February 1st.—Clear and pleasant; subsequently thawing and foggy. Gen. R. E. Lee has been appointed General-in-Chief by the President, in response to the recent action of Congress and the clamorous demands of the people. It is to be hoped he will, nevertheless, remain in person at the head of the Army of Virginia, else the change may be fraught with disaster, and then his popularity will vanish! He has not been fortunate when not present with the troops under his command, as evidenced by Early’s defeat and Jones’s disaster in the Valley last year. A general must continue to reap successes if he retains his popularity.
Gen. Lee has called upon the people everywhere to send in any cavalry arms and equipments in their possession—the importation being stopped.
The report of a raid yesterday, grew out of the return to the city of a small body of our own cavalry that had been on detached service. Quite an alarm was raised!
The President was better yesterday; it is neuralgia in the right shoulder, disabling his arm.
Our “commissioners” were delayed until yesterday morning at Petersburg; during which there was a sort of truce, and the troops of the opposing fortifications ventured out, both sides cheering vociferously.
Gen. Lee writes that his army is suffering for want of soap. The Secretary sends the letter to Commissary-General Northrop (neither of their successors being inducted yet) for “prompt attention.” The Commissary-General sends it back, saying 800 barrels of soap are now, and have been for months, lying at Charlotte, N. C., awaiting transportation! The speculators get from Charlotte that much freight every week. The Commissary-General says 800 barrels of soap ought to last Gen. Lee’s army one month. It must be a large army to consume that amount of soap in a month.
Yesterday Congress passed another bill over the President’s veto, to allow soldiers to receive letters, etc. free. Thus the war progresses between the executive and the legislative branches of the government.
In future revolutions, never let a “permanent government” be established until independence is achieved!
