ifully covered with trees--the river itself is wide, and very
pretty; but from my position in the tobacco-juice I was unable to do
justice to the scenery. I saw stockades at intervals all along the
railroad, which were constructed by the Federals, who occupied all this
country last year.

On arriving at Wartrace at 4 P.M., I determined to remain there, and ask
for hospitality from General Hardee, as I saw no prospect of reaching
Shelbyville in decent time. Leaving my baggage with the provost-marshal
at Wartrace, I walked on to General Hardee's headquarters, which were
distant about two miles from the railroad. They were situated in a
beautiful country, green, undulating, full of magnificent trees,
principally beeches, and the scenery was by far the finest I had seen in
America as yet.

When I arrived I found that General Hardee was in company with General
Polk and Bishop Elliott of Georgia, and also with Mr Vallandigham. The
latter (called the Apostle of Liberty) is a good-looking man, apparently
not much over forty, and had been turned out of the North three days
before. Rosecrans had wished to hand him over to Bragg by flag of truce;
but as the latter declined to receive him in that manner, he was, as
General Hardee expressed it, "_dumped down_" in the neutral ground
between the lines, and left there. He then received hospitality from the
Confederates in the capacity of a destitute stranger. They do not in any
way receive him officially, and it does not suit the policy of either
party to be identified with one another. He is now living at a private
house in Shelbyville, and had come over for the day, with General Polk,
on a visit to Hardee. He told the generals, that if Grant was severely
beaten in Mississippi by Johnston, he did not think the war could be
continued on its present great scale.

When I presented my letters of introduction, General Hardee received me
with the unvarying kindness and hospitality which I had experienced from
all other Confederate officers. He is a fine soldierlike man,
broad-shouldered and tall. He looks rather like a French officer, and is
a Georgian by birth. He bears the reputation of being a thoroughly good
soldier, and he is the author of the drill-book still in use by both
armies. Until quite lately he was commanding officer of the military
college at West Point. He distinguished himself at the battles of
Corinth and Murfreesborough, and now commands the 2d _corps d'armee_ of
Brag