Feb. 22nd. Started at 2 A. M. Went to and surrounded Independence. After search found none, so started to return at seven A. M. Stopped a little distance out of town, down a hill, and got feed for our horses. Ordered to be ready to go on at ten A. M. All ready at the time. Three or four fellows up town, fired upon, bring the report that rebel troops are in town. Forthwith all the companies, all ready, start at full gallop, Company L leading. The enemy after one volley, wheel and run down into the gully east, our troops following closely, and firing as they go. At the forks in the road they scatter, some going straight forward and some getting into lots behind buildings and stumps and then firing. The boys charged upon them, killing two and taking five prisoners. Brownell was shot. After passing him to see if there was a chance to shoot and finding none, I returned to him. Helped him up hill to barber shop. Citizens assisted zealously. Three wounded. Stayed by them until ready to return. In the meantime Nettleton and the command went up the road in search of the rebels. Found none. One of our men killed. Co. L. Saw two rebels dead—awful sight—all over dirt and such an expression upon their countenances. Reached camp at Kansas City at 4 P. M. All pleased with the expedition. Issued rations.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Saturday, February 22. — Washington’s Birthday was appropriately celebrated by firing salutes, and by the parade of the different regiments, and the reading of Washington’s Farewell Address before them. The day was not favorable for any extensive preparations, it being rainy most of the time. I walked out into the woods about half a mile from the camps, and practised with my pistol, making some pretty fair shots considering the little practice I have had. I am reviewing Hardee and last night got as far as “School of the Battalion.” I find, however, that reading The Cloister and the Hearth is much more entertaining.
Saturday Feb 22nd 1862
This has been kept as a Holy day in the City. The public offices have all been closed. Salutes have been fired from almost every direction. We all went to the Capitol to see and hear. The Hall of the House of Representatives was more than crowded. It was expected that the Rebel flags which have been taken would be presented to Congress, it was so published in the programme, but after organizeing, the House very properly refused by resolution to receive them or recognize them. John W Forney, clerk of the Senate, read Washingtons farewell address after a prayer by the Chaplin Rev Mr Stockton. The Floor was filled by the two Houses, the Diplomatic corps, the high officers of the Army & Navy, and other notables. I counted forty two Generals & Comodores on the floor. The Cabinet was there. The President was not there. The illumination of the public buildings did not take place. A few Stores & private buildings were illuminated. More rain this evening. I went down to the Ave.
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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.
FEBRUARY 22D.—Such a day! The heavens weep incessantly. Capitol Square is black with umbrellas; and a shelter has been erected for the President to stand under.
I walked up to the monument and heard the Inaugural read by the President. He read it well, and seemed self-poised in the midst of disasters, which he acknowledged had befallen us. And he admitted that there had been errors in our war policy. We had attempted operations on too extensive a scale, thus diffusing our powers which should have been concentrated. I like these candid confessions. They augur a different policy hereafter, and we may hope for better results in the future. We must all stand up for our country.
Mr. Hunter has resigned, and taken his place in the Senate.
Saturday, 22d—This is Washington’s birthday. We packed our knapsacks early this morning and left Lookout for California, arriving at 2 p. m. The roads were quite muddy. In camp again at California, Missouri. We pitched our tents on the commons south of town.
Cincinnati, February 22, 1862.
Dear Mother: — I am ready to start back to Virginia on the first steamer for the Kanawha River. I expect to get off tomorrow or next day.
I found Uncle in good health for him. The other friends were as usual. … I returned home Monday finding all here as 1 left them.
The recent victories convince everybody that the Rebellion can be conquered. Most people anticipate a speedy end of the war. I am not so sanguine of a sudden wind-up, but do not doubt that the Confederacy is fatally wounded. We are having a gaudy celebration of the 22nd here with the usual accompaniments which delight the children.
Affectionately, your son,
Rutherford.
Mrs. Sophia Hayes.
January 28 to February 22, 1862
On the 28th of January, we sailed for Fortress Monroe, and proceeded down the Delaware, amid a quantity of ice, which was daily increasing. The weather had been stormy for several days, and the men working in the cold rains had in many instances contracted severe lung diseases, so that at the time of sailing there were some fifteen patients in bed and a large number of others under treatment; besides, the ship was in a disordered state, which is always the case with a ship just in commission under such circumstances.
Our ship is a first class steam sloop-of-war, carrying twenty nine-inch Dahlgren guns, besides two twenty-lb. rifled pivots, and a supply of howitzers.
We arrived at Fortress Monroe on the 29th, where we found five men-of-war, three of them American and two French; among them was the U. S. Frigates Minnesota and Roanoke. We lay there four days, during which time Surgeon Wood was detached and ordered on board the Minnesota, with the understanding that we were to find an experienced surgeon on board the frigate Niagara, which then lay off Ship Island. We left here on Sunday, February 2d, and stood for Port Royal, and had a middling kind of passage, the weather being somewhat stormy and the ship rolling considerably.
On Tuesday at 3:10 P. M., a man died of measles, and an hour afterwards we reached Port Royal and cast anchor among a fleet of naval vessels. The land here is low and sandy, and covered with trees which to all appearances were the Palmetto. As I looked inland from our anchorage I could see one of the captured forts on our left; but few buildings of any kind were visible; quite a number of Commodore Dupont’s fleet were still here, a prominent one being the flag-ship Wabash, which had been somewhat damaged in the recent taking of the place.
We left the place on the 6th for Key West, and having a head wind all the way made slight progress, though the weather was pleasant, having lost much of the chilliness of the Delaware region. We arrived at Key West on the 11th February, where we met and were saluted by the U. S. steam sloop of war Pensacola; the U. S. steamer Connecticut was also here, and the famous yacht Wanderer, and several mortar boats of Captain Porter’s fleet.
Fort Taylor at this place is quite a formidable looking structure, mounting fifty to seventy-five guns, I should judge, and situated near it is the U. S. Hospital, surrounded with evergreens and quite inviting. The inhabitants are said to number about five thousand. After being at sea this place looks pleasant; cocoa trees spring up here spontaneously, and for a few cents each I obtained a small supply of oranges. We coaled ship here, and sent our letters home by the U. S. steamer Connecticut; here we buried another man, an aged fireman; the weather strongly reminded me of hats, and several of the officers laid in a supply for future use.
We left Key West on the 15th for Havana, and had a pleasant passage, arriving there after dark on the same day, a Spanish pilot coming off and taking us into the harbor. The bay in the evening was beautiful in the extreme; there were several large men-of-war in port, of different nations; also a large number of merchantmen. The evening sky was clear as day, and locomotives snorting so naturally reminded one forcibly of home, sweet home.
The day following was Sunday, and it was nearly all spent in exchanging salutes with the English, French and Spanish men-of-war, receiving the U. S. Consul on board with a salute, saluting the Governor, &c. Our war feelings were much excited by seeing two or three Confederate State flags, “the very articles that we were destined to suppress,” floating high in the air from the masts of three Confederate merchantmen that were enjoying the protection of this neutral port.
Havana is a pleasant city, situated mostly on a sort of peninsula formed by a pretty bay setting into the land, making a beautiful harbor, with only one narrow and deep outlet which is guarded by the renowned Moro Castle. It is well lighted with gas and supplied with evergreen shade trees, causing a comfortable appearance night or day. Bumboats, so-called, swarm around the ships at anchor, selling oranges, guava jelly, pies and fruit, and articles peculiar to the place and climate.
On the night of the 17th we left this place for Ship Island, to relieve the flag-ship Niagara, then stationed there. The weather was pleasant and wind favorable, and we had an agreeable trip. We fell in with schools of the little flying fish which abound in these waters. On the second day out we overhauled and boarded a schooner with the British flag protecting it, though circumstances caused the belief that she was American born at least; on the same afternoon we met and spoke the beautiful new steamship Constitution, from Ship Island.
We arrived at Ship Island on the evening of the 20th, received and returned a salute from the frigate Niagara, which hauled down her blue pennant on our coming to anchor, thereby transferring her importance to the Hartford, and gave us a salute of thirteen guns in honor of our flag-officer, which was duly returned. The Niagara had in tow the Confederate steamer Magnolia, loaded with eleven hundred bales of cotton, which had been captured on the day previous by the U. S. sloop-of-war Brooklyn and the U. S. steamer South Carolina, while attempting to run the blockade off the Mississippi.
We here found several U. S. gunboats; among them the New London and Water Witch, which were scouring the adjacent waters in search of prizes. There were also a few thousand troops on the island, belonging to Brig. Gen. Butler’s command. The island is merely a low sand bank, nearly destitute of vegetation, with a little extemporized fort mounting two or three guns, erected, I believe, simply for the present exigencies.
The 21st was signalized by the capture of eleven oyster sloops by the New London, which afforded us a taste of the bivalves, which we much enjoyed. On the 22d more prizes arrived, and in the evening the U. S. steam transport Rhode Island, loaded with provisions, letters, &c., to gladden the hearts of the sailors and cause a reaction in their monotonous life.
Washington’s birth-day was commemorated by salutes from the Hartford and Niagara and dressing the ships in flags.
Washington’s Birthday.—Patriotic services were held in the Congregational Church this morning. Madame Anna Bishop sang, and National songs were sung. Hon. James C. Smith read Washington’s Farewell Address. In the afternoon a party of twenty-two, young and old, took a ride in the Seminary boat and went to Mr Paton’s on the lake shore road. We carried flags and made it a patriotic occasion. I sat next to Spencer F. Lincoln, a young man from Naples who is studying law in Mr Henry Chesebro’s office. I never met him before but he told me he had made up his mind to go to the war. It is wonderful that young men who have brilliant prospects before them at home, will offer themselves upon the altar of their country. I have some new patriotic stationery. There is a picture of the flag on the envelope and underneath, “If any one attempts to haul down the American Flag shoot him on the spot.— John A. D1x.”
February 22.—To-day I had hoped to see our President inaugurated, but the rain falls in torrents, and I cannot go. So many persons are disappointed, but we are comforted by knowing that the inauguration will take place, and that the reins of our government will continue to be in strong hands. His term of six years must be eventful, and to him, and all others, so full of anxiety! What may we not experience during those six years? Oh, that all hearts may this day be raised to Almighty God for his guidance! Has there been a day since the Fourth of July, 1776, so full of interest, so fraught with danger, so encompassed by anxiety, so sorrowful, and yet so hopeful, as this 22d of February, 1862? Our wrongs then were great, and our enemy powerful, but neither can the one nor the other compare with all that we have endured from the oppression, and must meet in the gigantic efforts of the Federal Government. Our people are depressed by our recent disasters, but our soldiers are encouraged by the bravery and endurance of the troops at Donelson. It fell, but not until human nature yielded from exhaustion. The Greeks were overcome at Thermopylae, but were the Persians encouraged by their success? Did they still cherish contempt for their weak foe? And will the conquerors of Donelson meet our little army again with the same self-confidence? Has not our Spartan band inspired them with great respect for their valour, to say nothing of awe?
Our neighbour in the next room had two sons in that dreadful fight. Do they survive? Poor old lady! she can hear nothing from them; the telegraphic wires in Tennessee are cut, and mail communication very uncertain. It is so sad to see the mother and sister quietly pursuing their avocations, not knowing, the former says, whether she is not the second time widowed; for on those sons depend not only her comfort, but her means of subsistence, and that fair young girl, always accustomed to perfect ease, is now, with her old mother, boarding—confined to one room, using her taste and ingenuity, making and altering bonnets for her many acquaintances, that her mother may be supplied with the little luxuries to which she has always been accustomed, and which, her child says, “mother must have.” “Our property,” she says, “is not available, and, of course, ‘the boys’ had to give up their business to go into the army.”
February 22d.—What a beautiful day for our Confederate President to be inaugurated! God speed him; God keep him; God save him!
John Chesnut’s letter was quite what we needed. In spirit it is all that one could ask. He says, “Our late reverses are acting finely with the army of the Potomac. A few more thrashings and every man will enlist for the war. Victories made us too sanguine and easy, not to say vainglorious. Now for the rub, and let them have it!”
A lady wrote to Mrs. Bunch: “Dear Emma: When shall I call for you to go and see Madame de St. Andre?” She was answered: “Dear Lou: I can not go with you to see Madame de St. Andre, but will always retain the kindest feeling toward you on account of our past relations,” etc. The astounded friend wrote to ask what all this meant. No answer came, and then she sent her husband to ask and demand an explanation. He was answered thus: “My dear fellow, there can be no explanation possible. Hereafter there will be no intercourse between my wife and yours; simply that, nothing more.” So the men meet at the club as before, and there is no further trouble between them. The lady upon whom the slur is cast says, “and I am a woman and can’t fight!”
