SUNDAY, JULY 21, 1861.
This has been the most exciting day yet. We have heard the guns all day from the battle which has been raging at or near Mannasses Junction. There is no news that can be relied on public tonight, only that a terrible fight has been going on all day. Reinforcements have been going over all day and last night. 12000 have left the City. A Regt passed the church during services this morning and a train of Artillery dashed by. A most excited crowd at Willards and all sorts of rumors afloat.
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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.
