We were now again under our old commander, Lieutenant General Longstreet.  He had recently returned to the army, convalescent from his severe wound at the Wilderness, and was placed in command of the north side.  Scarcely had he assumed command, and prior to our arrival, before he was attacked by General Butler, with twenty thousand men.  He defeated him, sustaining little loss, with Fields’ and Hokes’ Divisions, and Gary’s Cavalry.  Butler lost between one thousand two hundred and one thousand five hundred men.  The year was slowly drawing to a close, with little perceptible advantage to the South.  It is true that Grant, the idol and ideal of the North, had thrown his legions against the veterans of Lee with a recklessness never before experienced, and with a loss almost irreparable, still the prospects of the Confederacy were anything but encouraging.  Yet the childlike faith and confidence of the Confederate privates in their cause and in their superiors, that disaster and defeat never troubled them nor caused them worry or uneasiness.  General Hood had gone on his wild goose chase through Middle Tennessee, had met with defeat and ruin at Franklin and Nashville; Sherman was on his unresisted march through Georgia, laying waste fields, devastating homes with a vandalism unknown in civilized warfare, and was now nearing the sea; while the remnant of Hood’s Army was seeking shelter and safety through the mountains of North Georgia.  Still Lee, with his torn and tattered veterans, stood like a wall of granite before Richmond and Petersburg.  What a halo of glory should surround the heads of all who constituted the Army of Lee or followed the fortunes of Longstreet, Hill, Ewell, and Early.  At Chickamauga, Chattanooga, East Tennessee, Wilderness, or wherever the plumes of their chieftains waved or their swords flashed amid the din of battle, victory had ever perched upon their banners.  It was only when away from the inspiration and prestige of Longstreet did the troops of Kershaw fail or falter, and only then to follow in the wake of others who had yielded.

Owing to the casualties in battle during the last few months and the disasters of the two Valley campaigns, many changes in the personnel of the companies and regiments necessarily took place, once we got fairly settled in camp.

Brigadier General Kershaw had been made Major General in place of General McLaws soon after the battle of the Wilderness.  His Aid-de-Camp, Lieutenant Doby, having been killed on that day, I.M.  Davis, Adjutant of the Fifteenth, was placed upon the personnel staff of the Major General.

Colonel John D. Kennedy, of the Second, having recovered from the wounds received on the 6th of May, was promoted in place of General Connor to the position of Brigadier General.

The Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel of the Twentieth both being captured on the 19th of October, Lieutenant Colonel F.S.  Lewie, of the Fifteenth, was assigned temporarily to the command of the Twentieth.  Captain G. Leaphart, senior Captain, was afterwards promoted to Major, and commanded the “Twentieth Army Corps” until the close of the war.