t victory,
in which I shall have the opportunity of doing something
for the country. The day after such an event I shall
retire, if I live through it. I have grievances enough now
to quit, but I shall bide my time. I get along very well
with the army. I have not seen Johnston but once; he was
polite and clever. George W. Smith I see every day. He is a
first-rate gentleman and a good officer. I hear from
Stephens constantly, but from nobody else in Richmond....
You say you pray for me daily. I need it. Put it in your
prayers that if it be the will of God that I shall fall, a
sacrifice in this great conflict, that I may meet it as
becomes a gentleman.

An instance of General Toombs' impatience under red-tape rules may be
recalled. A member of his brigade was taken ill, and he secured for him
entrance into the hospital of Richmond. The hospital was crowded;
regulations were stringent, and under some technical ruling his sick
soldier was shipped back to his brigade. Toombs was fired with
indignation. He proceeded to sift the affair to the bottom, and was told
that General Johnston had fixed the rules. This did not deter him.
Riding up to the commander's tent and securing admission, he proceeded
to upbraid the general as only Toombs could do. When he returned to his
headquarters he narrated the circumstance to Dr. Henry H. Steiner, his
brigade surgeon and lifelong friend. Dr. Steiner, who had been a surgeon
in the regular army, and had served in the Mexican war, was a better
tactical officer than Toombs. He was himself fearless and upright, but
full of tact and discretion. "General," said Dr. Steiner, "you have been
too rash; you will be arrested." Toombs replied that he thought so, too.
He held himself in anticipation for two or three days, but he was not
disturbed. When he was finally summoned to General Johnston's tent, it
was to consult over a plan of movement, and it was noticed that Toombs
was the only brigadier in counsel. General Johnston subsequently
remarked that Toombs was the biggest brained man in the Confederacy. The
boldness and clearness of the impetuous Georgian had captured the grim
hero of Manassas, who forgave the affront in the face of the
overmastering mind of the man.

General McClellan reached Fortress Monroe, April 2, 1862, and commenced
his march up the peninsula. The country is low and flat, and the season
was unusually wet