April 2—Our regiment was sent on picket this morning at daylight—one mile from camp and two miles from the enemy. Companies B and G are on the left, A and D on the right, F and I in the center. We are within hailing distance of the Yankee line of pickets. There is not much firing. Tom Tiotter and I are on the color guard. We have nothing to do if we don’t want to, except stay with the colors. So this evening at 4 o’clock we went as near the Yankees as we dared, to see the town of Washington. Saw the place, their breastworks and their camps very plainly. We then returned and slept on our arms all night— that is, we tried to sleep, but could not for the infernal noise from the owls that are in the swamps around us.
Tuesday, April 2, 2013
Falmouth, Va. Capt. George A. Custer and Gen. Alfred Pleasonton on horseback; photo by Timothy H. O’Sullivan; April 1863. | Library of Congress image.
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April 2d.—We were shocked when the gentlemen returned, to hear of the riot which occurred in Richmond today. A mob, principally, of women, appeared in the streets, attacking the stores. Their object seemed to be to get any thing they could; dry-goods, shoes, brooms, meat, glassware, jewelry, were caught up by them. The military was called out—the Governor dispersed them from one part of the town, telling them that unless they disappeared in five minutes, the soldiers should fire among them. This he said, holding his watch in his hand. Mr. Munford, the President of the Young Men’s Christian Association, quieted them on another street by inviting them to come to the rooms of the Association, and their wants should be supplied; many followed him—I suppose those who were really in want. Others there were, of the very worst class of women, and a great many who were not in want at all, which they proved by only supplying themselves with jewelry and other finery. The President was out speaking to them, and trying to secure order. The Mayor made them a speech, and seemed to influence them, but I dare say that the bayonets of the soldiers produced the most decided effect. It is the first time that such a thing has ever darkened the annals of Richmond. God grant it may be the last. I fear that the poor suffer very much; meal was selling to-day at $16 per bushel. It has been bought up by speculators. Oh that these hard-hearted creatures could be made to suffer! Strange that men with human hearts can, in these dreadful times, thus grind the poor.
April 2d, 1863.—We have had to move, and have thus lost our cave. The owner of the house suddenly returned and notified us that he intended to bring his family back; didn’t think there’d be any siege. The cost of the cave could go for the rent. That means he has got tired of the Confederacy and means to stay here and thus get out of it. This house was the only one to be had. It was built by ex-Senator G., and is so large our tiny household is lost in it. We only use the lower floor. The bell is often rung by persons who take it for a hotel and come beseeching food at any price. To-day one came who would not be denied. “We do not keep a hotel, but would willingly feed hungry soldiers if we had the food.” “I have been traveling all night and am starving; will pay any price for just bread.” I went to the dining-room and found some biscuits, and set out two, with a large piece of corn-bread, a small piece of bacon, some nice sirup, and a pitcher of water. I locked the door of the safe and left him to enjoy his lunch. After he left I found he had broken open the safe and taken the remaining biscuits.
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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.
April 2. — Channing Clapp came over from camp, and we went over to General Sedgwick’s together. As we found no one in there, we went to General Devens’s[1] where we saw the general, Colonel Eustis, and Lieutenant Davis of the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry. I sent the general’s letter asking for Clapp, to General Williams, and also a communication asking to have him detailed as acting assistant adjutant-general until his regular appointment arrived. Saw General W. personally about it. Weather pleasant, but very windy in the evening.
[1] General Charles Devens, afterwards Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, and Attorney-General of the U. S. under President Hayes.
by John Beauchamp Jones
APRIL 2D.—This morning early a few hundred women and boys met as by concert in the Capitol Square, saying they were hungry, and must have food. The number continued to swell until there were more than a thousand. But few men were among them, and these were mostly foreign residents, with exemptions in their pockets. About nine A.M. the mob emerged from the western gates of the square, and proceeded down Ninth Street, passing the War Department, and crossing Main Street, increasing in magnitude at every step, but preserving silence and (so far) good order. Not knowing the meaning of such a procession, I asked a pale boy where they were going. A young woman, seemingly emaciated, but yet with a smile, answered that they were going to find something to eat, I could not, for the life of me, refrain from expressing the hope that they might be successful; and I remarked they were going in the right direction to find plenty in the hands of the extortioners. I did not follow, to see what they did; but I learned an hour after that they marched through Cary Street, and entered diverse stores of the speculators, which they proceeded to empty of their contents. They impressed all the carts and drays in the street, which were speedily laden with meal, flour, shoes, etc. I did not learn whither these were driven; but probably they were rescued from those in charge of them. Nevertheless, an immense amount of provisions, and other articles, were borne by the mob, which continued to increase in numbers. An eye-witness says he saw a boy come out of a store with a hat full of money (notes); and I learned that when the mob turned up into Main Street, when all the shops were by this time closed, they broke in the plate-glass windows, demanding silks, jewelry, etc. Here they were incited to pillage valuables, not necessary for subsistence, by the class of residents (aliens) exempted from military duty by Judge Campbell, Assistant Secretary of War, in contravention of Judge Meredith’s decision. Thus the work of spoliation went on, until the military appeared upon the scene, summoned by Gov. Letcher, whose term of service is near its close. He had the Riot Act read (by the mayor), and then threatened to fire on the mob. He gave them five minutes’ time to disperse in, threatening to use military force (the city battalion being present) if they did not comply with the demand. The timid women fell back, and a pause was put to the devastation, [click to continue…]
April 2.—At Richmond, Va., a riot occurred in which a large number of women were engaged. They broke open the rebel government stores, and took bread, clothing, and such other materials as they desired, when the militia were ordered out to suppress their proceedings.— (Doc. 163.)
—Eight regiments of General Crufts’s and Hazen’s brigades, of General Palmer’s division, made an effort to capture a rebel brigade stationed at Woodbury, Tenn. Last night at ten o’clock the party, accompanied by a body of Ohio cavalry, left Murfreesboro. General Hazen made a detour of fifteen miles, expecting to begin the attack at daylight this morning. Crufts’s brigade went direct. During the night the rebel pickets extended their lines, so that the advance began skirmishing before General Hazen had posted his troops, and in consequence the rebels escaped, the National cavalry keeping up a running fight for three miles, and capturing thirty of the rebels, besides killing and wounding twelve of their number. Corporal Jacob R. Shaveles, of company E, Third Ohio, was the only one wounded on the National side. “He acted very gallantly, charging a squad of rebels single-handed, and sabreing half a dozen before being shot.”—Cincinnati Gazette.
—At daylight this morning, Admiral Farragut, with the National squadron, left Grand Gulf, Miss., and proceeded to the mouth of Red River, destroying on the way a large number of rebel skiffs and flatboats. He arrived at the Red River at sundown.—Secretary Gabandau’s Report.
—Major W. C. Ransom, of the Sixth Kansas cavalry, destroyed the band of rebel guerrillas under Colonel Hicks, in Jackson County, Mo., killing seventeen and hanging two who were engaged in the robbery of the steamer Sam Gaty. He also recovered a portion of the contrabands captured from that steamer, besides taking twenty-one of the guerrillas’ horses, and their camps, with all their equipage, ammunition, etc.—General Curtis’s Despatch.
—As the National gunboat St. Clair was passing Palmyra, twenty-four miles above Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland River, she was fired into by a section of King’s rebel Missouri battery, belonging to the army under General Van Dorn. The third shot struck the supply-pipe of the steamer, rendering her unmanageable, and wounding two of her crew. She was taken in tow by the steamer Luminous, and carried to Cairo, Ill.—General Wright, in command of the National forces in California, issued a proclamation which concluded as follows: “Although the great mass of people on the Pacific coast are eminently patriotic and devoted to the Union, yet, fellow-citizens, we must not disguise the fact that we have traitors in our midst, who are doing all in their power to involve this country in the horrors of civil war; to such persons, I say, pause and reflect well before plunging into the yawning abyss of treason. An indignant people will rise in their majesty, and swift retributive justice will be their certain doom.”
—General Stanley, with two thousand cavalry, and an infantry brigade under Colonel Mathews, left Murfreesboro, on an expedition to capture Morgan’s and Wharton’s rebel regiments of infantry and cavalry at Snow Hill, Tenn. Beyond Auburn they drove in the rebel pickets, the Seventh Pennsylvania cavalry turning the rebel right while Minty’s cavalry, with a battery under Captain Newell, moved up in front. The rebels fled, but were again encountered at Smith’s Ford and on Dry Fork, from both of which places they were driven with some loss. Finally they formed a third line on Snow Hill, when the Second and Fourth Ohio cavalry sent to their rear, succeeded in breaking their line and putting them to flight, with a loss of fifty killed and wounded, and sixty taken prisoners. The Union loss was one private of the Seventh Pennsylvania cavalry killed, and two slightly wounded. Three hundred horses were captured by General Stanley, and carried into Murfreesboro.—General Rosecrans’s Despatch.
