A swashing rain is falling on top of the snow. What floods
and what roads we shall have! No more movements in this quarter. Yesterday a
party from Camp Hayes went out after forage to the home of a man named Shumate
who had escaped from the guardhouse in Raleigh a few days ago. They stopped at
his house. As one of the men were [was] leaving, he said he would take a chunk
along to build a fire. Mrs. Shumate said, “You'll find it warm enough before
you get away.” The party were fired on by about thirty bushwhackers; two horses
badly wounded. Four men had narrow escapes, several balls through clothing.
Two more contrabands yesterday. These runaways are bright
fellows. As a body they are superior to the average of the uneducated white
population of this State. More intelligent, I feel confident. What a
good-for-nothing people the mass of these western Virginians are!
Unenterprising, lazy, narrow, listless, and ignorant. Careless of consequences
to the country if their own lives and property are safe. Slavery leaves one
class, the wealthy, with leisure for cultivation. They are usually intelligent,
well-bred, brave, and high-spirited. The rest are serfs.
Rained all day; snow gone. I discharged three suspicious
persons heretofore arrested; all took the oath. Two I thought too old to do
mischief, Thurman and Max; one I thought possibly honest and gave him the
benefit of the possibility. He was from Logan County. Knew Laban T. Moore and
my old friend John Bromley. John, he says, is “suspect” of Secesh.
SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and
Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 187-8
No comments:
Post a Comment