April 17th.–Bright and clear. I add a few lines to my Diary. It was whispered, yesterday, that President Lincoln had been assassinated! I met Gen. Duff Green, in the afternoon, who assured me there could be no doubt of it. Still, supposing it might be an April hoax, I inquired at the headquarters of Gen. [...]

April 14th.–Bright and cool. Gen. Weitzel and his corps having been ordered away, Major-Gen. Ord has succeeded to the command at Richmond, and his corps has been marching to Camp Lee ever since dawn. I saw no negro troops among them, but presume there are some. Gen. Weitzel’s rule became more and more despotic daily; [...]

April 12th.–Warm and cloudy. Gen. Weitzel publishes an order to-day, requiring all ministers who have prayed for the President of the Confederate States to pray hereafter for the President of the United States. He will not allow them to omit the prayer. In answer to my application for permission to take my family to the [...]

April 11th.–Cloudy and misty. It is reported that Gen. Johnston has surrendered his army in North Carolina, following the example of Gen. Lee. But no salutes have been fired in honor of the event. The President (Davis) is supposed to be flying toward the Mississippi River, but this is merely conjectural. Undoubtedly the war is [...]

April 10th.–Raining. I was startled in bed by the sound of cannon from the new southside fort again. I suppose another hundred guns were fired; and I learn this morning that the Federals declare, and most people believe, that Lee has really surrendered his army–if not indeed all the armies. My Diary is surely drawing [...]

April 9th.–Bright and beautiful. Rev. Mr. Dashiell called, after services. The prayer for the President was omitted, by a previous understanding. Rev. Dr. Minnegerode, and others, leading clergymen, consider the cause at an end. A letter from Gen. Lee has been found, and its authenticity vouched for (Rev. Dr. M. says) by Judge Campbell, in [...]

April 8th.–Bright and pleasant weather. We are still in uncertainty as to our fate, or whether an oath of allegiance will be demanded. Efforts by Judge Campbell, Jos. R. Anderson, N. P. Tyler, G. A. Myers and others, are being made to assemble a convention which shall withdraw Virginia from the Confederacy. Hundreds of civil [...]

April 7th.–Slight showers. Wm. Ira Smith, tailor, and part owner of the Whig, has continued the publication as a Union paper. I visited the awful crater of the magazine. One current or stream of fire and bricks knocked down the east wall of the cemetery, and swept away many head and foot stones, demolishing trees, [...]

April 6th.–Showery morning. I perceive no change, except, perhaps, a diminution of troops, which seems to confirm the reports of recent battles, and the probable success of Lee and Johnston. But all is doubt and uncertainty. The military authorities are still reticent regarding the fate of those remaining in Richmond. We are at their mercy, [...]

April 5th.–Bright and pleasant. Stayed with my next door neighbors at their request last night– all females. It was quiet; and so far the United States pickets and guards have preserved perfect order. The cheers that greeted President Lincoln were mostly from the negroes and Federals comprising the great mass of humanity. The white citizens [...]

April 4th.–Another bright and beautiful day. I walked around the burnt district this morning. Some seven hundred houses, from Main Street to the canal, comprising the most valuable stores, and the best business establishments, were consumed. All the bridges across the James were destroyed, the work being done effectually. Shells were placed in all the [...]

April 3d.–Another clear and bright morning. It was a quiet night, with its million of stars. And yet how few could sleep, in anticipation of the entrance of the enemy! But no enemy came until 9 A.M., when some 500 were posted at the Capitol Square. They had been waited upon previously by the City [...]

April 2d.–Bright and beautiful. The tocsin was sounded this morning at daybreak, and the militia ordered to the fortifications, to relieve some regiments of Longstreet’s corps, posted on this side of the river. These latter were hurried off to Petersburg, where a battle is impending, I suppose, if not in progress. A street rumor says [...]

April 1st.–Clear and pleasant. Walked to the department. We have vague and incoherent accounts from excited couriers of fighting, without result, in Dinwiddie County, near the South Side Railroad. It is rumored that a battle will probably occur in that vicinity to-day. I have leave of absence, to improve my health; and propose accompanying my [...]

March 31st.–Raining; rained all night. My health improving, but prudence requires me to still keep within the house. The reports of terrific fighting near Peterburg on Wednesday evening have not been confirmed. Although Gen. Lee’s dispatch shows they were not quite without foundation, I have no doubt there was a false alarm on both sides, [...]

March 30th.–Raining rapidly, and warm. Again the sudden change of weather may be an interposition of Providence to defeat the effort of the enemy to destroy Gen. Lee’s communications with his Southern depots of supplies. I hope so, for faith in man is growing weaker. Our loss in the affair of the 25th instant was [...]

March 29th.–Slightly overcast, but calm and pleasant. I am better, after the worst attack for twenty years. The only medicine I took was blue mass–ten grains. My wife had a little tea and loaf-sugar, and a solitary smoked herring–and this I relish; and have nothing else. A chicken, I believe, would cost $50. I must [...]

March 28th.–Cloudy and sunshine; but little wind. Too ill to go to the department, and I get nothing new except what I read in the papers. Some of the editorials are very equivocal, and have a squint toward reconstruction. The President, and one of his Aids, Col. Lubbock, ex-Governor of Texas, rode by my house, [...]

March 27th.–Bright, calm, but cold,–my disorder keeping me at home. The dispatch of Gen. Lee, I fear, indicates that our late attempt to break the enemy’s lines was at least prematurely undertaken. The Dispatch newspaper has an article entreating the people not to submit “too hastily,” as in that event we shall have no benefit [...]

March 26th.–Frost last night. Cloudy, cold, and windy to-day. Suffered much yesterday and last night with disordered bowels –from cold. This, however, may relieve me of the distressing cough I have had for months. After all, I fear Lee’s attempt on the enemy’s lines yesterday was a failure. We were compelled to relinquish the fort [...]

March 25th.–Clear and cool. It is reported that Grant is reinforcing Sherman, and that the latter has fallen back upon Goldsborough. This is not yet confirmed by any official statement. A single retrograde movement by Sherman, or even a delay in advancing, would snatch some of his laurels away, and enable Lee to obtain supplies. [...]

March 24th.–Clear and very windy. The fear of utter famine is now assuming form. Those who have the means are laying up stores for the day of siege,–I mean a closer and more rigorous siege,–when all communications with the country shall cease; and this makes the commodities scarcer and the prices higher. There is a [...]

March 23d.–Clear, with high wind. Nothing further from North Carolina. A dispatch from Gen. Lee states that he has directed Gen. Cobb to organize an expedition into Tennessee, to cut the enemy’s communications. Gen. Wafford, of Kentucky, is in Georgia, with 2000 mounted men, etc. Beef in market this morning sold at $12 to $15 [...]

March 22d.–Rained last night; clear and cool this morning. The report of another battle, since Sunday, in North Carolina, is not confirmed. The “Bureau of Conscription” still lives, notwithstanding the action of Congress! The President himself, who favored its abolition, yet being displeased with some of the details of the act, seems to have finally [...]