Wednesday, 1st. Up at 5 o’clock. Commenced work at 5:25. Divided into three reliefs. I took charge for four hours. Boys went for provisions to a house three miles and got some breakfast at an empty house. Kept at work—after breakfasting at 10—till noon. Then marched homewards. Bivouacked 2 miles west of Carthage. Slept with A. B. N. My birthday anniversary (twenty one) . Charge of advance guard.
October 2012
Written from the Sea islands of South Carolina.
[Diary] October 1.
To-day the news came that Lincoln has declared emancipation after the 1st of January, 1863. Our first victory worth the name.
OCTOBER 1ST.—They are still striking at martial law in the Senate, as administered by Gen. Winder. A communication from the Secretary of War admits that Gen. W. was authorized to suppress substitute agencies—“but this did not justify impressment and confiscation.” It appears that Gen Winder ordered the agents to be impressed into the service, and the money paid for substitutes to be confiscated! Notwithstanding his blundering ignorance is disavowed, he is still retained in command.
The enemy are at Warrenton; and McClellan’s army has crossed the Upper Potomac. Another battle is imminent—and fearful will be the slaughter this time. Lee had but little if any more than 40,000 in the battle of Sharpsburg; the Northern papers said McClellan had 200,000! a fearful odds. But Lee now has 70,000—and, besides, he will be defending Virginia. McClellan, with his immense army, must advance, or else relinquish command. The Abolitionists of the North have never liked him, and they wield the power at present. A defeat of Lee near Winchester would produce consternation here.
There are, as usual, thousands of able-bodied men still in our streets. It is probable every man, able to march, will be required on the field of battle. If we can get out all, we shall certainly gain the day, and establish our independence.
How shall we subsist this winter? There is not a supply of wood or coal in the city—and it is said there are not adequate means of transporting it hither. Flour at $16 per barrel, and bacon at 75 cts. per pound, threaten a famine. And yet there are no beggars in the streets. We must get a million of men in arms and drive the invader from our soil. We are capable of it, and we must do it. Better die in battle than die of starvation produced by the enemy.
The newspapers are printed on half sheets—and I think the publishers make money; the extras (published almost every day) are sold to the newsboys for ten cents, and often sold by them for twenty-five cents. These are mere slips of paper, seldom containing more than a column—which is reproduced in the next issue. The matter of the extras is mostly made up from the Northern papers, brought hither by persons running the blockade. The supply is pretty regular, and dates are rarely more than three or four days behind the time of reception. We often get the first accounts of battles at a distance in this way, as our generals and our government are famed for a prudential reticence. When the Northern papers simply say they have gained a victory, we rejoice, knowing their Cretan habits. The other day they announced, for European credulity, the capture and killing of 40,000 of our men: this staggered us; but it turned out that they did capture 700 of our stragglers and 2000 wounded men in field hospitals. Now they are under the necessity of admitting the truth. Truth, like honesty, is always the best policy.
October 1.—One of Mrs. May’s patients died a few days ago. His name was Huntley; was a lieutenant in the Twenty-seventh Mississippi Regiment. He was sick for some time, and died perfectly resigned, in the full hope of a blessed resurrection. He spoke a good deal about his family, and would like to have seen them before his departure from this world. Mrs. W. conversed and prayed with him, and was much gratified at the frame of mind in which he died. His father came to see him, but too late, as he was dead and buried. A few days before his death he told me that my friend, Lieutenant Booth, a member of the same regiment, was here sick. Dr. Hunter has sent a messenger around to all the hospitals in search of him, but he is not to be found.
In a letter received a few days ago from home, was a notice of the death of Charles Farrow, a member of the Twenty-first Alabama Regiment, the same who was taken prisoner at Shiloh. He was confined at Camp Douglas; was taken sick while on the transport, coming down; and, having no attention paid him, sank under his disease, and died on the 21st or 22d of September. Poor fellow! It seems but yesterday since I saw him, a boy. He was one of my brother’s school-mates. They are dropping off, one by one. I little know what at this moment may be my brother’s fate.
The relatives of C. F. had the consolation of closing his eyes and ministering to his last wants, as he reached his home a few hours ere he breathed his last. He was a member of the Episcopal Church, and, I believe, a sincere and devout Christian. I feel for his poor mother and sisters who mourn for him. —’He is not dead, but sleepeth."
"Weep not for him! There is no cause of woe;
But rather nerve the spirit, that it walk,
Unshrinking, o’er the thorny path below,
And from earth’s low defilement keep thee back.
So, when a few fleet-swerving years have flown,
He’ll meet thee at heaven’s gate, and lead thee on.
Weep not for him!"
October 1.—The advance of General Sill’s division, including the Fifth brigade, under Col. Edward N. Kirk, had an engagement with a body of rebel cavalry on the east bank of Floyd’s Fork, Ky., where they were heavily posted on the hills. Their pickets were engaged by a squadron of the Fourth Indiana cavalry and driven back upon the main body, where they were held in check until the infantry came up. Detachments of the Thirty-fourth Illinois and Seventy-seventh Pennsylvania were thrown forward as skirmishers, and drove them from their position. No sooner had the firing commenced than Col. Kirk, who had just sufficiently recovered from his wound received at Shiloh to take the field, dashed forward, directing all the movements and ever ready to take advantage of every position. After driving them about three miles, and being unable to overtake the flying enemy, a section of Capt Edgerton’s battery was brought to bear upon them at a distance of about one thousand yards, which only accelerated their retreat. The cavalry then charged and drove them some two miles farther, when, night coming on, the chase was abandoned and the troops went into camp. In their retreat, the rebels left behind a large quantity of small ammunition.—Louisville Journal.
—The rebel Legislature of Virginia, in session at Richmond, passed an act prohibiting the sale and removal of salt out of the State, and regulating its sale and distribution in the State.
—Colonel Barton, with a detachment of the Forty-eighth New-York regiment, under Captain Lent, and of the Third Rhode Island artillery, under Capt Gould, went up the Savannah River, and shelled a battery at Cranston’s Bluff, and a picket at the “Needles.” The rebels replied, but their guns were of so short a range that they were easily silenced.—The rebels evacuated Shelbyville, Ky.
—William E. Hamlin, having been appointed a special provost-marshal for the State of Rhode Island, this day issued a series of regulations, among which is the following: “It is expected that the citizens of the State will cheerfully and from a sense of duty, cooperate with this department in aiding the General Government in suppressing the existing rebellion, by promptly reporting to these headquarters the names of all disloyal persons, and by giving information of any treasonable practices, which shall come to their knowledge, to the end that the instructions of the Government may be fully and efficiently carried out”
—A fight occurred near Gallatin, Tenn., between a force of Union cavalry under the command of Col. Stokes, First Tennessee, and a large body of rebel guerrillas under Col. Bennett, resulting in a complete rout of the latter with a loss of forty killed, a large number wounded, and thirty-nine taken prisoners. Col. Bennett was wounded, and his brother, Robert Bennett, was among the prisoners.—Louisville Journal, Oct. 13.
—A party of nine National pickets captured a rifle-pit near Bachelor’s Creek, about fifteen miles from Newbern, N. C, and dispersed a superior force of rebels.—The Unionists in Camden County, N. C, petitioned President Lincoln for permission to drive all the rebel families out of the county. If granted, they promised two loyal regiments for the Union.
—The United States Western gunboat fleet was this day transferred from the War to the Navy Department.
—The Richmond Whig of this date speaks of President Lincoln’s proclamation as ordaining a servile insurrection in the confederate States, and says it is not misunderstood North or South. “It is a dash of the pen to destroy four thousand millions of our property, and is as much as a bid for the slaves to rise in insurrection, with the assurance of aid from the whole military and naval power of the United States.” It speaks of the cruelty of the Administration, and says Butler is a saint compared with his master. “Our military operations,” it says, “are henceforth to assume a very grave character. The fiend’s new programme will necessarily destroy all terms between us. The next campaign will be a tremendous one, both for the magnitude and character of the operations. Let our authorities prepare the whole strength of our people for the tremendous shock. The enemy is making great preparations, as well as issuing fiendish proclamations. We must respond with equal energy. If we do not, we are lost. But we will do it”
—A Force of Union troops, under the command of General Pleasanton, crossed the Potomac from Maryland into Virginia at Shepherdstown, for the purpose of making a reconnoissance. They advanced to Martinsburgh, which was occupied by Hampton’s brigade of rebel cavalry, and four pieces of artillery, which they engaged, and after a short contest drove them from the town. On their return, and when near Shepherdstown, the rebels attacked them, when a sharp skirmish took place, resulting in a retreat of the rebels, with a loss of about sixty killed, and nine or ten taken prisoners, with their horses and equipments. The Nationals had twelve men wounded, and three were taken prisoners.—(Doc. 214.)
—Majority and minority reports relative to President Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation, were submitted to the rebel Senate at Richmond, Va., by the judiciary committee, to whom the subject was referred.—In the rebel House of Representatives, Mr. Lyons, of Virginia, introduced a series of resolutions proclaiming the character of President Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation; exhorting the people of the rebel States to kill every officer, soldier, or sailor of the United States found within their borders; declaring that after the first January, 1863, no Union officer ought to be captured alive, or if recaptured should be immediately hanged; and offering a bounty of twenty dollars, and an annuity of twenty dollars for life to every slave and free negro who should, after the first of January next, kill a Unionist. The resolutions were referred to the committee on foreign affairs.
—The Union army under Gen. Buell left Louisville, and proceeded towards Bardstown, Ky.
