April 28, 1862.—This evening has been very lovely, but full of a sad disappointment. H. invited me to drive. As we turned homeward he said:
“Well, my arrangements are completed. You can begin to pack your trunks to-morrow, and I shall have a talk with Max.”
Mr. R. and Annie were sitting on the gallery as I ran up the steps.
“Heard the news?” they cried.
“No! What news?”
“New Orleans is taken! All the boats have been run up the river to save them. No more mails.”
How little they knew what plans of ours this dashed away. But our disappointment is truly an infinitesimal drop in the great waves of triumph and despair surging to-night in thousands of hearts.
______
Note: To protect Mrs. Miller’s job as a teacher in New Orleans, the diary was published anonymously, edited by G. W. Cable, names were changed and initials were often used instead of full names — and even the initials differed from the real person’s initials.
