18th.—To-day has been spent in clearing up, as if in preparation for a move or a battle. We have given our surplus “hard talk,” with some tea, coffee, sugar and other necessaries of life to the poor, paralytic old man, whose premises we have occupied. He is an uncompromising rebel, but humanity forbids that we should permit him to starve.
What will be the effect of this repulse on the spirits of the army? I shall watch with much solicitude. For the Commander-in-Chief, it has happened at a most inauspicious moment. He had just superceded General McClellan, who had many warm friends, who stood ready to take advantage of every misstep, or misfortune of the new Commander, and to turn it to the credit of their friend, now in disgrace. Though the army was rapidly growing into an affection for General Burnside, the feeling was of new growth, and not yet confirmed by long acquaintance, by trials, or by successes. The friends of McClellan, true to the instincts of human nature, will magnify the reverses, whilst they will withhold credit for the merits of the manœuvre. Already General Burnside’s friends are finding it necessary to defend him against the attacks of the croakers, by following the example set by the friends of McClellan on the Peninsula, in attributing the failures to the interference of the President, to General Halleck, or to Mr. Secretary Stanton. For my own part, I feel that defence is unnecessary, for when I consider the fact, that public opinion compelled the crossing and the attack on Fredericksburg; that no commander could have withstood the outside pressure, however great the danger of advance; when I recollect the successful crossing in the face of so large a force, the successful attack and capture of part of the heights, the falling back, made necessary by the tardiness of some of his Generals to support him, the ruse of clearing the decks for action, the removal of the hospitals and wounded to a point out of reach of fire, yet in full view of the enemy, the withdrawal of the army so quietly and so adroitly that even his own divisions were deceived into the belief by each, that it was the only division recrossing, altogether mark it as one of the most adroitly managed military manœuvres since the crossing of the Delaware by General Washington.
December 18 — I was on Round Hill to-day, which is situated about four miles west by south from Strasburg. The hill is on the cone order, and very prominent in this part of the Valley landscape, and its summit affords a comprehensive view both up and down the Valley. On top of the hill is a rude observatory constructed of unhewn pine logs. It is about eighteen feet high and was built by General Banks’ men last spring and used by his signal corps.
Thursday, 18th—We started at 6 o’clock this morning and arrived in Oxford at about 10. We were inspected by General Grant, passing through the town by platoon. We marched on eight miles out from town and went into camp along the railroad. Grant has his headquarters in Oxford. It is a fine town, on high ground and well built up with fine homes of the rich planters. A college is located here, with good buildings.[1] The surrounding plantations are well fenced and have good buildings.
[1] Our diarist must have seen either the University of Mississippi, opened in 1848, or Union Female College, a Cumberland Presbyterian college, founded in 1854.—Ed.
Thursday, 18. — A cold, bitterly cold, night but a bright, fine day. Major Mcllrath and Dr. Webb left for Ohio today.
Major under orders from General Ewing goes to Camp Chase with prisoner. Doctor got a leave from General Ewing for twenty days to look after medicines, but this morning came a thirty-day leave from Washington.
Sinister rumors from General Burnside. Telegraph operator reported to say, “Burnside whipped like the Devil”! Ah, if so, sad hearts in the North! Intervention again. So much blood shed in vain! I confess to feeling much anxiety. The crossing of the river at Fredericksburg with so little resistance, looks as if the enemy was willing to let Burnside cross — as if they were leading him into a trap. I trust the sinister report is false.
Thursday, 18th. After a good breakfast, cousin went up to camp with me. Officers gone. Went back to town and the Planters. Introduced him to Capts. Seward and Welch. Went about town with him. Enjoyed all. Went to fort and helped in turning over property. In the evening went with Bill Porter and Nichols to theatre. Officers there. “Pizarro.” Rolla played well. Wanted to go to Festival but dared not.
Near Oxford, Thursday, Dec. 18. Warm and pleasant. Health excellent. Dr. Miller returned from Wisconsin in the afternoon, much to the satisfaction of all. After roll call in the evening, he appeared before the Company and made a speech, after which three cheers were given to him. Seventy-five loads of cotton brought into headquarters.
December 17—Laid in an old field until 8 P.M., and suffered a great deal from cold. We left here on flat cars and rode all night on them. We arrived at Goldsboro at 10 A.M. on the 18th. The ladies on the road, especially those at Wilson, were very kind to us. They gave us plenty to eat, which we were very much in need of.
December 18—We marched through town and lay all night in an open field without tents. It is certainly bitter cold. The only fires we could make were from the fence rails, as the woods were too far for us to get to.
DECEMBER 18TH.—We have more accounts of the battle of Fredericksburg now in our possession. Our loss in killed and wounded will probably be more than the estimate in the official report, while Federal prisoners report theirs at 20,000. This may be over the mark, but the Examiner’s correspondent at Fredericksburg puts down their loss at 19,000. The Northern papers of the 14th inst. (while they supposed the battle still undecided) express the hope that Burnside will fight his last man and fire his last cartridge on that field, rather than not succeed in destroying Lee’s army! Lee’s army, after our victory, is mostly uninjured. The loss it sustained was not a “flea-bite.”
The enemy, in their ignominous flight on Saturday night, left their dead propped up as sentinels and pickets, besides 3000 on the plain.
Accounts from North Carolina indicate the repulse of the enemy, though they have burnt some of the railroad bridges. We shall hear more anon. Reinforcements are flying to the scene of action.
December 18.—Lexington, Ky., was this day entered and occupied by a large force of rebel troops under General Forrest. Before capturing the town the rebels encountered a body of Union troops under the command of Colonel R. G. Ingersoll, Eleventh Illinois cavalry, but after a fight of three hours’ duration, in which the rebels lost forty of their number killed and wounded, the Unionists were forced to yield, leaving two piece s of artillery in the hands of the rebels.
—Yesterday the steamer Mill Boy, while lying at Commerce, Miss., was fired into by a body of rebel cavalry, killing three persons. On arriving at Helena, Ark., the Mill Boy reported the fact, when the gunboat Juliet, and transport City Belle, with detachments of the Eleventh and Forty-seventh Indiana, were despatched to Commerce, where they arrived to-day, and burnt the town and plantations for five miles around.
