SATURDAY 12
Mr Sewards Speech is the great event of the day. Did not hear it. The Senate Chamber was crowded by 9 o’clock. Got letter from Julia through Chas. Wrote her today. Hardly know how to get her Home, or (in fact) whether it is best for her to come here to Washington at this Crisis. Went round to the Hotels this evening. Gave Mr Hoard M.C. from N.Y. name of exmr in Pat office who got pay in advance and then “Seceded” (R. R. Rhodes of Mississippi). Pay Clerk Hugh McCormick, all unlawful. The indications now are that Virginia & Maryland will both “secede.” Cold and windy today. Temperature about the same as yesterday.
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.