“It was no doubt plainly evident to our general officers that our end was near at hand, but we of the line never had the remotest idea of a surrender…. Then rumors were whispered among the men… that flags of truce were being exchanged, and this so much foreboded surrender that every man in the regiment was so overcome with disappointment and grief, that they either fell down or leaned against some support and wept.”

- Adjutant Robert T. Coles, 4th Alabama Infantry