Went with Mrs. Rhett to hear Dr. Palmer. I did not know
before how utterly hopeless was our situation. This man is so eloquent, it was
hard to listen and not give way. Despair was his word, and martyrdom. He
offered us nothing more in this world than the martyr's crown. He is not for
slavery, he says; he is for freedom, and the freedom to govern our own country
as we see fit. He is against foreign interference in our State matters. That is
what Mr. Palmer went to war for, it appears. Every day shows that slavery is
doomed the world over; for that he thanked God. He spoke of our agony, and then
came the cry, “Help us, O God! Vain is the help of man.” And so we came away
shaken to the depths.
The end has come. No doubt of the fact. Our army has so
moved as to uncover Macon and Augusta. We are going to be wiped off the face of
the earth. What is there to prevent Sherman taking General Lee in the rear? We
have but two armies, and Sherman is between them now.1
_______________
1 During the summer and autumn of 1864 several
important battles had occurred. In addition to the engagements by Sherman's
army farther south, there had occurred in Virginia the battle of Cold Harbor in
the early part of June; those before Petersburg in the latter part of June and
during July and August; the battle of Winchester on September 19th, during
Sheridan's Shenandoah campaign, and the battle of Cedar Creek on October 19th.
SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin
and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 326-7
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