4th. Went to town with Tom Wood. Worked all day and finally succeeded in getting two loads of clothing. Very rainy and unpleasant. Teams got lost. Worried Tom—misunderstanding.
Friday, April 4, 2014
Monday, April 4. — Cloudy in the morning. At 3 P.M. began raining and continued so all the evening. Went into town to see Colonel DeLand, and found that he was out at camp. Found that Johnnie Hayden’s battery arrived here yesterday from Knoxville. Looked for it some time but could not find it. Called on Major Chamberlain while in town. Lieutenant Galucia went to Baltimore this afternoon. Colonel drilled the non-commissioned officers this noon.
Monday, April 4th.
The storm still continues, and though the men make spasmodic efforts to render themselves more comfortable by ditching about their little tents, it is about as much as human nature will bear. Lieut. Gleason, who is not very strong at best, being a victim of rheumatism, is nearly drowned in his blankets, and looks very much as if he’d “like to see his mother,” while Lieut. Edmonston and I divide our time between our “bunk” in about two inches of water, and the Colonel’s wall tent in about the same depth of mud.
April 4 — Left camp this morning on a fifteen-day furlough, the first thing of the kind I have had since the war commenced. There is a charming euphony and sweet music in the words, “Going home,” such as those who never soldiered nor roamed ever yet have heard.
I took the train at Gordonsville. It was raining very hard then, and before the train reached the Blue Ridge the rain had changed to snow, and here at Staunton gentle spring is reveling under a mantle of snow four inches thick. When we were coming up the eastern side of the Blue Ridge it was snowing very fast, and the snow scene was beautiful and grand; every evergreen bush and shrub and the branches of the trees were gracefully bending and drooping under a burden of beautiful snow, and in a thousand places on the mountain side the shiny green leaves of mountain laurel peeped out from under the glittering crystal shroud that was spread and hung over the mountain’s rocky, irregular, and slopy breast.
The Central Railroad passes through the Blue Ridge in a tunnel seven-eighths of a mile in length; when the train shot suddenly into the little black hole to-day from the dazzling white outside it was like leaping from the brightness of midday and plunging into the blackness of midnight. The train arrived in Staunton this evening at six o’clock, and we furloughed men, of whom there are five, put up for lodging at the Virginia Hotel; we all slept in one room and our lodging cost us five dollars each. A meal here costs five dollars, and I will have to browse in order to satisfy the longings of the inner man or else I will not have enough Confed. to get me back to my command; five dollars for a nap and five dollars for a meal will soon, all too soon, clean up the contents of my pocketbook and ruin my credit.
Staunton, the county seat of Augusta County, is peculiarly situated in a kettle-like depression, environed nearly all around by abrupt and undulating hills in close proximity. The town contains some three or four thousand inhabitants, and is located ninety-two miles south of Winchester, and at the southern terminus of the Valley pike.
Monday, 4th—It rained all last night and nearly all day. I attended a party this evening at Mr. Fossett’s and we all had a fine time which passed off very rapidly. There were fourteen couples present. I remained over night with my old bunk-mate, James. I enjoyed my visit with him, talking over the times when we started into the service together.
Huntsville, Monday, April 4. A cloudy, rainy day. Orders given us at 8 A. M. to put our tents in order preparatory to an inspection by medical director. All filth to be removed. Dirty clothes were washed, etc. In the evening the artillery boys listened to a stirring speech on the parade ground by Rev. Collins, chaplain 57th Illinois, a spicy and able speaker. Kept the crowd laughing much of the time, at the same time encouraging and instructing each one in the duty of the hour, and had a good effect. Sold several tracts.
April 4, Monday. Heard an excellent discourse yesterday from Bishop Whipple.
Called on Stanton, respecting the letters of General Gillmore from June 12 to July 6, 1863.
Had a call from J. P. Hale respecting appointments. This man, so long a Senator, has no comprehensive or statesmanlike views. Would set aside legislative action and law because he thinks it operates hard on a lieutenant whom he knows.
April 4.—The gunboat Scioto, under the command of Lieutenant Commander George H. Perkins, captured the rebel schooner Mary Sorley. Two hours and a half previous to the capture, the Mary Sorley was seen coming out of Galveston, Texas, in a gale. The Scioto gave chase, and after running south by west about twenty-five miles, made the capture beyond signal distance of any of the blockading vessels. All the official papers were found on board.—Captain Marchand’s Report.
—By direction of the President of the United States, the following changes and assignments were made in army corps commands:
Major-General P. H. Sheridan was assigned to the command of the cavalry corps of the army of the Potomac.
The Eleventh and Twelfth corps were consolidated and called the First army corps. Major-General J. Hooker was assigned to command.
Major-General Gordon Granger was relieved from the command of the Fourth army corps, and Major-General O. O. Howard was assigned in his stead.
Major-General Schofield was assigned to the command of the Twenty-third army corps.
Major-General Slocum would report to Major-General Sherman, commanding the division of the Mississippi, and Major-General Stoneman would report to Major-General Schofield, commanding the department of the Ohio, for assignment.
Major-General Granger would report by letter to the Adjutant-General of the army.
Captain Horace Porter, United States ordnance department, was announced as an aid-de-camp to Lieutenant-General Grant, with rank of Lieutenant-Colonel.— General Orders.
—Captain Phelps, of gunboat Number Twenty-six, captured a rebel mail-carrier near Crockett’s Bluff, Ark., with five thousand letters from Richmond and other points, and sixty thousand percussion-caps for General Price’s army. The letters contained official communications from Shreveport, and a considerable sum of Federal money.—The Metropolitan Fair, for the benefit of the Sanitary Commission, was inaugurated at New-York City, with imposing ceremonies.— New York Papers.
—T. A. Henderson, Provost-Marshal of the district of Florida, issued the following circular from his headquarters at Jacksonville:
“All refugees from the rebel lines, and deserters from the rebel armies, and all persons desiring to become such, are hereby informed that they will not, under any circumstances, be compelled to serve in the United States army against the rebels. This assurance is fully given in General Orders Number Sixty-four, of date February eighteenth, 1864, from the War Department.
“All such refugees and deserters, who are honest in their intentions of for ever deserting the rebel cause, will be allowed every opportunity of engaging in their usual avocations; or, if they desire employment from the United States, will, as far as expedient, be employed on the government works, receiving proper compensation for their services.
“All refugees or deserters who may bring horses or mules into the Union lines will be paid their full value.”
by John Beauchamp Jones
APRIL 4TH. —A cold rain all day ; wind from northwest.
Mr. Ould and Capt. Hatch, agents of exchange (of prisoners), have returned from a conference with Gen. Butler, at Fortress Monroe, and it is announced that arrangements have been made for an immediate resumption of the exchange of prisoners on the old footing. Thus has the government abandoned the ground so proudly assumed—of non-intercourse with Butler, and the press is firing away at it for negotiating with the “Beast” and outlaw. But our men in captivity are in favor of a speedy exchange, no matter with whom the agreement is made.
Forrest has destroyed Paducah, Ky.
There is a little quarrel in progress between the Secretaries of War and the Treasury. Some days ago the Postmaster-General got from the President an order that his clerks should be detailed for the use of the department until further orders. The Secretary of the Treasury made an application to the Secretary of War for a similar detail, but it was refused. Mr. Memminger appealed, with some acerbity, to the President, and the President indorsed on the paper that the proper rule would be for the Secretary of War to detail as desired by heads of departments. Nevertheless, the clerks were detailed but for thirty days, to report at the Camp of Instruction, if the detail were not renewed. To-day Mr. Memminger addresses a note to Mr. Seddon, inquiring if it was his purpose to hold his clerks liable to perform military duty after the expiration of the thirty days, and declaring that the incertitude and inconvenience of constantly applying for renewal of details, deranged and obstructed the business of his department. I know not yet what answer Mr. S. made, but doubtless a breach exists through which one or both may pass out of the cabinet. The truth is, that all clerks constitutionally appointed are legally exempt, and it is the boldest tyranny to enroll them as conscripts. But Mr. Memminger has no scruples on that head. All of them desire to retain in “soft places” their own relatives and friends, feeling but little sympathy for others whose refugee families are dependent on their salaries.
On Saturday, the cavalry battalion for local defense, accepted last summer by the President, were notified on parade that 20 days would be allowed them to choose their companies in the army, and if the choice were not made, they would be assigned to companies. They protested against this as despotic, but there is no remedy.
