July 1, 1864
Nothing very new to-day. I took advantage of the propinquity
of the nigger division (which had come to fill part of the 6th Corps' line,
during its absence) to show the unbleached brethren to my Imperial
commissioners. We rode first to General Ferrero's Headquarters. This officer,
as his name hints, is an Italian by birth, his papa being of Milan. He is quite
a well-looking man, and, like unto General Carr, was a dancing-master before he
took to soldiering. He speaks Italian and some French and sputtered along very
successfully with the visitors. There was turned out for them a regiment of
darks. The sun was intense and the sable gents looked like millers, being
indeed quite obscured except when they stood perfectly still. They did
remarkably well, and the French officers, who were inclined to look favorably
on them beforehand, were in ecstasies over their performances.
SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s
Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness
to Appomattox, p. 180
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