upheavals, whereby one party was as bitter against the other as during the mighty struggle of the North against the South, and that General Longstreet, unfortunately for his name as a civilian, aligned himself along with the party whom the whites of the South acknowledged as antagonistic to their welfare and interest.  This roused the ire of all his old army associates, and many of his former friends now began to hurl poisoned and fiery shafts at the old “War Horse” of the South, and no place so vulnerable as his army record.  This, of course, was resented by him, and a deadly feud of long standing sprang up between Generals Longstreet, Mahone, and a few others, who joined him on the one side, and the whole army of “Codfederate Brigadiers” on the other.  This accounts, in a large measure, for many of Longstreet’s strictures upon the conduct of officers of the army, and, no doubt, a mere after thought or the weird imaginations of an old and disappointed politico-persecuted man.

No, No!  The officers and men of the Confederate Army were patriots of diamond purity, and all would have willingly died a martyr’s death that the Confederacy might live.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XXV

Around Knoxville—­The Siege and Storming of Fort Sanders.

After the fiasco at Cambell’s Station, the enemy retired behind his entrenched position in the suburbs of Knoxville.  Longstreet followed rapidly, with McLaws in front, in line of battle, but all hopes of encountering the enemy before he reached his fortified position around the city had vanished.  We reached the rolling hillsides just outside of the city limits about noon on the 17th, and found the enemy’s dismounted cavalry, acting as sharpshooters, posted on the heights in front and between the railroad and the river, well protected by rail piles along the crest of the hill.

Colonel Nance was ordered with the Third South Carolina Regiment to dislodge those on the hill, near the railroad, by marching over and beyond the road and taking them in flank, which was successfully done by making a sudden dash from a piece of woodland over an open field and gaining the embankment of the railroad immediately on the right flank of the enemy’s sharpshooters.  But scarcely had the Third got in position than it found itself assailed on its left and rear by an unseen enemy concealed in the woods.  Here Colonel Nance was forced to sacrifice one of his most gallant officers, Lieutenant Allen, of Company D. Seeing his critical and untenable position, he ordered the Lieutenant, who was standing near him, to report his condition to General Kershaw and ask for instruction.  This was a hazardous undertaking in the extreme, but lieutenant Allen undertook it with rare courage and promptness.  Back across the open field he sped, while the whole fire of the sharpshooters was directed towards him instead of to our troops behind the embankment.