Lawley was so ill this morning that he couldn't possibly
ride; I therefore mounted his horse a little before daybreak, and started in
search of the generals. After riding eight miles, I came up with General
Longstreet, at 6.30 A.M., and was only just in time, as he was on the point of
moving. Both he and his Staff were most kind, when I introduced myself and
stated my difficulties; he arranged that an ambulance should fetch Lawley, and
he immediately invited me to join his mess during the campaign; he told me
(which I did not know) that we were now in Pennsylvania, the enemy's country —
Maryland being only ten miles broad at this point; he declared that
Bushwhackers exist in the woods, who shoot unsuspecting stragglers, and it
would therefore be unsafe that Lawley and I should travel alone. General
Longstreet is an Alabamian — a thickset, determined-looking man, forty-three
years of age: he was an infantry major in the old army, and now commands the
1st corps d’armée:
he is never far from General Lee, who relies very much upon his judgment.
By the soldiers he is invariably spoken of as “the best fighter in the whole
army.” Whilst speaking of entering upon the enemy's soil, he said to me that
although it might be fair, in just retaliation, to apply the torch, yet
that doing so would demoralise the army and ruin its now excellent discipline.
Private property is therefore to be rigidly protected.
At 7 A.M. I returned with an orderly (or courier, as they
are called) to the farmhouse in which I had left Lawley; and after seeing all
arranged satisfactorily about the ambulance, I rode slowly on to rejoin General
Longstreet, near Chambersburg, which is a Pennsylvanian town, distant
twenty-two miles from Hagerstown. I was with M'Laws's division, and observed
that the moment they entered Pennsylvania the troops opened the fences and
enlarged the road about twenty yards on each side, which enabled the waggons
and themselves to proceed together: this is the only damage I saw done by the
Confederates. This part of Pennsylvania is very nourishing, highly cultivated, and,
in comparison with the Southern States, thickly peopled. But all the cattle and
horses having been seized by Ewell, farm-labour had now come to a complete
standstill.
In passing through Greencastle we found all the houses and
windows shut up, the natives in their Sunday clothes standing at their doors
regarding the troops in a very unfriendly manner. I saw no straggling into the
houses, nor were any of the inhabitants disturbed or annoyed by the soldiers.
Sentries were placed at the doors of many of the best houses, to prevent any
officer or soldier from getting in on any pretence.
I entered Chambersburg at 6 P.M. This is a town of some size
and importance: all its houses were shut up; but the natives were in the
streets, or at the upper windows, looking in a scowling and bewildered manner
at the Confederate troops, who were marching gaily past to the tune of Dixie's
Land. The women (many of whom were pretty and well dressed) were particularly
sour and disagreeable in their remarks. I heard one of them say, “Look at
Pharaoh's army going to the Red Sea.” Others were pointing and laughing at
Hood's ragged Jacks, who were passing at the time. This division, well known
for its fighting qualities, is composed of Texans, Alabamians, and Arkansians,
and they certainly are a queer lot to look at. They carry less than any other
troops; many of them have only got an old piece of carpet or rug as baggage;
many have discarded their shoes in the mud; all are ragged and dirty, but full
of good-humour and confidence in themselves and in their general, Hood. They
answered the numerous taunts of the Chambersburg ladies with cheers and
laughter. One female had seen fit to adorn her ample bosom with a huge Yankee
flag, and she stood at the door of her house, her countenance expressing the
greatest contempt for the barefooted Rebs; several companies passed her without
taking any notice; but at length a Texan gravely remarked, “Take care, madam,
for Hood's boys are great at storming breastworks when the Yankee colours is on
them.” After this speech the patriotic lady beat a precipitate retreat.
Sentries were placed at the doors of all the principal
houses, and the town was cleared of all but the military passing through or on
duty. Some of the troops marched straight through the town, and bivouacked on
the Carlisle road. Others turned off to the right, and occupied the Gettysburg
turnpike. I found Generals Lee and Longstreet encamped on the latter road,
three-quarters of a mile from the town.
General Longstreet and his Staff at once received me into
their mess, and I was introduced to Major Fairfax, Major Latrobe, and Captain Rogers
of his personal Staff; also to Major Moses, the Chief Commissary, whose tent I
am to share. He is the most jovial, amusing, and clever son of Israel I ever
had the good fortune to meet. The other officers on Longstreet's Headquarter
Staff are Colonel Sorrell, Lieutenant-Colonel Manning (ordnance officer), Major
Walton, Captain Goree, and Major Clark, all excellent good fellows, and most
hospitable.*
Lawley is to live with three doctors on the Headquarter
Staff: their names are Cullen, Barksdale, and Maury; they form a jolly trio,
and live much more luxuriously than their generals.
Major Moses tells me that his orders are to open the stores
in Chambersburg by force, and seize all that is wanted for the army in a
regular and official manner, giving in return its value in Confederate money on
a receipt. The storekeepers have doubtless sent away their most valuable goods
on the approach of the Confederate army. Much also has been already seized by
Ewell, who passed through nearly a week ago. But Moses was much elated at
having already discovered a large supply of excellent felt hats, hidden away in
a cellar, which he “annexed” at once.
I was told this evening the numbers which have crossed the
Potomac, and also the number of pieces of artillery. There is a large train of
ammunition; for if the army advances any deeper into the enemy's country,
General Lee cannot expect to keep his communications open to the rear; and as
the Staff officers say, “In every battle we fight we must capture as much
ammunition as we use.” This necessity, however, does not seem to disturb them,
as it has hitherto been their regular style of doing business.
Ewell, after the capture of Winchester, had advanced rapidly
into Pennsylvania, and has already sent back great quantities of horses, mules,
waggons, beeves, and other necessaries; he is now at or beyond Carlisle, laying
the country under contribution, and making Pennsylvania support the war,
instead of poor, used-up, and worn-out Virginia. The corps of Generals A. P.
Hill and Longstreet are now near this place, all full of confidence and in high
spirits.
_______________
* Having lived at the Headquarters of all the principal
Confederate Generals, I am able to affirm that the relation between their
Staffs and themselves, and the way the duty is carried on, is very similar to
what it is in the British army. All the Generals — Johnston, Bragg, Polk,
Hardee, Longstreet, and Lee—are thorough soldiers, and their Staffs are
composed of gentlemen of position and education, who have now been trained into
excellent and zealous Staff officers.
SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three
Months in the Southern States: April-June, 1863, p. 241-7
