Following the American Civil War Sesquicentennial with day by day writings of the time, currently 1863.

Post image for “The mosquitoes bled me all night. Mosquitoes in the middle of May!”─Rebel War Clerk.

“The mosquitoes bled me all night. Mosquitoes in the middle of May!”─Rebel War Clerk.

May 14, 2011

A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, By John Beauchamp Jones,The American Civil War

MAY 14th. ─ The weather is very warm. Day before yesterday the wheat was only six or eight inches high. To-day it is two or three feet in height, headed, and almost ripe for the scythe.

At every station [where I can write a little] we see crowds of men, and women, and boys; and during our pauses some of the passengers, often clergymen, and not unfrequently Northern born, address them in soul-stirring strains of patriotic eloquence. If Uncle Abe don’t find subjugation of this country, and of such a people as this, is truly a “big job” on his hands, I am much mistaken.

Passed the Stone Mountain at 11 o’clock A.M. It appears at a distance like a vast artificial formation, resembling the pictures of the pyramids.

Arrived at Montgomery 10 o’clock P.M., and put up at the Montgomery House. The mosquitoes bled me all night. Mosquitoes in the middle of May! And as they never cease to bite till killed by the frost, the pest here is perennial.

Previous post:

Next post: