John Fairfax, a wealthy Virginian opposed to secession, enlisted in the Confederate army and asked for assignment as a staff officer to Gen. James Longstreet.
"Why Fairfax sought Longstreet is uncertain, but the latter assigned him as a volunteer aide-de-camp with the honorary rank of captain." G. Moxley Sorrell, another Longstreet aide, wrote that the middle-aged "Fairfax 'lacked nothing in courage; was brave and would go anywhere. But Fairfax had two distinctions -- he was the most pious of churchmen and was a born bon vivant.'"
"Wherever Fairfax went and despite the rigors of campaigns, he carried his Bible, an ample supply of whiskey and a bathtub ... Each morning when duty permitted, Fairfax bathed in the tub, reading his Bible and nipping at a bottle of whiskey before breakfast." Fairfax soon "took control of the headquarters mess and worked minor miracles wirth the variety and quality of the meals. The supply of whiskey never ceased."
--Jeffry D. Wert, General James Longstreet -- The Confederacy's Most Controversial Soldier
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