The right wing of Lee's
army has fallen back as far as Culpepper County, and the enemy advances. Active
movements are speedily looked for; many suppose a desperate attempt to take
Richmond.
Our government has
decided that no one shall be permitted to go North for thirty days.
A requisition for
heavy guns to defend Cumberland Gap, elicited from the Inspector of Ordnance a statement
of the fact that we are “short” of guns for the defense of Richmond.
There was a rumor
yesterday that the enemy was marching in force on Petersburg. This, at all
events, was premature.
A letter from Hon.
C. C. Clay, Senator, says there is much defection in North Alabama, and that
many people are withdrawing themselves to avoid conscription.
Just at this time,
if it were not for Lincoln's proclamation, if the war were conducted according
to the rules of civilized nations, I verily believe a very formidable party in
favor of Reconstruction might spring up in the South. With a united South, two
million of Abolitionists could not subjugate us.
SOURCE: John
Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate
States Capital, Volume 1, p. 181-2
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