THURSDAY 3
The affairs of the Country appear so desperate that the subject engrosses the attention of all men in all places. Public questions are discussed in my room at the patent office full as much as applications for Patents. It is frequently asked what patents will be worth if the Union is dissolved. But applications continue to be made from both north and south, altho there is something of a falling off. Tomorrow is the Fast day recommended by the Prest of the U.S. Offices closed.
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.