How was Peyton Farquhar tricked by the scout into attempting to burn down the bridge?

provides most of the backgroundin a flashback in Part II of "." It can be seen in the
interchange between Farquhar and the Federal scout disguised as a Confederate soldier that the
scout is not really trying very hard to trick the planter into trying to burn down the bridge.
Farquhar gets himself into trouble, and the scout just allows him to do it. It should not be
assumed that the scout's job was to ride around trying to trick Southern civilians into deciding
to commit acts of sabotage against the invading Union army. That doesn't seem sensible. Why
should the Union army try to create further trouble for itself when it has enough trouble
already? The scout is just a scout. His job is to collect whatever useful information he can,
either through observation or through casual conversations with civilians. He is mainly
interested in movements of Confederate troops and matters of that sort.

The
scout...