Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 27.djvu/143

 Fjfort to Jtescue Jefferson /' 135

a courier to tell them to halt until I could overtake them ; and at 12 o'clock that night I left my headquarters, accompanied by several of my staff and seventeen of my scouts and couriers. At sunrise this body of brave and faithful men was overtaken, and I ad- jured them to prove themselves now, as they had always done, good soldiers, by obeying the command of General Johnston, by whom his army had been surrendered: that I knew they were willing to share my fate, whatever it might be, but they would go as outlaws if they went with me; but that I was acting under the order of President Davis, and was therefore free to join him. After a most painful in- terview, which brought tears, not only from the eyes of many ot these brave men, but from my own, I bade a last farewell to these true soldiers, whom it had been my pride to command, and with my little escort we pushed on towards Charlotte, where I hoped to meet President Davis.

On the last day of our journey, after a long ride, which had tired men and horses, we reached Charlotte late in the afternoon, only to find that the President had gone to Yorkville, in South Carolina, thirty or thirty-five miles distant. I directed my escort to remain in Charlotte that night and to join me at Yorkville the next day. Taking a fresh horse, I left the former city at sunset and alone rode on, swimming the Catawba river in the night and reaching Yorkville at 2 A. M. the next day. The President had gone to Abbeville, thus again disappointing my hope of meeting him, but here I met you and I gave you a letter to the President, and asked you to endeavor to overtake the President as soon as pos- sible. You left on this mission immediately, but failed in it, as did two of my couriers who were afterwards dispatched on the same errand.

One mistake into which you were led is explained by the fact that I did reach Yorkville alone, but all of the men who had started with me joined me the next day, after you had left, for not one.of them had deserted me, as you naturally, but ignorantly, supposed. You know, my dear General, that every officer is jealous of his own repu- tation and of that of his men, and you will understand my solicitude to keep the honor of my command untarnished. My knowledge of your character gives assurance that nothing could induce you to cast any reflection on the conduct of your former comrades, and that the errors into which you were led in your article were due solely to misapprehension and misinformation. I am therefore sure that you