AT HOME IN SAVANNAH--SKETCHES
Leave of absence--Visiting home with Doctor Sorrel--Traveling
by rail--Old Savannah--Few changes--Many friends--Happiness in
meeting them--Return to the army--Longstreet's correspondence
with Schofield--Attempt in same line near Richmond with General
Ord--General Grant declines negotiations for peace--Andrew Johnson's
Masonic paraphernalia saved by Captain Goree--Sketch--Longstreet
at Richmond--In conference with President and General Lee--Without
result--First corps ordered back to Lee--Began moving late in
April--Arrived at Mechanicsville last of month--Major-General Field
assigned to command of Hood's division--Sketch--Congress votes thanks
to First Corps (see Appendix)--Charlottesville--Sketch--Prices of
various articles.
I had now opportunity for yielding to my father's pressing urgency to
take leave of absence and see him once more in life. I arranged for
thirty days absence. The railroad was not yet fully repaired and my
nearest station was about fifteen miles to ride. An agreeable medical
officer gave me his company so far, but was constantly weeping that he
was not on his way "to see his dear, beautiful little wife." I tried
to comfort him by the reminder that no such attraction was waiting for
me, but without success. He was, however, braced up by a horse trade we
managed to get off, which as usual I incline to think I got the worst
of. I think so by reason of a memorandum about horses in which the
animal then acquired is named "Deceit." The train soon reached Bristol,
whence a change of cars brought me through Lynchburg to Richmond.
There Doctor Sorrel met me, like myself on leave, and light-hearted we
started for home to see our dear kith and kin.
It was my first absence from duty since July 21, 1861. Slow railway
traveling in those days was the rule without exception--gauges not
uniform, routes deviating, and engines of low power. The time was, I
think, quite three days between Richmond and Savannah, traveling day
and night, and of course such luxuries as sleeping-cars were then
unknown.
It was a great delight to see home again; to be welcomed and made much
of, after the stern scenes of more than two years. Our friends were not
backward or ungenerous. Hospitalities were showered upon us, but better
than all was the loving home circle of aging father and happy young
sisters. The latter, gladdened to have their brothers once more with
them, sang, played, and danced to heart's delight.
There were many changes. Only six companies had gone to the Eastern
army. The remainder of the very large forces sent by the city was
distributed through the Western armies and the coast defenses;
consequently I had seen but few of my old comrades and associates in
Virginia. The happiness of meeting many awaited me in Savannah, and it
will easily be imagined what our talk was about--the camp, the battle,
the march, the enemy, and our own commands.
There was no great change in the appearance of the town, then of
about 30,000 population. Eighteen miles from the sea, and beautifully
situated on a high bluff, it enjoyed a large commerce and much
lucrative business. Shady walks, numerous small wooded parks, and
thousands of branching, leafy trees made it a very attractive and
beautiful little city. The rigors of war had not yet touched it. The
forts at the entrance to the river were the enemy's, but he had not yet
penetrated to the city. That was preserved for Sherman in December,
from the West.
The days slipped by. Our time was nearly up, and with cheerful
farewells we were soon on our way back to Virginia. Dropping my
brother, the Doctor, at Richmond, I went directly back to my familiar
duties with our army in its winter camp in East Tennessee.
Affairs had been very quiet within that thirty days, and I was well
satisfied to be again with the colors. My leave and my home became, as
it were, but a pleasant bit of dreaming.
Not long after Schofield took command of the Union forces our
Lieutenant-General succeeded in getting into a short correspondence
with him. The Federal commander was an able soldier, of liberal
views, from which Longstreet had hopes. The latter's intentions were
commendable. Like most of us, he wanted peace and the honorable
termination of the war and cessation of bloodshed. He felt that it
was not to be accomplished by the politicians. They had plunged the
country into civil war, he reasoned. They would be the last to bring
it to an end. The hope was that the generals on both sides might give
the movement such an impetus that statecraft must necessarily take it
up with probably good results. It was with this view that some letters
passed between Longstreet and Schofield. The former pressed that view,
and, assuming the Union General, like himself, wanted peace, he urged
a joint initiative from which much could be hoped. It was illusory.
Schofield's letter was calm and noncommittal. Finally he had to say
what was sure to be said, that it was not his part to deal with such
matters, which were properly to be discussed by the Executive in
Washington. It was necessarily so. The military were not clothed with
authority for the purpose. Even the convention between Sherman and
Johnston at the close of hostilities was disapproved and annulled by
the Federal civil authorities.
The idea, however, did not vanish from Longstreet's thoughts. It took
fresh shape later in front of Richmond through General Ord, the officer
immediately in command, as intermediary by which it was hoped a meeting
between Grant and Lee could be achieved. General Grant declined a
meeting for discussion on such a subject. The correspondence relating
to these two incidents is probably to be found in the records published
by Congress, and should be interesting. I refer to them entirely from
memory.
While quartered near Greenville some straggling soldiers found their
way into the house once occupied by Andrew Johnson, afterwards
Vice-President. He was a Mason of high degree, and the emblems and
paraphernalia of the order were very numerous in the dwelling. Our
fellows thought they had made a find of value and were about starting
off with it when halted by Captain Goree, A. D. C. of our staff. He had
everything carefully repacked and put in a safe place for the rightful
owner. I have never known whether he finally recovered them uninjured.
Goree was a Texan and had been with Longstreet from the beginning.
The General was fortunate in having an officer so careful, observing,
and intelligent. His conduct on all occasions was excellent and his
intrepidity during exposure in battle could always be counted on. He
was with the corps until Appomattox, and then returned to Texas, where
he occupied responsible public office by vote of the people for many
years. He enjoys good health and good Confederate memories now at his
home in Galveston.
About this time Generals Lee, Johnston, and Longstreet were called on
by the Richmond authorities for suggestions as to further operations
on a comprehensive scale. General Bragg was in office as adviser to
the President. Having failed in all field operations, he had now
the President's ear and the President's support for experimental
strategy. Longstreet submitted an elaborate proposition, having for
its objective a powerful demonstration in Kentucky by combination with
General Johnston's army and the eventual command of the State under
Confederate auspices. It is said that plan had General Lee's approval
when submitted to the President in counsel with the Secretary of War,
General Bragg, and General Lee. The proposition was not accepted and
nothing apparently was settled. General Lee returned immediately to
his army on the Rapidan and the Lieutenant-General set out for his
headquarters at Greenville. Feeling himself entitled to the privilege,
he stopped two days at Petersburg to see his wife, and to have his
infant son christened "Robert Lee." It appears this short stop
subjected him to rebuke by the President for loitering.
The country was now in wintry weather and there was much snow.
Everything went into quarters that could and all military operations
were suspended. The second division of General Johnston's cavalry
was ordered to him through the mountains--a hard march. It should be
stated that Johnston was now for some time in command of the Army of
Tennessee in Bragg's place. In the first half of April our command
started back to join General Lee on the Rapidan. It was made on cars
collected as fast as possible. The troop detrained at Charlottesville.
After a short stop in that country, we began, about the 22d, the march
to Mechanicsville, not far from Gordonsville, and on the last of the
month had the happiness to be reviewed by our beloved commander,
General Lee. The troubles in Hood's old division would, it was hoped,
be ended. Maj-Gen. Charles W. Fields had been some time back assigned
to command and was to prove an active and capable commander. He was an
old Army man of much experience and unquestioned valor. In the Appendix
may be read the vote of thanks given by Congress to Lieutenant-General
Longstreet and his command.
When we detrained at Charlottesville I had the good fortune to meet
some most hospitable friends. Judge William J. Robertson, eminent
on the bench, and his charming wife insisted on having me in their
handsome residence and agreeable family circle. It was a welcome
contrast to the asperities of a winter campaign in East Tennessee. The
town itself was interesting and full of Virginia historic lore. Its
chief pride is the Alma Mater of many Southern men, the University of
Virginia, beloved of Jefferson. Near by, on steep Monticello, stands
his own house, where youth and age, in admiration of the sage, the
statesman, the philosopher, sought him for a word, a touch of the hand.
The property is still well maintained by its present owner, proud of
its history as part of Thomas Jefferson. The county of Albemarle (its
deep red-clay soil remembered by many a sore-footed soldier), is of
ancient settlement, abounding in wood and meadow and shining streams.
Its tasty, luscious pippins are widely known to lovers of the apple.
Some stately old residences, the "great houses" of large estates of the
early Virginia families, are still to be seen; but alas! the ravages
of war and its bitter results have left such properties but as so many
reminders of an opulent past. It was this delightful resting place of
a few days that we were now to leave for the great campaign of the
Wilderness and its subsequent battles.
In April, 1864, the Confederacy had reached a point of great financial
embarrassment, as shown by the depreciation of its paper currency. The
pay of the officers was in reality a pittance, and those without other
resources were often in straits. Many boxes and hampers, however, came
to the camps from home and were of some help to all.
A petition from officers in the field had gone to the War Department,
asking that rations might be issued to them as to the private soldiers.
It had attached a scale of prices charged the officers by the army
commissaries, presumably the average cost price, and not the price of
retail market. The officers paid for bacon, $2.20 per pound; beef, 75
cents; lard, $2.20 per pound; molasses, $6 per gallon; sugar, $1.50 per
pound. A coat cost $350; boots, $250; trousers, $125; hat, $80 to $125;
shirt, $50; socks, $10 per pair. General Johnston in approving and
verifying the petition said that at existing prices the pay of company
officers was worth less than that of a private soldier.
The shrinkage of the value of our paper currency continued with the
progress of the war until, near the close, it almost ceased to have any
purchasing power whatever.