queer for one to be placed in
_quasi_ command of soldiers that he had been fighting for four years,
and to whom he had surrendered; but I delicately made some suggestions
to these officers, which were adopted.

With two or three staff officers, I remained at Meridian until the last
man had departed, and then went to Mobile. General Canby most
considerately took me, Tom, and my two horses on his boat to New
Orleans; else I must have begged my way. The Confederate paper (not
currency, for it was without exchangeable value) in my pocket would not
have served for traveling expenses; and my battered old sword could
hardly be relied on for breakfasts, dinners, and horse feed.

After an absence of four years, I saw my native place and home, New
Orleans. My estate had been confiscated and sold, and I was without a
penny. The man of Uz admitted that naked he came into the world, and
naked must leave it; but to find himself naked in the midst of it tried
even his patience. My first care was to sell my horses, and a purchaser
was found who agreed to take and pay for them the following morning. I
felt somewhat eager to get hold of the "greenbacks," and suffered for my
avarice. The best horse, one that had carried me many a weary mile and
day without failing, could not move a hoof when the purchaser came to
take him. Like other veterans, long unaccustomed to abundance of prog,
he had overfed and was badly foundered. Fortunately, the liveryman
proposed to take this animal as a consideration for the keep of the two,
and the price received for the other would suffice to bring my wife and
children from the Red River to New Orleans, and was sent to them for
that purpose.

Awaiting the arrival of my family, I had a few days of rest at the house
of an old friend, when Generals Price, Buckner, and Brent came from
Shreveport, the headquarters of the "Trans-Mississippi Department,"
under flag of truce, and sent for me. They reported a deplorable
condition of affairs in that region. Many of the troops had taken up the
idea that it was designed to inveigle them into Mexico, and were greatly
incensed. Some generals of the highest rank had found it convenient to
fold their tents and quietly leave for the Rio Grande; others, who
remained, were obliged to keep their horses in their quarters and guard
them in person; and numbers of men had disbanded and gone off. By a
meeting of officers, the gentlemen present were deputed to make a
surrender and