Excerpt from A Texan in Search, of a Fight: Being the Diary and Letters of a Private Soldier in Hood's Texas Brigade

By their smiles they inspired and encouraged the soldiers in the field. By their frowns and scorn they drove the laggards to the front. By their tears, their sympathy and their prayers they up held and stimulated the weak, the weary and the wounded.

Their unfailing faith, their sublime devotion to truth were not surpassed by the glorious heroism of the noble women whose names sanctify and adorn the history of ages past. Their sacrifices, their toils, their fidelity, their sufferings entitle them to the love, admiration and gratitude Of pos terity, which ought to be demonstrated by the erection of a shining shaft Of marble - white, pure and chaste-whose apex shall kiss the clouds.

The following pages were put in type-written form in 1897. Until that time I had not seen the originals for thirty-four years. The manuscript has been read by persons Of ability, learning and intelligence. Many Of them said it was valuable and ought to be published. I had never thought of this. It was intended only for convenient use among my family and immediate friends. Re quests and suggestions for its publication have recently been renewed. With hesitation I have consented. The questions of taste, delicacy and propriety of publishing private matter have been considered and discussed. The conclusion is that it should be printed and issued, word for word, as it was originally written thirty-eight years ago. Otherwise it would not be what the writer wrote and thought in those dark, historic days. It is not fiction. It is fact. Under the head of Addenda, I have added The Story Of a Blanket, by request. Also a Speech made at mcgregor' in 1897. The Diary and the speech illustrate, respectively, the Confederate soldier of 1863 and the reconstructed citizen Of 1897. J. C. W.

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