i86 CONFEDERATE PORTRAITS
broad shoulders ; his fine head set well on his shoulders, and was covered with long, glossy black hair, which, when speaking, he managed to toss about so as to recall the memory of Danton. His coloring was good, and his teeth brilliantly white, but his mouth was some- what pendulous and subtracted from the rest of the strong face. His eyes were magnificent, dark and flash- ing, and they had a certain lawless way of ranging about that was indicative of his character. His hands were beautiful and kept like those of a fashionable
These physical qualities must be taken into account in considering Toombs's speaking, and it was as a speaker that he most impressed his contemporaries. Though his enunciation was too thick and harsh, Stephens considered him to be one of the greatest stump orators of any age or country.^ All the vigor, all the violence, all the fiery ardor and eager enthusiasm of that passionate tempera- ment were poured into his words. He spoke to convince, if possible ; if not, to overwhelm. Energy, frankness, directness were the qualities of his oratory. His great admirer. Colonel Reed, does not believe that he corrected his speeches, does not believe that he could correct them. " Of all speakers and orators I ever knew or heard of, he has used the file the least." ^
For the man was essentially a fighter and would yield to no one. His college life, in the late twenties, was in the main a record of unruly pranks, ending in a hasty
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