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

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Post image for Horatio Nelson Taft

Horatio Nelson Taft

February 17, 2011

Diary of US patent clerk Horatio Nelson Taft.,The American Civil War

SUNDAY 17

A very pleasant morning. M. 40. Colder the middle of the day and quite a snow storm in the afternoon. Went to Church in the morning with wife & Boys, heard Doct Smith preach. Sunday School performance in the afternoon. Wife & Boys went. Myself and Willie staid at home. Took a walk with the Boys in evening. Tea at 7 o’clock. Spent the evening at home reading and explaining portions of Revolutionary History of U.S. Wife has played on the piano some and the Boys have read aloud & written some.

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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.

Post image for “…a sudden check upon the military enterprise of the South Carolinians?”—Operations in Charleston Harbor

“…a sudden check upon the military enterprise of the South Carolinians?”—Operations in Charleston Harbor

February 17, 2011

The American Civil War,War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies

FORT SUMTER, S.C., February 17, 1861.

General Jos. G. TOTTEN,
Chief Engineer U. S. Army, Washington, D.C.:

GENERAL: Everything is quiet, and there are no evidences of the presence of many troops around us, nor of military preparation. The assumption of all questions relating to forts, arsenals, &c., by the Congress of the Southern Confederacy appears to have placed a sudden check upon the military enterprise of the South Carolinians. The only operation performed yesterday was the firing of three shots from the iron bomb-proof battery on Cummings Point, apparently for the purpose of trying the embrasure shutters. These shutters appear to be of iron, and are arranged like a trap-door, with a hinge at the upper edge, so that two men can open it—having, probably, a counterpoise in the interior.

I think these batteries can be destroyed by our fire by concentrating it upon one embrasure at a time, and aiming at the embrasure itself.

I cannot yet determine what is being done at Fort Moultrie. In addition to the sand bags, which raises the sole of the exterior about two feet, the whole embrasure is filled with a large bag of wool or cotton.

Very respectfully, your obedient servant,

J. G. FOSTER,

Captain of Engineers.

Post image for At the Court of St. James

At the Court of St. James

February 17, 2011

Diary of George Mifflin Dallas, United States Minister to England 1856 to 1861

1861. February 17.—Mr. Reuter sends me a telegram from Queenstown of the American news. 1. The conference invited by Virginia met on the 4th, and re-assembled with closed doors on the 5th at Washington. 2. Slidell and Benjamin have withdrawn. 3. A truce between Lieutenant Slemmer and State forces at Pensacola Navy-Yard, followed by surrender to latter. 4. North Carolina resolves unanimously to go with the other slave States if adjustment fail. 5. United States revenue cutter Lewis Cass treacherously surrendered to Alabama. 6. Fifty thousand people starving in Kansas. 7. Secession of Texas definitive. 8. The President has refused to surrender Fort Sumter on Colonel Hayne’s demand; an attack expected. 9. Attempt on Fort Pickens abandoned. No blood yet spilt.