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journey up the Alabama to Montgomery.
In Mobile the cadets were cordially received, and conducted themselves
to my entire satisfaction. On the steamboats their behavior was all that
could be desired, and in Montgomery everybody was proud of their
appearance and deportment. For sleeping accommodations the cadets
carried their own blankets and turned in on the floor of a large hall.
Camp discipline was maintained and perfect order prevailed.
The battalion was reviewed in front of the State House by the Governor
and both Houses of the Legislature, and everything passed off most
satisfactorily. In the evening, after the review, a committee of the
Legislature called on me and asked what I wanted. The reply was: An
annual appropriation so long as the military organization was maintained
at the University.
I remember that a cousin of Senator John P. Hale of New Hampshire (one
of the most pronounced abolitionists of the country) was a member of
the committee. He said to me: "Now you come up to the House tomorrow and
see how we will put this matter through." I did so, and certainly it was
"put through," for, while I was there the bill was given all its
readings--the rules being suspended for the purpose--and it was taken to
the Senate and similarly rushed. The Governor signed it, and the next
day the cadets started on their return home.
We had left Tuscaloosa in a heavy rain-storm, escorted to the
steamboat--some two miles--by the Montgomery Guards. The trip had been
entirely successful and there had not been a case of misbehavior from
start to finish. Of course drinking was the one thing to be feared, and
when one considers all the temptations on the steamboats and in Mobile
and Montgomery, it is a little remarkable that there were no infractions
of the rules, one of which was that no cadet should enter a bar-room on
pain of instant dismissal.
As already stated, I went to the University of Alabama under leave of
absence which was to terminate in May, 1861. In February I received an
order revoking the unexpired portion of my leave and directing me to
report for duty in Washington. I replied that my leave was granted with
the understanding that I was to resign at its expiration, and as I saw
no reason to alter my determination, I offered my resignation. There was
no expectation on my part that my future would be any other than such as
my position as professor in the University of Alabama would occasion.
My resigna
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