18th. Moved to Demopolis and encamped there. It is very cold and snow is falling. Mr. Fournier gave me rooms at his house. He came to Demopolis with Gen. Le Febre, who came to the United States after the abdication of Napoleon. I received letters from home.
21st. Went to Judge Dixon's, a neighbor of mine, and we attended divine service at the Episcopal Church. The Rt. Rev. Bishop Wilmer preached an eloquent sermon. The congregation is under the charge of Mr. Beckwith, who formerly resided on Deer Creek and was acquainted with my family. [He was afterwards Bishop of Georgia.]
26th. Left on a ten days' leave of absence to visit Columbus, Ga. On the cars were Gens. Hardee, Loring, Withers, and Walthall. On arrival in Columbus I went to Gen. A. Abercrombie's in Russell County, Ala.; remained there till Monday morning, and arrived in Demopolis on the 11th of March; remained in camp there until the 31st, when I started for Lauderdale with my division. In Demopolis I met many agreeable families. Among them were Mr. Lyons, Fournier, Glovers, Thornton, Lightfoot, Inges, Sheadwicks, and others. I remained at Lauderdale, Miss., until the 20th of April, when I received orders to move to Tuscaloosa. En route I passed through Gainesville, and entered Tuscaloosa on the 26th. I reviewed the troops one morning for Gen. Hodge, and the same day I reviewed the cadets at the University of Alabama. Among the pleasant people I met in Tuscaloosa were W. S. and C. M. Foster, Misses Annie Fiquet, Belle Woodruff, Cassady, Edden, Searcy, and others. I called to see J. E. Davis, brother of the President.
On the 4th of May Gen. Polk was ordered by Adj. Gen. Cooper, also by Gen. Johnston, to move Gen. Loring and all available force to Rome. A consequence of these orders was that I, being at Tuscaloosa, Ala., received from Polk, at Demopolis, at 9 A.M. on the 5th, orders to halt Sears's brigade, then near Selma, and send it to Montevallo, a station on the railroad to Rome, and concentrate my division at Montevallo.
LEONIDAS POLK.
At the time this order was received Cockrell's Brigade was partly away up in North Alabama in the counties of Marion, Walker, etc., by order of Gen. Polk. Ector's Brigade was with me in Tuscaloosa, and Sears's north of Selma. Immediately orders were given to concentrate, as may be found in "War Records," Vol. 38, Part IV., and in this volume will be found many orders and letters pertaining to this movement.
Gen. Sears's Brigade, on May 5, was nearer Rome than Loring at Demopolis, and was at Montevallo on the 9th when Gen. Polk arrived there, and could have been sent with him to Resaca had transportation been provided. My diary records these vexatious delays, and that the superintendent of the railroad received no orders to move my division until Tuesday, the 10th, and that he was to have the cars there on Thursday, the 12th. Polk's administrative ability was not largely developed so as to anticipate the plainest necessity for coming events if he were accountable for these delays and others.
May 7. We left Tuscaloosa for Montevallo. I found there the brigade of Mississippians, commanded by Gen. Sears, that is to form a part of my division. On the 9th Gen. Polk arrived. He directed that five days' rations be cooked at once, and that Sears's Brigade should leave that afternoon for Blue Mountain by railroad. How easy it is to talk about such things! There was no meal at the commissary's and no cars for the troops.