Wednesday, August 5, 2026

Extracts from the journal of Commander Semmes, C.S. Navy, commanding C.S.S. Sumter

0 comments

Monday, August 5.—Weather clear and fine. At 11 a.m. I was visited by Captain Hillyar, of the Cadmus, who brought me a New York Express of the 12th July, and made himself very agreeable. The war appeared a very extraordinary affair to him, and he could not suppose that it would continue long. He rather [...]

War of the Rebellion: from the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies and Navies

“In the meantime we seem to be resting on our oars, debating in Congress, while the enterprising Yankees are quadrupling their army at their leisure.”—Mary Chesnut’s diary.

0 comments

August 5th.–A heavy, heavy heart. Another missive from Jordan, querulous and fault-finding; things are all wrong–Beauregard’s Jordan had been crossed, not the stream “in Canaan’s fair and happy land, where our possessions lie.” They seem to feel that the war is over here, except the President and Mr. Barnwell; above all that foreboding friend of [...]

Civil War Day-by-Day

Rebel War Clerk

0 comments

AUGUST 5th.—Col. Bledsoe has a job directly from the President: which is to adapt the volume of U. S. Army Regulations to the service of the Confederate States. It is only to strike out U. S. and insert C. S., and yet the colonel groans over it.

Civil War Day-by-Day

The Letters of Samuel Ryan Curtis

0 comments

St Louis Mo. August 5. 1861 My dear wife I arrived here some time last night, and had a very comfortable rest on a good large bed in the Ladies Cabin till 6 ½ Oclock. On opening the mornings papers, I found General Fremont1 had returned to this city yesterday: so I was fortunate in [...]

The Letters of Samuel Ryan Curtis

“The men feel that they were wronged, and are discontented; officers feel that they were insulted, and have resigned.”—War Letters of William Thompson Lusk.

0 comments

Aug. 5th, 1861. My dear Mother: Living now quietly without excitement, the events of two weeks ago have become like a dream. Our camp is beautifully situated on Meridian Hill in the suburbs of Washington, and overlooks an enchanting prospect of the city, and the green banks of the Potomac. The air is fresh and [...]

War Letters of William Thompson Lusk.

“I wish you, then, on the receipt of this to go to some one in authority and get a commission for me, if you can;”–Adams Family Letters, Henry Adams, private secretary to the US Minister to the UK, to his brother, Charles Francis Adams.

0 comments

London, August 5, 1861 We received yesterday the news of our defeat at Bull’s Run, and today your letter and John’s with some papers have arrived. Though I do not see that this check necessarily involves all the serious consequences that you draw from it, I am still sufficiently impressed by it to decide me [...]

Civil War Day-by-Day

Civil War Day-By-Day

0 comments

August 5, 1861 In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government levies the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US$800; rescinded in 1872). The United States Army abolishes flogging. Abraham Lincoln approves a wide variety of bills passed during a [...]

Civil War Day-by-Day