Steamboat Dunleith, Ohio River, Tuesday, February 4, 1862. — A bright cold winter day; a good sail down the Ohio. Banks full. Beautiful river.
Reached home as the clock finished striking 12 midnight. A light burning in front room. Wife, boys, Grandma, all well. “Perfectly splendid.”
[The entries in the Diary for the next few days are very brief. Tuesday, February 11, Hayes went to Columbus to visit his brother-in-law, W. A. Platt, and family; two days later to Delaware where he remained two days with his mother. The week-end he spent “happily at Fremont with Uncle. All the talk is of battles — the late victories at Roanoke Island, Fort Henry, and the pending struggle at Donelson.” Monday, the 17th, returning to Cincinnati, he hears “of the decisive victory at Fort Donelson as we reached Crestline and Galion. Joy and excitement, cannon, flags, crowds of happy people everywhere.” The following days at home in Cincinnati “getting ready to return to his regiment.”]
