After all the applications of the railroad companies when
Gen. Lee was in Pennsylvania, and the enemy had withdrawn from this side of the
Potomac, it appears that the fine iron on the road from Fredericksburg to Aquia
Creek was not removed! Mr. Seddon's subordinates must answer for this. The iron
was wanted more than anything else but men. The want of men cannot be alleged
for not securing it, because the railroad companies would have procured negroes
enough for its removal.
Well, the first of August has passed, and the grand scheme
of the War Office at Washington of a general servile insurrection did not take
place. On the contrary, a large army of slaves might be organized to fight for
their masters.
To-day, it must be confessed, I saw some of the booty (if,
indeed, it was not fairly bought) of the recent invasion of the North. A number
of boxes of fine stationery, brought from Carlisle, Chambersburg, etc., were
opened at the War Department.
There is a controversy between the Secretary of War,
Assistant Secretary, and Attorney-General on one side, and the Commissary-General,
Col. L, B. Northrop, on the other. It appears that one of the assistant
commissaries exchanged sugar for flour and rice in Alabama with a merchant or
speculator, and then, after the lapse of a month or so, impressed the sugar.
The party got the Attorney-General's opinion in his behalf, which was
approved by the Assistant Secretary of War, and the Secretary issued an order
for the release of the sugar. In response to this, Col. N. rebuts the arguments
of the whole three (lawyers) by saying it is not good sense to exempt
anything, under any circumstances, from impressment, when needed to carry on
the war; and that the way to success is to do justice to the whole country — and
not to please the people. A palpable hit at the politicians. He says if the
Secretary insists on the sugar being released, it will be done against his
(N.'s) judgment.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's
Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 10
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