They look for a fight at Norfolk. Beauregard is there. I
think if I were a man I'd be there, too. Also Harper's Ferry is to be attacked.
The Confederate flag has been cut down at Alexandria by a man named Ellsworth,1
who was in command of Zouaves. Jackson was the name of the person who shot
Ellsworth in the act. Sixty of our cavalry have been taken by Sherman's brigade.
Deeper and deeper we go in.
Thirty of Tom Boykin's company have come home from Richmond.
They went as a rifle company, armed with muskets. They were sandhill tackeys — those
fastidious ones, not very anxious to fight with anything, or in any way, I
fancy. Richmond ladies had come for them in carriages, feted them, waved
handkerchiefs to them, brought them dainties with their own hands, in the faith
that every Carolinian was a gentleman, and every man south of Mason and Dixon's
line a hero. But these are not exactly descendants of the Scotch Hay, who
fought the Danes with his plowshare, or the oxen's yoke, or something that could
hit hard and that came handy.
Johnny has gone as a private in Gregg's regiment. He could
not stand it at home any longer. Mr. Chesnut was willing for him to go, because
those sandhill men said “this was a rich man's war,” and the rich men would be
the officers and have an easy time and the poor ones would be privates. So he said: “Let the
gentlemen set the example; let them go in the ranks.” So John Chesnut is a
gentleman private. He took his servant with him all the same.
Johnny reproved me for saying, “If I were a man, I would not
sit here and dole and drink and drivel and forget the fight going on in
Virginia.” He said it was my duty not to talk so rashly and make enemies. He “had
the money in his pocket to raise a company last fall, but it has slipped
through his fingers, and now he is a common soldier.” “You wasted it or spent
it foolishly,” said I. “I do not know where it has gone,” said he. “There was
too much consulting over me, too much good counsel was given to me, and everybody
gave me different advice.” “Don't you ever know your own mind?” “We will do
very well in the ranks; men and officers all alike; we know everybody.”
So I repeated Mrs. Lowndes's solemn words when she heard
that South Carolina had seceded alone: “As thy days so shall thy strength be.”
Don't know exactly what I meant, but thought I must be impressive as he was
going away. Saw him off at the train. Forgot to say anything there, but cried
my eyes out.
Sent Mrs. Wigfall a telegram — “Where shrieks the wild
sea-mew?” She answered: “Sea-mew at the Spotswood Hotel. Will shriek soon. I
will remain here.”
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1 Ephraim Elmer Ellsworth was a native of
Saratoga County, New York. In 1860 he organized a regiment of Zouaves and
became its Colonel. He accompanied Lincoln to Washington in 1861 and was soon
sent with his regiment to Alexandria, where, on seeing a Confederate flag
floating from a hotel, he personally rushed to the roof and tore it down. The
owner of the hotel, a man named Jackson, met him as he was descending and shot
him dead. Frank E. Brownell, one of Ellsworth's men, then killed Jackson.
SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin
and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 58-9
