November 2d, 1864. This morning we heard Jimmy is engaged to Helen Trenholm, daughter of the Secretary of the Confederate States. He wrote asking Brother’s consent, saying they had been engaged since August, though he had had no opportunity of writing until that day – the middle of September. I cried myself blind. It seems [...]
March. Dead! Dead! Both dead! O my brothers! What have we lived for except you? We, who would have so gladly laid down our lives for yours, are left desolate to mourn over all we loved and hoped for, weak and helpless; while you, so strong, noble, and brave, have gone before us without a [...]
11th. O God, O God, have mercy on us! George is dead! Both in a week. George, our sole hope – our sole dependence.
5th Not dead! not dead! O my God! Gibbes is not dead! Where – O dear God! Another? Only a few days ago came a letter so cheerful and hopeful –we have waited and prayed so patiently – at my feet lies one from Colonel Steadman saying he is dead. Dead! Suddenly and without a [...]
Wednesday, February 3d. Last night we were thrown into the most violent state of commotion by the unexpected entrance of Captain Bradford. He has been brought here a prisoner, from Asphodel, where he has been ever since the surrender of Port Hudson, and taking advantage of his tri-weekly parole, his first visit was naturally here, [...]
Thursday night, December 31st, 1863. The last of eighteen sixty-three is passing away as I write. . . . Every New Year since I was in my teens, I have sought a quiet spot where I could whisper to myself Tennyson’s “ Death of the Old Year,” and even this bitter cold night I steal [...]
Monday, November 30th. Our distress about Gibbes has been somewhat relieved by good news from Jimmy. The jolliest sailor letter from him came this morning, dated only the 4th instant from Cherbourg, detailing his cruise on the Georgia from leaving England, to Bahia, Trinidad, Cape of Good Hope, to France again. Such a bright, dashing [...]
November 26th. Yes! It is so, if his own handwriting is any proof. Mr. Appleton has just sent Brother a letter he had received from Gibbes, asking him to let Brother know he was a prisoner, and we have heard, through some one else, that he had been sent to Sandusky. Brother has applied to [...]
Sunday, November 22d. A report has just reached us that my poor dear Gibbes has been taken prisoner along with the rest of Hayes’s brigade.
Monday, November 9th. Another odd link of the old, stale story has come to me, all the way from New York. A friend of mine, who went on the same boat with the prisoners, wrote to her mother to tell her that she had formed the acquaintance of the most charming, fascinating gentleman among them, [...]
Tuesday, October 6th. I hope this will be the last occasion on which I shall refer to the topic to which this unfortunate book seems to have been devoted. But it gives me a grim pleasure to add a link to the broken chain of the curious story, now and then. Maybe some day the [...]
Friday, 25th. Write me down a witch, a prophetess, or what you will. I am certainly something! All has come to pass on that very disagreeable subject very much as I feared. Perhaps no one in my position would speak freely on the subject; for that very reason I shall not hesitate to discuss it. [...]
Thursday, 10th September. O my prophetic soul! part of your forebodings are already verified! And in what an unpleasant way! Day before yesterday an English officer, not the one who came here, but one totally unknown to me, said at Mrs. Peirce’s he was going to visit the Confederate prisoners. He was asked if he [...]
Monday, August 24th. A letter from Captain Bradford to Miriam. My poor Adonis, that I used to ridicule so unmercifully, what misfortunes have befallen him! He writes that during the siege at Port Hudson he had the top of his ear shot off (wonder if he lost any of that beautiful golden fleece yclept his [...]
Sunday, 16th. Coming out of church this morning with Miriam, a young lady ran up with an important air, as though about to create a sensation. “I have a message for you both,” she said, fixing her eyes on mine as though she sought something in them. “I visit the prisoners frequently, you know, and [...]
New Orleans, August, 1863. Friday, 14th. DOOMED to be bored! To-night Miriam drags me to a soirée musicale, and in the midst of my toilet, I sit down with bare shoulders to scratch a dozen lines in my new treasure which has been by me for three days, untouched. I don’t know what tempts me [...]
Thursday, July 23d. It is bad policy to keep us from seeing the prisoners; it just sets us wild about them. Put a creature you don’t care for in the least, in a situation that commands sympathy, and nine out of ten girls will fall desperately in love. Here are brave, self-sacrificing, noble men who [...]
Saturday, July 18th. It may be wrong; I feel very contrite; but still I cannot help thinking it is an error on the right side. It began by Miriam sending Mr. Conn a box of cigars when she was on Canal the other day, with a note saying we would be delighted to assist him [...]
Wednesday, July 15th. It is but too true; both have fallen. All Port Hudson privates have been paroled, and the officers sent here for exchange. Aye! Aye! I know some privates I would rather see than the officers! As yet, only ten that we know have arrived. All are confined in the Custom-House. Last evening [...]
July 10th. Shall I cry, faint, scream, or go off in hysterics? Tell me which, quickly; for to doubt this news is fine and imprisonment, and if I really believe it I would certainly give way to my feelings and commit some vagaries of the kind. My resolution is formed! I will do neither; I [...]
Friday, June 26th. O praise the Lord, O my soul! Here is good news enough to make me happy for a month! Brother is so good about that! Every time he hears good news on our side, he tells it just as though it was on his side, instead of on ours; while all bad [...]
Sunday, June 21st. How about that oath of allegiance? is what I frequently ask myself, and always an uneasy qualm of conscience troubles me. Guilty or not guilty of perjury? According to the law of God in the abstract, and of nations, Yes; according to my conscience, Jeff Davis, and the peculiar position I was [...]
June 17th. I must write something somewhere, I don’t care if dinner is ready, and Brother’s “safe old Secesh “downstairs! Lydia has another boy! Letter has just come, and I am demented about my new godchild! There now! feel better! One more word – it shall be called “Howell.” Dear, blessed little baby! how I [...]
Sunday, June 14th. The excitement about Port Hudson and Vicksburg is intense. When I heard on Friday that the last attack was being made on the former place, I took to my prayers with a delirium of fervor. If I was a man, if I had the blessed privilege of fighting, I would be on [...]
June 9th, Tuesday. My dear Brother, who is always seeking to make somebody happy, arranged a dinner-party at the lake for us Saturday. There was quite a number of us, as, besides ourselves and the five children, we had Mrs. Price and her children, Mrs. Bull, and three nurses. . . . There are no [...]