Diary of Corporal Charles H. Lynch: September 20, 1864

Great excitement and talk among our boys over Sheridan's great victory. It is now our gallant Phil Sheridan who is master of the Shenandoah Valley. Early has run up against a good soldier who has the men at his command. Too small a force has been in the valley for the past three years. Sheridan has a good cavalry corps, just what is needed here. We cheer and sing for our gallant Phil Sheridan. Keep a good watch for the large number of wagons, horses, and mules parked at this point. That's our duty, to care for them.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 126

Diary of Luman Harris Tenney: Sunday, July 6, 1862

Overslept and wakened at “forward.” Hurried along. Rode a little obstinate pony. Passed the other brigade and encamped at two miles distant. Saw some Confederate papers, very neat. Warmest day of the season. Bathed in Grand River. Wrote a little, read two or three chapters in Philippians. I wish it were easier to be good, or rather I wish I were a better boy and doing some good.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 20

Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry

John S. Morgan, the writer of the following diary, was born at Crawfordsville, Indiana, March 4, 1841, and died at Pella, Iowa, June 15, 1874. He came with his parents in their removal to Pella, Iowa, in 1854. While a student at Central College, Pella, he enlisted as a fourth sergeant in Company G, Thirty-third Iowa Infantry, on September 4, 1862, was promoted to first sergeant July 21, 1864, to second lieutenant January 6, 1865, and was mustered out at New Orleans, Louisiana, July 17, 1865. He was graduated from Central College, and from the Iowa Law School, Des Moines, June 9, 1868, and practiced for a time in Adel, being a partner of D. W. Wooden.

The Thirty-third Iowa Infantry was organized in August, 1862, at Oskaloosa, the companies coming from Marion, Mahaska, and Keokuk counties. Samuel A. Rice of Oskaloosa, attorney-general of the state, was appointed its colonel. On October 4 it was mustered into the United States service, and on November 20 it marched to Eddyville and went by train to Keokuk where it took a steamer and arrived at St. Louis the night of the 21st. Here they were engaged principally in guard duty until December 21 when they went aboard a steamer and on the 24th they were landed at Columbus, Kentucky. There they did some fortifying and on January 1, 1863, proceeded to Union City, Tennessee, expecting an engagement with the enemy. On January 3 they returned to Columbus. Soon thereafter they embarked and reached Helena, Arkansas, on January 13. During the early part of February some of the regiment assisted in clearing out the Yazoo Pass, which was some seven miles below Helena and on the east side of the river. It was a narrow channel connecting the Mississippi River to the east with the Coldwater River. On February 23 they returned to their old camp at Helena, and at that date the diary begins. We have followed Lieutenant Morgan's spelling, capitalization, abbreviations, etc. as they appear in the original diary. — Editor.

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 7, January 1923, p. 483-4

Diary of 4th Sergeant John S. Morgan: Tuesday, February 24, 1863

Reg. ree'd State pay, At 6 P. M. took boat Citizen dropped down to head of pass anchored in camp of 4 others for the night.

SOURCE: “Diary of John S. Morgan, Company G, 33rd Iowa Infantry,” Annals of Iowa, 3rd Series, Vol. 13, No. 7, January 1923, p. 484

Diary of Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle: Sunday, May 17, 1863

We started again at 4.30 A.M., and met five wounded men who had been captured and paroled by Banks in Louisiana; they confirmed everything about the fall of Jackson, which made me consider myself particularly unfortunate, and destined apparently to be always intercepted by the Northern troops, which had happened to me at Alexandria, at Harrisonburg, and now again at Jackson.

At 8 A.M. we reached the little town of Brookhaven, which was full of travellers, principally Confederate soldiers, anxious to rejoin their regiments. Maxey's brigade left this place by road last night to join General Johnston, who is supposed to be concentrating his forces at a place called Canton, not far from Jackson.

I called on Captain Matthews, the officer who commanded at Brookhaven, and after introducing myself to him, he promised to assist me, by every means in his power, to join General Johnston.

I then went to a Methodist chapel; a good many soldiers were there, and great number of women.

At noon, just as I had begun to get in very low spirits about the prospects of getting on, a locomotive arrived from a station called Haslehurst, and brought us the astonishing report that the Yankees had suddenly abandoned Jackson, after destroying all the Government, and a good deal of private, property.

This news caused our prospects to look brighter.

SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three Months in the Southern States: April-June, 1863, p. 102-3

Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes to Lucy Webb Hayes, Sunday Night, March 30, 1862

Raleigh, March 30, 1862. Sunday night.

Dearest: — I received your good letters tonight. I will recollect Will De Charmes and do what I can properly, and more too. I wish you and the boys and Grandma were here tonight to enjoy the sacred music of our band. They are now full (eighteen) and better than ever. The regiment is also strong and looks big and effective. Eight companies on dress parade looked bigger than the regiment has ever seemed since we left Camp Chase. The service performed the last ten days, breaking up bushwhackers and Governor Letcher's militia musters, is prodigious. They have marched in snow four to six inches deep on the mountains sixty-five miles in three days, and look all the better for it. — Much love to Grandma and the dear boys.

Ever so lovingly yours,

R.

I hear of Lippett's arrest and Whitcomb's death; both sad for families, but Lippett better have gone into the army and been killed.

Mrs. Hayes.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 219-20

Major Charles Fessenden Morse: October 15, 1863

Wartrace, Tenn., October 15, 1863.

You see where I am at once, but before telling you how it came about I will go back a little. My last letter was from Nashville, dated the 8th. The next day, Friday, the railroad was reopened. I took a train about two, P. M., and started to find my regiment. At Murfreesboro, where we arrived about five, I came across General Williams and staff, who told me that the Second was at Christiana, about ten miles further on. It was after dark before we got there, but the regiment was near at hand, and I soon found myself in camp again, much to the surprise of the Colonel and other officers, who welcomed me with open arms. That night, I returned to first principles, hard bread and coffee out of a tin cup, sleeping under a shelter tent with no covering but my rubber cloak. We were roused up before daylight in the morning, to start on a long march towards Tullahoma. I started on foot, but one of General Ruger's aides soon after furnished me with an ancient Government animal which had been turned away as unfit for service and was caparisoned with a saddle and bridle of the country, in a very lamentable state of decay; however, this was better than walking, so I mounted him, not without serious misgivings that I should suddenly be lowered to the ground by reason of his knees giving way under him. This did occur once when I urged him to a trot, but I stuck manfully to my seat and made him rise with me.

Colonel Cogswell's charger was also of the Rosinante pattern, and being white showed his “points” to a still greater advantage. Thus mounted, you can imagine we did not make a very imposing appearance. We marched till eight P. M., accomplishing about twenty-four miles, and camped in a corn field. We were off again before daylight the next morning, and marched fifteen miles to within four miles of Deckard, camping on the banks of the Elk Run, over which there is an important railroad bridge. For the present, this bridge is to be guarded by our regiment, the Third Wisconsin, One Hundred and Seventh New York, First Tennessee Black Regiment, a battery and a few other detachments. Our camp was right alongside of the “darks.” Their Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel came over to see us and proved to be very pleasant gentlemen; they were profuse in their offers of hospitality. This is one very noticeable characteristic of western officers; no matter how rough they are, or how much they blow for their army, etc., they are perfectly liberal in their ideas and are as hospitable as men can be, offering us horses, rations or anything else we want. They brag a great deal of the fighting and marching of the Army of the Cumberland, and pretend to think that the Army of the Potomac has done very little of either, but the western regiments in our corps give these gentlemen very emphatic information as to our fights and losses, and they seldom have as good stories to tell in return. They acknowledge to have been very severely handled both at Stone River and Chickamauga, although at the former place, the enemy retreated and we claimed a victory.

To go back to the black regiment. The night of our arrival, we all went over to see dress parade. We were told beforehand by Colonel Thompson (formerly of General Rosecrans' staff) that his men had not been in camp quite a month and had not yet been drilled on account of the heavy amount of picket duty, so we went prepared to excuse a great deal. I was very agreeably surprised by the whole appearance of the regiment; the men had a soldierly bearing, marched well, and stood in line better than nine-tenths of the white regiments I have seen. I didn't have an opportunity, myself, but the Colonel and Major both visited their picket line, and said that they never saw sentinels do their duty better. These men are nearly all of the blackest description, and very ignorant.

All our privates went over to see their parade. I would not want any severer critics. During the whole ceremony I saw no sneering or attempt to laugh, and after it was all over and the companies were marching off, our men applauded by a very hearty clapping. I looked upon this as a very strong indication of what the general feeling would be among our troops.

Monday morning, I received a telegram ordering me to report at corps headquarters at Wartrace. I was very much surprised at receiving it, as General Slocum had given me no intimation of it at Nashville. I felt sorry to leave the regiment so soon again; but, of course, there were some reasons that made me glad to get to headquarters. I received that night the written order appointing me Provost Marshal and acting Assistant Adjutant General of the Twelfth Corps.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 147-50

Major Wilder Dwight: January 7, 1862

cantonment Hicks, near Frederick, January 7, 1862.

It is this Tuesday evening my stove is humming in my new house. Talk of luxury! — what is comparable to a log-house, with windows and doors, with shelves and tables, and a large, grand porch for an entrance, and in the Colonel's half of the house an open, old-fashioned, generous, glowing fireplace! You should see the architectural proportions of our new home. You would hardly believe it a week's work of our wood-choppers and masons and carpenters. Yet so it is. I shall hope to send you home a photograph of it. We were within a narrow chance of leaving it the other day, but now we have subsided again into tranquil housekeeping and camp life. I have Colonel Andrews living with me, and, indeed, took the house rather with reference to him than myself. I wanted a roof to put him under on his first taste of exposure. My man John, who is quite a character, takes great delight in the house. He thinks my half better than the Colonel's, though his is somewhat larger. “It is more comformblor nor the Colonel's, sir, and not so desolate like,” is his description of my cosiness. The Third Brigade went off on that alarm toward Hancock; and, as I surmised, the errand proved fruitless. We are, however, gathering hope of progress in the army. This condition of faith in things not seen, and hope without substance, is not inspiriting. The undertone of rumor in Washington was very strong in the direction of activity. I am coming to regard an early advance of our army as a political and moral necessity, whether it is physically possible or not. The achievement of the impossible is the duty and privilege of greatness; and now is certainly McClellan's opportunity.

Mrs. Ticknor did me the honor to send me a pair of stockings. I wrote yesterday to acknowledge their receipt. The weather, which has been bitter cold, is now moderating, and the tents do not shiver as they did.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Amelia Dwight, Editor, Life and Letters of Wilder Dwight: Lieut.-Col. Second Mass. Inf. Vols., p. 185-6

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 29, 1862

We have Lincoln's proclamation, freeing all the slaves from and after the 1st January next. And another, declaring martial law throughout the United States! Let the Yankees ruminate on that! Now for a fresh gathering of our clans for another harvest of blood.

On Saturday the following resolutions were reported by Mr. Semmes, from the Committee of the Judiciary, in the Senate:

“1st. That no officer of the Confederate Government is by law empowered to vest Provost Marshals with any authority whatever over citizens of the Confederate States not belonging to the land and naval forces thereof, or with general police powers and duties for the preservation of the peace and good order of any city, town, or municipal district in any State of this Confederacy, and any such exercise of authority is illegal and void.

"2d. That no officer of the Confederate Government has constitutional or other lawful authority to limit or restrict, or in any manner to control, the exercise of the jurisdiction of the civil judicial tribunals of the States of this Confederacy, vested in them by the Constitution and laws of the States respectively; and all orders of any such officer tending to restrict or control or interfere with the full and normal exercise of the jurisdiction of such civil judicial tribunals are illegal and void.”

We shall see what further action will follow. This is in marked contrast to the despotic rule in the Yankee nation. Nevertheless, the Provost Marshal here keeps his establishment in full blast. He was appointed by Gen. Winder, of Maryland, who has been temporarily subordinated by Major-Gen. Smith, of New York.

Since Gen. Smith has been in command, the enemy has made raids to Leesburg, Manassas, and even Warrenton, capturing and paroling our sick and wounded men. Who is responsible?

Accounts from Nashville state that our cavalry is beleaguering that city, and that both the United States forces there, and the inhabitants of the town, are reduced nearly to starvation.

Buell, it is said, has reached Louisville. We hope to hear soon of active operations in Kentucky.

Bragg, and Smith, and Price, and Marshall are there with abundant forces to be striking heavy blows.

Beauregard is assigned to the defense of South Carolina and Georgia.

Harper's Ferry is again occupied by the enemy — but we have removed everything captured there. The Northern papers now admit that the sanguinary battle of Sharpsburg was without result.

I sent my wife money to-day, and urged her to return to Richmond as soon as possible, as the enemy may cut the communications — being within forty miles of the railroad. How I should like to think they were cut to pieces! Then they would let us alone.

Hitherto 100,000 sick and wounded patients have been admitted into the army hospitals of this city. Of these, about 10,000 have been furloughed, 3000 discharged from the service, and only 7600 have died. At present there are 10,000 in the hospitals. There is not so much sickness this year as there was last, nor is it near so fatal.

Many of the Northern papers seem to dissent from the policy of Lincoln's proclamation, and hope that evil consequences may not grow out of it. But how can it be possible for the people of the North to submit to martial law? The government which directs and enforces so obnoxious a tyranny cannot be sure of its stability. And when the next army of invasion marches southward, it will be likely to have enemies in its rear as well as in its front. The Tribune exclaims “God bless Abraham Lincoln.” Others, even in the North, will pray for “God to him!”

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 157

Diary of Dolly Lunt Burge: July 22, 1864

[The day of the battle of Atlanta]

We have heard the loud booming of cannon all day. Mr. Ward [the overseer] went over to the burial of Thomas Harwell, whose death I witnessed yesterday. They had but just gone when the Rev. A. Turner, wife, and daughter drove up with their wagons, desiring to rest awhile. They went into the ell [a large back room] and lay down, I following them, wishing to enjoy their company. Suddenly I saw the servants running to the palings, and I walked to the door, when I saw such a stampede as I never witnessed before. The road was full of carriages, wagons, men on horseback, all riding at full speed. Judge Floyd stopped, saying: “Mrs. Burge, the Yankees are coming. They have got my family, and here is all I have upon earth. Hide your mules and carriages and whatever valuables you have.”

Sadai [Mrs. Surge's nine-year-old daughter] said:

“Oh, Mama, what shall we do?”

“Never mind, Sadai,” I said. “They won't hurt you, and you must help me hide my things.”

I went to the smoke-house, divided out the meat to the servants, and bid them hide it. Julia [a slave] took a jar of lard and buried it. In the meantime Sadai was taking down and picking up our clothes, which she was giving to the servants to hide in their cabins; silk dresses, challis, muslins, and merinos, linens, and hosiery, all found their way into the chests of the women and under their beds; china and silver were buried underground, and Sadai bid Mary [a slave] hide a bit of soap under some bricks, that mama might have a little left. Then she came to me with a part of a loaf of bread, asking if she had not better put it in her pocket, that we might have something to eat that night. And, verily, we had cause to fear that we might be homeless, for on every side we could see smoke arising from burning buildings and bridges.

Major Ansley, who was wounded in the hip in the battle of Missionary Ridge, and has not recovered, came with his wife, sister, two little ones, and servants. He was traveling in a bed in a small wagon. They had thought to get to Eatonton, but he was so wearied that they stopped with me for the night. I am glad to have them. I shall sleep none to-night. The woods are full of refugees.

SOURCE: Dolly Lunt Burge, A Woman's Wartime Journal, p. 4-6

Diary of 2nd Lieutenant Lemuel A. Abbott: Saturday, March 19, 1864

The weather was truly fine this morning at sunrise, but about noon the wind blew a gale. Captain Samuel Darrah's Co. D of which I am second lieutenant challenged the regiment to play a game of ball for $50 — or rather Captain Samuel Darrah did — which it accepted but lost the game. The regiment goes on picket to-morrow, but I don't expect to go. It looks like rain.

SOURCE: Lemuel Abijah Abbott, Personal Recollections and Civil War Diary, 1864, p. 27-8

Diary of Corporal Charles H. Lynch: September 19, 1864

Roused up at daylight by heavy cannonading in the direction of Winchester. The battle was on. Those of us who were off duty, with some of the towns-people, went to the top of a high hill to listen to the roar of musketry and the field guns. It was something frightful as it continued. We were ordered to hold ourselves ready to fall in at any moment. The inhabitants as well as the soldiers wore an anxious look as the battle was on. After a time the firing ceased and we began to wonder how the battle was going on. Later we heard it again but knew from the sound that it was farther away. Then we began to rejoice and the inhabitants, with a sad face, went to their homes. Late in the afternoon the news came that Early was routed and was fleeing up the valley. Then our boys began to wish that we were in it. Sheridan placed us at Charlestown to guard and care for the wagon train. It is not our fault to miss the battle.

SOURCE: Charles H. Lynch, The Civil War Diary, 1862-1865, of Charles H. Lynch 18th Conn. Vol's, p. 125-6

Diary of Luman Harris Tenney: July 5, 1862

Issued rations to two battalions. The reaction of the 4th was visible among the boys. Slept on the prairie by my horse.

SOURCE: Frances Andrews Tenney, War Diary Of Luman Harris Tenney, p. 20

Diary of Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle: Saturday, May 16, 1863

We started a little before daylight, our team looking so very mean that we expressed doubts as to their lasting — to Mr Nelson's great indignation.

We breakfasted at another little farmhouse on some unusually tough bacon, and coffee made of sweet potatoes. The natives, under all their misery, were red-hot in favour of fighting for independence to the last, and I constantly hear the words, “This is the most unjust war ever waged upon a people by mortal man.”

At 11 A.M. we met a great crowd of negroes, who had been run into the swamps to be out of the way of the Yankees, and they were now returning to Louisiana.

At 2 P.M. a wounded soldier gave us the deplorable information that the enemy really was on the railroad between Jackson and Brookhaven, and that Jackson itself was in his hands. This news staggered us all, and Nelson became alarmed for the safety of his wretched animals; but we all determined to go on at all hazards and see what turned up.

We halted for dinner at a farmhouse in which were seven virgins seated all of a row. They were all good-looking, but shy and bashful to a degree I never before witnessed. All the young women in this country seem to be either uncommonly free-spoken, or else extremely shy.

The further we went the more certain became the news of the fall of Jackson.

We passed the night in the verandah of an old farmer. He told us that Grierson's Yankee raid had captured him about three weeks ago. He thought the Yankees were about 1500 strong; they took all good horses, leaving their worn-out ones behind. They destroyed railroad, Government property, and arms, and paroled all men, both old and young, but they committed no barbarities. In this manner they traversed all the State of Mississippi without meeting any resistance. They were fine looking men from the Northwestern States.

SOURCE: Sir Arthur James Lyon Fremantle, Three Months in the Southern States: April-June, 1863, p. 100-2

Diary of Lieutenant-Colonel Rutherford B. Hayes: Saturday, March 29, 1862

Raining like fun again, Two fine days in ten. I dispatched Dr. Clendenin that Dr. Webb had been ordered to Wheeling for examination and asked him if they were aware he had already been examined. He replied: “Yes, and I have remonstrated; rather than submit, he ought to resign.” The doctor will leave me his resignation, go to Wheeling, and if he finds the examination insisted on, will resign by telegraphing me to that effect.

SOURCE: Charles Richard Williams, editor, Diary and Letters of Rutherford Birchard Hayes, Volume 2, p. 219

Edward Gardiner Abbott

Edward Gardiner Abbott was the eldest son of Hon. Josiah G. Abbott, and was born in Lowell September 29, 1840. He was fitted for college at the Lowell High School, and graduated at Harvard College in I860. Immediately on graduating he began the study of the law with great zeal and industry and with high promise of success. He was commissioned a captain in the Second Massachusetts Volunteers May 24, 1861. After a brief service with distinction he was killed in the battle of Cedar Mountain August 9, 1862. See Harvard Memorial Biographies, vol. ii. pp. 82-96; Brown's Harvard University in the War, p. 134. —Eds.

SOURCE: Massachusetts Historical Society, Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Third Series, Volume 1, June Meeting, 1907, p. 123

Major Charles Fessenden Morse: October 2, 1863

Washington, October 2, 1863.

I arrived here this morning. The Twelfth and Eleventh Corps have gone to Nashville under command of General Hooker, probably to relieve some troops which have gone forward to Chattanooga. General Slocum's resignation was not accepted and he has gone in command of the corps.

I shall probably leave here at six thirty, P. M., and travel all night.

SOURCE: Charles Fessenden Morse, Letters Written During the Civil War, 1861-1865, p. 147

Major Wilder Dwight to Elizabeth White Dwight, January 5, 1862

cantonment Hicks, January 5, 1862, near Frederick.

DEAR Mother, — The New Year is fairly open, yet my pen has been silent. I would have had it otherwise, but have been prevented writing by a sudden call to Washington. There I saw Colonel William, who was as critical and hypercritical as possible. I enjoyed his discussions very much. His spirit and go are delightful. He will take his regiment wherever men can go, if they only give him a chance. We had a pleasant time, looking over his books, and talking about war and home. . . . .

The effect of my visit to Washington was to fill me with forebodings; but, as I won't stay filled, I am resuming my buoyancy again. Yesterday there was a great flurry. I had come up to Frederick to church, and was enjoying the service much. General Banks was called out of church, and we found that Jackson was threatening Hancock, and aiming to destroy the railroad bridges near by. An order was immediately issued, “Two days' rations in haversack, and be ready to march.” I did not allow it to disturb me, but this morning the Third Brigade went off in a snow-storm, before light, to Williamsport. We are left quiet; and, as I consider it all a mere scare, I am glad we were not aroused by it.

Winter quarters are pretty precarious, however. We are too far from the Potomac. This division is nowhere. It is liable to go anywhere, and hence is unfortunate. One regiment of the Third Brigade got back from Williamsport day before yesterday; now it is off again the same thirty miles through the snow. That's generalship, ain't it? Who is to blame? No one, of course. Bah! . . . .

I wish you all a happy New Year; and as for us in the army, I wish us all a fighting New Year.

SOURCE: Elizabeth Amelia Dwight, Editor, Life and Letters of Wilder Dwight: Lieut.-Col. Second Mass. Inf. Vols., p. 184-5

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: September 27, 1862

The papers this morning contain accounts of the landing of Yankees at White House, York River; and of reinforcements at Williamsburg and Suffolk. They might attempt to take Richmond, while Lee's army is away; for they know we have no large body of troops here.

A battery passed through the city this morning early, at double-quick, going eastward.

Yesterday Congress passed an act, supplemental and amendatory to the Conscription Act of last April, authorizing the President to call into the military service all residents between the ages of thirty-five and forty-five. The first act included only those between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five.

By the 1st of January there will be $300,000,000 Treasury notes in circulation. It is proposed in Congress to make a forced loan of one-fifth of the incomes of the people.

It is said Lincoln has issued a proclamation declaring the slaves of Rebels free, on and after the 1st of January, 1863. This will only intensify the war, and add largely to our numbers in the field.

A letter was received from General Lee to-day, dated at Martinsburg, giving a sad account of the army. It seems that without some additional power given the President by Congress to enforce discipline, he fears the army will melt away. He suggests that incompetent officers be reduced to the ranks, and that more stringent regulations be adopted. He is in no condition to advance now, since so many thousands of his men are permitted to wander away. We shall be afflicted with fresh invasions — and that, if nothing else, may cause the stragglers to return.

The substance of Lee's letter has been communicated to Congress, and that body, I understand, has postponed the day of adjournment until the 6th October.

In future times, I wonder if it will be said that we had great men in this Congress? Whatever may be said, the truth is, there are not a dozen with any pretensions to statesmanship.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 1, p. 156-7

Diary of Dolly Lunt Burge: January 1, 1864

A new year is ushered in, but peace comes not with it. Scarcely a family but has given some of its members to the bloody war that is still decimating our nation. Oh, that its ravages may soon be stopped! Will another year find us among carnage and bloodshed? Shall we be a nation or shall we be annihilated? . . . The prices of everything are very high. Corn seven dollars a bushel, calico ten dollars a yard, salt sixty dollars a hundred, cotton from sixty to eighty cents a pound, everything in like ratio.

SOURCE: Dolly Lunt Burge, A Woman's Wartime Journal, p. 3