Phil returned with the carriage; Mr. P. went on to
Winchester in an ambulance. Phil heard a gentleman say to him, just as he was
stepping into the ambulance, that he was just from Winchester, and Frank was
not so ill as he might expect to find him. This is some alleviation of the
suspense. Heard today of a son of Dr. Breckenridge's being killed at Shiloh;
also, a cousin of Mr. P. being desperately wounded. Two dead soldiers passed
through Lexington today. Last week eight dead bodies passed through. We
are getting so used to these things, that they cease to excite any attention.
Jackson has gained a great success, and the papers ring with eulogiums on “old
Stonewall” as they delight to call him. We have heard today of five Lexington
boys being wounded at Winchester; Frank P. the only one seriously so.
Miss Magdalen Reid tells me that in buying groceries to
begin housekeeping, she paid 45 cents for brown sugar, $1 per lb. for
coffee, and $4.50 for tea! The coarsest domestic cotton I ever saw — such as
very few servants would be willing to wear, I can only get for 75 cents per
yard. Calico, when it can be had at all, is the same price. These records will
be interesting for reference hereafter.
SOURCE: Elizabeth Preston Allan, The Life and
Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston, p. 142
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