in my recital. It astonished him somewhat to find that what I had seen of warfare had not disgusted me with it, and that I was bent upon being a soldier so long as there was any fighting to do; but this time, however, he made no attempt to dissuade me from my purpose, being perfectly well convinced of my ability to take care of myself. Wishing each other good luck, we parted again, and I took the first boat for Columbus, where I expected to find General Leonidas Polk.
On landing at Columbus, I gave my equipage and the two horses I had bought at Memphis, in charge of Bob, with directions to keep a sharp eye on them, and went to Barnes' Hotel, to see if I. could come across anybody I knew, and to make the inquiries necessary for my next movement.
Columbus was one of the liveliest places I had ever visited, or at least it seemed so that evening. There was an immense amount of bustle and confusion, and everything seemed to indicate that the campaign in this region was being pushed with considerable energy; although, as I had found out before, noise and activity in and about headquarters do not always mean remarkable energy in the field; for an obstinate enemy, bent on doing some hard fighting, takes a good deal of the nonsense out of mere cabinet generalship. Soon after supper I got my tent up, and the next morning I went in search of the general for the purpose of presenting my letter.
I Report for Duty to General Polk.
General Polk, who had been a bishop before the war broke out, received me cordially enough, although he seemed to be too busy to do much talking, and after reading my letter, dismissed me with the rather indefinite observation that he would see what he could do for me. This might mean anything or nothing; but as I had no other resource than to wait and see what conclusion he would come to with regard to me, I made my bow and retired, determined to be as patient as my impatient disposition would let me.
While waiting for the general to assign me to duty I visited the different camps, made a number of acquaintances, and picked up what information I could about the military situation in the West. Everybody was expecting hard fighting, and a desperate struggle with the Federals for the possession of the Mississippi, as it seemed to be well understood that the enemy were making great preparations for some heavy work
