January 2023

Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft.

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Diary of US patent clerk Horatio Nelson Taft.

Friday Jan’y 9th 1863 No Startling news today afloat. Old Elisha Whittlesey died yesterday very suddenly aged about eighty years, his funeral took place this afternoon. He had been a long time in public life as Comptroller of the Treasury and he possessed the unbounded confidence of all who knew his character was unimpeachable. Called [...]

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Louise Wigfall Wright — A Southern Girl in ’61

“JACKSON, Jany. 8th, 1863. “My dear Wigfall:          “Mrs. Johnston, who arrived evening before last, brought me your letter, which had come to Chattanooga before she left it. Your military criticism has been more strongly called for since the writing of that letter. And no doubt it has been made. I can’t help thinking myself that [...]

Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft.

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Diary of US patent clerk Horatio Nelson Taft.

Washington Thursday January 8th 1863 This is the anaversary of the Battle of New Orleans. It brings to mind the exploits of Andrew Jackson. O that his old mantle and white hat were still in the “White House.” The present times require his energy, his fire and resolution. The Country has been calling for “Jacksons” [...]

“There is the d___st state of affairs in this country now that ’tis possible to think of.”–Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, Charles Wright Wills.

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Army Life of an Illinois Soldier, Charles Wright Wills, (8th Illinois Infantry)

Holly Springs, Miss., January 7, 1862 1. The colonel and I were ordered to report here to give evidence before the “Court of Inquiry,” convened to inquire into the case of the 109th Illinois Infantry reported for disloyalty. I started from Jackson yesterday but had to lay over at Grand Junction last night waiting for [...]

A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary

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A likeness of Jones when he was editor and majority owner of the Daily Madisonian during President John Tyler’s administration.
A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary at the Confederate States Capital, By John Beauchamp Jones

JANUARY 7th.—To-day I was requested to aid, temporarily, in putting in operation a new bureau, created by the military authorities, not by law, entitled the Bureau of Conscription. From conscription all future recruits must be derived. I found Gen. Rains, the chief, a most affable officer; and Lieut.-Col. Lay, his next officer, was an acquaintance. [...]

Vicksburg

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War Diary of a Union Woman in the South

January 7th, 1863.—I have had little to record recently, for we have lived to ourselves, not visiting or visited. Every one H. knows is absent, and I know no one. H. tells me of the added triumph since the repulse of Sherman in December, and the one paper published here shouts victory as much as [...]