Diary of Malvina S. Waring, March 4, 1865

A letter from home! A letter from home! It reached me by hand through the department—is most reassuring and at the same time most delightfully comprehensive. They are all safe—thank God, my dear ones. Johnny came through without a scratch, and so did my new Steinway. It was a night of untold horrors (the 17th), but in the general conflagration our house was saved. My father and mother made friends even among their enemies, and through their exertions and old Maum Nancy's the family were fed and protected during the whole time. A number of Federal officers were quartered with the family until the morning of the 20th. One of them, whom mamma describes as "a most attractive young lieutenant," examined my music, tried my piano, playing with no little skill, and then inquired, "Where is she; the young lady who plays?" And when my father answered, “Gone to Richmond," he laughingly rejoined, "Ran away from the Yankees! Now, where was the use of that? We are just as sure to catch her there as here." Are you, Mr. Lieutenant? I fancy not; Sherman's army can't expect to overrun the whole earth; we are safe enough in Richmond. And yet I regret again not being there. I might have conducted the argument on both sides, for awhile, with that attractive young lieutenant, and who knows? perchance make one Yankee's heart ache a little. What fun! What an opportunity! What a chance to get even have I lost!

SOURCE: South Carolina State Committee United Daughters of the Confederacy, South Carolina Women in the Confederacy, Vol. 1, “A Confederate Girl's Diary,” p. 278-9