Diary of Musician David Lane, February 8, 1863

We are under marching orders again—ready to move at a minute's notice. The Ninth Army Corps is detached from the Army of the Potomac and is ordered to report to General Dix, at Fortress Monroe. The supposition is we go on an expedition somewhere—rumor says Vicksburg. The first detachment has gone, and we are awaiting the return of the transports. The men are well pleased with the idea of going farther south. For myself, I say any place but this. When we came here the country was a wilderness, covered with a heavy growth of scrub pine. Now it is a desert with scarcely a tree, and not a fence rail for miles in any direction.

It seems that Richmond has lost its strategic importance, and the "decisive blow" which was to have fallen there has been transferred to five other points, viz: Vicksburg, Port Hudson, Rosa's and Foster's expeditions, and Charleston. "If these prove successful," say the Washington papers, "the rebellion will end in thirty days." God grant them all success. When I survey the past history of the war I can see but little in the immediate future to encourage hope. The conviction is forced upon me that if the North subdue the South, the war has but just begun. It can and will be done, but time and persevering effort only will accomplish it. The people are too impatient. They demand important victories now, while fortified some place—Vicksburg, for instance—can only be taken by siege, and siege means weeks and months of waiting.

Government, urged on by the people, acts as if the salvation of the country depends on all this being accomplished before the fourth of March. But I see nothing but failure in haste.

SOURCE: David Lane, A Soldier's Diary: The Story of a Volunteer, 1862-1865, p. 28-9

Diary of Private W. J. Davidson, March 9, 1863

We left Alexandria yesterday, to the manifest joy of the inhabitants of that village, and I believe our own crew is as happy at the parting as the Alexandrians. I have no pleasing reminiscences of the place, being eased of a good deal of my confederate during our stay. General Kirby Smith arrived there Saturday, and will take command of that department immediately, as he ranks General Taylor. We were telegraphed to return to Port Hudson forthwith, as it was stated that the enemy were to make an attack on that place to-day. We are going down at the rate of fifteen miles an hour. Our expedition has fizzled out. The Grand Era went up to the wreck of the Indianola, and returned yesterday laden with guns, iron, etc., of that notorious craft. There was no other gun-boat below Vicksburg. So it is clearly proven that we fled when no man pursued us.

SOURCE: Edwin L. Drake, Editor, The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and Early Western History, Vol. 1, p. 124

Diary of Private W. J. Davidson, March 11, 1863

PORT HUDSON. We arrived in port yesterday, having made the run without incident worthy of note. Colonel Brand has taken a list of our names, for the purpose of drawing prize money, and has discharged the crew of the Doctor Beatty, as there is no longer any necessity of using her as a gun-boat, the river being clear of the enemy's vessels from here to Vicksburg. I now write from the camp of the Forty-first, where I intend to remain. We expected to find our army engaged with the enemy on our return, as we had heard some heavy ordnance reports at Atchafalaya; so we approached the bend very carefully lest we might, inadvertently, run into the Essex. The firing which we heard. was below, and it is expected that we will have a general engagement this week.

SOURCE: Edwin L. Drake, Editor, The Annals of the Army of Tennessee and Early Western History, Vol. 1, p. 124-5