October 10th. Our boys who had been prisoners since the fifteenth of June, had been released and exchanged. Lieutenant-Colonel Peale, commanding regiment, ordered to Camp Parole, Annapolis, Maryland, to bring the boys to camp for duty. A happy meeting talking over our past experience. Guns and equipment given out. All were ready for duty. Drilling, [...]
OCTOBER 9th.—From the West we have only unreliable reports of movements, etc.; but something definite and decisive must occur shortly. Gen. Lee’s army crossed the Rapidan yesterday, and a battle may be looked for in that direction any day. It is said Meade has only 40,000 or 50,000 men; and, if this be so, Lee [...]
OCTOBER 8th.—The President, accompanied by two of his aids, set off quietly day before yesterday for the Southwest—to Bragg’s army, no doubt, where it is understood dissensions have arisen among the chieftains. By telegraph we learn that one of Bragg’s batteries, on LookoutMountain, opened fire on the Federals in Chattanooga on the 5th inst., which [...]
OCTOBER 7th.—We have not a particle of news from the army today. It may be an ominous calm. A Mr. Livingstone, from Georgia I believe, has been extensively engaged in financial transactions during the last week. He drew upon the house of North & Co., Savannah, and purchased some $35,000 in gold. After obtaining some [...]
Tuesday, October 6th. I hope this will be the last occasion on which I shall refer to the topic to which this unfortunate book seems to have been devoted. But it gives me a grim pleasure to add a link to the broken chain of the curious story, now and then. Maybe some day the [...]
OCTOBER 6th.—Gen. Bragg and others recommend Gen. Hood for promotion to a lieutenant-generalcy but the President says it is impossible, as the number authorized by Congress is full. And Gen. Bragg also gives timely notice to the Commissary-General that the supplies at Atlanta will suffice for but a few weeks longer. This, Commissary-General Northrop took [...]
CAMP NEAR MORTON’S FORD, ON RAPIDAN RIVER, October 5th, 1863. My Dear Mother: I received your letter of the 23rd yesterday while on picket duty and it seems to me from the way in which you write that you did not receive my last letter. I don’t think that it has been two weeks since [...]
OCTOBER 5th.—It is now said that Meade’s army has not retired, and that two corps of it have not been sent to Rosecrans. Well, we shall know more soon, for Lee is preparing for a movement. It may occur this week. In the West it is said Gen. Johnston is working his way, with a [...]
October 4, 1863. Have been over to Worthington’s again to-day. Sam got out his hounds and started a deer for us. We stationed ourselves in the runway, but although the deer came near us two or three times in his circling, the dogs didn’t push him hard enough to make him break for distant cover. [...]
OCTOBER 4th.—The major-quartermasters and the acting quartermaster-generals (during the illness or absence of Gen. Lawton) are buffeting the project some of us set on foot to obtain wood at cost, $8, instead of paying the extortioners $40 per cord. All the wagons and teams of Longstreet’s corps are here idle, while the corps itself is [...]
Griffin’s Landing, October 3, 1863. To-day one of the pilots and engineers induced the colonel and me go with them over to the Arkansas side. We went over in the yawl, and after a walk of three miles came to a most delightful place owned by Worthington. His son and daughter, bright quadroons, did the [...]
OCTOBER 3d.—Nothing from the armies but from Charleston it is ascertained that the enemy’s batteries on Morris Island have some of the guns pointing seaward. This indicates a provision against attack from that quarter, and suggests a purpose to withdraw the monitors, perhaps to use them against Wilmington. I suppose the opposite guns in the [...]
October 2, 1863. Our foraging party brought in forty mules, fifty cattle, beef, twenty-one hogs and thirty sheep. They report a beautiful, rich country, and abundance of eatables within five miles of the landing. Went with party of bee hunters in the p.m. They had found the tree in the forenoon. They took two bucketsful [...]
OCTOBER 2d.—Our 5000 prisoners taken at the battle of Chickamauga have arrived in this city, and it is ascertained that more are on the way hither. Gen. Bragg said he had 5000 besides the wounded, and as none of the wounded have arrived, more must have been taken since his dispatch. Every effort is being [...]
Griffin’s Landing, Miss., October 1, 1863. Clear as a bell this morning; about 8 a.m. we reached Griffin’s landing 125 miles above Vicksburg. Said Griffin has some 2,000 cords of wood ricked on his plantation, some 500 of which we propose to gobble for the use of our transportation. We found here a part of [...]
OCTOBER 1st.—We have a rumor to-day that Meade is sending heavy masses of troops to the West to extricate Rosecrans, and that Gen. Hooker is to menace Richmond from the Peninsula, with 25,000 men, to keep Lee from crossing the Potomac. We have absolutely nothing from Bragg; but a dispatch from Gen. S. Jones, East [...]
October 1st. Our duty for Sunday, besides picket duty and guard, was Sunday morning inspection, attend church in town, weather permitting. The day’s duty closed with dress parade.
Steamboat Diana, 70 miles from Vicksburg, September 30, 1863. We left Vicksburg in advance of the rest of the fleet at 8 o’clock this a.m. I am officer of the day and have found a good deal to do. Our regiment and the 40th Illinois are both on board and we are somewhat crowded. Gen. [...]
SEPTEMBER 30th.— Still nothing additional from Lee’s or Bragg’s army; but from abroad we learn that the British Government has prevented the rams built for us from leaving the Mersey. Gen. Pemberton is here, and was closeted for several hours today with the Secretary of War. Capt. J. H. Wright, 56th Georgia, gives another version [...]
Clear Creek, Miss., September 29, p.m. As we were studying tactics together, preparatory to a battalion drill, our brigade commander at precisely 2:15 p.m., came into the colonel’s tent where we were, asked the colonel if he was ready to move immediately. The colonel replied that he was, and he then told us to be [...]
SEPTEMBER 29th.—We have nothing additional from Bragg, except confirmation of his victory from Northern journals; and it is reported that Meade is sending two more army corps to the Southwest, for the purpose of extricating Rosecrans from his perilous predicament. It is believed our cavalry is in his rear, and that we have the road [...]
September 28, 1863. By the exercise of a little strategy, this morning I caught a chameleon who had ventured out of a hollow tree to gobble some flies for his breakfast. I enveloped him or rather lassoed him with a pocket handkerchief and then slipped him into a bottle. He only showed two of his [...]
SEPTEMBER 28th.—All is reported quiet on the Rappahannock, the enemy seeming to be staggered, if not stupefied, by the stunning blows dealt Rosecrans in the West. Burnside’s detachment is evacuating East Tennessee; we have Jonesborough, and are pursuing the enemy, at last accounts, toward Knoxville. Between that and Chattanooga he may be intercepted by the [...]
The following material contains wording that is offensive to many in the world of today. However, the work is provided unedited for its historical content and context. September 27. We sent our sick, nearly 100 in number, by wagon to the Big Black railroad depot, six miles, where they took the cars for Vicksburg. They [...]
SEPTEMBER 27th.—Nothing additional has been heard from either Bragg’s or Lee’s army. But the positions of both seem quite satisfactory to our government and people. How Rosecrans can get off without the loss of half his army, stores, etc., military authorities are unable to perceive; and if Meade advances, there is a universal conviction that [...]