Following the American Civil War Sesquicentennial with day by day writings of the time, currently 1863.

Post image for Dora Richards Miller records in New Orleans that Union ships ‘are still serenely anchored below the city.”

Dora Richards Miller records in New Orleans that Union ships ‘are still serenely anchored below the city.”

October 22, 2011

The American Civil War,War Diary of a Union Woman in the South by Dora Richards Miller

Oct. 22, 1861.—When I came to breakfast this morning Rob was capering over another victory—Ball’s Bluff. He would read me, “We pitched the Yankees over the bluff,” and ask me in the next breath to go to the theater this evening. I turned on the poor fellow: “Don’t tell me about your victories. You vowed by all your idols that the blockade would be raised by October 1, and I notice the ships are still serenely anchored below the city.”

“G., you are just as pertinacious yourself in championing your opinions. What sustains you when nobody agrees with you?”

I would not answer.

______

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.

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