Harry, like all the educated boys of the South, honored
and admired its public men. They were mighty names to him. He was
about to tread streets that had been trod by the famous Jefferson,
by Madison, Monroe, Randolph of Roanoke, and many others. The shades
of the great Virginians rose in a host before him.
He arrived about noon, and, as he carried no baggage except his saddle
bags and weapons, he was quickly within the city, his papers being in
perfect order. He ate dinner, as the noonday meal was then called,
and decided to seek General Beauregard at once, having learned from an
officer on the train that he was in the city. It was said that he was
at the residence of President Davis, called the White House, after that
other and more famous one at Washington, in which the lank, awkward man,
Abraham Lincoln, now lived.
But Harry paused frequently on the way, as there was nothing to hurry
him, and there was much to be seen. If Charleston had been crowded,
Richmond was more so. Like all capitals on the verge of a great war,
but as yet untouched by its destructive breath, it throbbed with life.
The streets swarmed with people, young officers and soldiers in their
uniforms, civilians of all kinds, and many pretty girls in white or
light dresses, often with flowers in their hair or on their breasts.
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