AUGUST 22d.—All the guns of Fort Sumter on the south face have been silenced by the land batteries of the enemy on Morris Island; and this account is two days old. What has taken place since, none here but Gen. Cooper and the President know. But our battery, Wagner, dismounted one of the enemy’s Parrott [...]
AUGUST 21st, FRIDAY.—This is a day appointed by the President for humiliation, fasting, and prayer. Yet the Marylanders in possession of the passport office report the following in the Dispatch of this date: “Passports.—The passport office was besieged yesterday and last night by large crowds of persons soliciting permission to leave the city, in order [...]
AUGUST 20th.—A few weeks ago Gen. Cooper wrote to Bragg, suggesting that he advance into Middle Tennessee, reinforced by Gen. Johnston, and attack Rosecrans; Gen. Bragg replied (8th inst.) that with all the reinforcements he could get from Johnston, he would not have more than 40,000 effective men, while Rosecrans has 60,000, and will be [...]
AUGUST 19th.—A scout, from Washington, has reported to Major Norris, signal corps, that 10,000 New York troops have recently left Meade’s army, their term of service having expired; and that 30,000 men have been sent from his army against Charleston. This accounts for the falling back of Meade—and the detachment never would have been made [...]
AUGUST 18th,—There is heavy firing, day and night, on Wagner’s battery and FortSumter. The enemy use 15-inch guns; but Sumter is 4000 yards distant, and it may be hoped will not be reduced. After all, the enemy did not, durst not, shave the head of Gen. Morgan, and otherwise maltreat him, as was reported. The [...]
AUGUST 17th.—No news, except that the bombardment at Charleston is getting hotter—but the casualties are few. The chief ordnance officer of Gen. Lee’s army writes that the ammunition from Richmond has always to be tested before they can venture to use it. The shells for the Parrott guns are often too large—and of course would [...]
Sunday, 16th. Coming out of church this morning with Miriam, a young lady ran up with an important air, as though about to create a sensation. “I have a message for you both,” she said, fixing her eyes on mine as though she sought something in them. “I visit the prisoners frequently, you know, and [...]
AUGUST 16th.—The President rides out with some of the female members of his family every afternoon, his aids no longer accompanying him. In this he evinces but little prudence, for it is incredible that he should be ignorant of the fact that he has some few deadly enemies in the city. Everywhere the ladies and [...]
AUGUST 15th.—I learn an order has been issued to conscribe all commissary and quartermasters’ clerks liable to military service. There will be, and ought to be, some special cases of exemption, where men have lost everything in the war, and have women and children depending on their salaries for subsistence; but if this order be [...]
We only enjoyed our camp near the Potomac for a few days, when marching orders were received, to report at Hagerstown, Maryland, about ten miles from Sharpsburg, or about eight from our camp. At Hagerstown the Seminary and the grounds were used for a rebel prison and hospital, where we were to do guard and [...]
New Orleans, August, 1863. Friday, 14th. DOOMED to be bored! To-night Miriam drags me to a soirée musicale, and in the midst of my toilet, I sit down with bare shoulders to scratch a dozen lines in my new treasure which has been by me for three days, untouched. I don’t know what tempts me [...]
AUGUST 14th.—The enemy is not idle. He knows the importance of following up his recent advantages, and making the utmost use of his veteran troops now in the field, because his new levies, if indeed the draft be submitted to, will not be fit for use this year, probably, if ever, for they will consist [...]
AUGUST 13th.—No news. It turns out that Gen. Taylor got only 500 prisoners at Donaldsonville, La., instead of 4000. A writer in the New York Tribune says the Northern troops burnt Jackson, Miss. Lincoln has marked for close confinement and hostages three of our men for three free negroes taken on MorrisIsland. The government here [...]
AUGUST 12th.—Letters from Georgia to-day assure the government that the grain crops of that State will afford a surplus sufficient for the army, cavalry and all, for 12 months. Also one from P. Clayton, late Assistant Secretary of the Treasury, censuring the commissary agents in Georgia, who are sent thither from other States, who insult [...]
AUGUST 11th.—After all the applications of the railroad companies when Gen. Lee was in Pennsylvania, and the enemy had withdrawn from this side of the Potomac, it appears that the fine iron on the road from Fredericksburg to Aquia Creek was not removed! Mr. Seddon’s subordinates must answer for this. The iron was wanted more [...]
AUGUST 10th.—NO army news of immediate importance. South Carolina has set an example in the prices of supplies for the army, under the Impressment Act, fixed by the Commissioners. By this schedule (for August, and it will be less in succeeding months) bacon is to be from 65 to 75 cents per pound; beef, 25 [...]
Richmond, Va., August 10, 1863.–To-day I had a letter from my sister, who wrote to inquire about her old playmate, friend, and lover, Boykin McCaa. It is nearly twenty years since each was married; each now has children nearly grown. ”To tell the truth,” she writes, “in these last dreadful years, with David in Florida, [...]
AUGUST 9th.—NO news from the armies. Mrs. ex-President Tyler, who has already been permitted to visit her native State, New York, once or twice during the war—and indeed her plantation has been within the enemy’s lines—has applied for passage in a government steamer (the Lee) to Nassau, and to take with her “a few bales [...]
AUGUST 8th.—There is nothing new from any of the armies, except that my old friend, Gen. Rains, sent to Mississippi, stopped and stampeded Grant’s army, after Johnston retreated from Jackson, with his “subterra batteries.” It appears that hundreds of the enemy and their horses were killed and wounded by the shells planted by him beneath [...]
AUGUST 7th.—Nothing new from Lee’s army—only that his troops are eager for another battle, when they are resolved to gain the day. There will probably not be so many prisoners taken as usual, since the alleged cruel treatment of our men now taken at Gettysburg, and the sending of Gen. Morgan to the Ohio Penitentiary, [...]
AUGUST 6th.—A dispatch from Gen. Lee shows that he is still falling back (this side the Rapidan), but gradually concentrating his forces. There may be another battle speedily—and if our army does not gain a great victory, there will be great disappointment. There are some gun-boats in the James as high up as Aiken’s Landing. [...]
AUGUST 5th.—A letter from Hon. W. Porcher Miles to the Secretary of War, received the 15th July, urging the government to send some long-range Brooke guns for the salvation of Charleston, and saying that the President had once promised him that they should be sent thither, being sent by the Secretary to the President, was, [...]
AUGUST 4th.—The partial gloom continues. It is now ascertained that Gen. Morgan is a prisoner; only some 250 of his men, out of 3000, having escaped. Lee is falling back on this side of the Rappahannock. His army has been diminished by desertions; but he has been reinforced pretty considerably since leaving Pennsylvania. The President’s [...]
AUGUST 3d.—The President issued a proclamation to-day, calling upon all absentees to return to the ranks without delay, etc. Hon. D. M. Barringer writes from Raleigh, N. C., that the State is in a ferment of rage against the administration for appointing Marylanders and Virginians, if not Pennsylvanians, quartermasters, to collect the war tax within [...]
CAMP NEAR ORANGE C. H., August 2nd, 1863. My Dear Mother: I received your letter day before yesterday, just as we received orders to march. We marched about fifteen miles yesterday through the hottest sun that I ever felt. The men were constantly dropping out from overheat, and one or two died from the effects. [...]