Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: December 17, 1864

The military movements are important, but to what they tend we know not. More troops have been added from Sheridan to Grant, and Early to Lee, and Sherman has crossed Georgia with little opposition or loss. Our last news is, that he has taken Fort McAllister, some miles below Savannah. What fate awaits that city we tremble to think of. A raid on Bristol and up the railroad, towards Saltville, has alarmed us for the salt-works; but General Breckinridge having turned up in the right place, suddenly appeared in their front and drove them off, to the great relief of the public mind.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 322

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: November 23, 1864

Military movements are kept very much in the dark. Nothing going on about Richmond, except cannonading, particularly at Dutch Gap.

Sherman is moving across Georgia in direction of Milledgeville, looking towards Savannah, or perhaps Charleston, or to some intermediate point on the coast, where he may, if necessary, meet with reinforcements and supplies from Federal shipping already there, or on their way down the Atlantic coast for that very purpose. Efforts are being made by the Governors of South Carolina and Georgia to arrest him. Beauregard, too, has made a short, stirring address, assuring them that he was hastening down to their aid, and that with proper exertions which might be made on their part, the destruction of the enemy would be certain. Nothing equal to the demands of these trying times has yet been done by any of the authorities. Oh that they would strain every nerve to put a stop to this bold and desolating invader! It would require united effort, made without delay. No hesitation, no doubting and holding back must there be; every human being capable of bearing arms must fly to the rescue; all the stores of every kind should be destroyed or removed; bridges burned, roads torn up or obstructed ; every difficulty should be thrown in the way. He should be harassed day and night, that he might be delayed, and entrapped, and ruined. Oh that these things could be done! It may be a woman's thought, but I believe that had Georgia one tithe of the experience of the ruined, homeless Virginians, she would exert every fibre of her frame to destroy the enemy; she would have no delusive hope of escape. I trust that the doctrines of Brown, Stephens, and such like, are not now bearing their bitter fruits! that the people of patriotic Georgia have not been rendered unfit for the sacrifices and dangers of this fearful day, when every man is required to stand in the deadly breach, and every earthly interest, even life itself, must be surrendered rather than yield to the barbarous foe, by their treasonable doctrines of reconstruction, reunion, etc. Oh, I trust not; and I hope that our now uncertain mails may bring information that all Georgia and South Carolina are aroused to their awful condition.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 317-8

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: November 13, 1864

The “military situation” seems very much the same. Some cheering intimations from Georgia. Hood has made movements on Sherman's flank, and Forrest upon his rear, which it is thought promise most valuable results, but nothing final has been yet accomplished, and we may be too sanguine.

General Price is still successful in Missouri. In the Valley of Virginia an immense amount of private property has been destroyed. Sheridan, glorying in his shame, boasts of, and probably magnifies, what has been done in that way. He telegraphs to Grant that he has burned 2,000 barns. The Lord shorten his dreadful work, and have mercy upon the sufferers!

Nothing new about Richmond. A few days ago the enemy made several attempts to advance upon the Darbytown road, and were handsomely repulsed. The firing of cannon is so common a sound that it is rather remarkable when we do not hear it.

Mr. ––– has been telling us of some other interesting cases in his hospital; among them, that of Captain Brown, of North Carolina, has awakened our sympathies. He came into the hospital bright and cheerful, with every appearance of speedy recovery. He talked a great deal of his wife and six children at home, one of whom he had never seen. Knowing that his wife would be sick, he had obtained a furlough, and made arrangements to go home, but the recent battles coming on, he would not leave his post. Through many a hard-fought action God had kept him unharmed; he had never been touched by a solitary weapon, until he began to feel that there was not the slightest danger to him, amid the harvest of death. He wrote that he should be at home as soon as this fight was over; but it was not to be so, and he soon came into the hospital severely wounded. As he lay upon his bed of suffering, the image of his dear wife in her sickness and sorrow, and then with her new-born infant, seemed constantly before him. “I intended to be there,” he would say dreamily; “I made all my arrangements to be there ; I know she wants me; she wrote to me to come to her; oh, I wish I was there, but now I can't go, but I hope I did right; I hope it is all right.” A letter from her, speaking of herself and infant as doing well relieved his anxiety, and he tried to bear the disappointment with patience, still hoping soon to be at home. God, however, had ordered it otherwise. The word had gone forth, “He shall not return to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.” Gangrene appeared, and it was melancholy to see his strength giving way, his hopes fading, and death coming steadily on. He was a professor of religion, and Mr. ––– says he was always ready to hear the word of God, and, though anxious to live, yet he put himself into the Lord's hand, with humble faith and hope, such as may give his friends assurance that death was gain to him.

The war news seems encouraging. Many persons are very despondent, but I do not feel so — perhaps I do not understand the military signs. Our men below Richmond have certainly had many successes of late. Sheridan, instead of capturing Lynchburg, as he promised, is retreating down the Valley. In the South, the army of Tennessee is in Sherman's rear, and Forrest still carries every thing before him. General Price seems to be doing well in Missouri; Arkansas and Texas seem to be all right. Kentucky, too, (poor Kentucky !) seems more hopeful. Then why should we despond? Maryland, alas for Maryland! the tyrant's heel appears too heavy for her, and we grievously fear that the prospect of her union with the South is rapidly passing away. If we must give her up, it will not be without sorrow and mortification. We shall mournfully bewail her dishonour and shame. If her noble sons who have come to the South must return, they will take with them our gratitude and admiration for their gallant bearing in many a hard-fought battle. Readily will we receive those who choose to remain among us; and in holy ground take care of her honoured dead, who so freely gave their lives for Southern rights. The Potomac may seem to some the natural boundary between North and South; but it is hard to make up one's mind yet to the entire surrender of our sister State; and if we could, gladly would we hope for Maryland, even as we hope for the Southern Confederacy herself.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 314-6

Diary of Sarah Morgan: Tuesday, February 24, 1863

Meeting Miriam by mere accident on the road last evening and hearing of our surprising journey to Georgia, Mr. Halsey came to spend a last evening with us, and say good-bye. What a deluge of regrets, hopes, fears, etc. Perfectly overwhelming. Why had I not told him of it the night before? All our friends would be so disappointed at not having an opportunity of saying good-bye. If the Yankees would only postpone their attack so he might accompany us! But no matter; he would come on in two months, and meet us there. And would we not write to him? Thank you! Miriam may, but I shall hardly do so! We had such a pleasant evening together, talking over our trip. Then we had a dozen songs on the guitar, gay, sad, and sentimental; then he gave me a sprig of jessamine as a keepsake, and I ripped open my celebrated “running-bag” to get a real for true silver five cents — a perfect curiosity in these days — which I gave him in exchange, and which he promised to wear on his watch-chain. He and Miriam amused themselves examining the contents of my sack and laughing at my treasures, the wretches! Then came — good-bye. I think he was sorry to see us go. Well! he ought to miss us! Ah! these farewells! To-day I bid adieu to Linwood. “It may be for years, and it may be forever!” This good-bye will cost me a sigh.

SOURCE: Sarah Morgan Dawson, A Confederate Girl's Diary, p. 329-30

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: June 12, 1864

I am grieved to say that we have had a reverse in the “Valley,” and that General Jones, of the cavalry, has been killed, and his command repulsed. They have fallen back to Waynesborough, leaving Staunton in the hands of the enemy. General Johnston is doing well in Georgia. Oh, that he may use up Sherman entirely! We are getting on well at home; everybody looks as calm as if there were no belligerent armies near.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 280

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: April 19, 1865

Just now, when Mr. Clay dashed up-stairs, pale as a sheet, saying, “General Lee has capitulated,” I saw it reflected in Mary Darby's face before I heard him speak. She staggered to the table, sat down, and wept aloud. Mr. Clay's eyes were not dry. Quite beside herself Mary shrieked, “Now we belong to negroes and Yankees !” Buck said, “I do not believe it.”

How different from ours of them is their estimate of us. How contradictory is their attitude toward us. To keep the despised and iniquitous South within their borders, as part of their country, they are willing to enlist millions of men at home and abroad, and to spend billions, and we know they do not love fighting per se, nor spending money. They are perfectly willing to have three killed for our one. We hear they have all grown rich, through “shoddy,” whatever that is. Genuine Yankees can make a fortune trading jackknives.

“Somehow it is borne in on me that we will have to pay the piper,'” was remarked to-day. “No; blood can not be squeezed from a turnip. You can not pour anything out of an empty cup. We have no money even for taxes or to be confiscated.”

While the Preston girls are here, my dining-room is given up to them, and we camp on the landing, with our one table and six chairs. Beds are made on the dining-room floor. Otherwise there is no furniture, except buckets of water and bath-tubs in their improvised chamber. Night and day this landing and these steps are crowded with the elite of the Confederacy, going and coming, and when night comes, or rather, bedtime, more beds are made on the floor of the landing-place for the war-worn soldiers to rest upon. The whole house is a bivouac. As Pickens said of South Carolina in 1861, we are “an armed camp.”

My husband is rarely at home. I sleep with the girls, and my room is given up to soldiers. General Lee's few, but undismayed, his remnant of an army, or the part from the South and West, sad and crestfallen, pass through Chester. Many discomfited heroes find their way up these stairs. They say Johnston will not be caught as Lee was. He can retreat; that is his trade. If he would not fight Sherman in the hill country of Georgia, what will he do but retreat in the plains of North Carolina with Grant, Sherman, and Thomas all to the fore?

We are to stay here. Running is useless now; so we mean to bide a Yankee raid, which they say is imminent. Why fly? They are everywhere, these Yankees, like red ants, like the locusts and frogs which were the plagues of Egypt.

The plucky way in which our men keep up is beyond praise. There is no howling, and our poverty is made a matter of laughing. We deride our own penury. Of the country we try not to speak at all.

SOURCES: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 378-80

Diary of William Howard Russell: May 2, 1861

Breakfasted with Mr. Hodgson, where I met Mr. Locke, Mr. Ward, Mr. Green, and Mrs. Hodgson and her sister. There were in attendance some good-looking little negro boys and men dressed in liveries, which smacked of our host's Orientalism; and they must have heard our discussion, or rather allusion, to the question which would decide whether we thought they are human beings or black two-legged cattle, with some interest, unless indeed the boast of their masters, that slavery elevates the character and civilizes the mind of a negro, is another of the false, pretences on which the institution is rested by its advocates. The native African, poor wretch, avoids being carried into slavery totis viribus, and it would argue ill for the effect on his mind of becoming a slave, if he prefers a piece of gaudy calico even to his loin-cloth and feather head-dress. This question of civilizing the African in slavery, is answered in the assertion of the slave owners themselves, that if the negroes were left to their own devices by emancipation, they would become the worst sort of barbarians — a veritable Quasheedom, the like of which was never thought of by Mr. Thomas Carlyle. I doubt if the aboriginal is not as civilized, in the true sense of the word, as any negro, after three degrees of descent in servitude, whom I have seen on any of the plantations — even though the latter have leather shoes and fustian or cloth raiment and felt hat, and sings about the Jordan. He is exempted from any bloody raid indeed, but he is liable to be carried from his village and borne from one captivity to an other, and his family are exposed to the same exile in America as in Africa. The extreme anger with which any unfavorable comment is met publicly, shows the sensitiveness of the slave owners. Privately, they affect philosophy; and the blue books, and reports of Education Commissions and Mining Committees, furnish them with an inexhaustible source of argument, if you once admit that the summum bonum lies in a certain rotundity of person, and a regular supply of coarse food. A long conversation on the old topics — old to me, but of only a few weeks’ birth. People are swimming with the tide. Here are many men, who would willingly stand aside if they could, and see the battle between the Yankees, whom they hate, and the Secessionists. But there are no women in this party. Wo betide the Northern Pyrrhus, whose head is within reach of a Southern tile and a Southern woman's arm!

I revisited some of the big houses afterwards, and found the merchants not cheerful, but fierce and resolute. There is a considerable population of Irish and Germans in Savannah, who to a man are in favor of the Confederacy, and will fight to support it. Indeed, it is expected they will do so, and there is a pressure brought to bear on them by their employers which they cannot well resist. The negroes will be forced into the place the whites hitherto occupied as laborers — only a few useful mechanics will be kept, and the white population will be obliged by a moral force drafting to go to the wars. The kingdom of cotton is most essentially of this world, and it will be fought for vigorously. On the quays of Savannah, and in the warehouses, there is not a man who doubts that he ought to strike his hardest for it, or apprehends failure. And then, what a career is before them! All the world asking for cotton, and England dependent on it. What a change since Whitney first set his cotton-gin to work in this state close by us! Georgia, as a vast country only partially reclaimed, yet looks to a magnificent future. In her past history the Florida wars, and the treatment of the unfortunate Cherokee Indians, who were expelled from their lands as late as 1838, show the people who descended from old Oglethorpe's band were fierce and tyrannical, and apt at aggression, nor will slavery improve them. I do not speak of the cultivated and hospitable citizens of the large towns, but of the bulk of the slaveless whites.

SOURCE: William Howard Russell, My Diary North and South, p. 157-8

Diary of 5th Sergeant Alexander G. Downing: Monday, January 30, 1865

We marched about three miles this morning and then went into bivouac to await further orders. The report is that we are now ready to make the grand raid through South Carolina. The Seventeenth and Fifteenth Corps are to form the right wing, as in the campaign through Georgia, with General O. O. Howard in command. General Slocum is in command of the left wing, composed of the other two corps, the Fourteenth and Twentieth, while Kilpatrick's cavalry will take the flanks as rear guard. General Sherman is in chief command. General Foster, it is said, is either to remain here or move to Charleston.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 249

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Wednesday, November 30, 1864

Weather pleasant. We broke camp at 8 o'clock and covered only ten miles by the close of the whole day's march, when we went into bivouac on the banks of the Ogeechee river. We had a bad road, it being almost one continuous swamp. Now and then there was a small farm with a log hut occupied by a poor woman and children, all the men and larger boys being off with the army.¹ All is quiet in the front, but the rebels keep close on our rear. It is reported that General Wheeler with his cavalry is in our rear. The boys all declare that it's the safest place for him to be, just so he doesn't get too close. This is the sixteenth day out from Atlanta and we have been on the march part of the time both day and night. We have had but little fighting, but we have destroyed one thousand miles of railroad and burned millions of dollars' worth of other property. Camp in the swamps of Georgia.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 233

Diary of Corporal Alexander G. Downing: Monday, November 7, 1864

It is cloudy and quite cool. The Eleventh Iowa received six months' pay this afternoon, besides another installment of the bounty. I got $148.00 in pay and $100.00 of bounty money. Our army is preparing to evacuate Atlanta. The general quartermaster is loading every train going north with the surplus commissariat and all extra army baggage. It is reported that our army is going to fall back as far as Chattanooga, and that we are to destroy the railroad as we go. There is a report that the army of the Tennessee is going on a long expedition further south.¹

_______________

¹ This was through Georgia, but as yet the men knew nothing definite. — Ed.

Source: Alexander G. Downing, Edited by Olynthus B., Clark, Downing’s Civil War Diary, p. 227

General Joseph E. Johnston to Senator Louis T. Wigfall, January 26, 1863

Chattanooga, Jany. 26th, 1863.

My dear Wigfall:

I have asked the government by telegraph if any additional troops, new or old, can be furnished for Bragg's Army, but have had no reply. Will you suggest to Mr. Seddon that we are in a very critical condition in Tennessee? The enemy has fully supplied his losses, I am officially informed, while our army has received stragglers and exchanged prisoners amounting to about a third of our killed and wounded. Such being the case, if there is any truth in arithmetic, another battle must drive us still farther back. If driven across the Cumberland Mountains we can not hold East Tennessee and once in possession of that country Rosecranz may choose his point on our South Eastern or Eastern frontier from Richmond to Mobile. It is of the utmost importance therefore to reinforce Bragg. The conscription is operating very slowly. Can no mode of expediting its enforcement be adopted? I cannot draw upon Pemberton, for his force is far too small now. I proposed the bringing to him 18,000 or 20,000 troops from Arkansas, none of whom ever came. The enemy is again at Vicksburg, too, in heavier force, and doubtless with a different plan — probably to attempt to attack from below instead of from the Yazoo.

Bragg has done wonders, I think — no body of troops has done more in proportion to numbers in the same time. At Murfreesboro’ he killed, wounded and took 17,000 and within the three weeks preceding 7,500. His own loss in all that time about 9,000. My own official position does not improve on acquaintance. It is little, if any, better than being laid on the shelf. I have endeavored to explain this to the President, but he thinks it essential to have one here who can transfer troops from this department to Pemberton's and vice-versa. That would be extremely well if either department could possibly spare troops, even for a short time, but that is not the case, each having too few for immediate purposes and the distance and character of the intermediate country such as completely prevents them from aiding each other, except an occasional cavalry movement. It is an attempt to join things which cannot be united. It would require at least a month to send 10,000 men from one of the two armies to the other. Each department having its own commander and requiring—indeed having room but for one. You perceive how little occupation I can find. I can not unite the two armies — because they are too far apart, and each is required where it is. Nor can I take command of one because each has its proper commander, and yet the country may hold me responsible for any failure between North Carolina and Georgia and the Mississippi, for I am supposed to be commanding in all that country. After commanding our most important, and I may add, best army for a year, it is hard to lose that command for wounds in battle and to receive a nominal one. I must confess I cannot help repining at this position. The President, however, evidently intends that I shall hold a high position and important one; but I think he mistakes the relation between Tennessee and Mississippi.

I flatter myself that I have never been so garrulous before and won't be so again.

We rarely see Richmond papers, so I don't know what you are doing for us. My cordial regards to Mrs. Wigfall and the young ladies.

If you can help me out of my present place I shall love you more than ever. It will require diplomacy and cunning, however, and I don't think you strong in the latter.

Yours truly,

J. E. Johnston.

SOURCE: Louise Wigfall Wright, A Southern Girl in ’61, p. 121-3

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: January 19, 1863

Colonel Bradley Johnson has been with us for some days. He is nephew to Bishop J., and as bright and agreeable in private as he is bold and dashing in the field. Our little cottage has many pleasant visitors, and I think we are as cheerful a family circle as the Confederacy can boast. We are very much occupied by our Sunday-schools — white in the morning, and coloured in the afternoon. In the week we are often busy, like the “cotter's” wife, in making “auld claes look amaist as weel as new.” “New claes” are not attainable at present high prices; we are therefore likely to become very ingenious in fixing up "auld anes.” My friend who lately arrived from Washington looked on very wonderingly when she saw us all ready for church. “Why, how genteel you look!” at last broke from her; “I had no idea of it. We all thought of you as suffering in every respect.” I told her that the Southern women were as ingenious as the men were brave; and while we cared little for dress during such anxious times, yet when our husbands and sons returned from the field we preferred that their homes should be made attractive, and that they should not be pained by the indifferent appearance of their wives, sisters, and mothers. She was still more surprised by the neatly fitting, prettily made dresses of Southern manufacture. “Are they of Virginia cloth?” she asked. No, poor old Virginia has no time or opportunity for improving her manufactures, while almost her whole surface is scarred and furrowed by armies; but Georgia and North Carolina are doing much towards clothing the first ladies in the land. Sister M. has just improved my wardrobe by sending me a black alpaca dress, bought from a Potomac blockade-runner. We, ever and anon, are assisted in that way: sometimes a pound of tea, sometimes a pair of gloves, is snugged away in a friendly pocket, and after many dangers reaches us, and meets a hearty welcome; and what is more important still, medicine is brought in the same way, having escaped the eagle eyes of Federal watchers. A lady in Richmond said laughingly to a friend who was about to make an effort to go to Baltimore, “Bring me a pound of tea and a hoop-skirt;” and after a very short absence he appeared before her, with the tea in one hand and the skirt in the other. It is pleasant to see how cheerfully the girls fall into habits of economy, and occupy themselves in a way of which we never dreamed before.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 185-6

Reverend James Henley Thornwell to Reverend Dr. John Leighton Wilson, January 7, 1861

TheOlogical Seminary, January 7, 1861.

My Dear Brother: Your two letters have both been received; and I was delighted to find what, of course, I was prepared to expect, that your heart and your sympathies are fully with the people of your native State. Every day convinces me more and more that we acted at the right time and in the right way. Georgia will be out of the Union tomorrow, or the next day. Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas will speedily follow; and we shall soon have a consolidated South. The rumours about mob law in this State are totally and meanly false. The internal condition of our society never was sounder and healthier. The law never was so perfectly supreme. Every right and interest of the citizen is completely protected; and our people are bound together in ties of mutual confidence, so strong that even private feuds are forgotten and buried. The whole State is like a family, in which the members vie with each other in their zeal to promote the common good. There is even little appearance of excitement. All is calm and steady determination. It is really a blessing to live here now, to see how thoroughly law and order reign in the midst of an intense and radical revolution. You need not fear that our people will do anything rash. They will simply stand on the defensive. They will permit no reinforcements to be sent to Charleston; and if Fort Sumter is not soon delivered up to them, they will take it. In a few days we shall be able to storm it successfully. We shall take the Fort, not as an act of war, but in righteous self-defence. We do not want war. We prefer peace. But we shall not decline the appeal to arms, if the North forces it upon us.

I have just concluded a defence of the secession of the Southern States, which will soon be out in the Southern Presbyterian Review. It is the last article, and is already advanced in printing. I shall have a large edition in pamphlet form struck off. To me it appears to be conclusive; you can judge for yourself, when you see it. Dr. Hodge's article has been received with universal indignation.  *  *  *

The contributions to Foreign Missions among us will certainly fall off. We shall not be in a condition to contribute as we have done.

SOURCE: Benjamin Morgan Palmer, The Life and Letters of James Henley Thornwell, p. 486-7

Lieutenant-Colonel Theodore Lyman to Elizabeth Russell Lyman, December 11, 1864

December 11, 1864

Weather as before — only a little more so. I suppose they have a good deal such in England. If so, don't want to live there. Pretty times for half the army, off and on, to be marching and reconnoitring and expeditionizing about the country, as if it were picnic season! And still stranger is it to be sitting quiet in my tent when so many people are running round loose. Our affairs are rather mixed up, you see. So are those of everybody. Sherman has disappeared in Georgia and nobody knows what awful strategy he contemplates. Not so Hood: he is poking about in a manner I don't at all like: jamming Thomas up in Nashville, and now I fancy he is just marching round the city and into Kentucky. That won't do! Old Lee don't let us march round towns unless he chooses, or has at least a hard fight for it. However, I can't think Hood can do severe damage with so powerful an army as that of Thomas in his neighborhood. Well, we will hope for a big thing, of some sort, somewhere, for there are a number of irons, small and great, in the fire, and as much activity prevails as if we were not near the real winter. One thing I am sure of, that, what with expeditions little and big, threatenings and reconnaissances, the Rebels must be kept in quite an active state of simmer. Poor General Potter! He had a frightful night march and was doubtless buoyed up by the feeling that he had a separate command and could distinguish himself if there was a fight, and slam in on Hill's left flank, and win a great name for himself. What then was his disgust to see, about noon, the head of Warren's column trudging peaceably back, on the other side of the river! There were two decent-sized armies staring at each other, across the stream,' each wondering what the other meant by being there; and both wondering why so many men were concentrated against nobody. General Potter philosophically shrugged his shoulders, gave the word to face about, and put his best leg forward for home, where he arrived a little after dark. It was a terrible night for a bivouac, with an intensely piercing cold wind and everything frozen up. Warren crossed the river and spent the night on this side of it.

SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness to Appomattox, p. 296-7

Brigadier-General John A. Rawlins to Mary Emeline Hurlburt Rawlins, May 2, 1864

Culpepper C. H., Va., May 2, 1864.

. . . Chilly with cold rain.

The news from Sherman is satisfactory in defeating the rebel army in Georgia. Should victory light upon his eagles, he will avail himself of every advantage of the situation, I assure you. There is a confidence in the Western army of their ability to win that is commendable in every army, and I wish in my heart all our others possessed it.

There is a habit contracted among officers of this army anything but praiseworthy, namely, of saying of Western successes: “Well, you never met Bobby Lee and his boys; it would be quite different if you had.” And in speaking of the probabilities of our success in the coming campaign: “Well, that may be, but, mind you, Bobby Lee is just over the Rapidan,” when if these very same officers would but look at simple facts they would find that Meade since assuming command of this army has not only outgeneraled General Lee, but has whipped him badly in every considerable engagement they have fought. To wit, at Gettysburg compelling him to flee in haste towards Richmond, and also at the crossing of the Rappahannock, where a division of Sedgwick's corps captured two brigades of Lee's army.

It may be answered by the admirers of Lee and the defamers of the Union Generals that Meade fell back towards Washington last fall, but this was the best thing General Meade could do, for it enabled him to have the full benefit of the 35,000 troops in that garrison, in case Lee gave battle. Finding, however, that Lee had apparently changed his mind, Meade followed him with a large and concentrated force and as rapidly as possible to the south side of the Rapidan. Subsequently Meade crossed the Rapidan in his face, and drove him beyond his works at Mine Run, and then returned, with but little loss to his present position. Here Lee's admirers will interpose the inquiry: “Why didn't Meade fight him at Mine Run?” which may be just as fairly answered as it is put by saying: “Why didn't Lee fight Meade when he followed him to Washington?” No, the facts are, since Meade took command of the Army of the Potomac, it has beaten the Army of North Virginia in every considerable conflict, and truthful history will so record it. The engagements have been few, but all of them have been decisive and the result not doubtful. I am full of hope and trust in God for victory.

This evening I received a note from a lieutenant in our army saying there was a Miss Rawlins at Stephensburg, five miles distant from here, who was desirous of knowing if I was in anywise related to Major Owen, or Thomas, or John Rawlins of Missouri, and that they were all her uncles. They are also uncles of mine, but the two last mentioned are dead, if I remember correctly. I do not know how a cousin of mine, a lady, could get down here. I know my grandfather was from Virginia, but from what part I cannot state. I had supposed none of my uncles resided in this State. Unless she is the daughter of my Uncle Benjamin, who lived in Kentucky, I cannot guess her parentage. To-morrow if it is clear and I feel able to stand a ride, I shall call on her, for I know it will interest father very much to hear all the particulars and to learn that she is not suffering. I am much better to-day and am taking precious good care of myself. Enclosed find photograph of General Augur, who commanded the defences at Washington. . . .

SOURCE: James H. Wilson, The Life of John A. Rawlins, p. 426-8

Brigadier-General John A. Rawlins to Mary Emeline Hurlburt Rawlins, April 27, 1864

Culpepper C. H., Va., April 27, 1864.

. . . A few more days and all will be ready for the spring campaign. General Burnside's corps has reached Washington, and the head of his column arrived at Fairfax C. H., some distance this side, to-night. General Sherman has gone forward from Nashville to Chattanooga, not to return till he has tried with Joe Johnston for the mastery of Georgia. Sigel is in readiness, and all of Butler's troops but six regiments are up. These forces will move simultaneously at the appointed time, which will be before you receive this letter unless other orders than those out are given. So you see we have not been idle.

Colonel Bowers and myself finished yesterday General Grant's report of the battle of Belmont. It is a very creditable one and places that engagement in its true light for transmittal to posterity, so far as could be known to our side. I have long since learned that an action creditable in itself can be best presented in the garb of real facts. So whenever you see any report with which I have had anything whatever to do, depend upon it, the historian who accepted it as true will most certainly not deceive the searchers after truth.  . . . I entered the service September 12, 1861. We shall move from here in a day or two. . . .

SOURCE: James H. Wilson, The Life of John A. Rawlins, p. 425-6

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: July 1, 1861

My family are gone. We have moved the department to Mechanics' Hall, which will be known hereafter as the War Department. In an evil hour, I selected a room to write my letters in, quite remote from the Secretary's office. I thought Mr. Walker resented this He had likewise been piqued at the effect produced by an article I had written on the subject of the difficulty of getting arms from Georgia with the volunteers from that State. One of the spunky Governor's organs had replied with acerbity, not only defending the Governor, but striking at the Secretary himself, to whom the authorship was ascribed. My article had been read and approved by the Secretary before its insertion; nevertheless he now regretted it had been written — not that there was anything improper in it, but that it should have been couched in words that suggested the idea to the Southern editor that the Secretary might be its author. I resolved to meddle with edged tools no more; for I remembered that Gil Bias had done the same thing for the Duke of Lerma. Hereafter I shall study Gil Bias for the express purpose of being his antithesis. But I shall never rise until the day of doom brings us all to our feet again.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 57

Diary of Judith W. McGuire: March 13, 1862

Our hearts are overwhelmed to-day with our private grief. Our connection, Gen. James Mcintosh, has fallen in battle. It was at Pea Ridge, Arkansas, on the 7th, while making a dashing cavalry charge. He had made one in which he was entirely successful, but seeing the enemy reforming, he exclaimed, “We must charge again. My men, who will follow me?” He then dashed off, followed by his whole brigade. The charge succeeded, but the leader fell, shot through the heart. The soldiers returned, bearing his body! My dear J. and her little Bessie are in Louisiana. I groan in heart when I think of her. Oh that I were near her, or that she could come to us! These are the things which are so unbearable in this war. That noble young man, educated at West Point, was Captain in the army, and resigned when his native Georgia seceded. He soon rose to the rank of Brigadier, but has fallen amid the flush of victory, honoured, admired and beloved by men and officers. He has been buried at Fort Smith. The Lord have mercy upon his wife and child! I am thankful that he had no mother to add to the heart-broken mothers of this land. The gallant Texas Ranger, General Ben McCulloch, fell on the same day; he will be sadly missed by the country. In my selfishness I had almost forgotten him, though he doubtless has many to weep in heart-sickness for their loved and lost.

Bishop Meade is desperately ill to-day — his life despaired of.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 100-1

Diary of Josephine Shaw Lowell: October 25, 1862

Another battle before the month is up. Oh! we are indeed being crushed and chastened! It is a great comfort in these days when (in New York at least) the people seem trifling and uncertain, to hear such good, strong confidence expressed as Mr. Henry James¹ said he felt in the people's “coming to self-consciousness,” as he called it. When I asked him if he thought it would take long to make them feel that they were the one and only power, and that they must save their native land, he said: “No, perhaps a day might do it. Some manly act on the part of a leader might crystallize the men near him.” Everything looks dark and uncertain ahead, except the pure faith in God and ourselves. However, it isn't well to be down-hearted in view of the proclamation, — that must work. I was told yesterday by Lou Schuyler that the negroes in Georgia had quietly refused to work, sitting calmly with no idea of insurrection, but simply immovable. In Louisiana (as a lady told Mother who came from there) there is no more slavery, and with such facts before us how can we say nothing has been accomplished?

Yesterday at the theatre it didn't sound well when Richelieu² said: “Take away the sword,” etc., to hear loud applause, but we comforted ourselves with the reflection that it was New York and only the upper gallery at that. I suppose waiting is wholesome and trust that it is as Mr. James said, that “When the people do wake up and know themselves, we shall have blessed happy peace forever.” We, as a Nation, are learning splendid lessons of heroism and fortitude through it that nothing else could teach. All our young men who take their lives in their hands and go out and battle for the right grow noble and grand in the act, and when they come back (perhaps only half of those who went) I hope they will find that the women have grown with them in the long hours of agony. Mr. James brought Nellie and me today two photographs of Wilkie,³ who had gone off in the 44th as Sergeant, and on the back was somebody's or something's escutcheon with the motto, “Vincere vel mori.” It seemed a very fitting one for a young soldier going forth in all the ardor of a first campaign. Dear boys! How noble they are, and yet how can they help being noble? I have longed so to go myself that it seemed unbearable, and Emmie Russell⁴ wrote me from Florence that it always made her cry to see soldiers, partly for thinking of our army, and partly for chagrin that she was not a man to go too. We can work though if we can't enlist, and we do. It is very pleasant to see how well the girls and women do work everywhere, sewing meetings, sanitary hospitals and all. Lou Schuyler told me at the Sanitary yesterday that there were 150,000 sick and wounded now in the different hospitals to be cared for! and I suppose, poor fellows, they are cold and tired and miserable, even after all that's been done for them! God help us all.

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¹ The elder of that name.

² Played at that time by Edwin Booth.

³ Wilkie James, brother of Professor William James.

⁴ Afterwards Mrs. Charles L. Pierson, of Boston.

SOURCE: William Rhinelander Stewart, The Philanthropic Work of Josephine Shaw Lowell, p. 35-6

Major-General George G. Meade to Margaretta Sergeant Meade, December 6, 1864

Headquarters Army Of The Potomac, December 6, 1864.

To-night my commission, or rather letter of appointment, as major general in the regular army, to date from August 18th, 1864, has arrived. George¹ has also received the appointment of major, by brevet, for gallantry and meritorious conduct on the campaign. Jim Biddle is also made lieutenant colonel, by brevet, for the same reasons. These appointments do not give them any increase of pay, but are an acknowledgment of the performance of their duty, and as such are much valued. I think I have reason to be proud that all my recommendations, amounting to two hundred, have been approved.

To-morrow I send off an expedition under Warren, which I trust will result in something decisive, as we are all anxious to have matters on a more settled basis than they now are before the winter.

I feel some anxiety about Thomas in Tennessee. I think I wrote you some time ago, when I first heard of Sherman's movement, that its success would depend on Thomas's capacity to cope with Hood. I think it was expected Sherman's movement would draw Hood back to Georgia, but I anticipated just what he appears to be doing — a bold push for Kentucky, which, if he succeeds in, will far outbalance any success Sherman may have in going from Atlanta to the sea coast. Sherman took with him the largest part of his army, when he did not expect to meet any organized opposition, leaving Thomas with the lesser force to confront and oppose Hood, with the whole of his organized forces. I trust old Thomas will come out all right, but the news is calculated to create anxiety.

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¹ Son of General Meade.

SOURCE: George Meade, The Life and Letters of George Gordon Meade, Vol. 2, p. 249-50