He has several conversations with various men in his command through the course of the evening, and these reveal each man's personality, beliefs, and personal history. These meetings also reveal a lot about what Longstreet thinks and feels, and we get a clear picture of the man and his demons. He struggles with the pain he feels for his wife and their dead children, he struggles to control his drinking, and he considers the men in his command more a family than an army.
Back at the campfire, the discussions have become heated. The Southern officers are trying to get the European observers to understand the Cause. The Europeans think the war is about slavery. The Southerners try in frustration to explain it's about state's rights to govern themselves.
The chapter ends with Longstreet telling Pickett to look after the men, then chiding himself for being too motherly. Harrison returns with news of Union cavalry, not militia, being nearby. Longstreet tries to get word to Lee; however, Lee's aide doesn't think it's important enough to wake Lee.
The point of view shifts to the weather changing from falling stars to rain and Buford's pickets readying for dawn. There is the approach of figures moving toward a Union picket in the early morning mist and then a shot.
