Diary of Edward Bates: April 21, 1859

A bad, rainy day all day long. Yesterday afternoon, my young friend, Lieutenant J. E. B. Stuart,²⁰ came out, with his wife and child and spent the night with us. He starts today for Memphis, on his way to Va., having just come from Fort Reilly,²¹ on leave for 6 months.

Mr. Wm. Glasgow Jr. gave me some plants w[hi]ch. he brought from the Hot Springs of Washetaw.

1. Native grape, resembling the Isabella, but thought to be better.

2. Native Muscadine grape.

3. Yeopan — Evergreen shrub producing red berries (supposed the same shrub used for Tea, near Norfolk[)].

4 Rattan — a slender aspiring, green vine. The plants are very dry, and I fear will not grow[.] . . ,²² Note — I was called on today by Mr. John Churchman (and his son) with a letter of introduction from A. H. H. Stuart.²³

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²⁰ James E. B. Stuart of Virginia: graduate of West Point in 1854 ; Indian fighter; lieutenant in the U. S. Army until he resigned when Virginia seceded; then major-general in the Confederate Army until he died of wounds in 1864.

²¹ This should be Fort Riley which was near Junction City, Kansas.

²² A marginal note telling where he set the plants.

²³ Alexander H. H. Stuart of Virginia: Whig congressman, 1841-1843 ; secretary of the Interior, 1850-1853; unionist until Virginia seceded ; leader in the reconciliation movement after the War; debarred member-elect of Congress in 1865.

SOURCE: Howard K. Beale, Editor, Annual Report of The American Historical Association For The Year 1930, Vol. 4, The Diary Of Edward Bates, pp. 10