said "wait till I see
the brigade commander," and went to Major Goggans, relating the
circumstances, and was assured of his approval of the application
for leave of absence in question. This news, the spokesman of the
delegation, gladly carried back to the anxiously awaiting group. Soon
papers were brought to headquarters, signed by all the officers below.
When the papers were carried by me to the brigade commander for his
approval, it raised a storm, so to speak, in the breast of the newly
appointed, but temporary Chieftain. "Why do you bring me this paper
to sign this time of day?" it being in the afternoon. "Do you not know
that all papers are considered at nine o'clock A.M.?" In future, and
as long as I am in command of the Brigade, I want it understood that
under no considerations and circumstances, I wish papers to be signed,
brought to me before or after nine o'clock A.M. The faces of the
officers composing the delegation, when the news was brought to them,
plainly expressed their disgust; they felt, at the idea, that no
grief, however great, would be considered by the self-exalted Chief;
except as the clock struck nine in the morning.

Circumstances and occurrences of this kind were so rare and
exceptional, that I record the facts given by Judge Pope, to expose an
exception to the general rule of gentlemanly deportment of one officer
to another, so universal throughout the army. The kindness, sympathy
and respect that superiors showed to subalterns and privates became
almost a proverb. While in a reminiscent mood, I will give a story of
two young officers as given by the writer of the above. He claims to
have been an eye witness and fully competent to give a true recital.
It is needless to say that the writer of these memoirs was one of
the participants, and as to the story itself, he has only a faint
recollection, but the sequel which he will give is vivid enough, even
after the lapse of a third of a century. Judge Pope writes, "It
is needless to say that the Third South Carolina Regiment had a
half-score or more young officers, whose conduct in battle had
something to do with giving prestige to the regiment, whose jolly good
nature, their almost unparallel reciprocal love of officers and men,
helped to give tone and recognition to it, their buoyancy of spirits,
their respect for superiors and kindness and indulgence to their
inferiors, endeared them to all--the whole command seemed to embibe of
their spirit o