March 11th.—Letters from home, including one from my husband’s father, now over ninety, written with his own hand, and certainly his own mind still. I quote: “Bad times; worse coming. Starvation stares me in the face. Neither John’s nor James’s overseer will sell me any corn.” Now, what has the government to do with the fact that on all his plantations he made corn enough to last for the whole year, and by the end of January his negroes had stolen it all? Poor old man, he has fallen on evil days, after a long life of ease and prosperity.
To-day, I read The Blithedale Romance. Blithedale leaves such an unpleasant impression. I like pleasant, kindly stories, now that we are so harrowed by real life. Tragedy is for our hours of ease.
March 11.—We have very few patients at present. I have been very busy fixing up my old clothes. It takes much more time to make the old clothes look well than to make new ones. I often wonder what our Yankee sisters would say if they saw what shifts we are put to. I suppose they think it grieves us, but they are mistaken, for it is a subject of mirth, as we, like the men, have become philosophers.
Miss W.’s sister lately paid her a visit. She is a high-spirited Louisiana girl. She has just left school, and intends, after paying a visit to some relatives in East Georgia, to go with another lady and take charge of a hospital in West Point, Ga. Dr. Oslin, the surgeon in charge there, says he will have no ladies in his hospital excepting educated and refined ones. At present he has none. She is quite as enthusiastic as her sister on the subject of Louisiana, and quarreled with one of the nurses, a native of Georgia, but a member of a Louisiana regiment, because he called himself a Louisianian.
There has been a skirmish near Dalton. We drove the enemy back to their intrenchments.
Friday, 11th—The Iowa Brigade turned over their tents and camp equippage to the general quartermaster, preparatory to going up the river. General Grant is now at the head of all the armies of the United States, just where we have wanted him ever since the surrender of Vicksburg.[1]
[1] After Vicksburg, General Grant was sent to Chattanooga, Tennessee, and succeeded in raising the siege there, and then at Knoxville, defeating two Confederate armies all in the space of a few days. That covered Grant with glory in the estimation of us Western men, and we then declared that he was the man to send to Washington, D. C, and to take command of the Eastern as well as the Western army.—A. G. D.
March 11, Friday. A pleasant meeting of the Cabinet, and about the time we had concluded General Grant was announced. He had just returned from a visit to the Army of the Potomac, and appeared to better advantage than when I first saw him, but he is without presence. After a very brief interview, he remarked to the President that he should leave this P.M. for Nashville, to return in about two weeks, and should be glad to see the Secretary of War and General Halleck before he left. There was in his deportment little of the dignity and bearing of the soldier but more of an air of business than his first appearance indicated, but he showed latent power.
I called this evening on Governor Morgan to consult in regard to a suitable lawyer in New York to take charge of our proceedings with contractors and others. He recommends Bliss (George Bliss, Esq., was retained by Scofield, and Mr. Nathaniel Wilson was engaged by the Navy Department) as on the whole the best and most fitting person we could have. Says he is intimate with Olcott, and really his prompter. I am not satisfied with intrusting this matter entirely to Olcott, who is expected here tomorrow.
March 11.—A detachment of the Seventh Tennessee cavalry, commanded by Colonel Hawkins, captured eleven guerrillas in the vicinity of Union City, Ky.—The rebel sloop Hannah, was captured by the Beauregard, off Mosquito Inlet, Ga.—The United States steamer Aroostook captured, in latitude twenty-eight degrees fifty minutes north, longitude ninety-five degrees five minutes west, the British schooner M. P. Burton, loaded with iron and shot. She cleared from Havana, and purported to be bound to Matamoras. When first seen she was steering direct for Velasco, some two hundred miles out of her course.— Admiral Farragut’s Report.
—The schooner Linda, with an assorted cargo, was captured off Mosquito Inlet, by the National vessels Beauregard and Norfolk Packet.
by John Beauchamp Jones
MARCH 11TH.—Rained all night—a calm, warm rain. Calm and warm to-day, with light fog, but no rain.
It is now supposed the clerks (who saved the city) will be kept here to defend it.
March 11th. Up to this date the weather has been very bad. We are also short of rations. On picket every other night. Late today our tents arrived, and a good supply of rations. We shall have to put in another night in the cold old barn. Somewhat discouraged over our present condition. It is all in the life of a soldier, who must meet all discouragements and make the best of it as the days come and go.
Huntsville, Thursday, March 10. Had a very stormy night but a fine day. I was on guard P. M., first relief, on horses in the daytime and tents in the evening. Midnight tour very stormy and dark, but managed to pass the time quickly in thinking of all but the present. Drills and parades as usual.
10th. Major Nettleton returned. Told M. this morning in regard to F. and myself. She thinks as I do, that if the girl really loves me she ought to know it. If not, we ought to stop our intimacy. So shall I act. Received letter, unable to decide, does not know her own heart. Answered, after a crying spell, and consulting with Ma and M. We all think alike. Feel as if I were doing my duty anyway. Finished the letter and went to Friday prayer meeting. Spoke. Did me good. Determined through the grace of God to make my trial a blessing. Will be a man and a Christian. Called at Fannie Hudson’s. Meeting in the evening.
March 10th 1864
The Military affairs of the Nation has not been “all a success” for the past two or three weeks. Our troops were repulsed in Florida with a loss of some 1200 men killed, wounded, and prisoners. They are now at Jacksonville and have been re-inforced, and will be able to stay there. Genl Sherman has returned to Vicksburgh from his great “raid” into the heart of Miss. He met with no very great losses of men, destroyed a Vast amount of property belonging to the rebels, captured a great number of horses, and brought away (the papers say) 8000 Negroes. Genl Kilpatrick of the Army of the Potomac made a “raid” last week upon Richmond with some four or five thousand Cavalry. He approached within two miles of the City, had a fight but found the rebels too well prepared for him and he passed down the Peninsula to Fortress Monroe. The Rebels seem strong this spring and the indications are that there must be a good deal more desperate fighting before the war closes. The impression is generaly entertained that they have got all their men in the field and are determined to make a desperate effort to regain what they have lost the past year. But their desperation will only prolong the war, in the end they will have to give in. We must have double the number of men in the field but our lines are vastly more extended and we are occupying positions in strong force over thousands of miles of territory. Genl Grant arrived here on Tuesday, he has recently been made a Lieut Genl and is just now the “Lion of the day.” I hope he will return to the West soon or before he becomes paralyzed by breathing the atmosphere of the Potomac. Congress does not seem to be doing much and the political cauldron does not boil much yet.
