playing the flute. The strains of melody brought forth from this little instrument dwell with me until now. Lanier learned so easily that he carried off first honor in his class. Later we renewed friendship of college days. I remember going with him to Brunswick, Georgia, and viewing with him the broad marshes, which inspired his celebrated poem, The Marshes of Glynn.

College days came to a close, and I began the study of law in the office of Mr. William McKinley in Milledgeville. I was not old enough to vote, but I was an ardent follower of Stephen A. Douglas in the presidential election of 1860, and because of this, was called by the boys at college the "Little Giant" although I, in no way, resembled him in stature. I took a lively interest in the stirring events of the time. The question of negro slavery usurped the place of all other questions. Then came John Brown's raid which created an incredible excitement. No "Free Soilers" like Horace Greeley or William Lloyd Garrison dared visit the South for fear of actual violence. Then came the secession of South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida. Georgia felt in honor bound to follow. Then came the inauguration of President Lincoln and the firing on Fort Sumter.

The proclamation of Mr. Lincoln calling for volunteers to overrun the South consolidated the people of Georgia, and as one man we offered our services in defense of our homes. The excitement was intense. I know my father, if he had been alive, would have opposed secession. Although she greatly disapproved of war and secession my mother did not put a veto on her three sons going. On the night that Georgia seceded all the houses in Milledgeville were illumined except ours.

All my strongest feelings were aroused. I felt called to defend my country. In May, 1861, I joined a company from my home town, called after my father's old company, the "Baldwin Volunteers." I entered as a private soldier. I was entirely ignorant of everything pertaining to military affairs. If I had known as I afterwards did the difference between the status of a soldier in the ranks and a commissioned officer, I doubtless would have aspired to, and obtained, a commission, but I refused to consider the matter at all. I preferred to handle a gun, as this appealed to me as being more in accordance with the patriotic fervor that encompassed my being. I was a slender, immature young man of nineteen. It looked as if I would be unable to endure the hardships of camp life, but I soon became hardened to it, and became an efficient soldier; always up on the company's line; always up on the march; always ready for any duty. The rigor of camp life agreed with me and from one hundred and thirty pounds I soon weighed one hundred and sixty.

It was the 9th of June, 1861, before arms could be obtained. Then our company was transferred to a camping ground at Atlanta, where we all duly signed articles of enlistment. We were attached to the 9th Georgia regiment. We were the first regiment to enlist for the war. All enlistments before that time had been for twelve months. The magnitude of the peril and the hardship, blood, and strife incident to our enlistment were not in the slightest anticipated. We thought it would be a short campaign. We knew nothing of the disposition of our opponents and of the bitterness and bloodshed that were to follow.

Our officers were all elected by ballot. The colonel was a Mr. Goulding, who soon dropped out. The captain of my company was Benjamin Beck of Milledgeville. I was made first corporal without asking for the position. Afterwards I was made a sergeant and acted for a while as first sergeant. I had reason to know afterwards that any office is preferable to the position of a private.

About the middle of June we were transported by rail in cattle and box-cars to Richmond, Virginia. There the regiment was drawn up in line of battle and we had our first dress parade. Our regiment was soon ordered to Strasburg, Virginia; there we disembarked from the train and commenced our march down the beautiful Shenandoah Valley to Winchester. Large wagon trains were in attendance to transport our tents and camp equipage. How great a change gradually came over our transportation department! From several wagons to a company, we were reduced eventually to one to the regiment, known as the skillet wagon, as the men kept their cooking utensils in it.

Our regiment was armed with an ordinary smooth-bore musket which shot a cartridge loaded with a ball and three buckshot. By actual trial our guns with such a cartridge were only effective a short distance, and would not bear the ball and shot at direct range more than eighty yards. Our cartridges were gradually changed to one with a single ball. Each soldier carried a belt of leather around his waist to which was attached a cartridge box containing forty rounds of cartridges and a cap box with about fifty percussion caps. This musket was used up to the end of the war, although a large part of the army gradually changed for Enfield rifles, a better gun with a range two or three times as far as a muzzle loader. The Federals had an immense advantage with their superior breech-loading Spencer rifles, which carried three times as far as our rifles, and shot ten times to our one. Toward the end of the war this was equivalent to doubling the Federal force.

During our first marches our knapsacks and all camp equipment were hauled in wagons. But soon we were required to carry our knapsacks; but we eventually threw them away, and carried our clothing in a roll. The shoes I wore were splendid,—made by a shoemaker at home, and my socks had been knitted by my mother.

At Winchester we were attached to Gen. Francis S. Bartow's brigade. The army was in command of Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, who rode down our line, and I had my first sight of our commanding general. After remaining in camp at Winchester, we were ordered to march farther down the valley toward Martinsburg. Near there we were drawn up in line of battle expecting an attack. While waiting we were suddenly ordered across the valley toward Manassas Junction. We marched all night; when the sun rose not more than one-fifth of the men had reached our destination. I was among the foremost. In this connection I wish to state that I had an extraordinary endurance on long fatiguing marches. I never met a man in the army whom I thought my superior in endurance.

Our brigade waited by the railroad expecting to be transported to Bull Run. But as transportation was very limited the 9th Georgia was left behind. We could hear the roar of battle, and early next day we were upon the historic field of Bull Run, generally known as the First Battle of Manassas. We marched over the battlefield only to see the dead and wounded Federals. I saw the first dead I had ever seen. It made an impression of horror upon me that I remember to this day.

I recollect a day or two after the battle I came upon a horse, wounded in the shoulder, standing in the shade of a tree. The wound was such that he had no power to twitch or move the muscle of his shoulder to frighten the great number of horse flies which were sucking his blood. I was struck with the wise provision of nature that gives the horse the power of shaking off insects by a twitch of the skin.

General P. G. T. Beauregard, who commanded the Confederate forces, rode down our line. We gave him a cheer, and I remember crying out, "Let us go forward." My impression was the right one. If our victory had been followed up, we could easily have captured Washington, and the outcome of the war would have been very different. But we waited and gave the aroused North full time to recover from their defeat, and