Saturday January February 1st 1862
Nothing of any particular note has occured today. The ground was covered with Snow this morning, but it has thawed all day. Went down after dinner and with the three boys and got them all new boots with which they were highly pleased, paid $4.25 for the lot. Got “Bud” also a pair of pants $2.50, paid the Baker $4.25, Milkman $1.90. Got my Drawings today, shall put in my application in two or three days. I have not been out since dark, have been reading the papers, writing &c. Wife rcd a letter from her Uncle Sullivan & [Mis Recd Cook?]. It is now 1/2 past ten. The boys went to bed at 8. Wife busy mending as usual evenings. Julia is writing off Poetry from a newspaper and I am going to bed.
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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.