July 27th.–Mrs. Davis’s drawing-room last night was brilliant, and she was in great force. Outside a mob called for the President. He did speak–an old war-horse, who scents the battle-fields from afar. His enthusiasm was contagious. They called for Colonel Chesnut, and he gave them a capital speech, too. As public speakers say sometimes, “It was the proudest moment of my life.” I did not hear a great deal of it, for always, when anything happens of any moment, my heart beats up in my ears, but the distinguished Carolinians who crowded round told me how good a speech he made. I was dazed. There goes the Dead March for some poor soul.

To-day, the President told us at dinner that Mr. Chesnut’s eulogy of Bartow in the Congress was highly praised. Men liked it. Two eminently satisfactory speeches in twenty-four hours is doing pretty well. And now I could be happy, but this Cabinet of ours are in such bitter quarrels among themselves–everybody abusing everybody.

Last night, while those splendid descriptions of the battle were being given to the crowd below from our windows, I said: “Then, why do we not go on to Washington?” “You mean why did they not; the opportunity is lost.” Mr. Barnwell said to me: “Silence, we want to listen to the speaker,” and Mr. Hunter smiled compassionately, “Don’t ask awkward questions.”

Kirby Smith came down on the turnpike in the very nick of time. Still, the heroes who fought all day and held the Yankees in check deserve credit heyond words, or it would all have been over before the Joe Johnston contingent came. It is another case of the eleventh-hour scrape; the eleventh-hour men claim all the credit, and they who bore the heat and brunt and burden of the day do not like that.

Everybody said at first, “Pshaw! There will be no war.” Those who foresaw evil were called ravens, ill-foreboders. Now the same sanguine people all cry, “The war is over” –the very same who were packing to leave Richmond a few days ago. Many were ready to move on at a moment’s warning, when the good news came. There are such owls everywhere.

But, to revert to the other kind, the sage and circumspect, those who say very little, but that little shows they think the war barely begun. Mr. Rives and Mr. Seddon have just called. Arnoldus Van der Horst came to see me at the same time. He said there was no great show of victory on our side until two o’clock, but when we began to win, we did it in double-quick time. I mean, of course, the battle last Sunday.

Arnold Harris told Mr. Wigfall the news from Washington last Sunday. For hours the telegrams reported at rapid intervals, “Great victory,” “Defeating them at all points.” The couriers began to come in on horseback, and at last, after two or three o ‘clock, there was a sudden cessation of all news. About nine messengers with bulletins came on foot or on horseback–wounded, weary, draggled, footsore, panic-stricken–spreading in their path on every hand terror and dismay. That was our opportunity. Wigfall can see nothing that could have stopped us, and when they explain why we did not go to Washington I understand it all less than ever. Yet here we will dilly-dally, and Congress orate, and generals parade, until they in the North get up an army three times as large as McDowell’s, which we have just defeated.

Trescott says this victory will be our ruin. It lulls us into a fool’s paradise of conceit at our superior valor, and the shameful farce of their flight will wake every inch of their manhood. It was the very fillip they needed. There are a quieter sort here who know their Yankees well. They say if the thing begins to pay–government contracts, and all that–we will never hear the end of it, at least, until they get their pay in some way out of us. They will not lose money by us. Of that we may be sure. Trust Yankee shrewdness and vim for that.

There seems to be a battle raging at Bethel, but no mortal here can be got to think of anything but Manassas. Mrs. McLean says she does not see that it was such a great victory, and if it be so great, how can one defeat hurt a nation like the North.

John Waties fought the whole battle over for me. Now I understand it. Before this nobody would take the time to tell the thing consecutively, rationally, and in order. Mr. Venable said he did not see a braver thing done than the cool performance of a Columbia negro. He carried his master a bucket of ham and rice, which he had cooked for him, and he cried: “You must be so tired and hungry, marster; make haste and eat.” This was in the thickest of the fight, under the heaviest of the enemy’s guns.

The Federal Congressmen had been making a picnic of it: their luggage was all ticketed to Richmond. Cameron has issued a proclamation. They are making ready to come after us on a magnificent scale. They acknowledge us at last foemen worthy of their steel. The Lord help us, since England and France won’t, or don’t. If we could only get a friend outside and open a port.

One of these men told me he had seen a Yankee prisoner, who asked him “what sort of a diggins Richmond was for trade.” He was tired of the old concern, and would like to take the oath and settle here. They brought us handcuffs found in the débacle of the Yankee army. For whom were they? Jeff Davis, no doubt, and the ringleaders. “Tell that to the marines.” We have outgrown the handcuff business on this side of the water.

Dr. Gibbes says he was at a country house near Manassas, when a Federal soldier, who had lost his way, came in exhausted. He asked for brandy, which the lady of the house gave him. Upon second thought, he declined it. She brought it to him so promptly he said he thought it might be poisoned; his mind was; she was enraged, and said: “Sir, I am a Virginia woman. Do you think I could be as base as that ? Here, Bill, Tom, disarm this man. He is our prisoner.” The negroes came running, and the man surrendered without more ado.

Another Federal was drinking at the well. A negro girl said: “You go in and see Missis.” The man went in and she followed, crying triumphantly: “Look here, Missis, I got a prisoner, too!” This lady sent in her two prisoners, and Beauregard complimented her on her pluck and patriotism, and her presence of mind. These negroes were rewarded by their owners.

Now if slavery is as disagreeable to negroes as we think it, why don’t they all march over the border where they would be received with open arms? It all amazes me. I am always studying these creatures. They are to me inscrutable in their way and past finding out. Our negroes were not ripe for John Brown.

This is how I saw Robert E. Lee for the first time: though his family, then living at Arlington, called to see me while I was in Washington (I thought because of old Colonel Chesnut’s intimacy with Nellie Custis in the old Philadelphia days, Mrs. Lee being Nelly Custis’s niece), I had not known the head of the Lee family. He was somewhere with the army then.

Last summer at the White Sulphur were Roony Lee and his wife, that sweet little Chailotte Wickam, and I spoke of Roony with great praise. Mrs. Izard said: “Don’t waste your admiration on him; wait till you see his father. He is the nearest to a perfect man I ever saw.” “How?” “In every way–handsome, clever, agreeable, high-bred.”

Now, Mrs. Stanard came for Mrs. Preston and me to drive to the camp in an open carriage. A man riding a beautiful horse joined us. He wore a hat with something of a military look to it, sat his horse gracefully, and was so distinguished at all points that I very much regretted not catching his name as Mrs. Stanard gave it to us. He, however, heard ours, and bowed as gracefully as he rode, and the few remarks he made to each of us showed he knew all about us.

But Mrs. Stanard was in ecstasies of pleasurable excitement. I felt that she had bagged a big fish, for just then they abounded in Richmond. Mrs. Stanard accused him of being ambitious, etc. He remonstrated and said his tastes were “of the simplest.” He only wanted “a Virginia farm, no end of cream and fresh butter and fried chicken–not one fried chicken, or two, but unlimited fried chicken.”

To all this light chat did we seriously incline, because the man and horse and everything about him were so fine-looking; perfection, in fact; no fault to be found if you hunted for it. As he left us, I said eagerly, “Who is he?” “You did not know! Why, it was Robert E. Lee, son of Light Horse Harry Lee, the first man in Virginia,” raising her voice as she enumerated his glories. All the same, I like Smith Lee better, and I like his looks, too. I know Smith Lee well. Can anybody say they know his brother? I doubt it. He looks so cold, quiet, and grand.

Kirby Smith is our Blücher; he came on the field in the nick of time, as Blücher at Waterloo, and now we are as the British, who do not remember Blücher. It is all Wellington. So every individual man I see fought and won the battle. From Kershaw up and down, all the eleventh-hour men won the battle; turned the tide. The Marylanders–Elzey & Co.–one never hears of–as little as one hears of Blücher in the English stories of Waterloo.

Mr. Venable was praising Hugh Garden and Kershaw’s regiment generally. This was delightful. They are my friends and neighbors at home. I showed him Mary Stark’s letter, and we agreed with her. At the bottom of our hearts we believe every Confederate soldier to be a hero, sans peur et sans reproche.

Hope for the best to-day. Things must be on a pleasanter footing all over the world. Met the President in the corridor. He took me by both hands. “Have you breakfasted?” said he. “Come in and breakfast with me?” Alas! I had had my breakfast.

At the public dining-room, where I had taken my breakfast with Mr. Chesnut, Mrs. Davis came to him, while we were at table. She said she had been to our rooms. She wanted Wigfall hunted up. Mr. Davis thought Chesnut would be apt to know his whereabouts. I ran to Mrs. Wigfall’s room, who told me she was sure he could be found with his regiment in camp, but Mr. Chesnut had not to go to the camp, for Wigfall came to his wife’s room while I was there. Mr. Davis and Wigfall would be friends, if–if–––

The Northern papers say we hung and quartered a Zouave; cut him into four pieces; and that we tie prisoners to a tree and bayonet them. In other words, we are savages. It ought to teach us not to credit what our papers say of them. It is so absurd an imagination of evil. We are absolutely treating their prisoners as well as our own men: we are complained of for it here. I am going to the hospitals for the enemy’s sick and wounded in order to see for myself.

Why did we not follow the flying foe across the Potomac? That is the question of the hour in the drawingroom with those of us who are not contending as to “who took Rickett’s Battery?” Allen Green, for one, took it. Allen told us that, finding a portmanteau with nice clean shirts, he was so hot and dusty he stepped behind a tree and put on a clean Yankee shirt, and was more comfortable.

The New York Tribune soothes the Yankee self-conceit, which has received a shock, by saying we had 100,000 men on the field at Manassas; we had about 15,000 effective men in all. And then, the Tribune tries to inflame and envenom them against us by telling lies as to our treatment of prisoners. They say when they come against us next it will be in overwhelming force. I long to see Russell’s letter to the London Times about Bull Run and Manassas. It will be rich and rare. In Washington, it is crimination and recrimination. Well, let them abuse one another to their hearts’ content.

JULY 27, 1861.–From Bellaire to Clarksburg in Virginia. All the way, one hundred and thirty miles, in Virginia, greeted by shouts and demonstrations of joy. The people had seen many three-months men going, leaving western Virginia for home. This, with the defeat at Washington perhaps, led the people to fear that the Union men were left to the Rebels of the eastern part of the State. Our coming relieved them and was hailed with every demonstration of joy. [Today], Saturday, at 2 P.M. [A.M.] reached Clarksburg. Worked like a Turk in the rain all the morning laying out a camp and getting it up, on a fine hill with a pretty scene before us. Clearing off towards the close of the day. Tried to dry clothes. A busy day but a jolly.

In the evening General Rosecrans came over here and ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Matthews to march at 2 A. M. with the right wing in seventy-five waggons, leaving us with left wing and baggage to move at 7 A. M. to Weston. Order of march for our column, ten pioneers, three hundred or four hundred yards in advance of main body; advance guard of thirty, one hundred yards in advance of main body; next, main body; waggon train with baggage, twenty-eight wagons; rear guard of thirty, one hundred and eighty yards in rear of wagons.

JULY 27th.—A large number of new arrivals are announced from the North. Clerks resigned at Washington, and embryo heroes having military educations, are presenting themselves daily, and applying for positions here. They represent the panic in the North as awful, and ours is decidedly the winning side. These gentry somehow succeed in getting appointments.

Our army does not advance. It is said both Beauregard and Johnston are anxious to cross the Potomac; but what is said is not always true. The capabilities of our army to cross the Potomac are not known; and the policy of doing so if it were practicable, is to be determined by the responsible authority. Of one thing I am convinced: the North, so far from desisting from the execution of its settled purpose, even under this disagreeable reverse, will be stimulated to renewed preparations on a scale of greater magnitude than ever.

CLARKSBURG, VIRGINIA, July 27, 1861 (?) (I
believe) Saturday (I know).

DEAR WIFE:–Our second day, from Bellaire to this place, was an exceedingly happy one. We travelled about one hundred and thirty miles in Virginia, and with the exception of one deserted village of Secessionists (Farmington), we were received everywhere with an enthusiasm I never saw anywhere before. No such great crowds turned out to meet us as we saw from Indianapolis to Cincinnati assembled to see Lincoln, but everywhere, in the corn and hay fields, in the houses, in the roads, on the hills, wherever a human being saw us, we saw such honest spontaneous demonstrations of joy as we never beheld elsewhere. Old men and women, boys and children–some fervently prayed for us, some laughed and some cried; all did something which told the story. The secret of it is, the defeat at Washington and the departure of some thousands of three-months men of Ohio and Indiana led them to fear they were left to the Rebels of eastern Virginia. We were the first three-years men filling the places of those who left. It was pleasant to see we were not invading an enemy’s country but defending the people among whom we came. Our men enjoyed it beyond measure. Many had never seen a mountain; none had ever seen such a reception. They stood on top of the cars and danced and shouted with delight.

We got here in the night. General Rosecrans is with us. No other full regiment here. We march tomorrow up the mountains. All around me is confusion–sixteen hundred horses, several hundred wagons,–all the preparations for a large army. Our own men in a crowded camp putting up tents. No time for further description.

Captain McMullen will go to Columbus to return. He will get my pistols of Mr. Platt, if they come to Columbus in time. You would enjoy such a ride as that of yesterday as much as I did. It was perfect. Now comes the hard work. Good-bye; love to all.

Affectionately,

R. B. HAYES.

P.S.–Colonel Matthews showed me a letter from his mother received at the moment of his leaving. She said she rejoiced she was the mother of seven sons all loyal and true, and that four of them were able to go to the war for the national rights.

The view from where I sit is most beautiful–long ranges of hills, a pleasant village, an extensive sweep of cultivated country, the fortified hill where an Indiana regiment prepared to defend itself against overwhelming odds, etc., etc.

Direct all letters and express matters to Clarksburg, Virginia, with my title and regiment until further directions. This is the great depot for operating in western Virginia, and all letters, etc., will be sent from here forward to me.

MRS. HAYES.

The regiments called out for three months were now about disbanding, though a large number of the men at once re-enlisted for the war.

–   –   –   –   –   –   –

July 27, 10 a. m.

My dear Eliza: I have just been up to the corner to see a sorry sight, the return of the 69th Regiment–oh, so shabby, so worn and weary–all sorts of hats and shirts and some with hardly any clothes at all, staggering along under their knapsacks which they should never have been allowed to carry up Broadway. The surging mass of men and women locking arms and walking with the soldiers, was wonderful. It was a wild, tumultuous, promiscuous rush–not a march. Yesterday afternoon the 8th came through. I could see from the balcony how brown they looked and sturdy, and trimmer than the 69th. The girls and Mother saw them from Brady’s window. The cheers and applause they got down town, I suppose. There was not much of it up here–there was too much crying. Even policemen were in tears. What a dreadful collapse the “Grand Army” of the Potomac suffered. I don’t think the North needed such a lesson! Perhaps they did–perhaps the people have felt as if they could march down to Richmond whenever they chose. . . . Scott sent an inefficient general (known as a perfect windbag among brother officers) without commissariat, without organization, without proper regimental officers, against what he knew to be a fortified camp of a hundred thousand men. The one great blunder was that the battle was fought at all. All other minor blunders–and how many there were! are included in this. . . .

Jefferson Davis is free now to do what he pleases–flushed with success. Everyone says this battle has been as good to him as an increase of a hundred thousand fighting men. . . . He will perhaps attack Washington itself. The papers speak of the danger of this–and we all feel that the city is in greater peril than it was in those April days. Under such circumstances we do not quite relish your idea of going to Alexandria. You would be cut off at once, in that town, from communication or escape. One thought that checked Mother’s desire to go immediately to Washington last Monday was the idea that on reaching there she might find that women and children had been ordered to leave–for fear of an attack from Beauregard. That order may come yet. My dear sisters, I do not want to write anything depressing, but you must make up your minds after this disaster for a long war, an impoverished country, many reverses. So far, you have had but one thought –that of immediate success. General Scott’s plan of closing in on the rebels in Virginia and crushing them as in his fingers, is blown to the winds. We are to have a protracted and somewhat equal struggle, but the North is in earnest; its fault has been over-eagerness. Men there always have been enough of,–let them have proper officers; and as to money, Congress ought to be ashamed to haggle about direct taxation but pass the bill at once and provide ways and means. . . . I am very glad the boxes had all arrived safely. Next day you would get Aunt Emily’s two barrels, and Uncle Edward’s $250 in money. Buy whatever you see is needed or the surgeons and nurses want. Don’t wait for red tape. If it is mattresses, cots, pillows, spirit lamps, food, sheeting, flannel, etc. to wrap wounded men in, or what not. You can have plenty of money, and it could not be better spent than in fitting up a hospital even if that is government work. Carry wanted me to send you some money for her, but I told her I would wait and see whether you could buy the things you needed in Washington, or whether it had better be spent here. Please let me know. We shall have enough more things to fill a barrel early next week. Shall we put in the bandage roller, or are the hospital surgeons provided? I am sorry that Mrs. Leavitt did not send you a list of the contents of her boxes. . . .

Don’t save up things if you see them needed. It is easy to buy more slippers and mosquito net here, and it does not cost us any time or a stitch of effort to send more clothing. The Society has plenty on hand. Mrs. Parker jumped up with pleasure when we sent round the other day to see if she could let us have a few things for the trunk, and granted enough, as you saw, to fill two boxes and over. She was delighted at the idea of their being distributed where she could hear about it, and I must manage to put some scraps of your accounts together and tell her what you say. There is a fresh lot of handkerchiefs under way. Maria Gilman hemmed them on her machine.

July 27th, 1861.—Each day brings us fresh news from the battle of Manassas. One of our generals has gained a new name from his action while in battle; he is General Jackson, and he has been a professor in the Virginia Military Institute. He is a strict disciplinarian and his boys at the V. M. I. all knew better than to disobey and the soldiers in his command soon learned the same lesson. Then, too, all who come in contact with him in this new military life are impressed with the personal magnetism he exerts. Uncle Daniel, who was with him several days on business for General Lee, who is in command of the Division in which Uncle Daniel is a Brigadier General, says he is one of the most remarkable men he ever met. In the height of the Battle of Manassas General Jackson had his men drawn up in line facing the enemy; they stood firm, an unwavering line. The newspapers tell it this way. General Bee was trying to rally his Brigade of Georgians; men of undoubted courage, but under fire for the first time. As he waved his sword and urged them on his eyes fell upon General Jackson with his well-drilled Virginians, standing immovable. He cried out to his men, “See, there stands Jackson like a stone wall.” Later in the day General Bee joined “The Immortals,” but ere he went he gave to the quiet professor from the V. M. I. a name which will live forever.

Susan Bradford is 15 years old when this entry was made.

Reception by the People of New York of the Sixty-Ninth Regiment, N. Y. S. M., on Their Return from the Seat of War, Escorted by the New York Seventh Regiment.

The return home of the gallant Sixty-ninth Regiment–composed entirely of Irish citizens–on Saturday. July 27th, 1861, was an ovation as warm and enthusiastic as their endurance and bravery deserved. Their service of three months had been of infinite value to their country and honor to themselves and their State. The Sixty-ninth had rendered good service at Arlington Heights, and especially distinguished itself at the battle of Bull Run. On the morning of their arrival the streets were crowded with people, and the gallant fellows were greeted with shouts of applause along the whole line of march.

(from Frank Leslie’s Illustrated History of the Civil War…, edited by Louis Shepheard Moat, Published by Mrs. Frank Leslie, New York, 1895)

The Standard
Clarksville, Tx
July 27, 1861

One of the 6-pounder cannon, cast at the Camden Foundry, was taken to the Sulphur Spring on the 4^th, and experiments tried, which proved in every respect satisfactory. Several shots were fired with ball, and the results exceeded all that had been claimed for the piece by its most sanguine friends. The ground was unfavorable for trying how far it would shoot, but enough was shown, to prove that if an opportunity offered, it could knock one of old Abe’s regiments into “pi,”¹ at a distance of 1000 yards. There no longer exists a doubt of the Camden Foundry Company being able to manufacture cannon of superior quality.–Camden Herald.

¹ The term “pi” is a printing term. “…the pi is made up of small pieces of metal…, called type; and when they are set up in the form, and some careless loafer runs against and upsets things, they say it is knocked into pi!” — from Caskey’s Book: Lectures on Great Subjects, Selected from the Numerous Efforts of that Powerful Orator and Nobel Veteran of the Cross; page 275;   Thomas W. Caskey, George Gatewood Mullins, John Burns Publishing Company, 1884

July 27th.–So ill to-day from heat, bad smells in the house, and fatigue, that I sent for Dr. Miller, a great, fine Virginian practitioner, who ordered me powders to be taken in “mint juleps.” Now mint juleps are made of whiskey, sugar, ice, very little water, and sprigs of fresh mint, to be sucked up after the manner of sherry cobblers, if so it be pleased, with a straw.

“A powder every two hours, with a mint julep. Why, that’s six a day, Doctor. Won’t that be–eh ?–won’t that be rather intoxicating?”

“Well, sir, that depends on the constitution. You’ll find they will do you no harm, even if the worst takes place.”

Cairo, July 27, 1861

We number now about 60 and have 25 days in which to fill up to 100. Two hundred and fifty of our regiment of three-months’ men have re-enlisted. Two hundred and fifty out of 680, which is considerably better than any eastern regiment that I have seen mentioned. There was not a sick man in our company when we returned, and there is not now. One of the boys just tells me that day before yesterday morning there were but eight in the regiment hospital. Three men from our regiment have died in three and a half months. One of these I know killed himself with imprudence. I have telegraphed to the boys to be in Peoria Wednesday. I have not the least idea that any of them will back out. It does seem real good to be back here again where a fellow can swing himself and lay around loose with sleeves up, collar open, (or shirt off if it suits him better) hair unkempt, face unwashed and everything un-anything. It beats clerking ever so much! We were paid off yesterday. The privates received $56.72 each in gold, silver and copper, which is $24.00 more than we expected.

We are having some more excitement in camp to-day. A rumored attack in prospect on Bird’s Point is the subject. We are putting the recruits through in two-forty-style to get them ready. Twenty rounds of cartridges were served to us at noon to-day, and Prentiss’ aids are galloping round as if tight. About one quarter of the recruits have their accoutrements on, and some of them scoot up on the levee every ten minutes to look at the Point. We have all kinds of rumors of from 2,000 to 15,000 Rebels within from 6 to 15 miles of us, but if 20 preachers would swear to the truth, there’s not one man that has been here three months would believe it. Been fooled too often! Our officers are careful though, and treat every thing from head-quarters as reliable till the contrary is proven. [continue reading…]

–Major-General Robert Patterson of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, was honorably discharged from the service of the United States.–(Doc. 106.)

–The Odd Fellows’ Hall, jail, and four other buildings in Hampton, Va., were burned by the national troops in apprehension of an immediate attack by the secessionists.–N. Y. Times, July 30.

–In Confederate Congress, at Richmond, Va., documents were read which show the cause of the late flag of truce from the Confederate lines to Washington. One of these was a letter from Davis to President Lincoln, with the threat of retaliation if the privateersmen taken from the Savannah should be hanged.–(Doc. 128.)

–The Sixty-ninth Regiment N. Y. 8. M., arrived in New York from the seat of war.– N. Y. Express, July 27.

–Senator Johnson, of Tennessee, spoke in the Senate in favor of the joint resolution to approve the acts of the President.–(Doc. 129.)

July 27, 1861

A Chronological History of the Civil War in America¹

• Return of the 69th and other regiments to New York.

1. A Chronological History of the Civil War in America by Richard Swainson Fisher, New York, Johnson and Ward, 1863

ALEXANDRIA BAY, July 26.—Anna writes me that Charlie Wells said he had always wanted a set of Clark’s Commentaries, but I had carried off the entire Ed.

FRIDAY 26

Was required to go before the Committee at the Capitol today at 10 o’clock (John F Porter Chairman). The Committee is investigating the cases of Clerks and others in the different departments who are said to be secessionists, or disloyal to the Govt. Went with Julia after dinner up to the camps on Meridian hill. Saw the Meridian Stone or pillar from which Longitude is computed. We took a long walk. I was very tired. Eddy Foster and McIntire of [Woolcut?] staid with us.

______

The three diary manuscript volumes, Washington during the Civil War: The Diary of Horatio Nelson Taft, 1861-1865, are available online at The Library of   Congress.

BELLAIRE, July 26, 1861,

Friday morning, 7:30 A. M.

DEAR BROTHER WILLIAM:–I write for you and Lucy. Please send this note to her. We were ordered at Zanesville to change our destination to this point and Grafton. Whether we are to go from Grafton to the Kanawha country or to Oakland, Maryland, is uncertain; we think Oakland is our point; we hope so. It is to hold in check a rising secession feeling and to sustain Union men. We reached here at midnight and slept in the cars until morning. All in good spirits. I will advise you as to the ultimate determination of our course.

If my pistols come to the express office, send them to me by express when you ascertain where we are. You can probably learn at the governor’s office, if not direct from me. The express to the armies is very safe usually. Love to all.

Yours,

R. B. HAYES.

W. A. PLATT.

July 26th

       Papa left us for Buncombe on the 24, he went off in a furious annoyance at not being called for before half past eight so he quarreled with the hack man, I am glad he has gone, for his rigid ways became disagreeable. We did as well as we could for him, & I believe he was satisfied with his visit.—The Grand Northern Army left Washington, horse foot and flying artillery, Regulars, & Volunteers, and sang jubilant airs along the road. A strategic movement on the part of the Southerners brought them on to Bull Run, where the forces were ready to meet them, and where there was a dreadful battle. Loss on both sides and the Northern Army completely routed, all their Batteries taken and some thousands mowed down. Gen. Bee fell Mortally wounded, sustaining a desperate assault. Col. Johnston fell soon after he reached the battle, Bauregard was there, Gen. Johnston took the colors of a wavering Company, and led them to the attack. Jeff Davis was on the field, and in short it was a glorious victory.

       Today there is a grand Military Funeral for Bee & Johnston & Gen. Bartow who also was killed in the fight goes through to Savannah.—

       May the Almighty Protect us and make us thankful.—

       This battle was fought on Sunday.—Charles paid a nice little visit here and looked so well and in such good spirits I was delighted to see him,—We have not heard from Lewis since the battle.

       The ladies are all as busy as possible forming themselves into relief societies for the wounded soldiers, and also to prepare clothing for them in the winter, which will soon now approach. We have some work to do, 10 long shirts for sick men. Papa gave the money for the cloth and Charlotte gave $10 & Mr Grimball $5.

(Continued from July 22)

July 26th Friday noon. –

You will think it strange that I commenced so timely a letter to you and stopped so suddenly. But I did so upon more mature reflection. You could not fail to know all that I could have told you as soon as I could have got letters through to you, and everything was so unreliable, vague, uncertain, and I confidently hoped, exaggereated, that I deemed it the part of prudence to wait, and even now, after all this interval of time, I cannot tell you with certainty, and accuracy the things I would like to.

It is certain that we have at length had the “forward movement,” which has been so loudly clamored for and I am living witness of a corresponding Backward one, I know that our troops continued to go over into Virginia, from Wednesday until Saturday, noble, gallant handsome fellows, armed to the teeth, apparently lacking nothing. Waving Banners and Plumes and bristling Bayonets, gallant steeds and stately riders, the roll of the drum, and the notes of the Bugle, the farewell shout and martial tread of armed men, filled our streets, and saluted our ears through all those days.

These were all noble sights, but to me never pleasant, where I fain would have given them a smile and cheer, the bitter tears would come for well I knew, that though the proudest of victories perch upon our Banner, many a Brave Boy marched down to die, that, reach it when, and as they would, the Valley of Manassas was the Valley of Death.

Friday [brought] the particulars of Thursday’s encounter, we deplored but hoped for more care, and shrewder judgement next time, – Saturday brought rumors of intended Battle, and most conflicting accounts of the enemies strength, the Evening and Sunday morning papers told unreliably that he had 80,000 men, and constantly reinforced. My blood ran cold as I read it, least our Army be deceived, but then they knew it. The news came from them, surely they would never have the madness to attack from open field, an enemy of three times their number, behind entrenchments fortified by batteries, and marked at that, no this could not be, then we breathed freer, and thought of all the humane consideration, and wisdom of our time honored, have commanding Genl. That he had never needlessly sacrificed a man.

Washington July 26 1861

My dear Wife

The best way to keep an account of my “daily walk and conversations” is to write you very often and trust that my letters to you may serve as a continuance of my journal which I can not carry about the country.

At ½ past 4 I repaired to General Scotts quarters and accompanied him and his aids to his humble residence between 17th & 18th streets.

The party surrounded a very plain table and consisted of Genl Scott Col Van Rentzeler my old classmate acting as volunteer aid and Col Schyler Hamilton of the 7th N York Regt. Also acting as volunteer aid Senator Rice¹ of Minn and myself

The dinner was neat but decidedly plain. Three courses of meat, and a finish of ice cream. Good wines–sherry. Champaign, and Claret closing with coffee and finishing with some very choise wine which the General said had been sent him by Mr Aspinwell to be drunk after Coffee. The General said he had often lived in excessive affluence but he did not enjoy it. At one time he was a guest at Mr Prestons when 200 dollars a week was expended in mushrooms and other imported vegitables. But on a certain day [continue reading…]

Note: This particular article–a document written in 1861–includes terms and topics that may be offensive to many today.   No attempt will be made to censor or edit 19th century material to today’s standards.

Southern Confederacy
[Atlanta, Ga],
July 26, 1861

Approach to Huntsville — A city set on a hill — Female colleges — Female education in Georgia — Texas progress — The penitentiary — Number of convicts — State and foreign representation in the “institution” — The everlasting nigger has the best record — Solitary confinement — Old Sam Houston to take the field in the Confederate Army.

July 26th.–Whether it is from curiosity to hear what I have to say or not, the number of my visitors is augmenting. Among them was a man in soldier’s uniform, who sauntered into my room to borrow “five or ten dollars,” on the ground that he was a waiter at the Clarendon Hotel when I was stopping there, and wanted to go North, as his time was up. His anecdotes were stupendous. General Meigs and Captain Macomb, of the United States Engineers, paid me a visit, and talked of the disaster very sensibly. The former is an able officer, and an accomplished man–the latter, son, I believe, of the American general of that name, distinguished in the war with Great Britain. I had a long conversation with General M’Dowell, who bears his supercession with admirable fortitude, and complains of nothing, except the failure of his officers to obey orders, and the hard fate which condemned him to lead an army of volunteers–Captain Wright, aide de camp to General Scott, Lieutenant Wise, of the Navy, and many others. The communications received from the Northern States have restored the spirits of all Union men, and not a few declare they are glad of the reverse, as the North will now be obliged to put forth all its strength.

London, July 26, 1861

You say that you wanted to go off with Gordon’s regiment. I tell you I would give my cocked hat and knee-breeches to be with them at this moment. I don’t understand being sorry for them. I have no doubt that barring a few lives and legs and arms lost, they’ll all like it and be the better for it. And as for the lives and legs, if they estimate theirs as low as I do mine, the loss won’t amount to much. Pain is the only thing I should fear, but after all, one’s health is just as likely to be benefitted as to be hurt by a campaign, bullets and all, so that this does n’t count. My own task however lies elsewhere and I should be after all hardly the material for a soldier; so that I do my own work and resign the hope of becoming a hero.

My good old Nick Anderson is a Lieut. Colonel, I see. How I’d like to see him. I suppose Rooney Lee has some command also, so it’s as likely as not that he and Nick may come in contact. There never was any friendship between them. Indeed they always hated each other, so that the collision would not be so painful to either of them as it might be. There are so many of our friends in the army now and under fire, that I watch with curiosity the lists of casualties. It won’t be long before something happens, I suppose. . . .