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found it to be a substantial and excellent meal. Everything seemed
to be as usual in his house and he had the latest New York
papers - perhaps three or four days old, - which were procured from Gen
Ewell's headquarters and received in exchange at the vidette posts
for the Richmond papers. When I was leaving the house, the two, Allen
and Sothern, walked a little distance with me, and while waiting
at a corner with Allen, he informed me confidentially that he was send-
ing a certain quantity of tobacco to the North, for which he would
be paid in greenbacks. He saw the end approaching, and he
was wise enough to provide against the possibility of Richmond being
taken and his family being destitute of the currency which would
immediately supplant the Conferate bills. After parting with him
Mr Sothern accompanied me to the Provost Marshall where he
obtained for me a pass to leave Richmond, and we agreed to
meet again in the evening at Mr Allen's and go together to see Col John
Preston and his family.

This was Saturday evening, for on again seeing Mr Allen he in-
vited me to a seat in his pew the next day, and added that the
President's pew was just in front of his. The church was on a corner
near one of the entrances of the Park where the Washington monument
is. - the rector being the Rev Mr Minnegerode. While waiting for
Mr Sothern I met William Allen in the drawing room. He was
not related to Mr Buck Allen, but they were friends, and I first
met him at Florence Italy where I went to a dancing party given by his
mother in the hotel where Allston and myself were staying.

Our visit to Col Preston who was then called General,
being in charge of the Department or Bureau of conscripts, was a
pleasant one. He knew us both well and greeted me very cordially.
I was seated near the second daughter who was engaged to Genl.
Hood, and after a while an officer on crutches came in to whom
I was introduced, but did not hear his name, and I never suspected
that he was the General himself. He laid aside his crutches and
seated himself near us, but did not take part in the conversation
beyond making an occasional remark to his fiancée which was
foreign to what I was saying. He was a tall spare man with a
full beard, light in color, and with light eyes, having but little
expression in them. His face indicated nothing and was altogether
an unmeaning one. What he said to Miss Preston was answered in a
tone of decided indifference, and it must have worried him to see
her evidently prefer to carry on the conversation with me. I ought to
have been able to see by what was transpiring who the stranger
was, but I did not suspect the reality and did not know until
Mr Sothern told me when we were leaving.

Hood when commanding his Division of Texas troops under Lee
had done some of the best fighting of the war, and after being
engaged to Miss Preston, it was through the influence of the father
that Mr Davis appointed him to succeed Joseph E. Johnson at
Atlanta. It was a most foolish promotion, for Hood proved himself
to be utterly wanting in the qualities necessary to command an army
and when I saw him that evening he must have realized that
his engagement would soon be broken off. This did occur a few
weeks after and the lady afterwards married Rawlins Lowndes
of Charleston.

It being still early Mr Sothern proposed a visit to Gen Lee's family
with a prospect of seeing the General who frequently spent Saturday