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Transcriber's note:
Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).
[Illustration: SAMUEL G. FRENCH.]
TWO WARS: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GEN. SAMUEL G. FRENCH,
An Officer in the Armies of the United States and the
Confederate States,
A Graduate from the U. S. Military Academy, West Point, 1843.
Mexican War;
War between the States, a Diary;
Reconstruction Period, His Experience;
Incidents, Reminiscences, etc.
Nashville, Tenn.:
Confederate Veteran.
1901.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1901,
By Samuel G. French,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
_THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED_
TO
_MY WIFE AND CHILDREN_,
AND TO
_THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS_
WHO BATTLED WITH THE INVADING
FOE TO PROTECT OUR HOMES
AND MAINTAIN THE CAUSE FOR
WHICH OLIVER CROMWELL AND
GEORGE WASHINGTON FOUGHT.
PREFACE.
Some years ago, when living on an orange grove at Winter Park,
it occurred to me that my idle time might be usefully employed in
transcribing from memoranda and my diary many incidents of my life for
preservation in one manuscript for my children. This was continued at
intervals until it became as here presented. It was mainly discontinued
after my children became old enough to observe passing events for
themselves.
But inasmuch as a few books have been published containing errors in
describing some military operations in which I participated, justice to
the troops under my command induces me to publish my account of them as
recorded when they occurred.
This volume, then, is a simple narrative of passing events, without
discussing their importance and bearing politically in shaping the
destiny of the nation.
Although my lot was cast with the South, and whatever may be my
opinion of the action of the North before, during, and after the war
as expressed in these pages, I am as loyal to the Constitution and
as ready to uphold and maintain the rights and dignity of the United
States as any man within its boundary; and this was evidenced when I
tendered my services, as a soldier, to the President before war was
declared against Spain.
I do not know that I am indebted to any person, except Joseph M.
Brown, of Marietta, Ga., a son of Gov. Joseph E. Brown, for what I have
written, and to him I make acknowledgment for obligations.
THE AUTHOR.
Pensacola, Fla., May 1. 1899.
INTRODUCTION.
Of all forms of history, a good autobiography is the most pleasing
and attractive. If the writer has been a prominent and responsible
participant in great events, if high character warrants his
faithfulness to truth, and if the events of which he writes are in
themselves of great historic value, his autobiography will possess a
peculiar charm and interest for every intelligent reader.
The generation that recalls from memory the events of our history
connected with the admission of the great State of Texas into the
American Union and the war with Mexico which followed has nearly
all gone. Here and there a strong man survives whose memory is clear
and whose conscience is true. To hear him talk of these events, or
to read after him as he writes of the universal excitement in the
country--the angry debates in Congress, the opposition to the admission
of Texas, and to the war with Mexico, the brilliant campaign of Taylor,
the battles of Palo Alto, Resaca de la Palma, Monterey, and Buena
Vista--is to enjoy history in its most attractive form. The historian
who has been an active participant in the events of which he writes,
whose passions have been cooled by age, and whose judgment has been
disciplined by long years of experience and reflection enjoys an
immense advantage. However we may disagree with him in his criticisms
upon the conduct of men or upon their motives, if he be a man of high
and true character, we enjoy the greatest satisfaction in accepting
his positive statements as to facts which represent his own actions and
experiences.
Gen. French is such a historian. The clear, natural, dispassionate
style of his book--its freedom from bitterness, the tenderness with
which he dwells upon the history of his classmates at West Point,
several of whom became distinguished generals in the Federal army
(Grant, Franklin, Ingalls, and Quinby)--all these characteristics of
his autobiography soon win the confidence of the reader.
For the general reader of to-day, and especially for the survivors of
the Confederate Army, Gen. French's autobiography will possess peculiar
interest. The writer has enjoyed the opportunity of reading the advance
sheets of the book only through the account of the battle of Allatoona,
which was fought October 5, 1864, but as Gen. French participated in
the campaign of Gen. Hood up to its predestined disaster at Nashville,
the autobiography will be read with more than usual interest by
students of the ill-starred march into Tennessee and the battles of
Franklin and Nashville.
The venerable author of "Two Wars" has been an able and gallant soldier
of his country, and the simple and graphic manner in which he writes
of his distinguished services, and relates the great events in which
he bore a faithful part, entitle his book to the confidence of his
countrymen. It is a most valuable addition to our country's history,
and a book which will be of permanent use in the study of our great
Confederate struggle.
ELLISON CAPERS.
Columbia, S. C., July 1, 1901.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
Ancestry--Thomas Ffrench--Military Aspiration--Important 1
Document--Appointment to West Point--New Jersey Farm Life--Great
Changes--A Real Yankee--Pennsylvania Hall--The Fashions--Capture
of a Hessian Soldier--Rufus Choate and Bishop Wainwright--West
Point--Cadet Life--Senator Wall--John F. Reynolds--The
Boycott--Rufus Ingalls--Requisites of a Commander