TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1861.
A fine Cool day, just freezing. Everybody preparing for “Christmas.” Turkeys from $1.75 to $4.00 a piece, rather “strong” that. Office not open tomorrow, it will be a general hubbub all over the City. The day will open with guns and fire crackers. Were it not for the shoulder straps one meets on the Ave and at the Hotels, the War would almost be lost sight of. The Army of at least a quarter of a million of men near this City remain very quiet. The long trains of Army wagons how[ev]er remind one that there is Something unusual going on. The boys stockings are stuffed with nuts, candy, fire crackers &c., past 11 o’clock.
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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.