Nothing of interest doing here. The news is not encouraging. Grant has burned Jackson and evacuated the place, falling back toward Vicksburg. It is also reported that a portion of his army has gone to New Orleans, destined for Mobile. Bragg is at Chattanooga, and the Federal army all over Middle Tennessee and North Alabama. Lee is falling back slowly from Pennsylvania.
SOURCE: Edwin L. Drake, Editor, The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and Early Western History, Vol. 1, p. 281
Bright and very
cold.
A storm has driven
off a portion of the enemy's fleet before Wilmington.
The raid toward
Gordonsville and Charlottesville is not progressing rapidly. We shall have a
force to meet it.
Besides the
demonstration against Savannah (from which place we have no recent tidings), it
appears that an attempt on Mobile is in progress. Too many attempts—some of
them must fail, I hope.
From the last
accounts, I doubted whether Hood's army has been so badly shattered as was
apprehended yesterday.
Gen. Price
(trans-Mississippi) has brought out a large number of recruits from Missouri.
I dined out
yesterday, and sumptuously; the first time for two years.
Congress has done
but little, so far. They are at work on the Currency bill!
Mr. Enders, broker,
and exempted as one of the Ambulance Committee, I am informed paid some $8000
yesterday to Mitchell & Tyler for a few articles of jewelry for his
daughter. And R. Hill, who has a provision shop near the President's office, I
understand expended some $30,000 on the wedding of his daughter. He was poor, I
believe, before the war.
I got an order from
Lieut. Parker, Confederate States Navy, for a load of coal to-day. Good! I hope
it will be received before the last on hand is gone.
The enemy's raiders
camped within seven miles of Gordonsville, last night; and it will be ten
o'clock to-day before our reinforcements can reach there. I hope our stores
(commissary) will not be lost as usual.
Mr. S. Norris,
Signal Bureau, has just (1 P.M.) sent the following:
"I
am just informed that Mr. Smithers, telegraph operator at Gordonsville, is
again in his office. He says fighting is going on in sight that troops from
Richmond have arrived, and arriving—and it is expected that Gen. Lomax will be
able to drive the enemy back."
Just before 3 P. M.
to-day a dispatch came from Mr. Smithers, telegraph operator at Gordonsville,
dated 1 o'clock, saying the enemy have been repulsed and severely punished, and
are retreating the way they came, toward Sperryville. He adds that many of the
enemy's dead now lie in sight of the town. So much for this gleam of good
fortune, for I believe the military authorities here were meditating an
evacuation of the city.
Gen. Custis Lee was
at the department to-day, after the clerks detailed from his command. All, all
are to be dragged out in this bitter cold weather for defense, except the
speculators, the extortioners, the land and slave owners, who really have
something tangible to defend, and these have exemptions or "soft
places."
SOURCE: John
Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate
States Capital, Volume 2, p. 362-3
A night of rain—morning
of fog and gloom. At last we have an account of the evacuation of Savannah. Also
of the beginning of the assault on Fort Fisher and Caswell below Wilmington,
with painful apprehensions of the result; for the enemy have landed troops
above the former fort, and found no adequate force to meet them, thanks to the
policy of the government in allowing the property holders to escape the toils
and dangers of the field, while the poor, who have nothing tangible to fight
for, are thrust to the front, where many desert. Our condition is also largely
attributable to the management of the Bureau of Conscription-really the Bureau
of Exemption.
I saw to-day a
letter from Gen. Beauregard to Gen. Cooper, wherein it was indicated that Gen.
Hood's plan of penetrating Tennessee was adopted before he (Gen. B.) was
ordered to that section.
The enemy did occupy
Saltville last week, and damaged the works. No doubt salt will go up now. The
enemy, however, have retired from the plate, and the works can be repaired.
Luckily I drew 70 pounds last week, and have six months' supply. I have two
months' supply of coal and wood-long enough, perhaps, for our residence in
Richmond, unless the property owners be required to defend their property. I
almost despair of a change of policy.
It is reported that
Sherman is marching south of Savannah, on some new enterprise; probably a
detachment merely to destroy the railroad.
An expedition is
attacking, or about to attack, Mobile.
All our possessions
on the coast seem to be the special objects of attack this winter. If
Wilmington falls, "Richmond next," is the prevalent supposition.
The brokers are
offering $50 Confederate States notes for $1 of gold.
Men are silent, and
some dejected. It is unquestionably the darkest period we have yet experienced.
Intervention on the part of European powers is the only hope of many. Failing
that, no doubt a negro army will be organized-and it might be too late!
And yet, with such a
preponderance of numbers and material against us, the wonder is that we have
not lost all the sea-board before this. I long since supposed the country would
be penetrated and overrun in most of its ports, during the second or third year
of the war. If the government would foster a spirit of patriotism, the country
would always rise again, after these invasions, like the water of the sea
plowed by ships of war. But the government must not crush the spirit of the
people relied upon for defense, and the rich must fight side by side with the
poor, or the poor will abandon the rich, and that will be an abandonment of the
cause.
It is said Gen. Lee
is to be invested with dictatorial powers, so far as our armies are concerned.
This will inspire new confidence. He is represented as being in favor of
employing negro troops.
A dispatch from
Lieut.-Gen. Hardee (to the President), December 24th, 1864, at Charleston, S.
C., says he may have to take the field any moment (against Sherman), and asks a
chief quartermaster and chief commissary. The President invokes the special
scrupulosity of the Secretary in the names of these staff officers.
SOURCE: John
Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate
States Capital, Volume 2, p. 367-8
Rained all night;
spitting snow this morning. Although Gen. Bragg announces that the enemy's
fleet has disappeared off Wilmington, still the despondency which has seized
the croakers remains. It has probably sailed against Charleston, to co-operate
with Sherman. Sherman says officially that he got, with Savannah, about 1000
prisoners, 150 heavy guns, nearly 200 cars and several locomotives, 35,000
bales of cotton, etc. etc. And Gen. Foster says the inhabitants (20,000) were
"quiet, and well disposed." Most people believe Charleston will fall
next, to be followed by a sweep of the entire sea-board; and grave men fear
that the impetus thus given the invader cannot be checked or resisted.
The great want is
fighting men, and they are mostly exempted or detailed under that portion of
the "War Department" which is quietly worked by Judge Campbell, who
is, of course, governed by his own great legal judgment. Well, the President
has been informed of this, and yet waits for Mr. Secretary Seddon to suggest a
remedy. I have often thought, and still think, that either the Bureau of
Conscription must be abolished or the government must fail. The best generals
will not avail without sufficient men to fight.
Gen. Beauregard
telegraphs from Charleston, December 26th, that there is a conflict of
authority at Mobile as to which branch of the service, navy or army, shall
command the torpedo boat. The two Secretaries are referring it to commanders,
and I fear that, by the time the question is settled, some calamity will befall
the boat, and the city, and the country.
Grant is said to be
moving troops to the north side of the river again, fearing an attack from us,
or intending one himself.
SOURCE: John
Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate
States Capital, Volume 2, p. 369
Clear and pleasant.
The enemy still occupy the Weldon Road, beyond Petersburg, in great force. Our loss in killed, wounded, and captured is estimated (in Sunday's fight) at 1000; under the mark, perhaps.
I hear of no raid yet against the Danville Road; but the four speculators have put up the price again. Gen. Kemper told me this morning that he had 3000 of the reserves defending the Danville Road, the number Gen. Lee asked for.
Gen. Hood is so strong at Atlanta, that he has promised to send, in an emergency, a brigade to Mobile.
Interesting events will crowd each other rapidly, now.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 270
Clear; but rained copiously last night.
A letter from Gen. Lee indicates that the “Bureau of Conscription” fails to replenish the army.
The rich men and slave-owners are but too successful in getting out, and in keeping out of the service. The Governor, who commissions magistrates, is exempting some fifty daily, and these, in many instances, are not only young men, but speculators. And nearly every landed proprietor has given bonds to furnish meal, etc. to obtain exemption. Thus corruption is eating to the heart of the cause, and I fear the result of the contest between speculation and patriotism. Mr. Seddon says he has striven to make the conscription officers do their duty, and was not aware that so many farmers had gotten exemption. He promises to do all in his power to obtain recruits, and will so use the strictly local troops as to render the Reserves more active.
What that means we shall soon see. A dispatch from Mobile says Fort Morgan is in the possession of the enemy! Per contra, a dispatch from the same place says Memphis is in the possession of Forrest.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 272
Hot and dry until 4
P.M. Gust, and 15 minutes' rain. Good for turnips.
Forts Gaines and
Powell are lost—the latter blown up. Gen. Maury telegraphs for infantry, has
some 4000 men for the defense of Mobile, etc.
Our raiders, under
McCausland and Bradley Johnson, it is said were surprised and defeated last
Sunday, with loss of 400 men, 500 horses, and 4 pieces of artillery. A rumor
prevails that Early has gained another victory near Winchester.
No news yet from our
agent sent to North Carolina to purchase supplies, but we learn flour and bacon
are not held one-quarter as high there as here. I do sincerely hope Grant's
raiders will keep quiet until I can get something to eat !
Hot and dry, and the famine continues.
The Secretary of War intimated on Saturday that if the clerks of the bureaus would raise a fund and send an agent South to buy provisions, he would insure them transportation, etc. To-day he denies that he made the promise, and refuses to aid them.
The government now proposes to increase its schedule of prices from 300 to 500 per cent., thus depreciating its own credit. Before harvest the impressing agents allowed about $40 per barrel for flour; now, that we have a good harvest, about $130 will be paid, thus raising the price everywhere. The transportation is the expensive item.
A dispatch from Gen. Johnston, at Atlanta, says the enemy having flanked him with his cavalry, he has fallen back across the Chattahoochee.
Dispatches from Gen. S. D. Lee, Tupelo, state that a column of the enemy, 20,000 strong, is about marching from New Orleans against Mobile, and he fears he cannot spare men to resist them. The reserve class is not ready. Also that 15,000 of the enemy are marching from Lagrange, and he will have to dismount some of Forrest's cavalry. Gen. E. K. Smith will not cross the Mississippi to assist in repelling the foe without orders. Orders have been sent from the Secretary of War I fear too late !
Northern papers of the 8th inst. indicate a state of high excitement. Some there believe we have an army of 60,000 pouring into Pennsylvania. Gold was $2.65 for one.
There is some commotion in Grant's army, and it is believed by some that he is about to retire down the river.
It is rumored that the prisoners heretofore confined at Point Lookout have been removed by the Federal Government.
At 7 P.M. we had a gentle shower, lasting more than an hour.
I have reliable information from the entire interior of the South. Johnston has been re-enforced by 3,000 troops from Mobile and other parts of Georgia; by [J.P.] McCown's and Breckinridge's divisions (9,000 men), and 4,000 of Forrest's cavalry, from Bragg's army; 9,000 men from Charleston, and 2,200 from Port Hudson. Orders were sent the very day General Banks invested Port Hudson, to evacuate it. Garrison there now 8,000. Lee's army has not been reduced; Bragg's force now 46,000 infantry and artillery and 15,000 cavalry. Everything not required for daily use has been removed to Atlanta, Ga. His army can fall back to Bristol or Chattanooga at a moment's notice, which places, it is thought, he can hold, and spare 25,000 troops. Mobile and Savannah are now almost entirely without garrisons, further than men to manage large guns. No troops are left in the interior to send to any place. All further re-enforcements will have to come from one of the great armies. There are about 32,000 men west of the Mississippi, exclusive of the troops in Texas. Orders were sent them one week ago by Johnston. The purport of the order not known. Herron has arrived here, and troops from Burnside looked for to-morrow.
[Big Black, June 22,
1863.]
A pretty smart Contraband
Just comes into our lines he left Mobile on Tuesday the 9th inst passed through
Jackson thence he went to Raymond Utica & to our lines on the Edwards
Station road there were but very few troops at Mobile & at Jackson either
at the latter place not over two thousand five hundred men in his very
circuitous route from Jackson he only met small patrols from at Raymond
nobody at Utica
SOURCE: John Y.
Simon, Editor, The Papers of Ulysses S.
Grant, Volume 8, p. 406
The week has been one of interesting incidents, incessant occupation. Admiral Farragut came a week since and called on me. After half an hour or more of conversation on affairs connected with his command, the capture of Mobile, and matters generally, I went with him to the President. In the evening, he, with Mrs. F. and Captain Drayton, spent the evening with us.
Much speculation has been had concerning the dismissal of General Butler. It was anticipated that, being a favorite with the extremists, his dismissal would create a great excitement, but it has passed off without irritation, almost without sensation. The quidnuncs and, indeed, most of the public impute his dismissal from the Army of the James to the Wilmington failure; but it will soon be known that General Grant desired to get rid of him. Butler's greater intellect overshadowed Grant, and annoyed and embarrassed the General-in-Chief.
General Butler's farewell to his army is in many respects skillful and adroit, but in some respects will prove a failure. He does not conceal his chagrin but has hardly discovered whom to strike.
The New York Tribune has striven to warp and torture facts to help Butler, regardless of others and of stern truth. But the Tribune is unsupported. Of course the Rebels and Copperheads will be gratified, and do not conceal their joy. They have some cause for their hate, for he has been a severe, perhaps in some cases an oppressive, governor.
I cannot forget, while glad he is withdrawn from the Fort Fisher command, which he was unfitted to fill, the service which he rendered at Baltimore and in Maryland early in the War, nor his administrative ability at New Orleans, with some infirmities it is true, but which was in many respects valuable to the country. Not a merit which he has should be obscured. I am not his admirer, and should lament to see him in any responsible position without a superior. He has inordinate and irrepressible ambition, and would scruple at nothing to gratify it and his avarice.
The Committee on the Conduct of the War have summoned him to Washington. There was mischief in this. He had been ordered by the President to Lowell. The President yielded. It was well, perhaps, for Butler was off duty. But in Washington he will help the mischief-makers make trouble and stimulate intrigue and faction. Allied with Wade and Chandler and H. Winter Davis, he will not only aid but breed mischief. This is intended.
Seward fears him. There is no love between them, and yet S. would prefer to avoid a conflict. Butler has the reckless audacity attributed to the worst revolutionists of France, in the worst of times, but is deficient in personal courage. He is a suitable idol for Greeley, a profound philanthropist, being the opposite of G. in almost everything except love of notoriety.
The discoveries and disclosures in the Philadelphia Navy Yard are astounding. Some twenty or more arrests have been made, and many of the parties confess their criminality. Some of the worst have not, but the proof against them is strong.
As these men, with scarcely an exception, are friends of the Pennsylvania delegation and appointees of the Administration, extraordinary efforts will be made in their behalf. The Representatives in Congress have, however, thus far behaved pretty well. Kelley protests that he will stand by no culprit, yet several he pronounces to be among the honestest men in Philadelphia, — wants them released and restored.
In Boston the trial of Smith Brothers is brought to a close. It has been on hand some three months. This P.M. (Saturday) Senator Sumner and Representative Hooper called on me with a telegram from the counsel of Smith objecting to the court for the next trial. F. W. Smith's trial is ended; Ben is assigned for next week. The counsel request Sumner to call upon me, and, if I will not grant their request, to go to the President. I told them I was not disposed to consider the subject, and Sumner said he was not inclined to call on the President.
Contentions and rivalries in the Washington Navy Yard give annoyance. Twenty per cent of the workmen are dismissed by order of the Department, and the Senators and Representatives from Maryland object that any Marylander should be of the number dismissed. These strifes among the men and the combinations among the rogues and their friends in the different cities are exciting and drawing out attacks and intrigues against me. The interference of Members of Congress is injurious.
The President yesterday made inquiry of me as to the disposition made
of Farragut. Informed me that General Canby wanted him to remain at Mobile, and
that F. preferred doing so to coming to Wilmington. I told him Farragut was
relieved of the latter duty, and he could remain as long as he pleased in the
Gulf. This morning the President called at the Navy Department and made further
inquiry. Said that Halleck and Sherman had some movements on hand, and the War
Department also, and would like to know if F. could remain. I told him he
could.
Shortly after he left, two dispatches from Admiral Farragut came on to
my table, received by this morning's mail, in which he expressed decided
aversion to taking command at Wilmington.
These dispatches inform me that General Canby has an expedition on foot
for the capture of Mobile, that he is getting troops for this purpose, etc.,
all of which has been studiously kept from the Navy Department, and now when
ready to move, they are embarrassed. I immediately went over to the War
Department and the President was there. He was, I soon saw, but slightly
informed of the proposed army movement, but Stanton and Halleck, finding they
had refined too much, had communicated hastily with him, in order that he
should see me.
All this is bad administration. There will be want of unity and concert
under such management. It is not because the President has any want of
confidence in his Cabinet, but Seward and Stanton both endeavor to avoid
Cabinet consultations on questions of their own Departments. It has been so
from the beginning on the part of the Secretary of State, who spends more or
less of every day with the President and worms from him all the information he
possesses and can be induced to impart. A disposition to constantly intermeddle
with other Departments, to pry into them and often to control and sometimes
counteract them, has manifested itself throughout, often involving himself and
others in difficulty. Chase for some time was annoyed that things were so but
at length went into competition for the President's ear and company. He did not
succeed, however, as against Seward, though adopting his policy of constant
attendance. Stanton has been for the departmental system always. Pressing,
assuming, violent, and impatient, intriguing, harsh, and arbitrary, he is often
exceedingly offensive in his manners, deportment, and many of his acts.
A majority of the friends of the Administration in the last Congress
was opposed to the President, but his opponents were the cronies and intimates of
Stanton, or Chase, who, however, were not cordial towards one another or in
anything but in their hostility to the President. Stanton kept on more intimate
terms with the President, while his friends were the most violent in their
enmity. Wade, Winter Davis, and men of that description were Stanton's
particular favorites and in constant consultation with him.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the
Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866,
p. 165-6
There was ice last night. Cold all day. Gen. Maury writes that no immediate attack on Mobile need be apprehended now. He goes next to Savannah to look after the defenses of that city.
The Examiner to-day publishes Gen. Jos. E. Johnston's report of his operations in Mississippi last summer. He says the disaster at Vicksburg was owing to Gen. Pemberton's disobedience of orders. He was ordered to concentrate his army and give battle before the place was invested, and under no circumstances to allow himself to be besieged, which must of course result in disaster. He says, also, that he was about to manoeuvre in such manner as would have probably resulted in the saving a large proportion of his men, when, to his astonishment, he learned that Gen. P. had capitulated.
Willoughby Newton reports that the enemy are building a number of light boats, to be worked with muffled oars, at Point Lookout, Md., and suggests that they may be designed to pass the obstructions in the James River, in another attempt to capture Richmond.
It is said Lieut.-Gen. E. Kirby Smith, trans-Mississippi, has been made a full general, and that Major-Gen. Sterling Price relieves Lieut.-Gen. Holmes, who is to report at Richmond. If this be so, it is very good policy.
Gen. Lee is still here, but will leave very soon.
Gen. Bragg has taken measures to insure the transportation of meat and grain from the South. Much food for Lee's army has arrived during the last two days.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 172-3
The tidings this evening from Mobile, derived from the Rebels, are satisfactory. It is stated that the Tecumseh was sunk by Fort Morgan's guns. I discredit this. She may have grounded or she may have encountered a torpedo; but most likely it was one of the river boats, though they, being of light draft, would be less likely to keep the channel and encounter the obstructions and torpedoes. If the guns of Fort Morgan sunk an ironclad, it was doubtless one of the river monitors.
SOURCE: Gideon Welles, Diary of Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy Under Lincoln and Johnson, Vol. 2: April 1, 1864 — December 31, 1866, p. 101
Bright and pleasant.
A letter from Gen. Maury indicates now that Mobile is surely to be attacked. He says they may force a passage at Grant's Pass, which is thirty miles distant; and the fleet may pass the forts and reach the lower bay. Gen. M. has 10,000 effective men, and subsistence for 20,000 for six months. He asks 6000 or 7000 more men. He has also food for 4000 horses for six months. But he has only 200 rounds for his cannon, and 250 for his siege guns, and 200 for each musket.
Meal is the only food now attainable, except by the rich. We look for a healthy year, everything being so cleanly consumed that no garbage or filth can accumulate. We are all good scavengers now, and there is no need of buzzards in the streets. Even the pigeons can scarcely find a grain to eat.
Gold brought $30 for $1, Saturday. Nevertheless, we have only good news from the armies, and we have had a victory in Florida.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 156
