Downing’s Civil War Diary.–Alexander G. Downing.

Wednesday, 5th–Company E had prayer meeting this evening in a vacant room close by their quarters. It is reported that we are to leave for the South in two or three days. The war has certainly struck this place a hard blow. There are many vacant houses and most of the storerooms are standing empty. There are but few men left in town, most of them having gone to war. Families are divided, each member having gone to the army of his choice; there are fathers against sons and brothers against brothers. They are so determined for the side they take that many are killed in the neighborhood by their neighbors, and some even by members of their own families.