Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: April 25, 1864

A bright and beautiful day; southern breezes.

No reliable war news; but there are rumors that our victory at Shreveport was a great one. Nothing additional from North Carolina, though something further must soon occur there. It is said the enemy's killed and wounded at Plymouth amounted to only 100: ours 300; but we got 2500 prisoners.

President Lincoln has made a speech at Baltimore, threatening retaliation for the slaughter at Fort Pillow-which was stormed.

Lieut.-Gen. Polk telegraphs that our forces have captured and burnt one of the enemy's gun-boats at Yazoo City-first taking out her guns, eight rifled 24-pounders.

To-day Mr. Memminger, in behalf of the ladies in his department, presented a battle-flag to the Department Battalion for its gallant conduct in the repulse of Dahlgren's raid. But the ladies leave early in the morning for South Carolina.

The President still says that many of the government officers and employees must be sent away, if transportation cannot be had to feed them here as well as the armies.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 192

Thomas Overton Moore

This gentleman was a North Carolinian. The esteem in which his family were held in their native State is evidenced by the naming of Moore County for them. Governor Moore's grandfather on the distaff side was General Thomas Overton, who held the position of major during the Revolutionary War under General Lee's father. He acted as Second for General Jackson in a duel, and his son, General Walter H. Overton, was aid to Jackson at New Orleans.

When Governor Moore came to Louisiana he settled in Rapides Parish as a cotton planter, and was sent from there to the State Senate in 1856, where his political course was so creditable he was elected Governor on the Democratic ticket of 1860. Early in his administration “he convened the Legislature in extra session to determine the course Louisiana should pursue in view of the evident determination of the General Government to destroy the institution of slavery.”

Through Governor Moore's advice a convention was called by the Legislature, at Baton Rouge, on the 23d of January, 1861. The 26th of the same month the Convention passed the Ordinance of Secession and Louisiana bid farewell to the Union. Thus were fulfilled the prophetic warnings of every Governor who had controlled the State for during more than forty years, beginning with Governor Robertson, in 1820. No sooner had the decree of Secession been declared than Governor Moore ordered Adjutant General Grivot to organize the militia force of the State, consisting of 24,000 men, ready for active service. With these troops the military posts and garrisons within the State were taken possession of, with many thousands of stands of arms and immense quantities of ammunition. A Soldiers' Relief Association was formed, and free markets opened in New Orleans. Governor Moore compelled the banks to suspend specie payments, even though by this move they forfeited their charters, as he considered this necessary for their protection. Being petitioned by many cotton factors of New Orleans to issue an order forbidding the introduction of cotton within its limits, he did so, although such a course was not guaranteed by law of any kind but that of practical sense and emergency of circumstance. When, by the disastrous fate of war, New Orleans passed under Federal control, in 1862, Governor Moore called together the Legislature at Opelousas; the quorum of members being small they were reassembled at Shreveport. Here his official term drew to a close, and he passed the scepter of State Government on to his successor, the brave and gallant Allen.

Governor Moore cannot be described better than in the words of Meynier: “He was remarkable for his truthfulness and strict integrity as well as for the purity of his private life. His disposition was fiery, and, politically a democrat, he believed in the precepts of Jefferson and Jackson, being a great admirer of the General's determination whose example he followed in his gubernatorial career.”

Governor Moore's life ended at his home in Rapides Parish, June, 1876, aged seventy-one.

SOURCE: Mrs. Eugene Soniat du Fossat, Biographical Sketches of Louisiana's Governors, p. 37-8

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant John S. Morgan: Sunday, February 5, 1865

Morning ground covered with snow & sleet. damp ugly day. tore down our church for wood. Busy all day with Returns. 4 transports up Ark river. Peace rumors. Shreveport reported taken. Wilmington ours raining at night

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 8, April 1923, p. 573

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant George G. Smith: April 13, 1864

We found Bank's whole army here having been badly defeated at Pleasant Hill, forty miles above on the nineth and tenth instant and had retreated back to this place with his whole army. The story of the battle so far as I could learn from those who participated in it, was as follows: The objective point was Shrievesport on this river about sixty miles above. General Curtis from Arkansas and General Banks from New Orleans were both marching upon it intending to form a junction there. But Banks did not take the wiley rebel General Green into the account. With a strong force of Texas troops he stepped between the approaching armies first attacking Curtis and driving him back towards Arkansas and then turning upon Banks. South of Shrievsport is a dense forest through which the road passes. In this forest Green placed his troops disposing them in the form of the letter A with the apex towards the city where he planted a battery in the road. The Union cavalry was in the advance followed by the baggage train. As soon as the head of the column reached the battery they opened fire. The wings closed upon the baggage train, shot the mules and drivers, piling up the wagons in terrible confusion making the road utterly impassable, while the forest was so dense a rabbit could hardly crawl through; the enemy had it pretty much all his own way. The long baggage train was all captured with its valuable stores besides most of the cavalry was either killed or captured. The remaining few that escaped fell back on the infantry support which was a day's march in the rear. Of course the enemy pursued them until they met the infantry and then it was their turn to retreat; which they did without stopping to fight long. The infantry pursued them about eight miles, but it was a useless chase as their commissary stores were all gone and they were compelled to retreat. They fell back to Grand Ecore and threw up entrenchments and this is where we found them.

SOURCE: Abstracted from George G. Smith, Leaves from a Soldier's Diary, p. 95-7

Diary of 1st Sergeant John S. Morgan: Saturday, January 21, 1865

Wet drizzly rain all day. Fort detail relieved. Lt Seevers brings report of a march for 10 days. No orders until near noon, orders come to be ready by 8, A. M. tomorrow over to see Lt Sharman. he is better. Evening prevailing opinion that it is good bye Little Rock how are you Shrevesport. A cooperating column reported moving up Red River, nearly all the troops cav. & Inft to go.

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 8, April 1923, p. 571

Diary of Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle: Friday, May 8, 1863

We reached Marshall at 3 A.M., and got four hours' sleep there. We then got into a railroad for sixteen miles, after which we were crammed into another stage.

Crossed the frontier into Louisiana at 11 A.M. I have therefore been nearly a month getting through the single state of Texas.

Reached Shrieveport at 3 P.M., and after washing for the first time in five days, I called on General Kirby Smith, who commands the whole country on this side of the Mississippi.

He is a Floridian by birth, was educated at West Point, and served in the United States cavalry. He is only thirty-eight years old; and he owes his rapid rise to a lieutenant-general to the fortunate fact of his having fallen, just at the very nick of time, upon the Yankee flank at the first battle of Manassas.¹

He is a remarkably active man, and of very agreeable manners; he wears big spectacles and a black beard.

His wife is an extremely pretty woman, from Baltimore, but she had cut her hair quite short like a man's. In the evening, she proposed that we should go down to the river and fish for cray-fish. We did so, and were most successful, the General displaying much energy on the occasion.

He told me that M'Clellan might probably have destroyed the Southern army with the greatest ease during the first winter, and without running much risk to himself, as the Southerners were so much overerated by their easy triumph at Manassas, and their army had dwindled away.

I was introduced to Governor Moore, of Louisiana, to the Lieutenant-Governor Hyams, and also to the exiled Governor of Missouri, Reynolds.

Governor Moore told me he had been on the Red Eiver since 1824, from which date until 1840 it had been very unhealthy. He thinks that Dickens must have intended Shrieveport by “Eden.”²

Governor Reynolds, of Missouri, told me he found himself in the unfortunate condition of a potentate exiled from his dominions; but he showed me an address which he had issued to his Missourians, promising to be with them at the head of an army to deliver them from their oppressors.

Shrieveport is rather a decent-looking place on the Red River. It contains about 3000 inhabitants, and is at present the seat of the Louisianian Legislature vice Baton Rouge. But only twenty-eight members of the Lower House had arrived as yet, and business could not be commenced with less than fifty.

The river now is broad and rapid, and it is navigated by large steamers; its banks are low and very fertile, but reputed to be very unhealthy.

General Kirby Smith advised me to go to Munroe, and try to cross the Mississippi from thence; he was so uncertain as to Alexandria that he was afraid to send a steamer so far.

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¹ Called by the Yankees "Bull Run."

² I believe this is a mistake of Governor Moore. I have always understood Cairo was Eden.

SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three Months in the Southern States: April-June, 1863, p. 80-3

Diary of Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle: Wednesday, May 6, 1863

We left all the passengers at Crockett except the Louisianian Judge, a Government agent, and the ex-boatswain of the Harriet Lane, which vessel had been manned by the Confederates after her capture; but she had since been dismantled, and her crew was being marched to Shrieveport to man the iron-clad Missouri, which was being built there.

The food we get on the road is sufficient, and good enough to support life; it consists of pork or bacon, bread made with Indian corn, and a peculiar mixture called Confederate coffee, made of rye, meal, Indian corn or sweet potatoes. The loss of coffee afflicts the Confederates even more than the loss of spirits; and they exercise their ingenuity in devising substitutes, which are not generally very successful.

The same sort of country as yesterday, viz. — large forests of pines and post-oaks, and occasional Indian corn-fields, the trees having been killed by cutting a circle near the roots.

At 3 P.M., we took in four more passengers. One of them was a Major ——, brother-in-law to ——, who hanged Mongomery at Brownsville. He spoke of the exploit of his relative with some pride. He told me that his three brothers had lost an arm apiece in the war.

We arrived at Eusk at 6.30 P.M., and spent a few hours there; but notwithstanding the boasted splendour of the beds at the Cherokee Hotel, and although by Major ——'s influence I got one to myself, yet I did not consider its aspect sufficiently inviting to induce me to remove my clothes.

SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three months in the southern states: April-June, 1863, p. 76-7

Diary of Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle: Monday, May 4, 1863

General Scurry's servant “John” had been most attentive since he had been told off to me. I made him a present of my evening clothes, which gratified him immensely; and I shook hands with him at parting, which seems to be quite the custom. The Southern gentlemen are certainly able to treat their slaves with extraordinary familiarity and kindness. John told me that the General would let him buy his freedom whenever he chose. He is a barber by trade, and was earning much money when he insisted on rejoining his master and going to the wars.

I left Houston by train for Navasoto at 10 A.M. A Captain Andrews accompanied me thus far: he was going with a troop of cavalry to impress one-fourth of the negroes on the plantations for the Government works at Galveston, the planters having been backward in coming forward with their darkies.

Arrived at Navasoto (70 miles) at 4 P.M., where I took a stage for Shrieveport (250 miles). I started at 4.30 P.M., after having had a little dispute with a man for a corner seat, and beating him.

It was the same sort of vehicle as the San Antonio one — eight people inside. During the night there was a thunderstorm.

SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three months in the southern states: April-June, 1863, p. 73-4

Diary of Judith Brockenbrough McGuire: April 25, 1864

Our family in statu quo. The country in great excitement. We have lately had a splendid little victory at Plymouth, North Carolina. We have also had successes in Florida, at Shreveport, and other places in the South and South-west. The God of battles is helping us, or how could we thus succeed? This city is quite excited by Mr. Memminger having ordered off the Note-signing Department, consisting entirely of ladies, to Columbia, South Carolina. It has caused much distress, for many of them, whose living depends on the salary, can't possibly go. Mothers cannot leave their children, nor wives their husbands. No one seems to understand the motive which prompted the order. It seems to be very arbitrary. It is thought by some persons that all the departments will be ordered off. I trust not; for I, among many others, would be obliged to resign, and I cannot imagine how we would live without the salary. I see no reason to believe that any such move is intended, and I will not be unhappy about it. “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”

The enemy threatens Richmond, and is coming against it with an immense army. They boast that they can and will have it this summer; but, with the help of God, we hope to drive them back again. Our Government is making every effort to defeat them. I don't think that any one doubts our ability to do it; but the awful loss of life necessary upon the fights is what we dread.

SOURCE: Judith W. McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, During the War, p. 259-60

Diary of Mary Boykin Chesnut: August 23, 1864

All in a muddle, and yet the news, confused as it is, seems good from all quarters. There is a row in New Orleans. Memphis¹ has been retaken; 2,000 prisoners have been captured at Petersburg, and a Yankee raid on Macon has come to grief.

At Mrs. Izard's met a clever Mrs. Calhoun. Mrs. Calhoun is a violent partizan of Dick Taylor; says Taylor does the work and Kirby Smith gets the credit for it. Mrs. Calhoun described the behavior of some acquaintance of theirs at Shreveport, one of that kind whose faith removes mountains. Her love for and confidence in the Confederate army were supreme. Why not? She knew so many of the men who composed that dauntless band. When her husband told her New Orleans had surrendered to a foe whom she despised, she did not believe a word of it. He told her to “pack up his traps, as it was time for him to leave Shreveport.” She then determined to run down to the levee and see for herself, only to find the Yankee gunboats having it all their own way. She made a painful exhibition of herself. First, she fell on her knees and prayed; then she got up and danced with rage; then she raved and dashed herself on the ground in a fit. There was patriotism run mad for you! As I did not know the poor soul, Mrs. Calhoun's fine acting was somewhat lost on me, but the others enjoyed it.

Old Edward Johnston has been sent to Atlanta against his will, and Archer has been made major-general and, contrary to his earnest request, ordered not to his beloved Texans but to the Army of the Potomac.

Mr. C. F. Hampton deplores the untimely end of McPherson.² He was so kind to Mr. Hampton at Vicksburg last winter, and drank General Hampton's health then and there. Mr. Hampton has asked Brewster, if the report of his death prove a mistake, and General McPherson is a prisoner, that every kindness and attention be shown to him. General McPherson said at his own table at Vicksburg that General Hampton was the ablest general on our side.

Grant can hold his own as well as Sherman. Lee has a heavy handful in the new Suwarrow. He has worse odds than any one else, for when Grant has ten thousand slain, he has only to order another ten thousand, and they are there, ready to step out to the front. They are like the leaves of Vallambrosa.

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¹ General Forrest made his raid on Memphis in August of this year.

² General McPherson was killed before Atlanta during the sortie made by Hood on July 22d. He was a native of Ohio, a graduate of West Point, and under Sherman commanded the Army of the Tennessee.

SOURCE: Mary Boykin Chesnut, Edited by Isabella D. Martin and Myrta Lockett Avary, A Diary From Dixie, p. 323-4