Alfred Roman, The military operations of General Beauregard in the war between the states, 1861 to 1865

Smiling at this curiously spirited answer, the General asked him how old he was.

‘Seventeen, sir,’ he answered, ‘and I was at the battle of Manassas.’ Saying which he raised his cap and, showing a scar on the side of his head, added, ‘That's what I got there.’

‘What regiment do you belong to?’ said the General; ‘and how is it you are so far behind it?’

‘I belong now to the gallant 30th Louisiana,’ said the young veteran. ‘I had a chill this afternoon, and I lay down under a tree. I fell asleep there, and when I woke up the army had passed on.’

Feeling now quite an interest in the young soldier, General Beauregard remarked, ‘I suppose you must be tired and hungry. I shall have something given you to eat, and take you in my wagon when it gets here.’

‘No, sir, thank you,’ was the sturdy answer. ‘I have already had something to eat, and will get more when I join my regiment. Good-night, sir.’ And away he went.

General Beauregard requested one of his aids to get the lad's name and tell him with whom he had been talking. His name was obtained, and inscribed in the officer's memorandum-book, but the book was lost during the course of the war.

At Gadsden, General Beauregard found General Hood more than ever resolved upon continuing the destruction of Sherman's railroad communication beyond the Tennessee River. His reasons for doing so were, that, as he had already caused Sherman, in so short a time to retrograde from Atlanta to Dalton, he believed that by crossing his army at Guntersville north of Gadsden, and continuing to tear up the railroad from Stevenson to Nashville—his cavalry, meanwhile, being sent to destroy the long bridge at Bridgeport—he would compel his adversary to follow him into Middle Tennessee, in order to protect his line of communication and his large supplies at Nashville.

The plan was no doubt bold, and likely to lead to great results, if carried out fearlessly and, above all, judiciously. But General Beauregard was apprehensive that General Hood might not be able to execute it as designed. According to his observation General Hood had already evinced want of experience as a