TUESDAY 15
Slippery, misty, foggy day. Good skating for the boys this morning in the street. A general impression seems to prevail that that [sic] the troubles of the Country are going to be healed some way, nobody can tell how. But there is a determination manifestly abroad that this Government shall not be broken up and that it will be defended and maintained at all hazzards and all costs. This determination on the part of the Administration and the whole United North seems to be felt by all. No particular news today. Spent the evening at Home reading first. Presidents Levee this Season, take little interest in them now.
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.