APRIL 6th.—It seems that it was a mistake about the enemy’s monitors approaching the forts in Charleston harbor; but the government has dispatches to the effect that important movements are going on, not very distant from Charleston, the precise nature of which is not yet permitted to transpire. Generals Johnston and Bragg write that Gen. [...]
APRIL 5th.—Snow fell all night, and a depth of several inches covers the earth this morning. It will soon melt, however, as it is now raining. The Northern invaders who anticipate a pleasant sojourn during the winter and spring in this climate, have been very disagreeably disappointed in these expectations. A surgeon was arrested yesterday [...]
APRIL 4th.—It is the belief of some that the riot was a premeditated affair, stimulated from the North, and executed through the instrumentality of emissaries. Some of the women, and others, have been arrested. We have news of the capture of another of the enemy’s gunboats, in Berwick Bay, Louisiana, with five guns. It is [...]
APRIL 3d.—Gen. D. H. Hill writes from North Carolina that the business of conscription is miserably mismanaged in that State. The whole business, it seems, has resolved itself into a machine for making money and putting pets in office. No account of yesterday’s riot appeared in the papers to-day, for obvious reasons. The mob visited [...]
APRIL 2d.—This morning early a few hundred women and boys met as by concert in the Capitol Square, saying they were hungry, and must have food. The number continued to swell until there were more than a thousand. But few men were among them, and these were mostly foreign residents, with exemptions in their pockets. [...]
APRIL 1st.—It is said we have taken Washington, a village in North Carolina. And it is represented that large supplies of meat, etc. can be taken from thence and the adjacent counties. Every day we look for important intelligence from Charleston, and from the West. Mr. Seddon, the Secretary of War, has receded from his [...]
MARCH 31st.—Another stride of the grim specter, and corn-meal is selling for $17 per bushel. Coal at $20.50 per ton, and wood at $30 per cord. And at these prices one has to wait several days to get either. Common tallow candles are selling at $1 per pound. I see that some furnished houses are [...]
MARCH 30th.—Gen. Bragg dispatches the government that Gen. Forrest has captured 800 prisoners in Tennessee, and several thousand of our men are making a successful raid in Kentucky. Gen. Whiting makes urgent calls for reinforcements at Wilmington, and cannot be supplied with many. Gen. Lee announces to the War Department that the spring campaign is [...]
MARCH 29th.—No news. Yet a universal expectation. What is expected is not clearly defined. Those who are making money rapidly no doubt desire a prolongation of the war, irrespective of political consequences. But the people, the majority in the United States, seem to have lost their power. And their representatives in Congress are completely subordinated [...]
MARCH 28th.—We have nothing additional or confirmatory from the West. A letter from Gen. Beauregard states that he has but 17,000 men in South Carolina, and 10,000 in Georgia, 27,000 in all. He asks more, as he will be assailed, probably, by 100,000 Federals. The President refers this important letter to the Secretary of War, [...]
MARCH 27th.—This is the day appointed by the President for fasting and prayers. Fasting in the midst of famine! May God save this people! The day will be observed throughout the Confederacy. The news from the West, destruction of more of the enemy’s gun-boats, seems authentic. So far we have sustained no disasters this spring, [...]
MARCH 26th.—We have dispatches (unofficial) from the West, Stating that one of the enemy’s gun-boats has been sunk in attempting to pass Vicksburg, and another badly injured. Also that an engagement has occurred on the Yazoo, the enemy having several gun-boats sunk, the rest being driven back. It snowed a little this morning, and is [...]
MARCH 25th.—We have no news to-day, excepting the falling back of Rosecrans from Murfreesborough, and a raid of Morgan and capture of a train of cars. Rosecrans means, perhaps, to aid in the occupation of the Mississippi River. It will be expensive in human life. Although our conscription is odious, yet we are collecting a [...]
MARCH 24th.—Judge Lyons has granted an injunction, arresting the impressment of flour by the Secretary of War, and Congress is debating a bill which, if passed, will be a marked rebuke to the government. Notwithstanding the wishes of the Secretary of War, the President, and Gen. Rains, Lt.-Col. Lay is still exempting Marylanders, and even [...]
MARCH 23d.—The snow has nearly disappeared, and the roads are very bad. No food is brought to the market, and such as may be found in the city is held at famine prices. I saw a letter to-day from Bishop Lay, in Arkansas. He says affairs in that State wear a dark and gloomy aspect. [...]
MARCH 22d.—It was thawing all night, and there is a heavy fog this morning. The snow will disappear in a few days. A very large number of slaves, said to be nearly 40,000, have been collected by the enemy on the Peninsula and at adjacent points, for the purpose, it is supposed, of cooperating with [...]
MARCH 21st.—The snow is nearly a foot deep this morning, as it continued to fall all night, and is falling still. It grows warmer, however. But we now learn that the Indianola was destroyed in the Mississippi by the officers, upon the appearance of a simulated gun-boat sent down, without a crew! This was disgraceful, [...]
MARCH 20th.—The snow is eight inches deep this morning, and it is still falling fast. Not a beggar is yet to be seen in this city of 100,000 inhabitants! Hood’s division, mostly Texans, whose march to the Rappahannock was countermanded when it was ascertained that the enemy had been beaten back across the river, were [...]
MARCH 19th.—Snowing. It is estimated that we lost 250 men, killed, wounded, and taken, in the fight on the Rappahannock; the enemy’s loss is not known, but certainly was heavy, since they were defeated, and fled back, hotly pursued. Confederate money still depreciates, in spite of the funding act. Some of the brokers are [...]
MARCH 18th.—I sent an extract from my Diary of yesterday to the Hon. T. H. Watts, Minister of Justice. I know not whether he will appreciate its importance; but he has professed friendship for me. The city is in some excitement to-day, for early this morning we had intelligence of the crossing of the Rappahannock [...]
MARCH 15th.—Another cold, disagreeable day. March so far has been as cold and terrible as a winter month.
MARCH 14th.—Gen. Pemberton writes that he has 3000 hogs-heads of sugar at Vicksburg, which he retains for his soldiers to subsist on when the meat fails. Meat is scarce there as well as here. Bacon now sells for $1.50 per pound in Richmond. Butter $3. I design to cultivate a little garden 20 by 50 [...]
MARCH 13th.—To-day a great calamity occurred in this city. In a large room of one of the government laboratories an explosion took place, killing instantly five or six persons, and wounding, it is feared fatally, some thirty others. Most of them were little indigent girls!
MARCH 12th.—To-day we have no army news. Mr. Richard Smith issued the first number of The Sentinel yesterday morning. Thus we have five daily morning papers, all on half sheets. The Sentinel has a biography of the President, and may aspire to be the “organ.” John Mitchel, the Irishman, who was sentenced to a [...]
MARCH 11th.—Gen. Fitzhugh Lee has made a dash into Fairfax (near Washington) a day or two ago, and captured the Federal Gen. Slaughter and other officers, in their beds. Last night one of the government warehouses in this city was burnt. It is supposed to have been the work of an incendiary traitor; perhaps in [...]