Lieutenant-Colonel Llewellyn Hoxton, whom I had presented to Bishop Elliott for confirmation at Shelbyville in 1863, spent a night with me. He belonged to an old Virginia family from Alexandria where he was carefully nurtured in the Church and had instilled into his mind and heart the principles of virtue and religion by the quiet and steady influences of a Christian home. He graduated at West Point, in 1861, just at the time of the breaking out of the war. After reaching Washington, he resigned his commission in the United States army in order that he might go with his state. His resignation was not accepted, but his name was stricken from the roll. He crossed over to Virginia and was ordered by the Secretary of War of the Confederacy, to report to General Polk. He was a most faithful soldier and on many a battlefield displayed conspicuous gallantry.
I was unable to get transportation from Columbus before the 7th of February, and before leaving, Bishop Green handed me an envelope containing two hundred dollars, an offering from a member of St. Paul's Parish. After many annoyances, owing to the crowded state of the trains, I arrived in Meridian. Here I found Captain Frierson of Tennessee. Dr. Foster the Post Surgeon, met me at the railway station and I accepted an invitation to be his guest during his detention at that place. At his quarters, I found a number of Nashville friends—General Maney, Captain Alexander Porter, Captain Rice, Major Vaulx, Captain Kelly and others.
I visited Colonel Hurt who was commanding Maney's brigade. The brigade was smaller than my old regiment at the beginning of the war. Of all the thousand and more who came out in the First Tennessee Regiment in May, 1861, I found but fifty men remaining. Many had been killed in battle, others had sickened and died, some were "in the house of bondage," and, worst of all, some had deserted their colors.
I left Meridian on Thursday, the 9th of February, for Demopolis, Alabama, where I arrived at three o'clock in the evening. My visit to Demopolis was a pleasant one. While there the report of the Peace Commission was made public. The failure of the commission was used to rally the spirits of the people, who were told that every avenue to peace was closed, excepting that which might be carved out with the sword. But this attempt to raise the drooping spirits of the South failed. The feeble flare of excitement produced by the fiasco of the Peace Commission was soon totally extinguished.
Leaving Demopolis, I accompanied the Rev. Mr. Beckwith to Greensboro, Alabama, to see Bishop Wilmer. During this visit the Bishop held a Confirmation service at which I preached and the offerings, amounting to $530, were given to me for army missions. After the service a gentleman took me to one side and stated that several gentlemen of the congregation desired to present me with a slight token of their regard and presented me with $700. It took me greatly by surprise.
Accompanied by Frank Dunnington, I went to Selma. We put up for the night at a hotel. In the morning I paid for lodging and breakfast $13. I declined the breakfast. The following day I had the great pleasure of meeting my friend Colonel Harry Yeatman. That morning I visited the Naval Works, and spent some time with Captain Ap Catesby Jones. We had much pleasant chat about our Virginia friends. It seemed strange to find a naval establishment in an inland town or upon the banks of a small river. But the truth is, the Confederate government had learned the wisdom of selecting such places for the manufacture of gunboats and naval ordnance in order that they might be the better protected from the raids of the Federals.
Captain Catesby Jones had accomplished a vast amount of work at this place. He had some four hundred workmen employed, only ninety of whom were white. He had up to the time I visited him, turned out one hundred and ninety guns, besides doing a vast amount of other work for the government. He went through the works with me and showed me the different steps, from the melting of the ore to the drilling of the guns. He was casting the Brooks gun almost exclusively and said that it combined more good points than any other.
While in the office at the Naval Works, Mr. Phillips, of North Carolina, came in to take a look at the works. He was just from Richmond having travelled with Vice-President Alexander H. Stephens as far as Atlanta. He told a story which illustrated Mr. Lincoln's wit, and as we all thought at that time, lack of dignity and perhaps also lack of sympathy with those who were interested in the war on the Southern side.
Mr. Hunter, one of the Commissioners from the South, suggested, during a four hours' interview with Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward, many instances in history in which governments had treated with insurgents, and mentioned one in the time of Charles I of England. Mr. Lincoln replied: "Seward may know all about the history of that time. All I know is, that Charles I lost his head."
I reached Montgomery by steamer too late Saturday night for the train to Columbus, Georgia. I was therefore obliged to spend Sunday in Montgomery. My expenses on the steamer, exclusive of fare, were twenty-five dollars, to wit: three cups of coffee furnished by one of the servants, fifteen dollars; and "tip" to the boy for waiting on me and caring for my traps, ten dollars.