Sunday March 2nd/62
Pleasant morning but the ground is covered with snow tonight. Snowed very hard the middle of the day. It has thawed all the time. Went to church with family. Chaplin Marks of the Pa. 42nd Regt held forth, quite an interesting man. The military on both sides of the River are under marching orders and all ready to move. Doct Barnes of the 27th came over yesterday & brought his wife. The 27th is all packed up and ready, stirring times looked for now. The Sick in the camps have been placed in Hospitals. Artillery has been moveing for two or three days past. There is an abundance of it on the Potomac. McClellan depends much upon that arm. There is much excitement in the City and much satisfaction expressed now that the immense army here is to move at last. The force must be crushing to “Secesh.” There cannot be less than 250 thousand men on & near the Potomac in the Union Armies under Genl McClellan.
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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.