And while this work was progressing, the
"gentlemen" soldiers of the South were to talk very loudly and
courageously, and invite all the Yankees round about to come out and
get whipped. These people resolved themselves into a great and
powerful army, with Peter Beauregard, the French gentleman of whom I
have before spoken, for its commander. This gentleman was somewhat
eccentric, and much given to saying things, the true meaning of
which he did not understand. A waggish friend of mine once told me
that this Mr. Beauregard was educated for an apothecary at West
Point, a place where young gentlemen are instructed in the various
ways of getting a living honestly. Being very skillful in the use of
mortars, he was held by Mr. Davis as a most proper person to command
a southern army, inasmuch as he could give the Yankees all the
physic they wanted in the shortest time. And as it is always
expected that a great general will say a great many things that are
neither sensible nor wise, and which afford politicians an excellent
opportunity of picking them to pieces, he is a wise general who
issues his orders and keeps his lips sealed on politics.
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