CHAPTER XXXIV
Longstreet's Return—Farewell to Lee
Return of Longstreet—Am promoted brigadier-general—Parting with the First Corps—Report to A. P. Hill and Mahone—Sketches—Assume command of brigade of Georgians—Its staff—Drill and exercises—Laying out a camp—General Lee's encouragement—Want of field officers—Captain H. H. Perry—Mahone's bread ovens—Christmas, 1864—Sherman's march in Georgia—Grant's Virginia strategy—Our division moves out in bitter cold—Demonstration on our extreme right against the railroad—Brigade forms line—No close firing—Enemy rejoins his main command—Received a slight wound—The return to camp—Its bad condition in our absence—Valuable boots burnt in bivouac—In February again ordered out to right—Serious collision with enemy in force at Hatcher's Run—General Pegram killed—Am shot in lung and borne from the field—Moved to Richmond and thence to Colonel Watts's, in southwest Virginia for convalescence—My recovery—Marriage of Doctor Sorrel—At Lynchburg—Hear of Lee's surrender—Take to the mountains—Again at Colonel Watts's—Hunter and Crook—Homeward bound—Lady Godiva—Farewell to Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia.
It was in October, our corps (two divisions) being on the north side, that we had the happiness of welcoming our chief back to his command.
His right arm was quite paralyzed and useless.
He had taught himself to write legibly and easily with his left. Following the advice of his doctor, he was forever pulling at the disabled arm to bring back its life and action. He succeeded, for, though never strong, its use was partially restored in later years and his pen went back to it.
I was with him but a few days. My commission as brigadier-general came unexpectedly, a note from my friend Burton Harrison, the President's Secretary, to the effect that it had been signed, reaching me the evening before. This was the first inkling I had of the promotion. Elsewhere it has been told how it came about, and I began preparing to move, my orders being to report to Lieut.-Gen. A. P. Hill for command in Mahone's division. Hill's corps was on the south side in front of Petersburg. Lieut.-Col. O. Latrobe succeeded me as A. A. G. and chief of staff; an excellent assignment. A brigadier going to an organized command carries no staff with him. That is attached to the brigade, not to the general. He has one appointment, that of A. D. C. (captain's rank), personal to himself. There were many applications for the place, but sending for Spencer, private, Fort Alabama, my sergeant of couriers for several years, I almost floored the modest fellow by asking if he should like to go with me as captain. "Of course" he should, and did, and was part and parcel of that brigade of Georgians in no time until Appomattox dispersed us. I had made no mistake in him; an exceedingly useful staff officer.
Few can know how painful it was to part with my corps and its chief. I had started with them at the opening battle, handled its growing battalions into brigades and divisions, and shared its battles, expeditions, and campaigns; was proud of its renown; was known to officers and men of every regiment and had, I believe, their confidence and respect. It was much to give up, but the duty called, and on a fine morning I mounted with my A. D. C. to cross the river and take up my new billet. I shall be excused, I hope, if a little homesickness is confessed.