Huntsville, Friday, March 18. A beautiful day. Sick none the better. Tommy is very low, unable to be up, while he is kept strong by medicine all of the time. 111th Illinois Infantry marched in from Nashville direct from the State, the largest regiment I have seen South, said to be attached to our Division. Matthies is commanding Division. Smith on furlough.
9 A. M. Formed procession and marched to the funeral of Murphy, fourth piece leading the procession. A chaplain officiated at the grave. Received mail in the afternoon. Reports of the guerrilla raid not as hideous as yesterday.
Friday, 18th. Spent most of the day in the house. So interested in a game of chess that I forgot the church prayer meeting till too late. Attended preaching in the evening.
[Diary] March 18.
Mr. Parker, the preacher, whom we mistook for Dr. Parker, the agent of the Baptists, came to see the school to-day. He is a kind-looking old man. We mistaking him, as I said, told him we heard he meant to put us out of the church, but he assured us that in his private opinion, we should not be disturbed. He stayed all the morning and spoke to the children. He asked what they had in their heads. They answered, “Sense;” “Brains” he told them. “How did their knowledge get into their heads?” “God put it there,” they answered. He pointed to his eyes, ears, mouth, nose, and explained how ideas got in, in so low a voice that my class could not hear and could only see his motions, and these seemed so comical that Fairy Jenkins burst into a fit of laughing that nearly upset me and the whole class.
He says he thought he should find peace and zeal down here — a band of fellow workers living in harmony and working with combined effort, but that he finds friction, friction in every quarter — military, religious, and political.
March 18th.—Went out to sell some of my colored dresses. What a scene it was—such piles of rubbish, and mixed up with it, such splendid Parisian silks and satins. A mulatto woman kept the shop under a roof in an out-of-the-way old house. The ci-devant rich white women sell to, and the negroes buy of, this woman.
After some whispering among us Buck said: “Sally is going to marry a man who has lost an arm, and she is proud of it. The cause glorifies such wounds.” Annie said meekly, “I fear it will be my fate to marry one who has lost his head.” “Tudy has her eyes on one who has lost an eye. What a glorious assortment of noble martyrs and heroes!” “The bitterness of this kind of talk is appalling.”
General Lee had tears in his eyes when he spoke of his daughter-in-law just dead—that lovely little Charlotte Wickham, Mrs. Roony Lee. Roony Lee says “Beast” Butler was very kind to him while he was a prisoner. The “Beast ” has sent him back his war-horse. The Lees are men enough to speak the truth of friend or enemy, fearing not the consequences.
Friday, 18th—It is quite cool today with a rather sharp wind blowing, which with our crowded condition makes it very uncomfortable. The Thirty-second Illinois received their pay on board today, and no doubt the gamblers will get their hands in before we land.
March 18, Friday. Seward read to-day a letter on the subject of emigration with a proposed bill for a law on the subject. Did not strike me favorably, though no one else took exceptions. I remarked quietly to Seward that I thought we should be careful about meddling with the subject on many accounts; we might retard instead of promoting emigration, and if the Government attempted to interfere and take upon itself the burthen, it would cause the whole private effort to cease. Millions are now contributed to aid friends to emigrate, but this would wholly stop if the Government came in to assist. He thought there might be some danger if we were not careful, but something must be done to pacify the feeling. Usher wanted something done. Chase read over the letter and law and appeared to acquiesce. The thing does not impress me favorably. As a general thing I am averse to government bounties.
March 18.—Colonel Stokes’s Fifth Tennessee cavalry again overtook Champ Ferguson and his guerrillas on a little stream called Calfkiller River, near where it empties into Caney Fork, Tenn., and there killed eight of them.
—The behavior of the rebel brigade under General Pettigrew, at the battle of Gettysburgh, was vindicated in this day’s Richmond Enquirer.
by John Beauchamp Jones
MARCH 18TH.—Bright and warmer, but windy.
Letters received at the department to-day, from Georgia, show than only one-eighth of the capacity of the railroads have been used for the subsistence of the army. The rogues among the multitude of quartermasters have made fortunes themselves, and almost ruined the country. It appears that there is abundance of grain and meat in the country, if it were only equally distributed among the consumers. It is to be hoped the rogues will now be excluded from the railroads.
The belief prevails that Gen. Lee’s army is in motion. It may be a feint, to prevent reinforcements from being sent to Grant.
My daughter’s cat is staggering to-day, for want of animal food. Sometimes I fancy I stagger myself. We do not average two ounces of meat daily; and some do not get any for several days together. Meal is $50 per bushel. I saw adamantine candles sell at auction to-day (box) at $10 per pound; tallow, $6.50. Bacon brought $7.75 per pound by the 100 pounds.
My good friend Dr. Powell and his family were absent from the farm near the city during the late raid. The enemy carried off several of his finest horses and mules, and consumed much of his supplies of food, etc., but utterly failed to induce any of his negroes to leave the place—and he has many. One of the female servants, when the enemy approached, ran into the house and secured all the silver, concealing it in her own house, and keeping it safely for her mistress.
March 18th. Nothing important has taken place during the past few days. Weather very good, but very cold nights along the Potomac. Out among the farmers buying straw for our tents. Ground too cold to sleep on. Try to keep comfortable, large campfires kept burning nights and days. When too cold to sleep sit around the fire.
