Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: January 19, 1863

We have rumors of fighting this morning on the Rappahannock; perhaps the enemy is making another advance upon Richmond.

There was a grand funeral to-day, — Gen. D. R. Jones's; he died of heart disease.

Gen. Bragg dispatches that Brig.-Gen. Wheeler, with his cavalry, got in the rear of Rosecrans a few days ago, and burned a railroad bridge. He then penetrated to the Cumberland River, and destroyed three large transports and bonded a fourth, which took off his paroled prisoners. After this he captured and destroyed a gun-boat and its armament sent in quest of him.

We have taken Springfield, Missouri.

Rosecrans sends our officers, taken at Murfreesborough, to Alton, Ill., to retaliate on us for the doom pronounced in our President's proclamation, and one of his generals has given notice that if we burn a railroad bridge (in our own country) all private property within a mile of it shall be destroyed. The black flag next. We have no news from North Carolina.

Mr. Caperton was elected C. S. Senator by the Virginia Legisture on Saturday, in place of Mr. Preston, deceased.

An intercepted letter from a Mr. Sloane, Charlotte, N. C., to A. T. Stewart & Co., New York, was laid before the Secretary of War yesterday. He urged the New York merchant, who has contributed funds for our subjugation, to send merchandise to the South, now destitute, and he would act as salesman. The Secretary indorsed “conscript him,” and yet the Assistant Secretary has given instructions to Col. Godwin, in the border counties, to wink at the smugglers. This is consistency! And the Assistant Secretary writes “by order of the Secretary of War!”

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 241-2

Louis T. Wigfall to Major D. R. Jones, April 13, 1861

Head Quarters, Confederate States Army,

charleston, South Carolina,

April 13, 1861.

Major:

I have the honor to report that between one and two o'clock this afternoon, the flag having fallen at Fort Sumter, and its fire having ceased, I left Morris's Island, with the consent and approval of General Simons to demand the surrender of the work, and offer assistance to the garrison.

Before reaching the Fort the flag was again raised. On entering the work I informed Major Anderson of my name and position on the staff of the Commanding General, and demanded the surrender of the Fort to the Confederate States.

My attention having been called to the fact that most of our batteries continued their fire, I suggested to Major Anderson that the cambric handkerchief, which I bore on my sword, had probably not been seen, as I crossed the Bay, and requested him to raise a white flag; which he did. The firing then ceased from all our batteries — when Major Anderson lowered his flag and surrendered the Fort.

The time and manner of the evacuation are to be determined by General Beauregard.

Before the surrender I expressed the confident belief to Major Anderson that no terms would be imposed, which would be incompatible with his honor as a soldier, or his feelings as a gentleman — and assured him of the high appreciation in which his gallantry and desperate defence of a place, now no longer tenable, were held by the Commanding General.

Major Anderson exhibited great coolness, and seemed relieved from much of the unpleasantness of his situation by the fact that the proposal had been made by us that he should surrender the work, which he admitted to be no longer defensible.

I take great pleasure in acknowledging that my success in reaching the Fort was due to the courage and patriotism of Private William Gourdin Young, of the Palmetto Guard; without whose aid I could not have surmounted the obstacles.

I have the honor to be with the highest respect.

Louis T. Wigfall.

major D. R. Jones,

Asst. Adjutant General,

Confederate States Army.

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 45-6

Brigadier General Thomas J. Jackson to Mary Anna Morrison Jackson, October 1, 1861

CAMP NEAR FAIRFAX COURT-HOUSE, Oct. 1st.

Yesterday I rode down to the station, and while there President Davis, very unexpectedly to me, arrived in a single car; the remaining part of the train, I suppose, stopped at the Junction to unload. He looked quite thin. His reception was a hearty cheer from the troops. He took his seat in an ambulance-like carriage, and as he passed on his way to the Court-House the air rang with the soldiers' welcoming cheers. He was soon met by a troop of horse, and a horse for himself. Leaving his carriage and mounting his horse, he proceeded on his way, escorted by the cavalry, about four thousand of the First Corps (General Beauregard). The troops belonged to Generals Longstreet, D. R. Jones, and Philip St. George Cocke. It was quite an imposing pageant. . . .

Yesterday I saw President Davis review. He took up his quarters with General Beauregard, where, in company with Colonels Preston, Harmon, and Echols, I called upon him this morning at about half-past ten o'clock. He looks thin, but does not seem to be as feeble as yesterday. His voice and manners are very mild. I saw no exhibition of that fire which I had supposed him to possess. The President introduced the subject of the condition of my section of the State, but did not even so much as intimate that he designed sending me there. I told him, when he spoke of my native region, that I felt a very deep interest in it. He spoke hopefully of that section, and highly of General Lee.

SOURCE: Mary Anna Jackson, Life and Letters of General Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall Jackson), p. 194-5