General Grant became indignant, and issued an order banishing the Jews from his lines.  The order created much excitement among the Americans of Hebraic descent.  The matter was placed before the President, and the obnoxious restriction promptly revoked.  During the time it was in force a large number of the proscribed individuals were obliged to go North.

Sometimes the Rebels did not treat the Jews with the utmost courtesy.  On one occasion a scouting party captured two Jews who were buying cotton.  The Israelites were robbed of ten thousand dollars in gold and United States currency, and then forced to enter the ranks of the Rebel army.  They did not escape until six months later.

In Chicago, in the first year of the war, a company of Jews was armed and equipped at the expense of their wealthier brethren.  The men composing the company served their full time, and were highly praised for their gallantry.

The above case deserves mention, as it is an exception to the general conduct of the Jews.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE CAMPAIGN FROM CORINTH.

Changes of Commanders.—­Preparations for the Aggressive.—­Marching from Corinth.—­Talking with the People.—­“You-uns and We-uns.”—­Conservatism of a “Regular.”—­Loyalty and Disloyalty.—­Condition of the Rebel Army.—­Foraging.—­German Theology for American Soldiers.—­A Modest Landlord.—­A Boy without a Name.—­The Freedmen’s Bureau.—­Employing Negroes.—­Holly Springs and its People.—­An Argument for Secession.

Two weeks after the battle of Corinth, General Rosecrans was summoned to the Army of the Cumberland, to assume command in place of General Buell.  General Grant was placed at the head of the Thirteenth Army Corps, including all the forces in West Tennessee.  Preparations for an aggressive movement into the enemy’s country had been in progress for some time.  Corinth, Bolivar, and Jackson were strongly fortified, so that a small force could defend them.  The base of supply was at Columbus, Kentucky, eighty-five miles due north of Jackson, thus giving us a long line of railway to protect.

On the first of November the movement began, by the advance of a column from Corinth and another from Bolivar.  These columns met at Grand Junction, twenty-five miles north of Holly Springs, and, after lying there for two weeks, advanced to the occupation of the latter point.  The Rebels evacuated the place on our approach, and after a day or two at Holly Springs we went forward toward the south.  Abbeville and Oxford were taken, and the Rebels established themselves at Grenada, a hundred miles south of Memphis.