Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 33.djvu/353

 Last Days of Army in Southwest Virginia. 349

cooked one day's rations the last that was in the trains, there being two days' rations already cooked. The quartermaster dis- tributed the clothing- among the men without taking any receipts. This clearly indicated that the end was at hand. Such gloom and despondency as existed among the men on this night I never before witnessed. A great many intended to leave, but the officers per- suaded them to remain one day more, when they could leave honorably. Late in the night I retired for the last time in Bryan's Battery. We had been under Lieutenant Fowlkes for some time, but Captain Bryan, who had been absent, reported on the evening of this day.

THE LAST DAY AT CHRISTIANSBURG APRIL 12, 1865 THE LONG FURLOUGH FROM GENERAL ECHOLS.

"We marched early the next morning (Wednesday, April i2th) back towards Christiansburg. Several of my most intimate friends, seized by a strange panic, wanted to drop behind and go home; but I persuaded them that it would be much better to remnin all day and then go home honorably. They all decided to remain to the end.

"We marched to Christiansburg and camped in the woods a very short distance before reaching the town. Our battalion was camped in the last corner of the woods land on the left going to- wards Christiansburg. The march had seemed like a funeral pro- cession and now we were in the graveyard.

"About noon the army was assembled in the woods on the hill- side across the road from us, and' the hour long to be remembered was at hand. General Echols made a speech, the general tenor of which rather encouraged the men to go home. He then called for volunteers out of the infantry, to be mounted and attempt to escape with him. Sixty men stepped torward. Finally he an- nounced that all the rest, except the cavalry, would receive a fur- lough for two months. There was a shout, not of joy, but rather of applause for the general, and of relief from the peculiar suspense we had been under. Each command started at once for its camp, while the bands played Dixie.

"All that remained was to write and sign the furloughs. I wrote most of those for our battery and signed Captain Bryan's name to them. Even my own was entirely in my own handwriting. I also