SATURDAY, APRIL 13, 1861.
This has been the most exciting day yet. The last report about the provisioning Ft Sumpter was untrue and today or early this morning news came that the Rebels were bombarding it and tonight the report is that Maj Anderson has surrendered, it being on fire. The last report is not generaly credited. Even if true, it is not astonishing. The Rebels have ten thousand men & nineteen Batteries. Anderson had 70 men only. I went on to the Ave after 3 o’clock, a great crowd round all the Printing or News paper offices. Everybody much excited, and all will soon be compelled to “show their hands,” for or against the Union.
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.