Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: December 14, 1864

Cloudy, and thawing rapidly. All quiet below.

The bill to employ 40,000 negroes, as recommended by the President, for army purposes, though not avowedly to fight, has passed one House of Congress. So the President is master yet. There ought to be 100,000 now in the field.

An effort will be made by the government to put into the field the able-bodied staff and other officers on duty in the bureaus here. It will fail, probably, since all efforts have failed to put in their able-bodied clerks. If Bragg were here, and allowed his way, he would move them to the front.

The following dispatch was received from Gen. Bragg to-day:

"AUGUSTA, GA., Dec. 13th, 1864.—I go to Charleston to-morrow to see Gen. Beauregard, at his request. He has assigned me to duty.—B. B.”

I got to-day from Major Cross, A. Q. M. Gen., an order to buy a pair of government shoes (British) for $10. They are most excellent in quality, heavy, with iron heels, etc., and would cost, if made here, $150. This good fortune is worthy of being thankful for.

The military officers in the bureaus, responsive to a resolution of the House of Representatives, are reporting their ages, and most of them admit they are able-bodied and fit for service in the field. They have no fear of being transferred to the front, supposing themselves indispensable as bureau officers.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 354-5