Friday, 21st—It is cloudy and cold. Captain Chambers’ battery of six guns arrived today. Orders came for us to embark at once, and we struck our tents and got ready to start. After waiting six hours for the order to fall in, the order was countermanded and we had to pitch our tents again.
March 2012
21st. Went out with a detail of twenty privates and two sergeants to cut wood for the regiment. Had twelve mule teams. Drew twenty-two loads. Saw a long overland train bound for Humboldt with crackers. Another train coming loaded with nine yoke of oxen. One wagon had 17 yokes stuck fast in the mire of the creek. California Overland Route.
Friday, 21. — Storm not over yet; snows P. M. . . . News of retreat of enemy after leaving Manassas. If McClellan pursues vigorously he will thrash or destroy them. A victory that crushes the Rebellion as a power. It may be a great annoyance afterwards but nothing more. Vigor, energy now for a few weeks and the thing is done. He (McClellan) ought not to have allowed them to steal away from him, but if he now crushes them he redeems it all and becomes the Nation’s idol. I hope he will do it. I do not quite like his views of slavery if I understand them; but his cautious policy if now followed by energy will be vindicated by the event.
March 21. Passing along Pollock, above Middle street, today, I was accosted by a man who was sitting on the veranda of his house and invited to come in, as he wished a talk with me. Noticing that he was a smart-looking, well-dressed, gentlemanly appearing man, and withal an M. D., according to his sign, I was nothing loth to gratify his whim. As I stepped up on the veranda, he invited me to be seated. After a little commonplace talk, he began to inquire about our troops, their number and where they were from. I told him only a few of our troops had landed, that the river and sound were black with them in case they should be needed, and nearly all of them were from New England. He said our capture of the city was wholly unexpected, and at the last moment nearly all the better class of citizens left, leaving their houses and property as we found them. He said in that he thought they had made a great mistake, as he regarded Gen. Burnside as an honorable, high-toned gentleman, who would have dealt fairly with them, if they had remained and taken their chances, and would have allowed them to go whenever they wished. I replied I didn’t know how that would have been, but I thought they had made another mistake in burning the railroad bridge and trying to burn the town. In doing as they have, they have shown that they had no regard for their property and they certainly cannot expect us to have much for it, although we have shown some in putting out the fires and saving it.
“Yes, I know,” he said, “but perhaps they thought they would show your people that they were willing to sacrifice their property and make a Moscow of it rather than let it fall into your hauds.”
“Well, sir,” said I, “in that they made another mistake, for if they had succeeded in burning it, it would have been no Moscow; we should have staid here just the same. Unlike Napoleon, we do not need the town; we care nothing for it; it is the position we want.”
“But you seem to occupy it?”
“Certainly we do, there is no one else to occupy it, and we may as well use it as not.”
“Do you propose to have us vacate our premises for your use?”
“Really, sir, I am not in the secrets of the general, but I presume that you and all others will be protected in your persons and property, so long as you remain loyal and show no opposition to the government.”
“Yes, sir, I supposed it would be something that way. What do you propose doing with that cotton down on the wharf.”
“That cotton belonged to the Confederate government, or at least they were using it against the Federal government, and like other government property it becomes the spoils of war, and some fine morning you will see it going down the river bound for some northern manufacturing city. After a few weeks it will be back here again in the form of tents for the use of the army.”
“Then you intend making this a permanent garrison?”
“We intend to hold this position just as long as it is of any use to us.”
“How long do you think this war will continue?”
“As things look now, I don’t think it can possibly hold more than a year longer, if it does so long.”
“Then you think in that time you can subjugate our people?”
“Well, sir, my opinion is that in less than eighteen months, every armed Confederate, unless he sooner surrenders, will be driven into the Gulf of Mexico.”
“You seem to be very sanguine in your opinion, sir; but then we all have our opinions, and I think after a year you will find you have made but little progress. I would like to ask for how long you have enlisted?”
“I have enlisted for three years, unless the job is sooner finished.”
“Well, sir, if nothing serious happens to you (which I really hope there will not), you will serve your three years, and then, unless your people give it up, you can again enlist, for I can assure you that our people will never give it up.”
“You think then, that with all the odds against you, you will finally succeed?”
“I certainly do; you see you Yankees are going to tire of this thing after a spell; you are not used to roughing it, and will soon weary of the hardships and privations of a soldier’s life. You Yankees had much rather be spinning cotton, making shoes, trading, speculating and trying to make money, than following the occupation of a soldier.”
“For a choice, there are probably very few of us who would select the occupation of a soldier, but you mistake the Yankee character entirely, if you think, having undertaken anything, they tire of it very easily. That was not the class of men they sprung from. They were an enterprising, untiring class of men; if they had not been, they would never have settled down among the rocks and hills of bleak New England and made of it the richest most intelligent and powerful little piece of territory the sun shines on. But, my friend, as all things earthly have an end, this will probably prove no exception, and in the end, your people will find that they have got the least value received for the money paid out of any speculation they ever engaged in, and will still find themselves a part and parcel of the United States, subject to all the rules and conditions of the government, in common with the rest of the states.”
After some further talk about state rights and state sovereignty, in which we could not agree, he invited me into his house. Here, like a true Southern gentleman, he entertained and extended hospitalities right royally, and I think we must have sampled his best bottle. He told me it was six years old, and from a silver goblet, I sipped the best native wine I ever tasted; it was rich, mellow and fruity. He said it was made from a choice variety of grape called the Scuppernong. It was really a splendid native wine, as so it appeared to me. After some more small talk, I bade my new found friend good day, and took my leave.
Eliza’s Journal.
March 21.
A damp, drizzly day, but I wanted to see Joe in camp once more, and we went down to Alexandria, where Mother and Hatty distributed a lot of sweet flowers to the poor fingerless, one-armed and broken-legged fellows in the hospital, while I went on.
Joe has only had command of the regiment these few days and I found him extremely busy reorganizing and getting it into condition for the advance. Each man has been thoroughly inspected and all deficiencies in clothing, etc., are being filled. He keeps the officers busy, has an informal class of instruction for some of them, and has been issuing orders for arrangements on the transports, precautions against fire, etc. I only stayed a very little while. On our return boat from Alexandria we had a chance to see eleven of the transports start down the river crowded with troops, the men cheering and tossing their hats. It was a fine and striking sight as the boats, densely packed with volunteers, moved out from the docks, the sun lighting up the sails and colors of the schooners and steamboats, the signal flags nodding and bobbing, and the bands playing lively tunes, while the crowds on shore cheered in response.
We met the Berdan sharpshooters marching down to embark, and shook hands with Will Winthrop and Capt. Hastings. As we drove into town, McClellan (looking old and careworn) and Franklin passed us, going out to the army.
March 21.—Yesterday an expedition was sent out to the vicinity of Indian Creek, west of Keitsville, Mo. Capt Stevens, with fifty-two men, and one of his mountain howitzers, were accompanied by thirteen home-guards. On the route, he was informed that a rebel force was to rendezvous at the house of one Boone the next night Capt Stevens approached the house early in the morning, and captured nine rebels who were in the house. Eight more, who arrived soon after, were also taken in. The prisoners thus taken, seventeen in number, who were all carried into the Union camp, include three rebel captains, to wit: James W. Bullard, George R. McMinn, and Jasper Moore. The men were all armed, and the arms fell into the hands of the Nationals. About one thousand pounds of bacon, which had been collected at the house for the use of the rebel army, was also taken possession of by the Union troops. —St. Louis Republican.
—Commodore Dc Pont, having received from the Mayor and inhabitants of St Augustine, Fla., an invitation to take possession of that place, several gunboats, with the battalion of marines, proceeded down and came to off the harbor, where they found that Com. Rodgers, of the Wabash, had taken quiet possession of the place, with his marines and some volunteer soldiers, under Gen. Sherman. The volunteers had possession of the fort, and the marine-guard were quartered in the towa—(Doc. 101.)
—Two new military departments were constituted by the President; the first, called the Department of the Gulf, which comprises all the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, west of Pensacola harbor, and so much of the Gulf States as might be occupied by the forces under Major-Gen. B. F. Butler, United States Volunteers; the headquarters to be wherever the General commanding was. The other was denominated the Department of the South, comprising the States of South-Carolina, Georgia and Florida, with the expedition and forces under Brig.-General T. W. Sherman, to be under the command of Gen. David Hunter.
—Secretary Welles, of the United States Navy Department, made the following acknowledgment of services rendered by Lieut. George U. Morris, and the men of the Cumberland:
“Sir: In the calamitous assault of the armed steamer Merrimac upon the sloop Cumberland, and frigate Congress, on the ninth inst, which were comparatively helpless, the Department has had occasion to admire the courage and determination of yourself, and the officers and men associated with you, who, under the most disastrous and appalling circumstances, boldly fought your formidable assailant, exposed, as you were, to an opponent secure in his armor, while attacking the Cumberland. To your honor, and that of those associated with you, the guns were coolly manned, loaded and discharged, while the vessel was in a sinking condition, and your good ship went down with the flag at the gaff, and its brave defenders proved themselves worthy of the renown which has immortalized the American navy. The gallant service of yourself and the brave men of the Cumberland, on the occasion, is justly appreciated by a grateful country, and the Department, in behalf of the Government, desires to thank you and them for the heroism displayed, and the fidelity with which the flag was defended.”
—At a meeting of the cashiers of the Associated Banks of Baltimore, to-day, all the Banks being represented, the following resolution was unanimously adopted, namely:
“Resolved, That United States Demand Treasury Notes shall be received by the Associated Banks of Baltimore, on and after Saturday, the twenty-second inst, without limit, on deposit.
—This day a boat-fight took place at Mosquito Inlet, Florida, in which Lieut. Commanding T, A. Budd, and Acting Master Mather, together with three sailors of the United States Navy, were killed.— (Doc. 102.)
—The Norfolk Day-Book of this day complains that drunkenness is frightfully on the increase in Virginia. It firmly denounces the officers and soldiers, but censures the civilians less harshly. Here is a portion of its remarks:
“Whisky—Whisky—Whisky. — In the cars, at the shanties, at the groceries, in village taverns and city hotels—whisky. Officers with gold lace wound in astonishing involutions upon their arms, private soldiers in simple homespun, and civilians in broadcloth, all seem to drink whisky with persistent energy and perseverance. They drink it too, in quantities which would astonish the nerves of a cast-iron lamp-post, and of a quantity which would destroy the digestive organs of the ostrich. Truth is often unpleasant to tell, but the public safety demands that the vice in question should be rebuked and reformed; for it is a fact which the press should neither palliate nor conceal, that whisky which is no more akin to rye than rye is to coffee—whisky which is of the unadulterated tangle—first chain-lightning distillation is guzzled down in a manner alike revolting to public decency and the general good.”
—Washington, N. C, was occupied by the National forces under Gen. Burnside. The Unionists landed from their gunboats, and, headed by a band of music, marched through the town, playing Hail Columbia, and waving the Stars and Stripes at a lively rate. The few people who had remained in the place since the fall of Newbern, received them with marked coolness. Their music and their banners wholly failed to arouse any of that Union feeling which Marble Nash Taylor collected several thousand dollars in New-York to set free, so they left without disturbing cither persons or property.—Petersburg (Va.) Express, March 27.
Twentieth. — To-day ’tis cloudy and we have fire in the tent and I wear my cloak besides. There are no news of any kind to-day. We are on a little piece of dry land here (some of the earthquake’s “get up” I suppose) entirely surrounded by swamps of the vilest kind, cane and cypress. We have dug wells all through camp. Find plenty of water at five feet. The Rebel battery across the river has been trying to shell us this morning. They sent some shell plenty far enough but they lit off to the right of our camp. General Plummer rides down along the river bank with his staff every day and the Rebels do their best to send him up. The colonel has just started out with him to give the Rebels another chance. There is considerable cane here and it looks as though the country might grow alligators to almost any extent. ‘Tis a grand country for a sporting man. The very paradise of geese and their kindred.
March 20 — This morning we went below Woodstock on picket, but saw no Yanks. This evening we are quartered in the Court House at Woodstock.
Cloud’s Mills, March 20, 1862.
Dear Father, — I received your two letters containing the two photographs one of which I gave to General Porter, he asking for it first. I liked the full face better than the other, which General Porter took.
I saw Professor Low the aeronaut the other day. He is a very good-looking man and still enthusiastic about the balloon’s crossing the ocean.
Our staff gave General Porter quite a handsome sword last evening. Curiously enough it was the anniversary of his wedding, which together with this sword presentation were, he said, the two pleasantest occasions of his life.
I attended a review of General Franklin’s division with General Porter yesterday. The troops made a fine show, being well drilled and disciplined. Porter’s (Mass.) Battery is in this division. General McClellan was there and rode, of course, at the head of the reviewing column, which consisted of any amount of generals and their staffs. Generals Franklin, Porter, McDowell, Slocum, Heintzelman, who commands our corps d’ armee, Kearny, Barry and numerous others were there. The soldiers cheered McClellan heartily as he rode up and down the lines, followed by about fifty officers.
I think I was mistaken in what I wrote you about McClellan. It came from one of his enemies and I am confident was wrong. If you notice what Burnside says in his report of the battle at Newberne you will see what he says about following out the minute orders given him by McClellan. That will rather knock the N. Y. Tribune, which has been abusing McClellan abominably. I hope you never take the paper.
The whole force of the Army under McClellan is 257,000 men, including Burnside and Sherman, I suppose.
I hear that Sherman is to be superseded by General Hunter. The administration are not satisfied with him, and with good reason.
We are waiting here for our transports, which have already taken some troops, and landed them, and are on the way back for more. I don’t see how we can start before Monday. We shall probably go to the place I wrote you about, in a short note. Don’t speak of it until you hear we are there. . . .
Thursday March 20th 1862
Wet drizzling day, as uncomfortable as need be. No news yet from Comodore Foot. I fear he has met with a repulse. Doct David & his Brother James were down and dined with us today. James is not attached to the Regt but is going down with it. It is expected to go tomorrow, but uncertain. Prof Sparks was here this evening hearing Julia recite her Spanish. He brought he[r] up a Spanish Dictionary & other books in the Spanish language. She seems to be making some progress. I have not been out of the house tonight, looked at the boys writing Books &c, & read the papers.
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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.
