I arrived at Chattanooga (Tennessee) at 4.30 Am., and fell
in with Captain Brown again; his negro recognised me, and immediately rushed up
to shake hands.
After breakfasting at Chattanooga, I started again at 7.30,
by train, for Shelbyville, General Bragg's headquarters. This train was crammed
to repletion with soldiers rejoining their regiments, so I was constrained to
sit in the aisle on the floor of one of the cars. I thought myself lucky even
then, for so great was the number of military, that all “citizens” were ordered out to make way
for the soldiers; but my grey shooting-jacket and youthful appearance saved me from
the imputation of being a “citizen.” Two hours later, the passport officer,
seeing who I was, procured me a similar situation in the ladies’ car, where I
was a little better off. After leaving Chattanooga the railroad winds alongside
of the Tennessee river, the banks of which are high, and beautifully covered
with trees — the river itself is wide, and very pretty; but from my position in
the tobacco-juice I was unable to do justice to the scenery. I saw stockades at
intervals all along the railroad, which were constructed by the Federals, who
occupied all this country last year.
On arriving at Wartrace at 4 P.M., I determined to remain
there, and ask for hospitality from General Hardee, as I saw no prospect of
reaching Shelbyville in decent time. Leaving my baggage with the provost marshal
at Wartrace, I walked on to General Hardee's headquarters, which were distant
about two miles from the railroad . They were situated in a beautiful country,
green, undulating, full of magnificent trees, principally beeches, and the
scenery was by far the finest I had seen in America as yet.
When I arrived I found that General Hardee was in company
with General Polk and Bishop Elliott of Georgia, and also with Mr Vallandigham.
The latter (called the Apostle of Liberty) is a good-looking man, apparently
not much over forty, and had been turned out of the North three days before. Rosecrans
had wished to hand him over to Bragg by flag of truce; but as the latter
declined to receive him in that manner, he was, as General Hardee expressed it,
“dumped down” in
the neutral ground between the lines, and left there. He then received
hospitality from the Confederates in the capacity of a destitute stranger. They
do not in any way receive him officially, and it does not suit the policy of
either party to be identified with one another. He is now living at a private
house in Shelbyville, and had come over for the day, with General Polk, on a
visit to Hardee. He told the generals, that if Grant was severely beaten in
Mississippi by Johnston, he did not think the war could be continued on its
present great scale.
When I presented my letters of introduction, General Hardee
received me with the unvarying kindness and hospitality which I had experienced
from all other Confederate officers. He is a fine soldierlike man,
broad-shouldered and tall. He looks rather like a French officer, and is a
Georgian by birth. He bears the reputation of, being a thoroughly good soldier,
and he is the author of the drill-book still in use by both armies. Until quite
lately he was commanding officer of the military college at West Point. He
distinguished himself at the battles of Corinth and Murfreesborough, and now
commands the 2d corps d’armée
of Bragg's army. He is a widower, and has the character of being a great
admirer of the fair sex. During the Kentucky campaign last year he was in the
habit of availing himself of the privilege of his rank and years, and insisted
upon kissing the wives and daughters of all the Kentuckian farmers. And
although he is supposed to have converted many of the ladies to the Southern
cause, yet in many instances their male relatives remained either neutral or
undecided. On one occasion General Hardee had conferred the “accolade” upon a
very pretty Kentuckian, to their mutual satisfaction, when, to his intense
disgust, the proprietor produced two very ugly old females, saying, “Now, then,
general, if you kiss any you must kiss them all round,” which the discomfited
general was forced to do, to the great amusement of his officers, who often
allude to this contretemps.
Another rebuff which he received, and about which he is
often chaffed by General Polk, was when an old lady told him he ought really to
“leave off fighting at his age.”
“Indeed, madam,” replied Hardee, “and how old do you take me for?” “Why,
about the same age as myself — seventy-five.” The chagrin of the stalwart and
gallant general, at having twenty years added to his age, may be imagined.
Lieutenant-General Leonidas Polk, Bishop of Louisiana, who
commands the other corps d'armée,
is a goodlooking, gentlemanlike man, with all the manners and affability of
a “grand seigneur.” He is fifty-seven years of age — tall, upright, and looks
much more the soldier than the clergyman. He is very rich; and I am told he
owns seven hundred negroes. He is much beloved by the soldiers on account of
his great personal courage and agreeable manners. I had already heard no end of
anecdotes of him told me by my travelling companions, who always alluded to him
with affection and admiration. In his clerical capacity I had always heard him
spoken of with the greatest respect. When I was introduced to him he
immediately invited me to come and stay at his headquarters at Shelbyville. He
told me that he was educated at West Point, and was at that institution with
the President, the two Johnstons, Lee, Magruder, &c, and that, after
serving a short time in the artillery, he had entered the church.
Bishop Elliott, of Georgia, is a nice old man of venerable
appearance and very courteous manners. He is here at the request of General
Polk, for the purpose of confirming some officers and soldiers. He speaks
English exactly like an English gentleman, and so, in fact, does General Polk,
and all the well-bred Southerners, much more so than the ladies, whose American
accent can always be detected. General Polk and Mr Vallandigham returned to
Shelbyville in an ambulance at 6.30 P.”. General Hardee's headquarters were on
the estate of Mrs –––, a very hospitable lady. The two daughters of the General
were staying with her, and also a Mrs –––, who is a very pretty woman. These
ladies are more violent against the Yankees than it is possible for a European
to conceive; they beat their male relations hollow in their denunciations and
hopes of vengeance. It was quite depressing to hear their innumerable stories
of Yankee brutality, and I was much relieved when, at a later period of the
evening, they subsided into music. After Bishop Elliott had read prayers, I
slept in the same room with General Hardee.
SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three
Months in the Southern States: April-June, 1863, p. 136-41
