Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 20, 1864

Bright and pleasant.

An order has been given to impress all the supplies (wheat and meat) in the State, and Gen. Kemper has been instructed to lend military aid if necessary. This is right, so that speculation may be suppressed. But, then, Commissary-General Northrop says it is all for the army, and the people—non-producers—may starve, for what he cares. If this unfeeling and despotic policy be adopted by the government, it will strangle the Confederacy—strangle it with red-tape.

I learned, to-day, that Gen. Preston, Superintendent of the Bureau of Conscription, resigned upon seeing Gen. Bragg's and the President's indorsements on the bureau papers; but the Secretary and the President persuaded him to recall the resignation. He is very rich.

A practical railroad man bas sent to the Secretary a simple plan, by which twenty-five men with crowbars can keep Sherman's communications cut.

There is a rumor that Sherman has invited Vice-President Stephens, Senator H. V. Johnson, and Gov. Brown to a meeting with him, to confer on terms of peace—i.e. the return of Georgia to the Union. The government has called for a list of all the Georgians who have sailed from our ports this summer.

A letter from Hon. R. W. Barnwell shows that he is opposed to any conference with the enemy on terms of peace, except unconditional independence. He thinks Hood hardly competent to command the army, but approves the removal of Johnston. He thinks Sherman will go on to Augusta, etc.

The raid toward Gordonsville is now represented as a small affair, and to have returned as it came, after burning some mills, bridges, etc.

I saw a letter, to-day, written to the President by L. P. Walker, first Secretary of War, full of praise. It was dated in August, before the fall of Atlanta, and warmly congratulated him upon the removal of Gen. Johnston.

Gov. Bonham sent a telegram to the Secretary of War, to-day, from Columbia, asking if the President would not soon pass through that city; if such were his intentions, he would remain there, being very anxious to see him.

Beauregard is at Wilmington, while the whole country is calling for his appointment to the command of the army in Georgia. Unless some great success crowns our arms before Congress reassembles, the President will be assailed with great bitterness, and the consequences may be fatal.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 287-8

Edward J. Harden* to Howell Cobb, May 3, 1847

City or Washington, 3d May, 1847.

My Dear Friend, The newspapers are so far ahead of me that I can inform you of nothing that is new. At the President's some evenings since I told him that I saw that it was suggested by a writer published in the Constitutionalist of Augusta, that he ought to run again for the Presidency. He said no, that he had honor enough and was content to retire; but I think in the course of the conversation he said it depended on the people. I think he would be glad to serve for another term. He told me that we ought not to let Berrien come back in the Senate — that he was troublesome. Virginia you see has come out badly — the Whigs have not given larger votes than usual, but the democrats held back. It is attributed here to the influence of Mr. Calhoun entirely, and Bagby¹ thinks that influence will be felt severely in Alabama. In fact he thinks Calhoun and Webster will coalesce, and it may be that Webster's Southern journey is in connection with such a plan. Great preparations are made for his reception in Charleston. But nothing but death can prevent Taylor from being the next President. Men, women and children are rising up in his favor; and Blair (Blair and Rives) says that the democrats ought to be the first to nominate him, so as not to let the Whigs have the forestalling of his opinions and action. Bagby thinks the Calhoun influence will operate strongly in Georgia also. I hope not. I see you will have a covention in June to choose a candidate for governor. I am told Herschel Johnson is spoken of. If a strong man is not started we shall be beaten.

I am afraid this commission will not last long enough for my comfort. I am tired asking favors of my friends, but don't you think a resolution, a recommendation of the convention in my favor, would be beneficial to me? If so set the ball to rolling. Abb will probably be a member, and I can influence all of the low country to join in it. I would be glad to hear from you on this subject.

P. S.—I have been so rudely used by the Indian claimants that I was advised and did arm myself. . . .

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* Judge of the city court of Savannah, Ga., 1845-1847; United States Indian commissioner, 1847; author of "The Life of George M. Troup", Savannah, 1859.

¹ Arthur P. Bagby, Senator from Alabama.

SOURCE: Ulrich Bonnell Phillips, Editor, The Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1911, Volume 2: The Correspondence of Robert Toombs, Alexander H. Stephens, and Howell Cobb, p. 87-8

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: November 30, 1862

It is said there is more concern manifested in the government here on the indications that the States mean to organize armies of non-conscripts for their own defense, than for any demonstration of the enemy. The election of Graham Confederate States Senator in North Carolina, and of H. V. Johnson in Georgia, causes some uneasiness. These men were not original secessionists, and have been the objects of aversion, if not of proscription, by the men who secured position in the Confederate States Government. Nevertheless, they are able men, and as true to Southern independence as any. But they are opposed to despotic usurpation — and their election seems like a rebuke and condemnation of military usurpation.

From all sections of the Confederacy complaints are coming in that the military agents of the bureaus are oppressing the people; and the belief is expressed by many, that a sentiment is prevailing inimical to the government itself.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 199

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: March 1, 1861

Dined to-day with Mr. Hill¹ from Georgia, and his wife. After he left us she told me he was the celebrated individual who, for Christian scruples, refused to fight a duel with Stephens.² She seemed very proud of him for his conduct in the affair. Ignoramus that I am, I had not heard of it. I am having all kinds of experiences. Drove to-day with a lady who fervently wished her husband would go down to Pensacola and be shot. I was dumb with amazement, of course. Telling my story to one who knew the parties, was informed, “Don't you know he beats her?” So I have seen a man “who lifts his hand against a woman in aught save kindness.”

Brewster says Lincoln passed through Baltimore disguised, and at night, and that he did well, for just now Baltimore is dangerous ground. He says that he hears from all quarters that the vulgarity of Lincoln, his wife, and his son is beyond credence, a thing you must see before you can believe it. Senator Stephen A. Douglas told Mr. Chesnut that “Lincoln is awfully clever, and that he had found him a heavy handful.”

Went to pay my respects to Mrs. Jefferson Davis. She met me with open arms. We did not allude to anything by which we are surrounded. We eschewed politics and our changed relations.

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¹ Benjamin H. Hill, who had already been active in State and National affairs when the Secession movement was carried through. He had been an earnest advocate of the Union until in Georgia the resolution was passed declaring that the State ought to secede. He then became a prominent supporter of secession. He was a member of the Confederate Congress, which met in Montgomery in 1861, and served in the Confederate Senate until the end of the war. After the war, he was elected to Congress and opposed the Reconstruction policy of that body. In 1877 he was elected United States Senator from Georgia.

² Governor Herschel V. Johnson also declined, and doubtless for similar reasons, to accept a challenge from Alexander H. Stephens, who, though endowed with the courage of a gladiator, was very small and frail.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 11-2

1860 Presidential Election: The Candidates

	Party	Home State	Running Mate
Abraham Lincoln	Republican	Illinois	Hannibal Hamlin
Stephen A. Douglas	Northern Democratic	Illinois	Joseph Lane
John C. Breckinridge	Southern Democratic	Kentucky	Edward Everett
John Bell	Constitutional Union	Tennessee	Herschel V. Johnson

Hershel V. Johnson Elected to Rebel Congress

Hershel V Johnson, candidate for vice president on the Douglas ticket in 1860 has been elected senator of the rebel congress from Georgia

- Published in The Union Sentinel, Osceola, Iowa, December 12, 1863