Friday March 28th
Very pleasant today. Streets quite dry & dusty. A great movement of troops. A stream of men and Govt Wagons have been going down 14th St for a number of hours. The Divisions of Genl Keyes and Casey, 10,000 or 12,000 each, have moved for Alexandria to embark. Doct David called about 6 o’clock this evening on his way down. The 98th had been paid today and he left $730.00 with me to send to his wife. He kept $100. We all felt quite sad at parting with him and his own eyes were quite moist. We walked out to14th St and stood for near two hours seeing the troops pass. It was quite dark before the 98th came down. We could not recognize many of our friends in the Regt. The street through the City and the road beyond the “Long Bridge” was one living moving mass for miles. Artillery, Cavalry, Infantry & Wagons made up an immense procession. No news of importance tonight.
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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.
