December 24th.–Christmas eve! Clear and cold. A dispatch from Hon. J. L. Orr and H. V. Johnson (on their way home) informs the Secretary that from the delay in the transportation of troops over the Piedmont Railroad, there must be either criminal neglect or treachery concerned in it. Again it is rumored that Savannah has [...]
December 23d–Bright and very cold. A storm has driven off a portion of the enemy’s fleet before Wilmington. The raid toward Gordonsville and Charlottesville is not progressing rapidly. We shall have a force to meet it. Besides the demonstration against Savannah (from which place we have no recent tidings), it appears that an attempt on [...]
December 22d.–Clear and cold. We have nothing from below. From Wilmington, we learn there is much commotion to resist the armada launched against that port. Gen. Lee is sending troops via the Danville Road in that direction. The wire has been cut between this and Gordonsville, by the scouts of the raiders launched in that [...]
Green Square, Savannah, Camp 103d Illinois “Provost Guards.” December 22, 1864. We have just by a hair’s breadth missed what would have been a most unpleasant fight. We lay on the west side of the Ogeechee, with the enemy on the opposite shore, strongly fortified. We had crawled through the mud and established a line [...]
December 21st.–Raining; rained all night. The following dispatch was received this morning: “Wilmington, December 20th, 1864, 10 A.M.–The head of the enemy’s fleet arrived off this port during last night. Over thirty steamers are now assembling, and more are following.–Braxton Bragg.” It may be hoped that Gen. Bragg will do something more than chronicle the [...]
December 20th.–A brighter morning, cool and clear. The President was at work yesterday. He and the Secretary and Gen. Cooper put their heads together to make up a regiment for Col. Miller in Mississippi, and designate the two field officers to be under him–from two battalions and two unattached companies. If the Northern (purporting to [...]
December 19th.–The darkest and most dismal day that ever dawned upon the earth, except one. There was no light when the usual hour came round, and later the sun refused to shine. There was fog, and afterward rain. Northern papers say Hood has been utterly routed, losing all his guns! A letter from Mr. –– [...]
Before Savannah, December 19, 1864. We have only been here a couple of days, but to-night we are to make and occupy a line within 700 yards of the Rebels.
December 19th.–The deep waters are closing over us and we are in this house, like the outsiders at the time of the flood. We care for none of these things. We eat, drink, laugh, dance, in lightness of heart. Doctor Trezevant came to tell me the dismal news. How he piled on the agony! Desolation, [...]
Sunday, December 18th.–Raining. The old dull sound of bombs down the river. Nothing further from Savannah. It is now believed that the raiders in Western Virginia did not attack Saltville, and that the works are safe. For two days the speculators have been buying salt, and have put up the price to $1.50 per pound. [...]
December 17th.–Warm and cloudy. Quiet below. The President was reported better, yesterday, to my wife, who called. It is said Gen. Cooper, R. Ould, etc. etc. have never taken their compensation in Confederate States Treasury notes, hoping at a future day (which may not come) to draw specie or its equivalent! It was reported on [...]
December 16th.–Clear and pleasant; subsequently cloudy and chilly. All quiet below, save the occasional booming of our guns from the iron-clads. The capture of Fort McAlister, Savannah, has caused a painful sensation. It is believed we have as many men on the Georgia coast as the enemy; but they are not the men of property–men [...]
December 15th.–Cloudy and cool. A dispatch from the West states that the enemy have made a heavy raid from Bean’s Station, Ky., cutting the railroad between Abingdon and Bristol, destroying government stores, engines, etc. Breckinridge and Vaughan, I suppose, have been ordered away. Dr. Morris, Telegraph Superintendent, wants to know of the Secretary if this [...]
Before Savannah, December 15, 1864. First mail goes in 15 minutes. Our 2d Division charged and took Fort McAlister, at sunset, the 13th—19 guns and 300 prisoners; lost 92 men killed and wounded. We will have Savannah, sure.
December 14th.–Cloudy, and thawing rapidly. All quiet below. The bill to employ 40,000 negroes, as recommended by the President, for army purposes, though not avowedly to fight, has passed one House of Congress. So the President is master yet. There ought to be 100,000 now in the field. An effort will be made by the [...]
December 14th.–And now the young ones are in bed and I am wide awake. It is an odd thing; in all my life how many persons have I seen in love? Not a half-dozen. And I am a tolerably close observer, a faithful watcher have I been from my youth upward of men and manners. [...]
December 13th.–Cloudy and cold, but wind southeast. The sullen sound of cannon heard this morning as usual down the river. I hear of no active operations there, although the ground is sufficiently frozen to bear horses and artillery. Rumors of successes on the part of Sherman near Savannah are still in circulation. The rich men [...]
December 12th.–Clear and cold. Ice half an inch thick. Gen. Longstreet is again in the old lines on this side of the river. The reconnoissance, however, is said to have been successful. Only a few were killed and wounded on either side. And Grant’s column was turned back from Meherrin bridge. Results of the movement [...]
December 12th. Report comes this morning that guerillas crossed Sheridan’s railroad last night and captured a train on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, near Duffield Station. They passed near our picket posts. Did not molest us, as we did not see or hear anything of them. Trains with passengers, mail, and supplies pass over this [...]
December 11th, Sunday.–Cloudy and melting–snow vanishing rapidly. The thousand and one rumors of great achievements of Gen. Longstreet on the north side of the river seem to have been premature. Nothing official of any advantage gained over the enemy near the city has been received so far as I can learn. Gen. Lee, no doubt, [...]
Before Savannah, December 11, 1864, 8 a.m. Corse’s Division is just on our right. He woke me up this morning by firing a volley of eight 12-pounders, in real old Atlanta fashion. He was answered by three Rebel guns planted on the defenses of Savannah, across a field and swamp from us. We are in [...]
December 10th.–Snowed two inches last night. Cloudy and damp this morning. Guns were heard down the river last night at a late hour. Perhaps it was nothing more than shelling the enemy’s canal. We have nothing yet authentic from Georgia; but many rumors of much fighting. It is said Gen. Hampton has got in front [...]
December 10th. All things have remained quiet as we go through our regular routine of duty from day to day. We get newspapers quite regular from home, furnished by good people, for all of which we are very thankful.
Before Savannah, December 10, 1864. Crossed the Ogeechee near the mouth of the Canoochie, then a canal, and then up the tow path toward the city. All the other divisions of our corps are ahead of us. An awful country to get through, all lakes and swamps. We are now five miles from Savannah. Have [...]
December 9th.–Cold and cloudy; surface of the ground frozen. Cannon heard below. More of Gen. Early’s corps arriving. The papers contradict the report that Howlett’s Battery has been taken. The opinion prevails that a battle will occur to-day. It appears that but few of the enemy’s forces were engaged in the demonstration on the south [...]