{"id":97836,"date":"2024-06-18T01:28:04","date_gmt":"2024-06-18T06:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cw-chronicles.com\/blog\/?p=97836"},"modified":"2020-09-27T01:34:59","modified_gmt":"2020-09-27T06:34:59","slug":"horatio-nelson-taft-580","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.cw-chronicles.com\/blog\/horatio-nelson-taft-580\/","title":{"rendered":"Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft."},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Washington June 18<sup>th<\/sup> 1864<\/p>\n<p>In looking back through the past ten days I can fix upon no very <span class=\"underscore\">striking<\/span> event that has taken place. Army operations of great importance have been undoubtedly going on, but no decisive Battles have been fought, if we except the victory of Gen<sup>l<\/sup> Hunter in Western Virginia near <span class=\"underscore\">Staunton<\/span>. In ordinary wars it would be considered of <span class=\"underscore\">great<\/span> importance to defeat the enemy and kill wound and capture three or four thousand men. <span class=\"underscore\">Now<\/span>, so much attention is absorbed by the greater armies of Gen<sup>l<\/sup> Grant an[d] Sherman that but little is said of the \u201clittle affair at Staunton.\u201d Grant has during the present week \u201cchanged his Base\u201d again and is now with his whole army on the South side of the James River. Petersburgh was captured on Thursday last. We may look for hot times now near Richmond. The defences are supposed to be weaker on that side of the City than anywhere else. If Fort Darling (Drewry<sup>s<\/sup> Bluff) is taken our \u201cIron Clads\u201d may go up and shell the City. It is supposed that Grant intends to cut all the R Roads and stop supplies to the City &amp; not fight before the entrenchments. There seems to be less excitement in the City than usual when such important Army movements are going on. I think it quite possible that we <span class=\"underscore\">may<\/span> be \u201cwaked up\u201d <span class=\"underscore\">here<\/span> before long. Washington is now in a more defenceless condition than it has been for the past two years. Gen<sup>l<\/sup> Lee might well swap Richmond for Washington and nothing but means of transportation will hinder him from coming here if he finds that he cannot hold Richmond. I have no doubt but an army of fifteen or twenty thousand determined men could take this City. Nearly all the old troops have been sent to Grant and the <span class=\"underscore\">Defences<\/span> are now maned by raw troops from the West, mostly. A few thousand of the Invalid Corps and Veteran Reserves are still here. There is now no <span class=\"underscore\">obstruction<\/span> in the shape of an <span class=\"underscore\">army<\/span> betwen here and Richmond, and I think it quite <span class=\"underscore\">possible<\/span> that we may have a visit from the \u201crebs\u201d yet. Congress is still in session, but it does not seem to be <span class=\"underscore\">doing<\/span> <span class=\"underscore\">much<\/span>. The Tax Bill is now the most important, and <span class=\"italics\">the<\/span> the <span class=\"underscore\">most<\/span> important <span class=\"underscore\">feature<\/span> of <span class=\"underscore\">that<\/span> Bill seems to be <span class=\"underscore\">whiskey<\/span>, for <span class=\"underscore\">what<\/span> <span class=\"underscore\">Tax<\/span> to put upon it, has occasioned more discussion than all the rest of it. The two \u201cHouses\u201d remain in session late at night frequently. The light through the tops of the small Domes over each Hall shows plainly at my room and I can lie in my bed and tell when either House adjourns at night (if I only keep awake). The Drums are beating off towards the Depot, and more troops are coming in I suppose. Possibly some of the old Reg<sup>ts<\/sup> are going home for they are going almost every day. Those whose <span class=\"underscore\">time<\/span> has expired which is the case with most of the early three years Regiments. But more or less of the men from all of them have re-inlisted for the war. Sherman is near Atlanta G.a. and <span class=\"underscore\">means<\/span> to take it and probably <span class=\"underscore\">will<\/span>. It is a very important point to the Rebels.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Washington June 18th 1864 In looking back through the past ten days I can fix upon no very striking event that has taken place. Army operations of great importance have been undoubtedly going on, but no decisive Battles have been fought, if we except the victory of Genl Hunter in Western Virginia near Staunton. In [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":95680,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-97836","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-the-diary-of-horatio-nelson-taft"},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/www.cw-chronicles.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/horatio-nelson-taft-e1622981709398.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cw-chronicles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cw-chronicles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cw-chronicles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cw-chronicles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cw-chronicles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97836"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.cw-chronicles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97836\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cw-chronicles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/95680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.cw-chronicles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cw-chronicles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.cw-chronicles.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}