SEPTEMBER 14TH.–Bright and cold. Gen. Lee is in the city, looking after recruits, details, etc. Mr. Secretary Seddon appears to be in very high spirits to-day, and says our affairs are by no means so desperate as they seem on the surface. I hope the good coming will come soon. Gen. Beauregard has been sent [...]

SEPTEMBER 13th.—A bright, cool morning. Dispatches from Lieut.-Gen. R. Taylor indicate that Federal troops are passing up the Mississippi River, and that the attack on Mobile has been delayed or abandoned. Gen. Lee writes urgently for more men, and asks the Secretary to direct an inquiry into alleged charges that the bureaus are getting able-bodied [...]

SEPTEMBER 12th.—Clear, and quite cold. Gen. Hood has agreed to a short armistice with Sherman, ten days, proposed by the latter. Our people don’t know what to think of this, and the government is acquiescent. But there is a mournful gloom upon the brows of many, since Gen. Grant holds theWeldon Road, and is daily [...]

SEPTEMBER 11th.—Showery. No war news, though important events are looked for speedily. It is time. If our coat-tails were off, we should, in nine cases out of ten, be voted a nation of sans cullottes. We are already meager and emaciated. Yet I believe there is abundance of clothing and food, held by the extortioners. [...]

SEPTEMBER 10th.—Slight showers, and warm. Gen. J. H. Morgan was betrayed by a woman, a Mrs. Williamson, who was entertaining him. Custis made an estimate of the white male population in seven States this side of the Mississippi, leaving out Tennessee, between the ages of fifteen and fifty, for Gen. Kemper, for Gen. Lee, which [...]

SEPTEMBER 9th.—Rained last night; clear to-day. We hear of great rejoicing in the United States over the fall of Atlanta, and this may be premature. President Lincoln has issued a proclamation for thanksgiving in the churches, etc. Mr. Benjamin informs the Secretary of War that the President has agreed to facilitate the emigration of Polish [...]

SEPTEMBER 8th.—Bright and cool; subsequently cloudy and warm. Dispatches from Gen. Hood (Sept 7th) state—1st dispatch: that Sherman still holds his works one and a half miles from Jonesborough. 2d dispatch, same date: “Sherman continues his retreat!” He says, in a 3d dispatch, that Sherman visited the hospitals, and said he would rest awhile at [...]

SEPTEMBER 7th.—Clear and cool; rained in the night. Gen. J. H. Morgan is dead,—surprised and killed inTennessee,—and his staff captured. Gen. Hood telegraphs that the enemy is still retreating—toward Atlanta, I suppose. The cruiser Tallahassee having run into Wilmington, that port is now pretty effectually closed by an accumulation of blockaders. It is said Gen. [...]

SEPTEMBER 6th.—Raining moderately, and cool. Gen. Bragg has taken the Bureau of Conscription in hand, since Col. August, “acting superintendent,” wrote him a “disrespectful and insubordinate” note. He required a report of the officers in the bureau, from Lieut.-Col. Lay, “Acting Superintendent,”—there have been three “acting superintendents” during the last three days,—and Col. Lay furnished [...]

SEPTEMBER 5th.—Clear and warm. Gen. Lee has called for 2000 negroes (to be impressed) to work on the Petersburg fortifications. Gen. Lee has been here two days, giving his advice, which I hope may be taken. He addresses Gen. Bragg as “commanding armies C. S.” This ought to be an example for others to follow. [...]

SEPTEMBER 4th.—Showery. Atlanta has fallen, and our army has retreated some thirty miles; such is Hood’s dispatch, received last night. The cheering in Grant’s camp yesterday was over that event. We have not had sufficient generalship and enterprise to destroy Sherman’s communications. Some 40,000 landowners, and the owners of slaves, are at their comfortable homes, [...]

SEPTEMBER 3d.—Slight rain in the morning. There is an ugly rumor on the streets to-day—disaster to Gen. Hood, and the fall of Atlanta. I cannot trace it to an authentic source; and, if true, the telegraph operatives must have divulged it. A dispatch from Petersburg states that there is much cheering in Grant’s army for [...]

SEPTEMBER 2d.—Bright, and cool, and dry. It is reported that a battle has occurred at Atlanta; but I have seen no official confirmation of it. It is rumored that Gen. McClellan has been nominated by the Chicago Convention for President, and Fernando Wood for Vice-President. There is some interest felt by our people in the [...]

SEPTEMBER 1st.—Clear, bright, and cool. The intelligence from the North indicates that Gen. McClellan will be nominated for the Presidency. Judge Campbell, Assistant Secretary of War, shakes his head, and says he is not the right man. Our people take a lively interest in the proceedings of the Chicago Convention, hoping for a speedy termination [...]

AUGUST 31st.—Bright and pleasant. The only news to-day was a dispatch from Gen. Hood, stating that the enemy had leftHolly Springs, Miss., for the Mississippi River, supposed to reinforce Sherman, whose communications are certainly cut. It seems to me that Sherman must be doomed. Forces are gathering from every quarter around him, and it is [...]

AUGUST 30th.—Bright and pleasant. Gen. Hood telegraphs Gen Bragg that the enemy has shifted his line somewhat, drawing back his left and extending his right wing. Also that dispatches from Wheeler (August 19th) informs him that Dalton was captured, as stated, with 200 prisoners, 200 mules, a large amount of stores; several train supplies destroyed, [...]

AUGUST 29th.—Bright and pleasant morning; another fine shower last night. No important intelligence from the armies.

AUGUST 28th.—A bright, pleasant day. No news. Walked, as usual, to the department to see if any important letters had come, and then hastened back that the family might go to church in time. Oh what a lovely day in such an unlovely time! The recent rains have washed the dust from the still dark-green [...]

AUGUST 27th.—Bright morning, and fine shower last night. The people are smiling to-day from our success of Thursday, announced in the following dispatch from Gen. Lee: “HEADQUARTERS ARMY NORTHERN VIRGINIA, “August 26th, 1864. ———“HON. J. A. SEDDON, SECRETARY OF WAR. ———“General A. P. Hill attacked the enemy in his intrenchments at Reams’s Station yesterday evening, [...]

AUGUST 26th.—Clear; but rained copiously last night. A letter from Gen. Lee indicates that the “Bureau of Conscription” fails to replenish the army. The rich men and slaveowners are but too successful in getting out, and in keeping out of the service. The Governor, who commissions magistrates, is exempting some fifty daily, and these, in [...]

AUGUST 25th.—Clear and warm. No war news, except reports that Gen. Wheeler has destroyed much of the railroad in Sherman’s rear, and that Early has forced Sheridan back across the Potomac. Gen. Lee writes that he already notices the good effect of the order published by our government, encouraging desertions from the enemy’s armies. He [...]

AUGUST 24th.—Clear and pleasant. Operations now must be initiated by the enemy. Gen. Lee writes that he is too weak to attempt to dislodge the Yankees from the Weldon Railroad. He cannot afford the loss of men necessary to accomplish it. He says the enemy, however, was “worsted” in the two conflicts, that of Friday [...]

AUGUST 23d.—Clear and pleasant. The enemy still occupy the Weldon Road, beyond Petersburg, in great force. Our loss in killed, wounded, and captured is estimated (in Sunday’s fight) at 1000; under the mark, perhaps. I hear of no raid yet against the Danville Road; but the flour speculators have put up the price again. Gen. [...]

AUGUST 22d.—Sunshine and clouds, cool and pleasant. There was heavy fighting on the Weldon Road yesterday evening, still held by the enemy; but no official account of the result—if it has yet reached a result—has been received. The city is full of extravagant rumors, and I incline to the belief that we gained no advantage [...]