ebel zeal, had, on being
invited to do so, mounted _en croupe_ behind this officer, and unbosomed
himself to him; his fury and rage may be imagined at finding himself
shortly afterwards in the very midst of the Federal camp; but the Yankee
General M'Pherson ordered him to be released; and it appears that the
reason of his being kidnapped, was to extract from him a large quantity
of gold, which he was supposed to have hidden somewhere.

This Mr (or Major[27]) ---- took a great fancy to me, and insisted on
picking some of the silk of Indian corn, which he requested I would
present to Queen Victoria to show her how far advanced the crops were in
Mississippi. It was almost painful to hear the manner in which this poor
old man gloated over the bodies of the dead Yankees at Jackson, and of
his intense desire to see more of them put to death.

The column reached the village or town of Livingston at 11 A.M., where
I was introduced to a militia general and his pretty daughter; the
latter had been married two days before to a wounded Confederate
officer, but the happy couple were just on the point of starting for the
Yazoo river, as they were afraid of being disturbed in their felicity by
the Yankees.

I now heard every one speaking of the fall of Vicksburg as very
possible, and its jeopardy was laid at the door of General Pemberton,
for whom no language could be too strong. He was freely called a coward
and a traitor. He has the misfortune to be a Northerner by birth, which
was against him in the opinion of all here.

General Gist and I cantered on in front of the column, and reached
General Johnston's bivouac at 6 P.M.

General Johnston received me with much kindness, when I presented my
letters of introduction, and stated my object in visiting the
Confederate armies.

In appearance General Joseph E. Johnston (commonly called Joe
Johnston) is rather below the middle height, spare, soldierlike, and
well set up; his features are good, and he has lately taken to wear a
greyish beard. He is a Virginian by birth, and appears to be about
fifty-seven years old. He talks in a calm, deliberate, and confident
manner; to me he was extremely affable, but he certainly possesses the
power of keeping people at a distance when he chooses, and his officers
evidently stand in great awe of him. He lives very plainly, and at
present his only cooking-utensils consisted of an old coffee-pot and
frying-pan--both very inferior articles. There w