The landlord of the Bowmont House gave a breakfast at 7 A.M.
to General Gist and his Staff, to which I also was invited.
Shortly afterwards I was given a seat in a curious little
vehicle belonging to Lieutenant Martino, a Spaniard, in the Confederate army.
This vehicle caused considerable merriment amongst the soldiers, who called it
a chicken-waggon.
We left Jackson with the leading troops about 8 A.M., amidst
a great waving of handkerchiefs and showers of flowers, thrown by the few
remaining ladies who were still left in that dilapidated place.
The corps under General Gist consisted of three weak
brigades, the leading one composed of Georgians and South Carolinians; the next
were Texans, under General Ector; and the last were Arkansians, under General
M'Nair. General Gist had twelve good-looking Napoleon guns with him
(twelve-pounders). The horses were fine animals, and were in wonderful good
condition, considering that they had been ten days in the railroad coming from
South Carolina.
The troops were roughly but efficiently clothed; their boots
were in good order, and all were armed with Enfield rifles.
The weather was very hot, and we were halted to bivouac for
the night, at a spot about seventeen miles from Jackson, on the road towards
Vicksburg.
The straggling of the Georgians was on the grandest scale
conceivable; the men fell out by dozens, and seemed to suit their own
convenience in that respect, without interference on the part of the officers.
But I was told that these regiments had never done any marching before, having
hitherto been quartered in forts and transported by railroad.
The country is much covered with woods, and is sandy, with
very little water.
I did not consider that the troops were marched judiciously;
they were halted too long at a time, and not often enough. The baggage was
carried on country carts pressed into the service.
We bivouacked in the woods near a very pretty house, belonging
to a planter called Colonel Robinson. These immense woods make admirable
bivouacs.
General State Rights Gist is a South Carolinian, only
thirty-two years of age, and although not educated as a soldier, he seems
easily to have adapted himself to the military profession. He looks a
determined man, and he takes responsibility very coolly. In the early part of
the day he was very doubtful as to the exact whereabouts of General Johnston;
but about noon a courier arrived, from whom he received important and
satisfactory information, otherwise General Gist had made up his mind for some “nasty
work” before the junction could be effected. He told me that the present
expedition was rather inconvenient to him, as he had only been married three
days before he left Charleston. He lent me a magnificent rug, and I slept very
comfortably in the open air for the first time since I was in Texas.
SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three
Months in the Southern States: April-June, 1863, p. 112-4
