission -proposed as a sentiment, "Here's to you, general! May I live to see -you stand on the highest pinnacle of Mount Ararat, and hear you give -the command, 'By the right of nations front into empires,--worlds, -right face!'" - -I should not venture to relate this anecdote at all, did I not get it -at first hands from an officer who was present at the time. It will -serve, at least, to show the sentiments of extravagant admiration -with which Jackson's men regarded him, whether it shall be sufficient -to bring a smile to the reader's lips or not. - -The first time I ever saw General Ewell, I narrowly missed making it -impossible that there should ever be a _General_ Ewell at all. He -was a colonel then, and was in command of the camp of instruction at -Ashland. I was posted as a sentinel, and my orders were peremptory -to permit nobody to ride through the gate at which I was stationed. -Colonel Ewell, dressed in a rough citizen's suit, without side-arms -or other insignia of military rank, undertook to pass the forbidden -portal. I commanded him to halt, but he cursed me instead, and -attempted to ride over me. Drawing my pistol, cocking it, and placing -its muzzle against his breast, I replied with more of vigor than -courtesy in my speech, and forced him back, threatening and firmly -intending to pull my trigger if he should resist in the least. He -yielded himself to arrest, and I called the officer of the guard. -Ewell was livid with rage, and ordered the officer to place me in -irons at once, uttering maledictions upon me which it would not do to -repeat here. The officer of the guard was a manly fellow, however, -and refused even to remove me from the post. - -"The sentinel has done only his duty," he replied, "and if he had -shot you, Colonel Ewell, you would have had only yourself to blame. -I have here your written order that the sentinels at this gate shall -allow nobody to pass through it on horseback, on any pretense -whatever; and yet you come in citizen's clothes, a stranger to the -guard, and try to ride him down when he insists upon obeying the -orders you have given him." - -The sequel to the occurrence proved that, in spite of his infirm -temper, Ewell was capable of being a just man, as he certainly was -a brave one. He sent for me a little later, when he received his -commission as a brigadier, and apologizing for the indignity with -which he had treated me, offered me a desirable place upon his staff, -which, with a still rankling sense of the injustice he had done me, I -declined to accept. - -General Ewell was at this time the most violently and elaborately -profane man I ever knew. Elaborately, I say, because his profanity -did not consist of single or even double oaths, but was ingeniously -wrought into whole sentences. It was profanity which might be -parsed, and seemed the result of careful study and long practice. -Later in the war he became a religious man, but before that time -his genius for swearing was phenomenal. An anecdote is told of -him, for the truth of which I cannot vouch, but which certainly -is sufficiently characteristic to be true. It is said that on one -occasion, the firing having become unusually heavy, a chaplain who -had labored to convert the general, or at least to correct the -aggressive character of his wickedness, remarked that as he could -be of no service where he was, he would seek a less exposed place, -whereupon Ewell remarked: - -"Why, chaplain, you're the most inconsistent man I ever saw. You say -you're anxious to get to heaven above all things, and now that you've -got the best chance you ever had to go, you run away from it just as -if you'd rather not make the trip, after all." - -I saw nothing of General Ewell after he left Ashland, early in -the summer of 1861, until I met him in the winter of 1864-65. Some -enormous rifled guns had been mounted at Chaffin's Bluff, below -Richmond, and I went from my camp near by to see them tested. General -Ewell was present, and while the firing was in progress he received -a dispatch saying that the Confederates had been victorious in an -engagement between Mackey's Point and Pocotaligo. As no State was -mentioned in the dispatch, and the places named were obscure ones, -General Ewell was unable to guess in what part of the country the -action had been fought. He read the dispatch aloud, and asked if any -one present could tell him where Mackey's Point and Pocotaligo were. -Having served for a considerable time on the coast of South Carolina, -I was able to give him the information he sought. When I had finished -he looked at me intently for a moment, and then asked, "Aren't you -the man who came so near shooting me at Ashland?" - -I replied that I was. - -"I'm very glad you didn't do it," he said. - -"So am I," I replied; and that was all that was said on either side. - -The queerest of all the military men I met or saw during the war was -General W. H. H. Walker, of Georgia. I saw very little of him, but -that little impressed me strongly. He was a peculiarly belligerent -man, and if he could have been kept always in battle he would have -been able doubtless to keep the peace as regarded his fellows and his -superiors. As certain periods of inaction are necessary in all wars, -however, General Walker was forced to maintain a state of hostility -toward those around and above him. During the first campaign he got -into a newspaper war with the president and Mr. Benjamin, in which -he handled both of those gentlemen rather roughly, but failing -to move them from the position they had taken with regard to his -promotion,--that being the matter in dispute,--he resigned his -commission, and took service as a brigadier-general under authority -of the governor of Georgia. In this capacity he was at one time in -command of the city of Savannah, and it was there that I saw him for -the first and only time, just before the reduction of Fort Pulaski by -General Gilmore. The reading-room of the Pulaski House was crowded -with guests of the hotel and evening loungers from the city, when -General Walker came in. He at once began to talk, not so much to the -one or two gentlemen with whom he had just shaken hands, as to the -room full of strangers and the public generally. He spoke in a loud -voice and with the tone and manner of a bully and a braggart, which I -am told he was not at all. - -"You people are very brave at arms-length," he said, "provided it is -a good long arms-length. You aren't a bit afraid of the shells fired -at Fort Pulaski, and you talk as boldly as Falstaff over his sack, -now. But what will you do when the Yankee gun-boats come up the river -and begin to throw hot shot into Savannah? I know what you'll do. -You'll get dreadfully uneasy about your plate-glass mirrors and your -fine furniture; and I give you fair warning now that if you want to -save your mahogany you'd better be carting it off up country at once, -for I'll never surrender anything more than the ashes of Savannah. -I'll stay here, and I'll keep you here, till every shingle burns and -every brick gets knocked into bits the size of my thumb-nail, and -then I'll send the Yankees word that there isn't any Savannah to -surrender. Now I mean this, every word of it. But you don't believe -it, and the first time a gun-boat comes in sight you'll all come -to me and say, 'General, we can't fight gun-boats with any hope of -success,--don't you think we'd better surrender?' Do you know what -I'll do then? I've had a convenient limb trimmed up, on the tree in -front of my head-quarters, and I'll string up every man that dares -say surrender, or anything else beginning with an _s_." - -And so he went on for an hour or more, greatly to the amusement of -the crowd. I am told by those who knew him best that his statement of -his purposes was probably not an exaggerated one, and that if he had -been charged with the defense of the city against a hostile fleet, -he would have made just such a resolute resistance as that which he -promised. His courage and endurance had been abundantly proved in -Mexico, at any rate, and nobody who knew him ever doubted either. - -Another queer character, though in a very different way, was General -Ripley, who for a long time commanded the city of Charleston. He was -portly in person, of commanding and almost pompous presence, and -yet, when one came to know him, was as easy and unassuming in manner -as if he had not been a brigadier-general at all. I had occasion -to call upon him officially, a number of times, and this afforded -me an excellent opportunity to study his character and manners. On -the morning after the armament of Fort Ripley was carried out to -the Federal fleet by the crew of the vessel on which it had been -placed, I spent an hour or two in General Ripley's head-quarters, -waiting for something or other, though I have quite forgotten what. I -amused myself looking through his telescope at objects in the harbor. -Presently I saw a ship's launch, bearing a white flag, approach Fort -Sumter. I mentioned the matter to my companion, and General Ripley, -overhearing the remark, came quickly to the glass. A moment later he -said to his signal operator,-- - -"Tell Fort Sumter if that's a Yankee boat to burst her wide open, -flag or no flag." The message had no sooner gone, however, than it -was recalled, and instructions more in accordance with the rules of -civilized warfare substituted. - -General Ripley stood less upon rule and held red tape in smaller -regard than any other brigadier I ever met. My company was at that -time an independent battery, belonging to no battalion and subject -to no intermediate authority between that of its captain and that -of the commanding general. It had but two commissioned officers on -duty, and I, as its sergeant-major, acted as a sort of adjutant, -making my reports directly to General Ripley's head-quarters. One day -I reported the fact that a large part of our harness was unfit for -further use. - -"Well, why don't you call a board of survey and have it condemned?" -he asked. - -"How can we, general? We do not belong to any battalion, and so have -nobody to call the board or to compose it, either." - -"Let your captain call it then, and put your own officers on it." - -"But we have only one officer, general, besides the captain, and -there must be three on the board, while the officer calling it cannot -be one of them." - -"Oh, the deuce!" he replied. "What's the difference? The harness -ain't fit for use and there's plenty of new in the arsenal. Let -your captain call a board consisting of the lieutenant and you and -a sergeant. It ain't legal, of course, to put any but commissioned -officers on, but I tell you to do it, and one pair of shoulder-straps -is worth more now than a court-house full of habeas corpuses. Write -'sergeant' so that nobody can read it, and I'll make my clerks -mistake it for 'lieutenant' in copying. Get your board together, -go on to say that after a due examination, and all that, the board -respectfully reports that it finds the said harness not worth a damn, -or words to that effect; send in your report and I'll approve it, and -you'll have a new set of harness in three days. What's the use of -pottering around with technicalities when the efficiency of a battery -is at stake? We're not lawyers, but soldiers." - -The speech was a peculiarly characteristic one, and throughout his -administration of affairs in Charleston, General Ripley showed this -disposition to promote the good of the service at the expense of -routine. He was not a good martinet, but he was a brave, earnest man -and a fine officer, of a sort of which no army can have too many. - - -FOOTNOTE: - -[2] As I have no copy of Dr. Dabney's work by me, and have seen none -for about ten years, I cannot pretend to quote the passage; but I -have given its substance in my own words. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - -SOME QUEER PEOPLE. - - -Generals would be of small worth, indeed, if there were no lesser -folk than they in service, and the interesting people one meets in -an army do not all wear sashes, by any means. The composition of the -battery in which I served for a considerable time afforded me an -opportunity to study some rare characters, of a sort not often met -with in ordinary life, and as these men interested me beyond measure, -I have a mind to sketch a few of them here in the hope that their -oddities may prove equally entertaining to my readers. - -In the late autumn of 1861, after a summer with Stuart, -circumstances, with an explanation of which it is not necessary -now to detain the reader, led me to seek a transfer to a light -battery, in which I was almost an entire stranger. When I joined -this new command, the men were in a state of partial mutiny, the -result of a failure to receive their pay and clothing allowance. -The trouble was that there was no one in the battery possessed of -sufficient clerical skill to make out a proper muster and pay roll. -Several efforts had been made, but to no purpose, and when I arrived -the camp was in a state of turmoil. The men were for the most part -illiterate mountaineers, and no explanations which the officers were -able to give served to disabuse their minds of the thought that -they were being swindled in some way. Learning what the difficulty -was, I volunteered my services for the clerical work required, and -two hours after my arrival I had the pleasure of paying off the men -and restoring peace to the camp. Straightway the captain made me -sergeant-major, and the men wanted to make me captain. The popularity -won thus in the outset served me many a good turn, not the least -of which I count the opportunity it gave me to study the characters -of the men, whose confidant and adviser I became in all matters of -difficulty. I deciphered the letters they received from home and -wrote replies from their dictation, and there were parts of this -correspondence which would make my fortune as a humorous writer, if I -could reproduce here the letters received now and then. - -The men, as I have said, were for the most part illiterate -mountaineers, with just a sufficient number of educated gentlemen -among them (mostly officers and non-commissioned officers) to join -each other in a laugh at the oddity of the daily life in the camp. -The captain had been ambitious at one time of so increasing the -company as to make a battalion of it, and to that end had sought -recruits in all quarters. Among others he had enlisted seven genuine -ruffians whom he had found in a Richmond jail, and who enlisted for -the sake of a release from durance. These men formed a little clique -by themselves, a sort of miniature New York sixth ward society, which -afforded me a singularly interesting social study, of a kind rarely -met with by any but home missionaries and police authorities. There -were enough of them to form a distinct criminal class, so that I -had opportunity to study their life as a whole, and not merely the -phenomena presented by isolated specimens. - -All of these seven men had seen service somewhere, and except as -regarded turbulence and utter unmanageability they were excellent -soldiers. Jack Delaney, or "one-eyed Jack Delaney," as he was -commonly called, was a tall, muscular, powerful fellow, who had -lost an eye in a street fight, and was quite prepared to sacrifice -the other in the same way at any moment. Tommy Martin was smaller -and plumper than Jack, but not one whit less muscular or less -desperately belligerent. Tim Considine was simply a beauty. He was -not more than twenty-one years of age, well-built, with a fair, -pearly, pink and white complexion, regular features, exquisite -eyes, and a singularly shapely and well-poised head. His face on -any woman's shoulders would have made her a beauty and a belle in -a Brooklyn drawing-room. I group these three together because they -are associated with each other in my mind. They messed together, and -occupied one tent. Never a day passed which brought with it no battle -royal between two or all three of them. These gentlemen,--for that -is what they uniformly called themselves, though they pronounced -the word "gints,"--were born in Baltimore. I have their word for -this, else I should never have suspected the fact. Their names were -of Hibernian mold. They spoke the English language with as pretty a -brogue as ever echoed among the hills of Galway. They were much given -to such expletives as "faith" and "be me sowl," and "be jabers," and -moreover they were always "afther" doing something; but they were -born in Baltimore, nevertheless, for they solemnly told me so. - -I am wholly unable to give the reader any connected account of the -adventures and life struggles through which these men had passed, for -the reason that I was never able to win their full and unreserved -confidence; but I caught glimpses of their past, here and there, from -which I think it safe to assume that their personal histories had -been of a dramatic, not to say of a sensational sort. My battery was -sent one day to Bee's Creek, on the South Carolina coast, to meet an -anticipated advance of the enemy. No enemy came, however, and we lay -there on the sand, under a scorching sub-tropical sun, in a swarm of -sand-flies so dense that many of our horses died of their stings, -while neither sleep nor rest was possible to the men. A gun-boat -lay just out of reach beyond a point in the inlet, annoying us by -throwing at us an occasional shell of about the size and shape of a -street lamp. Having a book with me I sought a place under a caisson -for the sake of the shade, and spent an hour or two in reading. While -I was there, Jack Delaney and Tommy Martin, knowing nothing of my -presence, took seats on the ammunition chests, and fell to talking. - -"An' faith, Tommy," said Jack, "an' it isn't this sort of foightin' -I'm afther loikin' at all, bad luck to it." - -"An' will ye tell me, Jack," said his companion, "what sort of -foightin' it is, ye loikes?" - -"Ah, Tommy, it's mesilf that loikes the raal foightin'. Give me an -open sea, an' _close quarthers_, an' a _black flag_, Tommy, an' -that's the sort of foightin' I'm afther 'oikin', sure." - -"A-an' I believe it's a poirate ye are, Jack." - -"You're roight, Tommy; it's a poirate I am, ivery inch o' me!" - -Here was a glimpse of the man's character which proved also a hint of -his life story, as I afterwards learned. He had been a pirate, and -an English court, discovering the fact, had "ordered his funeral," -as he phrased it, but by some means or other he had secured a pardon -on condition of his enlistment in the British navy, from which he -had deserted at the first opportunity. Jack was very much devoted to -his friends, and especially to those above him in social or military -rank; and a more loyal fellow I never knew. The captain of the -battery and I were tent mates and mess mates, and although we kept -a competent negro servant, Jack insisted upon blacking our boots, -stretching our tent, brushing our clothes, looking after our fire, -and doing a hundred other services of the sort, for which he could -never be persuaded to accept compensation of any kind. - -When we arrived in Charleston for the first time, on our way to the -post assigned us at Coosawhatchie, we were obliged to remain a whole -day in the city, awaiting transportation. Knowing the temper of our -"criminal class," we were obliged to confine all the men strictly -within camp boundaries, lest our Baltimore Irishmen and their fellows -should get drunk and give us trouble. We peremptorily refused to let -any of the men pass the line of sentinels, but Jack Delaney, being -in sad need of a pair of boots, was permitted to go into the city in -company with the captain. That officer guarded him carefully, and as -they were returning to camp the captain, thinking that there could -be no danger in allowing the man one dram, invited him to drink at a -hotel counter. - -"Give us your very best whisky," he said to the man behind the bar; -whereupon that functionary placed a decanter and two glasses before -them. - -Jack's one eye flashed fire instantly, and jumping upon the counter -he screamed, "What d'ye mean, ye bloody spalpeen, by insultin' me -captain in that way? I'll teach ye your manners, ye haythen." The -captain could not guess the meaning of the Irishman's wrath, but he -interfered for the protection of the frightened servitor, and asked -Jack what he meant. - -"What do I mean? An' sure an' I mean to break his bit of a head, -savin' your presence, captain. I'll teach him not to insult me -captain before me very eyes, by givin' him the same bottle he gives -Jack Delaney to drink out of. An' sure an' me moother learnt me -betther manners nor to presume to drink from the same bottle with me -betthers." - -The captain saved the bar-tender from the effects of Jack's wrath, -but failed utterly to convince that well-bred Irish gentleman that no -offense against good manners had been committed. He refused to drink -from the "captain's bottle," and a separate decanter was provided -for him. - -On another occasion Jack went with one of the officers to a tailor's -shop, and, without apparent cause, knocked the knight of the shears -down and was proceeding to beat him, when the officer commanded him -to desist. - -"An' sure if your honor says he's had enough, I'll quit, but I'd -loike to murdher him." - -Upon being questioned as to the cause of his singular behavior, he -explained that the tailor had shown unpardonably bad manners by -keeping his hat on his head while taking the lieutenant's measure. - -These men were afraid of nothing and respected nothing but rank; but -their regard for that was sufficiently exaggerated perhaps to atone -for their short-comings in other respects. A single chevron on a -man's sleeve made them at once his obedient servants, and never once, -even in their cups, did they resist constituted authority, directly -asserted. For general rules they had no respect whatever. Anything -which assumed the form of law they violated as a matter of course, if -not, as I suspect, as a matter of conscience; but the direct command -of even a corporal was held binding always. Jack Delaney, who never -disobeyed any order delivered to him in person, used to swim the -Ashley River every night, at imminent risk of being eaten by sharks, -chiefly because it was a positive violation of orders to cross at all -from our camp on Wappoo Creek to Charleston. - -Tommy Martin and Tim Considine were bosom friends, and inseparable -companions. They fought each other frequently, but these little -episodes worked no ill to their friendship. One day they quarreled -about something, and Considine, drawing a huge knife from his belt, -rushed upon Martin with evident murderous intent. Martin, planting -himself firmly, dealt his antagonist a blow exactly between the -eyes, which laid him at full length on the ground. I ran at once to -command the peace, but before I got to the scene of action I heard -Considine call out, from his supine position,-- - -"Bully for you, Tommy! I niver knew a blow better delivered in me -loife!" And that ended the dispute. - -One night, after taps, a fearful hubbub arose in the Irish quarter of -the camp, and running to the place, the captain, a corporal, and I -managed to separate the combatants; but as Jack Delaney had a great -butcher knife in his hands with which it appeared he had already -severely cut another Irishman, Dan Gorman by name, we thought it best -to bind him with a prolonge. He submitted readily, lying down on the -ground to be tied. While we were drawing the rope around him, Gorman, -a giant in size and strength, leaned over us and dashed a brick with -all his force into the prostrate man's face. Had it struck his skull -it must have killed him instantly, as indeed we supposed for a time -that it had. - -"What do you mean by that, sir?" asked the captain, seizing Gorman by -the collar. - -Pointing to a fearful gash in his own neck, the man replied,-- - -"Don't ye see I'm a dead man, captain? An' sure an' _do ye think I'm -goin' to hell widout me pardner_?" - -The tone of voice in which the question was asked clearly indicated -that in his view nothing could possibly be more utterly preposterous -than such a supposition. - -Charley Lear belonged to this party, though he was not a Celt, but -an Englishman. Charley was a tailor by trade and a desperado in -practice. He had kept a bar in Vicksburg, had dug gold in California, -and had "roughed it" in various other parts of the world. His was -a scarred breast, showing seven knife thrusts and the marks of two -bullets, one of which had passed entirely through him. And yet he -was in perfect health and strength. He was a man of considerable -intelligence and fair education, whose association with ruffians -was altogether a matter of choice. He was in no sense a criminal, I -think, and while I knew him, at least, was perfectly peaceful. But he -liked rough company and sought it diligently, taking the consequences -when they came. He professed great regard and even affection for me, -because I had done him a rather important service once. - -Finding it impossible to govern these men without subjecting the -rest of the company to a much severer discipline than was otherwise -necessary or desirable, we secured the transfer of our ruffians to -another command in the fall of 1862, and I saw no more of any of -them until after the close of the war. I went into a tailor's shop -in Memphis one day, during the winter of 1865-66, to order a suit of -clothing. After selecting the goods I was asked to step up-stairs -to be measured. While the cutter was using his tape upon me, one of -the journeymen on the great bench at the end of the room suddenly -dropped his work, and, bounding forward, literally clasped me in his -arms, giving me a hug which a grizzly bear might be proud of. It was -Charley Lear, of course, and I had the utmost difficulty in refusing -his offer to pay for the goods and make my clothes himself without -charge. - -Our assortment of queer people was a varied one, and among the -rest there were two ex-circus actors, Jack Hawkins and Colonel -Denton, to wit. Hawkins was an inoffensive and even a timid fellow, -whose delight it was to sing bold robber songs in the metallic -voice peculiar to vocalists of the circus. There was something -inexpressibly ludicrous in the contrast between the bloody-mindedness -of his songs and the gentle shyness and timidity of the man who -sang them. Everybody domineered over him, and he was especially -oppressed in the presence of our other ex-clown, whose assumption -of superior wisdom and experience often overpowered stronger men -than poor John Hawkins ever was. Denton was one of those men who -are sure, in one way or another, to become either "colonel" or -"judge." He was sixty-five years old when I first knew him, and had -been "the colonel" longer than anybody could remember. He was of -good parentage, and until he ran away with a circus at the age of -eleven had lived among genteel people. His appearance and manner -were imposing always, and never more so than when he was drunk. He -buttoned his coat with the air of a man who is about to ride over -broad ancestral acres, and ate his dinner, whatever it might consist -of, with all the dignity of a host who does his guests great honor -in entertaining them. He was an epicure in his tastes, of course, -and delighted to describe peculiarly well-prepared dinners which he -said he had eaten in company with especially distinguished gentlemen. -He was an expert, too, he claimed, in the preparation of salads and -the other arts of a like nature in which fine gentlemen like to -excel even professional cooks. When rations happened to be more than -ordinarily limited in quantity or worse than usual in quality, Denton -was sure to visit various messes while they were at dinner, and -regale them with a highly wrought description of an imaginary feast -from which he would profess to have risen ten minutes before. - -"You ought to have dined with me to-day," he would say. "I had a -deviled leg of turkey, and some beautiful broiled oysters with -Spanish olives. I never eat broiled oysters without olives. You try -it sometime, and you'll never regret it. Then I had a stuffed wild -goose's liver. Did you ever eat one? Well, you don't know what a -real titbit is, then. Not stuffed in the ordinary way, but stuffed -scientifically and cooked in a way you never saw it done before." -And thus he would go on, naming impossible viands and describing -preposterous processes of cookery, until "cooked in a way you never -saw it done before" became a proverb in the camp. The old sinner -would do all this on an empty stomach too, and I sometimes fancied he -found in the delights of his imaginary banquets some compensation for -the short rations and hard fare of his actual experience. - -He was in his glory, however, only when he was away from camp and -among strangers. He always managed to impress people who didn't know -him with his great wealth and prominence. I overheard him once, in -the office of the Charleston Hotel, inviting some gentlemen to visit -and dine with him. - -"Come out this evening," he said, "to my place in Charleston Neck, -and take a bachelor dinner with me. I've just got some duck from -Virginia,--canvas-back, you know,--and my steward will be sure to -have something else good on hand. I've got some good madeira too, -that I imported myself. Now you'll not disappoint me, will you? And -after dinner we'll have a turn at billiards: I've just had my tables -overhauled. But you'll have to excuse me long enough now for me to -ride down and tell the major to take care of things in camp till -morning." - -And with that he gave them an address in the aristocratic quarter -of Charleston, leaving them to meditate upon the good luck they had -fallen upon in meeting this wealthy and hospitable "colonel." - -Denton was an inveterate gambler, and was in the habit of winning a -good deal of money from the men after pay-day. One day he gave some -sound advice to a young man from whom he had just taken a watch in -settlement of a score. - -"Now let me give you some advice, Bill," he said. "I've seen a good -deal of this kind of thing, and I know what I'm talking about. You -play fair now, and you always lose. You'll win after a while if you -keep on, but I tell you, Bill, nobody ever can win at cards without -cheating. You'll cheat a little after a while, and you'll cheat a -good deal before you've done with it. You'd better quit now, while -you're honest, because you'll cheat if you keep on, and when a man -cheats at cards he'll steal, Bill. _I speak from experience._" All -of which impressed me as a singularly frank confession under the -circumstances. - -Among other odd specimens we had in our battery the most ingenious -malingerer I ever heard of. He was in service four years, drew his -pay regularly, was of robust frame and in perfect health always, -and yet during the whole time he was never off the sick-list for a -single day. His capacity to endure contempt was wholly unlimited, -else he would have been shamed by the gibes of the men, the sneers -of the surgeons, and the denunciations of the officers, into some -show, at least, of a disposition to do duty. He spent the greater -part of his time in hospital, never staying in camp a moment longer -than he was obliged to do. When discharged, as a well man, from one -hospital, he would start toward his command, and continue in that -direction till he came to another infirmary, when he would have a -relapse at once, and gain admission there. Discharged again he would -repeat the process at the next hospital, and one day near the end -of the war he counted up something like a hundred different post -and general hospitals of which he had been an inmate, while he had -been admitted to some of them more than half a dozen times each. The -surgeons resorted to a variety of expedients by which to get rid -of him. They burned his back with hot coppers; gave him the most -nauseous mixtures; put him on the lowest possible diet; treated him -to cold shower-baths four or five times daily; and did everything -else they could think of to drive him from the hospitals, but all to -no purpose. In camp it was much the same. On the morning after his -arrival from hospital he would wake up with some totally new ache, -and report himself upon the sick-list. There was no way by which to -conquer his obstinacy, and, as I have said, he escaped duty to the -last. - -Another curious case, and one which is less easily explained, was -that of a much more intelligent man, who for more than a year feigned -every conceivable disease, in the hope that he might be discharged -the service. One or two of us amused ourselves with his case, by -mentioning in his presence the symptoms of some disease of which he -had never heard, the surgeon furnishing us the necessary information, -and in every case he had the disease within less than twenty-four -hours. Finally, and this was the oddest part of the matter, he gave -up the attempt, recovered his health suddenly, and became one of -the very best soldiers in the battery, a man always ready for duty, -and always faithful in its discharge. He was made a corporal and -afterwards a sergeant, and there was no better in the battery. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - -RED TAPE. - - -The history of the Confederacy, when it shall be fully and fairly -written, will appear the story of a dream to those who shall read it, -and there are parts of it at least which already seem a nightmare to -those of us who helped make it. Founded upon a constitution which -jealously withheld from it nearly all the powers of government, -without even the poor privilege of existing beyond the moment when -some one of the States composing it should see fit to put it to -death, the Richmond government nevertheless grew speedily into a -despotism, and for four years wielded absolute power over an obedient -and uncomplaining people. It tolerated no questioning, brooked no -resistance, listened to no remonstrance. It levied taxes of an -extraordinary kind upon a people already impoverished almost to the -point of starvation. It made of every man a soldier, and extended -indefinitely every man's term of enlistment. Under pretense of -enforcing the conscription law it established an oppressive system -of domiciliary visits. To preserve order and prevent desertion it -instituted and maintained a system of guards and passports, not -less obnoxious, certainly, than the worst thing of the sort ever -devised by the most paternal of despotisms. In short, a government -constitutionally weak beyond all precedent was able for four years -to exercise in a particularly offensive way all the powers of -absolutism, and that, too, over a people who had been living under -republican rule for generations. That such a thing was possible seems -at the first glance a marvel, but the reasons for it are not far -to seek. Despotisms usually ground themselves upon the theories of -extreme democracy, for one thing, and in this case the consciousness -of the power to dissolve and destroy the government at will made the -people tolerant of its encroachments upon personal and State rights; -the more especially, as the presiding genius of the despotism was -the man who had refused a promotion to the rank of brigadier-general -of volunteers during the Mexican war, on the ground that the general -government could not grant such a commission without violating the -rights of a State. The despotism of a government presided over by -a man so devoted as he to State rights seemed less dangerous than -it might otherwise have appeared. His theory was so excellent that -people pardoned his practice. It is of some parts of that practice -that we shall speak in the present chapter. - -Nothing could possibly be idler than speculation upon what might have -been accomplished with the resources of the South if they had been -properly economized and wisely used. And yet every Southern man must -feel tempted to indulge in some such speculation whenever he thinks -of the subject at all, and remembers, as he must, how shamefully -those resources were wasted and how clumsily they were handled in -every attempt to use them in the prosecution of the war. The army -was composed, as we have seen in a previous chapter, of excellent -material; and under the influence of field service it soon became a -very efficient body of well-drilled and well-disciplined men. The -skill of its leaders is matter of history, too well known to need -comment here. But the government controlling army and leaders was -both passively and actively incompetent in a surprising degree. It -did, as nearly as possible, _all_ those things which it ought not to -have done, at the same time developing a really marvelous genius for -leaving undone those things which it ought to have done. The story -of its incompetence and its presumption, if it could be adequately -told, would read like a romance. Its weakness paralyzed the army and -people, and its weakness was the less hurtful side of its character. -Its full capacity for ill was best seen in the extraordinary strength -it developed whenever action of a wrong-headed sort could work -disaster, and the only wonder is that with such an administration at -its back the Confederate army was able to keep the field at all. I -have already had occasion to explain that the sentiment of the South -made it the duty of every man who could bear arms to go straight to -the front and to stay there. The acceptance of any less actively -military position than that of a soldier in the field was held to be -little less than a confession of cowardice; and cowardice, in the -eyes of the Southerners, is the one sin which may not be pardoned -either in this world or the next. The strength of this sentiment it -is difficult for anybody who did not live in its midst to conceive, -and its effect was to make worthy men spurn everything like civic -position. To go where the bullets were whistling was the one course -open to gentlemen who held their honor sacred and their reputation -dear. And so the offices in Richmond and elsewhere, the bureaus of -every sort, on the proper conduct of which so much depended, were -filled with men willing to be sneered at as dwellers in "bomb-proofs" -and holders of "life insurance policies." - -Nor were the petty clerkships the only positions which brought odium -upon their incumbents. If an able-bodied man accepted even a seat -in Congress, he did so at peril of his reputation for patriotism -and courage, and very many of the men whose wisdom was most needed -in that body positively refused to go there at the risk of losing -a chance to be present with their regiments in battle. Under the -circumstances, no great degree of strength or wisdom was to be looked -for at the hands of Congress, and certainly that assemblage of -gentlemen has never been suspected of showing much of either; while -the administrative machinery presided over by the small officials and -clerks who crowded Richmond was at once a wonder of complication and -a marvel of inefficiency. - -But, if we may believe the testimony of those who were in position to -know the facts, the grand master of incapacity, whose hand was felt -everywhere, was President Davis himself. Not content with perpetually -meddling in the smallest matters of detail, and prescribing the petty -routine of office work in the bureau, he interfered, either directly -or through his personal subordinates, with military operations which -no man, not present with the army, could be competent to control, -and which he, probably, was incapable of justly comprehending in -any case. With the history of his quarrels with the generals in the -field, and the paralyzing effect they had upon military operations, -the public is already familiar. Leaving things of that nature to the -historian, I confine myself to smaller matters, my purpose being -merely to give the reader an idea of the experiences of a Confederate -soldier, and to show him Confederate affairs as they looked when seen -from the inside. - -I can hardly hope to make the ex-soldier of the Union understand -fully how we on the other side were fed in the field. He fought and -marched with a skilled commissariat at his back, and, for his further -staff of comfort, had the Christian and Sanitary commissions, whose -handy tin cups and other camp conveniences came to us only through -the uncertain and irregular channel of abandonment and capture; and -unless his imagination be a vivid one, he will not easily conceive -the state of our commissariat or the privations we suffered as a -consequence of its singularly bad management. The first trouble was, -that we had for a commissary-general a crotchety doctor, some of -whose acquaintances had for years believed him insane. Aside from -his suspected mental aberration, and the crotchets which had made -his life already a failure, he knew nothing whatever of the business -belonging to the department under his control, his whole military -experience having consisted of a few years' service as a lieutenant -of cavalry in one of the Territories, many years before the date of -his appointment as chief of subsistence in the Confederacy. Wholly -without experience to guide him, he was forced to evolve from his -own badly balanced intellect whatever system he should adopt, and -from the beginning of the war until the early part of the year 1865, -the Confederate armies were forced to lean upon this broken reed in -the all-important matter of a food supply. The generals commanding -in the field, we are told on the very highest authority, protested, -suggested, remonstrated almost daily, but their remonstrances were -unheeded and their suggestions set at naught. At Manassas, where the -army was well-nigh starved out in the very beginning of the war, -food might have been abundant but for the obstinacy of this one -man. On our left lay a country unsurpassed, and almost unequaled, -in productiveness. It was rich in grain and meat, these being its -special products. A railroad, with next to nothing to do, penetrated -it, and its stores of food were nearly certain to be exposed to the -enemy before any other part of the country should be conquered. -The obvious duty of the commissary-general, therefore, was to draw -upon that section for the supplies which were both convenient and -abundant. The chief of subsistence ruled otherwise, however, thinking -it better to let that source of supply lie exposed to the first -advance of the enemy, while he drew upon the Richmond _dépôts_ for -a daily ration, and shipped it by the overtasked line of railway -leading from the capital to Manassas. It was nothing to him that -he was thus exhausting the rear and crippling the resources of the -country for the future. It was nothing to him that in the midst of -plenty the army was upon a short allowance of food. It was nothing -that the shipments of provisions from Richmond by this railroad -seriously interfered with other important interests. System was -everything, and this was a part of his system. The worst of it -was, that in this all-important branch of the service experience -and organization wrought little if any improvement as the war went -on, so that as the supplies and the means of transportation grew -smaller, the undiminished inefficiency of the department produced -disastrous results. The army, suffering for food, was disheartened -by the thought that the scarcity was due to the exhaustion of -the country's resources. Red tape was supreme, and no sword was -permitted to cut it. I remember one little circumstance, which -will serve to illustrate the absoluteness with which system was -suffered to override sense in the administration of the affairs of -the subsistence department. I served for a time on the coast of -South Carolina, a country which produces rice in great abundance, -and in which fresh pork and mutton might then be had almost for -the asking, while the climate is wholly unsuited to the making of -flour or bacon. Just at that time, however, the officials of the -commissary department saw fit to feed the whole army on bacon and -flour, articles which, if given to troops in that quarter of the -country at all, must be brought several hundred miles by rail. The -local commissary officers made various suggestions looking to the use -of the provisions of which the country round about was full, but, so -far as I could learn, no attention whatever was paid to them. At the -request of one of these post commissaries, I wrote an elaborate and -respectful letter on the subject, setting forth the fact that rice, -sweet potatoes, corn meal, hominy, grits, mutton, and pork existed -in great abundance in the immediate neighborhood of the troops, and -could be bought for less than one third the cost of the flour and -bacon we were eating. The letter was signed by the post commissary, -and forwarded through the regular channels, with the most favorable -indorsements possible, but it resulted in nothing. The department -presently found it impossible to give us full rations of bacon and -flour, but it still refused to think of the remedy suggested. It -cut down the ration instead, thus reducing the men to a state of -semi-starvation in a country full of food. Relief came at last in -the shape of a technicality, else it would not have been allowed to -come at all. A vigilant captain discovered that the men were entitled -by law to commutation in money for their rations, at fixed rates, -and acting upon this the men were able to buy, with the money paid -them in lieu of rations, an abundance of fresh meats and vegetables; -and most of the companies managed at the same time to save a -considerable fund for future use out of the surplus, so great was the -disparity between the cost of the food they bought and that which the -government wished to furnish them. - -The indirect effect of all this stupidity--for it can be called -by no softer name--was almost as bad as its direct results. The -people at home, finding that the men in the field were suffering for -food, undertook to assist in supplying them. With characteristic -profusion they packed boxes and sent them to their soldier friends -and acquaintances, particularly during the first year of the war. -Sometimes these supplies were permitted to reach their destination, -and sometimes they were allowed to decay in a depot because of some -failure on the part of the sender to comply with the mysterious -canons of official etiquette. In either case they were wasted. If -they got to the army they were used wastefully by the men, who -could not carry them and had no place of storage for them. If they -were detained anywhere, they remained there until some change of -front made it necessary to destroy them. There seemed to be nobody -invested with sufficient authority to turn them to practical account. -I remember a box of my own, packed with cooked meats, vegetables, -fruits,--all perishable,--which got within three miles of my tent, -but could get no farther, although I hired a farmer's wagon with -which to bring it to camp, where my company was at that moment in -sore need of its contents. There was some informality,--the officer -having it in charge could not tell me what,--about the box itself, -or its transmission, or its arrival, or something else, and so it -could not be delivered to me, though I had the warrant of my colonel -in writing, for receiving it. Dismissing my wagoner, I told the -officer in charge that the contents of the box were of a perishable -character, and that rather than have them wasted, I should be glad -to have him accept the whole as a present to his mess; but he -declined, on the ground that to accept the present would be a gross -irregularity so long as there was an embargo upon the package. -I received the box three months later, after its contents had -become entirely worthless. Now this is but one of a hundred cases -within my own knowledge, and it will serve to show the reader how -the inefficiency of the subsistence department led to a wasteful -expenditure of those private stores of food which constituted our -only reserve for the future. - -And there was never any improvement. From the beginning to the end -of the war the commissariat was just sufficiently well managed to -keep the troops in a state of semi-starvation. On one occasion the -company of artillery to which I was attached lived for thirteen -days, _in winter quarters_, on a daily dole of half a pound of -corn meal per man, while food in abundance was stored within five -miles of its camp--a railroad connecting the two points, and the -wagons of the battery lying idle all the while. This happened -because the subsistence department had not been officially informed -of our transfer from one battalion to another, though the fact of -the transfer was under their eyes, and the order of the chief of -artillery making it was offered them in evidence. These officers -were not to blame. They knew the temper of their chief, and had been -taught the omnipotence of routine. - -But it was in Richmond that routine was carried to its absurdest -extremities. There, everything was done by rule except those things -to which system of some sort would have been of advantage, and they -were left at loose ends. Among other things a provost system was -devised and brought to perfection during the time of martial law. -Having once tasted the sweets of despotic rule, its chief refused to -resign any part of his absolute sovereignty over the city, even when -the reign of martial law ceased by limitation of time. His system -of guards and passports was a very marvel of annoying inefficiency. -It effectually blocked the way of every man who was intent upon -doing his duty, while it gave unconscious but sure protection to -spies, blockade-runners, deserters, and absentees without leave -from the armies. It was omnipotent for the annoyance of soldier and -citizen, but utterly worthless for any good purpose. If a soldier on -furlough or even on detached duty arrived in Richmond, he was taken -in charge by the provost guards at the railway station, marched to -the soldiers' home or some other vile prison house, and kept there -in durance during the whole time of his stay. It mattered not -how legitimate his papers were, or how evident his correctness of -purpose. The system required that he should be locked up, and locked -up he was, in every case, until one plucky fellow made fight by -appeal to the courts, and so compelled the abandonment of a practice -for which there was never any warrant in law or necessity in fact. - -Richmond being the railroad centre from which the various lines -radiated, nearly every furloughed soldier and officer on leave was -obliged to pass through the city, going home and returning. Now -to any ordinary intelligence it would seem that a man bearing a -full description of himself, and a furlough signed by his captain, -colonel, brigadier, division-commander, lieutenant-general, and -finally by Robert E. Lee as general-in-chief, might have been allowed -to go peaceably to his home by the nearest route. But that was no -ordinary intelligence which ruled Richmond. Its ability to find -places in which to interfere was unlimited, and it decreed that no -soldier should leave Richmond, either to go home or to return direct -to the army, without a brown paper passport, signed by an officer -appointed for that purpose, and countersigned by certain other -persons whose authority to sign or countersign anything nobody was -ever able to trace to its source. If any such precaution had been -necessary, it would not have been so bad, or even being unnecessary, -if there had been the slightest disposition on the part of these -passport people to facilitate obedience to their own requirements, -the long-suffering officers and men of the army would have uttered -no word of complaint. But the facts were exactly the reverse. The -passport officials rigidly maintained the integrity of their office -hours, and neither entreaty nor persuasion would induce them in any -case to anticipate by a single minute the hour for beginning, or to -postpone the time of ending their daily duties. I stood one day in -their office in a crowd of fellow soldiers and officers, some on -furlough going home, some returning after a brief visit, and still -others, like myself, going from one place to another under orders -and on duty. The two trains by which most of us had to go were both -to leave within an hour, and if we should lose them we must remain -twenty-four hours longer in Richmond, where the hotel rate was then -sixty dollars a day. In full view of these facts, the passport men, -daintily dressed, sat there behind their railing, chatting and -laughing for a full hour, suffering both trains to depart and all -these men to be left over rather than do thirty minutes' work in -advance of the improperly fixed office hour. It resulted from this -system that many men on three or five days' leave lost nearly the -whole of it in delays, going and returning. Many others were kept in -Richmond for want of a passport until their furloughs expired, when -they were arrested for absence without leave, kept three or four days -in the guard-house, and then taken as prisoners to their commands, -to which they had tried hard to go of their own motion at the proper -time. Finally the abuse became so outrageous that General Lee, in his -capacity of general-in-chief, issued a peremptory order forbidding -anybody to interfere in any way with officers or soldiers traveling -under his written authority. - -But the complications of the passport system, before the issuing -of that order, were endless. I went once with a friend in search -of passports. As I had passed through Richmond a few weeks before, -I fancied I knew all about the business of getting the necessary -papers. Armed with our furloughs we went straight from the train to -the passport office, and presenting our papers to the young man in -charge, we asked for the brown paper permits which we must show -upon leaving town. The young man prepared them and gave them to us, -but this was no longer the end of the matter. These passports must -be countersigned, and, strangely enough, my friend's required the -sign-manual of Lieutenant X., whose office was in the lower part of -the city, while mine must be signed by Lieutenant Y., who made his -head-quarters some distance farther up town. As my friend and I were -of precisely the same rank, came from the same command, were going -to the same place, and held furloughs in exactly the same words, I -shall not be deemed unreasonable when I declare my conviction that -no imbecility, less fully developed than that which then governed -Richmond, could possibly have discovered any reason for requiring -that our passports should be countersigned by different people. - -But with all the trouble it gave to men intent upon doing their duty, -this cumbrous passport system was well-nigh worthless for any of -the purposes whose accomplishment might have excused its existence. -Indeed, in some cases it served to assist the very people it was -intended to arrest. In one instance within my own knowledge, a -soldier who wished to visit his home, some hundreds of miles away, -failing to get a furlough, shouldered his musket and set out with -no scrip for his journey, depending upon his familiarity with the -passport system for the accomplishment of his purpose. Going to a -railroad station, he planted himself at one of the entrances as a -sentinel, and proceeded to demand passports of every comer. Then he -got upon the train, and between stations he passed through the cars, -again inspecting people's traveling papers. Nobody was surprised at -the performance. It was not at all an unusual thing for a sentinel to -go out with a train in this way, and nobody doubted that the man had -been sent upon this errand. - -On another occasion two officers of my acquaintance were going from -a southern post to Virginia on some temporary duty, and in their -orders there was a clause directing them to "arrest and lodge in -the nearest guard-house or jail" all soldiers they might encounter -who were absent without leave from their commands. As the train -upon which they traveled approached Weldon, N. C., a trio of guards -passed through the cars, inspecting passports. This was the third -inspection inflicted upon the passengers within a few hours, and, -weary of it, one of the two officers met the demand for his passport -with a counter demand for the guards' authority to examine it. The -poor fellows were there honestly enough, doubtless, doing a duty -which was certainly not altogether pleasant, but they had been sent -out on their mission with no attendant officer, and no scrap of paper -to attest their authority, or even to avouch their right to be on -the train at all; wherefore the journeying officer, exhibiting his -own orders, proceeded to arrest them. Upon their arrival at Weldon, -where their quarters were, he released them, but not without a lesson -which provost guards in that vicinity remembered. I tell the story -for the sake of showing how great a degree of laxity and carelessness -prevailed in the department which was organized especially to enforce -discipline by putting everybody under surveillance. - -But this was not all. In Richmond, where the passport system had its -birth, and where its annoying requirements were most sternly enforced -against people having a manifest right to travel, there were still -greater abuses. Will the reader believe that while soldiers, provided -with the very best possible evidence of their right to enter and -leave Richmond, were badgered and delayed as I have explained, in -the passport office, the bits of brown paper over which so great an -ado was made might be, and were, bought and sold by dealers? That -such was the case I have the very best evidence, namely, that of -my own senses. If the system was worth anything at all, if it was -designed to accomplish any worthy end, its function was to prevent -the escape of spies, blockade-runners, and deserters; and yet these -were precisely the people who were least annoyed by it. By a system -of logic peculiar to themselves, the provost marshal's people seem to -have arrived at the conclusion that men deserting the army, acting as -spies, or "running the blockade" to the North, were to be found only -in Confederate uniforms, and against men wearing these the efforts of -the department were especially directed. Non-military men had little -difficulty in getting passports at will, and failing this there were -brokers' shops in which they could buy them at a comparatively small -cost. I knew one case in which an army officer in full uniform, -hurrying through Richmond before the expiration of his leave, in -order that he might be with his command in a battle then impending, -was ordered about from one official to another in a vain search for -the necessary passport, until he became discouraged and impatient. He -finally went in despair to a Jew, and bought an illicit permit to go -to his post of duty. - -But even as against soldiers, except those who were manifestly -entitled to visit Richmond, the system was by no means effective. -More than one deserter, to my own knowledge, passed through Richmond -in full uniform, though by what means they avoided arrest, when there -were guards and passport inspectors at nearly every corner, I cannot -guess. - -At one time, when General Stuart, with his cavalry, was encamped -within a few miles of the city, he discovered that his men were -visiting Richmond by dozens, without leave, which, for some reason -or other known only to the provost marshal's office, they were -able to do without molestation. General Stuart, finding that this -was the case, resolved to take the matter into his own hands, and -accordingly with a troop of cavalry he made a descent upon the -theatre one night, and arrested those of his men whom he found there. -The provost marshal, who it would seem was more deeply concerned -for the preservation of his own dignity than for the maintenance of -discipline, sent a message to the great cavalier, threatening him -with arrest if he should again presume to enter Richmond for the -purpose of making arrests. Nothing could have pleased Stuart better. -He replied that he should visit Richmond again the next night, with -thirty horsemen; that he should patrol the streets in search of -absentees from his command; and that General Winder might arrest him -if he could. The jingling of spurs was loud in the streets that -night, but the provost marshal made no attempt to arrest the defiant -horseman. - -Throughout the management of affairs in Richmond a cumbrous -inefficiency was everywhere manifest. From the president, who -insulted his premier for presuming to offer some advice about the -conduct of the war, and quarreled with his generals because they -failed to see the wisdom of a military movement suggested by himself, -down to the pettiest clerk in a bureau, there was everywhere a morbid -sensitiveness on the subject of personal dignity, and an exaggerated -regard for routine, which seriously impaired the efficiency of the -government and greatly annoyed the army. Under all the circumstances -the reader will not be surprised to learn that the government at -Richmond was by no means idolized by the men in the field. - -The wretchedness of its management began to bear fruit early in the -war, and the fruit was bitter in the mouths of the soldiers. Mr. -Davis's evident hostility to Generals Beauregard and Johnston, which -showed itself in his persistent refusal to let them concentrate -their men, in his obstinate thwarting of all their plans, and in -his interference with the details of army organization on which -they were agreed,--a hostility born, as General Thomas Jordan gives -us to understand, of their failure to see the wisdom of his plan -of campaign after Bull Run, which was to take the army across the -lower Potomac at a point where it could never hope to recross, for -the purpose of capturing a small force lying there under General -Sickles,--was not easily concealed; and the army was too intelligent -not to know that a meddlesome and dictatorial president, on bad -terms with his generals in the field, and bent upon thwarting their -plans, was a very heavy load to carry. The generals held their peace, -as a matter of course, but the principal facts were well known -to officers and men, and when the time came, in the fall of 1861, -for the election of a president under the permanent constitution -(Mr. Davis having held office provisionally only, up to that time), -there was a very decided disposition on the part of the troops to -vote against him. They were told, however, that as there was no -candidate opposed to him, he must be elected at any rate, and that -the moral effect of showing a divided front to the enemy would be -very bad indeed; and in this way only was the undivided vote of the -army secured for him. The troops voted for Mr. Davis thus under -stress of circumstances, in the hope that all would yet be well; but -his subsequent course was not calculated to reinstate him in their -confidence, and the wish that General Lee might see fit to usurp all -the powers of government was a commonly expressed one, both in the -army and in private life during the last two years of the war. - -The favoritism which governed nearly every one of the president's -appointments was the leading, though not the only, ground of -complaint. And truly the army had reason to murmur, when one of the -president's pets was promoted all the way from lieutenant-colonel to -lieutenant-general, having been but once in battle,--and then only -constructively so,--on his way up, while colonels by the hundred, -and brigadier and major generals by the score, who had been fighting -hard and successfully all the time, were left as they were. And when -this suddenly created general, almost without a show of resistance, -surrendered one of the most important strongholds in the country, -together with a veteran army of considerable size, is it any wonder -that we questioned the wisdom of the president whose blind favoritism -had dealt the cause so severe a blow? But not content with this, as -soon as the surrendered general was exchanged the president tried to -place him in command of the defenses of Richmond, then hard pressed -by General Grant, and was only prevented from doing so by the man's -own discovery that the troops would not willingly serve under him. - -The extent to which presidential partiality and presidential -intermeddling with affairs in the field were carried may be guessed, -perhaps, from the fact that the Richmond Examiner, the newspaper -which most truly reflected the sentiment of the people, found -consolation for the loss of Vicksburg and New Orleans in the thought -that the consequent cutting of the Confederacy in two freed the -trans-Mississippi armies from paralyzing dictation. In its leading -article for October 5, 1864, the Examiner said:-- - -"The fall of New Orleans and the surrender of Vicksburg proved -blessings to the cause beyond the Mississippi. It terminated the -_régime_ of pet generals. It put a stop to official piddling in the -conduct of the armies and the plan of campaigns. The moment when it -became impossible to send orders by telegraph to court officers, at -the head of troops who despised them, was the moment of the turning -tide." - -So marked was the popular discontent, not with Mr. Davis only, but -with the entire government and Congress as well, that a Richmond -newspaper at one time dared to suggest a counter revolution as -the only means left of saving the cause from the strangling it -was receiving at the hands of its guardians in Richmond. And the -suggestion seemed so very reasonable and timely that it startled -nobody, except perhaps a congressman or two who had no stomach for -field service. - -The approach of the end wrought no change in the temper of the -government, and one of its last acts puts in the strongest light -its disposition to sacrifice the interests of the army to the -convenience of the court. When the evacuation of Richmond was begun, -a train load of provisions was sent by General Lee's order from -one of the interior _dépôts_ to Amelia Court House, for the use of -the retreating army, which was without food and must march to that -point before it could receive a supply. But the president and his -followers were in haste to leave the capital, and needed the train, -wherefore it was not allowed to remain at Amelia Court House long -enough to be unloaded, but was hurried on to Richmond, where its -cargo was thrown out to facilitate the flight of the president and -his personal followers, while the starving army was left to suffer -in an utterly exhausted country, with no source of supply anywhere -within its reach. The surrender of the army was already inevitable, -it is true, but that fact in no way justified this last, crowning act -of selfishness and cruelty. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - -THE END, AND AFTER. - - -It is impossible to say precisely when the conviction became -general in the South that we were to be beaten. I cannot even -decide at what time I myself began to think the cause a hopeless -one, and I have never yet found one of my fellow-Confederates, -though I have questioned many of them, who could tell me with any -degree of certainty the history of his change from confidence to -despondency. We schooled ourselves from the first to think that we -should ultimately win, and the habit of thinking so was too strong -to be easily broken by adverse happenings. Having undertaken to make -good our declaration of independence, we refused to admit, even -to ourselves, the possibility of failure. It was a part of our -soldierly and patriotic duty to believe that ultimate success was -to be ours, and Stuart only uttered the common thought of army and -people, when he said, "We are bound to believe that, anyhow." We -were convinced, beyond the possibility of a doubt, of the absolute -righteousness of our cause, and in spite of history we persuaded -ourselves that a people battling for the right could not fail in the -end. And so our hearts went on hoping for success long after our -heads had learned to expect failure. Besides all this, we never gave -verbal expression to the doubts we felt, or even to the longing, -which must have been universal, for the end. It was our religion -to believe in the triumph of our cause, and it was heresy of the -rankest sort to doubt it or even to admit the possibility of failure. -It was ours to fight on indefinitely, and to the future belonged -the award of victory to our arms. We did not allow ourselves even -the poor privilege of wishing that the struggle might end, except -as we coupled the wish with a pronounced confidence in our ability -to make the end what we desired it to be. I remember very well the -stern rebuke administered by an officer to as gallant a fellow as -any in the army, who, in utter weariness and wretchedness, in the -trenches at Spottsylvania Court House, after a night of watching in -a drenching rain, said that he hoped the campaign then opening might -be the last one of the war. His plea that he also hoped the war would -end as we desired availed him nothing. To be weary in the cause -was offense enough, and the officer gave warning that another such -expression would subject the culprit to trial by court-martial. In -this he only spoke the common mind. We had enlisted for the war, and -a thought of weariness was hardly better than a wish for surrender. -This was the temper in which we began the campaign of 1864, and so -far as I have been able to discover, it underwent little change -afterwards. Even during the final retreat, though there were many -desertions soon after Richmond was left behind, not one of us who -remained despaired of the end we sought. We discussed the comparative -strategic merits of the line we had left and the new one we hoped -to make on the Roanoke River, and we wondered where the seat of -government would be, but not one word was said about a probable or -possible surrender. Nor was the army alone in this. The people who -were being left behind were confident that they should see us again -shortly, on our way to Richmond's recapture. - -Up to the hour of the evacuation of Richmond, the newspapers were -as confident as ever of victory. During the fall of 1864 they even -believed, or professed to believe, that our triumph was already at -hand. The Richmond Whig of October 5, 1864, said: "That the present -condition of affairs, compared with that of any previous year at the -same season, at least since 1861, is greatly in our favor, we think -can hardly be denied." In the same article it said: "That General Lee -can keep Grant out of Richmond from this time until doomsday, if he -should be tempted to keep up the trial so long, we are as confident -as we can be of anything whatever." The Examiner of September 24, -1864, said in its leading editorial: "The final struggle for the -possession of Richmond and of Virginia is now near. This war draws -to a close. If Richmond is held by the South till the first of -November it will be ours forever more; for the North will never throw -another huge army into the abyss where so many lie; and the war will -conclude, beyond a doubt, with the independence of the Southern -States." In its issue for October 7, 1864, the same paper began its -principal editorial article with this paragraph: "One month of spirit -and energy now, and the campaign is over, and the war is over. We do -not mean that if the year's campaign end favorably for us, McClellan -will be elected as Yankee President. That may come, or may not come; -but no part of our chance for an honorable peace and independence -rests upon that. Let who will be Yankee President, with the failure -of Grant and Sherman this year, the war ends. And with Sherman's army -already isolated and cut off in Georgia, and Grant unable either to -take or besiege Richmond, we have only to make one month's exertion -in improving our advantages, and then it may safely be said that the -fourth year's campaign, and with it the war itself, is one gigantic -failure." The Richmond Whig of September 8, 1864, with great gravity -copied from the Wytheville Dispatch an article beginning as follows: -"Believing as we do that the war of subjugation is virtually over, -we deem it not improper to make a few suggestions relative to the -treatment of Yankees after the war is over. Our soldiers know how to -treat them now, but _then_ a different treatment will be necessary." -And so they talked all the time. - -Much of this was mere whistling to keep our courage up, of course, -but we tried very hard to believe all these pleasant things, and in -a measure we succeeded. And yet I think we must have known from the -beginning of the campaign of 1864 that the end was approaching, and -that it could not be other than a disastrous one. We knew very well -that General Lee's army was smaller than it ever had been before. -We knew, too, that there were no reinforcements to be had from any -source. The conscription had put every man worth counting into the -field already, and the little army that met General Grant in the -Wilderness represented all that remained of the Confederate strength -in Virginia. In the South matters were at their worst, and we knew -that not a man could come thence to our assistance. Lee mustered a -total strength of about sixty-six thousand men, when we marched out -of winter quarters and began in the Wilderness that long struggle -which ended nearly a year later at Appomattox. With that army alone -the war was to be fought out, and we had to shut our eyes to facts -very resolutely, that we might not see how certainly we were to be -crushed. And we did shut our eyes so successfully as to hope in a -vague, irrational way, for the impossible, to the very end. In the -Wilderness we held our own against every assault, and the visible -punishment we inflicted upon the foe was so great that hardly any -man in our army expected to see a Federal force on our side of the -river at daybreak next morning. We thought that General Grant was -as badly hurt as Hooker had been on the same field, and confidently -expected him to retreat during the night. When he moved by his left -flank to Spottsylvania instead, we understood what manner of man he -was, and knew that the persistent pounding, which of all things we -were least able to endure, had begun. When at last we settled down in -the trenches around Petersburg, we ought to have known that the end -was rapidly drawing near. We congratulated ourselves instead upon the -fact that we had inflicted a heavier loss than we had suffered, and -buckled on our armor anew. - -If General Grant had failed to break our power of resistance by his -sledge-hammer blows, it speedily became evident that he would be more -successful in wearing it away by the constant friction of a siege. -Without fighting a battle he was literally destroying our army. The -sharp-shooting was incessant, and the bombardment hardly less so, and -under it all our numbers visibly decreased day by day. During the -first two months of the siege my own company, which numbered about a -hundred and fifty men, lost sixty, in killed and wounded, an average -of a man a day, and while our list of casualties was greater than -that of many other commands, there were undoubtedly some companies -and regiments which suffered more than we. The reader will readily -understand that an army already weakened by years of war, with no -source from which to recruit its ranks, could not stand this daily -waste for any great length of time. We were in a state of atrophy -for which there was no remedy except that of freeing the negroes and -making soldiers of them, which Congress was altogether too loftily -sentimental to think of for a moment. - -There was no longer any room for hope except in a superstitious -belief that Providence would in some way interfere in our behalf, and -to that very many betook themselves for comfort. This shifting upon -a supernatural power the task we had failed to accomplish by human -means rapidly bred many less worthy superstitions among the troops. -The general despondency, which amounted almost to despair, doubtless -helped to bring about this result, and the great religious "revival" -contributed to it in no small degree. I think hardly any man in that -army entertained a thought of coming out of the struggle alive. The -only question with each was when his time was to come, and a sort of -gloomy fatalism took possession of many minds. Believing that they -must be killed sooner or later, and that the hour and the manner of -their deaths were unalterably fixed, many became singularly reckless, -and exposed themselves with the utmost carelessness to all sorts of -unnecessary dangers. - -"I'm going to be killed pretty soon," said as brave a man as I ever -knew, to me one evening. "I never flinched from a bullet until -to-day, and now I dodge every time one whistles within twenty feet of -me." - -I tried to persuade him out of the belief, and even got for him -a dose of valerian with which to quiet his nerves. He took the -medicine, but assured me that he was not nervous in the least. - -"My time is coming, that's all," he said; "and I don't care. A -few days more or less don't signify much." An hour later the poor -fellow's head was blown from his shoulders as he stood by my side. - -One such incident--and there were many of them--served to confirm -a superstitious belief in presentiments which a hundred failures -of fulfillment were unable to shake. Meantime the revival went on. -Prayer-meetings were held in every tent. Testaments were in every -hand, and a sort of religious ecstasy took possession of the army. -The men had ceased to rely upon the skill of their leaders or the -strength of our army for success, and not a few of them hoped now -for a miraculous interposition of supernatural power in our behalf. -Men in this mood make the best of soldiers, and at no time were -the fighting qualities of the Southern army better than during the -siege. Under such circumstances men do not regard death, and even -the failure of any effort they were called upon to make wrought no -demoralization among troops who had persuaded themselves that the -Almighty held victory in store for them, and would give it them in -due time. What cared they for the failure of mere human efforts, when -they were persuaded that through such failures God was leading us to -ultimate victory? Disaster seemed only to strengthen the faith of -many. They saw in it a needed lesson in humility, and an additional -reason for believing that God meant to bring about victory by his own -and not by human strength. They did their soldierly duties perfectly. -They held danger and fatigue alike in contempt. It was their duty as -Christian men to obey orders without question, and they did so in -the thought that to do otherwise was to sin. - -That the confidence bred of these things should be of a gloomy kind -was natural enough, and the gloom was not dispelled, certainly, by -the conviction of every man that he was assisting at his own funeral. -Failure, too, which was worse than death, was plainly inevitable in -spite of it all. We persisted, as I have said, in vaguely hoping and -trying to believe that success was still to be ours, and to that end -we shut our eyes to the plainest facts, refusing to admit the truth -which was everywhere evident, namely, that our efforts had failed, -and that our cause was already in its death struggles. But we must -have known all this, nevertheless, and our diligent cultivation of an -unreasonable hopefulness served in no sensible degree to raise our -spirits. - -Even positive knowledge does not always bring belief. I doubt if a -condemned man, who finds himself in full bodily health, ever quite -believes that he is to die within the hour, however certainly he may -know the fact; and our condition was not unlike that of condemned men. - -When at last the beginning of the end came, in the evacuation of -Richmond and the effort to retreat, everything seemed to go to -pieces at once. The best disciplinarians in the army relaxed their -reins. The best troops became disorganized, and hardly any command -marched in a body. Companies were mixed together, parts of each being -separated by detachments of others. Flying citizens in vehicles of -every conceivable sort accompanied and embarrassed the columns. Many -commands marched heedlessly on without orders, and seemingly without -a thought of whither they were going. Others mistook the meaning -of their orders, and still others had instructions which it was -impossible to obey in any case. At Amelia Court House we should have -found a supply of provisions. General Lee had ordered a train load -to meet him there, but, as I have stated in a previous chapter, the -interests of the starving army had been sacrificed to the convenience -or the cowardice of the president and his personal following. The -train had been hurried on to Richmond and its precious cargo of -food thrown out there, in order that Mr. Davis and his people might -retreat rapidly and comfortably from the abandoned capital. Then -began the desertion of which we have heard so much. Up to that time, -as far as I can learn, if desertions had occurred at all they had -not become general; but now that the government, in flying from -the foe, had cut off our only supply of provisions, what were the -men to do? Many of them wandered off in search of food, with no -thought of deserting at all. Many others followed the example of the -government, and fled; but a singularly large proportion of the little -whole stayed and starved to the last. And it was no technical or -metaphorical starvation which we had to endure, either, as a brief -statement of my own experience will show. The battery to which I was -attached was captured near Amelia Court House, and within a mile or -two of my home. Seven men only escaped, and as I knew intimately -everybody in the neighborhood, I had no trouble in getting horses for -these to ride. Applying to General Lee in person for instructions, I -was ordered to march on, using my own judgment, and rendering what -service I could in the event of a battle. In this independent fashion -I marched with much better chances than most of the men had, to get -food, and yet during three days and nights our total supply consisted -of one ear of corn to the man, and we divided that with our horses. - -The end came, technically, at Appomattox, but of the real -difficulties of the war the end was not yet. The trials and the -perils of utter disorganization were still to be endured, and as the -condition in which many parts of the South were left by the fall of -the Confederate government was an anomalous one, some account of it -seems necessary to the completeness of this narrative. - -Our principal danger was from the lawless bands of marauders who -infested the country, and our greatest difficulty in dealing with -them lay in the utter absence of constituted authority of any -sort. Our country was full of highwaymen--not the picturesque -highwaymen of whom fiction and questionable history tell us, those -gallant, generous fellows whose purse-cutting proclivities seem -mere peccadilloes in the midst of so many virtues; not these, by -any means, but plain highwaymen of the most brutal description -possible, and destitute even of the merit of presenting a respectable -appearance. They were simply the offscourings of the two armies and -of the suddenly freed negro population,--deserters from fighting -regiments on both sides, and negro desperadoes, who found common -ground upon which to fraternize in their common depravity. They -moved about in bands, from two to ten strong, cutting horses out of -plows, plundering helpless people, and wantonly destroying valuables -which they could not carry away. At the house of one of my friends -where only ladies lived, a body of these men demanded dinner, which -was given them. They then required the mistress of the mansion to -fill their canteens with sorghum molasses, which they immediately -proceeded to pour over the carpets and furniture of the parlor. -Outrages were of every-day enactment, and there was no remedy. There -was no State, county, or municipal government in existence among us. -We had no courts, no justices of the peace, no sheriffs, no officers -of any kind invested with a shadow of authority, and there were not -men enough in the community, at first, to resist the marauders, -comparatively few of the surrendered soldiers having found their -way home as yet. Those districts in which the Federal armies were -stationed were peculiarly fortunate. The troops gave protection to -the people, and the commandants of posts constituted a government -able to enforce order, to which outraged or threatened people could -appeal. But these favored sections were only a small part of the -whole. The troops were not distributed in detached bodies over the -country, but were kept in considerable masses at strategic points, -lest a guerrilla war should succeed regular hostilities; and so the -greater part of the country was left wholly without law, at a time -when law was most imperatively needed. I mention this, not to the -discredit of the victorious army or of its officers. They could -not wisely have done otherwise. If the disbanded Confederates had -seen fit to inaugurate a partisan warfare, as many of the Federal -commanders believed they would, they could have annoyed the army -of occupation no little; and so long as the temper of the country -in this matter was unknown, it would have been in the last degree -improper to station small bodies of troops in exposed situations. -Common military prudence dictated the massing of the troops, and -as soon as it became evident that we had no disposition to resist -further, but were disposed rather to render such assistance as we -could in restoring and maintaining order, everything was done which -could be done to protect us. It is with a good deal of pleasure that -I bear witness to the uniform disposition shown by such Federal -officers as I came in contact with at this time, to protect all quiet -citizens, to restore order, and to forward the interests of the -community they were called upon to govern. In one case I went with a -fellow-Confederate to the head-quarters nearest me,--eighteen miles -away,--and reported the doings of some marauders in my neighborhood, -which had been especially outrageous. The general in command at once -made a detail of cavalry and instructed its chief to go in pursuit of -the highwaymen, and to bring them to him, dead or alive. They were -captured, marched at a double-quick to the camp, and shot forthwith, -by sentence of a drum-head court-martial, a proceeding which did -more than almost anything else could have done, to intimidate other -bands of a like kind. At another time I took to the same officer's -camp a number of stolen horses which a party of us had managed to -recapture from a sleeping band of desperadoes. Some of the horses we -recognized as the property of our neighbors, some we did not know -at all, and one or two were branded "C. S." and "U. S." The general -promptly returned all the identified horses, and lent all the others -to farmers in need of them. - -After a little time most of the ex-soldiers returned to their homes, -and finding that there were enough of us in the county in which I -lived to exercise a much-needed police supervision if we had the -necessary authority, we sent a committee of citizens to Richmond -to report the facts to the general in command of the district. He -received our committee very cordially, expressed great pleasure in -the discovery that citizens were anxious to maintain order until a -reign of law could be restored, and granted us leave to organize -ourselves into a military police, with officers acting under written -authority from him; to patrol the country; to disarm all improper or -suspicious persons; to arrest and turn over to the nearest provost -marshal all wrong-doers, and generally to preserve order by armed -surveillance. To this he attached but one condition, namely, that -we should hold ourselves bound in honor to assist any United States -officer who might require such service of us, in the suppression -of guerrilla warfare. To this we were glad enough to assent, as -the thing we dreaded most at that time was the inauguration of a -hopeless, irregular struggle, which would destroy the small chance -left us of rebuilding our fortunes and restoring our wasted country -to prosperity. We governed the county in which we lived, until the -establishment of a military post at the county seat relieved us of -the task, and the permission given us thus to stamp out lawlessness -saved our people from the alternative of starvation or dependence -upon the bounty of the government. It was seed-time, and without a -vigorous maintenance of order our fields could not have been planted -at all. - -It is difficult to comprehend, and impossible to describe, the state -of uncertainty in which we lived at this time. We had surrendered -at discretion, and had no way of discovering or even of guessing -what terms were to be given us. We were cut off almost wholly from -trustworthy news, and in the absence of papers were unable even -to rest conjecture upon the expression of sentiment at the North. -Rumors we had in plenty, but so many of them were clearly false that -we were forced to reject them all as probably untrue. When we heard -it confidently asserted that General Alexander had made a journey -to Brazil and brought back a tempting offer to emigrants, knowing -all the time that if he had gone he must have made the trip within -the extraordinarily brief period of a few weeks, it was difficult to -believe other news which reached us through like channels, though -much of it ultimately proved true. I think nobody in my neighborhood -believed the rumor of Mr. Lincoln's assassination until it was -confirmed by a Federal soldier whom I questioned upon the subject one -day, a week or two after the event. When we knew that the rumor was -true, we deemed it the worst news we had heard since the surrender. -We distrusted President Johnson more than any one else. Regarding -him as a renegade Southerner, we thought it probable that he would -endeavor to prove his loyalty to the Union by extra severity to -the South, and we confidently believed he would revoke the terms -offered us in Mr. Lincoln's amnesty proclamation; wherefore there -was a general haste to take the oath and so to secure the benefit of -the dead president's clemency before his successor should establish -harsher conditions. We should have regarded Mr. Lincoln's death as -a calamity, even if it had come about by natural means, and coming -as it did through a crime committed in our name, it seemed doubly a -disaster. - -With the history of the South during the period of reconstruction, -all readers are familiar, and it is only the state of affairs between -the time of the surrender and the beginning of the rebuilding, that -I have tried to describe in this chapter. But the picture would be -inexcusably incomplete without some mention of the negroes. Their -behavior both during and after the war may well surprise anybody not -acquainted with the character of the race. When the men of the South -were nearly all in the army, the negroes were left in large bodies on -the plantations with nobody to control them except the women and a -few old or infirm men. They might have been insolent, insubordinate, -and idle, if they had chosen. They might have gained their freedom -by asserting it. They might have overturned the social and political -fabric at any time, _and they knew all this too_. They were -intelligent enough to know that there was no power on the plantations -capable of resisting any movement they might choose to make. They -did know, too, that the success of the Federal arms would give them -freedom. The fact was talked about everywhere, and no effort was -made to keep the knowledge of it from them. They knew that to assert -their freedom was to give immediate success to the Union cause. -Most of them coveted freedom, too, as the heartiness with which they -afterwards accepted it abundantly proves. And yet they remained -quiet, faithful, and diligent throughout, very few of them giving -trouble of any sort, even on plantations where only a few women -remained to control them. The reason for all this must be sought in -the negro character, and we of the South, knowing that character -thoroughly, trusted it implicitly. We left our homes and our helpless -ones in the keeping of the Africans of our households, without any -hesitation whatever. We knew these faithful and affectionate people -too well to fear that they would abuse such a trust. We concealed -nothing from them, and they knew quite as well as we did the issues -at stake in the war. - -The negro is constitutionally loyal to his obligations as he -understands them, and his attachments, both local and personal, -are uncommonly strong. He speedily forgets an injury, but never -a kindness, and so he was not likely to rise in arms against the -helpless women and children whom he had known intimately and loved -almost reverentially from childhood, however strongly he desired the -freedom which such a rising would secure to him. It was a failure to -appreciate these peculiarities of the negro character which led John -Brown into the mistake that cost him his life. Nothing is plainer -than that he miscalculated the difficulty of exciting the colored -people to insurrection. He went to Harper's Ferry, confident that -when he should declare his purposes, the negroes would flock to his -standard and speedily crown his effort with success. They remained -quietly at work instead, many of them hoping, doubtless, that freedom -for themselves and their fellows might somehow be wrought out, but -they were wholly unwilling to make the necessary war upon the whites -to whom they were attached by the strongest possible bonds of -affection. And so throughout the war they acted after their kind, -waiting for the issue with the great, calm patience which is their -most universal characteristic. - -When the war ended, leaving everything in confusion, the poor blacks -hardly knew what to do, but upon the whole they acted with great -modesty, much consideration for their masters, and singular wisdom. -A few depraved ones took to bad courses at once, but their number -was remarkably small. Some others, with visionary notions, betook -themselves to the cities in search of easier and more profitable work -than any they had ever done, and many of these suffered severely from -want before they found employment again. The great majority waited -patiently for things to adjust themselves in their new conditions, -going on with their work meanwhile, and conducting themselves with -remarkable modesty. I saw much of them at this time, and I heard -of no case in which a negro voluntarily reminded his master of the -changed relations existing between them, or in any other way offended -against the strictest rules of propriety. - -At my own home the master of the mansion assembled his negroes -immediately after the surrender; told them they were free, and under -no obligation whatever to work for him; and explained to them the -difficulty he found in deciding what kind of terms he ought to offer -them, inasmuch as he was wholly ignorant upon the subject of the -wages of agricultural laborers. He told them, however, that if they -wished to go on with the crop, he would give them provisions and -clothing as before, and at the end of the year would pay them as -high a rate of wages as any paid in the neighborhood. To this every -negro on the place agreed, all of them protesting that they wanted -no better terms than for their master to give them at the end of -the year whatever he thought they had earned. They lost not an hour -from their work, and the life upon the plantation underwent no change -whatever until its master was forced by a pressure of debt to sell -his land. I give the history of the adjustment on this plantation -as a fair example of the way in which ex-masters and ex-slaves were -disposed to deal with each other. - -There were cases in which no such harmonious adjustment could -be effected, but, so far as my observation extended, these were -exceptions to the common rule, and even now, after a lapse of nine -years, a very large proportion of the negroes remain, either as hired -laborers or as renters of small farms, on the plantations on which -they were born. - - - - - - -End of Project Gutenberg's A Rebel's Recollections, by George Cary Eggleston - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A REBEL'S RECOLLECTIONS *** - -***** This file should be named 51211-8.txt or 51211-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/2/1/51211/ - -Produced by John Campbell and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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