Dixie After the War: An Exposition of Social Conditions Existing in the South, During the Twelve Years Succeeding the Fall of Richmond — John Locke — John Shaqi
Dixie After the War: An Exposition of Social Conditions Existing in the South, During the Twelve Years Succeeding the Fall of Richmond
John Locke · en
"There were as many negroes--body-servants--in our ranks as boys when we
started out, spick and span. We saw actual service; guarded the powder
magazines at Augusta and Savannah, fought the Yankees at Chattanooga,
stood in front of Sherman in South Carolina. Young Scott Todd lost his
arm--Dr. Todd, of Atlanta, carries around that empty sleeve today. I bore
handsome Tom Hamilton off the field when he was shot. I was just fifteen
when I went in; some were younger. Henry Cabaniss and Julius Brown were
the smallest boys in the army. We were youngsters who ought to have been
in knee pants, but the G. M. I. never quailed before guns or duty! I
remember (laughing) when we met the Cits in Charleston. They were all
spick and span--'Citadel Cadets' blazoned all over them and their
belongings. We were all tattered and torn, nothing of the G. M. I. left
about us! Rags was the stamp of the regular, and we 'guyed' the Cits. We
had seen fighting and they had not." Sixteen-year-old Lint Stephens,
Vice-President Stephens' nephew, was of this juvenile warrior band. On the
occasion of his sudden appearance at home to prepare for war, Mr. Stephens
asked what he had quit school for. "To fight for the fair sex," he
replied. And to this day some people think we fought to keep negroes in
slavery!
A "Georgia Cracker" rode in from the Abbeville road, drew rein before the
bank, and saluting, drawled: "Is you'uns seen any soldiers roun' here?"
There were Confederate uniforms on the piazza. "What kind of soldiers?" he
was asked, and General Elzey said: "My friend, you have betrayed yourself
by that military salute. You are no ignorant countryman, but a soldier
yourself." The horseman spurred close to the piazza. "Are there any
Yankees in town?" "None. Tell us, do you know anything about President
Davis?" After a little more questioning, the horseman said: "President
Davis is not an hour's ride from here."
The piazza was all excitement. "Where should the President be
entertained?" Ordinarily, General Toombs was municipal host. Everybody is
familiar with the reply he made to a committee consulting him about
erecting a hotel in Washington: "We have no need of one. When respectable
people come here, they can stop at my house. If they are not respectable,
we do not want them at all." Everybody knew that all he had was at the
President's command. But--there had been the unpleasantness. "Bring the
President here," Mrs. Robertson said promptly. Dr. Robertson added: "As a
government building, this is the proper place." Willie Robertson,
commissioned to convey the invitation, rode off with the courier, the envy
of every other G. M. I. in town. The little "Bats" were ready to go to war
again.