Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: April 13, 1864

A clear, but cool day. Again planted corn, the other having rotted.

There is an unofficial report that one of our torpedo boats struck the Federal war steamer Minnesota yesterday, near Newport News, and damaged her badly.

I learn (from an official source) to-day that Gen. Longstreet's corps is at Charlottesville, to co-operate with Lee's army, which will soon move, no doubt.

Gen. Bragg received a dispatch yesterday, requesting that commissary stores for Longstreet be sent to Charlottesville, and he ordered his military secretary to direct the Commissary-General accordingly. To this Col. Northrop, C. G. S., took exceptions, and returned the paper, calling the attention of Gen. B.'s secretary to the Rules and Regulations, involving a matter of red tape etiquette. The C. G. S. can only be ordered or directed by the Secretary of War. Gen. B. sent the paper to the Secretary, with the remark that if he is to be restricted, etc., his usefulness must be necessarily diminished. The Secretary sent for Col. N., and I suppose pacified him.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 186

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: April 14, 1864

Bright morning—cloudy and cold the rest of the day.

No reliable war news to-day; but we are on the tip-toe of expectation of exciting news from the Rapidan. Longstreet is certainly in communication with Lee; and if the enemy be not present with overwhelming numbers, which there is no reason to anticipate, a great battle may be imminent.

Read Vice-President Stephens's speech against the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus to-day. He said independence without liberty was of no value to him, and if he must have a master, he cared not whether he was Northern or Southern. If we gain our independence, this speech will ruin Mr. S.; if we do not, it may save him and his friends.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 186-7

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: April 15, 1864

Cloudy—slight showers. I published an article yesterday in the Enquirer, addressed to the President, on the subject of supplies for the army and the people (the government to take all the supplies in the country), the annihilation of speculation, and the necessary suppression of the Southern (Yankee) Express Company. This elicited the approval of Col. Northrop, the Commissary-General, who spoke to me on the subject. He told me the Express Company had attempted to bribe him, by offering to bring his family supplies gratis, etc. He said he had carried his point, in causing Gen. Bragg to address him according to military etiquette. He showed me another order from Bragg (through the Adjutant-General), to take possession of the toll meal at Crenshaw's mills. This he says is contrary to contract, and he was going to the Secretary to have it withdrawn. “Besides,” said he, “and truly, it would do no good. The people must eat, whether they get meal from Crenshaw or not. If not, they will get it elsewhere, and what they do get will be so much diverted from the commissariat.”

There are rumors of the enemy accumulating a heavy force at Suffolk.

The guard at Camp Lee are going in the morning to Lee's army; their places here to be filled by the reserve forces of boys and old men. This indicates a battle on the Rapidan.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 187

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: April 16, 1864

Rained all night, and in fitful showers all day.

We have more accounts (unofficial) of a victory near Shreveport, La. One of the enemy's gun-boats has been blown up and sunk in Florida.

By late Northern arrivals we see that a Mr. Long, member of Congress, has spoken in favor of our recognition. A resolution of expulsion was soon after introduced.

Gen. Lee has suggested, and the Secretary of War has approved, a project for removing a portion of the population from Richmond into the country. Its object is to accumulate supplies for the army. If some 20,000 could be moved away, it would relieve the rest to Some extent.

Troops are passing northward every night. The carnage and carnival of death will soon begin.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 187-8

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: April 17, 1864

Rained until bedtime—then cleared off quite cold. This morning it is cold, with occasional sunshine.

Gen. Beauregard's instructions to Major-Gen. Anderson in Florida, who has but 8000 men, opposed by 15,000, were referred by the Secretary of War to Gen. Bragg, who returned them with the following snappish indorsement: “The enemy's strength seems greatly exaggerated, and the instructions too much on the defensive.”

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 188

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: April 18, 1864

Cleared away in the night—frost. To-day it clouded up again!

We have an account from the West, to the effect that Forrest stormed Fort Pillow, putting all the garrison, but one hundred, to the sword; there being 700 in the fort–400 negroes.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 188

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: April 19, 1864

Cloudy and cold.

We have no authentic war news, but are on the tip-toe of expectation. The city is in some commotion on a rumor that the non-combating population will be required to leave, to avoid transportation of food to the city. Corn is selling at $1.25 per bushel in Georgia and Alabama; here, at $40—such is the deplorable condition of the railroads, or rather of the management of them. Col. Northrop, Commissary-General, said to-day that Gen. Lee and the Secretary of War were responsible for the precarious state of affairs, in not taking all the means of transportation for the use of the army; and that our fate was suspended by a hair.

The President returned the paper to day, relating to the matter of etiquette between Col. Northrop and Gen. Bragg's military secretary. The President says that Gen. B. certainly has the right to give orders—being assigned to duty here, and, I presume, representing the President himself; but that any one of his staff, unless directing those of inferior rank, ought to give commands “by order” of Gen. Bragg. Col. N. says that don’t satisfy him; and that no general has a right to issue orders to him!

The famine is becoming more terrible daily; and soon no salary will suffice to support one's family.

The 1st and 2d Auditors and their clerks (several hundred, male and female) have been ordered to proceed to Montgomery, Ala. Perhaps the government will soon remove thither entirely. This is ill-timed, as the enemy will accept it as an indication of an abandonment of the capital; and many of our people will regard it as a preliminary to the evacuation of Richmond. It is more the effect of extortion and high prices, than apprehension of the city being taken by the enemy.

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 188-9

Diary of John Beauchamp Jones: April 20, 1864

A clear morning, but a cold, cloudy day. The following dispatch from Gen. Forrest shows that the bloody work has commenced in earnest:

DEMoPolis, ALA., April 19th.

TO GEN. S. COOPER.

The following dispatch has just been received from Gen. Forrest, dated Jackson, Tenn., April 15th.

L. Polk, Lieut.-General.

I attacked Fort Pillow on the morning of the 12th inst., with a part of Bell's and McCulloch's brigades, numbering —, under Brig.-Gen. J. R. Chalmers. After a short fight we drove the enemy, seven hundred strong, into the fort, under cover of their gun-boats, and demanded a surrender, which was declined by Major L. W. Booth, commanding United States forces. I stormed the fort, and after a contest of thirty minutes captured the entire garrison, killing 500 and taking 100 prisoners, and a large amount of quartermaster stores. The officers in the fort were killed, including Major Booth. I sustained a loss of 20 killed and 60 wounded. The Confederate flag now floats over the fort.

N. B. FORREST, Major-General.

There is a rumor that Grant's army is falling back toward Centreville. It is supposed by many that all the departments will follow the Auditor to Montgomery soon. 

SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 189

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: July 3, 1862

Colonel Babcock returns back to his regiment from his sick leave; we are all glad to see him among us again.

SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 82

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: July 4, 1862

[W]e have a soldier's celebration, a barbacue and a grand dinner furnished by the officers of the regiment; we are also favored on the occasion with a good, whole souled speech from General Oglesby, and all this on the ground where but a short time before Van Dorn's and Sterling Price's battle flags stood. But they stand a little farther south now, and in their stead stands another flag, and around it stand soldiers who wear a uniform different from the uniform worn by those who stood around the other flag; the former battles for slavery, the latter for freedom; the former for the annihilation of the first independence, the latter for its maintainance. On this annual anniversary, beneath the heat of a Mississippi sun, these boys renew their allegiance, and swear by the memory of the loved and lost to bear their bristling steel for the first independence that spoke into existence are public, which in its infancy seemed a paragon let down from heaven to inspire the pilgrims of freedom.

SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 82

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: July 4, 1862

[O]ur regiment receives a new stand of colors. The colors we carried through the battles of Fort Donelson and Shiloh are now so mutilated that we are unable to carry them any longer. They will be sent to Springfield to be laid away in their glory, and while they thus rest from battle and storm, back with Illinois' great loyal people, may they ever remember as they gaze upon its hallowed ribbons, the noble ones who went down while its rents and scars were being made; whose lamps of life flickered out while wrathful storms were sweeping along the shores of the Cumberland and the Tennessee, and over the fields of Mississippi; remember that while it was swung in its glory the noble hearts of Captains Mendell and Ward, Lieutenants Myres and Estabrook, Sergeants Wheeler and Mitchell, Corporals William Boring, Seth Hamilton and Nixon, Privates Charles Newton, John Fifer, Andrew McKennon, John Teft, Richard Lamherdt, Isaac Britton, John H. Duff, John Gibland, Ole Porter, Peter Miller, John H. Hopper and others ceased their loyal throbbings for ever. They loved that old banner, made so hallowed on fields of blood. It was the pride of their hearts; for it they lived, for it they died. Those shot-riven folds will speak to the loyal people in a silent language, telling them a thrilling story—a story, the letters of which have been written in blood. We send them back to the good people from whence they came, hoping that the story they tell will find an entrance into their loyal hearts and cause it to start a tear to the memory of those who went down beneath its folds.

SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 82-3

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: July 28, 1862

[W]e strike tents, and move into the camp lately occupied by the Sixth Division. During our camp here the regiment is on picket every other day.  We find the locality very unhealthy.

 SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 83

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: August 7, 1862

[T]he regiment is ordered to advance a short distance and clear off a new camping ground. In the evening we notice some of the Seventh boys escorting in from the picket line a squad of guerrillas. They are taken to Corinth that they may have their names registered and obtain lodgings at the Military Hotel.

SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 83-4

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: August 9, 1862

[W]e move to our new and fresh càmping ground, near battery C, Captain Hackney will remember the day we moved, for if we remember correctly the ague shook him like an earthquake, but the soldier's medicine proved a sure remedy. What a god-send! While here our camp and picket duties are heavy. Lieutenant Ring is now detached from his company, having been detailed as Police Officer of Corinth. General Ord has indeed made a good selection, but has damaged Company H. Contrabands are coming in daily. While in this camp some of the boys bring in one of these exiles from bondage, to enlist as a company cook, followed by his master, who enters complaint. The General being strictly averse to the "peculiar institution,” makes disposition of the case by compelling the old man to take the oath of allegiance and make his exit from the lines.

SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 84

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: Monday, August 25, 1862

[w]e strike our tents and move from our camp. The weather is warm and sultry. We pass through Corinth, marching in platoons; it is very dusty, and the boys almost famish for water. We go into camp two miles north of Corinth to stand as outposts for the army surrounding, and the garrison in Corinth.

SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 84

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: August 26, 1862

[w]e are busily engaged cleaning off our camp ground; we have no water here; are compelled to haul it from a distance. To-day we send six trains and a guard for water; they return, but with no water. There is no alternative but to haul it from beyond Corinth, about four miles distant. During our camp here on the Purdy road, we live like kings; the result of the sharp trading of the boys with the citizens who are daily seen in our camp with fruit, milk, chickens and eggs. We dare say our men traded with many a rebel spy, and the information gained by them resulted in making additions to the already long list of names of those who are now sleeping silently in the south-land There was a mistake somewhere; somebody committed an error; where that mistake, and who that somebody was, we are not prepared to say. The world, perhaps, will never know.

SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 84-5

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: September 15, 1862

Company A, Captain McGuire, Company G, Lieutenant Sayles, are detached from the regiment to take charge of a battery. To-day rumor has it that the rebel army under Price is moving upon Corinth. If they come, of course we will meet and extend to them our hospitality. It is also reported that there is fighting going on at Iuka, Mississippi, about thirty miles from Corinth; there may be some truth in it. If so, ere long we may be hurled into battle.

SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 85

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: September 20, 1862

[W]e receive dispatches informing us that Rosecrans is engaged in battle with Price at Iuka. We are expecting every minute to move. It is now towards evening; we know that our men are struggling to-day; we know not the result; we fear that the battle has been desperate, but we hope that the old flag has not been caused to droop.

SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 85-6

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: Sunday, September 21, 1862

It is reported to-day that Price has been beaten, and is now making a flank movement towards Corinth. Soon we are ordered to Corinth, and there we lay in line of battle all day; but no Price comes, and we return to camp in the evening. Dispatches from Rosecrans inform us this evening that he has routed Price. Praises for Rosecrans and the noble Fifth Iowa come from every one. The Illinois soldiers can ever find it in their hearts to speak words of praise about their brothers from Iowa, especially when like the Fifth who maintained such a desperate bayonet charge to save their colors from falling into the hands of the rebels. Right here we would say that the Seventh Illinois Veteran Volunteer Infantry will not soon forget the Seventh and Second Iowa, starting in the service together, fighting side by side in the assault on Fort Donelson, together carrying their flag in the thickest of the battle, camping side by side on the weary march. They seemed to each other as brothers, for brothers they were, fighting in one common cause to keep the old flag on its staff, and to-day there are men in the Seventh that would fling their coats for a fight, should they hear any one speak disparagingly of the Seventh and Second Iowa infantry. They are camped now some where around Corinth, but we do not know exactly where; however, we remember them, and we imagine when the war is over, and when peace comes back to her people, should a soldier from the Seventh Illinois Infantry meet one from the Seventh or Second Iowa Infantry, who fought with him at Donelson, it will be a congenial meeting, and if he does not treat him as a gentleman it may be marked down as a fact that he does not understand the business.

SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 86-7

Diary of Private Daniel L. Ambrose: Tuesday, September 23, 1862

We move our camp from the Purdy road to the Pittsburg road to give way for the Sixteenth Wisconsin. We encamp in a beautiful place in the woods, or a dense thicket of Jack Oaks. We are inclined to think that it would be difficult for the rebels to find us here. Yesterday we received some new recruits in our regiment, brought down from Springfield, Illinois, by Capt. Estabrook, which greatly improves the appearance of the regiment.

SOURCE: Daniel Leib Ambrose, History of the Seventh Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, p. 87