JUNE 19TH.—To-day so many applications were made to the Secretary himself for passports to the armies, and beyond the lines of the Confederate States, that, forgetting the revocation of his former order, he sent a note into the Assistant Secretary, saying he thought a passport agent had been appointed to attend to such cases; and he now directed that it be done. Bledsoe came to me immediately, and said: “Jones, you’ll have to open a passport office again—I shall sign no more.”
A Rebel War Clerk’s Diary at the Confederate States Capital, By John Beauchamp Jones
JUNE 18TH—Lee is quietly preparing to attack McClellan. The President, who was on the battle-field, is very cheerful.
by John Beauchamp Jones
JUNE 17TH.—It is not yet ascertained what amount of ordnance stores we gained from the battle.
JUNE 15TH.—What a change! No one now dreams of the loss of the capital.
JUNE 14TH.—The wounded soldiers bless the ladies, who nurse them unceasingly.
JUNE 13TH.—Gen. Lee is satisfied with the present posture of affairs—and McClellan has no idea of attacking us now. He don’t say what he means to do himself.
JUNE 11TH, 12TH.—Gen. Smith, the New York street commissioner, had been urged as commander-in-chief.
JUNE 10TH.—Col. Bledsoe sent for me again. This time he wanted me to take charge of the letter room, and superintend the young gentlemen who briefed the letters. This I did very cheerfully; I opened all the letters, and sent to the Secretary the important ones immediately. These, for want of discrimination, had sometimes been suffered to remain unnoticed two or three days, when they required instant action.
JUNE 9TH.—It is now apparent that matters were miserably managed on the battle-field, until Gen. Lee assumed command in person. Most of the trophies of the victory, and thousands of arms, stores, etc. were pillaged by the promiscuous crowds of aliens and Jews who purchased passports thither from the Provost Marshal’s detectives.
JUNE 7TH—But business is in a great measure suspended, and so I have another holiday.
