e may note an entry denouncing the
Federals before their arrival at Baton Rouge; another page, and we see
that the Federal officers are courteous and considerate, we hear
regrets that denunciations should have been dictated by prejudice. Does
Farragut bombard a town occupied by women and children, or does Butler
threaten to arm negroes against them? Be sure, then, that this Southern
girl will not spare adjectives to condemn them! But do Southern women
exaggerate in applying to all Federals the opprobrium deserved by some?
Then those women will be criticized for forgetting the reserve imposed
upon ladies. This girl knew then what history has since established,
and what enlightened men and women on both sides of Mason and Dixon's
line have since acknowledged: that in addition to the gentlemen in the
Federal ranks who always behaved as gentlemen should, there were
others, both officers and privates, who had donned the Federal uniform
because of the opportunity for rapine which offered, and who were as
unworthy of the Stars and Stripes as they would have been of the Stars
and Bars.

I can understand, therefore, that this record should meet with
skepticism at the hands of theorists committed to an opinion, or of
skimmers who read guessing the end of a sentence before they reach the
middle. But the originals exist to-day, and have been seen by others
than myself; and I pledge myself here to the assertion that I have
taken no liberties, have made no alterations, but have strictly adhered
to my task of transcription, merely omitting here and there passages
which deal with matters too personal to merit the interest of the
public.

Those who read seriously, and with unbiased mind, will need no external
guarantees of authenticity, however; for the style is of that
spontaneous quality which no imitation could attain, and which
attempted improvement could only mar. The very construction of the
whole--for it does appear as a whole--is influenced by the
circumstances which made the life of that tragic period.

The author begins with an airy appeal to Madame Idleness--in order to
forget. Then, the war seemed a sacred duty, an heroic endeavor, an
inevitable trial, according as Southerners chose to take it; but the
prevailing opinion was that the solution would come in victory for
Southern arms, whether by their own unaided might or with the support
of English intervention. The seat of war was far removed, and but for
the absence of