December 26th.—No answer yet. There can be but one. Press people, soldiers, sailors, ministers, senators, Congress men, people in the street, the voices of the bar-room—all are agreed. “Give them up? Never! We’ll die first!” Senator Sumner, M. De Beaumont, M. De Geoffroy, of the French Legation, dined with me, in company with General Van Vliet, Mr. Anderson, and Mr. Lamy, &c.; and in the evening Major Anson, M.P., Mr. Johnson, Captain Irwin, U.S.A., Lt. Wise, U.S.N., joined our party, and after much evasion of the subject, the English despatch and Mr. Seward’s decision turned up and caused some discussion. Mr. Sumner, who is Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, and in that capacity is in intimate rapport with the President, either is, or affects to be, incredulous respecting the nature of Lord Russell’s despatch this evening, and argues that, at the very utmost, the Trent affair can only be a matter for mediation, and not for any peremptory demand, as the law of nations has no exact precedent to bear upon the case, and that there are so many instances in which Sir W. Scott’s (Lord Stowell’s) decisions in principle appear to justify Captain Wilkes. All along he has held this language, and has maintained that at the very worst there is plenty of time for protocols, despatches, and references, and more than once he has said to me, “I hope you will keep the peace; help us to do so,”—the peace having been already broken by Captain Wilkes and the Government.
Monday, December 26, 2011
Thursday, 26th—By orders Company E boarded the cars this morning for Lookout Station farther on, about twelve miles from California. I bade my bunk-mate, James Fossett, goodby at the hospital, where he is confined with inflammatory rheumatism. His suffering is something intense, and he is unable to turn himself in bed, but I left him in the hands of a good nurse.
THURSDAY 26
Another moderate day, went to the office as usual. About 10 a.m. Col Ira Merrick from Lyons called with Ed Dickerson. E. went on to Baltimore and I went to the Capitol with the Col, visited both Houses of Congress. The Col came up to Dinner with us in the evening, he was taken quite ill with a dizziness in the head and is quite ill yet. We have spent the evening at home. Matty Hartly has spent the evening with Julia. Mr & Mis [Barlte?] called and spent an hour or so. Nothing new today.
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The three diary manuscript volumes, Washington during the Civil War: The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865, are available online at The Library of Congress.
DECEMBER 26TH.—I have been requested by several members of Congress to prepare a bill, establishing a passport office by law. I will attempt it; but it cannot pass, unless it be done in spite of the opposition of the Secretary, who knows how to use his patronage so as to bind members to his interest. He learned that at Washington.
December 26.
Dear Girls: We had a great day yesterday. Of course, Mother and the girls and Charley broke through the rule we had prescribed for ourselves, not to give Christmas presents, and launched upon Jane and me wholly unprepared, a flood of pretty and useful things. . . . We dined at Mary’s, and there Mother was made happy by a superb dish of moss, growing and trailing over, and set in a carved walnut table or stand which Mary brought from Germany. . . . Our children’s “Christmas tree” went off very successfully. Little May came over early and did the honors as nicely as could be to the arriving guests, introducing them all to each other and providing amusement. There were the three little Howlands and their mamma, the Prentisses and theirs, Mally and Willy Smith and theirs, little Kernochan, little Parker boy, and Mary and Helen Skinner with the Rhinelander children. The tree was in the back parlor with the doors closed and windows darkened, and the effect was very pretty when the candles and the lanterns were all ready and the doors were thrown open, and the tree blazed out in its own light. Each child had half a dozen little things and was delighted, choosing, when left to him or herself, the most hideous Chinese toys only intended as decorations. Then there were ice cream and jelly, which the older people helped eat, and Mr. Prentiss came in, and the children gradually went away—and we subsided into quiet.
Thursday, December 26. — A cloudy day — thawing and muddy. The colonel is planning an expedition through Raleigh to Princeton to capture what is there of the enemy, — viz. six hundred sick with a guard of about one hundred men, arms and stores, with a possibility of getting Floyd who is said to be without guard at and to burn the railroad bridges near Newbern. The plan is to mount one-half the force on pack mules and ride and tie — to make a forced march so as to surprise the enemy. He does not seem willing to look the difficulties in the face, and to prepare to meet them. He calls it forty or fifty miles. It is sixty-seven and one-half. He thinks men can move night and day, three or four miles an hour. Night in those muddy roads will almost stop a column. With proper preparations, the thing is perhaps practicable. Let me study to aid in arranging it, if it is to be.
Dear wife! how is she? — Soon after breakfast the sun chased the clouds away and we had a warm spring day. The bluebirds are coming back if they ever left. Our twenty-first fine day this month.
Winchester, December 26,1861.
I applied to-day for a furlough, but was much disappointed to find that an order has been made that none shall be granted. I was promising myself much happiness in spending a few days with you at New Year’s, and am much grieved that it has to be deferred—I hope, however, not very long. I will come as soon as I can get permission. Fair weather cannot last much longer, and winter must soon set in, which will stop active operations, and then I suppose I can get leave to go home for a while. I will make this note short so as to try and get it in to-day’s mail. Your box just came to hand as I left the camp this morning, for which accept many thanks. Good-bye, dearest.
Dec. 26, 1861.—The foul weather cleared off bright and cool in time for Christmas. There is a midwinter lull in the movement of troops. In the evening we went to the grand bazaar in the St. Louis Hotel, got up to clothe the soldiers. This bazaar has furnished the gayest, most fashionable war-work yet, and has kept social circles in a flutter of pleasant, heroic excitement all through December. Everything beautiful or rare garnered in the homes of the rich was given for exhibition, and in some cases for raffle and sale. There were many fine paintings, statues, bronzes, engravings, gems, laces—in fact, heirlooms, and bric-à-brac of all sorts. There were many lovely Creole girls present, in exquisite toilets, passing to and fro through the decorated rooms, listening to the band clash out the Anvil Chorus.
This morning I joined the B.’s and their party in a visit to the new fortifications below the city. It all looks formidable enough, but of course I am no judge of military defenses. We passed over the battle-ground where Jackson fought the English, and thinking of how he dealt with treason, one could almost fancy his unquiet ghost stalking about.
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Note: To protect Mrs. Miller’s job as a teacher in New Orleans, the diary was published anonymously, edited by G. W. Cable, names were changed and initials were often used instead of full names — and even the initials differed from the real person’s initials.
December 26.—A skirmish took place near Camp Boyle, Columbia, Ky., this evening. Last night the National pickets having reported a strong force of rebels in the neighborhood, Colonel Haggard, commanding at the camp, ordered out a party of men, with Major Ousley at their head, to go in pursuit. Arriving in the vicinity this morning, they saw nothing of the enemy. They waited, however, for some time, and being hungry, ordered supper at the hotel, and supper being ready they all sat down and were enjoying it finely, when a sentinel rushed in and gave an alarm. The Nationals all broke for their horses, but before a horse was mounted, a shot from one of Capt. Palmer’s men brought the rebel color-bearer to the ground. The poor fellow was a Scotchman—too brave a man to be enlisted in such a cause. The troops rushed up to him and wanted him to surrender, but he would not, and hurraing for Jeff. Davis, drew his revolver and was about to shoot, when one of the Nationals gave him a quietus that brought him to terms. The rebels were about six hundred strong, but retreated after receiving some two or three rounds. Colonel Haggard’s small party then also left the field, having killed five of the enemy and wounded some others.—Louisville Journal, December 30.
—Major Gower, commanding a squadron of the First Iowa Cavalry, arrived at Jefferson City, Mo., with one captain, thirteen men, and ten wagon loads of stores, captured from Gen. Price’s army.—Gen. Halleck’s Despatch.
—Philip St. George Cocke, Brigadier-General in the Confederate army, accidentally or designedly killed himself at his residence in Powhatan County, Va. He was a wealthy, public-spirited gentleman, and a well-behaved and accomplished officer. Brigadier-General Cocke was a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point. He entered that institute as a cadet in 1828, graduated July, 1832, was immediately appointed to a brevet second lieutenancy in the Second artillery; promoted to adjutant of his regiment in 1833. He resigned in 1834. He was a native of Virginia, and at the breaking out of the present rebellion was commissioned a general in the Confederate army.—Norfolk Day Book, December 28.
—Andrew Kessler, Jr., a member of the late Maryland House of Delegates, was released from Fort Warren on taking the oath of allegiance, and returned to his home in Frederick, Md.—General Banks issued a stringent order in regard to the seizure of forage without the owner’s consent, and another prohibiting the sale of liquor to soldiers.—Philadelphia Press, December 28.
—In the Senate, at Washington, Mr. Hale, of Now Hampshire, offered a resolution calling upon the President to transmit to the Senate copies of all despatches which had passed between the Government and that of Great Britain relative to the seizure of Mason and Slidell. Mr. Sumner objected to its consideration. Mr. Hale advocated its passage in a speech of considerable length, in which he opposed the restitution of the rebel envoys, and advocated in preference a war with Great Britain. The resolution was laid over under the rule.—Mr. Garrett Davis, Senator from Kentucky, gave notice of his intention to introduce a bill confiscating every species of property of all persons who have had any connection with the rebellion, either in a civil, military, or naval capacity.—Mr. Harlan, of Iowa, introduced a bill to establish a Provisional Government in all the seceded States.
—A Fire broke out in the Government stables, near the Observatory, in Washington, D. C., and from one hundred and fifty to two hundred horses out of six hundred which it contained, were burnt to death. The fire was supposed to have resulted from carelessness.
—The Sixth New Hampshire regiment, numbering one thousand and twenty-three men, Col. Nelson Converse, passed through New York for Washington. They had been encamped at Keene, Cheshire County, since November 15. Before they left, Gov. Berry presented them with a stand of colors—The First battalion of the First Massachusetts Cavalry, numbering four hundred and fifty men, arrived at New York, and left for Annapolis in the afternoon, to join Gen. Burnside’s expedition.
—The steamer Arago arrived at New York from Europe, bringing as a passenger Lieut.-Gen. Winfield Scott, and intelligence that the party in Europe advocating a war with the United States, was “greatly encouraged in their cry for blood.”—N. Y. Herald, December 27.
—First Lieutenant J. C. Ives, Topographical Engineers, U. S. A., having tendered his resignation under circumstances showing him to be disloyal to the U. S. Government, was, by direction of the President, dismissed the service from this date.—General Orders, No. 110.
—The rebel general, John B. Floyd, issued an address to the troops under his command, dated at the “camp, near Dublin depot,” Western Virginia, in which he expressed his admiration of the manner in which they had conducted a campaign of five months, and urged them to respond to the distinguished compliment paid the “army of the Kanawha,” by the Confederate Government, in assigning them to the defence of Kentucky.—(Doc. 238.)
