January 10th.–Rained hard all night. House leaking badly! We have nothing new in the papers this morning. It is said with more confidence, however, that Butler’s canal is not yet a success. Daily and nightly our cannon play upon the works, and the deep sounds in this moist weather are distinctly heard in the city. [...]
Green Square, Savannah, Ga. January 9, 1865. Thinking we for once in the service had a chance to enjoy quiet life, two of our number were sent to Hilton Head for a full supply of men’s apparel for the outer man, and of refreshments substantial and fancy for the inner. They returned to-day just in [...]
January 9th.–Bright, clear, and cold. It is said the government depot at Charlotte, N. C, has been burned (accidentally), consuming a large amount of corn. We have nothing further of the movement of Grant’s troops. We have Hood’s acknowledgment of defeat, and loss of 50 guns before Nashville. The papers contain the proceedings of a [...]
January 8th.–Bright and cold. Snowed yesterday, and windy. Gen. Whiting writes that he had only 400 men in Fort Fisher, and it was a miracle that it was not taken. He looked for it, and a determined effort would have carried it. He says there is no reason to suppose the attempt has been abandoned, [...]
January 7th.–Rained yesterday and last night. Clear and windy to-day. It is said the Blairs (who have been looked for on some sort of mission) turned back after arriving in the camp of Gen. Grant. Of course they could not treat with this government, under existing circumstances. The President and his cabinet could not be [...]
January 7th.–Sherman is at Hardieville and Hood in Tennessee, the last of his men not gone, as Louis Wigfall so cheerfully prophesied. Serena went for a half-hour to-day to the dentist. Her teeth are of the whitest and most regular, simply perfection. She fancied it was better to have a dentist look in her mouth [...]
January 6th.–Cloudy and thawing. No war news,–but it is known Sherman’s army is not quiet, and must soon be heard from in spite of the interdict of the government. It is said Mr. Trenholm, Secretary of the Treasury, is in the market buying gold, and that the fall has already been from $50 to $30 [...]
January 4th.–Bright, but several inches of snow fell last night. The President wrote a long letter to the Secretary yesterday concerning the assignment of conscripts in Western North Carolina, at most only a few hundred, and the appointment of officers, etc. A small subject. Congress has passed a resolution calling on the Secretary of War [...]
January 3d.–Calm and quiet; indications of snow. By a communication sent to Congress, by the President, it is ascertained that 500,000 pairs shoes, 8,000,000 pounds bacon, 2,000,000 pounds saltpeter, 50 cannon, etc. etc., have been imported since Octoberr 1st, 1864. When the enemy’s fleet threatened Wilmington, the brokers here (who have bribed the conscript officers) [...]
January 3d. Weather permitting, we have company, battalion drill, and dress parade. Weather very cold at this time. We have to lie close to the fires when off duty or post. Sergeants must keep awake all night. Corporals get sleep and rest when their reliefs are off post.
Sunday, January 1st, 1865.–Snowed a few inches in depth during the night–clear and cool morning. The new year begins with the new rumor that Gen. Hood has turned upon Gen. Thomas and beaten him. This is believed by many. Hood’s army was not destroyed, and he retreated from before Nashville with some 20,000 men. Doubtless [...]
January 1st. Camp at Halltown, where we are going through life doing the duty of a soldier, in winter quarters. Many new recruits are being added to our company, and the regiment. The sick and wounded who have recovered are also coming back. All returning members and recruits are greeted as fresh fish. Our camp [...]
No. 19 Dauphine St., Saturday night, December 31st, 1864. One year ago, in my little room in the Camp Street house, I sat shivering over Tennyson and my desk, selfishly rejoicing over the departure of a year that had brought pain and discomfort only to me, and eagerly welcoming the dawning of the New One [...]
December 31st. This is the last day of the year. All is quiet at our camp on this high hill. Not very much snow or real cold weather. We manage to keep comfortable. At our reserve picket post we have built a large inclosure, made of logs and dirt, surrounded by small evergreen trees, a [...]
Guerrilla warfare in the American Civil War followed the same general patterns of irregular warfare conducted in 19th century Europe. Structurally, they can be divided into three different types of operations: the so-called ‘people’s war’, ‘partisan warfare’, and ‘raiding warfare’. Each had distinct characteristics that were common practice during the Civil War (1861–1865).
December 31st.–The last day of the year. Snowing and wet. Gen. H. Cobb writes that the existing Conscription Bureau is a failure so far as Georgia, Alabama, etc. are concerned, and can never put the men in the field. Wm. Johnston, president of the Charlotte (N. C.) and South Carolina Railroad, suggests the construction, immediately, [...]
December 30th.–A clear night and frosty morning. We have no news except that gleaned from Northern papers. Gen. Hood is unable to cross the Tennessee River (now swollen), and would soon be attacked again by superior numbers. Congress was in secret session yesterday, probably perfecting the bill for the suspension of the privilege of habeas [...]
December 29th.–Rained all night; spitting snow this morning. Although Gen. Bragg announces that the enemy’s fleet has disappeared off Wilmington, still the despondency which has seized the croakers remains. It has probably sailed against Charleston, to co-operate with Sherman. Sherman says officially that he got, with Savannah, about 1000 prisoners, 150 heavy guns, nearly 200 [...]
December 28th.–Rained all night; warm. A large stable burned down within sixty yards of our dwelling, last night, and not one of the family heard the uproar attending it. Gen. Bragg telegraphs the President that the enemy failed to reduce Fort Fisher, and that the troops landed above the fort have re-embarked. But he says [...]
December 27th.–A night of rain–morning of fog and gloom. At last we have an account of the evacuation of Savannah. Also of the beginning of the assault on Fort Fisher and Caswell below Wilmington, with painful apprehensions of the result; for the enemy have landed troops above the former fort, and found no adequate force [...]
December 27th.–Oh, why did we go to Camden? The very dismalest Christmas overtook us there. Miss Rhett went with us–a brilliant woman and very agreeable. “The world, you know, is composed,” said she, “of men, women, and Rhetts” (see Lady Montagu). Now, we feel that if we are to lose our negroes, we would as [...]
December 26th –Raining–rained all night. The dark and dismal weather, together with our sad reverses, have made the countenances of croakers in the streets and in the offices more gloomy and somber than ever, foreboding evil in the future. No one doubts the evacuation of Savannah, and I suppose it must be so. Hardee had [...]
Sunday, December 25th. Christmas !–Clear and pleasant– white frost. All quiet below. But it is believed on the street that Savannah has been evacuated, some days ago. I have not yet seen any official admission of the fact. We have quite a merry Christmas in the family; and a compact that no unpleasant word shall [...]
December 25th. Christmas at Halltown. We hope this will be our last Christmas in the service, and that the war will soon be over. We write many letters and receive a large mail every day, coming from Harper’s Ferry. All our shacks have small stoves, so that we use much of our time cutting wood. [...]
CAMP THREE MILES NORTH OF PETERSBURG, Christmas Day, Dec. 25, ’64. My Dear Mother: I intended to have written the day after getting here, but it rained all day and the coldest kind of a rain too. The next day we received orders to move. We had almost completed our winter quarters and the boys [...]