* As J. J. Odom and
I were on the puny list, we stopped to rest and take dinner with a Frenchman,
within four miles of Knoxville. The family were great “Rebs,” so it seemed to
be with pleasure that they did all they could to make us comfortable.
It so happened that
our host was a preacher. Some other French families who lived in the
neighborhood had collected there to hear him preach. As some of them did not
understand English, he preached in French. I “heard but did not understand” a
single word of that sermon. We had a splendid dinner, and we had now been
soldiering long enough to appreciate a good din.
Among other nice
things, a glass of wine of their own make was served to each.
Odom and I went to
camp late that afternoon.
SOURCE: Richard R.
Hancock, Hancock's Diary: Or, A History of the Second Tennessee
Confederate Cavalry, p. 39
