July 26th. Weather glorious; good food and regular sleep has made a wonderful change in our physique, most of us getting stout. I was as thin as a rail, but am beginning to fill out a little. At 11 A. M. every tent in the whole division was struck, the ground thoroughly swept with home-made brooms, and left exposed to the sun till 5 P. M. ; this was to restore the hygienic conditions of the camp which were believed to be foul. Just after the tents were put up again a heavy storm gathered and broke about six o’clock, lasting until 9 P. M. It rained tremendously, but our tents were well put up, and stood like trees.
July 2012
Oak Ridge, July 26, 1862, Saturday.—It was not till Wednesday that H. could get into Vicksburg, ten miles distant, for a passport, without which we could not go on the cars. We started Thursday morning. I had to ride seven miles on a hard-trotting horse to the nearest station. The day was burning at white heat. When the station was reached my hair was down, my hat on my neck, and my feelings were indescribable.
On the train one seemed to be right in the stream of war, among officers, soldiers, sick men and cripples, adieus, tears, laughter, constant chatter, and, strangest of all, sentinels posted at the locked car-doors demanding passports. There was no train south from Jackson that day, so we put up at the Bowman House. The excitement was indescribable. All the world appeared to be traveling through Jackson. People were besieging the two hotels, offering enormous prices for the privilege of sleeping anywhere under a roof. There were many refugees from New Orleans, among them some acquaintances of mine. The peculiar style of [women’s] dress necessitated by the exigencies of war gave the crowd a very striking appearance. In single suits I saw sleeves of one color, the waist of another, the skirt of another; scarlet jackets and gray skirts; black waists and blue skirts; black skirts and gray waists; the trimming chiefly gold braid and buttons, to give a military air. The gray and gold uniforms of the officers, glittering between, made up a carnival of color. Every moment we saw strange meetings and partings of people from all over the South. Conditions of time, space, locality, and estate were all loosened; everybody seemed floating he knew not whither, but determined to be jolly, and keep up an excitement. At supper we had tough steak, heavy, dirty-looking bread, Confederate coffee. The coffee was made of either parched rye or cornmeal, or of sweet potatoes cut in small cubes and roasted. This was the favorite. When flavored with “coffee essence,” sweetened with sorghum, and tinctured with chalky milk, it made a curious beverage, which, after tasting, I preferred not to drink. Every one else was drinking it, and an acquaintance said, “Oh, you’ll get bravely over that. I used to be a Jewess about pork, but now we just kill a hog and eat it, and kill another and do the same. It’s all we have.”
Friday morning we took the down train for the station near my friend’s house. At every station we had to go through the examination of passes, as if in a foreign country.
The conscript camp was at Brookhaven, and every man had been ordered to report there or to be treated as a deserter. At every station I shivered mentally, expecting H. to be dragged off. Brookhaven was also the station for dinner. I choked mine down, feeling the sword hanging over me by a single hair. At sunset we reached our station. The landlady was pouring tea when we took our seats and I expected a treat, but when I tasted it it was sassafras tea, the very odor of which sickens me. There was a general surprise when I asked to exchange it for a glass of water; every one was drinking it as if it were nectar. This morning we drove out here.
My friend’s little nest is calm in contrast to the tumult not far off.
Yet the trials of war are here too. Having no matches, they keep fire, carefully covering it at night, for Mr. G. has no powder, and cannot flash the gun into combustibles as some do. One day they had to go with the children to the village, and the servant let the fire go out. When they returned at nightfall, wet and hungry, there was neither fire nor food. Mr. G. had to saddle the tired mule and ride three miles for a pan of coals, and blow them, all the way back, to keep them alight. Crockery has gradually been broken and tin-cups rusted out, and a visitor told me they had made tumblers out of clear glass bottles by cutting them smooth with a heated wire, and that they had nothing else to drink from.
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Note: To protect Mrs. Miller’s job as a teacher in New Orleans, the diary was published anonymously, edited by G. W. Cable, names were changed and initials were often used instead of full names — and even the initials differed from the real person’s initials.
July 26.—Madison Court-House, Va., was occupied by the First cavalry of Connecticut, a portion of General Sigel’s advance, after a slight skirmish with the rebel cavalry under Robertson, who were driven out of the town. — Prominent citizens of Hayward County, Tenn., were captured by the rebel guerrillas for selling cotton.—The Union transport schooner Louisa Reeves, of New York, laden with forage for the army of the Potomac, was this day captured and burned by a party of rebel troops, at Coggins’s Point, James River, Va.
—A skirmish took place near Patten, Missouri, between a company of the Tenth battalion of State militia, under Major Chevreaux, and two hundred guerrillas, in which the latter were defeated and put to flight, with a loss of twenty-five killed and wounded. The National loss was three wounded.—St. Louis News, July 29.
—Yesterday the towns of Van Buren, Lysander and Marcellus, N. Y, subscribed four thousand five hundred dollars to aid in raising a regiment under the call of President Lincoln for more troops, issued on the first instant, and to-day the Salt Company of Onondaga, N. Y., subscribed ten thousand dollars for the same purpose.
— A slight skirmish occurred near Young’s Cross-Roads, at the head of White Oak River, N. C, between a reconnoitring party of Union troops, under Colonel Heckman, of the Ninth New-Jersey regiment, and a body of rebel cavalry, numbering about two hundred men, which resulted in the complete defeat of the rebels.
— Yesterday a skirmish took place near the Mountain Store, about twenty miles from Houston, Missouri, between a body of Union troops under the command of Captain Bradway, Third Missouri cavalry, and a force of rebel guerrillas under Colonel Coleman, resulting in the retreat of the latter towards the Big Piney River, where they were encountered to-day by the same party of Unionists, and after a sharp fight, were completely routed. In these two skirmishes the rebels had five men killed and twelve wounded. The Union party were uninjured.—(Doc. 161.)
— Large and enthusiastic meetings were held in Philadelphia, Pa., and Wheeling, Va., for the purpose of promoting enlistments into the army under the call of President Lincoln for more troops. In the meeting at Philadelphia, resolutions were unanimously adopted recommending the employment of all the power and means the Executive could command to put down the rebellion; thanking President Lincoln for the change in policy in the treatment of the property of rebels; pledging the Government their earnest support in resisting any foreign interference, and recommending every able-bodied citizen to unite himself to some military organization, to be ready for any emergency. A large amount of money was subscribed to the bounty fund. In the meeting at Wheeling a memorial was adopted, praying the County Court to make a levy of twenty thousand dollars to aid volunteering.
July 25 — This morning we started for our camp at Harrisonburg. At New Market Captain Chew generously granted me a leave of absence to remain at home for a few days. Home, friends, and haunts of childhood are as dear as ever, but cannot be fully enjoyed with entire satisfaction as long as a desolating war cloud hangs over the sunny South and mars and obscures the sweet light of independent freedom.
Most of my former friends and associates of my youth are away on the tented field, which makes me feel rather lonely and dissatisfied, although reveling in the abundance of extra rations and environed by the comforts of home.
JULY 25TH—More Northern papers received to-day, containing news from the South. Most fortunately, they can know nothing reliable of what is passing within Gen. Lee’s lines. The responsibility of keeping his gates closed against spies rests in a great measure on myself, and I endeavor to keep even our own people in profound ignorance of what transpires there.
July 25th.
An old gentleman stopped here just now in a carriage and asked to see me. Such a sad, sick old man! He said his name was Caldwell, and that passing through East Feliciana, Mrs. Flynn had asked him to deliver a message to us. Had we heard from our brothers? I told him the message from Mr. Bell. He commenced dying. There was one of them, he said, who got hurt. I held my breath and looked at him. He cried more still, and said yes, it was Gibbes — in the hand — not dangerous — but — Here I thought he meant to tell me worse; perhaps he was dead; but I could not speak, so he went on saying Lydia and the General had gone on to Richmond instantly, and had probably reached there before today. He took so long to tell it, and he cried so, that I was alarmed, until I thought perhaps he had lost one of his own sons; but I dared not ask him. Just then one of the horses fell down with sunstroke, and I begged the old gentleman to come in and rest until they could raise the horse; but he said no, he must go on to the river. He looked so sick that I could not help saying he looked too unwell to go beyond, and I wished he would come in. But he burst into tears, saying, “Yes, my child, I am very, very sick, but I must go on.” Poor old man, with his snow-white beard!
Friday, 25th—The quartermaster drew some clothing today for our regiment. The regiment was out for drill today, with better success than the other day when it was so hot.
July 25, 1862. — Friday. — Preparations for the trip. We go from this camp immediately after dinner.
25th. Started at 4 A. M. Marched 7 miles beyond Hudson’s Crossing. Met the third battalion.
Headquarters Stevens’ Div.
July 25th, 1862.
My dear Mother:
Your letter has just reached me. I have only to say that it has long been my earnest desire to serve with the troops of my native state where there are so many who feel an interest in me. I have many times sought an opportunity to change to the troops from Old Connecticut, but the mutiny in the Highland Regiment, then being sent to S. Carolina, and other things have prevented. Should I be selected for the position of Major in one of the new Regiments, I think I can bring the necessary testimonials to my fitness. As a staff officer I have been too long employed in teaching field officers their duty, to feel many scruples about accepting the position, if offered me. I will see Gen. Stevens, and ask his advice. The mail is about closing now, so good-bye.
Lovingly,
Will.
