University of Virginia Library

REST FOR THE WEARY.

After the action on the Weldon Road, the brigade continued for
some days to report to Major-General Mahone and was stationed
on the southern lines of Petersburg, where there was no fighting.
Hagood, had, however, on the 24th, in a communication to Colonel
Brent (General Beauregard's A. A. G.), called attention to
the worn and jaded condition of his men, and the fearful reduction
in their number; and asked to be permitted to take them to
some quiet camp where rest and access to water might recruit
their physical condition. His application was returned approved
by General Lee, and the neighborhood of the crossing of the
turnpike over Swift Creek indicated for his camp. Mr. Dunlop

very kindly offered his grounds to the brigade inspector sent to
select the spot, and on the 2nd September we moved to this
delightful camp.

Dunlop's park was near the scene of our affair at Swift Creek
on the 9th May. It had been the property of an old Scotch
gentleman who had accumulated a large fortune as a merchant in
Petersburg and had spent years in beautifying and adorning this
as his country seat. Swift Creek, a bold and handsome stream
with precipitous banks, pursued its course along two sides of the
park—now brawling in a rapid, now spreading into a deep, dark
pool. Within the grounds artificial lakelets and mounds imitated
nature. The native forest had been thinned and pruned into combinations
of glade and grove and single trees; straight avenues
opened upon pleasing vistas, and serpentine roads and walks
meandered; the grass was the freshest of green and as perfect a
carpet as any woven in the loom. Wherever a prospect opened,
or the shade was densest, or the murmer of the water fell gentlest
upon the ear, a summer house or a rustic seat invited repose; and
from various parts of the grounds the mansion was to be seen,
sometimes a glimpse, sometimes a view more or less full, but
always picturesque. It was a structure in the Italian villa style,
and stood upon a gentle eminence near the creek, with the grass
growing up to its walls and the gravelled carriage drive approaching
it in a graceful sweep.

There were perhaps not over forty acres in this beautiful park,
and it appeared much larger from the artistic skill with which
it was laid off; and up to this time it had escaped the ravages of
war, though a cannon ball through one of the gables of the house,
a straggler on the 9th May, attested the near proximity of contending
armies. The old gentleman, who had delighted to adorn
this retreat, had died within it while Butler's army had been on
the opposite side of Swift Creek, and his son reigned in his stead.
The present proprietor had been a courier for General Hagood at
that time, and was now on invalid leave.

Here at last the brigade was at rest. It is difficult to convey
an idea of the effect upon the spirits of the transfer from the heat
and the glare and the filth and the turmoil and danger of the
trenches, endured so long, to the shade and water, and peaceful
seclusion of these grounds. An Arab entering an oasis from the

burning sands of the desert might approximate its conception; a
Christian arrived "where the weary are at rest and the wicked
cease from troubling" would realize it. All military observances
were suspended for several days. A sergeant's guard was sufficient
for purposes of discipline and of restraining the men from
straggling, or injuring the trees and shrubbery—especially when
backed by a threat in general orders to send the first offender
"back to the trenches" to serve with Colquitt's brigade, till his
command returned to duty.

From dawn till dark Swift Creek was full of the men patiently
scrubbing from their persons the accummulated dust of march
and trench and battle, and its banks lined with others waging
vigorous war upon the grime and vermin that made their garments
almost uninhabitable; while the park was ornamented with
groups who had undergone the cleansing process, indulging in a
somnolent lethargy as profound as if inspired by hashish. Others
again stretched and rolled upon the smooth and velvety surface
of the grass with a kind of sensual delight.

Opportunity was now taken to refit, as far as practicable, the
brigade in clothing, shoes and ordnance appointments. Its commissariat
was carefully looked to; vegetable diet provided, and
proper cooking enforced. The men rapidly recovered their condition
and health. The field infirmary was almost emptied into
the camp, and the patients got well faster here than there. In a
short time the brigade began to show respectability in the number
for duty. Then drills were established; at stated hours the regimental
bands enlivened the air with music; sentinels and the
ceremonials of camp were resumed; vacant offices filled by promotion
or election, and in less than a month the brigade was itself
again—sorely reduced in numbers, but ready once more "to live
or die for Dixie."

About the 15th of September, the other brigades of Hoke's
division were relieved from the trenches and placed in reserve
on the Petersburg side of the Appomattox. And on the 26th,
General Lee reviewed the division, which was concentrated for
the purpose for that evening. This was the only review or other
military display witnessed by the writer during the campaign of
'64. It was made a gala occasion by the citizens of the beleaguered
town, large numbers attending. The ladies were out in full force,

and many were on horseback. General A. P. Hill rode on the
staff of the commanding general upon a very graceful and beautiful
silver grey; and horse and rider showed gallantly. General
Lee reviewed the troops rapidly and seemed bored by the ceremonial
and glad to be through with it. He was in full uniform,
with a quantity of yellow sash around his waist, and did not look
like himself. Even his horse looked as if he thought it was all
foolishness.

After the battle of Cold Harbor and while the opposing armies
still confronted each other there, the writer going to the rear in
discharge of some duty was attracted by a large, powerful, well-bred
horse, held by an orderly in front of the tent of a corps
commander. He was a grey, perfectly groomed, and his appointments,
though of the ordinary regulation character, had a neatness
about them unusual during a campaign. Just then General
Lee came out of the tent and slowly approaching the horse stood
thoughtfully by his side for a moment. He wore blue military
pants without suspenders and a short linen sack with no vest, a
soft felt hat, and buff gauntlets. He had no insignia of rank
about him, and carried neither sword, pistol or field glass.
Recovering from his momentary reverie, he stroked the horse
kindly upon the face, and with a glance at his accoutrements that
bespoke the horseman, mounted, adjusted the reins in his bridle
hand, settled himself in the saddle, and rode quietly away followed
by the orderly. This was his usual style. He always was
mounted on the same horse, and as he passed along his lines or
through his army, never with more than one attendant, and
sometimes with none, he looked more like some planter, with a
taste for horses riding around his fields, than like the conventional
military chieftain.

This absence of "fuss and feathers" in its commander gave the
cue to the whole Army of Northern Virginia. The ordinary summer
campaign dress of a general officer was a dark colored flannel
shirt, without a coat over it, blue pants, top boots and felt hat,
with a revolver buckled around his waist and a field glass swung
over his shoulder. There was not a body guard in the army; and
headquarter guards were small and for the protection of property,
not for ceremony and display. Among the regimental officers it
was difficult to get them to wear the swords which were their

badges of rank. This was, however, though contrary to regulations
and orders, a matter of judgment as well as taste with them.
They preferred to be encumbered simply with the revolver, and in
this they were right. The long range and repeating firearm had
made the sword for the infantry officer as antiquated as the
spontoon. It was not uncommon to see them in action directing
their men without any weapon at all; and in the charge upon the
enemy at the Crater, after the explosion of Grant's Petersburg
mine, a South Carolina colonel—Smith, of the Twenty-sixth—
was said to have led his men with a club seized for the occasion.
He was also said to have been successful with his club in a hand-to-hand
encounter with one of the Federal bayonets.

Our period of rest was now rapidly drawing to a close, and on
the night of the 28th of September the brigade was returned to
the trenches, relieving Gracie's brigade, which was stationed near
the Baxter road. The enemy discovered the transfer of troops
that was going on, and treated us to a most brilliant pyrotechnic
display. The mortar fire was the heaviest we had yet seen at
Petersburg, but the casualties were few.