Note 32 — Chapter XXIV · The Beginning Reaction—Northern Emigrants and New Orleans Natives.

Bankrupt in all but honor, the paroled soldiers of the Confederacy can only tender to the ladies of New Orleans their undying gratitude for the cordial welcome which has greeted their advent in the city, and pray that God will bless the “ministering angels,” who have lifted from their hearts the dark cloud of gloom and despondency, and turned its “silver lining” outward, brightened with their smiles. Congregated here only for a brief space, they will soon be widely scattered, perhaps never to meet again. They are returning home with blighted hopes and ruined fortunes; all but honor, and the will which can never be conquered, lost in the terrible struggle through which they have passed. Many of them will be voluntary exiles from the fair Southern land which gave them birth; but wherever their wandering fate may lead, they will bear with them, among treasured relics of the past, a remembrance ever more dear and sacred of the noble women of New Orleans, who have had courage to believe that misfortune may exist without guilt, and, refusing to worship the rising sun, have turned aside from the prosperous and the powerful, to bestow their prayers, their tears, and their smiles upon them.—N. O. Picayune, June 17.