Wednesday, January 8. — “New Orleans,” “The Union — it must and shall be preserved,” “Old Hickory forever.” These are the watchwords of today. This is our coldest day — clear, bright, and beautiful. Not over three inches of snow.
Rode with Adjutant Avery and two dragoons to Raleigh, twenty-four miles. A cold but not disagreeable day. The village of Raleigh is about ten to twelve years old; three or four hundred inhabitants may have lived there before the war; now six or eight families. Two churches, two taverns, two stores, etc., etc., in peaceful times. Our troops housed comfortably but too scattered, and too little attention to cleanliness. (Mem.: — Cooking ought never to be allowed in quarters.) I fear proper arrangements for repelling an attack have not been made.
