Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: August 2, 1862

The Adjutant-General, “by order” (I suppose of the President), is annulling, one after another, all Gen. Winder's despotic orders.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 147

Starvation Prices in Richmond

From the Richmond Examiner, May 2.

With the removal of General Winder’s tariff, the prices of country produce and fish flew back with a recoil in proportion to the heavy pressure which had been removed.  Eggs sold yesterday morning for seventy-five cents per dozen, and butter for a dollar and a half a pound.  High as these prices appear, they are not exorbitant in comparison with the prices demanded for butchers’ meat, bacon, groceries, dry goods, wood, etc.  Butchers’ meat was held according to quality, at between thirty-five and a half and fifty cents a pound; bacon (hog round), thirty-five cents; common brown sugar, forty cents; and firewood, from country carts, is sold at the rate of twelve dollars a cord.  In the way of dry goods, we give a few instances: Unbleached cotton is sold from twenty-five to thirty-seven and forty cents a yard, according to the conscience of the dry goods man; bleached cotton from thirty to forty cents per yard, and often sold for sixty-two and a half cents a yard; spool cotton, two dollars a dozen; Irish linen, from seventy-five cents to one dollar and a quarter a yard, and domestics at fifty cents a yard.

– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Wednesday Morning, May 21, 1862, p. 2

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: Wednesday, July 15, 1863

There was a rumor of another battle beyond the Potomac, this morning, but it has not been confirmed.

From Charleston we have no news; but from Jackson there has been considerable fighting, without a general engagement.                                                               

The Enquirer and Sentinel to-day squint at a military dictatorship; but President Davis would hardly attempt such a feat at such a time.

Gen. Samuel Jones, Western Virginia, has delayed 2000 men ordered to Lee, assigning as an excuse the demonstrations of the enemy in the Kanawha Valley. “Off with his head — so much for Buckingham!”

There is some gloom in the community; but the spirits of the people will rebound.

A large crowd of Irish, Dutch, and Jews are daily seen at Gen. Winder's door, asking permission to go North on the flag of truce boat. They fear being forced into the army; they will be compelled to aid in the defense of the city, or be imprisoned. They intend to leave their families behind, to save the property they have accumulated under the protection of the government.

Files of papers from Europe show that Mr. Roebuck and other members of Parliament, as well as the papers, are again agitating he question of recognition. We shall soon ascertain the real intentions of France and England. If they truly desire our success, and apprehend danger from the United States in the event of a reconstruction of the Union, they will manifest their purposes when the news of our recent calamities shall be transported across the ocean. And if such a thing as reconstruction were possible, and were accomplished (in such a manner and on such terms as would not appear degrading to the Southern people), then, indeed, well might both France and England tremble. The United States would have millions of soldiers, and the Southern people would not owe either of them a debt of gratitude.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 379