“His heart went out to the unfortunate man or boy, male or female, against whose good name some scandal attached. He never talked about people to their disparagement. Truly his motto was, ‘If you cannot speak well of them, you can at least be silent’.
“No man ever lived who had a higher regard or a greater respect for women than Captain Peddicord. He was a champion at all times and places. He crowned her with glory and honor; he defended those with whom perhaps he never spoke and praised those he never knew.
“He was quiet in his taste, modest to a fault. He admired the beautiful both in nature and art. He was a student of nature, and learned in many of the mysteries of plant and flower; passionately fond of leaves, he gathered great handfuls, selecting and arranging the most beautiful with care, to give them to some child.
“He had explored the famous Mammoth Cave of Kentucky, and preserved many examples of that wonderful product of Nature, and could speak with much interest of his experience in that and many other explorations.
“Of his war record I will not write; but I know he loved his soldier friends, nor did he ever cease to hold in reverence his companions of the great war.
“I write these imperfect expressions as a tribute of the love I had for him. I loved him, and no one could have had a better friend than he was, ever and always, to me and mine.
“Frank W. Smith.”
The following is from a lifelong friend:
“We called him Captain Peddicord; he called himself First Sergeant, Quirk’s Scouts. Whatever his army rank, he was, among men, first of all the elegant gentleman. We did not meet until after the war had closed, our army service being in widely separate fields. On the Board of the Confederate Home, Higginsville, Missouri, we always found him efficient and true to the Confederate soldier, ready to aid the needy comrade in every way that he could. We became quite intimate in after years. He was courteous and companionable, an extensive reader, and versatile in conversation.
“While he was respectful to all, he was especially popular with children and with the younger girls and boys. He had a poetic taste and Shakespeare seemed his favorite author. He often quoted from him. He was not aggressive, but attacks by others upon his settled convictions did not change them. His ideals were pure and good, and woman was enthroned in the midst of them. I never heard him make a disrespectful remark of a woman in all our intercourse.