miles south of the Memphis and Charleston railroad when he learned that I was stopping at the house of Mr. De Loche, and had ridden with his command to the junction of the road he was on with that from La Grange and Memphis, where he learned that I had passed three-quarters of an hour before.  He thought it would be useless to pursue with jaded horses a well-mounted party with so much of a start.  Had he gone three-quarters of a mile farther he would have found me with my party quietly resting under the shade of trees and without even arms in our hands with which to defend ourselves.

General Jackson of course did not communicate his disappointment at not capturing me to a prisoner, a young drover; but from the talk among the soldiers the facts related were learned.  A day or two later Mr. De Loche called on me in Memphis to apologize for his apparent incivility in not insisting on my staying for dinner.  He said that his wife accused him of marked discourtesy, but that, after the call of his neighbor, he had felt restless until I got away.  I never met General Jackson before the war, nor during it, but have met him since at his very comfortable summer home at Manitou Springs, Colorado.  I reminded him of the above incident, and this drew from him the response that he was thankful now he had not captured me.  I certainly was very thankful too.

My occupation of Memphis as district headquarters did not last long.  The period, however, was marked by a few incidents which were novel to me.  Up to that time I had not occupied any place in the South where the citizens were at home in any great numbers.  Dover was within the fortifications at Fort Donelson, and, as far as I remember, every citizen was gone.  There were no people living at Pittsburg landing, and but very few at Corinth.  Memphis, however, was a populous city, and there were many of the citizens remaining there who were not only thoroughly impressed with the justice of their cause, but who thought that even the “Yankee soldiery” must entertain the same views if they could only be induced to make an honest confession.  It took hours of my time every day to listen to complaints and requests.  The latter were generally reasonable, and if so they were granted; but the complaints were not always, or even often, well founded.  Two instances will mark the general character.  First:  the officer who commanded at Memphis immediately after the city fell into the hands of the National troops had ordered one of the churches of the city to be opened to the soldiers.  Army chaplains were authorized to occupy the pulpit.  Second:  at the beginning of the war the Confederate Congress had passed a law confiscating all property of “alien enemies” at the South, including the debts of Southerners to Northern men.  In consequence of this law, when Memphis was occupied the provost-marshal had forcibly collected all the evidences he could obtain of such debts.