SUNDAY, APRIL 7, 1861.
It has been a wet drizzly day, but I went to church with the boys in the morning. Chas was up to dinner. The papers are full of war news and there is now much excitement in the country, as much as there has been any time. When we know where the troops have gone from NY, the anxiety will be lessened. It is past 9. Wife is at the table reading. The boys have gone to bed. Julia is playing on the Piano. Larney (the black chattel) is crouched behind the stove keeping comfortable, a basket of young chickens is in the corner by her.
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.