Friday Jan’y 24th 1862
Colder today but still freezes but little. Tonight the wind blows from the north bringing rain and sleet. It is a terrible bad night out, and I cannot but think of the hundreds of poor sentries on duty who have to stand and take it. No particular news today in the City. Genl McClellan is either going to advance soon or intends to make the rebels believe that he is. I am inclined to think that it is his policy to hold Still at present. By so doing he holds the bulk of the rebel force at Mannasses, who are daily geting more and more in a desperate case, and at the same time is giving them hard blows in every direction and cuting off their communications with the West and south. The roads are in such a condition now that a “Movement” is simply impossible.
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The three diary manuscript volumes, Washington during the Civil War: The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865, are available online at The Library of Congress.
