December 21—I went to the creek to wash my clothing and myself, and when I got back the water had frozen on my head so that I was obliged to hold my head by the fire so as to thaw it out. Wortheim’s eyes are so bad that he can hardly see. Sam Wilson broke his shoulder blade.
Friday, December 21, 2012
DECEMBER 21ST, SUNDAY.—Nothing, yet, has been done by the immense Federal fleet of iron-clad gun-boats which were to devastate our coast this winter. But the winter is not over yet, and I apprehend something will be attempted. However, we shall make a heroic defense of every point assailed.
I omitted to state, in connection with the partnership formed between Mr. Myers and Mr. Randolph, that the former had already succeeded, when the latter was Secretary of War, in getting the substitutes of the Jew extortioners out of the army, on the ground that they were not domiciled in this country; and now both are intent on procuring the exemption of the principals. This may be good practice, but it is not good service. Every man protected and enriched by the government, owes service to the country in its hour of peril.
I am glad to hear that W. H. B. Custis, of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, takes no part in the war. This is the proper course for him under the circumstances. It is said he declined a high position tendered by the Federal Government. No doubt he has been much misrepresented: his principles are founded on the Constitution, which is violated daily at Washington, and therefore he can have no sympathy with that government.
December 21.—A skirmish occurred near Nashville, Tenn., between a party of National troops belonging to General Van Cleve’s division of the army of Tennessee, and a reconnoitring party of rebels, supported by four pieces of artillery, who were driven off, after exchanging a few shots.— Secretaries Seward and Chase having sent in their resignations, President Lincoln acknowledged their reception, and informed the Secretaries that the acceptance of them would be “incompatible with the public welfare.” They accordingly resumed their respective portfolios. —The expeditionary forces under General Foster, which left Newbern, N. C, on the eleventh instant, returned to their former quarters in that town to-day, having successfully accomplished the objects of the expedition.—(Doc. 73.) •
—A fight took place at Davis’s Mills, Wolf River, Miss., between the Union garrison stationed at that post, composed of two hundred and fifty men, under the command of Colonel William H. Morgan, Twenty-fifth Indiana, and a force of over five thousand rebel cavalry under General Van Dorn, resulting, after a desperate contest of three and a half hours’ duration, in the withdrawal of the latter, leaving in the hands of the Unionists twenty-two dead, thirty wounded, twenty prisoners, and one hundred stand of arms. The rebels carried off the field, in ambulances and otherwise, between two and three hundred of their wounded.—(Doc. 81.)
