Before reaching Crockett, we passed through the encampment of Phillipps's regiment of Texas Rangers, and we underwent much chaff. They were en route to resist Banks.
6th May (Wednesday).—We left all the passengers at Crockett except the Louisianian Judge, a Government agent, and the ex-boatswain of the Harriet Lane, which vessel had been manned by the Confederates after her capture; but she had since been dismantled, and her crew was being marched to Shrieveport to man the ironclad Missouri, which was being built there.
The food we get on the road is sufficient, and good enough to support life; it consists of pork or bacon, bread made with Indian corn, and a peculiar mixture called Confederate coffee, made of rye, meal, Indian corn or sweet potatoes. The loss of coffee afflicts the Confederates even more than the loss of spirits; and they exercise their ingenuity in devising substitutes, which are not generally very successful.
The same sort of country as yesterday, viz.—large forests of pines and post-oaks, and occasional Indian-corn-fields, the trees having been killed by cutting a circle near the roots.
At 3 p.m., we took in four more passengers. One of them was a Major ——, brother-in-law to ——, who hanged Mongomery at Brownsville. He spoke of the exploit of his relative with some pride. He told me that his three brothers had lost an arm apiece in the war.
We arrived at Rusk at 6.30 p.m., and spent a few hours there; but notwithstanding the boasted splendour of the beds at the Cherokee Hotel, and although by Major ——'s influence I got one to myself, yet I did not consider its aspect sufficiently inviting to induce me to remove my clothes.
7th May (Thursday).—We started again at 1.30 a.m. in a smaller coach, but luckily with reduced numbers, viz.—the Louisianian Judge (who is also a legislator), a Mississippi planter, the boatswain, the Government agent, and a Captain Williams, of the Texas Rangers.
Before the day broke we reached a bridge over a stream called Mud Creek, which was in such a dilapidated condition that all hands had to get out and cover over the biggest holes with planks.