CHAPTER XXIX.
IN THE CONFEDERATE SECRET SERVICE.
Altered Circumstances. The Result of two Years and a half Experience in Warfare. The Difference between the Emotions of a raw Recruit and a Veteran. Difficulties in the Way of deciding what Course it was best to pursue for the Future. I resolve to go to Richmond in Search of active Employment of some Kind. The military Situation in the Autumn of 1863. Concentration of the Armies at Richmond and Chattanooga. Richmond safe from Capture. The Results of the Battle of Chickamauga. Rosecrans penned up in Chattanooga by Bragg. The Pinch of the Fight approaching. Hopes of foreign Intervention. An apparently encouraging Condition of Affairs I go to Richmond, and have Interviews with President Davis and General Winder. I am furnished by the latter with a Letter of Recommendation, and start on a grand Tour through the Confederacy. Arrival at Mobile, and meeting with old Army Friends.
| HEN, under the influence of the grief caused by the sudden death of my second husband, within so brief a period after our marriage, I felt impelled to devote
anew to the task of advancing the cause the Confederacy by all the means in my power, the circumstances were all materially different from what they were when, the first time I was made a widow, I started for Virginia, full of the idea of taking part in whatever fighting was to be done. It was no longer possible for me to figure as successfully in the character of a soldier as I had done. My secret was now known to a great many persons, and its discovery had already caused me such annoyance that I hesitated about assuming my uniform again, especially as I believed that, as a woman, I could perform very efficient service if I were only afforded proper
opportunity.
At the time of my first husband's death, I was full of an idea which had filled my brain ever since I could remember, and
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