MONDAY 11
A windy morning with a storm threatened. Tent rather airy but slept pretty well. Went round and bade my friends good bye and started for home with Lieut Gaul about one o’clock in a hack which took us to Alexandria where we took the Boat for Washington. Got home about 3 o’clock. The Lieut stops with us a short time. News rcd tonight of the taking of Charleston S.C. by our “Expedition” and fire works blazed for two hours. Julia has been quite sick and still coughs badly.
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The three diary manuscript volumes, Washington during the Civil War: The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865, are available online at The Library of Congress.