Friday, March 24, 2017

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: March 21, 1863

The snow is nearly a foot deep this morning, as it continued to fall all night, and is falling still. It grows warmer, however.

But we now learn that the Indianola was destroyed in the Mississippi by the officers, upon the appearance of a simulated gun boat sent down, without a crew! This was disgraceful, and some one should answer for it.

Col. Godwin writes from King and Queen County, that many of the people there are deserting to the enemy, leaving their stock, provisions, grain, etc., and he asks permission to seize their abandoned property for the use of the government. Mr. Secretary Seddon demands more specific information before that step be taken. He intimates that they may have withdrawn to avoid conscription.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 277-8

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