Chattanooga, Monday, April 3. Richmond is taken. Victory! Victory!! Victory!!! After three years of long, anxious and prayerful waiting for this crowning news, it at last comes with the verifying signatures of A. Lincoln, U. S. Grant and E. M. Stanton. It reached camp in the shape of an extra about 2 P. M. in but a few hours after it was known in Washington. And when it came I was hardly able to receive it, and I still could but fear of a contradiction that hithertofore has been so painful. Its effect on the camp was curious, each one moving briskly aglow with animation. Organized cheers is played out amongst old soldiers, but the broken, wild Indian-like whoops that pierced the air nearly all the afternoon would almost be considered terrific by “tame people”. At 6 P. M. one hundred guns were fired from the surrounding hills. Each boom, called forth a hearty response from the many tented hills and hollows of Chattanooga, and seemed to crush the last lingering doubt in every bosom. Who will dare doubt that the end is to be glorious?
An Artilleryman’s Diary–Jenkin Lloyd Jones
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