money confiscated, still they kept up
their blockade running. I was informed by one of General Gary's staff
officers since the war, that while they were doing outpost duty on the
lower James, Jews came in daily with passports from the authorities at
Richmond, authorizing them to pass the lines. On many occasions they
claimed they were robbed by our pickets. Once this officer allowed two
Jews to pass out of the lines, with orders to pass the pickets, but
soon they returned, saying they were robbed. General Gary, who could
not tolerate such treachery, had the men called up and the Jews
pointed out the men who had plundered them. But the men stoutly denied
the charge, and each supported the other in his denials, until a
search was ordered, but nothing was found. They cursed the "lieing
Jew" and threatened that the next time they attempted to pass they
would leave them in the woods with "key holes through them." "While
at the same time," continued the officer, "I and so was General Gary
satisfied these same men had robbed them."

We were now again under our old commander, Lieutenant General
Longstreet. He had recently returned to the army, convalescent from
his severe wound at the Wilderness, and was placed in command of the
north side. Scarcely had he assumed command, and prior to our arrival,
before he was attacked by General Butler, with twenty thousand men.
He defeated him, sustaining little loss, with Fields' and Hokes'
Divisions, and Gary's Cavalry. Butler lost between one thousand two
hundred and one thousand five hundred men. The year was slowly drawing
to a close, with little perceptible advantage to the South. It is true
that Grant, the idol and ideal of the North, had thrown his legions
against the veterans of Lee with a recklessness never before
experienced, and with a loss almost irreparable, still the prospects
of the Confederacy were anything but encouraging. Yet the childlike
faith and confidence of the Confederate privates in their cause and
in their superiors, that disaster and defeat never troubled them nor
caused them worry or uneasiness. General Hood had gone on his wild
goose chase through Middle Tennessee, had met with defeat and ruin at
Franklin and Nashville; Sherman was on his unresisted march through
Georgia, laying waste fields, devastating homes with a vandalism
unknown in civilized warfare, and was now nearing the sea; while the
remnant of Hood's Army was seeking shelter and safety through the