When I first undertook to write my war experiences, I had no thought of ever publishing what I wrote. It was only intended as a family paper, written at the solicitation of my children.

If I had undertaken to write a history of Kemper's Brigade, or the Eleventh Regiment, or even of the Clifton Grays (Company C), the story would have been far less personal than are these "Personal Reminiscences," and doubtless more interesting to others, but of less interest to those for whom the sketches were originally designed.

This is my apology for using the personal pronoun so often, and referring so frequently to those who were nearest and dearest to me, all of whom—wife, father, mother, and brothers—have passed away, and I am left al—— no, not alone; I have friends and old comrades still living whom I esteem highly and who I am sure esteem me, and children and grandchildren whom I love and who I know love me.

And it was but natural that I should desire to transmit to these last, recollections of those nearest and dearest to me, and of the comrades in arms with whom I was most intimately and closely connected during those years of blood and strife.

If I had undertaken to give in detail all the brave deeds performed by the men of Company C, and those who made up the Eleventh Regiment and Kemper's Brigade, this book would have been much larger than it is.

The Yankees had a custom of promoting men from the ranks for brave conduct on the field of battle. If this custom had prevailed in the Confederate army, as I have often remarked, there would have been more officers than privates in that army; for no army ever had so many men so deserving and so capable of being officers. Having, at the solicitation of friends, determined to publish my Reminiscences, I now have only to say as to the following pages. "What I have written I have written," and will let it go at that; trusting that old comrades who may read this book will find therein something to remind them that they were "there or thereabout," and that they and their sons and daughters may find something to interest, if not something entertaining, and perchance instructive to the young.

To those who may be disposed to criticize the accuracy of dates and incidents, and doubtless there are inaccuracies and errors, too, I beg them to remember that nearly fifty years have passed over all our "memory boxes" since these war scenes were enacted, and that the events herein related are from my viewpoint and place on the stage of action, and that they saw and heard many things I did not see nor hear, and vice versa.

Any one who has heard witnesses testify in court as to a personal difficulty between two men, if only a common assault and battery case, or a more serious encounter with knives and pistols, know that no two will tell exactly the same story; so it is with war stories. We all did not see and hear and feel alike at the same time and place. What impressed one and fixed an event or date indelibly on the mind, did not impress another. And now "I don't remember," "I forget," "I was there, but don't recollect," are common expressions heard from old soldiers when they meet and talk over the old, old times.

To all comrades of Company C and all the other companies of the Eleventh Virginia and of Kemper's Brigade and Pickett's Division, Longstreet's Corps, and the army of Northern Virginia, to whom these greetings may come, I extend the right hand of comradeship most heartily. We marched and camped and bivouacked and fought together. We suffered and sacrificed all save honor, and thousands of our comrades died for a cause which we knew and still know was just and right and holy.

And know ye that we will not be forgotten as long as truth and chivalry shall live upon the earth, and that generations yet unborn will be proud to trace their genealogy back to the men who fought under Lee and Jackson.

And now, old comrades, good-bye, and may God bless you all. At a reunion some years ago, I heard a veteran say, "God will never send an old Confederate soldier to hell!" My prayer is that none of them may ever go, or be sent to that bad place; but let us not forget that, "By grace are ye saved, through faith in Jesus Christ."