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TWO WARS:
AN
AUTOBIOGRAPHY
OF
GEN. SAMUEL G. FRENCH,
An Officer in the Armies of the United States and the Confederate States,A Graduate from the U. S. Military Academy, West Point, 1843.
MEXICAN WAR;
WAR BETWEEN THE STATES, A DIARY;
RECONSTRUCTION PERIOD, HIS EXPERIENCE;
INCIDENTS, REMINISCENCES, ETC.
Nashville, Tenn.:
Confederate Veteran.
1901.
Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1901,By Samuel G. French,In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
THIS VOLUME IS DEDICATED
TO
MY WIFE AND CHILDREN,
AND TO
THE CONFEDERATE SOLDIERS
WHO BATTLED WITH THE INVADING
FOE TO PROTECT OUR HOMES
AND MAINTAIN THE CAUSE FOR
WHICH OLIVER CROMWELL AND
GEORGE WASHINGTON FOUGHT.
PREFACE.
Some years ago, when living on an orange grove at Winter Park,it occurred to me that my idle time might be usefully employed intranscribing from memoranda and my diary many incidents of mylife for preservation in one manuscript for my children. This wascontinued at intervals until it became as here presented. It wasmainly discontinued after my children became old enough to observepassing events for themselves.
But inasmuch as a few books have been published containingerrors in describing some military operations in which I participated,justice to the troops under my command induces me topublish my account of them as recorded when they occurred.
This volume, then, is a simple narrative of passing events, withoutdiscussing their importance and bearing politically in shapingthe destiny of the nation.
Although my lot was cast with the South, and whatever may bemy opinion of the action of the North before, during, and afterthe war as expressed in these pages, I am as loyal to the Constitutionand as ready to uphold and maintain the rights and dignityof the United States as any man within its boundary; and thiswas evidenced when I tendered my services, as a so