August, 8th.—”I am monarch of all I survey.” Last night, intelligence being received that an attack was expected on Washington ; we were ordered to move there instanter, and at once the regiment was in motion. It got off in the course of the night, leaving me here in charge of about forty men who were too sick to be moved. I am left without provisions or money, except a few pounds of flour with which to feed and care for the sick, and the ten well ones left with me, to aid me and to look up deserters who have been left here. How am I to do it? I find a strong secession element here, and at times it is very bold. The hurrahs for Jeff. Davis are frequent, and all day the children are flaunting secession flags in our faces, and flying secession kites in our camp ground
AUGUST 8TH.—For some time past (but since the battle at Manassas) quite a number of Northern and Baltimore policemen have made their appearance in Richmond. Some of these, if not indeed all of them, have been employed by Gen. Winder. These men, by their own confessions, have been heretofore in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York, merely petty larceny detectives, dwelling in bar-rooms, ten-pin alleys, and such places. How can they detect political offenders, when they are too ignorant to comprehend what constitutes a political offense? They are illiterate men, of low instincts and desperate characters. But their low cunning will serve them here among unsuspecting men. They will, if necessary, give information to the enemy themselves, for the purpose of convincing the authorities that a detective police is indispensable; and it is probable a number of them will be, all the time, on the pay-rolls of Lincoln.
August 8th.—To-day I saw a sword captured at Manassas. The man who brought the sword, in the early part of the fray, was taken prisoner by the Yankees. They stripped him, possessed themselves of his sleeve-buttons, and were in the act of depriving him of his boots when the rout began and the play was reversed; proceedings then took the opposite tack.
From a small rill in the mountain has flowed the mighty stream which has made at last Louis Wigfall the worst enemy the President has in the Congress, a fact which complicates our affairs no little. Mr. Davis’s hands ought to be strengthened; he ought to be upheld. A divided house must fall, we all say.
Mrs. Sam Jones, who is called Becky by her friends and cronies, male and female, said that Mrs. Pickens had confided to the aforesaid Jones (nee Taylor, and so of the President Taylor family and cousin of Mr. Davis’s first wife), that Mrs. Wigfall “described Mrs. Davis to Mrs. Pickens as a coarse Western woman.” Now the fair Lucy Holcombe and Mrs. Wigfall had a quarrel of their own out in Texas, and, though reconciled, there was bitterness underneath. At first, Mrs. Joe Johnston called Mrs. Davis “a Western belle,”¹ but when the quarrel between General Johnston and the President broke out, Mrs. Johnston took back the “belle” and substituted “woman” in the narrative derived from Mrs. Jones.
Commodore Barron² came with glad tidings. We had taken three prizes at sea, and brought them in safely, one laden with molasses. General Toombs told us the President complimented Mr. Chesnut when he described the battle scene to his Cabinet, etc. General Toombs is certain Colonel Chesnut will be made one of the new batch of brigadiers. Next came Mr. Clayton, who calmly informed us Jeff Davis would not get the vote of this Congress for President, so we might count him out.
Mr. Meynardie first told us how pious a Christian soldier was Kershaw, how he prayed, got up, dusted his knees and led his men on to victory with a dash and courage equal to any Old Testament mighty man of war.
Governor Manning’s account of Prince Jerome Napoleon : “He is stout and he is not handsome. Neither is he young, and as he reviewed our troops he was terribly overheated.” He heard him say “en avant,” of that he could testify of his own knowledge, and he was told he had been heard to say with unction “Allons ” more than once. The sight of the battle-field had made the Prince seasick, and he received gratefully a draft of fiery whisky.
Arrago seemed deeply interested in Confederate statistics, and praised our doughty deeds to the skies. It was but soldier fare our guests received, though we did our best. It was hard sleeping and worse eating in camp. Beauregard is half Frenchman and speaks French like a native. So one awkward mess was done away with, and it was a comfort to see Beauregard speak without the agony of finding words in the foreign language and forming them, with damp brow, into sentences. A different fate befell others who spoke “a little French.”
General and Mrs. Cooper came to see us. She is Mrs. Smith Lee’s sister. They were talking of old George Mason—in Virginia a name to conjure with. George Mason violently opposed the extension of slavery. He was a thorough aristocrat, and gave as his reason for refusing the blessing of slaves to the new States, Southwest and Northwest, that vulgar new people were unworthy of so sacred a right as that of holding slaves. It was not an institution intended for such people as they were. Mrs. Lee said: “After all, what good does it do my sons that they are Light Horse Harry Lee’s grandsons and George Mason’s? I do not see that it helps them at all.”
A friend in Washington writes me that we might have walked into Washington any day for a week after Manassas, such were the consternation and confusion there. But the god Pan was still blowing his horn in the woods. Now she says Northern troops are literally pouring in from all quarters. The horses cover acres of ground. And she thinks we have lost our chance forever.
A man named Grey (the same gentleman whom Secretary of War Walker so astonished by greeting him with, “Well, sir, and what is your business?”) described the battle of the 21st as one succession of blunders, redeemed by the indomitable courage of the two-thirds who did not run away on our side. Doctor Mason said a fugitive on the other side informed him that “a million of men with the devil at their back could not have whipped the rebels at Bull Run.” That’s nice.
There must be opposition in a free country. But it is very uncomfortable. “United we stand, divided we fall.” Mrs. Davis showed us in The New York Tribune an extract from an Augusta (Georgia) paper saying, “Cobb is our man. Davis is at heart a reconstructionist.” We may be flies on the wheel, we know our insignificance; but Mrs. Preston and myself have entered into an agreement; our oath is recorded on high. We mean to stand by our President and to stop all fault-finding with the powers that be, if we can and where we can, be the fault-finders generals or Cabinet Ministers.
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¹ Mrs. Davis was born in Natchez, Mississippi, and educated in Philadelphia. She was married to Mr. Davis in 1845. In recent years her home has been in New York City, where she still resides (Dec. 1904).
² Samuel Barron was a native of Virginia, who had risen to be a captain in the United States Navy. At the time of Secession he received a commission as Commodore in the Confederate Navy.
August 8.—This evening, at Baltimore, Md., Charles King, from North Carolina, was arrested by officer Stevens, of the Southern District, by order of Major-General Dix, on the charge of being concerned in the raising of a number of men, whoso purpose it was to organize themselves into a crew, and take passage on some boat, intending to capture it in the same manner as the St. Nicholas, and then turn her into a pirate.—Baltimore Patriot, August 9.
—The Nineteenth Regiment of Indiana Volunteers passed through Philadelphia for the seat of war.—N. Y. Herald, August 9.
—F. K. Zollicoffer was appointed a brigadier-general in the rebel army, and assigned to the command of the Department of East Tennessee. On assuming his command, he issued a proclamation assuring all who desire peace, that they can have it by quietly and harmlessly pursuing their lawful avocations.—(Doc. 171.)
—The Massachusetts Fifteenth Regiment, under the command of Colonel Charles Devens, left Camp Scott, Worcester, Mass., for the seat of war. This regiment is armed with the Springfield musket, and numbers 1,040 men. They are all tall, muscular men, possessing the lightness of limb and full development of natural powers which denote the true specimen of a soldier. Their dress consists of the regular army uniform—gray pantaloons, blue coats, and hat, which is as neat and useful a thing as our fighting men could have.—N. Y. Herald, August 10.
—One hundred men of the Nineteenth Regiment N. Y. V., commanded by Capt. Kennedy, crossed the Potomac at Rock Ferry, at 1 A. M., and marched to Lorrettsville, Loudon co., Va., where it was reported that a company of rebel cavalry were engaged in the impressment of citizens. “When they reached the town the rebels had left, and they retraced their steps; but late in the afternoon, while upon their return march, they were overtaken with word that another detachment of about 130 cavalry had entered the town. Tired and worn out, almost shoeless, and hungry, the brave follows with a shout at once voted unanimously to return and attack the rebels. Starting at a double-quick time they reached the town, and under the cover of a corn-field gained sight of the cavalry about thirty rods distant. Resting for a few minutes, they heard the rebel captain give orders to mount, and believing they had been discovered and were about to be charged upon, Captain Kennedy charged upon the town at a double-quick, firing two volleys as they ran. The enemy, after firing a few harmless shots, made their way, concealed by houses, out of the opposite side of the town, but not until they had one lieutenant killed and five men wounded.—N. Y. Times, August 18.
—The office of the Democratic Standard at Concord, N. H., was completely relieved of its contents this afternoon by a mob composed of the soldiers of the returned First Regiment and citizens. The Standard published an article reflecting on the soldiers. They demanded retraction, and the Palmers—the editors and proprietors—shook pistols and axes out of the windows and dared the mob, while the city authorities endeavored to quell the disturbance. The Palmers fired four shots, wounding two soldiers. The office was immediately stripped, and the materials burnt in the street. The Palmers took refuge in the attic, but were finally found and carried to the police station, protected by the police, though with great difficulty.—(Doc. 172.)
—Dissatisfaction at the supposed intention of the Government not to receive men in its army who could not speak the English language, and a misconception of a War Department order upon the subject, led to the withdrawal as thus stated:
Department Of State,
Washington, August 8,1861.
To F. A. Alberger, Esq., Mayor of the city of Buffalo, N. Y.:
Dear Sir : I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 5th inst., and to state in reply, that the order to which it refers was officially explained a day or two since by the Secretary of War, but having still been a subject of great misapprehension it has now been entirely rescinded and vacated. Consequently there is no obstacle whatever to the acceptance of the services of volunteers, on the ground of their nationality or language. The contest for the Union is regarded, as it ought to be, a battle of the freemen of the world for the institutions of self-government.
I am very truly yours,
William H. Seward.
—In a communication of this date, in respect to the disposition to be made of contrabands, the Secretary of War informed General Butler that he was to be governed by the act of Congress, 1861, which “declares that if persons held to service shall be employed in hostility to the United States, the right to their services shall be forfeited.”—(Doc. 173.)
—The Massachusetts Fourteenth Regiment, under the command of Colonel Wm. R. Greene, left Fort Warren, Boston Harbor, for the seat of war. The regiment numbers 1,046 members. Their uniform is light brown pants, deep blue jacket, light blue overcoat, and regulation hat. They are armed with the Springfield musket of the pattern of 1842. They have with them twenty-four baggage wagons, four ambulances, two hospital wagons, and 220 horses.
All the field and staff officers of this regiment but two are natives of Massachusetts. Of the whole corps 350 are married men, and 5 widowers with families. It has one “gentleman,” a host of shoemakers and laborers, and samples of every kind of craftsmen and operatives known among us. There are several teachers on the roll, and one “missionary.” There are a great many blacksmiths—more than any other regiment probably will average. The Amesbury section (Co. E) has thirteen disciples of Vulcan on its roll. The farmers are about equal in number to the blacksmiths. There are three artists, one photographer, one physician, only one printer, two students, and a number of hatters and machinists. One-half of the whole regiment is composed of men connected with the boot and shoe business.—N. Y. World, August 9.
—The ” Confederate” Congress in session at Richmond, Va., adopted the following resolution this day:—
Whereas it has been found that the uncertainty of maritime law in time of war has given rise to differences of opinion between neutrals and belligerents, which may occasion serious misunderstandings, and even conflicts;
and whereas the Plenipotentiaries of Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia, Sardinia, and Russia, at the Congress of Paris of 1856, established a uniform doctrine on this subject, to which they invited the adherence of the nations of the world, which is as follows:
1. That privateering is and remains abolished.
2. That the neutral flag covers the enemy’s goods, with the exception of contraband of war.
3. That neutral goods, with the exception of contraband of war, are not liable to capture under the enemy’s flag, and
4. That blockades, in order to be binding, must be effective; that is to say, maintained by a force sufficient really to prevent access to the coast of the enemy.
And whereas it is desirable that the Confederate States of America shall assume a definite position on so important a point; now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Congress of the Confederate States of America accept the second, third, and fourth clauses of the above-cited declaration, and decline to assent to the first clause thereof.
—There was published a letter dated April 15, from Gen. Frost, Missouri Militia, to Gov. Jackson of Missouri, apropos to the President’s proclamation calling out 75,000 volunteers. He advises the Governor to convene the Legislature, proclaim to the people of the Slate that the President’s proclamation is illegal, and especially to take St. Louis, held by United States troops.—(Doc. 174.)
WEDNESDAY 7
Heat still oppressive. M. 92, but a good air. Was on the Ave awhile this morning, soldiers not as plenty there as formerly. They are now kept in their quarters. The “Patrol” “nabs” them anywhere, officers and all, when found without a “pass.” Congress adjourned yesterday. I have spent most of the day at home doing some small jobs, looking over my drawings &c. The Lincoln boys were here again today. My three boys are now fited out in the Zuave uniform.
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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.
August 7th.—In the evening I went to Mr. Seward^s, who gave a reception in honour of Prince Napoleon. The Minister’s rooms were crowded and intensely hot. Lord Lyons and most of the diplomatic circle were present. The Prince wore his Order of the Bath, and bore the onslaughts of politicians, male and female, with much good humour. The contrast between the uniforms of the officers of the United States army and navy and those of the French in the Prince’s suit, by no means redounded to the credit of the military tailoring of the Americans. The Prince, to whom I was presented by Mr. Seward, asked me particularly about the roads from Alexandria to Fairfax Courthouse, and from there to Centreville and Manassas. I told him I had not got quite as far as the latter place, at which he laughed. He inquired with much interest about General Beauregard, whether he spoke good French, if he seemed a man of capacity, or was the creation of an accident and of circumstances. He has been to Mount Vernon, and is struck with the air of neglect around the place. Two of his horses dropped dead from the heat on the journey, and the Prince, who was perspiring profusely in the crowded room, asked me whether the climate was not as bad as midsummer in India. His manner was perfectly easy, but he gave no encouragement to bores, nor did he court popularity by unusual affability, and he moved off long before the guests were tired of looking at him. On returning to my rooms a German gentleman named Bing—who went out with the Federal army from Washington, was taken prisoner at Bull’s Run, and carried to Richmond—came to visit me, but his account of what he saw in the dark and mysterious South was not lucid or interesting.
25 Cooper Union, N. Y., August 7th, 1861.
My dear Miss Woolsey: Dr. Blackwell, at our last board meeting, read a very interesting letter from you, giving details about the hospitals. We should be very much obliged if you would be willing to write us a few incidents in regard to hospital supplies. Any little personal anecdote relative to the pleasure caused by the receipt of these delicacies and stores, any message from a wounded soldier, would go farther to interest our country contributors, than any figure-statements of what has been, and is to be, done. . . .
The response made to our appeals is grand, and it is a privilege to know and feel the noble spirit that animates the women of the loyal states. We have contributions not only from our own states, but from Conn., New Jersey, Massachusetts and Michigan. Within the last fortnight our receipts have amounted to over 7000 different articles of clothing and 860 of edibles. . . .
Our letters from the Sanitary Commission say that the hospitals near Washington are now well supplied.
August 7, Wednesday.—Another bright, warm day. With Adjutant Fisher pistol shooting this A. M. Tolerably good firing. Last night a picket shot through the hand; said he fired twice at his assailant; doubted. Supposed to be an accidental wounding. Letters from Ohio.
Centreville, August 7, 1861.
I have received from Gen. Jackson the appointment to act as his aid, and wish you to send my uniform coat and pants by Rollin, Kahle or some one of our men, whichever comes first. Switzer is just leaving, and I have not time to write more.
AUGUST 7TH.—Saw Col. Pendleton to-day, but it was not the first time. I have seen him in the pulpit, and heard him preach good sermons. He is an Episcopal minister. He it was that plowed such destruction through the ranks of the invaders at Manassas. At first the battery did no execution; perceiving this, he sighted the guns himself and fixed the range. Then exclaiming, “Fire, boys! and may God have mercy on their guilty souls!” he beheld the lanes made through the regiments of the enemy. Since then be has been made a colonel, and will some day be a general; for he was a fellow-cadet at West Point with the President and Bishop Polk.
A tremendous excitement! The New York Herald has been received, containing a pretty accurate list of our military forces in the different camps of the Confederate States, with names and grades of the general officers. The Secretary told me that if he had required such a list, a more correct one could not have been furnished him. Who is the traitor? Is he in the Adjutant-General’s office? Many suppose so; and some accuse Gen. Cooper, simply because he is a Northern man by birth. But the same information might be supplied by the Quartermaster’s or Commissary-General’s office; and perhaps by the Ordnance Bureau; for all these must necessarily be in communication with the different organizations in the field. Congress was about to order an investigation; but it is understood the department suggested that the matter could be best searched into by the Executive. For my part, I have no doubt there are many Federal spies in the departments. Too many clerks were imported from Washington. And yet I doubt if any one in a subordinate position, without assistance from higher authority, could have prepared the list published in the Herald
