The snow is eight inches deep this morning, and it is still
falling fast.
Not a beggar is yet to be seen in this city of 100,000
inhabitants!
Hood's division, mostly Texans, whose march to the
Rappahannock was countermanded when it was ascertained that the enemy had been
beaten back across the river, were all the morning defiling through Main
Street, in high spirits, and merrily snowballing each other. And these men
slept last night out in the snow without tents! Can such soldiers be
vanquished?
Yesterday Floyd's division of State troops were turned over
to the Confederacy — only about 200!
We have no further particulars of the fight on the Rappahannock;
we know, however, that the enemy were beaten, and that this snow-storm must
prevent further operations for many days. Several Eastern Shore families, I
learn, are about to return to their homes. This is no place for women and
children, who have homes elsewhere. We are all on quarter-rations of meat, and
but few can afford to buy clothing at the present prices.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 277
No comments:
Post a Comment