eak often of
"brother," and hear your letters read with intense interest. That God
Almighty may be your shield and your exceeding great reward, is the
constant prayer of your loving father.

CHAPTER II.

THE OUTFIT MODIFIED.

With the men who composed the Army of Northern Virginia will die the
memory of those little things which made the Confederate soldier
peculiarly what he was.

The historian who essays to write the "grand movements" will hardly stop
to tell how the hungry private fried his bacon, baked his biscuit, and
smoked his pipe; how he was changed from time to time by the necessities
of the service, until the gentleman, the student, the merchant, the
mechanic, and the farmer were merged into a perfect, all-enduring,
never-tiring and invincible soldier. To preserve these little details,
familiar to all soldiers, and by them not thought worthy of mention to
others, because of their familiarity, but still dear to them and always
the substance of their "war talks," is the object of this book.

The volunteer of 1861 made extensive preparations for the field. Boots,
he thought, were an absolute necessity, and the heavier the soles and
longer the tops the better. His pants were stuffed inside the tops of
his boots, of course. A double-breasted coat, heavily wadded, with two
rows of big brass buttons and a long skirt, was considered comfortable.
A small stiff cap, with a narrow brim, took the place of the comfortable
"felt," or the shining and towering tile worn in civil life.

[Illustration: THE OUTFIT OF 1861.]

Then over all was a huge overcoat, long and heavy, with a cape reaching
nearly to the waist. On his back he strapped a knapsack containing a
full stock of underwear, soap, towels, comb, brush, looking-glass,
tooth-brush, paper and envelopes, pens, ink, pencils, blacking,
photographs, smoking and chewing tobacco, pipes, twine string, and
cotton strips for wounds and other emergencies, needles and thread,
buttons, knife, fork, and spoon, and many other things as each man's
idea of what he was to encounter varied. On the outside of the knapsack,
solidly folded, were two great blankets and a rubber or oil-cloth. This
knapsack, etc., weighed from fifteen to twenty-five pounds, sometimes
even more. All seemed to think it was impossible to have on too many or
too heavy clothes, or to have too many conveniences, and each had an
idea that to be a good soldier he must be provided against ever