Part 5 (1/2)

Mrs Ould read us a letter from Richmond How horrified they are there at Joe Johnston's retreating And the ene General Johnston ammunition in sufficient quantities; say that is the real cause of his retreat Noill they not make the ears of that slow-coach, the Secretary of War, buzz?

Mrs Preston'sin - ”Don't you hear the cannon?” We fly to the s, lean out to our waists, pull all the hair away from our ears, but can not hear it Lincoln wants four hundred et theuns

We are always picking up so Lincoln objects to some man - ”Oh, he is too interruptious ”; that is a horrid style of man or

79 wo, but had no name for it before

July 9th - Our battle summer May it be our first and our last, so called After all we have not had any of the horrors of war Could there have been a gayer, or pleasanter, life than we led in Charleston And Montgo it all was there! So ated from every part of the South Mosquitoes, and a want of neatness, and a want of good things to eat, drove us away In Richhtful We found it so, too, but the bickering and quarreling have begun there

At table to-day we heard Mrs Davis's ladies described They were said to wear red frocks and flats on their heads We sat -roo ”Poor soul,” murmured the inevitable Brewster, ”and no ht stroll, you know Why didn't somebody ask her out on the piazza to see the co was done in the name of the comet! When you stumbled on a couple on the piazza they lifted their eyes, and ”comet” was the only word you heard Brewster caton with terrific threats of what they will do to us Threatened

There was a soft, sweet, low, and slow young lady opposite to us She see Mr Brewster called her Miss Albina McClush, who always asked her maid when a new book was mentioned, ”Seraphina, have I perused that volu a fianc in the wars, is inclined at tiro nurse to her: ”Never take any more trouble in your heart than you can kick off at the end of your toes”

July 11th - We did hear cannon to-day The woman who slandered Mrs Davis's republican court, of which we

80 are honorable ; that they wore gaudy colors, and dressed badly - I took an inventory to-day as to her charms She is darkly, deeply, beautifully freckled; she wears a hich is kept in place by a tiara of mock jewels; she has the fattest of arms and wears black bead bracelets

The one who is under a cloud, shadowed as a Yankee spy, has confirmed our worst suspicions She exhibited unholy joy, as she reported seven hundred sick soldiers in the hospital at Culpeper, and that Beauregard had sent a flag of truce to Washi+ngton

What a night we had! Maria had seen suspicious persons hovering about all day, and Mrs Preston a ladder which could easily be placed so as to reach our roo the trees, and we all heard guns So we sat up Consequently, I a, in particular: ”Our orders are to move on,” the date, July 10th ”Here we are still and no more prospect of movement now than when I last wrote to you It is true, however, that the ene to receive hi ave us a parting shot: said Beauregard had arrested her brother in order that heWhy? Beauregard, at a moment's notice, could have any horse in South Carolina, or Louisiana, for that matter This man was arrested and sent to Richmond, and ”will be acquitted as they always are,” said Brewster ”They send the there; then they acquit them, and send the there But, after all, what does it matter? They have no need for spies: our newspapers keep no secrets hid The thoughts of our hearts are all revealed Everything with us is open and aboveboard

81 ”At Bethel the Yankees fired too high Every daily paper is jeering theh next tiet the benefit of their improved practise, alas!”

82

IX RICHMOND, VA

July 13, 1861 - September 2, 1861 RICHMOND, Va, July 13,1861 - Noe feel safe and comfortable We can not be flanked Mr Preston met us at Warrenton Mr Chesnut doubtless had tooin with the exact numbers of the enemy done up in their back hair

Wade Hampton is here; Doctor Nott also - Nott and Glyddon known to fa for the ress

Lamar is out on crutches His father-in-law, once known only as the huia Scenes, now a staid Methodist, who has outgrown the follies of his youth, bore histreet has lost the keen sense of fun that illuhter were here

The President hed at our sudden retreat, with baggage lost, etc He tried to keep us froerous experis than he chooses to tell us

To-day in the drawing-rooreat distinction in the South as a lawyer, clergyman, teacher, journalist, and author, and was successively president of five different colleges His Georgia Scenes, a series of hureat popularity for iment, but wore Turkish pantaloons She frisked about in her hat and feathers; did not uncover her head as a s She had no druave us rataplan She was followed at every step by asoldiers and boys

Yesterday, as we left the cars, we had a gliht: the memory of it is hard to shake off - sick soldiers, not wounded ones There were quite two hundred (they said) lying about as best theyall he could Their pale, ghastly faces! So here is one of the horrors of e had not reckoned on There wereall the service possible in the circumstances

Just now I happened to look up and saw Mr Chesnut with a seway I flew across the rooot half-way saw Mrs Davis touch hio at once into Mr Davis's room, where General Lee and General Cooper were After he left us, Mrs Davis told ard had sent Mr Chesnut here on , some army business

July 14th - Mr Chesnut remained closeted with the President and General Lee all the afternoon The news does not seem pleasant At least, he is not inclined to tellme how sensible and soldierly this handsoacity was also his theme of course the President doht of brain as by his position I did not care a fig for a description of the war council I wanted to knohat is in the wind now?

1 Rev Robert Barnwell, nephew of Hon Robert Barnwell, established in Richmond a hospital for South Carolinians

84 July 16th - Dined to-day at the President's table Joe Davis, the nephew, asked me if I liked white port wine I said I did not know; ”all that I had ever known had been dark red” So he poured lass I drank it, and it nearly burned up my mouth and throat It was horrid, but I did not let hilad that any one found h to play off a practical joke upon

Met Colonel Baldwin in the drawing-roonificantly to his Confederate colonel's buttons and gray coat At the White Sulphur last summer he was a ”Union ed besides your coat?” ”I was always true to our country,” he said ”She leaves ard sent Mr Chesnut to the President to gain perard to join, and, united, to push the eneroeaker and they stronger; so we had better give a telling blow at once Already, we begin to cry out forto shut it all out

A young Eo back Her Franklin blood certainly calls him with no uncertain sound to the Northern side, while his fatherland is wavering and undecided, split in half by factions Mrs Wigfall says he is half inclined to go She wondered that he did not With a father in the enemy's army, he will always be ”suspect” here, let the President and Mrs Davis do for him what they will

I did not know there was such a ”bitter cry” left in me, but I wept s do look so black When he coro s - watch,

85 clothes, and two or three hundred gold pieces that lie in the tray of his trunk All these, papers, etc, he tells Lawrence to bring tohappens to him But I said: ”Maybe he will pack off to the Yankees and freedo to leave me for anybody else After all, what can he ever be, better than he is now - a gentleuns, and when he gets to the other army he is free” Maria said of Mr Preston'smore, ef he was free? Don't he live just as well as Mars John do now?”

Mrs McLane, Mrs Joe Johnston, Mrs Wigfall, all came I am sure so many clever woion all in a snarl - about, I forget what; standing on their dignity, I suppose I have conity and self-respect require” I long to cry, ”No need to respect yourself until you can raphed yesterday (they say, to General Johnston), ”Come down and help us, or we shall be crushed by nuraphed General Johnston to ade, Ewell's, and Longstreet's encountered the foe and repulsed him Six hundred prisoners have been sent here

I arose, as the Scriptures say, and washed my face and anointed my head and went down-stairs At the foot of theing his shi+rt collar, or adjusting his neck to it after his fashi+on He called out: ”Your South Carolinaat Bull Run - driven back the enemy, if not defeated himan came to tell the particulars, and Colonel Smith (one of the trio with Garnett, McClellan, ere sent to Europe to inspect and report on military matters) Poor Garnett is killed There was cowardice

86 or treachery on the part of natives up there, or some of Governor Letcher's appoints said I do not understand, but it was a fatal business

Mrs McLane says she finds we do not believe a word of any news unless it coht Not one Confederate killed Enemy's loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners taken by us, immense” I was in hopes there would be no battle until Mr Chesnut was forced to give up his aular duties in the Congress

Keitt has come in He says Bonham's battle was a skirmish of outposts Joe Davis, Jr, said: ”Would Heaven only send us a Napoleon!” Not one bit of use If Heaven did, Walker would not give him a commission Mrs Davis and Mrs Joe Johnston, ”her dear Lydia,” were in fine spirits The effect upon nous autres was evident; we rallied visibly South Carolina troops pass every day They go by with a gay step Tom Taylor and John Rhett bowed to us fro of handkerchiefs We are forever at the s

It was not such a mere skirmish We took three rifled cannon and six hundred stands of arfall knoas going That ends the delusion of Wigfall's aideshi+p No mistake to-day I was too ill to move out of my bed So they all sat in my room

July 22d - Mrs Davis came in so softly that I did not know she was here until she leaned over ht1 Joe Johnston led the right 1 The first battle of Bull Run, or Manassas, fought on July 21, 1861, the Confederates being coard, and the Federals by General McDowell Bull Run is a s, and Beauregard the left wing of the arht Wade Haion killed; so are Colonel Bee and Colonel Bartow Kirby Smith1 is wounded or killed”