Bright and windy. The following telegram was received this morning from Gen. R. E. Lee: "Gen. Johnston reports that on the 16th Gen. Hardee was repeatedly attacked by four divisions of the enemy a few miles south of Averysborough, but always (cipher). The enemy was reported at night to have crossed Black River, to the east of Varina Point, with the rest of the army. Gen. Hardee is moving to a point twelve miles from Smithfield. Scofield's troops reported at Kinston, repairing railroad. Cheatham's corps not yet up. North Carolina Railroad, with its enormous amount of rolling stock, only conveys about 500 men a day."
There has always
been corruption—if not treason—among those having charge of transportation.
Yesterday the
President vetoed another bill—to pay certain arrears to the army and navy; but
the House resented this by passing it over his head by more than a two-thirds
vote. The Senate will probably do the same. We have a spectacle of war among
the politicians as well as in the field!
Gen. Whiting,
captured at Wilmington, died of his wounds. The government would never listen
to his plans for saving Wilmington, and rebuked him for his pertinacity.
It is now said
Sheridan has crossed the Pamunky, and is returning toward the Rappahannock, instead
of forming a junction with Grant. Senator Hunter's place in Essex will probably
be visited, and all that region of country ravaged.
It is rumored that
RALEIGH has fallen!
By consulting the
map, I perceive that after the battle of Thursday (day before yesterday),
Hardee fell back and Sherman advanced, and was within less than thirty miles of
Raleigh.
The President, it is
understood, favors a great and decisive battle.
Judge Campbell said
to-day that Mr. Wigfall had sent him Mr. Dejarnette's speech (advocating the
Monroe doctrine and alliance with the United States), with a message that he
(Mr. W.) intended to read it between his sentence and execution, thinking it
would tend to reconcile him to death. The judge said, for his own part, he
would postpone reading it until after execution.
SOURCE: John
Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate
States Capital, Volume 2, p. 452
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