February ___[1], 1864.—Mrs. Gamble’s party was delightful, the band gave us fine music, the camp provided plenty of partners and there are young ladies galore in Tallahassee. Last night one of General Cobb’s staff officers told me the Capers Battalion had been sent to guard Tallahassee, in case of invasion. He said General Dickenson and General Miller and General Finnegan were all ordered to Lake City and several Georgia. Regiments had gone on, too. Colonel Scott, he said, was guarding the Gulf Coast. I wonder if this can be true? If it is he ought not to be telling it around but I shall not repeat it. I have not given his name to you my little Diary, but I cannot help thinking it is a pity for those who give parties to have punch. It certainly loosens the tongue and I do not believe this information would have come to me but for the big bowl of regent’s punch.
I was dancing last night with a young soldier, from the mountains around Rome, Georgia, he was loud in his praises of Colonel Capers. “Do you know, Miss Bradford, I did not know how to read and write when I was sworn in? I felt terribly ashamed when I found how ignorant I was and the Colonel found it out and he taught me sometimes and, when he was too busy, some of the boys helped me and now I can read ‘most anything I come across and I can write whatever I want to say. Besides that I have learned so much just listening to him talking with the other boys. I am not the only one who has been helped; there are twenty of us, all about the same age and all from the Rome country, none of us had any book-learning and he has taught us all.” Isn’t that a fine thing for a man to do?
[1] This diary was written in pencil and in many instances the dates are almost, or quite, illegible. The month and year are plain but the figures are not so plain; particularly is this the case during the years of warfare, possibly the pencils were poor, or the paper might have been. At any rate we ask our readers to be lenient if some little mistakes occur.
Susan Bradford is nearly 17 years old when this entry was made.