Friday January 3rd
Went to the office as usual. About 1/2 past 11 o’clock went with Col Mirrick to the War Department. On our way we passed through the Treasury to the “White House,” went into the East Room and about the House some. At the War Department we found a great crowd, dispatches comeing in and going out all the time. Officers with shoulder straps with Bars and the leaf and with Eagles and with Stars, hurrying to and fro. Many anxious ones waiting for an interview with the Sec’y, lame and sick looking soldiers waiting for their discharge papers to be made out. The Col had business getting the discharge of a soldier from Rose Wayne Co. The officials were obliging and the application was successful. Ed Dickinson called and staid an hour.
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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.