April 22nd.—To-day was fixed for the visit to Mr. Pringle’s plantation, which lies above Georgetown near the Peedee River. Our party, which consisted of Mr. Mitchell, an eminent lawyer of Charleston, Colonel Reed, a neighboring planter, Mr. Ward of New York, our host, and myself, were on board the Georgetown steamer at seven o’clock, A.M., [...]

April 21st.—In the afternoon I went with Mr. Porcher Miles to visit a small farm and plantation, some miles from the city, belonging to Mr. Crafts. Our arrival was unexpected, but the planter’s welcome was warm. Mrs. Crafts showed us round the place, of which the beauties were due to nature rather than to art, [...]

April 20th.—I visited the editors of the Charleston Mercury and the Charleston Courier to-day at their offices. The Rhett family have been active agitators for secession, and it is said they are not over well pleased with Jefferson Davis for neglecting their claims to office. The elder, a pompous, hard, ambitious man, possesses ability. He [...]

April 19th.–An exceeding hot day. The sun pours on the broad sandy street of Charleston with immense power, and when the wind blows down the thoroughfare it sends before it vast masses of hot dust. The houses are generally detached, surrounded by small gardens, well provided with verandas to protect the windows from the glare, [...]

April 18th.—It is as though we woke up in a barrack. No! There is the distinction, that in the passages slaves are moving up and down with cups of iced milk or water for their mistresses in the early morning, cleanly dressed, neatly clad, with the conceptions of Parisian millinery adumbrated to their condition, and [...]

Note: This particular diary entry–a document written in 1861–includes terms that are offensive to many today.   No attempt will be made to censor or edit 19th century material to today’s standards. April 17th.—The streets of Charleston present some such aspect as those of Paris in the last revolution. Crowds of armed men singing and [...]

(April 16) Early next morning, soon after dawn, I crossed the Cape Fear River, on which Wilmington is situated, by a steam ferry-boat. On the quay lay quantities of shot and shell. “How came these here?” I inquired. “They’re anti-abolition pills,” said my neighbor; “they’ve been waiting here for two months back, but now that [...]

Note: This particular diary entry–a document written in 1861–includes terms that are offensive to many today.   No attempt will be made to censor or edit 19th century material to today’s standards. Monday, April 15.–Up at dawn. Crossed by ferry to Portsmouth, and arrived at railway station, which was at no place in particular, in [...]

Note: This particular diary entry–a document written in 1861–includes terms that are offensive to many today.   No attempt will be made to censor or edit 19th-century material to today’s standards. Sunday, April 14.–A night of disturbed sleep, owing to the ponderous thumping of the walking beam close to my head, the whizzing of steam, [...]

April 14. (13th1)—The Eutaw House is not a very good specimen of an American hotel, but the landlord does his best to make his guests comfortable, when he likes them. The American landlord is a despot who regulates his dominions by ukases affixed to the walls, by certain state departments called “offices” and “bars,” and [...]

April 12th.—This morning I received an intimation that the Government had resolved on taking decisive steps which would lead to a development of events in the South and test the sincerity of Secession. The Confederate general at Charleston, Beauregard, has sent to the Federal officer in command at Sumter, Major Anderson, to say, that all [...]

April 10th.–To-day I devoted to packing up such things as I did not require, and sending them to New York. I received a characteristic note from General Scott, asking me to dine with him to-morrow, and apologizing for the shortness of his invitation, which arose from his only having just heard that I was about [...]

April 9th.—A storm of rain, thunder, and lightning. The streets are converted into water-courses. From the country we hear of bridges washed away by inundations, and roads rendered impassable. Accounts from the South are gloomy, but the turba Remi in Willard’s are as happy as ever, at least as noisy and as greedy of place. [...]

April 8th.–How it does rain! Last night there were torrents of water in the streets literally a foot deep. It still runs in muddy whirling streams through the channels, and the rain is falling incessantly from a dull leaden sky. The air is warm and clammy. There are all kind of rumors abroad, and the [...]

April 7th.–Raining all day, cold and wet. I am tired and weary of this perpetual jabber about Fort Sumter. Men here who know nothing at all of what is passing send letters to the New York papers, which are eagerly read by the people in Washington as soon as the journals reach the city, and [...]

April 6th.—To-day I paid a second visit to General Scott, who received me very kindly, and made many inquiries respecting the events in the Crimea and the Indian mutiny and rebellion. He professed to have no apprehension for the safety of the capital; but in reality there are only some 700 or 800 regulars to [...]

April 5th.–Dined with the Southern Commissioners and a small party at Gautier’s, a French restaurateur in Pennsylvania avenue. The gentlemen present were, I need not say, all of one way of thinking; but as these leaves will see the light before the civil war is at an end, it is advisable not to give their [...]

April 4th.–I had a long interview with Mr. Seward to-day at the State Department. He set forth at great length the helpless condition in which the President and the cabinet found themselves when they began the conduct of public affairs at Washington. The last cabinet had tampered with treason, and had contained traitors; a miserable [...]

April 3rd.–I had an interview with the Southern Commissioners to-day, at their hotel. For more than an hour I heard, from men of position and of different sections in the South, expressions which satisfied me the Union could never be restored, if they truly represented the feelings and opinions of their fellow-citizens. They have the [...]

April 2nd.–The following day I started early, and performed my pilgrimage to “the shrine of St. Washington,” at Mount Vernon, as a foreigner on board called the place. Mr. Bancroft has in his possession a letter of the General’s mother, in which she expresses her gratification at his leaving the British army in a manner [...]

April 1st.–On Easter Monday, after breakfast with Mr. Olmsted, I drove over to visit Senator Douglas. Originally engaged in some mechanical avocation, by his ability and eloquence he has raised himself to the highest position in the State short of the Presidency, which might have been his but for the extraordinary success of his opponent [...]

March 31st, Easter Sunday.–I dined with Lord Lyons and the members of the Legation; the only stranger present being Senator Sumner. Politics were of course eschewed, for Mr. Sumner is Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate, and Lord Lyons is a very discreet Minister; but still there crept in a word [...]

March 30th.–Descended into the barber’s shop off the hall of the hotel; all the operators, men of color, mostly mulattoes, or yellow lads, good-looking, dressed in clean white jackets and aprons, were smart, quick, and attentive. Some seven or eight shaving chairs were occupied by gentlemen intent on early morning calls. Shaving is carried in [...]

Note: This particular diary entry–a document written in 1861–includes a term that is very offensive to many today.   No attempt will be made to censor or edit 19th century material to today’s standards.March 29th, Good Friday.–The religious observance of the day was not quite as strict as it would be in England. The Puritan [...]