The Days of a Man 1912 



the dregs. . . ."As it drew near the close, desertions were 

 more and more frequent. . . . After Lee's last victory at 

 Games' Mill he wrote three letters to President Davis, urging 

 that peace be made at once and on the best terms possible, for 

 the cause was already lost. 



The downfall of the upper caste meant opportunity to the 

 middle class. High-born girls married foremen on the farms, 

 and social distinctions were lessened aristocracy being still 

 recognized, however, though no longer at its former valua- 

 tion. . . . Marriage of cousins, one of the evils of old Virginia 

 in all ranks of life, ceased with the war. . . . Emigration from 

 the North was rarely welcomed before 1900. In time it justified 

 itself; a good farmer would buy "the tail end of a played-out 

 plantation," put it into alfalfa (lucerne), and soon pay for his 

 investment. And, with the years, hostility has vanished except 

 in a few of the old soldiers and women who do not forget. 



Leaving Fredericksburg, accompanied by a Con- 

 church federate officer, we drove about ten miles to Salem 

 Church. On the old battleground in the forest near 

 this lone chapel, the men of the 23d New Jersey 

 afterward set up a monument bearing two inscriptions, 

 one on each side: 



To THE MEMORY OF OUR HEROIC COMRADES WHO GAVE THEIR 

 LIVES FOR THEIR COUNTRY'S UNITY ON THIS BATTLEFIELD, 

 THIS TABLET IS DEDICATED 



To THE BRAVE ALABAMA BOYS, OUR OPPONENTS ON THIS FIELD 

 OF BATTLE, WHOSE MEMORY WE HONOR, THIS TABLET IS 

 DEDICATED 



Chancel- "Chancellorsvillc" not far beyond is merely a 

 brick wayside inn on the old stage road from Rich- 

 mond to Washington, at the entrance of the great 

 forest of "the Wilderness." In 1863 General Hooker 

 used this house as headquarters. There, having 

 failed to provide adequate outposts for in spite 

 of the warnings of General Carl Schurz he insisted 



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