Young Wade Hampton has been here for a few days, a guest of
our nearest neighbor and cousin, Phil Stockton. Wade, without being the beauty
or the athlete that his brother Preston is, is such a nice boy. We lent him
horses, and ended by giving him a small party. What was lacking in company was
made up for by the excellence of old Colonel Chesnut's ancient Madeira and
champagne. If everything in the Confederacy were only as truly good as the old
Colonel's wine-cellars! Then we had a salad and a jelly cake.
General Joe Johnston is so careful of his aides that Wade
has never yet seen a battle. Says he has always happened to be sent afar off
when the fighting came. He does not seem too grateful for this, and means to be
transferred to his father's command. He says, “No man exposes himself more
recklessly to danger than General Johnston, and no one strives harder to keep
others out of it.” But the business of this war is to save the country, and a
commander must risk his men's lives to do it. There is a French saying that you
can't make an omelet unless you are willing to break eggs.
SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin
and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 249-50
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