MARCH 7th.—Bright and frosty morning; cloudy and warm in the evening. Cannon and musketry were heard this morning some miles northwest of the city. Probably Gen. Hampton fell in with one of the lost detachments of the raiders, seeking a way of escape. This attempt to surprise Richmond was a disgraceful failure. The Secretary of [...]
MARCH 6th.—My birthday—55. Bright and frosty; subsequently warm and pleasant. No news. But some indignation in the streets at the Adjutant-General’s (Cooper) order, removing the clerks and putting them in the army, just when they had, by their valor, saved the capital from flames and the throats of the President and his cabinet from the [...]
MARCH 5th.—Clear and pleasant, after a slight shower in the morning. The raid is considered at an end, and it has ended disastrously for the invaders. Some extraordinary memoranda were captured from the raiders, showing a diabolical purpose, and creating a profound sensation here. The cabinet have been in consultation many hours in regard to [...]
MARCH 4th.—Bright and frosty in the morning; warm and cloudy in the afternoon. The enemy have disappeared. On the 17th inst., Gen. Lee wrote the Secretary of War that he had received a letter from Gen. Longstreet, asking that Pickett’s Division be in readiness to join him; also that a brigade of Gen. Buckner’s Division, [...]
MARCH 3d.—Bright and frosty. Confused accounts of the raid in the morning papers. During the day it was reported that Col. Johnson’s forces had been cut up this morning by superior numbers, and that Butler was advancing up the Peninsula with 15,000 men. The tocsin was sounded in the afternoon, and the militia called out; [...]
MARCH 2d.—A slight snow on the ground this morning—but bright and cool. Last night, after I had retired to bed, we heard a brisk cannonading, and volleys of musketry, a few miles distant. This morning an excitement, but no alarm, pervaded the city. It was certainly a formidable attempt to take the city by surprise. [...]
MARCH 1st.—Dark and raining. As the morning progressed, the city was a little startled by the sound of artillery in a northern direction, and not very distant. Couriers and horsemen from the country announced the approach of the enemy within the outer fortifications; a column of 5000 cavalry. Then Hon. James Lyons came in, reporting [...]
FEBRUARY 29th,—Raining moderately. There is a rumor that Frederick’s Hall, between this city and Fredericksburg, was taken to day by a detachment of the enemy’s cavalry, an hour after Gen. Lee passed on his way to the army. This is only rumor, however. A dispatch from Gen. Lee’s Chief Commissary, received to-day, says the army [...]
FEBRUARY 28th.—Bright, cool, and dusty. No war news; nor denial or confirmation of the wonderful victory of Forrest in Mississippi. That he captured the enemy’s artillery and drove them back, is official. Longstreet has retired from before Knoxville; perhaps to assault Nashville, or to penetrate Kentucky. Yesterday the Secretary ordered Col. Northrop to allow full [...]
FEBRUARY 27th.—Bright and pleasant–dusty. But one rain during the winter! The “associated press” publishes an unofficial dispatch, giving almost incredible accounts of Gen. Forrest’s defeat of Grierson’s cavalry, 10,000 strong, with only 2000. It is said the enemy were cut up and routed, losing all his guns, etc. Sugar is $20 per pound; new bacon, [...]
FEBRUARY 26th.—Cool, bright, but windy and dusty. Dispatches announce heavy skirmishing in the vicinity of Dalton—and Gen. Johnston’s army was in line of battle. It may be merely a feint of the enemy to aid in the extrication of Sherman. Gen. Lee is here in consultation with the President. They decided that over 1000 men [...]
FEBRUARY 25th.—The President has certainly conferred on Bragg the position once (1862) occupied by Lee, as the following official announcement, in all the papers to-day, demonstrates: “WAR DEPARTMENT, ” ADJUTANT AND INSPECTOR GENERAL’S OFFICE, ” RICHMOND, February 24th, 1864. “GENERAL ORDERS No. 23. “Gen. Braxton Bragg is assigned to duty at the seat of government, [...]
FEBRUARY 24th.—Bright and pleasant. Intelligence from the West is of an interesting character. The column of Federal cavalry from Memphis, destined to co-operate with Gen. Sherman, has been intercepted and a junction prevented. And both Sherman and the cavalry are now in full retreat—running out of the country faster than they advanced into it. The [...]
FEBRUARY 23d.—Bright and pleasant. A letter from Gen. Maury indicates now that Mobile is surely to be attacked. He says they may force a passage at Grant’s Pass, which is thirty miles distant; and the fleet may pass the forts and reach the lower bay. Gen. M. has 10,000 effective men, and subsistence for 20,000 [...]
FEBRUARY 22d.—The offices are closed, to-day, in honor of Washington’s birth-day. But it is a fast day; meal selling for $40 per bushel. Money will not be so abundant a month hence! All my turnip-greens were killed by the frost. The mercury was, on Friday, 5° above zero; to-day it is 40°. Sowed a small [...]
FEBRUARY 21st.—Cold, clear, and calm, but moderating. Mr. Benjamin sent over, this morning, extracts from dispatches received from his commercial agent in London, dated December 26th and January 16th, recommending, what had already been suggested by Mr. McRae, in Paris, a government monopoly in the export of cotton, and in the importation of necessaries, etc. [...]
FEBRUARY 20th.—Bright, calm, but still cold—slightly moderating. Roads firm and dusty. Trains of army wagons still go by our house laden with ice. Brig.-Gen. Wm. Preston has been sent to Mexico, with authority to recognize and treat with the new Emperor Maximilian. I see, by a letter from Mr. Benjamin, that he is intrusted by [...]
FEBRUARY 19th.—Cold and clear. Congress adjourned yesterday, having passed the bill suspending the writ of habeas corpus for six months at least. Now the President is clothed with DICTATORIAL POWERS, to all intents and purposes, so far as the war is concerned. The first effect of the Currency bill is to inflate prices yet more. [...]
FEBRUARY 18th.—This was the coldest morning of the winter. There was ice in the wash-basins in our bed chambers, the first we have seen there. I fear my cabbage, beets, etc. now coming up, in my half barrel hot-bed, although in the house, are killed. The topic of discussion everywhere, now, is the effect likely [...]
FEBRUARY 17th.—Bright and very cold–freezing all day. Col. Myers has written a letter to the Secretary, in reply to our ordering him to report to the Quartermaster-General, stating that be considers himself the Quartermaster-General—as the Senate has so declared. This being referred to the President, he indorses on it that Col. Myers served long enough [...]
FEBRUARY 16th.—A plan of invasion. Gen. Longstreet telegraphs that he has no corn, and cannot stay where he is, unless supplied by the Quartermaster-General. This, the President says, is impossible, for want of transportation. The railroads can do no more than supply grain for the horses of Lee’s army—all being brought from Alabama, Georgia, South [...]
FEBRUARY 15th.—We have over forty of the escaped Federal officers. Nothing more from Gens. Wise and Finnegan. The enemy have retreated again on the Peninsula. It is said Meade’s army is falling back on Washington. We have a snow storm to-day. The President is unfortunate with his servants, as the following from the Dispatch would [...]
FEBRUARY 14th.—Clear and windy. There is nothing new that I have heard of; but great apprehensions are felt for the fate of Mississippi—said to be penetrated to its center by an overwhelming force of the enemy. It is defended, however, or it is to be, by Gen. (Bishop) Polk. I hear of more of the [...]
FEBRUARY 13th.—Bright, beautiful weather, with frosty nights. The dispatches I cut from the papers to-day are interesting. Gen. Wise, it appears, has met the enemy at last, and gained a brilliant success—and so has Gen. Finnegan. But the correspondence between the President and Gen. Johnston, last spring and summer, indicates constant dissensions between the Executive [...]
FEBRUARY 12th.—It is warm to-day, and cloudy; but there was ice early in the morning. We have recaptured twenty-odd of the escaped prisoners. A bill has passed Congress placing an embargo on many imported articles; and these articles are rising rapidly in price. Sugar sold to-day at auction in large quantity for $8.00 per pound; [...]