went out to visit the intrenchments. When we got back I found that General Wallace had been informed as to who I was, and that he was anxious to see me. I said that I would be very glad to meet him; and the general, and a number of bis officers, accordingly came into the parlor to see me. General Wallace was very pleasant; and, as we shook hands, he complimented me, with much heartiness, upon having played a difficult part so long and so well, and with having distinguished myself by my valor. I thanked him very sincerely for his good opinion of me, and then fell into a lively conversation with him and his officers.
One of the officers asked me to ride with him; but I begged to be excused, as I did not think it would look well, especially in Atlanta, where everybody knew me, to be seen riding out with an escort wearing a Federal uniform. He understood and appreciated my feelings on the subject, and said no more about it.
The next evening I started for New Orleans, and passed over a good deal of my old campaigning ground before I reached my destination.
My journey through the South had disclosed a pitiable state of things. The men of intellect, and the true representatives of Southern interests, were disfranchised and impoverished, while the management of affairs was in the hands of ignorant negroes, just relieved from slavery, and white "carpet-baggers," who had come to prey upon the desolation of the country. On every side were ruin and poverty; on every side disgust of the present, and despair of .the future. The people, many of them, absolutely did not know what to do; and it is no wonder, that at this dismal time, certain ill-advised emigration schemes found countenance with those who saw no hope for themselves or their children but either to go out of the country, or to remove so far away from their old homes that they would be able to start life anew under better auspices than were then possible within the limits of the late Confederacy.
The Desolation of New Orleans.
New Orleans, once a great, wealthy, and populous city, was in a pitiful plight. The pedestal of Jackson's statue, in public square, was disfigured by inscriptions such as those who erected it never intended should go there which were cut during the occupancy of the Federal army, while the once
