We were treated very good on the road, and especially at Goshen, N. Y. The ladies gave us eatables and the men gave us tobacco.
SOURCE: Louis Leon, Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier, p. 67
We were treated very good on the road, and especially at Goshen, N. Y. The ladies gave us eatables and the men gave us tobacco.
SOURCE: Louis Leon, Diary of a Tar Heel Confederate Soldier, p. 67
We are still quiet. Nothing is going on except the continual fighting of the skirmishers, which amount to little more than a waste of powder and lead, although a man gets killed or wounded occasionally. The Yankees are keeping very quiet since the thrashing they received recently at this place and in front of Richmond. They will be apt to keep quiet now for some time-possibly for the remainder of the winter.
We are having rain. It fell all night and continues to-day. Billie's big coat came just in time for this cold spell of weather. He is as fat as a bear. The health of our troops is excellent and the spirit of the army is as fine as can be.
We shall know in a few days who is elected President of the United States. In my opinion Old Abraham will come in again, and I believe it would be best for us. McClellan might have the Union restored, if elected. I should prefer to remain at war for the rest of my life rather than to have any connection with the Yankees again.
You ask me to see Captain Pifer. I will do so if I happen to be near where he is again. He is now on the other (north) side of the James River with General Lee.
A man by the name of Simeon Werts is going home to-day on sick furlough for thirty days, and I shall send this letter to you by him. I shall also send my father some smoking tobacco, which we have been drawing monthly as part of our rations, and I shall send Dr. Clark some rolls of blistering ointment which we captured from the Yankees at Chancellorsville. I have more of it than I could use in two years. He has been very kind to you and I wish I had something more I could send him.
Our box of provisions from home still holds out, and if you will hurry up and come on, we may have some of it left when you arrive. I have just finished my breakfast, which consisted of hash, potatoes, biscuit, molasses and coffee. I do not mind the war as long as I can have plenty to eat and comfortable quarters. Your brother is very anxious for you to come out, and I believe you will enjoy it here this winter. It is most unfortunate that we have been able to see so little of each other during the four years of our married life.
Bright and
beautiful.
Some firing was
heard early this morning on the Darbytown road, or in that direction; but it
soon ceased, and no fighting of moment is anticipated to-day, for Gen.
Longstreet is in the city.
My son Thomas drew a
month's rations yesterday, being detailed for clerical service with Gen.
Kemper. He got 35 pounds of flour (market value $70), 31 pounds of beef
($100.75), 3 pounds of rice ($6), one sixth of a cord of wood ($13.33), salt
($2), tobacco ($5), vinegar ($3)—making $200 per month; clothing furnished by
government, $500 per annum; cash, $18 per month; $4 per day extra, and $40 per
month for quarters; or $5000 per annum.
Custis and I get $4000
each-making in all $13,000! Yet we cannot subsist and clothe the family; for,
alas, the paper money is $30 for one in specie!
The steamers have
brought into Wilmington immense amounts of quartermaster stores, and perhaps
our armies are the best clad in the world. If the spirit of speculation be
laid, and all the men and resources of the country be devoted to defense (as
seems now to be the intention), the United States could never find men and
material sufficient for our subjugation. We could maintain the war for an
indefinite period, unless, indeed, fatal dissensions should spring up among
ourselves.
MONTPELLIER, Nov 25,
1820.
I have received, my
dear friend, your kind letter of July 22, inclosing your printed opinion on the
Election project. It was very slow in reaching me.
I am very glad to
find, by your letter, that you retain, undiminished, the warm feelings of
friendship so long reciprocal between us; and, by your “opinion,” that you are
equally constant to the cause of liberty, so dear to us both. I hope your
struggles in it will finally prevail, in the full extent required by the wishes
and adapted to the exigencies of your Country.
We feel here all the
pleasure you express at the progress of reformation on your Continent.
Despotism can only exist in darkness, and there are too many lights now in the
political firmament to permit it to reign any where as it has heretofore done
almost every where. To the events in Spain and Naples has succeeded already an
auspicious epoch in Portugal. Free States seem, indeed, to be propagated in
Europe as rapidly as new States are on this side of the Atlantic. Nor will it
be easy for their births, or their growths, if safe from dangers within, to be
strangled by external foes; who are not now sufficiently united among
themselves, are controuled by the aspiring sentiments of their people, are
without money of their own, and are no longer able to draw on the foreign fund
which has hitherto supplied their belligerent necessities.
Here, we are, on the
whole, doing well, and giving an example of a free system, which, I trust, will
be more of a pilot to a good port than a beacon-warning from a bad one. We
have, it is true, occasional fevers, but they are of the transient kind, flying
off through the surface, without preying on the vitals. A Government like ours
has so many safety-valves, giving vent to overheated passions, that it carries
within itself a relief against the infirmities from which the best of human
Institutions cannot be exempt. The subject which ruffles the surface of public
affairs most, at present, is furnished by the transmission of the "Territory"
of Missouri from a state of nonage to a maturity for self-Government, and for a
membership in the Union. Among the questions involved in it, the one most
immediately interesting to humanity is the question whether a toleration or
prohibition of slavery Westward of the Mississippi would most extend its evils.
The humane part of the argument against the prohibition turns on the position,
that whilst the importation of slaves from abroad is precluded, a diffusion of
those in the Country tends at once to meliorate their actual condition, and to
facilitate their eventual emancipation. Unfortunately, the subject, which was
settled at the last session of Congress by a mutual concession of the parties,
is reproduced on the arena by a clause in the Constitution of Missouri,
distinguishing between free persons of colour and white persons, and providing
that the Legislature of the new State shall exclude from it the former. What
will be the issue of the revived discussion is yet to be seen. The case opens
the wider field, as the Constitutions and laws of the different States are much
at variance in the civic character given to free persons of colour; those of
most of the States, not excepting such as have abolished slavery, imposing
various disqualifications, which degrade them from the rank and rights of white
persons. All these perplexities develope more and more the dreadful
fruitfulness of the original sin of the African trade.
I will not trouble
you with a full picture of our economics. The cessation of neutral gains, the
fiscal derangements incident to our late war, the inundation of foreign
merchandizes since, and the spurious remedies attempted by the local
authorities, give to it some disagreeable features. And they are made the more
so by a remarkable downfall in the prices of two of our great staples,
breadstuffs and tobacco, carrying privations to every man's door, and a severe
pressure to such as labour under debts for the discharge of which they relied
on crops and prices, which have failed. Time, however, will prove a sure
physician for these maladies. Adopting the remark of a British Senator, applied
with less justice to his Country, at the commencement of the Revolutionary
contest, we may say that, “Although ours may have a sickly countenance, we trust
she has a strong Constitution.”
I see that the
bickerings between our Governments on the point of tonnage has not yet been
terminated. The difficulty, I should flatter myself, cannot but yield to the
spirit of amity and the principles of reciprocity entertained by the parties.
You would not,
believe me, be more happy to see me at Lagrange than I should be to see you at
Montpelier, where you would find as zealous a farmer, though not so well
cultivated a farm as Lagrange presents. As an interview can hardly be expected
to take place at both, I may infer, from a comparison of our ages, a better
chance of your crossing the Atlantic than of mine. You have also a greater
inducement in the greater number of friends, whose gratifications would at
least equal your own. But if we are not likely to see one another, we can do
what is the next best, communicate by letter what we would most wish to express
in person; and, particularly, can repeat those sentiments of affection and
esteem which, whether expressed or not, will ever be most sincerely felt by
your old and steadfast friend.
SOURCE: Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, Volume 3: 1816-1828, p. 189-91
THE CHRISTIAN AND SANITARY COMMISSIONS.
I have read a great deal in the papers of the Christian and Sanitary commissions, of the noble and humane work they were doing and the immense amount of money contributed for their support by the people throughout the north and west. I have taken a great interest in these commissions and have supposed they were a kind of auxiliary to the medical and surgical department of the army, carrying and dispensing some simple medicines, pouring in the balm of gilead and binding up gaping wounds, giving comfort and consolation to the sick, weary and distressed; but in all this, so far as my observation has gone, I find I have been laboring under a delusion. Since I have been here is the first I have ever seen of the workings of these commissions, and I have watched them with some interest and taken some pains to find out about them. Here is a branch of each, located midway the convalescent camp and sick hospital, and I find they are little else than sutler's shops, and poor ones at that. These places are said to furnish without money and without price to the inmates of this hospital and the boys in the trenches such little notions and necessities as we have been accustomed to buy of the sutlers, and in consequence of this no sutlers are allowed to locate anywhere in this vicinity. The boys are not supposed to be fooling away their money to these thieving sutlers when our folks at home are willing to supply our little needs, free gratis for nothing. So when we happen to want a lemon or a pencil, a sheet of paper or a piece of tobacco, or whatever other little notion we require, all we have to do is to apply to one or the other commission and make known our wants; after answering all the questions they are pleased to ask we are given a slice of lemon, a half sheet of paper or a chew of tobacco. These are not wholesale establishments.
Fortunately for me I have stood in very little need of anything within their gift. I seldom solicit any favors and those are granted so grudgingly I almost despise the gist. My first experience with these institutions was one day when I was out of tobacco, I called on the Christians and told them how I was situated. I got a little sympathy in my misfortunes and a short lecture on the sin of young men contracting such bad habits, when I was handed a cigar box containing a small quantity of fine cut tobacco and told to take a chew. I asked them if they couldn't let me have a small piece that would do me for a day or two. “Oh, no; that is not our way of doing business.” “Will you sell me a piece? I would as soon buy of you as of the sutler." "Oh no; it is against our orders to sell anything. All there is here is free, it costs you nothing.” He then put up a small quantity and gave me. The next day I sent down to the Point and bought some. My next call was for a pencil. I was handed a third of one.
I said if that is the best you can do perhaps you had better keep it. He then gave me a whole one. I got out of writing paper and thought I would beg some. I called for it, and was given a half sheet. I used that and went for more, and when I had finished my letter, I had been six times to the Christian's. I sent down to the Point and bought some. I sometimes think I should like a lemon, but there is poor encouragement for calling for one, as I notice that others calling for them only get a thin slice of one.
This is the first place I ever got into where I could neither buy, steal or beg. I notice the officers fare a little better; they get in fair quantity almost anything they call for. I sometimes stand around for an hour and watch the running of this machine and wonder that in this business of giving goods away where the necessity for lying comes in, and yet I notice that this is practiced to some extent. Sometimes a person calling for an article will be told they are out of it, but expect some when the team come up from the Point. In a little while after perhaps some officer will call for the same thing and get it.
This Christian commission seems to be the headquarters for visitors. They stay a few days, going as near the trenches as they dare to, and in the chapel tent in the evening will tell over their adventures and pray most fervently for the boys who hold them. We are never short of visitors, as soon as one party goes, another comes, and they all seem to be good Christian men, taking great interest in the welfare of our souls.
A CHARACTER.
Among our visitors is a tall, lean, middle-aged man whom I know must have seen right smart of trouble. His face is snarled and wrinkled up in such a way that it resembles the face of a little dog when catching wasps. Although there is no benevolent expression on his countenance, he yet has more sympathy to the square inch than any other man I ever saw. He takes a great interest in this convalescent camp and seems to have taken it under his special charge. He will be in this camp all day, calling on all hands, inquiring after their health and needs, praying with them, giving them sympathy and good advice. He will come round giving a thin slice of lemon to all who will take it, and will sometimes go through the camp with a basket of linen and cotton rags and a bottle of cologne, sprinkling a little on a rag and give it to any one who will take it and at the same time will distribute religious tracts. Some days he will come round with a bottle of brandy and some small lumps of sugar, on which he will drop three or four drops of the brandy and give it to any one who says they are troubled with bowel complaints, at the same time telling them he hopes it will do them good.
One day he came along distributing temperance tracts. looked into my tent and inquired if there were any objections to his leaving some. I replied there were no reasons known to exist why he might not leave all he wished to. I then said: “You are laboring in a very worthy cause, but you seem to be working the wrong field, or as Col. Crockett used to say, barking up the wrong tree, for we here might just as well cast our nets into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, thinking to catch speckled trout as to think of getting any liquor. Your field of labor would seem to be up in the officers' ward where you deal out your liquors.” The old gentleman sighed at such perverseness and went along. He will work this camp all day from early morning till night, giving every one something, and in all that time will not give away the value of fifty cents.
Now I don't wish to cast any reflections or create any false impressions in regard to these commissions. I have only written my experience and observations as to their workings in this convalescent camp. So far as anything that I know to the contrary, they may be doing a great and humane work in the wounded and sick hospital, and I am charitable enough to allow that they are, but if the whole system of it throughout the army is conducted as niggardly as I have seen it here then there must be some superb lying done by somebody to account for all the money that is being contributed for its support.
The President was some indisposed and in bed, but not seriously ill. The members met in his bedroom. Seward had a paper for excluding blockade-runners and persons in complicity with the Rebels from the country.
John P. Hale's appointment to Spain was brought up. Seward tried to gloss it over. Wanted Hale to call and see me and make friends with Fox. Hale promised he would, and Seward thought he might get a passage out in a government vessel.
The capture and destruction of a large amount of tobacco at Fredericksburg has created quite a commotion. It was a matter in which many were implicated. Several have called on me to get permission to pass the blockade or have a gunboat to convoy them. One or more have brought a qualified pass from the President. Colonel Segar, the last of them, was very importunate. I told him, as I have all others, that I should not yield in this matter; that I was opposed on principle to the whole scheme of special permits to trade and had been from the time that Chase commenced it; that I was no believer in the policy of trading with public enemies, carrying on war and peace at the same time. Chase was the first to broach and introduce this corrupting and demoralizing scheme, and I have no doubt he expected to make political capital by it. His course in this matter does much to impair my confidence in him. It was one of many not over scrupulous intrigues. Fessenden followed in the footsteps of Chase, not from any corrupt motives, nor for any political or personal aspirations, but in order to help him in financial matters. He had a superficial idea that cotton would help him get gold, — that he must get cotton to promote trade and equalize exchange.
Clear and cool.
All quiet round the
city; but Petersburg was assaulted yesterday and successfully defended.
The battalion of
clerks still remains at Bottom's Bridge, on the Chickahominy. The pickets hold
familiar conversation every day with the pickets of the enemy, the stream being
narrow, and crossed by a log. For tobacco and the city papers our boys get
sugar, coffee, etc. This intercourse is wrong. Some of the clerks were compelled to
volunteer to retain their offices, and may desert, giving important information
to the enemy.
I had snap beans
to-day from my garden. I have seen none in market.
WILLIAMSBURG, VA.
Leaving Newport News
on the afternoon of the 21st, we made a march of about ten miles, reaching
Little Bethel just before dark, when we halted and put up in an old church
building for the night. Little Bethel contains beside the church an old grist
and saw mill, a blacksmith shop and three small houses, all in a rather
dilapidated condition. There was no enemy within 100 miles of us, but Capt.
Parkhurst, either as a matter of form or through force of habit, put out a few
pickets. The old church had long ago been stripped of its seats and pulpit, if
it ever had any, leaving the whole floor unobstructed. After supper and getting
a little rested, a dance was proposed. A gallery extended across one end, and
on the front of this the candles were thickly set, lighting up the old church
in fine style. One of our German comrades of Company G had a violin and
furnished the music. Sets were formed and the fun commenced. The pickets
outside, hearing the sounds of revelry within, left their posts and came in,
and standing their rifles in a corner threw off their equipments and joined in
the dance. The captain remonstrated at such unlawful proceedings, but the cry
was “Never mind the pickets! on with the dance! let fun be unrestrained.” The
dance was kept up until the candles burned low, when we spread our blankets and
laid down for rest.
In the morning we
found outside five men with their horses and carts, waiting to sell us oysters.
Fortunately we were the possessors of a few scraps of paper bearing the
signature of Uncle Samuel. With a portion of this paper we bought the men's
oysters, and after breakfast we chartered them to carry our knapsacks to
Yorktown, thereby nullifying the order of the great Mogul at Fortress Monroe,
and I have not the slightest doubt that if he knew of it he would hang every
one of those men for giving aid and comfort to the incorrigible.
Leaving Little
Bethel we marched over McClellan's famous corduroy road through white oak
swamp, coming out at Warwick court house. This is a county seat, containing a
small court house situated in a pretty grove of trees, a jail, church, half a
dozen houses and a blacksmith shop. We arrived at the forks of the roads, a
mile below and in full view of historic old Yorktown, about the middle of the
afternoon.
Here we were met by
an officer and commanded to halt till further orders. I thought this was as
near as they dared have us come the first day for fear the malaria would strike
us too suddenly.
From here the dim
outlines of Washington's old intrenchments could be traced and near by was what
appeared to be an angle in the line on which guns were probably mounted and
which commanded the whole open plain between here and town. Now it did not
require a great stretch of the imagination to go back to those days and see
those brave men toiling and suffering behind those works, to build up for
themselves and their posterity a country and a name. I could see in my mind the
haughty Cornwallis march out upon this plain, surrendering his army and his
sword to Washington, in the last grand act in the drama of the American revolution.
But how is it today? Yonder rebel fort tells in thunder tones how well their
degenerate sons appreciate the legacy.
About dusk an
orderly rode up, bringing an order for us to proceed to Williamsburg, some fifteen
miles further up the country. We tried to get the captain to stop here till
morning and go through the next day, but it was of no use; he had got his
orders to march and was going through tonight. I could not see that it was a
military necessity to force the march, and after we had gone three or four
miles my knapsack began to grow heavy and I grew tired. I halted by the
roadside and said I was going to put up for the night and if any one would like
to keep me company I should be pleased to have them. About twenty rallied to my
standard. After the column bad passed we stepped through a low hedge of bushes
into a small open space, surrounded by high bushes which served as a shelter
from the winds. There we spread our blankets and laid ourselves down to forget
in our slumbers the weight of our knapsacks. The stars looked down on us and
the watchful eye of the Almighty was the only sentinel.
When we awoke in the
morning the rising sun's bright ray was peeping through the bushes. The first
object which met our gaze was a lean, lank, sundy-complexioned, long-haired
native, who stood peering over the bushes at us. The first salutation that
greeted his ears was, “Who are you and what do you want?" He replied, “I
seed you was down yere, and thought I would come down and see if I could get
some 'baccer?” Looking up we saw a house out in the field some distance off,
and asked him if he resided there. He said he did. We gave him some tobacco and
inquired about the roads and distince to Williamsburg. We inquired if there
were any bush whackers about here? He said “There mought be once in a while one
found." Then we put on a ferocious look and said they had better not be
found by us unless they wished to join the antediluvian society and have their
bones scattered in every graveyard from here to Jerusalem. The old chap's eyes
stuck out and he began to edge off, thinking perhaps we had got on a
thick coat of war paint. We made our coffee and started on our
journey, and by easy stages came up with the boys in the afternoon. They had
pitched the camp and got it all fixed up and named Camp, Hancock.
I thought the
captain was as glad to see us as anyone, but he put on a stern look and inquired
where we had been and why we fell out. We told him we were tired and lay down
by the side of the road to rest and take a nap. He lectured us on the enormity
of such proceedings, telling us we had committed a very flagrant breach of good
order and military despotism. We assented to all the captain
said, but kept thinking all the time that as we were a sort of outcasts, did
not belong anywhere and were under no particular command, there wouldn't much
come of it.
SOURCE: David L.
Day, My Diary of Rambles with the 25th Mass. Volunteer Infantry, p.
111-3
Twenty-six
miles to-day, and everything in camp at sunset. That is No. I work with 300
sets of wheels to the division. We have reveille at 3 a. m. and start at 4 now.
We seem to
have got pretty well out of the pine country. Hardly saw one the last three
miles this p. m. Have also about left cotton behind us. Tobacco and wheat
are the staples here. I saw as many as five large tobacco
houses on one farm, built 25 logs high. Notice also some very fine wheat
growing, now 12 inches high. Very large peach and apple orchards on almost
every farm. The trees look thrifty, but show neglect. All kinds of fruit
promises to be abundant this year.
The last five
miles to-day was through beautiful country, fine houses, too. The people were
all out to see us, but I am glad that I have no demonstration a la white
handkerchief to chronicle. The men are full of the de'il to-day. Scaring
negroes almost out of their wits. Our division is the right of the army. We
have been side tracking so far, but to-morrow we get the main road and Corse
takes the cow paths. I think that not more than one-fifth of the cleared land
so far in this State is under cultivation this year, and that fully one-fourth
of all has been turned over to nature for refertilization from four to forty
years. On some of this turned out land the new growth is more than a foot in
diameter. I saw a sassafras tree to-day that was 15 inches in diameter.
Another bright and beautiful day; and vegetation is springing with great rapidity. But nearly all my potatoes, corn, egg-plants, and tomatoes seem to have been killed by the frosts of March. I am replanting corn, lima beans, etc. The other vegetables are growing well. One of my fig-bushes was killed—that is, nearly all the branches. The roots live.
It is rumored that the armies on the Rapidan were drawn up in line.
The enemy have again evacuated Suffolk.
Gen. Beauregard is at Weldon. Perhaps Burnside may hurl his blows against North Carolina.
Food is still advancing in price; and unless relief comes from some quarter soon, this city will be in a deplorable condition. A good many fish, however, are coming in, and shad have fallen in price to $12 per pair.
The government ordered the toll of meal here (which the miller, Crenshaw, sold to the people) to be taken for the army; but Col. Northrop, Commissary-General, opposes this; and it is to be hoped, as usual, he may have his way, in spite of even the President. These papers pass through the hands of the Secretary of War.
The French ships have gone down the river, without taking much tobacco; said to have been ordered away by the United States Government.
Col. W. M. Browne (the President's English A.D.C.), it is said, goes to Georgia as commandant of conscripts for that State. It is probable he offended some one of the President's family, domestic or military. The people had long been offended by his presence and arrogance.
The Enquirer, to-day, has a communication assaulting Messrs. Toombs and Stephens, and impeaching their loyalty. The writer denounced the Vice-President severely for his opposition to the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. During the day the article was sent to Mr. Secretary Seddon, with the compliments of Mr. Parker—the author, I suppose.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 193-4
It rained furiously all night; wind northwest, and snowed to-day until 12 M. to a depth of several inches. It is still blowing a gale from the northwest.
To-day the clerks were paid in the new currency; but I see no abatement of prices from the scarcity of money, caused by funding. Shad are selling at $10 each, paper; or 50 cents, silver. Gold and silver are circulating—a little.
A letter from Liberty, Va., states that government bacon (tithe) is spoiling, in bulk, for want of attention.
From Washington County there are complaints that Gen. Longstreet's impressing officers are taking all, except five bushels of grain and fifty pounds of bacon for each adult—a plenty, one would think, under the circumstances.
Senator Hunter has asked and obtained a detail for Mr. Dandridge (under eighteen) as quartermaster's clerk. And Mr. Secretary Seddon has ordered the commissary to let Mrs. Michie have sugar and flour for her family, white and black.
Mr. Secretary Benjamin sent over, to-day, for passports to the Mississippi River for two “secret agents.” What for?
Gen. Lee has made regulations to prevent cotton, tobacco, etc. passing his lines into the enemy's country, unless allowed by the government. But, then, several in authority will “allow" it without limit.
I set out sixty-eight early cabbage-plants yesterday. They are now under the snow!
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 179-80
Bright, cool, and dusty. No war news; nor denial or confirmation of the wonderful victory of Forrest in Mississippi. That he captured the enemy's artillery and drove them back, is official.
Longstreet has retired from before Knoxville; perhaps to assault Nashville, or to penetrate Kentucky.
Yesterday the Secretary ordered Col. Northrop to allow full rations of meal to the engineer corps; to-day he returns the order, saying: “There is not sufficient transportation for full rations to the troops in the field.”
Last night the Secretary sent for Mr. Ould, exchange agent, and it is thought an exchange of prisoners will be effected, and with Butler. A confidential communication may have been received from Butler, who is a politician, and it may be that he has offered secret inducements, etc. He would like to establish a trade with us for tobacco, as he did for cotton and sugar when he was in New Orleans. No doubt some of the high officials at Washington would wink at it for a share of the profits.
The Southern Express Company (Yankee) has made an arrangement with the Quartermaster-General to transport private contributions of supplies to the army—anything to monopolize the railroads, and make private fortunes. Well, “all's well that ends well,”—and our armies may be forced to forage on the enemy.
I copy this advertisement from a morning paper:
NOTICE.—Owing
to the heavy advance of feed, we are compelled to charge the following rates
for boarding horses on and after the 1st of March :
Board per month |
$300.00 |
Board per day |
15.00 |
Single feed |
5.00 |
Virginia Stables.
JAMES C. JOHNSON,
W. H. SUTHERLAND,
B. W. GREEN.
Congress and the President parted at the adjournment in bad temper. It is true everything was passed by Congress asked for by the Executive as necessary in the present exigency—a new military bill, putting into the service several hundred thousand more men, comprising the entire male population between the ages of 17 and 50; the tax and currency bills, calculated to realize $600,000,000 or $800,000,000; and the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus. These were conceded, say the members, for the sake of the country, and not as concessions to the Executive. But the Commissary-General's nomination, and hundreds of others, were not sent into the Senate, in derogation of the Constitution ; and hundreds that were sent in, have not been acted on by the Senate, and such officers now act in violation of the Constitution.
Dill's Government Bakery, Clay Street, is now in flames—supposed to be the work of an incendiary. Loss not likely to be heavy.
SOURCE: John Beauchamp Jones, A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, Volume 2, p. 160-1