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 Recollections of Army L>fe with General Lee. 237

first victory against the Federal troops, which, however, was without conflict, and the first flag was not born with a baptism of blood.

On the 23rd Governor Brown made a formal demand on Captain Arnold Elzey, of the 2nd United States Artillery, in command of the arsenal, that the post be turned over to him. In his demand he stated that Georgia was no longer a part of the general government, and, while she desired to be on good terms with the United States, the arsenal was needed by this State, and an armed force of an alien nation would not be tolerated within her borders.

Alter communication with Washington Captain Elzey held a par- ley and agreed to evacuate, his troops being allowed to march out with the honors of war and to leave the State without molestation. This was agreed to, and on January 24, 1861, nearly three months before the guns were trained on Fort Sumter, the surrender of th arsenal was made, and a new flag supplanted the one of the republic.

[From the New Orleans Picayune, September 20, 1903.]

RECOLLECTIONS OF ARMY LIFE WITH GENERAL LEE.

By FRANK H. FOOTE.

In chronicling the events of the late war, many points in regard to campaigns, battles and adventures have been ably touched upon by active participants in the armies of the Confederate States, but how the Southern soldier lived and contrived for partial comfort in the last twelve months of the Confederacy's existence has not as yet been touched upon in small details which show the actual state of hardship he had to endure.

The most vulnerable point of the private soldier was his stomach. He managed to get along very well in rags and tatters, half shoeless, if necessary; but with a pinched stomach many as brave and true soldiers as the world ever produced felt their love and cause of coun- try gradually succumb to the cravings of hearty digestive organs, their patriotism taxed, and in evil, disgraceful hour they left their standards, turned their backs upon comrades and past glories, and