There was joy indeed at Oakland when the news of my promotion was
received there; and the young ladies set themselves to work at
once to contrive ways and means whereby my gray Navy coat could
be converted into the tunic of an Artillery officer. The most
troublesome part of it all, we found, was to get the Austrian knot
on the arm, the “curleyqueue,” as we called it, into the right
shape. It is so long since, and these things are so soon forgotten,
that it may not be out of place to mention here that my new uniform
was a gray tunic with scarlet cuffs and scarlet collar; an Austrian
knot of gold braid on each arm; two bars of gold lace, denoting the
rank, on each side of the standing collar; gray trousers with broad
red stripes; a scarlet kepi, trimmed with gold braid, and commonly
known, by the way, as the “woodpecker cap.”
One important consideration for me about this time was, how I
should get the money to pay for a horse and other necessary
equipments. Mr. Raines had two sons in the service, and was, as
I knew, supporting the families of several soldiers from the
neighborhood. He came to me, however, and told me that he had
instructed his factors at Petersburg, to honor any drafts that I
might make upon them; and that I must go there and get the money
necessary for a horse, and anything else that I wanted. This was
more than I was willing to accept; but I had not much choice in the
matter; and Mr. Raines assured me that it was a pleasure to him
to be able to assist me in preparing myself to fill properly the
position that I had won. So off I went to Petersburg, and thence
to Richmond, in all the brilliancy of gray and scarlet and gold;
the little darkies on the plantation, as I drove off from Oakland,
singing the refrain that I have mentioned before.
I had not yet been assigned to duty with any particular command,
and had not the remotest idea of what kind of duty it was to
be; but I had heard a good deal of General Longstreet, and when
I reached Richmond, I went to the Ordnance Bureau to have a
preparatory talk with Colonel Gorgas, who was Chief of Ordnance of
the army. I began to realize, from what I saw around me, that I was
likely to be in a worse plight as an Ordnance officer, whatever
that might be, than I was as an able bodied seaman, so-called,
on the _Nashville_; and I said frankly to Colonel Gorgas, that I
felt inclined to decline the commission which had been tendered
me. He asked me why I intended to take such a step. I said that I
knew nothing whatever of the duties of an Ordnance officer, and
hardly knew the difference between a Napoleon gun and a Belgian
rifle. I did not think it right, therefore, to undertake what I
did not think I would be able to perform satisfactorily. Colonel
Gorgas looked at me a moment to see whether I was in earnest or
not, and then said very quietly: “I think you had better accept
the commission; I reckon you know as much about it as many other
officers who have been assigned to the same duty.” I took him at
his word, and asked to be assigned to General Longstreet’s corps.
At the same time I mentioned to Colonel Gorgas that I did not
want any duty in the rear; and he gave me a letter to General
Longstreet, requesting that, if any particularly hazardous service
should fall within the line of my duty, it might be given to me.
It was difficult to get such a horse as I wanted in Richmond; but
I succeeded in getting a respectable iron sabre with a painted
scabbard, and I bought a good revolver and an imitation McClellan
saddle. With these, and a large valise as my baggage, I went down
to the Virginia Central Railroad station to take the train for
Culpepper C. H., which was the nearest point on the railroad to
the place where the army was believed to be. I should mention
that, after the battles around Richmond, Jackson had attacked
and defeated the enemy at Cedar Mountain; and the whole army of
Northern Virginia was now in motion towards Manassas. I met, at the
station, Captain Taylor, of Norfolk, a naval officer, who had been
appointed Captain of artillery, and assigned to duty with Stephen
D. Lee’s battalion of reserve artillery. We traveled together,
and left the cars at Culpepper C. H. By dint of hard talking,
we obtained quarters for the night at the hotel, and the next
morning we set out to overtake the army. I left my valise with the
hotel-keeper; but I could not consent to part with my saddle, which
I lugged along as best I could.