Wednesday, November 6. — Came to our anchorage again, the night having been pretty rough; but towards morning the sea was calmer, and we had a pleasant day. The Ericsson got off the bar without any injury. The R. B. Forbes towed the Dale in nearer to us. The Great Republic is outside the bar and has set signals of distress for want of water. It will be bad as she has 500 horses on board. A boat came to us from the Ericsson, and said that the fight on Monday was with the shore batteries, and was simply a reconnoissance. In the evening we had music from the band and dancing on the deck. Sea calm.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
6th. Attended concert at Academy of Music by invitation from Nell. She sang well. Nettleton there.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 6, 1861.
A cool, cloudy, misty day. It is now pretty well known that the great fleet landed near Charleston S.C. Much anxiety is felt to hear direct from it. No new[s] today. J.C. Fremont is removed from the command of the Army in M.O. Genl Hunter takes his place. The 60th NY Regt arrived and passed up Mass Ave just before dark. It appeared in first rate condition. No news from Rosecrantz today. Capt Meeks of the Anderson Zouaves called last evening. He was well mounted and has command at the Chain Bridge. I was at the Pat office awhile. Julia has caught a severe cold.
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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.
November 6th.—Instead of Mr. Everett and Mr. Johnson, Mr. Thurlow Weed and Bishop Hughes will pay a visit to Europe in the Federal interests. Notwithstanding the adulation of everything French, from the Emperor down to a Zouave’s gaiter, in the New York press there is an uneasy feeling respecting the intentions of France, founded on the notion that the Emperor is not very friendly to the Federalists, and would be little disposed to expose his subjects to privation and suffering from the scarcity of cotton and tobacco if, by intervention, he could avert such misfortunes. The inactivity of McClellan, which is not understood by the people, has created an under-current of unpopularity, to which his enemies are giving every possible strength, and some people are beginning to think the youthful Napoleon is only a Brummagem Bonaparte.
NOVEMBER 6TH.—All accounts from the North indicate that great preparations are being made to crush us on the coast this winter. I see no corresponding preparations on our side.
6th.—Mr. _____ gone to the prayer-meeting at Millwood,accompanied by Mr. _____; both will cast their votes for Mr. Davis to be President of these Confederate States for the next six years. We yesterday dined at ” Mountain View,” with the Rev. Mr. Walker and family. He has been called to South Carolina to be professor in the Episcopal Theological Seminary of that State. He will go, as there is no hope of his getting back to Alexandria during the war. Nothing from the “Fleet.”
November 6.—The extra session of the Legislature of South Carolina, after sitting three days, adjourned sine die, after choosing Presidential Electors, and ordering the banks to loan the State three hundred thousand dollars. The names of the Presidential Electors are: Henry C. Young, Wm. H. Trescott, Robert F. W. Allston, John S. Palmer, J. Duncan Allen, John C. Hope, T. Edwin Ware, and Franklin I. Moses.—Atlanta (Ga.) Southern Confederacy, November 9.
—An expedition from the U. S. steamer Cambridge went up the Corrotowan Creek, Va., in the tug boat Rescue, and burned a large schooner. On their return the expedition was fired upon by a large number of riflemen, concealed on the bank, and was several times grazed by shells from a rifled cannon.—(Doc. 132.)
—Two parties of rebel troops met on the peninsula, above Newport News, Va., and mistook each other for enemies. Brisk firing at once commenced, and a number on each side were killed and wounded before the mistake was found out. Among the killed was Major Bailey, of Mobile.—Memphis Appeal, November 16.
—The Grand Jury in session at Frankfort, Kentucky, adjourned, having found indictments for treason against thirty-two prominent citizens, among whom were Robert J. Breckinridge, jr., J. C. Breckinridge, Humphrey Marshall, Ben. Desha, and Harry T. Hawkins. Nineteen persons were also indicted for high misdemeanor.—Baltimore American, Nov. 13.
—Electors for President and Vice-President were chosen throughout the revolted States, and also members of Congress. The Congress is to meet at Richmond on the 18th of February, 1862, .and the votes for the two highest offices in the Government will be counted next day.—New York Tribune, November 18.
—One hundred and Twenty Federal troops, under Capt. Shields, were captured by the rebels near Little Santa Fé, Mo., this morning. The Federals were on their way to join Gen. Fremont’s column. The force of the enemy was five hundred men.—N. Y. World, Nov. 8.
—The Thirteenth Indiana regiment, under the command of Col. J. J. Sullivan, and a portion of Capt. Robinson’s Ohio Cavalry, returned to Huttonsville, Va., from an arduous scout of nine days’ duration through a very rough country, heretofore not penetrated by the Union troops.
They accomplished a march of some one hundred and eighty-five miles, and had a successful skirmish with the rebels in the mountains of Webster County. Several were killed and wounded, and thirteen prisoners captured, the notorious Bill Bennet being among the latter. The Nationals were very fortunate, having only one man, a private in Company G, Thirteenth Indiana, wounded.—Louisville Journal, November 9.
—The Tenth Legion N. Y. S. V., under the command of Colonel C. H. Van Wyck, left Newburgh for the seat of war.—The Forty-first regiment of Ohio Volunteers, under the command of Colonel William B. Hazen, left Camp Wood, at Cleveland, for the seat of war in Kentucky.—N. Y. Herald, November 7.
—Gens. Grant and McClernand, of the United States forces, left Cairo for Belmont, a rebel post opposite Columbus, Ky., on the Mississippi, with the Twenty-second Illinois regiment, Colonel Dougherty; the Twenty-seventh Illinois regiment, Colonel Buford; the Thirtieth Illinois regiment, Colonel Fouke; the Thirty-first Illinois regiment, Colonel Logan; the Seventh Iowa regiment, Colonel Lamon; Taylor’s Chicago Artillery, and Dollen’s and Delano’s Cavalry, in all three thousand, five hundred men, on the steamers Alex. Scott, Chancellor, Memphis, and Keystone State, accompanied by the gunboats Lexington and Tyler.
Wednesday, 6th—Drill twice a day: company drill in the forenoon and regimental drill in the afternoon. Colonel Hare for the first time commanded the regiment on the drill ground.
