Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: February 11, 1865

Cloudy and cold; froze hard last night.

Yesterday a bill was introduced into both houses of Congress authorizing the enlistment of 200,000 slaves, with consent of their owners, which will probably be amended. Mr. Miles, as a test vote, moved the rejection of the bill; and the vote not to reject it was more than two to one, an indication that it will pass.

The failure of the peace conference seems to have been made the occasion of inspiring renewed zeal and enthusiasm for the war in the United States, as well as here. So the carnival of blood will be a "success."

The enemy claim an advantage in the late battle on the south side of the James River.

Sherman's movements are still shrouded in mystery, and our generals seem to be waiting for a development of his intentions. Meantime he is getting nearer to Charleston, and cutting railroad communications between that city and the interior. The city is doomed, unless Hardee or Beauregard, or both, successfully take the initiative.

Here the price of slaves, men, is about $5000 Confederate States notes, or $100 in specie. A great depreciation. Before the war, they commanded ten times that price.

It is rumored that hundreds of the enemy's transports have come into the James River. If it be Thomas's army reinforcing Grant, Richmond is in immediate peril! Information of our numbers, condition, etc. has been, doubtless, communicated to the enemy and our slumbering government could not be awakened!

Wigfall, of Texas, Graham, of North Carolina, Orr and Miles, of South Carolina, oppose the employment of negro troops, and Gen. Wickham, of this department, openly proclaims such a measure as the end of the Confederacy! We are upon stirring times! Senator Wigfall demands a new cabinet, etc.

Two P.M. The sun has come out; warmer. But it does not disperse the prevailing gloom. It is feared Richmond must be abandoned, and our forces concentrated farther South, where supplies may be more easily had, and where it will be a greater labor and expense for the enemy to subsist his armies.

Assistant Secretary of War, Judge Campbell, is still furloughing, detailing, and discharging men from the army; and yet he thinks the country is pretty nearly exhausted of its fighting population! His successor is not yet appointed; the sooner the better, perhaps.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 416-7

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: June 12, 1865

Andy, made lord of all by the madman, Booth, says, “Destruction only to the wealthy classes.” Better teach the negroes to stand alone before you break up all they leaned on, O Yankees! After all, the number who possess over $20,000 are very few.

Andy has shattered some fond hopes. He denounces Northern men who came South to espouse our cause. They may not take the life-giving oath. My husband will remain quietly at home. He has done nothing that he had not a right to do, nor anything that he is ashamed of. He will not fly from his country, nor hide anywhere in it. These are his words. He has a huge volume of Macaulay, which seems to absorb him. Slily I slipped Silvio Pellico in his way. He looked at the title and moved it aside. “Oh,” said I, “I only wanted you to refresh your memory as to a prisoner's life and what a despotism can do to make its captives happy!”

Two weddings — in Camden, Ellen Douglas Ancrum to Mr. Lee, engineer and architect, a clever man, which is the best investment now. In Columbia, Sally Hampton and John Cheves Haskell, the bridegroom, a brave, one-armed soldier.

A wedding to be. Lou McCord's. And Mrs. McCord is going about frantically, looking for eggs “to mix and make into wedding-cake,” and finding none. She now drives the funniest little one-mule vehicle.

I have been ill since I last wrote in this journal. Serena 's letter came. She says they have been visited by bushwhackers, the roughs that always follow in the wake of an army. My sister Kate they forced back against the wall. She had Katie, the baby, in her arms, and Miller, the brave boy, clung to his mother, though he could do no more. They tried to pour brandy down her throat. They knocked Mary down with the butt end of a pistol, and Serena they struck with an open hand, leaving the mark on her cheek for weeks.

Mr. Christopher Hampton says in New York people have been simply intoxicated with the fumes of their own glory. Military prowess is a new wrinkle of delight to them. They are mad with pride that, ten to one, they could, after five years' hard fighting, prevail over us, handicapped, as we were, with a majority of aliens, quasi foes, and negro slaves whom they tried to seduce, shut up with us. They pay us the kind of respectful fear the British meted out to Napoleon when they sent him off with Sir Hudson Lowe to St. Helena, the lone rock by the sea, to eat his heart out where he could not alarm them more.

Of course, the Yankees know and say they were too many for us, and yet they would all the same prefer not to try us again. Would Wellington be willing to take the chances of Waterloo once more with Grouchy, Blucher, and all that left to haphazard? Wigfall said to old Cameron¹ in 1861, “Then you will a sutler be, and profit shall accrue.” Christopher Hampton says that in some inscrutable way in the world North, everybody “has contrived to amass fabulous wealth by this war.'”

There are two classes of vociferous sufferers in this community: 1. Those who say, “If people would only pay me what they owe me!” 2. Those who say, “If people would only let me alone. I can not pay them. I could stand it if I had anything with which to pay debts.”

Now we belong to both classes. Heavens! the sums people owe us and will not, or can not, pay, would settle all our debts ten times over and leave us in easy circumstances for life. But they will not pay. How can they?

We are shut in here, turned with our faces to a dead wall. No mails. A letter is sometimes brought by a man on horseback, traveling through the wilderness made by Sherman. All railroads have been destroyed and the bridges are gone. We are cut off from the world, here to eat out our hearts. Yet from my window I look out on many a gallant youth and maiden fair. The street is crowded and it is a gay sight. Camden is thronged with refugees from the low country, and here they disport themselves. They call the walk in front of Bloomsbury “the Boulevard.”

H. Lang tells us that poor Sandhill Milly Trimlin is dead, and that as a witch she had been denied Christian burial. Three times she was buried in consecrated ground in different churchyards, and three times she was dug up by a superstitious horde, who put her out of their holy ground. Where her poor, old, ill-used bones are lying now I do not know. I hope her soul is faring better than her body. She was a good, kind creature. Why supposed to be a witch? That H. Lang could not elucidate.

Everybody in our walk of life gave Milly a helping hand. She was a perfect specimen of the Sandhill “tackey” race, sometimes called “country crackers.” Her skin was yellow and leathery, even the whites of her eyes were bilious in color. She was stumpy, strong, and lean, hard-featured, horny-fisted. Never were people so aided in every way as these Sandhillers. Why do they remain Sandhillers from generation to generation? Why should Milly never have bettered her condition?

My grandmother lent a helping hand to her grandmother. My mother did her best for her mother, and I am sure the so-called witch could never complain of me. As long as I can remember, gangs of these Sandhill women traipsed in with baskets to be filled by charity, ready to carry away anything they could get. All are made on the same pattern, more or less alike. They were treated as friends and neighbors, not as beggars. They were asked in to take seats by the fire, and there they sat for hours, stony-eyed, silent, wearing out human endurance and politeness. But their husbands and sons, whom we never saw, were citizens and voters! When patience was at its last ebb, they would open their mouths and loudly demand whatever they had come to seek.

One called Judy Bradly, a one-eyed virago, who played the fiddle at all the Sandhill dances and fandangoes, made a deep impression on my youthful mind. Her list of requests was always rather long, and once my grandmother grew restive and actually hesitated. “Woman, do you mean to let me starve?” she cried furiously. My grandmother then attempted a meek lecture as to the duty of earning one's bread. Judy squared her arms akimbo and answered, “And pray, who made you a judge of the world? Lord, Lord, if I had 'er knowed I had ter stand all this jaw, I wouldn't a took your ole things,” but she did take them and came afterward again and again.

_______________

¹ Simon Cameron became Secretary of War in Lincoln's Administration, on March 4, 1861. On January 11, 1862, he resigned and was made Minister to Russia.

SOURCES: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 398-401

Captain Francis H. Wigfall: December 5, 1864

At Mrs. Overton's,

Six Miles from Nashville,

On Columbia Turnpike,

Dec. 5th, 1864.

I wrote you a short note from the other side of Franklin the morning after the battle. I have not written oftener because I have been unwilling to trust letters to the mail, as I suppose communication has been interrupted between Macon and Augusta. We left Florence, Alabama, on the 21st of November; we reached Columbia and after remaining in front of the place two or three days it was evacuated by the enemy who then took position on the north bank of Duck River, immediately opposite the town. There was some artillery firing and sharp shooting across the river and it was in this on the 28th that Col. Beckham was wounded. I have not heard from him since the morning of the 1st, when he was doing well, but the wound is so severe (the skull fractured) that I fear he will not recover. In fact the surgeon said there was a bare possibility of his surviving. His loss will be very severely felt. It is hard enough to be killed at all, but to be killed in such an insignificant affair makes it doubly bad.

The fight at Franklin was very severe — while it lasted, and though our loss was heavy, everybody is in the finest humor — and ready for the fight again whenever Gen. “John B.” gives the word. Col. Cofer, Provost Marshall Gen. of the Army, told me the other day that he had taken particular pains to find out by enquiring the feelings of the men and that the morale of the army was very much improved by the fight, and that the men would go into the next with double vim and impetuosity.

Our men fought with the utmost determinal and if we had had three hours more of daylight I feel as confident as possible that we should have been to-day in Nashville. The Yankees are now in their works around the city and our main line is at one point only twelve hundred yards from theirs. We have captured three engines and about twenty cars and I hope before long to hear the shriek of the locomotive once more. The country we have marched through for the past fifty miles is one of the gardens of the world. The lands are very fertile, the plantations well improved and the people before the war were in the possession of every comfort and luxury. The destruction, too, caused by the Yankees, is not to be compared to that in other sections occupied by them. There has been no part of the Confederacy that I have seen which has been in their possession and has suffered so little.

Our Army, in leaving Tennessee, on both occasions previously, passed to the East of this portion of the state, so that an Army has never before marched over it. The Yankees too have held it a long time and I imagine considered it permanently in their possession. We reached this place on the night of the 2nd. There are several young ladies from Nashville here who are very pretty and agreeable and the most intense Southerners. The enemy was forced from his position north of Duck River by a flank movement which placed the whole army except, two Divisions, near his communications. He fell back to Franklin that night and the next day, the 30th November, was the battle of Franklin.

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 211-3

Captain Francis H. Wigfall: December 8, 1864

Dec. 8th. I have heard this morning of poor Beckham's death. What a cruel, hard thing is war! The individual suffering, however, is the public gain. Over the road, on which moved Cheatham's Corps, was hung, just at the Tennessee State line, an inscription in these words: “Tennessee, A grave, or a free home.” A good many graves have been already filled — but better we should all meet that fate than fail to gain the prize we struggle for. As he passed over the line, Gen. Hood received a formal welcome into the state from Governor Harris, who has been with us since we took up the line of march for Tennessee. If we can gain Nashville, what a glorious termination it will be for the campaign. Even if we fail in this, for I fear the fortifications are too strong, and hold the enemy in his lines round the city, it will be one of the grandest achievements an army has ever performed. Think of it! Starting from Lovejoy's thirty miles beyond Atlanta on the 18th Sept., here we are on the 8th Dec. in front of Nashville with the enemy cooped up in his works and the fruits of two years hard marching and fighting lost to him. . . .

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 213-4

Captain Francis H. Wigfall: December 11, 1864

Dec. 11. There was communion service held at the house this morning. Dr. Quintard officiated and prayer was offered up for the Confederate Congress for the first time publicly in this country, I suppose, since our army retreated from the state. It is bitterly cold. Fortunately the troops are lying quiet and can have their fires to keep warm by. I feel, I assure you, for the poor fellows in the skirmish line in such weather.

In each brigade a detail has been set at work making shoes for the barefooted men from leather obtained in the country. They are making some twenty pairs a day in each brigade, and in addition, there is a large supply coming from the rear, so you see we are getting on finely.

The Quartermasters and Commissaries too are hard at work getting other supplies and the R. R. is in operation from Pulaski to Franklin. We have gotten into a real land of plenty and I sincerely trust we shall never leave the State except it be to enter Kentucky. I don't believe myself that the Yankees will allow us to enter Winter Quarters, even should we desire it, without a fight. Of course, in order to make a fight they must leave their entrenchments, and if they attack us in ours or allow us to attack them without works, I feel not the slightest fear of the result. . . .

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 214-5

Francis H. Wigfall to Louis T. Wigfall, September 14, 1864

Camp near Lovejoy's Station,

Sept. 14, 1864.

When my last was written Sherman had not developed his intentions, and we were all in the dark as to what he would do next. After drawing back his line from our right and centre, he pushed these troops round in rear of his original right and crossing the West Point and Atlanta R. R. struck for the Macon road. On the night of the 30th Aug., Hardee's Corps started from the neighborhood of East Point, six miles below Atlanta, for Jonesboro', sixteen miles further in the direction of Macon — opposite which was McPherson's Army. You know Sherman's Army is composed of McPherson's old Army, commanded since his death by Howard; Thomas's Army and Schofield's Army. Lee's Corps followed Hardee and next day they attacked this fraction of the Yankee force, but failed to make any impression. There was therefore nothing left but to evacuate the place, which was done that next night. Lee's Corps was drawn away from Hardee after the fight and covered the flank of the troops marching from Atlanta to effect a junction with Hardee. . . . Gen. Hood is making every exertion to get ready for the fall campaign and preserves his equanimity perfectly.

A few days after the army was reunited, Sherman retired his forces to the neighborhood of Atlanta and the campaign came to an end. He is doubtless preparing for another advance before the stoppage of operations by bad weather. He stripped the citizens of the country that he has abandoned to us, and yesterday there was application made at Jonesboro' for rations for one thousand destitute people in that vicinity. He has signalized his retirement to Atlanta by an order exiling every white man, woman and child from the place, regardless of political opinion. The reason given is that it is to the interest of the United States.

I feel confident that the first of December will see Sherman North of the Etowah River. His line of communication is too long, his means of transportation consisting as it does of a railroad. You must be sure and come up to the Army as you pass on your way to Richmond. I have a great deal to say that I do not like to entrust to a letter.

Genl. Patton Anderson was severely wounded on the 31st, as was Genl. Cumming, of Georgia, and Gen. Finly, of Florida. I suppose you will have heard of Governor Lubbock's appointment as Aide to the President. He was in Atlanta just before the evacuation, accompanied by Tom Ochiltree. Genl. G. W. Smith's Georgia Militia have been furloughed for thirty days to give them an opportunity to gather their crops (!)

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 188-90

Louise Wigfall to Charlotte Cross Wigfall, September 4, 1864

macon, Sept. 4th, 1864.

. . . I have no news to give you and must confess that things just at present look rather blue. The intelligence that comes from the front is all confused. We know that Hardee attacked the enemy and with his one corps held his position till night, when he was flanked and driven back four miles.  . . . Hood, with the rest of the army, is in Atlanta; the army thus being cut right in two. Reports came yesterday and to-day that Atlanta has been evacuated. I have heard nothing from Brother, but suppose from that fact that he is all well. Every face looks anxiously expectant and we can only hope for the best. Before this reaches you it will be decided, I suppose.

Genl. Johnston received a very flattering letter from the citizens of Macon not long ago, offering him the house, in which we now are, for as long a period as he desires it. The old General was very much gratified at the compliment, but of course signified his refusal.

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 187-8

Francis H. Wigfall: July 31, 1864

Atlanta, July 31st, 1864.

. . . You doubtless have heard before this reaches you of the removal of General Johnston, and the placing of Gen. Hood in command of the Army. The dispatch was received the night of the seventeenth, and Genl. Johnston's farewell address bore that date. The three corps commanders next day telegraphed to Richmond requesting that the order should be revoked, but it was refused. This is what I understood and I think it is true. Genl. Hood accordingly assumed command that day, the 18th. Gen. Johnston went into Atlanta that morning and left for Macon next day. I rode into town in the evening to say good-bye and saw Mrs. Johnston and himself. No one could ever have told from his countenance or manner that anything unusual had occurred. Indeed he seemed in rather better spirits than usual though it must have been at the cost of much exertion. An universal gloom seemed cast over the army, for they were entirely devoted to him. Gen. Hood, however, has all the qualities to attach men to him, and it was not a comparison between the two, but love for, and confidence in, Gen. Johnston which caused the feeling I have before alluded to. Gen. Hood, as you will see, assumed command under circumstances of no ordinary difficulty. He has applied himself, however, heart and soul to the task and I sincerely trust will bring us out of the campaign with benefit to the country and honor to himself. The Administration, of course, is compelled to support him both with moral and material aid, and that assistance which was asked for by General Johnston unsuccessfully will no doubt be afforded now. A portion if not all of Gen. Roddy's command is now on the way, if it did not reach here to-night. If Gen. Forrest is thrown on the road in their rear everything will be as we want it. Time will tell us all. On the 20th, Stewart and Hardee advanced on the enemy in their front and drove them a short distance before them capturing some prisoners and one or two stands of colors. On the 22nd, Gen. Hardee's corps which had been moved the night before to a position on their flank, attacked and drove the enemy from their vidette line, their skirmish line and two main lines of works, and held them, capturing some twelve hundred prisoners, eight guns, and thirteen stands of colors. Gen. Wheeler with his cavalry drove a brigade of infantry from their works and through Decatur which is seven miles from town on the Augusta R. R., capturing some two or three hundred prisoners and one gun. A portion of Cheatham's corps, (Gen. Hood's old corps) drove the enemy from the first main line of works in their front, but were forced to retire, bringing off however three or four hundred prisoners, five stands of colors and six pieces of Artillery.

The fruits of the victory were fifteen guns, eighteen colors and between eighteen and nineteen hundred prisoners. There was another fight on the 28th in which three Divisions were engaged. They drove the enemy into slight works which they had erected, but did not take the works. The attack was made to prevent the enemy's gaining possession of a road. Major Preston, son of Gen. John S. Preston, was killed in the fight of the 20th by a cannon shot. He was universally regretted. Gen. Stevens of South Carolina was mortally wounded in the same fight and has since died. On the 22nd, Gen. W. H. T. Walker was killed and Gen. Gist and Gen. Smith, commanding Granbury's Texas brigade, wounded. On the 28th Gen. Stewart, Gen. Loring, and Gen. Johnson, who received his appointment as Brig. Gen. on the march to the fight, were wounded. Gen. Ector was wounded during an artillery duel — and has lost his leg. Col. Young, whom you remember to have seen at Charlottesville, is now commanding the brigade. Gen. Mackall, Gen. Johnston's Chief of Staff, has been relieved at his own request, and Genl. Shoep, formerly Chief of Artillery of the Army, is now Gen. Hood's Chief of Staff. Col. Beckham is Chief of Artillery of the Army and will I suppose be made Brigadier. I am messing at present with Gen. Hood, am living in a house, and have a room all to myself. I write very frequently to L., generally every two or three days. The last letter I received was dated the 24th. Mrs. Johnston had obtained a large house in a very pleasant part of the town and would move into it in a few days. L. and F. will be with her there and L. says she thinks she will spend a very pleasant summer comparatively ' when these awful battles are over.'

Genl. Stephen D. Lee has taken command of Gen. Hood's old corps. He told me he had heard you were on your way across the river and I suppose by this time you are safely in Louisiana. The Yankee cavalry has been very actively at work on the railroads in Georgia and Alabama for the last week or two. A force which had cut the road between here and Macon, only tearing up a mile and a half, were pursued by our Cavalry and when they reached the West Point R. R. came upon some of Roddy's forces on the cars, were held in check until some of the pursuers came up, and from all accounts it seems that the only ones of them who will get back to their lines will be the fugitives who can make their way through the woods. Remember me to all the servants.

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 181-5

Francis H. Wigfall, April 29, 1864

. . . There was a review to-day of all the infantry and artillery of the army. The reviewing officer was Gen. Johnston, who rode down the line, halting opposite each brigade to receive its salute. He then took his position and the troops marched in review past him. Mrs. Johnston was there and a good many other ladies and I expect enjoyed the spectacle though the wind was high and the dust insufferable. Mrs. Johnston spoke to-day of your and Fanny's being with her this summer. I have no doubt you will have a very pleasant time indeed, and if the Army is inactive I shall doubtless be able to run down to see you. . . .

We are barely managing to exist on the third of a pound of bacon. We keep up our spirits however, and hope for the time when Congress shall intervene in our behalf and satisfy the Oliver Twists of the Army. A friend of one of our mess the other day sent a turkey and you should have seen our countenances as we prepared to devour him. . . . .

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 175

Francis H. Wigfall, March 21, 1864

Dalton, March 21, 1864

. . . . I have just returned from a ride with some of “the staff” looking at the country. I think Gen. Hood is quite anxious for a fight and I have no doubt will distinguish himself whenever it does come. He brought a carriage up from Atlanta when he came, but has sent it back, and rides everywhere on horseback. He is out nearly every day and rides from twelve to fifteen and twenty miles without dismounting.

. . . I heard a sermon yesterday from Gen. Pendleton, who I wrote in my last to Papa is out here inspecting the artillery of the army. He read the service, and it had a very familiar sound with the exception of the hymns, which were from the prayer book, but sung to the regular old Camp-meeting tunes, through the nose. . . .

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 173-4

Francis H. Wigfall, April 9, 1864

April 9.

. . . The sham battle of General Hardee's Corps took place on Thursday, and was witnessed by a large number of ladies from all parts of the State. There was a party of them at Gen. Hood's for several days and the evening after the battle we had a dance at Hd. Qurs. to which was gathered “the beauty and the chivalry.” It was a decided success and was almost fashionably crowded. I indulged slightly in the galop and deuxtemps and wish L. could have seen me. There are to be some tableaux a few miles below here at a country house on the railroad Monday evening, to which the General and his staff are invited. I expect there will be a good deal of gaiety in Dalton, (that is, for the army) until the war begins, which from all appearance is as far off as ever. Tell Papa that the army is very much “down on” Congress for the ration bill and ask him to be sure and have it remedied as soon as the session begins. I have heard several plans proposed by officers for inviting one or two members of Congress now with the army to a “one ration a day dinner.” Something of this sort, for instance: The entertainer would be very generous and have the whole day's ration served for dinner. He would divide the pound and a quarter of meal, the quarter of a pound of hominy and the third of a pound of bacon into three parts and give his guest one, take one himself and set one aside for his servant. However, we all live in hope of the better time coming.

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 174-5

General Joseph E. Johnston to Louis T. Wigfall, November 12, 1863

meridian, Nov. 12th, 1863.

My dear Wigfall,

I received your letter of the 2nd yesterday and tried in vain to find the person who brought it. It was left with Col. B. S. Ewell A. A. G. by a contractor on his way to the Trans-Mississippi Country.  . . . I congratulate you with all my heart upon Halsey's narrow escape. To have a horse killed under one puts a tall feather in his cap. (I hope, however, it was not the sorrel mare.) Even at present prices¹ I'd freely give a good horse to the same fate. I have been having a very quiet time since July. Almost a peace establishment so we have gone to house keeping. I say we, for Mrs. Johnston joined me two weeks ago. I think Fanny would be delighted to see the style with which her namesake trots up to the door when she sees her mistress in it. Her mistress enjoys it greatly. I am at last making a report.

Very truly yours,

J. E. Johnston.

¹ Horses were worth at this time about $3,000.

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 155

Francis H. Wigfall, October 19, 1863

camp At Buckland.

Oct. 19, 1863.

. . . We have had another fight to-day. We marched from between Gainesville and Bristow Station before day and passed that station and Catlett's and then up the Warrenton road which we left about half way between the two places, taking the road leading to Buckland four miles from Gainesville on the Warrenton and Alexandria Turnpike. We got in position about twelve hundred yards from Battery “M,” 2nd U. S. Artillery, six guns. We had two. We lost four wounded, Lt. Shanks and Lt. Johnston among the number, neither dangerously however. I shall get Lt. Shanks, who starts for Warrenton directly, to take this. I think that the Army is on the retreat and when we get back I will write a full account of our doings. . . .

On the 19th Hampton's Division was on the turnpike West of Gainesville and ours about midway between Gainesville and Bristow Station. Before daylight we marched to Bristow, then down to Catlett's and from there across the country by Auburn which lies about half way between Catlett's and Warrenton. At Auburn we left the Warrenton road and took that leading to Buckland which is four miles from Gainesville to the West. Meanwhile Stuart with Hampton's Division had been retiring before the Yankees along the turnpike before Warrenton. Then when the Yankees thought everything was getting along finely, the whole of Fitz Lee's Division came in on their flank and before night we had them back on their Infantry supports and some even of the latter on their way to Richmond. . . .

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 153-4

Francis H. Wigfall to Louisa Wigfall, October 16, 1863

camp At Manassas, Oct. 16, 1863.

Dear L.,

I wrote to Mama on the 13th a few lines which I hope she received. We have been marching every day since. We fired a few shots day before yesterday, but were not replied to. One of the best soldiers of the battery, however, was mortally wounded by a stray minié ball. We had a fight yesterday taking several positions. At one of them we had three guns fighting about twelve across Bull Run at Blackburn's Fort. They were however about two thousand yards and only one of our men was hurt — his leg shot off. One of the guns also had its axle shot in two. It was a pretty lively place I can assure you. We have lost six men and six horses killed and disabled since crossing the Rapidan besides several other horses slightly wounded. We are now at the place we camped last night, horses harnessed but not hitched, and it is much later than we have been in camp for several days, usually marching shortly after sunrise. . . .

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 153

Francis H. Wigfall to Charlotte Cross Wigfall, October 13, 1863

camp Near Fox's Ford,

rappahannock River, Oct. 13, 1863.

Dear Mama.

We are once more on the campaign. We had a running fight day before yesterday fighting all day. My little grey was killed under me at the first position we went into. The battery lost four killed and wounded, three of them from my section. We crossed at Raccoon Ford that morning and camped at Brandy Station that night. We are about to move and I must close. Love to all. Goodbye, dearest Mama. In haste,

Your affectionate

Halsey.

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 152

Major-General J.E.B. Stuart to Senator Louis T. Wigfall, late July 1863

hd. Qrs. Cov., Div. A. of N. Va.

Dear General,

I regret very much that a state of affairs, so different from what you expected, exists here. Instead of  “no active operations” you suppose, we are in a fight nearly every day and on the 4th especially Halsey's gun was particularly engaged at Fleetwood and under very heavy fire, and I am gratified to inform you that Maj. Beckham speaks of him as “a very fine officer” in which our expectations were not disappointed.

You will readily understand that such an officer cannot be spared in such times to visit home —but should there be a period when an engagement is not daily expected in which the Horse Artillery will not necessarily take part, I will cheerfully approve his absence.

I was truly glad to hear the favorable accounts you gave of Hampton's, Butler's and Hood's wounds, and sincerely hope that all three of those glorious fellows will be in the field again for the next fight. Hampton I fear will not soon be with us. His wound must have been very severe. Baker, Black and Young were all three wounded in a fight the other day (2nd). The first mentioned is a Brigadier Genl. and will command the four N. C. Regiments.

Present my kindest regards to Mrs. Wigfall and any other friends you may fall in with, and believe me,

Truly yours,

J. E. B. Stuart.

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 147-8

Lieutenant Frances H. Wigfall to Louise Wigfall, July 18, 1863

camp Near Leetown,

Jefferson Co., Va., July 18,1863.

. . . I wrote a short note to Papa from near Funkstown on the other side of the river on the 9th inst., though I have very great doubts as to whether it ever reached you. The battery is in very bad condition as to horses and is out of ammunition. Two of the guns got some of the latter before we recrossed the river, leaving the other two without and I was left with them and have consequently been in the rear ever since the cavalry fight near Boonsboro', Md. on the 8th inst. All the guns are now in the same condition, but the Ordnance officer of the Division, Capt. John Esten Cooke, perhaps better known as Tristran Joyeuse, Gent., has sent to Staunton for ammunition and as Lt. Johnston has gone to Richmond I shall be done for the present with “Company Q.” I think that when we reached Westminster Md. on Genl. Stuart's expedition round the Yanks, I was a little the richest specimen of a Confederate officer that you, at all events, ever saw. My boots were utterly worn out. My pantaloons were all one big hole as the Irishman would say: my coat was like a beggar's — and my hat was actually falling to pieces, in addition to lacking its crown, which loss, allowed my hair, not cut, since sometime before leaving Culpeper, to protrude, and gave me a highly picturesque finish to my appearance. I fortunately there got a pair of boots, a pair of pantaloons and a hat which rendered my condition comparatively better. We left Union in Loudon Co., Va., on that expedition on the morning of the 24th of June — and reached the lines of our army at Gettysburg, Adams Co., Penn. late in the afternoon of the 2nd of July. During that time the harness was off the horses only twice. You should have seen the Dutch people in York Co. turning out with water and milk and bread and butter and “apple butter” for the “ragged rebels.”

I was quite surprised at the tone of feeling in that part of the State. In two or three instances I found people who seemed really glad to see us and at scores of houses they had refreshments at the door for the soldiers. The people generally seemed not to know exactly what to expect and I don't think would have been at all astonished if every building had been set on fire by us as we reached it, nor would a great many have been surprised if we had concluded the business by massacring the women and children!

I stopped at a house in Petersburg, Adams Co., Penn. and almost the first question addressed me by the daughter of the house, a girl of eighteen or twenty and a perfect Yankee, was whether our men would molest the women! I told her not, and she seemed to feel considerably reassured. It was this same girl who told me in all seriousness that she had heard and believed it, that the Southern women all wore revolvers. I suppose, of course, by this time you have seen from the papers who has been killed, wounded and captured and have very little doubt that you know more about these points than I do, myself, for beyond hearing the report that Genl. Lee's Headquarters are at Bunker Hill and that the Infantry are beyond Martinsburg and some little inkling of the position of portions of the Cavalry Division I am in the same condition as honest John Falstaff before he formed the acquaintance of Prince Hal, and “know nothing.”

I received yesterday a double letter of the 23rd of June from you and Mama, the first since I left Rector's X Roads on the 18th of that month. Gen. Lee has issued an order curtailing all transportation except that for the Corps and General Reserve Ordnance trains. This is evidently getting ready for another move, but whether it is in order to cross the Potomac again or to fall back behind the Rappahannock, or merely to be in readiness for any movement of the enemy, is more than your correspondent is aware of.

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 144-7

Brigadier-General Wade Hampton to Senator Louis T. Wigfall, July 15, 1863

charlottesville, July 15th, 1863.

My dear Wigfall,

Hood and myself came to Staunton together and he remained there under charge of Darby. He is doing well and his arm will be saved. All he needs now is good nursing, together with cheerful company and generous living. He proposes to pay you a visit if he can get rooms at Hiden's, so do drop him a line. Halsey was well up to the time of my leaving Gettysburg, the 4th instant. I have been handled pretty roughly, having received two sabre cuts on the head — one of which cut through the table of my skull — and a shrapnel shot in my body, which is there yet. But I am doing well and hope in a few days to be able to go home. Suppose you meet me at Gordonsville as I pass? Our Army is in good condition after its terrible and useless battle.

The Yankees will be defeated if we can get at them on fair ground. We could better have stormed the heights of Stafford than those of Gettysburg. . . .

I had a large leather trunk, canvas covered, and with “W. H.” printed on each end. Will you do me the favor to enquire for it? It was put on the cars at Culpeper C. H. With kind regards to Mrs. Wigfall, I am,

Yours very truly,

wade Hampton.

hon. L. T. Wigfall.

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 142-3

Charlotte Cross Wigfall to Lieutenant Francis H. Wigfall, July 16, 1863

orange C. H., July 16th, 1863.

It is some time since I have written to you, my dearest son, but the uncertainty of your getting letters make it almost useless to write. The note you sent in pencil by Mr. Winston came yesterday and was thankfully received. ’Tis the only tidings we have had of you for weeks except from Col. P., who told me you were well up to the 23rd of June, and your father saw an officer on the cars who said he had seen you on the 4th. Your note bears date a week later. Write, my child, whenever opportunity offers. You cannot tell the intense anxiety and uneasiness of those left at home. We have all been watching with painful interest the course of our Army since it crossed the border, and although late accounts have cast a gloom upon us, we all feel assured that Lee will yet do something to make them tremble as much as they are now exulting over our misfortunes. Troubles seem to thicken upon us all at once. The fall of Vicksburg and the attack on Charleston when so many of the troops have been withdrawn are enough to dispirit us, but we are not dismayed, but believe that all will yet be right. The most sickening feature is the prolongation of the war. Groaning, however, will do neither you nor me any good, so a truce to it.

I had a long letter from Mrs. Johnston dated July 5th. She had not then heard of the fall of Vicksburg, but fully expected it as did we. Genl. Johnston wrote fully to your father June 28th, and told him it was utterly impossible with his 25,000 men, scarcely then equipped, to relieve the place and that if Kirby Smith could do nothing it must fall. Mrs. Johnston encloses me a letter to her from her husband, which is so noble and manly in its tone that I don't wonder that she is proud of him. . . .

F. has just come in with a letter from Genl. Hampton to your father. He writes from Charlottesville, says he is doing well and hopes in a few days to go home. Genl. Hood came with him to Staunton where he is under the care of Dr. Darby, requires nothing but good nursing and generous diet and proposes to pay us a visit if he can.

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 141-2

Charlotte Cross Wigfall: July 8, 1863

We are all excited by the news that came yesterday. Owing to the weather or fear of the trains being taken, we have had no mails from Richmond until yesterday and then only a stray paper, but that tells us there has been another battle. Your father does not think that Halsey was in it — but I can't help feeling anxious till I hear more about it.

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 140